A trio of pretties from Femme Fatale Cosmetics + the evil Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Why hello there!

 

It’s been a long time! I had good intentions to keep blogging regularly but then something threw a spanner in the works: I got hand, foot and mouth disease. For anyone who has had this, you are probably cringing right now. HFM is easily the worst sickness I’ve ever had. It started out one Tuesday after a public holiday. I felt tired and achey and had a sore throat. By lunch time I was struggling so I went home. I tried to sleep but I couldn’t get warm. I ended up having to go steal my partner’s warmth because he was on night shift. I didn’t feel too bad after I woke up that afternoon so I was lulled into a false sense of security. That night I woke up every half hour to an hour either freezing cold or boiling hot. It was awful! I barely slept! The next day I went to the doctor’s who said I had “a virus”. Soon after that I started developing spots on my hands. By late that afternoon my hands were covered in large, angry red bumps. I barely slept that night because they were so itchy. The next day I went to the doctor’s again and showed him. I also showed him the ulcers that developed on the roof of my mouth. He said I had “an infection”. I knew he was wrong. From everything I’d read, I knew I had hand, foot and mouth disease. I also knew it was going around the small town I lived in and I work in a hospital soooooo… you do the math!!

 

Spots started popping up on my feet too, and my hands got so sore that I couldn’t even hold my toothbrush to brush my teeth. I couldn’t stand washing my hands. I couldn’t do anything!! The next day I tried to take a shower and my feet were so painful that I physically couldn’t stand on them while I tried to shower! I had to turn the taps on using a towel and it still hurt!! I lasted about 30 seconds in the shower and then gave up and left the shower half running because I couldn’t turn it off properly. I went back to bed for the day. I also got weird crusties around my nose which were painful, red and weeping. Over the next few days the pain got less and less and the rash started disappearing, apart from my poor nose. A week later, it was almost gone. “Great!”, I thought, “The worst is over!”.

 

WRONG! That’s when the peeling started. Oh, the peeling. Over the next week my skin peeled way too many layers off. The poor, new skin underneath was raw. It peeled right under the free edge of my nail and right up close to the sides of my nail bed. This was big, thick chunks (sorry!). It hurt and I looked like a leper. I was so self conscious of it and everyone asked me what was wrong with my skin. Everyone just assumed I had dermatitis. If that’s what dermatitis is like, I never want to experience it.

 

Anyway, it’s over two months later now and I’m still suffering from the lasting effects of HFM. My nails have peeled from the cuticle down towards the free edge. They form a white bubble on the surface of the nail first and then it starts peeling. It is revolting. It could be a lot worse – the whole nail could have lifted! But for someone who is so precious about their nails, it’s fairly cruel.

The whole point of this story was to explain why I am so delayed in sharing these beautiful polishes from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I actually took these photos when I still had the remnants of the rash but it wasn’t sore anymore. Thanks to some strategic lighting and cropping, you can’t really see the rash. I’ve got loads of pics though, if anyone is interested

 

Cirque Powwow

This is such a stunning Barbie pink holo with an added bonus of purple micro flakies. It is gorgeous! This was two easy coats and it lasted and lasted on my nails!

 

Liquid Sky Lacquer Spring Showers

In the interest of full disclosure and honesty, this polish wasn’t for me It was really, really sheer. This was four coats and I still had VNL. It’s supposed to be a thermal but I always have issues getting thermals to change colour. Maybe it’s because I’m so hot blooded It has a pretty, delicate pale blue, almost silver base. I think it would be great layered over a pale blue or even white, but I’m not really a layering kinda gal!

 

Rainbow Honey Ultimate Weapon

Oooohh this is bootiful! Such a deep, shimmery, shifty polish. A gorgeous deep blue/purple base with purple and blue shimmers. This was almost a one coater! Such easy application and so striking on the nail. I just loved this one.

