Celestial Cosmetics - First foray into duochromes

I don't know how other people take those amazing colour shift photos. Perhaps it's my lack of light box. I also had trouble catching the natural night. If it's overcast and I get home late from the gym, I don't have much to work with. Really need to invest it light and/or macro lens. 

Anyways, I decided to get some of those duochromes, even though they're not really my usual style. They look so pretty in photos! 

I really wanted Mother of Dragons, and one in a dark colour. I considered Kingslayer, but decided to go with sapphire of Tarth. It's all about strong female characters for me and these two are representing and taking it to the men and kicking butt! 

First up, Sapphire of Tarth. To be honest, it's a bit darker than what I would be normally drawn to, and whilst it looks great it photos, it was a bit much for the middle of an Australian summer.

And the sexy Mother of Dragons. This was pretty gorgeous.

Next time, I think I might try to do a gradient with the two — what do you think?

Making a statement with Australia Day nails

There's been lots of green and gold, beach scenes and flag nails floating around, but one theme that seems to be missing the acknowledgement that the day also marks the beginning of the decimation of a people, and the birth of Australia as we know it was built over the death of a multitude of local culture. I think celebrating Federation is more appropriate, marking the real beginning of Australia's current political landscape, when all the states banded together and separated from England to begin the path we are on now. But I'm sure someone will have an argument against that also.

Anyway, with my Dad still recovering in hospital, I don't have the time or energy for processing photos, so we're getting phone photos.

Also included are some more baby guinea pigs and my cute little hairdo inspired by this triple bun tutorial on Lulu.

The Day You Truly Realise Your Parents are Mortals

The day you realise that your parents are mortal, are getting older and will not be around forever. It was quite a shock to the system. It started out with probably heatstroke, and ended up with a neurosurgeon and the ICU. The hardest moment was post-op when I finally heard from a doctor, that it was an aneurysm (my Mum had been with him and the translation wasn't completely clear to me) and I learned what odds he has already beaten.

My Dad had us all terrified for a couple of nights, but he seems to have been very lucky. He can wriggle his limbs and talk and keeps worrying about work.  His short-term memory seems a bit fuzzy as he keeps asking about what happened after he passed out on Thursday. He has no memory of being actually awake in Emergency or being told he needed to have an operation.

As an aside, why do surgeons always come across as a little arrogant? Like, yes, I am not a clinician, but I am actually not an idiot, you don't need to repeat the same analogy three times for me to understand. I am perfectly capable following.

Nail Art with Kit Orange.com

I got the amazingly bright and smooth orange.com as a birthday gift last month. It looks almost red and comes in a cute little box!

I'd already worn it on my toes, but when the heat started going up this week, I felt it was time for some bright colours! I went with a double nail art as accents, using OPI My boyfriend scales walls as the white base.

It was a fun, retro look and the flowers were easy peasy! The dots were actually more difficult.

 Again, I blinged it up after a day. I found Ulta 3 on sale in Target. Said itwas $1.60, but when I went to pay, it was only $1! A BUCK! It goes on very easy too, this was all 1-2 layers.

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I am really keen to to have some more consistent hot weather - I want summer already! 

More Baby Guinea Pigs as created by Little Q!

Monday was my first day back at work. On the same day, the OTHER guinea pig, who in the effort to make life easier in English communication is nicknamed Little Q, had her litter of babies! We kept joking that Big Q (same deal as Little Q) had hers on Dad's birthday, Little Q should have hers on my sister's birthday... And she did!

The guinea pigs are, after all, technically my sister's, so she was thrilled that her 'grand-babies' were born on her birthday. We were both disappointed that we missed seeing this birth as well though! I'd been checking her every hour while I was on holiday, I missed out by one day!

 

Purple vs Purple Manicure - Glitter bling as bonus!

It's been hectic having started work again this week AND the OTHER guinea pig had THREE babies.

But, having received a collection of polish, I feel compel to TRY THEM ALL. It's been hard, given that I have a brought a bunch myself during the Boxing Day sales and I have a bunch of indie polishes coming in the post still! In fact, I know one parcel is already there, waiting for me all weekend in the post office. :(

Anyway, this is the manicure I did. And then the last photo is what I did once I needed to spice things up a bit after the second day of wear.

I always try to take the photos straight away, before I mess them up somehow, but because I paint in the evening, it means I don't get time to let the skin... settle... before snapping. That wasn't my original point. The point was to say that the photos aren't great due to the poor lighting situation.

No flash

 The Mud Electrify Dries matte, no top coat was used. I used a matte coat on the Sakura Fro Cone. I had tested Fro Cone on my toes and I was a bit dubious about whether it'd become opaque, but it did after about 3-4 coats. I really like this one!

Simple idea to add Colour and Personality to your Ikea Curtains

I had some cheap purple curtains that didn't really fit my windows for years now. I've been meaning to get something better for ages and had my eyes on some lightweight, black and white from Ikea for a while.

So I picked them up the other day, and thought, I could really add some cute colour details to it to make it more interesting. After asking around, I ended up going into Spotlight and buying a couple of colours, and used a small brush to colour in some of the leaves and birds.

What you'll need:

• A curtain
• Fabric markers
• Iron
• Patience 

And if they need alterations, like I did:

• Pins
• Scissors
• Sewing machine if you're lazy

I feel so creative, although I realise that all I really did was some colouring in! Sewing was a lot more work than I planned. For one, I'd forgotten how to set up the machine, so I had to google how to wind a bobbin AND how to thread (turns out I was doing it right, but I had to double check). But the main reason why it was time consuming was that on the first run, I'd turned the hem the wrong way and had to unpick it all!

Emily de Molly - awesome, glittery goodness.

I've been saving these polishes until I have tried all three. For some reason though, I seem to be missing photos of the middle one! Nevermind, I will start with the two I do have photos of:

These gorgeous Emily de Molly polishes are, from left to right: Cosmic Forces, Somber Party (yes, I am indeed cringing at the americanised spelling from an Aussie polish maker) and Majestic flight (which, alas, has been discontinued, my bad for being so slow).

I really did enjoy the medium teal with a pop of colour. It was a little on the sheer side, perhaps I could try layering over a green or blue next time.

This was my sister's lemming. It was indeed a gorgeous deep purple. And big dot glitter! We both officially love big dot glitters!

Artistic Photo Time - Discovering Albert Park Lake

Today I had a relaxing brunch day with my old high school friend and her darling bubs. She was so cute giving the baby guinea pigs pats and later we fed them cos lettuce together. She very quickly grasped that I was tearing some pieces up (we've noticed the babies were sometimes struggling with big pieces of food) and throwing them in, and followed suit. We went to Dead Man Espresso and then later to Albert Park lake, but then we had to dash off because that crazy cool change swept in. It was so hot to start with, then it got a bit windy, but still ok, and then this big gust of wind came in. We instantly went 'uh-oh', packed up and hauled ass outta there.

Of course, I had my camera with me, and I decided to do something artistic with one of them. I tried to go for an old-school-y, overexposed and faded look. Did it work?