Lyndar the Merciless

Talon-tastic Thursday: Kate Spade AW12

2012-02-16T14:30:00.002Z

So, I am a little bit in love with the nails that celebrity manicurist Deborah Lippmann created for Kate Spade's AW12 presentation during New York Fashion Week.

The exaggerated, pointed oval shape is ladylike but not staid - a little bit kooky and bang on trend - and the imperfect, almost haphazard nude polka dots are striking without being shouty or OTT. Conservative cool, if you will.

The charm of these manicures lies chiefly in the irregular placement and size of the dots, but I was initially surprised by that since it seemed at odds with the perfectly polka dotted pieces in the collection.

Still, it makes the look easy peasy to recreate at home!

1. Apply a base coat, followed by two thin, even coats of black creme polish.
2. Use a contrasting shade to create the polka dots. Swirl the shaft of the nail polish brush around the inner neck of the bottle as you take it out to remove any excess, and then wipe both sides of the brush clean on the inside of the neck; this serves to flatten the brush slightly. Use a corner of the flattened brush to pick up a small bead of polish and gently press this onto the nail to create a dot of colour.
3. Repeat at random all over the nail, varying the amount of polish and pressure you use to change the size of the dots.
4. Finish with a layer of top coat and admire your lovely new paint job!

Products used:
Orly Bonder Rubberized Polish Gripping Basecoat
Barry M Black (Lippmann used Fade To Black from her eponymous nail polish line)
Clarins French White (Lippmann used Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Innocent, a light peachy nude shade)
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

{Image sources: 1. Kate Spade; 2. Bellasugar; 3. Glamour}

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Polka Hearts How To

2012-02-14T09:30:00.007Z

Last week I was working on something a little bit different for all my lovely readers: my first ever video tutorial, in which I demonstrated a couple of different techniques and tools that you could use to achieve the super simple polka heart designs from my Valentine's Day nail wheel.

Unfortunately I couldn't upload the stupid thing - insert technical difficulties notice here - but they're actually easy enough to DIY without a full-on video tutorial.

Oh, and incase you're wondering what polka hearts are, they're basically the lovechild of a polka dot and a small heart and like to hang out en masse to create a super cute repeating pattern.

Simples!

1. Apply two thin, even coats of your chosen base colour.
2-3. Use a nail art pen or brush (or pick up a small amount of polish with an old ballpoint pen, toothpick, paperclip, or hairpin) to create two small dots side-by-side on the nail.
4. Create a V shape underneath the dots with your chosen tool to complete the heart, and repeat all over the nail.

Alternatively, you can create the hearts by laying down two angled lines which meet at the bottom - this little diagram created by Rebecca over at Rebecca Likes Nails explains what I mean very succinctly:

Are you wearing anything Valentine-ish on your nails today?

Manicure Monday: Valentine's nails for you to try at home

2012-02-13T19:01:00.008Z

You really don't need much in the way of supplies or instructions to achieve these cute script nails, which I've been dying to try my hand at since spotting them on the MUA Cosmetics blog a couple of weeks ago. Simply use a black nail art pen, marker, or even liquid eyeliner atop two coats of your chosen colour to get your joined-up writing on.

Thinner lines and smaller letters will make for a more subtle look - bonus points for doodling little heart balloons on the thumbs!

Products used:
OPI Start To Finish
Essie Escapades
Black Nails Supreme nail art pen
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

OMG AMAZE: Mary Katrantzou for Topshop SS12

2012-02-10T16:43:00.007Z

Their last collaboration failed to set my world alight, but it was lust at first sight when I spotted the images for Mary Katrantzou's upcoming capsule collection for Topshop.

Swoon!

Nine pieces featuring the designer's signature bold and beautiful prints will go on sale from selected Topshop stores and the website on February 17th. The floral trousers and tees in the line are a bit pedestrian, IMHO, but if I somehow manage to win the Euromillions without playing between now and next Friday, I'd quite like to get myself this bubble skirt dress (£350), silk tunic dress (£150), and long-sleeved jersey dress (£180.)

{Image sources: 1. Vogue; 2. Topshop; 3. Topshop}

Talon-tastic Tuesday: The wheel of love

2012-02-10T01:11:00.003Z

As far as I'm concerned, the very best thing about Valentine's Day is that it affords me an excellent excuse to wear my heart on my nails...

... and paint V-Day themed nail wheels. Obviously!

