a-england Fated Prince

This is a simple mani I was wearing in the middle of preparing for garage sales. The last of my beautiful a-englands I had yet to swatch / wear. I really think it is a shame that a england no longer ships worldwide. I know you can get the elsewhere, but it is not the same!

The base is two coats of Fated Prince (Burne-Jones collection). A beautiful holographic grey. a-england always has such a smooth velvety texture. And this holo really shines! I decided to add some purple glitter (inspired by someone out there who had just worn purple glitter).

But first I applied a coat of Pretty & Polished 7 Year Lich. This is a great black and grey glitter. Of course, it would look better on a lighter base! The glitter has a slightly clear grey base with black and grey bar and round glitter pieces. Then, I topped with a nice purple hex glitter from Orly (Can't be Tamed).

Top coat sealed the deal. Pretty simple, but almost elegant looking. So far today all I have really done is clean out our kitchen and my studio. I lost a polish!!! I thought it may have dropped behind my polish shelves, so moving that started a domino effect of cleaning. And stock take:

glitters = 36; Pretty & Polished = 8; Layla = 9; Zoya = 16; Essie = 4; Nfu Oh = 4; a-england = 8; piCture Polish = 11 (really 12); butter london = 7; Ozotic = 3; Cult Nails = 2; China Glaze = 40; OPI = 58; Orly = 11; Nostalgic Lacquer = 7; CND = 4; and lots of singlettes.



But did not find my missing piCture pOlish. Perhaps George played with it and it is under a sofa somewhere....

Anzac Day 2014

Anzac Day. Am a bit unsure if you can wish someone a happy Anzac Day. Seems inappropriate. But I guess you could wish a happy holiday weekend. That is what it will be as Friday is a public holiday followed by the weekend. Was very busy this avo getting passport photos and my authorized signatures on my NZ citizenship application. Of course, it will be months until I am a citizen, but all the papers get couriered off to Wellington Monday morning!!! The passport photos are ick-o, totally bad lighting and she kept asking me to pull my hair back more as the camera thought my hair was the background or something. Not her fault, stupid criteria. Then all of a sudden it went click and she's printing! Oh well, eventually NZ passports are B/W!!!

I was supposed to be at Ripponburn this avo but they forgot about me! I arrived with all my stuff only to find a totally empty room. I knew I wasn't that early. But Frankie is off this week and no one knew about it so nothing happened. That is when I decided to get my authorized signatures and photos taken care of. To the mani!

The base is a big mix of gradiented colours. I started with two coats of Nfu Oh 93, a sheer blue jelly. Then I sponged on some greens (Layla and Indigo Bananas) and a bit of peach (Essie). I wanted a sky-grass type background. With a bit of sparkle! I top coated before continuing. This is really pretty on its own. A tad pale, so I would do another coat of Nfu Oh as a base. But the blue and green sponge looks good.

Then I drew some poppies and filled them in three stages with a poppy red, pink and rust to add depth. Oh, and the leaves got some green. When all was done, more top coat. In town today I was also wearing my poppy necklace so it was a bit of poppy overkill!! But I wanted the ladies to see the pendant and so was prepared for Ripponburn.

No idea if the Mr is off Anzac or not. All the vineyards are big into harvest right now and grapes have priority. But, since Anzac Day is a public holiday employers need to pay staff more – if they can, they let you stay home! If I am alone I plan on working on my new website design for my jewelry and nail studio. I have a mani client in the afternoon. Then Saturday is garage sale all day and depending on if the Mr works Sunday or not I will start cleaning up the café for departure.

We have a couple of weeks for that but would like to get rid as soon as possible. So much to cancel out: phone, internet, EftPOS. Need the electrician in. Just heaps, but one day at a time. We are in a good spot timewise. On top of all this my girl is going through heartbreak right now. It doesn't look good, the guy is just not fronting up and stringing her along. Nothing anyone can do, but it hurts that she hurts. We (meaning everyone but her) all know it will pass and her life is so much bigger, but right now she only sees despair and dead ends.

right hand

Thanks for reading the blah-blah stuff! Colours used:

blue base: Nfu Oh 93
green base: Layla Grass in the Wind and Indigo Bananas EMS Recombination
peach base: Essie Resort Fling
poppy red: Zoya Sooki
poppy pink: Essie Raise Awareness
poppy rust: Kyo Kyo burnt orange
leaves: Cult Nails Deal with It

China Glaze Agro in skittlette with hearts

What a total hectic of a time it has been! And it is still not over. There are so many things I want to write about; for those who follow and myself for future reads. Time just gets way from me from day to day. It has been over a week since my last post, and my FB pages are pretty bleak as well. But I know things will be looking up soon and I will be back on the social marketing bandwagon!

This was the mani I was rocking for my first craft faire on Easter weekend (blog to follow on that as well). I fact, I wore it a couple of days before and after. The base is two coats of China Glaze Agro. Love this green - perfect autumn shade. I decided to do an AABBC skittlette, leaving Agro alone on the AAs. I had made some wee bracelets with a heart and Agro as a background, so I recreated this on my nails.

The hearts were drawn asymmetrically and are in Ozotic 502 Sands. The duochrome shifts from gold to brick red to brown through copper. Very earthy. The pinky received a coat of CG Electrify - also from the Hunger Games collection. A very Katniss look – in fact, I made a ring for the craft faire (just for fun).

right hand

Since I last wrote I have had two garage sales at the café, with one more to go this Saturday. I never had so much business! But you would not believe the amount of work involved getting all the old (bought with café) cr*p down from the attic areas and put out on tables. It was massive! Our fault for not insisting she (landlady-preowner) clean out her junk before selling. But I was wide-eyed and anxious for my fantastic wine bistro plan! Dumb. There are still things to do, all very overwhelming at the moment. But we had good sales and some big ticket items are gone.

just part of a massive massive pile

Then in the midst of all this the film society had their members only night (and final night of the season). I got yellow flowers!! All a tad emotional and I got a bit teary eyed. So sad to see the venue go - seemed perfect for the film nights. Generally sad to see the venue go.

