Wednesday 26 September 2012

Upon my return..

Upon my return home a short while ago, I discovered my mother had put up this sign on my bedroom door.
Always nice to know what your relatives think of you.. ;)

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Shopping Stop.

 I've started a new internship, and while not adhering strictly to any dress code, they do ask that you dress in a representative fashion and keep it a bit professional. What better excuse for a shopping trip?
Mainly wanted to get a blazer - which can turn almost anything from just casual to business casual. And would you look at that ADORABLE bow detailing? Such a lovely touch. (Blazer came from H&M.)


Then, uh, temporarily stepping down from representative and professional.. I stumbled upon this Pink Floyd top and had to have it. I still feel a bit funny about H&M selling bandwear. It doesn't sit entirely right with me.
But I genuinely like Pink Floyd so I couldn't let this one go. Bought my mother corresponding Fleetwood Mac top they had. 
Also, gorgeous teal corduroy trousers. Though you can't really tell they're teal in the picture. 


Ah, fantastic C&A! Having a range of types of jeans that make me feel like my body type is allowed to exist. I love H&M, but their insistence on having almost everything be skinny fit bothers me immensely. Anyone else get that over there?
I love a good ol' fashioned boot cut, I really do. If I had the funding, I'd prance around in extravagant bellbottoms pretty much all the time. But yeah, most of my jeans are pretty worn out and fray like crazy at the bottom so I needed some I could wear to work and not worry about.



Isn't that colour just FANTASTIC on footwear?
My word. I was actually looking for shoes that'd keep me closer to the ground, but I saw these and wanted to try them on. And then I wanted to keep them. Forever.
Also a top in roughly the same colour. Skull made up of hearts! Lovely.


Monday 24 September 2012

Little accident.

I broke a nail. I plan on cutting the rest to roughly that height when I get home..
Don't you just hate being out in public with your nails looking terrible?

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Product Review - Nail Stickers (+ Discount!)

I AM MADLY IN LOVE WITH MY OWN NAILS RIGHT NOW.
Seriously, look at that picture and tell me you don't think they're adorable! A result of a white Miss Sporty polish, Catrice's 'C05 Take It Mint', from the LE Cucuba and the product I'll be reviewing - nail stickers from KKCenterHk.
  
The product in question has number 3D-164.
Product page

I don't really agree with them being 3D nail stickers (though since they technically have depth, breadth and height it's not actually wrong) but they are quite flat.
Which I much prefer, anyway.
I was a little hesitant to try nail stickers again at first, since I usually avoid them. Often they look quite tacky or apply annoyingly or have awkward sizes that I simply can't really use for anything.
But these were so cute I really couldn't resist.



I don't have a whole lot to say about the application of the stickers, because.. well, they're stickers - how hard can it be?
They come packaged in a thin layer of protective plastic and once opened they peel off quite easily.
No complaints here!





Small complaint, though. When I applied the top coat, one of the stickers curled up a little. As you can hopefully discern in the sadly blurry lower picture, this wasn't the case for all of them. So, just a fluke I hope, but for the sake of an honest review worth mentioning anyway.
Generally pleased with this, loving my nails.






I wear nail bows now, nail bows are cool.

KKCenterHk sent me these products purely for the purpose of review, I have not received any special compensation for doing so, and the opinions stated are entirely my own.

Monday 17 September 2012

Product Review - Stamping (+ Discount!)

Hey guys. I was approached by KKCenterHk to review a few of their nail art products, so here's the first of two!
(And scroll down for a discount coupon code!)
Fair warning; quite a picture-heavy post.



I was quite excited about this because I haven't really done much nail stamping in a while. I've gone a bit rusty when it comes to technique.
Anywho -
The products here are;
SPPMB37 stamping plate.
Product page
JR1055 Scraper and stamp set.
≫ Product page
As you can see, both products are neatly and individually packaged.



When I opened up the stamp and scraper bag, this happened. Yeah. But it plopped right back into position so no real problem there.

Removing the plastic, as you do..


Now for the proper product review - I'm really pleased with the stamping plate. The shapes are neatly done and the polish filled the ridges well.
I must admit I had a little bit of trouble with the scraper, but with my own stamping set I have the same issue. I'm generally inclined to use an old student pass I had lying around, and will admit to having resorted back to that after one go - I don't like wasting my Konad stamping polishes if I don't have to. The scraper supplied is all plastic, no metal, so the plate is at no risk of being damaged from use.
I just can't apply the pressure to those things evenly or something, so student pass it is for me.
As you can see, the image transfers to the nails pretty much as well as is generally expected. I see no difference in quality from my Konad or Essence stamp plates, so I'm satisfied!


Couldn't resist stamping another image while I was at it. Don't you love this cute little skull guy? I think he's adorable.

Upon first contact, I've browsed the KKCenterHk website, and they really have a very large collection of (very affordable) stamping plates. It was so hard to choose one for review. Definitely check it out, there's bound to be something for everyone.




Keep your eye out for the next review!

KKCenterHk sent me these products purely for the purpose of review, I have not received any special compensation for doing so, and the opinions stated are entirely my own.

Monday 10 September 2012

Grey Matters.