Pricey but pretty: Premium glitter clutches

2012-02-08T10:00:00.004Z

My apparently insatiable inner magpie would dearly love to get its little claws on Anya Hindmarch's multi-glitter Valerie bag, but I'm afraid that Valerie is just way too rich for my blood.

Kate Spade's new "I Kissed A Frog" clutch is also rather beyond my evening bag budget (or at least it would be, if I actually had an evening bag budget) but that hasn't stopped me from falling for it.

What can I tell you; the magpie has great (albeit expensive) taste.

If I was the sort of person who used the word "adorbs", I would definitely be breaking it out to describe this bag. Glitter clutch + tiny frog clasp with crown = be still my kitsch-loving magpie heart.

Note: Kate Spade price based on conversion from $328. UK store price not available at the time of writing.

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Glamorous tribal vibes

2012-02-07T13:30:00.001Z

I'm very familiar with the line "self praise is no praise" but, since I'm not usually big on self-promotion, I hope you'll forgive me for saying that this black 'n' gold manicure is freakin' AWESOME. It's probably my favourite to date, actually; I can't stop looking at my nails.

The base colour is my latest polish purchase, Topshop Crystal Clouds (£6), with all detailing hand-drawn by me using black and white nail art pens.

And yes, I did the other hand too.

Spot the difference.

2012-02-06T20:23:00.003Z

The look of disgust that crossed his face should have been my first clue, the fact that he actually physically recoiled should have given the game away, but it was only when he used my actual name that I knew things were really serious.

"Lynda. Those are bloody awful" Himself said loudly in the middle of Topshop as I delightedly introduced him to a pair of cropped navy polka-dot trousers that I reckoned were my passport to instant SS12 chic.

So of course I did what any good girlfriend would do.

I bought the man repeller trousers that look like they're coming down with a case of velvety measles.

As it happens, I haven't had occasion to wear them out of the house yet *shakes fist at snow* but I have been thinking hard about what I'll pair them with when I do!

None of these items represent a massive departure from my usual style - in fact, I own several of them already - and I sort of wish I could mix up my look a bit more in honour of the mad measle-y trews.

Any suggestions?

Talon-tastic Thursday: Inspired by David Duchovny

2012-02-02T10:55:00.003Z

When I was about 14 or 15, my best friend and I were thoroughly obsessed with The X Files in general and with Mulder in particular.

{via io9}

We would regularly detour to the local video shop on our way home from school to swoon over the tiny photos of David Duchovny looking devastatingly ridey on the back of the Kalifornia VHS case, which had an 18s cert and which I'm pretty sure we tried - unsuccessfully - to rent on more than one occasion.

{via Movieclips}

One of my most treasured possessions at the time was a colour photocopy of an enormous photo of Duchovny lying across a pale blue or green leather couch, from what I think was a Sunday Times magazine belonging to another friend. It was a different picture, though, which eventually led me to today's paint job.

I never actually had a copy of the inspiration photo, but what sticks in my head about it was that Duchovny was wearing pink and red together - a pink t-shirt and red boxing gloves, maybe? - and I vividly remember thinking that he made that clashing colour combo look goooood.

With that picture in mind, I used OPI Elephantastic Pink and Barry M Red Glitter to create this manicure, and I have to tell you that I kinda love it!

Manicure Monday: Feeling retro in monochrome

2012-01-30T14:49:00.004Z

My mam and my aunt came over from Ireland for a visit at the weekend, so it's been a pretty busy few days and I haven't had quite as much time as usual to arse around painting my nails. I stuck with my compliment-magnet tuxedo talons for as long as I could, but when the tuxes started to look a bit rough around the edges I slipped out of them and into something more comfortable (and quick to execute.)

Here's a quick pic of the tuxedos for anyone who didn't catch my tutorial on Beaut.ie or the snaps of them on Twitter last week...

... and here are the white-on-black polka dots I'm wearing right this very second.

There's something really appealing about a simple polka dot pattern on nails, though I did surprise myself with my colour choices. Two back-to-back B&W manicures must mean that The Artist has had a bigger impact on me that I realised! Incidentally, I loved the film; Himself didn't and complained that the second half dragged.

Silly boy.

NOTD: The Crackle Conundrum

2012-01-20T12:57:00.001Z

While I was excited about the prospect of a crackle comeback in 2010 and own no fewer than four crackle topcoats, I have to admit that it's an effect I rarely wear on my nails.

