South Africa was pretty amazing...

So as of a few nights ago, I'm home from South Africa!  Sorry I didn't have more posts for you while I was away, but we moved literally every 3 days, and most people didn't have a reliable internet connection!  But I'm sure you'll forgive me.. I hope?

I can't lie, I definitely miss my new friends and family, most of whom I was meeting for the first time on this trip.  It was so strange after years of skype and voices on the phone and photos on facebook to be able to actually sit with and talk to all these people.  

I met my dad's two sisters and their kids, and I got to see my dad's brother and my aunt for the first time in 15 years and their daughter for the first time since she visited us in high school.  I got to meet one of the families who hosted my mom when she was on exchange there 40 years ago.  Not to mention, being the crazy foodie that I am, I got to experience some of the best meals of my life.  Of course it was also pretty great to see my mom get emotional with friends she hadn't seen in the 24.5 years since my folks moved here.

I had a nice dinner with Kas and Robyn just after I got home, which was great.  This was probably one of the longest times I hadn't seen or really talked to them in during our crazy-long friendship, so it was nice to catch up!

I promise I'll return to regular posts after this one, but since some of you asked on a previous post, here are some teaser photos from the trip(I still haven't downloaded the 600+on my digital cam, so for now you get instagram!).  I hope you like!

This is Ben, the wriggliest puppy ever who belongs to friends of my parents. 

Franskraal, a gorgeous beach-type town where we spent three days with one of the families who hosted my mom when she was an exchange student 40 years ago.  

I told Kas and Robyn about this seal at dinner the other night: The whole time we were eating at Live Bait, a restaurant in Kalk Bay, this guy was swimming and flipping around outside.  He was SO HAPPY.

We visited the penguin colony at Boulders Beach(and another one at Betty's Bay!) and oh my goodness they are so cute.  I should add there's no zoom used here, these guys were just really chill.

View of the Simon's Town Harbour, where my dad spent a lot of time when he was in the SA Navy as a young man.

Completely unedited and unfiltered photo of the sunset during dinner at our hotel in Oudtshoorn, in the Klein Karoo.  What say you to a manicure inspired by this?  Methinks it might have to happen.

Me on top of Table Mountain overlooking Cape Town.  Which is a pretty amazing city, in case you were curious.

View of the moon and mountain from the home of my mom's exchange family in Somerset West.  Seriously, almost everyone we stayed with had an amazing view.  Here my view is trees, which isn't bad, but I can't lie, I miss being able to always see mountains.

And because who am I kidding, you're here for nails, I got some pretty new Inglots :D I promise I'll swatch soon, since there are precious few swatches of any of these online.

So there's a taste of my trip, I'm sure I'll show a few more pictures here and there :)

I promise regular posts coming again starting tomorrow :)

Fancy Polish...if it burns a little that's ok right?

So after my audition(which as it turned out went well) yesterday I decided to go out and buy a bottle of nail polish.  I went looking around Chinatown to see if there was anything interesting.

That's when I found this bottle of what looked like black stuff with glitter.  It had no labels at all on it.  When I opened it I realized it was a black glitter with large, medium and small hexagonal glitter in a grayish base.  I thought cool, I'll buy this.  At the counter the lady smiled at me and said "Fancy polish."

Indeed it was.

When I got home I opened the bottle and wow did it smell like hell on fire.  And the smell just lingered.  Anyways I decided to layer it over a plain ol white.  This confirmed that the base was i fact gray.

Now you know when you put on polish your fingers get that cold feeling?  Well that happened.  Followed by burning and tingling.   I hoped when I removed it my nails wouldn't come of with the polish.

Sorry the pictures aren't the best.  It was extremely cloudy, and I took the pictures and then took it off soon after.  The sun came out later but I was not having my fingers fall off.

I probably wont use this again.  This is like the gonorrhea of nail polish.  That's one of the burning diseases right?

Milani HD: Shortest review ever. I'm just going to put it in the title. 3 easy coats, silver, scattered holo.

 

Auditio-nails

So I have an audition today!  Hopefully I wont bomb it.  Anyways here are the nails I have on.  I just wanted something that had a bit of oomph to it, but wasn't wicked distracting.

I used Zoya Julieanne and  2mm gold square studs from the Born Pretty Store.

ETA: Audition was eh.  I didn't bomb it but it was improv based, and my improv is hella rusty and I could feel it.  Oh well, another time :)

Retro Stripes

HELLO! I'm back again.

Allow me to explain my infrequent posting, I feel bad - I've been crazy busy with school and have been since I started blogging here! My desire is to show you only Top Valkyrie Quality* nail art, and with 4 classes and tons of projects on the go, that can be a tough schedule to keep! That being said, I'm sure Kas and George entertain you suitably.

Ok, pity party's over. Today's manicure is a simple striped design made with Scotch tape and some shamelessly 70's colours. I used a base of Did It On 'Em, topped with Fly and A Roll In The Hague, all by OPI. These colours make me think of vintage Kitchenaid stand mixers.

I worked on these through the day while I should have been was working hard on an essay. They kind of but not really matched my swimsuit, since I went to a sexy bikini party totally classy soiree for fancy responsible adults once I finished my homework!

*Messy, free-handed french tips are punishable by death.

Sally Hanson Kwik Off: This has to be some sort of nail polish removal record right?

My mother gave this to me the other day.  Originally I wasn't too keen on using it because it said it was for removal of fake nails aka this here be full of the chemicals.  But the other night I ran out of remover that wasn't pure acetone so I used this.

I had been wearing Milani Dude Blue, which is just a bright blue cream.  I stuffed all five finger in and twisted them around (now where have I heard that before?)  Within maybe 15 second one hand was done.  And another 15 seconds for the second hand.

I decided I wanted to actually try this again and record my results.  So I used Butter London Two Fingered Salute.  I figured while it does have shimmer in it it would be slightly harder to remove than say a cream polish but not as hard as a pure glitter.  I did the same thing as I did with the DB.  In total it took 55 seconds to remove both hands...polish from both hands.  I would sue if it took my hands.

Overall I really liked this.  It was a tad harsher than normal polish remover but less harsh than acetone.  And it kind of left my hands feeling sticky after *giggles* but it got the polish off fast.  I will probably use it for polishes like Two Fingered Salute. Not hard to remove polish or polish that you can practically wash off with soap.

You should note that the remover in container is black. That's because I has used it a few times by the time I took the photo.  This does not affect the way it works.  Also the container is about 2 knuckles deep...*sigh* The jokes practically write themselves.

Have you tried this product or anything like it before?

 

 Lol 5:25am.  Don't worry it was a Friday night.

Nails right after removal.  This took about 25 seconds.  IGNORE the yellow nails.

Butter London Two Fingered Salute: Finally the PERFECT opportunity to use this gif!

So today I have the gorgeous polish for you!  I'm sad that I only wore it for just over a day :(  Don't worry, it had nothing to do with wear time.  It's just that I may be going out tonight and it wouldn't go with my outfit.  And by outfit I mean shorts and a bright pink, shimmery, snake skin patterned bandeau.   I will look smashing and be as classy as a 1947 Château Cheval Blanc that has been opened.

Two Fingered Salute is a dusty seafoam green, filled with coppery pink micro shimmer.  This polish was good for the most part in 2 coats.  Although a 3rd was need on 2 fingers.  I found it didn't self level perfectly but it wasn't so much so that the top couldn't fix it.

Fun fact:  I painted the boys nails with this.  It worked really well with his skin tone.