★Christmas Giveaway★

*Throws snow at all of your faces*
*Apologises for getting a chunk of ice in your eye*

Christmas is almost here!  And do you guys know what that means? Cookies, booze and GIVEAWAY TIME!  And on top of that this is our (almost) 200th POST!  We were actually going to have 2 different prizes but due to complications we only have one.  But that just means we'll probably have to have another giveaway early in the new year!

One person will win 3 Butter London Polishes!  Wallis, West End Wonderland and Pillar Box Red!

(because proof that things like this are new and still factory sealed is nice)

Here are the rules:
1) This giveaway is international BUT if you live somewhere where shipping polish is a problem please DO NOT ENTER.
2) Don't cheat.  All your entries will be deleted.  And we do check everything carefully.
3) This giveaway will end in approximately 2 weeks.  We will announce the winner on December 11th.  You will have 24 hours to respond. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Deborah Lippmann - Razzle Dazzle: This might be my shortest post ever.

Gorgeous red glitter in a raspberry base.  Went on in 2 easy coats.  Tip wear within began within the first 24 hours.  Bummer.

In other news who's ready for a giveaway?!

 Look at how she sparkles.

With this Butter London polish on, I feel like a pretty Posh Bird.

So I recently got a tax return.  A big tax return.  And a little promotion at work.  So I let myself spend some money on evilbay.  Not a lot, but enough to treat myself to some new pretties.  I'm pretty good at getting great deals, and I picked up this baby along with another new BL, that you'll see soon, for less than $10 each including shipping.  I also picked up Slapper, a sexy teal which is currently on my toes, for about $12 including shipping.  But enough bragging about my eBay sniping skills...  Onto the polish!

Posh Bird is exactly the kind of colour I usually hate.  It's that Chanel Paradoxal-ish(UGLIEST COLOUR IN THE WORLD) purple-y grey, but this is more purple and less weird and awful.  It has an amazing silver shimmer that brings it to life, and it's nice and neutral so it'll flatter a variety of skin tones.  I don't know why I love this but I do.  The first swatch I saw, I knew she would be mine, and she's even better in person.  This is probably the classiest polish I own.  I think I'll be reaching for this baby a lot when I have fancy places to go.  It's so gorgeous.  I die.

On another note... I hate swatching Butter London because the bottles are hard to hold nicely.  But the formula was absolutely to die for, so that made up for it.

This is two thinner coats with Butter London hardwear topcoat.

What am *I* thankful for??? ALL THE THINGS.

So I also did a "What Am I Thankful For?" guest post for Veronica at Gorgeois this week!  As John Green would say, "Link in the doodly-doo!" (Points for anyone who gets that, DFTBA!) 

There's also a mini-announcement contained in that post, so head on over there and see what I'm doing in the not-so-near future(almost exactly three weeks! Goodness!)...

So instead of doing a little mini list of things I'm NOT thankful for, like Kas did, I'm going to give you a list of things I AM thankful for that I didn't do my mani on...

- The gorgeous view of treetops outside my family's new apartment.

- Harry Potter.

- William Shakespeare.

- Musicals.  Especially ones that make me laugh and cry and laugh and cry.

- Getting snail mail.

- My now pretty finely honed bullshit detector.

- Yoga.

- Having a roof over my head, food on my table, and change in my pocket.

- Having enough extra change in my pocket to be able to give a little bit back.

- The fact that THERE IS NO MORE TWILIGHT.  IT'S FINISHED.  DING DONG, etc.

So what did I do my mani on?  Squint away....

Seriously, how did she do it???

So the same person who gifted me with Nein! Nein! Okay Fine! also gave me this beauty.  This, on the other hand, was one I definitely would've picked up myself when I found it solo.  I was pretty in love from the swatches I saw, so I knew that one day it would be mine.

So, onto the important stuff:  You Glitter Be Good To Me is part of OPI's breast cancer duo this year.  Part of the reason I didn't want to buy the duo is because the proceeds go to Komen, whose policies I'm generally not wild about.  I guess some shops are already splitting them up, because she found this one and knew it was perfect for me.  Glad she did!

It's a mix of large magenta hexes and small pale pink ones.  In the bottle, like a lot of others have previously noted, it's not terribly impressive.  But on the nail it's a totally different story.  It's hard to capture on film, but it looks almost like pink armour.  Even my dad stopped me to check out my nails as I took photos.  MY DAD.  Kas knows what a ridiculous deal this is.