There is another mani to post, and with Anzac day tomorrow I am working on my mani for that. And Ripponburn today. Also, getting my paperwork together to apply for NZ citizenship hopefully Monday (yeah, big yeah!!). May have a mani client tomorrow (need to get my studio up and running - have secured web domains, need business cards....). I "rewarded" myself with a small polish buy. Just because, I felt like it. Some indies from overseas.

Bye girls! Thanks for being a part of my wild ride!

Crackle ... and pop: CND Dark Lava

First off I will apologize for the poor state of my cuticles and hands. All I seem to be doing is packing, unpacking, tossing and pulling my hair out! And when I get nervous or feel too overwhelmed, I will revert to hang nail picking. Bad me. The base of this a beautiful new shade (for me) from CND called Dark Lava. It is a deep raisin.

It is a tad difficult to photograph in normal lighting. It is a deep plum red, reminiscent to OPI Germanicure. The base is two full coats topped with CND topper. Very shiny, and a good fall-winter colour. I am liking the CND polishes. They are smooth and velvet thick, cover well, no need for base coat, and last a good week. At the end of the mani I had to do cuticle clean-up as the deep plum needs to be as accurate as possible - don't want it looking messy.

My idea was to add a crackle to give the nail visual texture. So, one coat of OPI black crackle. Then, I decided to dig out my acrylics for a change and mixed up a purple tone (red and blue and white). Drew some random flowers and added some green dots.

The crackle took away all the shine and I top coated with Out the Door before drawing the flowers. Then I top coated again, and again. Really hard to photograph the texture. Very subtle, as the raisin is so dark. But it is there.

right hand

The next days in my world will be very full. I am still engulfed in putting café items together for the garage sale on Easter Sunday-Monday. What a massive undertaking. When we bought the café there was heaps of junk in the attic areas from previous owners. The owner we bought it off of was totally non-interested in cleaning out (just in our money!). At the time (my fault) we were too anxious to get in and go. So, sorting through that. I have a friend who helps and the Mr is doing a good share when he can (but super busy harvesting grapes right now).
Then, due in part to my accident and in the local shop purchasing my goods (!), I am in major design mode to get jewelry together for the craft faire this Saturday. Should all work out well, but sometimes it gets overwhelming. Feel behind on my etsy and fb work as well.
Then 2, I have Ripponburn Thursday avo and our last film night, the members only night, of the society for this year. Last film on the season and in the venue. Lots going on right now. I think the world will look different – and feel better – in a week's time.

My Ripponburn ladies 6:14

With a sad heart I have to let you all know that Ivy is gone. She passed away about four days after my visit. Lilian said "with beautiful nails!".  It all went very quickly. That is probably best. She was in my original gang of three, and now only Lilian is left. Lilian is very sad as she and Ivy were good friends. She feels a bit lonely. Lilian saved me the remembrance write-up and that is now pinned on my studio wall. I will miss Ivy. She was one of my favourites. I liked her.

lilian

nellie

gladys

My main girl Frankie was out so another lady was with me, and I had a smaller group it seemed. Lilian started as she missed out last time. Can you believe I forgot top coat?! Well, it was all OK except that Gladys could have used some top coat on her glitter mani to make it shine. And Nellie didn't want anything new as she was still rocking the mani from last time! Imagine! I have to say, it looked pretty good, too.

helly

doris

Helly loved what we did last time – but we never do the same again! She got similar instead! Doris could not decide and seemed very insecure on this day. So we went with a simple pink. Sometimes you just have to play safe.

joan the 2nd

ida

joan

Both Ida and Joan the 2nd had the same mani. Ida wanted something different but I was creating Joan's and knew Ida would love this. This is a stunning combo - rose pink duochrome with glitter on top. Very elegant. Main Joan wanted pink again and I said no. She had that last time and she was dressed all in autumn colours so she got copper – but only one coat, "nothing flashy". Too much!

margaret

dorothy

nameless blue

Margaret couldn't decide AT ALL. Got very flustered but I talked her through swatches and we decided on another autumnal look. Greens and golds. Nice. Then Dorothy, who had had visitors, "drove" in to the room in time for a mani! Lucky her. She got the same glitter as Margaret. The last lady will remain nameless as I have forgotten. First she didn't want anything, then she did. Still really don't know if she wanted a mani, but she got a blue one! And was smiling!
I go back on Thursday before Easter. So, soon. Sorry for the delay in posting this, have been very busy with life and stuff. But soon all will be good!

Mani breakdowns:
Lilian: one coat Chalkboard Black, one coat Nfu Oh 49
Nellie: (kept old mani) two coats OPI No Room for the Blues, one coat NL Rollin' with the Homies
Gladys: two coats OPI Thanks a Windmillion, one coat Nostalgic Lacquer You Oughta Know
Helly: two coats OPI Red-Y for Anything, one coat CG Make a Spectacle
Doris: one coat Orly Artificial Sweetener
Joan 2: two coats CG Swanky Silk, one coat OPI You Glitter be Good to Me
Ida: two coats CG Swanky Silk, one coat OPI You Glitter be Good to Me
Joan: one coat OPI Sprung
Margaret: one coat OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, one coat CG I Herd That
Dorothy: one coat Color Club Model Behavior, one coat CG I Herd That
Blue lady: one coat CG Want my Bawdy, one coat CG Make a Spectacle