Rainy Day...and BYS Diamond Shimmers

Do you ever wake up and just hear the weather outside and dread the day?

I woke up at 3am this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep.
It's raining heavily and I've been slightly freaking out about parent teacher interviews...tonight.

I'm on morning tea and lunch duty...and it's raining. Then I have interviews until 7:30pm. Today and tomorrow night. I know most parents dread interviews just as much as I am...but I can't help it.

In awesometastic news my little blog has over 25 followers now :)
That means as soon as the "what would you like to win" poll is over...
I'll be announcing a giveaway.

So stay tuned for that!

Ocean Breeze: Aqua blue shimmer with blue glitter and holo strings. (2 coats)

Candy Kisses: Warm pink shimmer with pink glitter and holo strings. (2 coats)

Peppermint: More of a spearmint green shimmer with larger glitter.

The shimmer in these remind me of the 24k gold shimmer in Lippmann Boom Boom Pow. light and shimmery, ideal for layering. My favourite is Peppermint, it reminds me of a far less dense, One Less Lonely Glitter.
I love that these polishes look more like frankens than something you could normally buy. They are very pretty and I think they'll look awesome over a complimentary base colour.

Looking at the BYS website, Ocean Breeze and Peppermint are still available. Candy Kisses how ever is not listed on the website. There was another diamond shimmer polish in store, Rose Quartz, but it looked so similar to Candy Kisses that I gave it a miss. It was a similar pink, with glitter and holo strings. If it had been missing the holo strings I probable would have picked it up.

Hope everyone has an awesome day, I'll be stocking up on sugar and throat lozenges...

Down the Rabbit Hole...

I've never really bought BYS polishes before. I'm always attracted to the mass of colours every time I walk past the display at the mall, but I'd never actually purchased anything. It was always a sensory overload for me. Too many colours, confusion, no polish :(

But that changed when I bought the three polishes that were released as a special Alice in Wonderland collection. Now I want more. I want the colour change polishes, I want the crazy glitter polishes and I'mcurious about the BYS crackle and UV polishes...

Through the Looking Glass, Adventures of Alice and Down the Rabbit Hole.

Three Wonderland themed polishes, packed with glitter.

Down the Rabbit Hole

 OMG. Stunning black jelly filled with gorgeous holographic glitter. Down the Rabbit Hole is amazing. Unfortunately all three polishes stink to high heaven, but they can be forgiven for their awesome sparkliness.
Next time I wear Down the Rabbit Hole I will wear a black polish underneath. It's fine alone, but I'd really like to give it that extra inky darkness.

Adventures of Alice

 A mix of purple, green, silver and gold glitter in a clear base. Adventures of Alice could be built up to opacity. I used two coats and got this look...I can't decide what colour I'd want to layer this one over. White? Black? Silver...Maybe over China Glaze Cheers to You?

Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass is blue glitter with tiny gold glitter in a clear base. This one needed a good shake to get the glitter evenly distributed in the bottle. Once again this is two coats but it could be built up to opacity. I really like this vibrant blue glitter. I really want to try it layered over a sparkly gold.

Remember I'm more than happy to swap if you'd like some of these BYS polishes!
I plan on popping in to the mall to check out the colour change polishes that just came out tomorrow. I think I need purple and blue...

Then it's no buy except for wishlisted things...(OPI Pirates and Serena Williams collections)
Luckily I still have a few orders on their way to me!

Autism Awareness

Yesterday was Autism Awareness Day.

As a primary school teacher I come in contact with children who are on the spectrum every day.

Autism is more common than we realise and many people don't realise that Autism is a spectrum. I liked what was said at one course I attended on Autism. "Everyone has a piece to the puzzle, some have more pieces than others".

Anyway on to my blue...

China Glaze High Def.

High Def in sunshine

I was prepared to be disappointed by the Tronica Holos, but I wasn't. They're different yes, but still amazing. I actually really like the holo effect in the Tronicas. Rather than a linear or a crazy scattered holo, the Tronicas have a very fine holographic effect. At some points it was like I was looking at a rainbow gradient that covered my whole nail, not just a thin band of rainbow. It's an impressionistic holographic effect.

But then I went and ruined it. I was waiting around while Nick was shooting at his work mates at paintball...so I crackled it. White wasn't a good choice. Then just for good measure, to make it truly heinous, I added OPI Last Friday Night. The pictures don't look so bad...but trust me it wasn't a good look!

High Def topped with Lightning Bolt and Last Friday Night...

Almost 25...

25 is a good number for me...It's my raffle number, my age and almost how many followers I have!
Unfortunately our address is 24b...almost 25?

Because I love 25 so much, I'd like to do a small giveaway....if I ever hit the magical number! (only one more to go...)

But I don't know what to give away! So click on the poll and tell me what you'd love to win.

(Yes I know I've been posting a lot this morning...but I woke up at 4am, what else was I supposed to do)

Prisms

For the last few months I've been on a crazy collecting spree.

I've been collecting Sally Hansen Nail Prisms.
I haven't been able to purchase any of the omg coveted polishes like Garnet Lapis or Turquoise Opal. Unfortunately I don't want to spend $24.99 (US dollars) on a polish. I'm tempted...but know that, that is a little too much for me, for one polish.

One of the interesting things about the Nail Prisms is the variations you can find. I have two Ruby Diamonds that are different colours and one is more holo, two blush diamonds where one is a blush and one is a pink and my purple diamond sucks compared to pictures I've seen.

