I Love lolcats!

I love lolcats.
They are so cute.

Picture from http://icanhascheezburger.com/

If you have a spare few minutes check it out. You will laugh out loud for hours!

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Flower-to-Flower + Konad

This was the final Polish I got from the OPI Summer Flutter Collection....
And it is my favourite :)

OPI Flower-to-Flower (overcast weather - in fact it was raining)

Unfortunately there has been no sun here so this is in the shade and does not show the beautifulness of this amazing colour. In some light it appears creme, but in the right light you can see the tiny little glittery shimmeryness to this polish.

I decided to add some butterflies to this gorgeous colour.


This is the butterfly off Konad plate m36 (thanks to Lisa who let me borrow this). This was done with OPI Black Onyx. The colour of Flower-to-Flower is more accurate in this photo.

Back to the bad light again :(

Lastly I added some little black gems to this. I was a little disappointed with the gems as the black ones don't sparkle as much as the other colour gems do and I think this is just because they are black.

This was a pretty manicure though and I will do it again in summer when it can be truly appreciated.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Didgeridoo your nails? and Nfu Oh #49

Hope your weekends are going well.
The best colour I could find in my stash to match yesterdays post of Nfu Oh #49 was OPI Didgeridoo your nails? from the 2006 Australia collection.

OPI Didgeridoo your nails?

This is a Shimmery pink colour - but I don't really want to label it pink - its more a funny red/pink/mauve colour. This was three coats as it was a little bit thin and slightly runny.

Nfu Oh #49 over OPI Didgeridoo your nails?

These two polishes were a perfect match - neither are pink or red or orange and they suit each other well because of that. Again I did two coats of #49 over the colour to make the flakey glitter stand out and be noticeable.

In case any one is wondering what a Didgeridoo is.....

This is my partners one that he bought back from Australia. They are an Aboriginal Musical instrument and are extremely hard to play (or even make a sound on).

Lots of Love
Lisa

Nfu Oh #49

I was lucky enough to find an online retailer actually based in New Zealand to order these from, this means I save a whole lot on postage :)

This is Nfu Oh #49

It is a very think clear gel base with a tiny tint of pink in it and full of flakey multicoloured (yellow, orange, pink and red) glitter.

Nfu Oh #49

It is definitely a polish designed to be a top coat. Here you can see that the pink seems alot more dense in the bottle than one the nail.

Nfu Oh #49 over Black

I didn't like this originally - orange doesn't seem to go well with black to me, its too halloweenish for my liking - but this turned out quite pretty. I used two coats of 49 over black. One coat doesn't give quite enough flakey glitter coverage but the second thicker coat makes it perfect.

Lots of Love
Lisa

BYS Fuchsia Flash

I am always surprised by the quality of BYS nail polishes considering their price (but in saying that their eye shadows are also very good and I wear them all the time and they last for ages, so maybe there is really something there I'm not quite getting)

Anyways.... this is BYS Fuchsia Flash:

BYS Fuchsia Flash
It is actually a touch darker than this picture shows

Its not unique as I have about 20 Fuchsia Nail polishes but this does apply well. This was 2 coats. BYS has a good sized brush which makes this polish easy to apply. The polish is a good consistency and I noticed that it dried quite quickly. Overall I am quite happy with this polish but I do advise using a base and top coat as it does chip a little easy.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Burlesque AMAZINGNESS!!!!

I thought this was a joke - it seemed to amazing to be real!!!!!!!
This is the 2010 Winter Holiday OPI Collection!!
And it is REAL!!!!!!!!!!

Photo from m beauty lounge

Due out in stores in September and includes......

• Bring On The Bling - A gold That glitters that's Dazzling Beyond.
• Glow Up Already! – You're ready for this glittering green.
• Extra-va-vaganza! – This orange glitter is not for the shy.
• Simmer & Shimmer – In this glitter bit of blue.
• Show It & Glow It! – If you've got this fuchsia glitter, flaunt it!
• Sparkle-icious - Multi-color glitter-iciousness
• Rising Star – Lustrous glimmering gold.
• Take the Stage – A warm orange spotlight shimmer.
• The Show Must Go On! – With this deep pink shimmer on your nails!
• Let Me Entertain You – Multi-talented fuchsia glimmer.
• Ali's Big Break – This glowing red shimmer breaks through in style.
• Tease-y Does It – In this tempting burgundy shimmer.

above colour list taken from make up talk.

Lots of Love and even more excitement
Lisa

OPI Wing It!

