blog sale update and another franken.....

firstly i have updated my blog sale. i have added a HUGE number of extra polishes. i went through and culled them for space and i had a bunch that i have never even used!!! crazy huh but as a lot were eith doubles of dupe of another polish i have to get rid. check it out here.

noe here is a little franken for you. this polish is a combo of sally hansen emerald city and spectraflair.
it looks great! i toped it off with palm fronds from the dollish polish valley of the kings collection.
check it out!

Tara:)

The price of polish.....

Right i kind of need to get your help...I am trying to get a gauge of what some polishes are worth.
So if i said that i had a brand new bottle of say.......China Glaze OMG

that was brand new and not opened. what would it be worth? I am thinking of going through all my polishes and having a HUGE cull. I have a bunch of pretty and polished, Dollish polish and others  and i just do not know what they are worth.

here is another polish is have.....

This Floam...which to be honest i am getting a little bored with...i know how could i say that!!! i was going to sell also. the bottle is 1/2 full now so what price do i put on it???
any ideas??? I even have a few max factor fantasy fire polishes heading my way too
comment to let me know ok!!! this will really help me out

Tara:)

China Glaze Hunger Games swatches.

morning everyone! I have a few of the China Glaze Hunger Games swatches for you today.
I have never read the books or watches the movie....i'm not really interested with it. But i  AM interested with the polishes! well....some of them. I have seen most of them now and some of the polishes are great but some of them are a bit meh..
Here are the ones i liked and brought.
first up is stone cold.
I was pleasantly surprised with this polish. it is opaque with one coat and it is matte!
what i did not like was i could not put a top coat on without it getting the shiny finish and with only 1 coat it chipped within a few hours. You will have to excuse my short nails. i chipped 2 and thought what the heck i trim them all!
*note all polishes have a sally hansen base coat on.

Here is stone cold with a essence gel ous top coat. i love this polish matte and shiny!

Next is electrify, it took only 2 coats to get a good cover with this polish and boy oh boy did it look bright! the camera does not do it justice i put a coat of SV on top.

I thought i would pop a coat of chi chi matte top coat on to see what it looked like. apart from the fact even with a thick coat the matte polish cracked it did not look too bad. i soooo need to get a better matte top coat. i really do not like the chi chi one.

Next up is lux and lush. by itself it was a bit... meh. and even with two coats of SV it still felt rough. but i did put it on some other polishes the other day and it was more of ...MAAAAAAHH!! than ...meh.

Ok the last of my CG hunger games polishes was smoke and ashes. I was not 100% sure to buy this polish as i did not really neeeeeed another dark blackish polish but i am glad i brought it. You cannot really see well on the photo but this polish has a great blueish and purpleish micro glitter in it. i just love this polish.
believe it or not i have NO top coat on this polish.

Right. This next polish i made my self. i really wanted to get riveting. it looks fantastic a bright orangey red with gold flecks through it but when i brought these polishes it was sold out :( so i tried to make a similar one myself. i used a sally hansen xtreme in crushed and then orly sugar together. it is similar but it does not have the zazz that riveting has. i will have to keep an eye out for it.

So with all these polishes i thought i would have a go at making a polish ring. i used smoke and ashes and lux and lush. i managed to get some great sterling silver ring base and cabochon on ebay and had a go.
it did not turn out too bad!

 Well what do you think?

Tara:)

blog sale update!

just a quick one that i have added some extra polishes in my blog sale and dropped priced too.
check it out here!
Tara:)

very exciting mini haul!

Right! i have literally just got in the door from shopping in penrith today and i am so excited to share with you all!
check out what i grabbed today!

I was SO excited to see a essence display in Target!~i have been looking for blue addicted polish for ages as it is a dupe for a certain deb lip polish! and there is was staring me in the face. i almost wet myself!!!
Plus to make it even more gravy....they were all $2.55 and the clear top coat was $3.45
the colours i got were clear top coat xxxl shiny gel look,frozen queen,where is the party...which i might add reminds me so much of models own beetlejuice. make it golden,blue addicted and hard to resist.
i would have brought more but most of the colours were sold out. i was assured though that they will be getting more in !!!! Watch out target i want every colour in this range!!!