1. Diamond LE, 2. Pink Rose Diamond, 3. Purple Diamond, 4. South Sea Pearl and 7. Amber Ruby.

9. Blush Diamond, 9.Blush Diamond, 12. Coral Amber, 11. Fire Opal and 10. Golden Cinnabar.

13. Ruby Diamond, 13. Ruby Diamond, 14. Lapis Amethyst, 15. Lavender Pearl and 17. Pink Pearl.

18. Star Opal, 19. Lavender Sky, 21. Scarlet Ruby, 22. Bronze Coral and 23. Burgundy Orchid.

25. White Diamond, 26. Cinnabar Opal, 27. Bronze Ruby, 28. Mandarin Garnet and 29. Golden Tourmaline.

35. White Turquoise, 36. Lavender Sapphire and 37. Ruby Topaz.

Hopefully in the near future I'll get around to swatching them all. most seem to be thin, take a bajillion coats to cover my white, white nail tips and take forever to dry. But omg! drool! look at them altogether. Such a pretty collection. I'll keep scouring the internet for the ones I'm missing.

If I can get a good picture I'll post my nail wheels later today :)
They've been sitting in my lounge a week and a bit now. I keep moving their location to see the array of colours each polish contains.

Bottle Spam

Over the last two weeks I've been very lucky. I've managed to find polishes at the top of my wishlist, for reasonable-ish prices. Ok, so I totally more than I should have more a couple...but they were still cheaper than what I would have had to pay in New Zealand at retail price. Talking about price of polish in NZ, I noticed yesterday that OPI was over $26. That's crazy.

These are the beauties that have arrived for me to play with over the last two weeks.

You Got Soul-ar, I Always Get My Man-darin, Get Your Lem-on and The :Lime Starts Here.

 These were the last few polishes, I didn't originally order from the Wicked Sweet and the Starry Temptress, Color Club collections. To be honest I can see why I didn't order them to start with, but Get You Lem-on and Always Get My Man-darin have some gorgeous shimmer in them. Unfortunately I think they smell like cleaning products. Blah citrus scents.

3D Fantasy, Hyper Haute, Gamer Glam and High Def

 Tronicas! I was so excited when these arrived yesterday. I wanted Gamer Glam for Nick, not for him to wear...but so I could dork out and wear it to game with him. lol...yeah. The Tronicas may not be crazy linear holographics but they are pretty and definitely have a 3D effect happening.

Kaleidscope Him Out, He's Going in Circles and Rated Holographic.

 I managed to get my hands on six of the China Glaze Holographics before Christmas, Nick gave them to me for Christmas. I've been searching for more ever since. I managed to find 5 more on ebay. Octa-Gone Wild and How About a Tumble are making their way to me from Europe, but these three arrived yesterday! If only I could find Visit Me in Prism...then I'd have the whole set!

DS Sapphire, DS Signature, DS Original, DS Passion and DS Diamond.

 These are my first DS polishes. These retail for close to $40 in New Zealand...So I haven't felt the need to purchase the DS polishes before. That is until I googled OPI DS...then I needed them. Original is my most expensive polish to date. It cost me more than my Lippmanns...just...but at $18 it was still cheaper than NZ prices, even if that was US$.

I Juggle...Men, So Many Clowns, So Little Time, Step Right Up and In the Spot-light Pink.

 I'm still on the hunt for the perfect wedding polish.I hoped my perfect polish might be in the Femme de Cirque collection from OPI. Gorgeous light shades and a pretty tiny flaked top coat...I just might find the polish I'm looking for! It would help if I had any idea of what I wanted...

Love Your Life, Lets Get Star-ted and Gone Wishin'

Respect the World, It's Possible, Enchantress and Jade in the Shade

 I managed to get these Nicole's on ebay in a set, for a reasonable price. I really wanted some more of the novelty glitters and had a serious lemming for Respect the World. As far as I can tell Jade in the Shade is more frosty while Respect the World is sheerer and has more shimmer. I'm looking forward to comparing them in the sun. If we get some sun today!

Through the Looking Glass, Alice's Adventures and Down the Rabbit Hole.

Ocean Breeze, Candy Kisses and Peppermint.

 I love that these BYS polishes look more like frankens than something normally produced by polish companies. The first three are special Alice in Wonderland themed polishes and the bottom three are Diamond Shimmers. They're all crazy glittery. Down the Rabbit Hole is my favourite. Awesome black jelly with holo glitter. BYS are very easy to get a hold off in NZ and compared to other polishes, very cheap. The Diamond Shimmers were $5.90 and the Alice in Wonderlands $8.90.

Happy Birthday and Ruby Red Slippers.

 Lippmans...drool. Although to be honest I'm not feeling Ruby Red Slippers or Across the Universe. Well not as polishes by themselves. They get too clumpy with all that glitter. They look so much better layered, but that's just my opinion. Happy Birthday is awesome. I needed it even though I have the pink glitter Milani Gems. Happy Birthday is so celebratory.

Tink Pink and Sea of Cortez.

These are the other two polishes I ordered from BB Couture with the four from the Touch of Greece Collection. Tink Pink is supposed to be another option for a wedding polish and I just really wanted Sea of Cortez.

Wow, that is a lot of polish. Luckily I don't have much on order at the moment. I really should do a no buy...but I doubt I'd cope!

I other exciting news I joined the On Wednesdays We Wear Pink club, so on Wednesday I'll be rocking Pink. Love Mean Girls!

Glitter in Nice

I'm starting to feel very stressed.
We have an art exhibition of the kids work at school, we have parent teacher interviews (which I must do a portfolio for each child for), Nick has a work function and my house is a mess.

Luckily Nice is nice is a very calming shade to wear. I added Glitter in the Air and I think this a very calm, peaceful combination. At least it's working for me!

Glitter in the Air over Nice is Nice

Look at the pretty micro glitters! I just thought Glitter in the Air had large and smaller blue and pink glitters, but there is tiny micro glitter in blue and pink as well. So very pretty!