When I do, I tend to pair the crackle polish with a glitter base or wear it as an accent nail to (hopefully) keep things from looking too grungy. Today is the realisation of a manicure that I thought of doing over a year ago but never quite got around to making a reality.

I bought Barry M Instant Nail Effects in White (£4/€5.95) with the express intention of layering it over a seriously glitzy gold glitter polish just like OPI Spark De Triomphe.

For today's manicure, I used one coat of Spark De Triomphe, gave it a few minutes to dry, and them popped on my white crackle topcoat.

As crackle colour combos go, I quite like this one and still prefer a glitter to a creme base, but ultimately I think crackle's just not for me.

I'm already itching to take it off!

London Reader Reminder: Stila Lipgloss Amnesty Tomorrow!

2012-01-18T12:17:00.005Z

What: The 'Stila Steal' Lipgloss Amnesty
When: 19th January 2012, from 10am
Where: Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge
Small print: One lipgloss per customer while stocks last.

It's a grey gloomy damp squid* of a day, so I'm putting my New Year's Resolutions (gym, running, world peace) on hold and instead thinking about chucking some of my old, worn out beauty bits.

As luck (or a well-timed marketing campaign) would have it, Stila and Harvey Nicks London have joined forces and are holding a lipgloss amnesty tomorrow. It's a pretty simple concept: you bring in a crapped out lipgloss from any brand, they'll replace it with a shiny new complimentary Stila Lip Glaze (worth £13) in a colour of your choice without passing judgement on the hack of your cast-off.

Be rude not to pop along and relieve them of one, really.

* Possibly my favourite incorrect idiom ever, courtesy of Roy from The IT Crowd

Talon-tastic Thursday: The 12 Nails Of Christmas

2012-01-12T15:38:00.004Z

We spent a brilliant couple of weeks at home in Ireland over Christmas and the New Year, and between trying to squeeze in visits to all our relatives and friends and spending quite a bit of time in the back arse of nowhere and going out every night bar two (my liver, groan!) it ended up being a bit of an Internet-free zone.

It wasn't a nail polish free zone, though. Oh no.

Here are some snapshots of 12 of the manicures I sported over the festive season (well, 11, technically. One is actually Himself's.)

Welcome to all my new followers and huge thanks to the existing crew for your continued support. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/winter solstice and here's to a brilliant 2012 x

Bootylicious.

2011-12-09T09:30:00.002Z

Today, I seriously need to buy a pair of winter boots. A pair of hot pink wellies were my only option with grips on the sole during last year's epic snow (I had to wear them to meet my editor for the first time - criiiinge) and my fUGGS from New Look really need to go in the bin at this stage (they were grand while they lasted but they're now several years old and completely out of shape, offer zero foot support, and liberally splattered with fence paint.)

I had a nose in the UGG outlet in Bicester Village (like Kildare Village only massive and super fancy, with shops like Gucci and Vivienne Westwood. Also, difficult for an Irish person to pronounce correctly: apparently it's "Bister" not "Bi-chester") which only cemented my determination not to spend hundreds of quid on some of the ugliest shoes ever produced. There were queues of people standing in line waiting to get in to the UGG outlet, which I got a bit excited about: I thought they must be giving them away, and I reckoned that I could - probably - bring myself to hand over fifty pounds or so for a pair.

When the queue eventually dissipated, I popped in for a look and promptly popped back out again. Reductions were in the order of about 15%, keeping them well overpriced for footwear that, while warm, can't hold up to rain, snow, or slush and look hick to boot.

To boot! Geddit?! I kill me, etc.

In my area of North London, sensible but stylish and expensive looking knee-high leather numbers with round toes seem to be the winter boot of choice (bonus points if they look like you could wear them horse-riding when you tire of walking up Hampstead High Street.) The three pairs of boots that I've shortlisted don't quite tick all those boxes, but sure I'll just have to struggle on regardless.

These Topshop boots (£85) remind me of these ones, which I spotted being all kinds of awesome with long socks on a girl in Venice:

Both of the Marks & Spencer offerings below clock in at £89, and while I do like the look of them and the fact that that they're quite chunky I can't help thinking that they're a bit, I dunno, frumpy or mumsy or something.

Have you dusted down your winter boots or gone shopping for new ones yet? What's your favourite pair like?

Talon-tastic Thursday: Understated matte sparkle

2011-12-08T15:49:00.001Z

Life outside the laptop has been a bit hectic recently, which is why I've been MIA on the blog front of late. I hope you can forgive my unscheduled absence and enjoy today's nails!