This is three coats, and I should've use more careful application, but even with my fast messiness it still applied nicely.  I think this would layer really well, and I can see this being a great jelly sandwich filler. I know my ring finger looks funny, I'm actually not sure how that happened, but it looked normal in person, go figure!

The last photo is the most accurate, I'd say!

EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!! NO! CEL-E-BRATE!!!

Celebrate 500 followers!
Woot thank you everyone! Here's to another 500 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 more!

Now just a quick post so we can all get back to celebratory drinking.

I wore these Dalek inspired nails for a show I did that involved Doctor Who(I do a lot of those don't I?).  While I have already done Dalek inspired nails these ones in my opinion look 1 000 000 times cooler.  One of my male friends who thinks my love of nails is crazy and is always rolling his eyes at me actually called these nail "gorgeous".  Victory!

All I used was OPI's You Don't know Jacques Suede, OPI's Black Onyx, striping tape, microbeads, and rhinestones.  I have had this on for 5 days so far.  No chipping, or even tip wear :).

Now we can party!

PS. We will have a giveaway soon enough.  And you had better have a favourite member of Take That :P

Wherein people know me better than I know myself...

So I didn't buy anything from the OPI German collection.  After a cursory glance at swatches there wasn't much interest and I didn't feel like throwing any money at it.

But then, as is often now the case, someone gave me a bottle of polish(As a gift for baking them cookies, how sweet!), and they proved that sometimes people know you better than you know yourself. 

Nein! Nein! Nein! Okay Fine! is an olive-y grey colour that I didn't think was too exciting until I actually put it on my nails.  Now we're in love.  It's so oddly flattering and wonderful!  I can see myself pulling this out for classy occasions.  It's just really cool.  This is two easy coats

I hate the name, though.  I think it was Kas who said it sounds creepy.  And it does.

What am I thankful for? Guess.

If you said any of the following things you would be wrong:

• Hard drugs
• The sound of drums
• Most wars (Seriously if all Westeros weren't at war where would I get my fix?)
• Bugs
• The Twilight Saga
• The fall of the Roman empire
• The fall of the dinosaurs
• The future uprising of the dinosaurs as they rise from the depths of hell.  After many years underground then have returned...as dragons.  We will bow to our new overlords.  Seas will rise, cities will fall.  Earth will no longer belong to us.  And eventually we will be nothing.  Just dust.  The dragon have won.  Zeus, was sad.
• Grus (But I think this is something we can all agree on).

Anyways it you want to see what I'm actually thankful for go over and check my post over at Gorgeois!  Veronica(Who has guest blogged for us before) was kind enough to let me do a guest post!  Thank you! 

If you want a sneak peak squint away!

My Imaginary Boyfriend Scales The Walls.

I don't have a boyfriend.  But if I did, I can't think of a much better one than Spiderman.  I've loved the past few Spiderman ficks(especially the last one... Andrew Garfield UNF) and I'm just getting into the comics(how I made it through college without them I have no idea, all the boys in my program were obsessed).  So I was pretty bummed when most of the colours in the OPI Spiderman collection were a bit of a bust.  Aside from the two Chanel dupes, I wasn't too interested.

But, somewhere in my search for a kickass white, I picked up My Boyfriend Scales The Walls.  He's not perfect, but he'll do the trick.  This is two coats on most fingers, three on my index because I bumped it.  It doesn't level out as well as I'd like and the formula will take some work, but overall I'm happy.  And I like that the little bit of grey makes it not so stark.

He's cute enough, he'll do the trick.

Ooooh, Almost Paradise...

So if you read my first few posts here, you know that Kas and I aren't really fans of Deborah Lippmann polishes due to their propensity to... How do I put it?  Chip like CRAZY.  Well, I decided to give her another chance.

So I love Footloose.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  I love the original movie, I love the musical, and damnit... I enjoyed the remake kinda sorta.  Not as much as the original, but you know what?  Stop hating on it, Footloose lovers, it was fun and I loved the newer takes on all the music!  Absolutely adored the new versions of Holding Out For A Hero, Footloose, and... Almost Paradise.

So when I saw that Deborah Lippmann was doing a footloose collection, I'll admit I was tempted.  But then I realised that the only one that I really liked was Almost Paradise.  But... With that Lippmann formula and crazy price tag, I didn't bite.

But then.... Someone emailed me to swap, and right there on their list, there it was!  I bit, they bit and now I own this lovely, perfect pistachio green polish.  I am in love, for real.  It's so flattering on me, I can't believe it.