Next i stopped into blooms chemist. i was going in for some panadol for my 10 year old but they had a clearance bin and in it were mini orlys for $2.00 and full size for $5.95 they also had nail corrector pens,bonder dry drops along with a bunch of other orly stuff. this is in all blooms i was told. they have a bunch to get rid off. so the one on the left is cosmic kiss.
then off to priceline and picked up a sally hansen for $3.95 all the SH products are $3 off till the 23rd.
lastly and this was the BEST bargain of the day...... Big W they have $5.00 off all max factor so the minis came to a total 48cents each!! i kid you not! 48cents each!!!! if they had every colour left i would have brought them but they only had this colour and i use this on my tootsies so i got 2.

great haul huh!
i am promising myself i am not buying any more polishes next month. my mother in law is coming over from the UK in 2 weeks and she has got me 4 bottles of Max factor fantasy fire one which i plan to use in a bit of a giveaway soon, the new barry M croc effects and models own beetle juice trio.

tara:)

Franken P is for Poppy

Hello everyone,
Today i have another franken for you that i have made.
This franken i am thinking of actually selling as it turned out so well. I called it P is for poppy as...well it reminded me the colour of some poppies i have in my yard and  also my youngest daughter is called Poppy!. I know i am going to have to make a polish called Zoe now as my 10 year old will be harassing me that i have not made one in her name!!!
anyway this is a holographic polish, though i struggled to get the effect photographed. if any of know about spectraflair this is what i put in the bottle along with fine silver glitter and red pigment.
here are the pics....

As you can see it is a little rough due to the glitter but to be fair this was 2 coats and no top coat. with a top coat it will be a lot smoother!

What do you think? if anyone is interested in a mini bottle of this polish i will be making it to order for $5.00 a mini bottle. plus postage email me for more info.

Tara:)

KONADLICIOUS' $500 AWESOME 3,000 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY!!

Ok so i just love a giveaway or 2 but you just cannot beat the current giveaway that is over at VINTAGE MUSINGS.... OMG...let me repeat this for you OMG!!!! there is anything and everything up for giveaway
so go and check it out and do not miss out in all the fun and maybe even a prize or 2!!!!

Tara:)

Pretty and Polished Chelsea Chelsea Bling bling swatch and a blog sale update.

First things first i have updated my Blog sale here. I have added some pretty and polished polishes and also taken $1 off most of the other polishes. If you want to make me an offer on them feel free too. just email me!

Now for the swatch. another Pretty and polished polish.
Chelsea Chelsea Bling Bling.
I thought it looked lovely in the bottle and do not get me wrong it is a NICE polish! but i am just not a pink gal! if the colour is hot pink i might wear it but i found this a little to girly for me. I have added it to my blog sale.

I used my usual base coat and then 3 coats of the polish. it went on great and was not streaky at all.i did not put a top coat on this. i would have maybe liked a bit more glitter,but i am a bit of a magpie so i was happy with what was in the bottle. It did need a GOOD SHAKE though as i found a lot of the glitter had sunk to the bottom of the bottle.I did like how the pink had that gold shimmer in it when it was in the sunlight!!

All in all if i was not so much of a anti-pink gal i would certainly have kept this polish.

I have had mixed feelings so far with all the pretty and polished polishes that i have brought so far. I love the way they all go on the nail but some of the colours have not been what i expected.
There was the whole labor of love issue that the polish i got was not the colour that was advertised but i did contact pretty and polished and she was really helpful and has sent me a new bottle in the post so when that comes i will review too.
At the end of the day i do not care how much a polish costs as long as i get good service and the product is of good quality. and that was certainly the case with pretty and polished.
If you want any of their polished you can buy them here. I do also have a few for sale in my blog sale.

Tara:)

Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum swatch with a Chi Chi matte top coat..

Right! so i thought i would do a swatch today of Dollish Polish Expectro Patronum. But first things first.... i had to do my food shopping. and you would never believe it!....after my huge haul yesterday i managed to come home with another 5 nail polishes!!!!! SHHHHHHH!!! don't tell my hubby! ;)
Anyway while i was buying them i came across a great special for us aussies. Terry White chemists are getting rid of their Nicole by OPI range and they have them all at 1/2 price!!! yep $7.49 a polish!!! so i brought 2 i was after. Also while i was there they had a special on Ultra 3 polishes. buy 3 and get a free bottle of nail polish remover!!! Great offers! on top of that i went into priceline and they have $3.00 off all sally hansen products so i got Xtreme polish for $3.95 and the new gems for $6.95. yeah!........now can you see why i brought more polish today!!!

lastly i really wanted a matte top coat. i went into myer and they have 25% off Essie and buy one get one 50% off with Chi Chi so i got a bottle of chi chi matte top coat which i will review today.