I've a drawer crammed full of glittery nail polish bottles that can attest to the fact that I love me some bling and spangles, but today I wanted to show that sparkle doesn't have to be OTT or in your face to make an impact.

As I've previously argued over on Beaut.ie, a matte topcoat can add an interesting new dimension to glitter polishes. Here, I've simply used Essie Matte About You over Sephora Only Gold For Me (Essence Make It Golden is quite similar) for a manicure that's festive but not frivolous.

What do you reckon? Do you prefer your Christmas nails to involve more full-on bling since it's the only time of year you feel you can get away with it, or is this still too tacky for your tastes?

Talon-tastic Thursday: Tardy vintage-feeling mix

2011-11-18T11:04:00.006Z

It's high time the classic retro colour combo of mint and peach made a comeback, and I've been doing my bit over the last couple of days with this manicure. I've had loads of compliments on it - even my surgeon commented that he thought they were the coolest nails he'd ever seen and called his clinic manager in to check them out - which has been a nice and much needed ego boost.

My look post-treatment on Tuesday has been very walking dead, complete with very bloodshot eyeballs (turns out those thumbs from last week were pretty close to the mark) so my strategy is to make sure everyone's too distracted by my awesome nails to bother looking at my eyes.

I started with a base coat of OPI Start To Finish and then used...

Thumb: Eyeko Rain (discontinued)
Index finger: Clarins Blanc French (discontinued) with Claire's Accessories CM241 (snot green) and Eyeko Rain (pattern is my attempt at Sophie's vintage-y floral print, which is amazing)
Middle finger: Rimmel Peppermint with H&M gold
Ring finger: Barry M Peach Melba
Little finger: Clarins Blanc French

I pulled out a Sally Hansen nail art pen for the black detailing and then whacked on a layer of Seche Vite to set everything nicely. I'm really pleased with how well it's lasted: I did this manicure on Monday night and as of today there's just one solitary paint chip. Wahey!

Can you tell where it is yet? I accidentally caught the index finger on my right hand in a door (ow) and completely bent back the nail in question (OW!), so it's fairly incredible that the polish was the only casualty.

PS: Apologies for the gammy looking watermarks, but one of my lovely readers emailed me the other day to let me know that another blogger was passing off one of my manicures as her own - cheeky or what? The offending post was removed as soon as I asked for it to be taken down but even so...

Thanks again for the heads up VanillaLime x

Talon-tastic Thursday*: Eye eye!

2011-11-11T12:50:00.004Z

I'm having laser eye surgery on Tuesday - finally! - so I'm eye obsessed at the minute. I was going to go for the full complement of eyeballs, but decided they were a bit freaky looking so settled on a design inspired by the nazar (Turkish amulet which protects against the evil eye) with eyeball accent thumbs instead.

It turned out pretty well, I think, but I just can't shake the feeling that the nazar design reminds me of something else...

Ah. Oyster card. Well, at least my fingers will look appropriately coordinated when it gets flashed during any public transport outings this weekend.

* I know, I know!

Topshop EDITED by Lynnie*

2011-11-08T09:30:00.003Z

I have a dress to return to Topshop, and despite searching high and low and everywhere in between, I can't find the receipt anywhere. GAH. The good news is they'll do an on-the-spot exchange but the bad is they won't give a credit note, and that means I'll need to have something ready to swap before I head to the counter.

Looking through their latest A/W drop online to find a suitable garment, I think that my biggest problem will be getting out the door with just that one exchanged item.

1. Leopard print scarf, £16
2. Knitted sequin star jumper, £46
3. Bronze sequin front vest, £32
4. Metallic scallop mini skirt, £38
5. Sequin pencil skirt, £45
6. Glitter platform sandals (Miu Miu-tastic!), £80

* Hey. If Susie Bubble can do it...

An excuse for cake. And shoes. (AS IF one was needed.)

2011-11-07T16:38:00.004Z

{source: The Curious Confectioner}

Did you remember that last Thursday was this blog's 6th birthday?

No. No, of course you fecking didn't.

Well, don't worry that you completely forgot and didn't even bother your arse to send a card, let alone bake a cupcake with an edible chocolate bird on top... because I got my dates mixed up and thought that it was on Saturday.

Oops.

Anyway, I picked up a little birthday/anniversary/bloggiversary present for it from all of us to help ease the pain.

What?

