December-lots of pics.

How's that for an exciting title?
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Mine was awesome, starting with a BBQ on the 22nd. Most of my favourite people were there-friends I have known for 15+yrs. The missing person was in Tasmania, for her family Christmas. It was an awesome night.
My Christmas nails were pretty boring. On Xmas Eve, I was all keyed up and restless, yet bored out of my mind. I had no patience to do anything too detailed. I went with candy canes.

Boring yes? Base of Revlon Coconut Crush, stripes are Revlon Mon Cherry and Sinful Colors San Francisco. Sidenote-Coconut Crush-that lovely, pearly WHITE polish, stained my nails a pale blue. I don't know how this happened.

My next mani was pastel. I wanted to try the matte top coat I bought in October. Colours are Sinful Colors Unicorn (yellow) and SC Cinderella.

So pretty! I really liked the matte look; it made the pink shimmer in Cinderella stand out a bit more.

I removed this yesterday, only to discover-Unicorn had stained my nails. It looked like I had painted them with nicotine. For crying out loud. I use base coat. Not so happy.

Today I decided to do my New Year mani. This despite the fact I am not going anywhere. I'm actually really looking forward to my evening. My plans involve reading (as usual), listening to MY music (currently completely obsessed with Muse/Silverchair/Biffy Clyro), and I will watch Toy Story 1 & 2. I am such a rager.
I thought I'd do fireworks. That's fairly straightforward, right?
I wanted a base colour that was dark, but sort of starry looking. I was leaning towards black, with SC Hottie on top. While I reached for those, I spotted an SC I have not tried-Secret Admirer. AWESOME. It's this almost black with a grey shimmer through it.

OOooOOOOOoo, aaAAAAaaaAAaa. Love LOVE LOVE it.

I picked my JulieG polishes to be the fireworks. They are a thick glitter that dries quickly, so you aren't waiting around before painting over it.

Fireworks are all JulieG-Sleigh Ride (blue), Silver Bells, and Gift Of Gold. On my thumb, I have LA Girls holographic pink and purple. They were a bit dark to work. I am not sure whether I actually like these. However, they will do for the next couple days.

In other news-I'm about ready to go on a homicidal spree due to the weather. I'm not someone that copes well with incessant rain. I need sun to function happily, and I have forgotten what it feels like.
In other other news-I'm not sure whether I have said anything previously about the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set a goal in January to read 200 books this year. I am currently 2/3 through book 261. I've really loved tracking my reading, and pinpointing when it slowed down/sped up. I think this is the messiest year my house has had. Assuming I finish this book today/tomorrow, I'll finish the year with Stephen King. I love that guy.
In other, other, other news-2 female rats came into the Rescue on Christmas Eve-both possibly pregnant. At this point, it's looking like one is, the other-probably not. Yay, one litter is far more manageable...but still not ideal. There is no sure-fire way to tell if a rat is pregnant, it's mostly just a waiting game. And so I wait, and sneak into the room 4,000 times a day.

Have a fabulous NYE, and stay safe. See you next year!

Christmas Mani. Oooooh, and a GIFT!

I have the headache from hell. It pretty much sucks arse. I share this information, because I need to whinge to somebody.
Alrighty. Tonight, I painted a Christmas mani, and I am actually stoked with it. Photos are less than ideal; it's 11.30pm. If I wait to get daylight pics, I will have sheet marks.
Excuse my horrible hand-skin. Also, please excuse my very special Rudolph. Assume he has been into the eggnog.  Well, wouldn't you, if your entire family spent time hassling you for your shiny red nose (presumably from the eggnog)?

No flash, then flash.

Individual nail pics:

Base is Sinful Colors-Snow Me White. The rest are-Revlon Mon Cherry; SC Exotic Green; SC This Is It(gold); SC Nirvana(brown); LA Colors Art Deco Red; Miki Black, and the star on the Xmas tree, plus a few of the lights, is Star Kin Merry Solstice. All finished with Rimmel top coat.

You may notice there are no photos of my right hand. This is because it is naked. I'll potentially do something with it tomorrow. Maybe.

I also have a wee bit of a give away. I have one person in particular that reads all my blog posts, and lets me know she enjoyed them-either by saying so, or liking etc.
This person will get a customised Peacock Pie necklace. All she needs to do is message me.
Miss Holly S. You are my best follower. Congratu-fucking-lations.

It's my birthday!