It's been on for nearly 24 hours and nary a chip.. Won't be able to do a wear test, but we'll see!

This is three thin coats(two thicker coats would be okay) with Zoya Armor and seche vite(because BUBBLING HOLY HELL), Photos taken in natural light in the shade.

Sinful Colors: Secret Admirer

This is going to be a short one!

This is one of the many swatches that sits on my laptop.  Until the day comes when I am willing to share them with the world.

I wore this sometime in October for the first time.  I bought it when I was in NYC for 49 cents at <some drugstore you have in abundance...Walgreens maybe?>.  SA is a black polish with fine black glitter.  Isn't he pretty (yes, it's a he).  It was 2 easy coats. And I decided to put a little glittery ghost stickers on my thumbs just because I'm crazy like that.

ALSO my nails from the other day didn't go to waste!  I ended up going out the next day and keeping it on so the rest of the world did get to see them!

 An unusual amount of my photos came out blurry.  Maybe I was drinking.

Boo!

Lest We Forget

Wasted Funky French

Do you ever do you nails, and they look all pretty, and then the plans you had for that night get cancelled.

This is the story of those nails.

Well there really is no story.  Stuff happens so I had to cancel my plans.  So I'll just stay at home on this Sunday eve.  I may have a beer and eat seaweed snacks and catch up on the X Factor UK.  Like a grown up.

Oh and I used OPI's Black Onyx and Just Spotted The Lizard.  As well as both scotch and striping  tape.

Has your weekend been more eventful then mine so far?

NoH8 x2

So here's the second NoH8 post today, this time from me.

Bullying is never okay.  Bullying is one of the most base and ignorant things a person can do.  To bring others down for your own enjoyment is nothing short of reprehensible.

Like many other people, bullying has been a major part of my life.  I have no memory of a time in school when I wasn't badly bullied.  Many times, the people I cared about did nothing and watched while people hurt me, made me feel worthless, and treated me like garbage.  This is not to be accusatory, more to point out how difficult it can be to see someone hurting and know that if you step in, you could be next.

I nearly flunked out of high school.  I don't know if I've ever really admitted that, but there it is.  I nearly didn't graduate.  I had a failing average for two semesters.  I was so afraid to go to class that there were days when I would sit in the girls' bathroom all day long, just on the floor waiting for the end of the day.  I missed 29 days of science in grade 10, out of 50-something.  I wouldn't have to see my bullies that way.  I would go to the library across the street, or I would wait until my parents left the house and then sneak back in, quiet as a mouse, only emerging later pretending to come in through the back door.  I would make myself sick sometimes to avoid classes, and there were days I'd call in sick to my after school job at a grocery store because I was afraid of being followed there.  Once, my mom and I were driving somewhere and a group of students from my school pulled up in a car next to us and started screaming insults and curse words at me.  I didn't even know those kids, but I have never been more mortified in my life.  Kids would chant my name in the hallways, pull my hair, steal my belongings, and once a boy held my hair and sprayed deodorant down my throat while a teacher was out of the room.  I cut my hair off the next week.

Even though I am so glad to be part of a community of great bloggers now, I am so, so thankful that cell phones and the internet didn't exist in those days.  When I went home from school, people couldn't follow me that way.

Now, as a member of this community, I dedicate today's purple manicure to ending bullying.  I hope no kid ever has to feel the way I did again.

I used Illamasqua Prosperity.

No H8

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are thankfully residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color and even to our polish application techniques.

 To look down on anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog. In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement.

 Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

 

Fright Night Claw Polish - Voodoo 

With glitter accent nail

I can honestly say this is probably the 4 time I've tried to write this post and deleted it. In the end I decided not to fill up this post with my mistreating people is poopy rant. It's currently something I don't like talking about. It makes me VERY angry. And I don't want this to be an angry post. I will say this though I wish everyone could just be civil. Whether it be about nails or some other reason. And I will say this specifically about polish drama. It's nail polish. If you don't like something ignore it. Silly comments are pointless and a wast of time. For the most part we are all grown ups here. Go to Veronica over at Gorgeois to see other bloggers who are against hate and bullying (I can't add inlinkz to this page. It throws the layout outta wack and you should just read her post).

Random Wednesday: I Believe

Aliens may exist!  Aka the post where you learn I'm mental.

Yup you heard it from me first.  First let me clear up some things.  1)As far as I know I am not crazy. 2) To my knowledge I have never seen a UFO or an Alien. 3)I am not an alien hunter.