...Grey Matters, because grey matter.. brain.. get it? Man, I am corny. I am just sort of driven to start posts with cheesy puns and such, but you know this by now, I'm sure.

Quick polish review today! NYC 003 'Prey of Grey', which isn't necessarily any better than the title I chose. There was a buy one get one free thing going on, so I bought this and as my freebie got the previously swatched Fine Red Wine.

Now, this polish came with a quality I did not actually believe existed.
It is an actual one-coater. Thick and pigmented enough to actually cover in one damn layer. I've genuinely not experienced it before.

So, y'know, that said, I'm pretty pleased with this polish on those grounds alone! And I like grey.
It's a nice warm grey, this one.

That's all I've got to say for now~!


Sunday 9 September 2012

Getting away with murder.

Does cleaning red nail polish ever leave anyone else feeling like you look like you've just torn somebody to shreds with your bare hands?
It just looks so gruesome!

Saturday 8 September 2012

I never drink... wine.


Get it? Because the polish is NYC 235 - 'Fine Red Wine'.
Thanking the marvelous count Dracula for the quote, of course.
Anyway, this polish. Doesn't actually remind me of a fine red wine. It's much too light and there's considerable pink undertones in this one. The colour, as my boyfriend quite aptly pointed out, is more of a cherry red.
Though I suppose staying on the Dracula route, describing it as arterial blood would suffice just as well. Bit morbid, maybe.


If you've read my blog before you may have read I've got a bit of a struggle towards red nailpolishes and have developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with them.
I tend to dismiss bright reds and find most reds look terrible on my skintone at first, only to fall madly and completely in love with them later. In this case I was deceived (just as with another red polish, W.I.C. London) into thinking it was a darker colour than it turned out to be.
What's a girl gotta do to get her hands on a crimson around here, anyhow?
In putting it on I thought it was much too pink, much too bright, and much too whatever I dislike in a polish. It grew on me after a short while, though.

The application of this one was actually very pleasing and would have covered nicely in two thick coats (my layering here was fairly thin, so it's not very opaque.)

One day, I'll get over my weird relationship with reds!
One day..!

Artificial light - flash.
How do you feel about reds? Hate them, love them?

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Abunai Acquisitions.

I mentioned having been to the Abunai anime convention in a previous post, and I hadn't really expected to be spending a lot of money there, seeing as my interest in anime, manga and Japanese culture pretty much died down when I was around eleven.. still, I found some nice things to take home with me!

First off, my prized buy of the day. Requires - I should think - very little introduction, but I'm going to give one anyway. I'm sure you're all familiar with the following painting -
Salvador Dalí's 'The Persistence of Memory'
Who doesn't love Dalí? And who hasn't dreamed of having one of those awesome melting clocks? Well...

I've got one! It's cool. You cannot possibly deny that this is one super cool clock. And here's a side view, in case you wondered how that worked. It can hang fairly well off any flat surface, though it has come tumbling down once or twice. I originally wondered if it wouldn't take on a simple decorative function and would be impractical to actually tell time on, but it's really not problematic in the slightest. The numbers are so that it's still perfectly readable. Yay! I'm especially happy because I needed a clock anwyay.





Next, this tiny perler bead Gameboy ring.
Wanted because that's the kind of Gameboy I've got - the Atomic Purple Gameboy Color.
I don't actually wear a lot of rings. I've got skinny fingers so most rings one stumbles accross won't fit me, and I'm generally too cheap to go for the pricier variety, even if you can find those in more sizes or get them remade.
I intended to give a better view with the close up, but it's not actually that much bigger. Oh well.






And now a fun reminder that I am indeed a weird kid. I saw this clip-on bow and I needed it. I really like things with eyeballs on them, not sure why. I just do. Kinda reminds one of Tim Burton, doesn't it?
Not really the type of thing I'd be likely to wear to work, though.


Monday 3 September 2012

Alessandro

I wandered around the local Etos, browsing all the nail polish as I too so often do, when I stumbled upon Alessandro, a brand I can't say I've heard of before. They had several bigger bottles, but being unfamiliar with the brand I decided to try the cheaper 5 ml mini version. (Douglas carries the brand as well, but I don't venture there very frequently.)
I admit I have been toying with the idea of making the title for this post a Lady GaGa related one, since Alessandro keeps making me think of Alejandro.
Sadly, I have no name for the polish. I couldn't find a number that corresponded to the colour chart on the brand's website. Without further ado, here's pictures!
As a graphic designer, I can't really help judging anything by its cover; the same is true for nail polish. I must say that I love these bottles. The brush handle seems designed to give the idea of a better grip. Whereas the grip was fine, the same is true for smooth handles, so in effect it is more of a visual thing - and I like this visual thing.
I love the logo on top, too. That kind of thing really goes over very well with me as mentioned in the post with the new Essence bottles.
Two coats of polish and top coat.
 The polish itself seems fairly well pigmented, and I'd wager that on short nails you could get off with one generous coat. I also think it could lend itself to being used for stamping.
It's a good, solid polish with no detectable shimmer. I'm interested in trying more from the brand!

Have you tried Alessandro? Are you curious?