The second polish I tried from the OPI Summer Flutter collection was Wing It!

3 coats in the shade (still no sun here)

Shimmery glittery sparkly pinky orange colour. It seems to change in the light from orange to pink to red - exactly like my 6th form formal dress (unfortunately this was before digital cameras weren't really around then so I don't have a picture of it - but I can assure you this would have been a perfect match for my dress)

This isn't as glittery as yesterdays Catch Me in Your Net, as it is smaller finer glitter in a pinky orange base.
Still very pretty though.

This little minature collection is AWESOME! and only having 4 in it makes it so much easier to get the whole lot.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Catch Me In Your Net

This is from the 2010 OPI Summer Flutter collection and is AMAZING!

OPI - Catch me in your net (3 coats)

The most accurate picture I could get of this was in the shade (the pictures in the sun looked too blue and not green enough)

This is glitter to the max. I love it, and unlike previous blue glitter polishes I have used this did NOT dry matte. So happy!! and even with it being packed full of glitter once it was dry it wasn' t that gritty or rough to touch, it was more smooth than I thought it would be.

This is not available in the shops in New Zealand (none of the special little collections are) so you'll be wanting to order this one off the internet - and soon so you can enjoy the beautifulness of this colour - although it is really a summer colour and we have no sun or warmth here at the moment, you can hide it away for 4 months until the sun does reappear.

Lots of Love
Lisa

My Shellac came off

As of this morning my shellac was still looking pretty good but as the day wore on big bits started to peel off a couple of my fingers. Over the last 2 weeks I had gotten a few new polishes that I was waiting to try out so it seemed like a good time to take of the shellac.

I dipped cotton wool into nail polish remover (this I had to go and buy because to get rid of shellac you must have Acetone in the remover). Placed these over my nails and wrapped the finger in tin foil


I sat like this for 10 minutes and then pulled it all off.The shellac was all soft by now and I just scrapped the remaining shellac off my fingers.

I finished off my conditioning my nails with some CND Solar Oil - Nail and Cuticle Conditioner.

The particles in this oil are so small that they can condition your nails and cuticles even while you are wearing nail polish as the molecules in this can get through the layers of nail polish.

My nails did seem to grow a decent amount while I was wearing the shellac - maybe about 3-4 millimeters. Which may not seem like much but its a lot better than them breaking.

Yay so now I can get back to swatching again (depending on the weather of course)

Lots of Love
Lisa

Fellow Blogger Give Aways

Hi all,
Here is a few fellow bloggers giveaways happening at the moment:

Jacie from You've Got Nail is Giving away a couple of Australian Coral Colours.
All you have to do is vote for your favourite Coral Colour and your in the draw to win.
This competition finished on the 30 June.

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Susie from Susie's Home and Hobbies is having her a give away to celebrate her followers. The competition finishes when she reaches 500 followers. Here is what she is giving away:

4 Art Decos (Black, Bright Green, Gold Glitter, Magenta), Konad Nail Art Pen, ProArt 3D Nail Stickers, Wet N Wild Black Creme (works for Konading) China Glazes Polishes (Cherry Pie, Raspberry Festival, Ruby Pumps, 5 Golden Rings, Tinsil, Emerald Sparkle), Sally Hansen Nail Quencher and Beauty Factory False Nails.

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Painted Lady Fingers is having an AWESOME Nubar giveaway. This contest finishes on July 1st and is open to international followers. Here is what is been given away thanks to Nubar:

The entire California Dreamin' Collection of six bright shimmer polishes, A bottle of 2010 flakie glitter topcoat, Diamont Seal & Shine fast drying topcoat, Six fashion nail files, An orange wood stick, Toe separators, A beach ball, A clear pink beach tote and Flip flops for a beach outing or relaxing after a pedicure.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Orly now at Farmers

I know Orly has been sold at Farmers for ages - but that was only ever the little ting bottles - which are really hard to actually paint your nails with because the brush and handle are sooooo small.

But now they have big bottles!!
And lots of them. Lisa (one of my best friends and fellow polish lovers - and yes we do have the same name) discovered this at our local Farmers last week. They now have about 50 colours as well as the Foil FX collection and Metal Chic collections.

Foil Fx Collection - Rage, Shine, Luxe (Left to Right)

Metal Chic Collection - Solid Gold, Iron Butterfly, Glam Rock (left to right)
These are metal polishes with a matte finish.