Ok now i am sure none of you are reading on....you have all grabbed your car keys and heading off to your local shops!!! but i will keep going!

Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum. This was a colour i was not 100% sure about buying but my daughter Zoe ,who i might add is a big Harry Potter fan ,wanted me to get this polish.
And boy i am so glad i did!
I used my usual base coat of sally hansen base coat then did 3 coats of the polish.

I also used my CG fast forward top coat.

so i wanted to try out the new Chi chi matte top coat. i popped on 1 coat on top of my polish. here are the results.

I was not really happy with this product. with 1 coat it was streaky , kind of like a crackle effect. i think it may be the brush quality. then sure it looks matte but it did change the colour of my polish, and after i had washed my hands it was getting a satin kind of look to it. and it also had a really weird feel to it on my nail.
For a short term fix it is an ok product. but for$12.95.....i could have brought the essie one for $17.00

Tara :)

Oh What a Haul!!!!!!

I have been waiting patiently for a few weeks for some post to arrive from USA. firstly i purchased some polishes from Dandy nails blog sale. i did quite well i think. plenty of polishes to swatch and i managed to get a bunch of the new hunger games polishes!

then i needed some more fast forward and managed to grab 2 bottles and some xmas china glaze polishes from ebay!

The after seeing a post on another blog about finding the CG OMG collection in bankstown i scanned the net and rang the bankstown pro supply store and asking if they had any left. they had OMG,2NITE and DV8! and all $6 each! they even posted them to me!!! thanks so much Bankstown pro nail supply go check them out!!!!

Last but not least the most anticipation polishes....Dollish polish! this was a big one check it out!!! i really have to thank Dolly so much for helping me out with this order. thanks dolly. you can find her etsy store here. just keep checking back when she will be open again as her polishes sell out FAST!!!!

I have a LOT of swatches to do.
and don't forget my blog sale i will be adding to it soon with some dollish polishes and also some pretty and polishes as i now have the large bottles i no longer need the minis.

Tara:)

Franken polish- bella's blood,Zombie yawn and bend and snap

I have finally finished the last of the frankens i was having a go at.and i am quite pleased with them. Zoe helped me name them.
First up i have bella's blood. zoe named this because....1...... she is twilight mad...... and ...... she says that bellas blood would sparkle just like Edwards skin now!

This polish does settle but i popped a few ball bearing in and with a good shake up looks great. i used pearl ex macro pearl pigment, red micro glitter in a clear base.

You can see the really fine red glitter in the polish and because it is sheer it looks great over black! this is 3 coats.and no top coat.

Oh and BTW how good are my cuticles looking!! finally getting better thanks to lush's lemony flutter!!!!!

Next up is bend and snap.
Zoe named this after legally blonde as this is just the polish Elle would wear!
This polish is a duo coloured polish as the pigment i used is pearl ex pink-blue pigment colour shift. thee is also silver micro glitter and flakies(from opi lilly love you) in this polish. this is 2 coats with no top coat.

I tried the best i could with a daylight globe to get the duo colors showing . it is almost dark outside so no luck with the sun i am afraid!

Last  up is Zombie Yawn. Zoe loves Shawn of the dead and one of her favorite sayings from this movie is zombie yawn so that was what she named this greeny gold polish!
I used green/gold duo pigment for this with gold sparkle glitter base.
I did 2 coats with this as well and no top coat.

I really like this polish! the gold really stands out in the sun!

I made up 2 bottles of all my frankens and labeled them with the ingredients.
I am going to have a blog sale tonight so if you like any of these polishes or the super hot icy slide that i swatched the other day i will be selling 1 of each.
so check it out ok!
Tara:)

Pretty and Polished Swing swatch.

Here we are with another swatch from pretty and polished.
This swatch is for Swing.

Ok again do not look at my cuticles they are a work in progress, you almost need to wear a hard hat around them!!LOL!!
Swing really surprised me. i love the look in its bottle but when i put it on over 1 coat of sally hansen base coat i was not convinced. by the second coat i was in love with it! the reddish pink really came out and i found it not too hard to get bits of hex out of the bottle to place on my nails. i think over a reddish pink pair of undies i think it would really look dramatic. I will be defiantly be wearing this again!!!

Tara:)

creme egg mani....thanks cosmetic cupcake!