So, I did some birthday nail art. As you have seen from previous posts, most of my nail art is very basic-dots, stripes, stickers etc. This time I tried drawing things.
I admired nail artists before, now I am in complete awe. The mani you'll see in the following photos took me 2 hours. I was half dead before I even got to my right hand, hence the very basic design on that side.

My table at the end of it all. Prior to starting, the table was tidy-all polishes in containers, brushes in the glass and so on.

Left hand. Colours-at least most of them-are: Bases first-Sinful Colors Snow Me White; Rimmel Grey Matter, Revlon Cloud, Australis Peek-a-boo, Sally Hansen Good To Grape. Colours used in the art-Kleancolor minis, LA Colors Art Deco pens, LA Girl 3D Effects, and the dots are all Kleancolor minis, with the exception of the gold dots. That is SC This Is It.

Bases on my right hand are-HD 25, Maybelline Party Blue, Revlon Minted, SC Unicorn, and SC Snow Me White. Letters were done with LA Colors Art Deco, glitter topper is an LAC mini, and the cupcake is a selection of Kleancolor minis. Nameless ones.
Thanks to Jessie at Nailed It NZ for the cupcake tutorial.

Here is my birthday badge:

I have since been given another-a lot smaller-that says "Oh no, 30!" Yes, I went shopping with this on today.
So far, my birthday has been great. My only complaint-my car decided starting was a desperately uncool thing to do, so I sat outside a dairy for almost an hour.

For anyone wondering what is happening with my heart-I have a monitor. It is part of a research trial; not only do I get a record of what is going on with a cardiologist, but the results could potentially help others, I'll be wearing it for the next 3 weeks. Thankfully, it is fully removable for showering.

You can just see the top 2 electrodes. There are 2 more under my ribcage. Hanging white thingis where the date is collected, and sent to the hospital. I need to change the electrodes each day-tonight my latex intolerance is showing. I'll need to move them around each day to prevent awful skin soreness. As it is, I have 4 very tender, red, circles.

A very polish weekend.

There was a big cosmetic sale on here in Christchurch this weekend-including polish. I planned well for this.
 That isn't true. I found out about it on Tues, had a tantrum about not getting paid until Friday, and bought polish before I bought anything else. My only regret was not having more money. This is what I got.

Apart from the two SC polishes; I bought those later that afternoon.
The LA Colors minis have no colours on them, and I haven't found any numbers either.  As for the others, from L-R they are: Rimmel Mermaid Green; Rimmel Mysterious Girl; LA Girl 'Rock Star' Head Banging; Revlon 'Dark Pleasures' Talk Dirty; Sally Hansen Good To Grape; Maybelline Electric Blue & Party Blue; and the Sinfuls are Nirvana and Island Coral.
Once I got home, the Mr handed me a package. My brushes/dotting tools! 

I didn't expect them to arrive for at least another week.

I have not used any brushes yet. I need to read/watch some tutorials first.
On Friday night I was overwhelmed by 27 new polishes, and new things to play with, so I got drunk and did no painting. I did a bit of polishing yesterday-the same as what I have on my left-but I am puppy-sitting. Almost dry polish does not like puppy patting.
Here is what I have today-please excuse the mess. I need a better way of cleaning up than cotton buds. I always seem to lose control of my hand and swipe the polish from my nail.

Left hand-Rimmel Mysterious Girl. It is really difficult to capture the beauty of this purple. I am so glad I bought this one. I was unsure at the time-I have a few purples-but nothing like this one. I love it. ONE COAT! Which is always a bonus, and Rimmel's wonderful flat brush just makes it perfect. Dots are, from base to top-Maybelline Party Blue, SC Snow Me White, and SC Island Coral.

Right hand. Jeebus, it is SO BUNG. Look at where the white dot is on my ring finger. I could have fixed it, but I had already had enough of the smell of remover. And honestly? The odds of it improving were slim. I wish I was ambidexterous. I wish I had a little (in my fantasies, my slaves are always little) nail-painter person that painted perfectly. I wish I was able to stop shaking.
Anyway base is Rimmel Mermaid Green (2 coats). Dots from base up are SC Nirvana, SC Snow Me White and Maybelline Electric Blue. I prefer my left hand. Not only because the purple is my current favourite, but I think the dot colours look better overall.

I am currently waiting on more swatch sticks. I got 50 a couple weeks ago, but I have another 60 polishes to do, so I have more on the way. Once they are done, I need to decide how to organise them. Fun!