I did not see the latest Sweet collection, but as you know New Zealand is always behind the rest of the world - we might see it here for our spring in a few months time.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Shellac 4 days later

Yesterday we got some sun and I managed to take a picture of my shellac in the sun.


Here you can see the shimmer in the polish much better than in my previous pictures (click on the picture to enlarge it).

I have some tip wear especially on my right hand and I'm not sure if this is meant to happen or whether with Shellac its not.

I was peeling potatoes for dinner tonight and also managed to peel a bit of my shellac off with the peeler - completely by mistake, so that was a bit of a bummer.

That's all for the moment.
Lots of Love
Lisa

I got Shellacked!!!!

I got Shellacked!!!

This was my first ever nail salon visit and I enjoyed it.

I went to The Finishing Touch in Wellington. They were the first salon in the world to have shellac - they actually bought the demo kit off CND so that they had it before anyone else - they had it at the wedding show I went to a while ago. New Zealand was the first place CND released Shellac. Shellac kits have been so popular that they have sold out around the world and demand can not be met. Apparently Oprah's Nail technician cant even get hold of it for Oprah.

Kathy was the lovely lady doing my nails.
She cleaned, shaped and lightly buffed my nails. I was embarrassed by how short they are, but as we discussed I have thin nails (and they always will be) and it just makes my obsession a difficult one.

Next I got to pick which shellac colour I wanted. At the moment there are 12 colours to pick from, with more colours to come in the future (I'm hoping for some blues, purples and greens)

I knew that I wanted a bright pink colour and there were a couple to pick from. I was thoughrly suprised to find that one of these was actually a shimmer colour! I ended up choosing Hot Chilis which was a bright pinky/red colour with shimmer in it.

A UV base coat is applied and then set under UV light for 10 seconds. Then the first coat of colour followed by 2 minutes under the UV light, another colour coat, 2 more minutes under UV light and a final top coat followed by another 2 minutes under UV light.

Outside in shade
The shimmer is not visible here but I can tell you it is definitely there.
And this is more pink in real life.

I love it! This product is amazing. It is thicker than regualer nail polish and my nails feel much stronger with it on. I'm hoping I can gain back some of my length over the next two weeks while I am wearing the Shellac. I haven't even had it on for a day yet and its amazing. Normally (even with a top coat) I would have chips and nicks and be trying to be really careful but with Shellac I don't need to be.

The Finishing touch guarantee no chips for the first week - but are unable to do it for any longer than that because of how people treat there own nails. This cost $55 and took around 45 minutes for the whole process.

Shellac took over 5 years to create and perfect - removal time was the biggest issue, with it originally taking over an hour - they have now reduced this to 5-10 minutes with the use of acetone.

More information on shellac can be found on the CND wedsite.

If you are OK with having the same colour on your nails for 2 weeks I highly recommend trying Shellac. You will be pleased once you do.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Quick Update

Hi all,
Hope your weekends went/are going well.
Just a quick update today.
Keera got her stitches out in the weekend, so the cone has come off her head and shes allowed back outside again. Were not seeing her much now - but it is pouring with rain outside so she comes in soaking wet.
At the moment I am working on a comparison of my left and rights hand - One has OPI top coat and base coat on it, the other has none. Pics and review to come when we get some light - its too late at night her now.
I'm also wearing my nails really short at the moment as they all decided to break all at once. Its really sad as I just got a bunch of Nfu Oh flakies I really want to try out.
I have so many ideas and no nails to carry them out on.
Also its been raining non stop for about three weeks here so pictures aren't easy to take with the crappy light we have here.
Sorry I am so not trying to make up excuses but my nails are short and I feel embarrassed about them.
Thanks for following me anyway :)
Lots of Love
Lisa

China Glaze BFF

Another amazing holographic polish from the China Glaze OMG collection. This one is a rosey red colour called BFF.

Outside in Sunshine

Again only 2 thin coats that glide on easily and dry quickly. You can not really fault china glaze for this great collection. These all look amazing in the sun, and still show up holographic in the shade.

Lots of Love
Lisa

What I Use: Nfu Oh Cuticle Remover

This only arrived the other day with my Nfu Oh order from the NZ Nail Academy.

Nfu Oh Cuticle Remover

It is AMAZING!
You can't even feel it working its magic. It just does it. I just brushed it against my cuticle and 2 seconds later wiped away the whole cuticle with a cotton bud and they were gone. If you can get this I highly recommend you do. It seems like it will last for ages aswell because its a large 17ml bottle and you need hardly any to do both hands. Only took about 2 minutes to do both hands.

Lots of Love
Lisa