Monday 23 July 2012

Gone for green.

I realised I never even uploaded the picture I have as my icon! So, here it is. OPI's 'Greenwich-Village', stamped with a white Konad polish from an Essence stampy plate.. Originally done in May, 2011. Really a very lovely shade of green, but it does take an ungodly amount of coats to cover properly.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Tees Please.

Unlike a lot of people interested in cosmetics, I'm really not that into fashion, and I'm not even going to pretend that I'm photogenic. I do, however, really love T-shirts that are references to television series and movies and boy do I love me some merchandise. I don't think I've really shown me on this blog aside from the blurry little photograph on the about me page, so here goes.


(By the time the House shirt rolled along I got a little tired of brushing my fringe back into place. Sue me.)

'Feed Me Seymour' shirt is based off the musical Little Shop of Horrors, I really love the '86 movie. It was one of Teefury's daily shirts but can also be purchased on RedBubble.
'Time Lord' was given to me by one of my best friends from far away England. Not that far away, but too far, anyway. Based - obviously - on Doctor Who, and was a Qwertee shirt, I fear I don't know where they're still available.
'House' I bought another House shirt a few months back, but I thought this one - with its design based on Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man - was just really cool. Still not coping with the fact that it's over dear god. Is available from Fox's online merchandise shop.

So yeah. That's me and my t-shirts. If you're ever after fashion advice, stay clear of everything I tell you and you'll do juuuuust fine.

And I present my final acquisition..
Bally!

Monday 16 July 2012

Paint to Match.

I'm generally not the type of person that bothers matching their nails to their wardrobe or vice versa, but I bought this pair of trousers recently and thought it'd also make a nice set of nails. Blue stripes of varying width and spacing with a warm brown underneath.. and of course, matte. And, y'know, the least neat nail 'art' I've done in a while. Does it absolve me somewhat if I say I was in a hurry :P?
Brown is Miss Sporty 455, matte is NYC Matte Me Crazy as per usual.
Took this picture after I'd been wearing it for a while and it shows.. the shaaaame!

Thursday 12 July 2012

Nothing Else Matte-ers.

Again with the puns, I'm not sorry.
In my Let Them Talk-nails post I mentioned I'd been on a bit of a matte kick, as such, these nails were done prior to the others. I'd often seen the 'glitter polish with matte top coat'-thing on other blogs and always liked it but never actually tried it myself! So, here my first experiment with it, using Rimmel 825 Sky High, a Herôme glitter polish, and NYC Matte Me Crazy.
I like how it turned out! I'll definitely do this again sometime.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Danger, danger, high voltage.


I used to really love watching Miami and LA Ink, and being an artist (albeit not of the tattoo variety) myself, that aspect of the shows just really appealed to me.
I think most will agree it's not hard to be impressed by Kat Von D's artistic ability. She's just good and I find her work inspirational.
Back in November 2010, Kat Von D held a booksigning of "The Tattoo Chronicles" in Amsterdam which I happily attended (I say happily, but there was also considerable time spent waiting outside) and I really just wanted to do some nail art for the occasion. I based it on the 'High Voltage' jacket she wears and styled her tattoo shop after. 
My buddy Lars, Kat Von D & myself.
Now, this mani is a pretty special one to me because Kat von D actually saw and liked it. (I originally hadn't planned on showing off but I thought 'what the hell!') She said she'd wanted her brother to take a picture, but the people of the American Book Center were trying to hurry everybody along so it never happened (it was insanely busy so I can't say I blame them.) 
I also recommend the book, by the way.

Sunday 8 July 2012

Let Them Talk.

I've posted House nails before, so it stands to reason I like Hugh Laurie. I got my mother his CD - Let Them Talk, and at one point got curious and gave it a listen myself, and it's actually really good. Yesterday, Mr Laurie performed at North Sea Jazz, in Rotterdam, and my mother and I went. The man is fantastic, that's all I can say. Fantastic. Definitely multi-talented.


Anywho, this isn't a music review blog; there is nail art at the heart of the matter!

I've really been on a matte kick lately, it seems. Letters painted with a 00 brush using the polish of my white Hema nail art striper, and subsequently painted over again with the respective colours. I'm not listing all the polishes used, but if you're after a particular one I'll happily let you know what it is.


Have a depressingly unimpressive quality photo as proof that I was there ;)..

Hugh on the left in purple.

Curious about the music? How about you go listen to this?
(Seriously though, check it out, buy the album, it's great.)

Monday 2 July 2012

Golden Rose - Magnetic 06

I've tried the whole magnetic nail polish thing in the past, without much success, which I thought was a real shame when you saw the effect some managed to produce! In the end, I think it was the magnet I had (part of Essence Metallics).
Now, things have turned around for me..

This little baby made my nails come out just fine!
I like reading up on technique before I attempt this kind of thing, generally. You never know what helpful words of wisdom you stumble upon. The directions on the box, however, weren't of much use to me..

Err, yep, that cleared all my questions right up.
The polish was a gift, and had been purchased in Russia. Speaking Russian is not something I can count among my abilities, however.
On to the nail pictures!

The light from the window obscures the effect a bit, but still, you can see it really worked this time! I'm so pleased. As with most magnetic polishes, it's best if you put on a layer of polish before you start with the magnet.
One of my favourite qualities of magnetic polishes is that you get such depth. That's really something unparallelled - you just don't find that in any other type of 'quick nail art' polish. I don't care how long magnetic polishes have been around, I don't get tired of looking at it.