Artsy Wednesday - Movember

The men I work with have been right into Movember this year. It's been like working on the set of a bad 70s porn movie. I will be very glad when they all shave as I have been finding it hard to take them seriously when they look so silly.

Today I've used Models Own - Jade Stone as my base colour and a permanent marker for the stache.

Check out the other Movember Manis from the Artsy Wednesday girls

Lab Muffin

Pretty Purple Polish

Maria's Nail Art

POLiSHED*GENiUS

Unnaked Nails

Nail and Polish

Beauty Gnome

An Accent Nail

Valiantly Varnished

Review: Neutrogena Deep Moisture Butter Cream

Neutrogena Deep Moisture Butter Cream

For: Extra Dry Hands
Volume: 56g
Price: $9.99
Claim To Fame: Turns dry hands into 'touchable hands'. Non greasy after feel.
Scent: Cocoa Butter.
Texture: Thick and voluptuous. Softly holds its shape but slides off your hand if you tilt it.

Application:
Initial: This cream absorbs quickly when massaged into hands. My hands don't appear dry afterwards and feel soft. Absorbs so quickly that a good cuticle massage is difficult. My hands and nails are left feeling slightly tacky, almost sticky.
10 minutes: My hands no longer feel tacky but my palms and fingers are a bit slippery. Skin on the back of the hand feels and looks soft and smooth. There is a matte quality to the skin.

Verdict:
This cream has been in my little handbag (as opposed to my bigger work bag) for awhile and I've finally finished it. It provides a nice, long lasting moisturizing effect that does indeed make my hands look touchable. The initial tackiness I experienced does fade and my hands felt protected and smooth.

I would consider buying this again.

Artsy Wednesday - Jelly Sandwich

This week for Artsy Wednesday we are trying the jelly sandwich manicure.

 

 A jelly sandwich manicure is when you put a layer of glitter polish in between two layers of a jelly polish. I generally don't tend to wear this style of mani as I like the shininess of the glitter on it's own. I also don't own a lot of jelly polishes.

 

For this manicure I used two coats of Ulta 3 - Frog Prince, one coat of Glimmer by Erica - Punky Patty and one coat of a jelly I frankened for the occasion. I mixed a few drops of Essence - Gel-Look topcoat with one drop of China Glaze - Entourage. On it's own Entourage was just too opaque so I thinned it down with the clear topcoat.

 

I like this look but I still prefer shiny glitter :)

 

Check out the (way better) jelly sandwiches from the other Artsy Wednesday contributors:

 

Lab Muffin

Pretty Purple Polish

Maria's Nail Art

POLiSHED*GENiUS

Unnaked Nails

Nail and Polish

Beauty Gnome

An Accent Nail

Valiantly Varnished

 

Lust Have It - November 2012

Today I received my Lust Have It pack for November! It sure seemed to arrive quickly this month.

The LHI Facebook feed has been packing with interesting things this week and I loved the warehouse sneak peaks and newsletter. Well done LHI!

Now on to the goodies.

 

This month I received:

ModelCo:

Fibre Lashxtend Mascara

Full size

 

 

This is a new release product that claims to give a false lash effect. It has a handy little mirror on the back of the tube. This product applies easily and the brush separates the lashes perfectly. I like this a lot and will definitely use it.

Evodia:

Coconut and Lime Roll On Fragrance

15ml full size

 

 

This cute little fragrance is a good size to fit in your bag. I got the Coconut and Lime variety but there was also a SummerTime and a Mango and Pink Grapefruit version. This has a pleasing scent that makes me want a Pina Colada. I would have likely chosen one of the other varieties if I had chosen this for myself. Anyone want to swap?

 

A buy one get one free voucher was included for the Evodia website.

GKMBJ:

One Minute Treatment

30g mini

 

 

A one minute hair treatment that claims to repair, restructure, nourish and moisturise hair. I think scent is really important with hair products and this one has a chemical, sunscreen odour. This may be a fantastic product but I don't really want my hair to smell like that.

Aviva Inspires:

Skin Glow Light Tan Extender

30ml mini

 

 

I don't use sunless tanning products. I find that once they've been on my skin longer than a couple of hours they develop an odour I find unpleasant. Does anyone else get this?

Star & Rose:

Hologram Tweezer

Full size

 

 

The soap roses from last month may have been a bit of a dud but these cute tweezers are great. They have a shiny shiny pattern and a good grip. I tidied up my brows with these today and they did a nice job of grasping even very short hairs.

Everything came packaged in another purple make up bag. The product card says that this is the last month that we will get the bags, with a new range of collectible packaging out next month.

I feel that there is a good amount of value this month, even if I won't use all the products. What do you think? What did you receive this month?

Ulta3 - Earl Grey

There's a reason why this polish has a cult following. This is a very flattering neutral shade. A mushroomy, taupey bottle of loveliness that I gave up looking for in the ulta3 bins and then found when I was looking for something else.

Who can pass up a polish this beautiful, especially at the bargain price of $2? Certainly not me.

Ozotic: 505

I can't believe I haven't posted about this polish before! This is my hands down favourite shade of my entire collection. This uninspiringly named offering is from the multichrome masters at Ozotic.

This is a true multichrome, shifting from deep green through to blue, purple and even pinkish and goldish tones at an extreme angle. It is the most beautiful polish I own.

505 requires black or 'almost always looks black' underwear to show its true beauty. I usually apply two coats to make the colours appear more intense.

Like a lot of multichromes this is quite difficult to photograph well. There are plenty of blogs out there with better pictures than these ones but I think I've at least given a hint of 505's gorgeousness.

This polish was tragically discontinued recently and is no longer available from Picture Polish, although they have many other lovely shades.

What is your all time fav polish?

Artsy Wednedsay - Drag Marble

One of the great things about being a part of the Artsy Wednesday group is being pushed to try techniques you'd usually avoid because they seem a bit difficult. Also, it gives me another excuse to play with my polishes.

This week we are trying out drag marbling. I used Cult - Vicious and Models Own - Lilac Dream to create my mani. I painted a thick coat of each colour onto half of a nail, then swirled with a toothpick until I was happy with the effect. I think it turned out alright but I probably won't try this again.

Check out the marbled manis from the other contributors to Artsy Wednesday

 

Lab Muffin

Pretty Purple Polish

Maria's Nail Art

Unnaked Nails

Nail and Polish

Beauty Gnome

An Accent Nail

Valiantly Varnished

Artsy Wednesday - Creative Crackle

When I saw the theme for this week I was a bit dismayed. Crackle?! oh no. I'm really not a fan of crackle nail polish. I have a bottle that I've used once and then never had the desire to use again. Creative for me is actually using my crackle polish.

In the spirit of making the best of things and not neglecting even the unloved polishes my stash I got 'cracking' and created a pastel rainbow underneath black crackle. It's not really that creative but it's the best I could do.

I'm sure all the other bloggers did a way better job than I did today. Check out their creative crackle manis.

 

 

Lab Muffin

Pretty Purple Polish

Maria's Nail Art

POLiSHED*GENiUS

Unnaked Nails

Nail and Polish

Beauty Gnome

An Accent Nail

Valiantly Varnished