| by Bel | 

Lovely long weekend here and since I missed three days, here are three outfits and three nails to satisfice. (AND A PHOTO OF MY CAT.)

Outfit for SlutWalk protest:
Faux fur coat - Collectif (early birthday gift from the wonderfulest Lou!!)
Merino cardigan - Minnie Cooper
Chucks with red glitter laces 
Catseye sunglasses - you can get similar ones off TradeMe

Outfit for rainy days:
Raincoat - Farmers. It folds up into its own pocket!
Hoodie - AS Colour
Catseye glasses - free online with a voucher

Outfit for being fance:
Dress - Jacqui E. I feel so Mad Men wearing it!
Wedges - Hush Puppies

Necklace - Agatha Paris (YES I BOUGHT IT IN PARIS. But apparently there is a boutique in Auckland?)
And I did my hair with hot rollers.

Butter London 'West End Wonderland'.
Bought in a sale online, I can't bring myself to spend the $35 in Farmers.

Me: OPI Nicki Minaj collection 'Pink Friday'
Brookie: Australis 'Sweet Pea' base with OPI Nicki Minaj collection 'Fly' french tips.

OPI Nicki Minaj collection 'Did It On 'Em' base with Orly 'It's Up To Blue' french tips

Nails being put to good use, tickling Bluejay under her chin.

| by Bel | 11.35am NZ time |

Is this colour ugly-in-a-cool-way or just ugly?

It is Butter London Fash Pack. They says it's "putty meets mushroom" and in the bottle it has a golden sheen which doesn't really translate on the nail.

I did a top coat of Sally Hansen Anti-Chip after it was recommended on Jezebel. I'm getting my beauty advice pretty much exclusively from Jane Marie of the Hairpin these days, so we'll see how that goes.

And if you know of a nail polish colour that is a solid pastel pale cappuccino tan, please let me know and put me out of my misery!

| by Lou | 4.40pm UK time |

What else is there to do on a cold rainy summer's day than get out all your nail polishes and create a rainbow shatter?

| by Lou | 12.20am UK time |

It has been busting my balls (ovaries?) to keep from you all that I got my hands on some O.P.I. Black Shatter. Two bottles, in fact. One secretly went to Bel for her birthday, and one immediately went on my nails. Now that she has received hers (though her birthday isn't till next week, if you're panicking), I can share my piccies.

The first time I layered it over orange, but the orange wasn't fully dry. It was dry enough to pass in terms of things like washing your hands and getting your oyster card out of your pocket, but not dry in terms of their idea that your nails should be "fully bone dry".



The finish was average - it cracked more at the bottom so it was like having a patch of orange across the bottom of my nails, with shatter above. And I made the stupid mistake of reapplying it onto one toenail after accidentally only putting a thin layer on (I ended up with an almost fully black nail).

First tip: Evenly apply on first go. There is no second chance.

Second time I put it over yellow, with the difference that I had put the orange on the previous day so it was completely dry when I put over the black shatter. The result of this was that it shattered much more evenly (paying attention to the above principle of once-only even application), and strangely shattered better on my right hand, ie where I had used my non-dominant left hand to apply. (I will experiment next time, but I believe this would be to do with having a thicker brush on my non-dominant hand.)



Second tip: My god, this stuff chipped immediately. Way quicker than even normal nail polish. Right now I am typing on day 4 with half my index finger nails and one of my thumbs bare. Contrast this with the previous week's staying power and I would say: apply about an hour after the colour. It seems like doing when it's not completely utterly dry causes them to fuse to the nail.

Next attempt: over sparkle!

| Posted by Lou | The time is 3.05pm here in London UK |

Bel and I really like to discuss science.

Nail science, that is.

Not so long ago nail polish was relegated to decorating my toenails in times of summer, but after Bel dragged me along to the O.P.I. counter at Kirks last year I've become a little bit addicted.

Hence after she sent me this link to some nail science of the highest order, I decided to try and do something different.

Turns out I'm as unco-ordinated as I expected to be, and only managed this appallingly simple effort despite being fairly ambi-dexterous:

This is A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find with a touch of Big Apple Red on the tips

(yes I do select colours based on their names)
(and yes, my hand is so wrinkly that the macro zoom did indeed focus on the wrinkles)

That is all.

| Posted by Bel | The time is 9.37am here in Wellington NZ |

Knowing I'm a fan of OPI nail polish, Lou flicked me through a link to their latest Limited Edition offering. But this time I'm a little unsure.

Glitter nail polish. Are we ready to go back there?

 

OPI's Burlesque range

I'm pretty sure my mum's bathroom cupboard is still crammed with crusted-up half full bottles left over from my 90s childhood whence I sauntered about with fingernails looking like tacky mismatched discoballs.

There's been a few recommendations lately for Butter London nail polish, and their Fall 2010 range of polishes not only includes shades with holographic sparkles, but are also named in tribute to fashion designer Alexander McQueen. (This alone would probably be enough to sway me, let's be honest.)

Butter London's All Hail McQueen a "holographic taupe"

Sparkling and shimmering nails have been spotted on the catwalks too. Vogue UK states that glitter is officially a spring/summer 2011 beauty trend, with a fashion journalist breathlessly reporting that "the tips of the nails were dipped in multi-coloured glitter and layered with rhinestones". Apparently something referred to as 3D sculpture is also a rising trend in the world of avant-garde manicure but I think we plebs can safely ignore that.

PS Lou, did you know that your sports heroine Serena Williams is a qualified nail technician??

Assuming you don't have a weird foot thing, you can watch her giving Oprah a pedicure and gossiping about rich black women stuff in a video here!