I was surfing the blogs the other day and what should pop up but a great mani done by Michelle over at cosmetic cupcake big up to her as she is a fellow aussie and when i saw her mani i just had to have a go!

real light! 

daylight globe.

I used revlon royal, revlon love that red, opi mummy knows best, and ultra3 honalulu. 

I had such a great time doing this mani so thank you so much cosmetic cupcake for sharing this mani. Michelle is SO talented!!!! and i also have to give her a HUGE thanks for her advice on nail care. i went out and got myself some lemony flutter from lush yesterday and 3 applications later i cannot believe the difference in my cuticles! this stuff is like a miracle!!!!

Tara:)

Super hot icy slide franken polish with a very valentino topper.

Hello there everyone! i have been at it again and making some frankens.
This franken i am going to show you today is called Super hot icy slide.......do you know what movie it is from?
....
....
....
Blades of glory! i love that movie, anything with will Ferrell in is GOLD!

anyway i made this polish up with some green/blue duo mica pigment and a bottle of silver glitter ultra 3 glitter top coat. it worked out well as the glitter base was a suspension base and the pigment did not settle.

Now before i share with you the pics please do not look at my cuticles and general hand condition. with a combo of bleach and detergent the other day my hands have gone dry and yuck!! if anyone knows of something to get them back into condition that i can buy in Australia PLEASE i beg you comment me. i ham using clarins hand cream and sally Hansen cuticle treatment and nothing is working...whaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
ok here are the pics.

My polish painting is crap too it was a late night and i was tired but you get the idea of the colour. this is 1 coat over opi black polish. and a coat of fast forward top coat. i love how the green and blue do stand out with this duo though i was inside when taking it so lighting is an issue. as i get better at taking the pics i hope they turn out better.
once i had done this polish i wanted to cover up the mess i made with the black undercoat so i got out my new pretty and polished very Valentino.
i have to say it goes on well and i was quite happy with the coverage i have 1 coat of very Valentino on.

 Tara :)

Blue nails for Autism Awareness day

OK. If you know me and my family, you will know that my oldest daughter is Autistic. Not the autistic that you see with some kids these days,and if you excuse the frankness , the kids that...if they were better parented and taken of a bunch of crap food and lollies these kids would not act like they do....... but i am talking about  AUTISM.
 My daughter Zoe is Autistic.
 She did not speak till she was 4 1/2 ...i will never forget her first word. It was 'Flower'i think i cried when she said it. i get a tear in my eye just writing about that moment. While she was little Zoe just use to either stare into space, be obsessed with the TV or be screaming the place down. she never babbled, pointed at things or clapped. She never said mamamama or dadadada, looked you straight in the eye, or wanted to play with other kids. Honestly we thought she was deaf. she even had her brain stem checked out! But at 3 she was diagnosed with Autism.
Do not get me wrong. I am so grateful to have Zoe just the way she is. She is SOOOO funny! she has the wickedest sense of humor,very adult for her age and boy oh boy,is it a black humor!
 As soon as she was diagnosed i gave up work and have taught her as much as i could,she has had so many specialists and speech therapists etc you would not believe. and now she can talk you crazy! she doesn't shut up! She does not always make sense but i am happy she is as 'normal' as she can be. Zoe even started a normal school with a special teacher 3 years ago.
She  has good days and bad but is coping fairly well.
The one thing Zoe is, is honest! she will say what she thinks. i suppose this is because our kids as so literal! And i think this is to her advantage, but kids do give her a hard time because of it.
Saying that, With the other health issues Zoe has i am quite grateful she does take everything so literal. Zoe has a spine issue which she has to wear a back brace 20 hours a day and she also has irlen syndrome, and a really bad anxiety disorder. so she freaks out at the smallest thing.but if we say something to her she takes it and does not argue.
Anyway enough about Zoe, lets talk about Autism awareness day. it is all about Blue!!! even the opera house is getting the blue treatment tonight! so for this reason i painted my nails blue this morning.
I got out my sally hansen blue polish and my opi last friday night and splashed a bit of colour around!
check it out.

 Excuse the cuticles they are horrible at the moment, if anyone can tell me what to do to get them better please let me know. no amount of cuticle oil and hand cream seem to help :(
so if you are feeling in the mood paint your nails sometime this month blue for autism. i know Zoe wants her nails blue all month!!!
Tara:)
(sorry about the long winded post...)