I've always kind of always believe that there has to be something out there.  Now I don't know if they are tiny green men, or people who look just like us.  But I believe somewhere out there there is something else.

The way I see it is the whole universe is big.  We here on earth are a needle in a haystack.  A massive haystack of mystery.  In the grand scheme of things we're probably very insignificant.  But it's a bit hard to believe that in such a massive universe we are the only creatures.  Also we have already found out that there are planets out there, light years away that are just like earth!  Who knows maybe someone lives there.

Do I think some have come to earth before?  Maybe.  I honestly can't say yes, but at the same I can't get myself to say no. 

What I'm trying to say in general is I'm not 100% there is other life out there BUT at the same time I believe there is enough evidence to show that there is a good chance that there is.  But until there is proof I will never say yes aliens are real.

And please don't get me started on Area 51.  That place scares the crap out of me(I wont get into that it might actually make me look crazy...but I will say A few years ago I had a conversation with Robyn where the topic of whether or not Jesus was there came up. We were not joking.  Although that seems silly now I still have mu suspicions about that place).   While on the topic.  Thinking about the universe as a whole makes me uneasy.  I know I said it was big already but think about it.  REALLY think about it.  Think about how vast it is and just how small we are.  Think about the fact that there is so much more out there that we have yet to discover.

*weeps in corner*

 

 What's that?  I can't hear you over sheer magnitude of THE UNIVERSE!  Ps see VY Canis Majoris?
 Almost 4000 light years away.

Do you believe in aliens?  What if the silence are real and we don't know it? What are your thoughts on the Universe in general? We're getting deep here.

Next Random Wednesday will be less crazy.  Ah who am I kidding.  I'm weird. :D

Illamasqua Cameo + GOBAMA.

So I found it.  I don't know why it took them so long, but I found the world's most perfect blue.  It's magic.  It's like periwinkle and cornflower had a beautiful bouncing blue baby.  It's RIDICULOUS how gorgeous and sexy this blue is.  I can't get over it.

It's a Sephora exclusive, and early indications said it was a US exclusive... But being that I am in Canada and here it is in my hand... It's not US exclusive.

But you know, the REAL REASON for some blue nails today:

Elizabeth Warren. Karen Gillibrand. Claire McCaskill. Tammy Baldwin.  And you know, Barack Obama.  

I had the pleasure of spending the entire night watching the polls with my very close group of American girlfriends via the magic of video chat.  Tears were shed, drinks were drunk.  These girls, well, they're some of my best friends.  They're strong, amazing women who have helped me to grow in a million ways I don't think I would've had we not crossed paths.  They helped to spark my interest in politics, and they have taught me what it is to be a strong woman with strong ideals who takes no shit from anyone.  They make me so proud to be a woman.  It pains me to know that there was someone on the ticket who didn't see them the way I see them, but it fills me with joy that for at least another four years, they and their rights are protected.  Women made a huge impact in this election, so I was really glad to be able to watch the election with some pretty great ones, watching some other great ones taking their rightful places in the history books.

Let's remember:  Senate seats, not binders, full of women!

Election Day!

First off I hope everyone who could vote today voted.  I didn't because I can't vote.  And not because I'm a criminal.  I'm just not American. As the most powerful nation in the world, do it for everyone. Now I'm not going to say who I would vote for had I been American but I will tell you this.  I would have voted for President Barack Obama.  I would also like Vice President Biden to become my grandfather,  so one day if I get married he will do a speech.  It would be magical.

Now I love American politics.  It is so interesting.  I feel like a giddy schoolgirl when things like debates come one.  Myself and one of my best friends text each other constantly during these.  That's what I call a night in(Seriously, I love it).  I also enjoy light chit chat with headline readers.  People who love taking about the election  but you soon realize they never got much father than the headline.  The reality is they have no real concept or understanding of half the things that fall out of their mouths.

So for my nails I knew from the start there was going to be no stars.  I would have loved to have some but that would have meant free handing them (HA!).  85% of this manicure was made using OPI's Blue My Mind, Fright Night Claw Polish Voodoo and Claire's Snowball.  The white dots, and the blue and white in The Presidents campaign logo are all paint.  To get all my lines straight I used striping tape(not bad eh?)

Anyways I've had 3 hours of sleep.  I'm going to go do a show now.

Ps. GO VOTE!

 

ETA: Thank You America!!! And of course Well Done President Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!