 

Hope you enjoyed my babbling story about HFM and the pretty pics

Em

Ulta3 goodies

I’ve been absolutely loving nail stamping lately. Well, more so than usual Everyone knows it’s my favourite form of nail art! Stamping never fails to wow people and have them asking how I did it. I then go into an explanation of stamping and how awesome it is and people just stare at me like I’m from another planet. Don’t get me wrong, they’re impressed, but I know a lot of people can’t fathom spending so much time and effort on nails. To me, and most other nail addicts, nails is a form of therapy. If I go more than a few days without painting my nails, I get craaaaanky.

 

Anyway, I got some more goodies from The Heat Group to play with. More Ulta3s – YIPPEEEE  

 

This is Footloose Fuschia:

A perfect, glossy fuschia creme. This is one of their older colours and I luuuuurv it. It’s such a vibrant pink. Formula was absolutely perfect and it was very nearly a one coater! I did two for good measure.

 

I added some Bundle Monster stamping for good measure:

Splatters! I used the Konad Special Polish in Pastel Pink. I am a huuuuge fan of the Konad pastels. They stamp so well and I love the single colour contrast of it over a darker shade!

 

Here we have Sizzling Red:

Yeeoooow! What a sexy shade! I love a good red creme and this one didn’t disappoint. This too was almost a one coater with a perfect formula but I did two coats as per my usual routine. I didn’t want to cover this beautiful shade but my partner loathes red nail polish (he calls every single red “Wh*re Red”) so I had to do something to try and redeem it in his eyes. Enter, stamping!

 

Booyah! I looove this! I can’t remember which plate this was but I looove it. My partner actually really liked it too so that means it’s definitely a winner

 

And last but certainly not least:

A mix n’ match mani with Striking on the pointer and middle fingers and Get Teal on the ring and pinkie fingers with a coat of A Lister on top. Two coats of Striking (although you can see I probably need a third because I have a liiiitle bit of VNL), two coats of Get Teal (which only needed one) and one coat of A Lister. Striking and Get Teal are two of my favourite Ulta3 polishes. Striking packs so much ultra fine glitter and shimmer into it but it remains sooooo smooth. It doesn’t even NEED a top coat! Get Teal is the perfect shade of deep teal and it glides onto the nail. I loved this colour combo!

Here’s another shot to show the glitter properly:

 

What’s your favourite Ulta3?

 

Em

Ulta3 spam

Hiya

 

Onto the second part of my spam from The Heat Group, the Ulta3s! Aussie nail fanatics are very familiar with these $2 bargains. Ulta3 is awesome quality polish for a fraction of the price of most others. Ulta3 has been awesome at keeping up with the latest trends and have come out with some really cool polishes lately.

 

Here is a shade from their recent pastels collection, Corsican rose:

Gorgeous, right? This is a dusty mint green. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that I LOVE cremes and I LOVE pastels. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with a good creme and pastels are perfect for the warmer weather. It also helps that it flatters my skin tone like nothing else and makes my nails look twice as long as they are

This was two easy coats of a great formula. Pastels can be notoriously difficult to apply but this was an exception. I do have a lot of shades like this but in my opinion, you can’t have enough of them

 

This is one of Ulta3’s oldest and most common shades, Lollypop Lilac:

It’s a glitzy foil which is more of a dusty purple than a lilac. Talk about bling bling! This was two coats but it would easily be a one coater.

 

I did some weird nail art with it:

I used Essence Sweet Or Nude? for the base colour, which I liked a hell of a lot more than I thought I would. It’s a shimmery pale pink which is a touch frosty but not too much. Two coats. Then I dotted some random Lollypop Lilac dots on it. I’d say it’s a bit of a fail but oh well, I gave it a go

 

Have you got either of these bargain pretties?
Em

Sea Siren Cosmetics–Tranquility and Pamper Me Pink

Woohoo, I have some more Sea Siren polishes to show you I’ve had so much fun trying these out this weekend. This time I have Tranquility, a pastel purple creme, and Pamper Me Pink, a pastel pink creme.

 

These babies are to die for:

Seriously. UNF! Perfect smooth, glossy coverage in two coats. These were nearly one coaters!! I am so, so impressed. The formula was impeccable and clean up was minimal because it was just so easy to apply!

