Happy New Year!

Hi lovelies,

Happy New Year! I know, I know, it's a bit late but hey, better late than NEVER, right?!

I'm so sorry that I've been a bit quiet lately..things have been unbelievably hectic. I just got back from a month long trip overseas during which I had my eyes assessed for laser surgery (only to find it unsuitable, hence I will have to start saving up for a much more expensive surgery option), wisdom tooth surgery (painful but finally over and done with, thank goodness) and spent loads of time with family.

I'd been feeling a bit worn out last year, both physically and mentally, and together with the fact that I didn't really have proper access to the internet, made me decide to take a break from blogging and my other internet-based activities. I returned to Melbourne a week ago but between my job as an engineer, settling back into routine here in Melbourne and spending time with family and friends I haven't seen in a while, I haven't had much time for much of anything!

Anyway, back to my beauty blogging...I returned to work to find several pleasant surprises; namely, my November Glossybox (thanks to a problem with the first Nov box, I had to have a replacement box sent out...read about it here), December Glossybox, December Lust Have It box and December Bellabox all arrived while I was away! It was a bit like having Christmas all over again and made being back at work a bit easier to bear. And a couple of days later, my December and January I Love This Box also showed up! Talk about box overload!

I'll be posting updates on each of these boxes and my opinions of them very soon...but in the meantime, I wanted to share a few photos of the manicure I've been rocking over the past ten days. Basically, I painted my nails with OPI 'Lucky Lucky Lavender', which is a pretty, dusky purple. Have a look at the photos below.

Now, it started to chip a couple of days ago, but I was a bit pressed for time and couldn't re-do my polish, so I popped on some gold shatter polish over it, to cover the wearing at the tips. I used a gold shatter polish from a brand called 'I love Sasatinnie', which I picked up while on holiday. I can't recall exactly how much it was, but it was pretty inexpensive, as I think it was less than six Australian dollars (especially because of the conversion rate).

I finished off with a coat of OPI top coat and was ready to dash out the door. I don't know about you, but I honestly hate when my polish starts to chip and/or wear at the tips...it just looks really tacky. I've found that popping a shatter polish over it really helps to camoflage the wear, and also changes the look a little so that you can prolong the life of your manicure a little bit.

This is what Lucky Lucky Lavender (LLL) looks like with a gold shatter overlay:

I think it's really quite pretty. The funny thing is, it totally changes the look of the polish. LLL is really quite a bright colour on it's own, but it turned into quite a pastel shade while wearing the gold shatter on top.

So there you go, not only is the shatter polish a fad, but it's also a really handy way of saving your polish when you're pressed for time but can't bear to go out with untidy nails!

Much love,

MM. 

x

A touch of the blues...

Hello lovelies!

So, today I have a blue crackle to show you, from the Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat range.

I was fortunate enough to get accepted into a VIP review run by my favourite beauty website, Primped, and they sent out a blue shatter, called Distressed Denim, and a greigy colour, called Slick Slate, for me to review. I was pretty excited to receive the blue crackle because I already own a black and a silver shatter from OPI (which I'll review soon), and it was wonderful to get a coloured crackle to play with. Plus, I'd been hearing good things about the SH crackle and couldn't wait to try it!

 Now, I wouldn't necessarily have paired a deep blue/navy crackle with a greigy undercoat, so I decided to try it with my pale, pastel mint polish from Essence Cosmetics (called You Belong To Me).

The Essence colours are quite lovely, and go on quite well for pastels, but I do feel they look best with 3 coats if they're worn on their own. As I was pairing mine with the crackle, however, I just did two coats (plus I was rushing to get out of the house to meet friends - am I the only one whose polish chips just as I'm about to step out the door?!).

So here we go; first up, photos of the Essence polish. You can see a bit of visible nail layer (VNL), but it looks fine worn under the crackle.

Next, I applied a thin layer of the Sally Hansen Distressed Denim crackle over it. I experimented a bit and decided I liked the way the thin layers looked as opposed to the thick layers. I will say the crackle works a bit differently from my OPI shatters, but I quite liked the way it looked anyway! I'd say the crackle has a mind of its own, each finger came out differently although I used the same application technique and relatively same amount with each finger!

Here are the photos:

So what do you think? Would you be keen on trying a coloured crackle polish out? I actually really liked this... I was pleasantly surprised by how well it turned out. When I first opened it, I was taken aback by the tiny brush and relatively runny consistency of the crackle polish, but it applies really well! I finished off the manicure with my OPI top coat and some OPI drip dry drops to help the polish dry quicker. Now, to get my hands on some of the other colours in the range, like fuschia shock and antiqued gold... ;)

Hope you enjoyed the post! It's been two days so far and it's wearing quite well (despite having soaked my hands in lots of water today), with no obvious chipping!

Much love,
MM.
x