This is my favourite way to try out a couple of polishes: the thumb, pointer and middle fingers one colour and ring and pinkie fingers another! Pink and purple go well together and these two were no exception. Sorry if it seems like I’m gushing over these polishes but I just love them. Pastels can be streaky, slow drying and a general pain in the ass, but these pastels are the complete opposite.

 

I jazzed them up a little with some nail stamping:

I used my Pueen plates and a silver stamping polish. I just love this netted roses look

You can get Sea Siren Cosmetics on their website. Don’t forget to like them on Facebook too!

 

What do you think?
Em

Rainbow Honey Apple Kid and Sakuri Matsuri Cuticle Balm

I have another beauty from Femme Fatale Cosmetics to show you lovely ladies today. She recently sent me Apple Kid and a cuticle balm. I’ve got a cuticle balm already which I love, and I just knew I’d love Apple Kid too. It is the perfect shade for Summer!

 

Firstly, let’s talk about Rainbow Honey’s packaging. It is superb. Take a look at how my samples came:

 

The polish fit snugly in the little sleeve at the bottom. The cuticle balm was also shrink wrapped in plastic to ensure strict hygiene.

The time and effort put into this packaging really shines through. As I work in pre-press production and design at a newspaper and have my own polish brand, I really appreciate good branding and packaging. I also love the mini bottles Rainbow Honey use. A lot of minis have terrible, short brushes and are awkward to hold in photos. I’m happy to report that this bottle had none of those problems. The brush was great to use and the bottle is aesthetically pleasing.

 

Anyway, enough of my babble and onto the polish! This is Apple Kid:

Oh drool. I adore this. This was two easy coats. Application was flawless. Don’t you just love the shimmer through it? This is the type of colour that makes me happy! I’ve never actually used a Rainbow Honey polish before so I didn’t really know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised!

Then I tried the cuticle balm. I already have the Summer Juice scent which I love, and received the Sakuri Matsuri scent from Sophie at Femme Fatale. Rainbow Honey describes the scent as “Bright florals, exotic fruit, tea on Sunday afternoons, and just the right amount of sweetness reminiscent of my favorite lychee rice dumplings.” Spot on!

I took a photo of the balm on my cuticles to show you that it is moisturising, yet non-greasy.

See? I had only just put the balm on but it’s not overly shiny or greasy. It does absorb into the skin fairly quickly too so within five minutes my cuticles looked normal but hydrated.

One of my favourite things about the cuticle balm is, you guessed it, the packaging! It comes in a slimline tube which would fit in even the smallest of purses. I take my Summer Juice balm everywhere with me.

I can’t recommend these products enough! You can grab them both from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Full sized (15mL – a generous size) polishes retail for AUD$11.85 and the cuticle balm is a measly AUD$5.50. Sophie ships internationally now too which is awesome!

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed my babblings, or at least gotten to the end of this post
Em

Happy birthday Pretty Serious!

Photo thanks to www.pretty-serious.com

 

It’s a celebration today! Today marks the first anniversary of Pretty Serious, brainchild of Kaz.

Kaz has worked hard over the last year to establish her brand and she produces such amazing nail polishes, eyeshadows and lip glosses.

Without further ado, here is Daphne’s Birthday Party!

 

Gorgeous, right? Daphne is Kaz’s chickie babe who adorns all her branding material and she is so CUTE!

This polish contained medium sized pink, blue, green, gold and silver glitters. So sparkly and blingy, I couldn’t even capture it. This was two coats. The first coat was a little patchy but the second coat evened it right out!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Daphne, Pretty Serious and Kaz! You have done an amazing job

Em

Cult Nails Flushed

Ooh do I have a beauty to show you today. Cult Nails is one of my favourite brands (that’s no secret), but this one is a real winner.

 

Flushed, two coats. I just love this beautiful purple with pink shimmer. Cult Nails, I love you. Take my money.

 

 

Some cute stamping with the Nailz Craze plates. I just love the Nailz Craze plates. They have awesome designs and I’ve used them over and over again!

 

Do you love Cult Nails as much as me? How about Nailz Craze?

 

Em

Love Thy Polish Dreams collection

I’m proud to announce the new Love Thy Polish Dreams collection will be released tomorrow (27th April) at 10am South Australian time.

This collection is inspired by Stevie Nicks and is a collaboration between Love Thy Polish and Tammy from Lacquer and Leather. Thanks so much, Tammy, for coming up with some amazing colours and being truly inspiring. And thanks for keeping me in line and telling me when something isn’t good enough

 

Thanks also to Kristy from The Polish Haven for the amazing swatches and blog post.

 

 

You can buy the new Dreams collection from www.lovethypolish.com … if you live outside Australia please contact me via the website to arrange your order as I will need to do a shipping quote for you.

 

I’m excited! Are you?
Em

OPI Steady as She Rose

The OPI Pirates of the Carribean collection would have to be my favourite collection out of any polish brand ever. I know, big call right?

 

But check out this beauty:

This is two coats of Steady as she Rose. It had a lovely, buttery formula and just looked divine on the nail.

I can’t fault any of the polishes in this collection. They are all such lovely creamy, dusty pastel shades that I am always drawn to. Well done, OPI!!

 

Do you love these as much as me!?

Em

p2 Barbados Punch

I have another p2 polish to show you all today. This is Barbados Punch, from the “Mission Summer Look!” collection. I got this in a swap probably about a year ago and it took me so long to get around to wearing it!

 

It’s a lovely pink, but nothing special really. I have a few pinks just like this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty! This only took two coats to be opaque.

To jazz it up I decided to do some multi coloured stamping.

 

What do you think?
Em

OPI spam–What’s With the Cat-itude, DS Signature and Stranger Tides

I have a bit of a built up of photos happening since I’ve been slack with blogging. I’m not sure of an exact number but it would be well over 100 polishes to blog about Whoops!!!

 

So here are a few of my favourite OPIs.

The first is a fairly hard to find polish from the Shrek collection. It’s one of my favourites!

 

What’s With the Cat-itude is a beautiful eggshell blue. Two coats, a creamy formula which was easy to apply. This colour really flattered my skin tone.

 

 

DS Signature is one of my favourites too. A beautiful medium pink linear holo. Two coats, such an easy formula for a holo. *Drools*. What’s not to like about this?!

 

Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Carribean collection is one of my favourite neutrals. This is a bit of a strange colour but it is just so flattering. It’s a green toned neutral.

I layered Peita’s Polish Sky’s The Limit over my ring fingers and thumbs. This Peita’s Polish is a custom made just for me which I got from Peita when she was my Secret Santa in the Aussie Nails Facebook group last year. I love this gorgeous mint green and white glitter combo.

 

Hope you enjoyed!
Em

Jade Delirio Rosa

Holos make me happy. Do they make you happy? There’s just something about a polish that looks relatively inconspicuous inside and then transforms into a gorgeous shiny rainbow when it catches the sunlight.

 

Enough of my babbling, here’s Jade Delirio Rosa:

Beautiful, right? This is two coats. Great formula, no issues at all. The Jade holos are brilliant in that the formula is always trouble free. It doesn’t streak or get bald spots and you can whack a coat of Seche Vite over it without worrying about it dulling the holo. Basically, you can treat it like any other polish.

 

Want another photo? Sure

 

Lovely!

Em

Max Factor–Fantasy Fire over Kiko 336

I’ve been wearing some gorgeous polishes lately, some of which have been hiding in my stash for too long. For example, Max Factor Fantasy Fire. Why on earth did it take me so long to wear this pretty!? I knew I’d love it so I bought multiple back up bottles, yet it sat in the untrieds drawer of my Helmer for months.

 

I chose to layer FF over Kiko 336, a pretty bright royal blue very similar to Nails Inc. Baker Street. I got 336 in a swap  I did with a lovely lady from The Netherlands. It’s a lovely colour on its own but silly me forgot to take a photo so you’ll just have to deal with a couple of pics of Fantasy Fire (oh, what a shame ).

 

One coat of FF over Kiko 336. *Happy sigh*. The royal blue base really brings out the hot pink and purple sparkles in FF. I loooove this. I got so many compliments on it and I think this mani needs to happen again SOON.

Here’s another shot:

Hmmm… yes, I think FF is calling … You’ll have to excuse me!

Em