Did you not know that a blog's favourite gift is shoes in my size?

I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support, for reading and commenting and, er, putting up with a very basic site design that hasn't changed since 2005. Who knows: maybe this is the year I'll finally get organised and spruce things up around here.

Lynnie x

Treat or treat: Halloween beauty bits

2011-10-31T14:17:00.008Z

If you predict that a bit of me time will be in order tonight after painstakingly carving a pumpkin, being dragged trick or treating by the childer, or having your head wrecked completely by the noise of bangers and fireworks, well, this post is for you.

This selection of themed products for the day that's in it will hopefully keep you looking and feeling more glam then ghoul.

Happy Halloween!

BATH BREWS
Lush tend to go all out for Halloween and this year's no exception with a selection of spooky treats in store, including limited edition and strangely cute Skullduggery bath ballistics (above, €3.45, remind me a lot of Darth Vader) and Calacas shower jellies (€3.70.) Both are inspired by the Mexican celebrations for Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, rather than Star Wars.

Allegedly.

Closer to home, Ceridwen's Cauldron bath melt (€5.45) is named for a legendary Welsh enchantress. The concoction is oat based to soothe and calm skin, and the muslin bag which contains it can also be used to gently exfoliate.

Apparently the recipe is based on a beautifying spell which, in its original incarnation, required that the bathwater be stirred with a hazel wand... and then spat in.

The update feels like a definite improvement.

MAGNETIC MAGIC
It's been around before in the shape of hard-to-get, limited edition releases, but this autumn magnetic nail polish is going mainstream.

Apply one coat of the magnetic polish, wave the included magic wand – sorry, magnet – over the top while it's still wet, and watch as fine metal filings in the formula shift to create unique patterns in the polish.

Give your wallet a fright with Nails Inc Magnetic Polish, €17.50 at Brown Thomas, Debenhams, and Littlewoods. At a comparatively weeny €8.99, 17 Magnetised Polish (above) is more treat than trick (available from Boots stores nationwide.)

I guess he liked it so he went and put a ring on it.

2011-10-26T11:26:00.000+01:00

Just incase you've missed the breaking news on Facebook and Twitter... that amazing boyfriend of mine is now my fiancé.

(I can't believe I just typed that.)

OH. MY. GOD.

2011-10-19T12:54:00.011+01:00

If I told you that I have the most ridiculously amazing boyfriend ever...

... and that our 10 year anniversary is coming up...

... and then showed you these...

... could you guess what we're doing to mark the occasion?

Yeah. I was just going to make him a card, but this ups the ante slightly.

{image sources: 1. Telegraph; 2. Old Tom Foolery; 3. 4. 5. Orient Express}

Monday's mane attraction: Katy Perry in the pink

2011-10-17T14:10:00.002+01:00

The pink hair (Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink is similar), the lady tuxedo shirt, open bow tie and cummerbund, the crystal studded mic AND stand...

Haterz gonna hate, but there was nothing I didn't love about Katy Perry's appearance on last night's X Factor.

{image sources: 1. via Glamour; 2. via Daily Mail; 3. via Glamour}

Talon-tastic Thursday: Polka dots and bling

2011-10-13T18:06:00.003+01:00

Base: Orly Country Club Khaki
Diamond bling: OPI Spark De Triomphe
Black details: Done with a black nail art pen

My cousin got engaged recently (congrats again, Liz!) and I'd intended to wear a paint job with an occasion-appropriate diamond accent nail on the ring finger to her engagement party. Of course, since time didn't stop while I was scrambling to get ready, I had to scale back my ambitions and ended up just slapping on two coats of OPI Bring On The Bling while waiting for the train to arrive.

Anyway, now that I've finally gotten around to executing it I have to say I'm really pleased with this manicure. Polka dots and sparkles are two of my favourite things and I think the nude base keeps things looking chic rather than OTT.

What do you reckon?

The Steve Jobs post.

2011-10-06T13:27:00.007+01:00

Despite feeling terribly sad when I read the news this morning, I wasn't going to say anything here about Steve Jobs' passing. Partly because I know that others have and will make a more eloquent job of it, and, well, partly because I'm not a Mac.

However, it's since occurred that my very first laptop - a turquoise clamshell iBook, the laptop I started writing on - was dreamed up by Steve Jobs. So was the first portable music player I bought myself - a pink iPod mini, purchased in the Chicago Apple store as a momento of my J1 summer in the city - which made the three-to-four hour daily commute to college and later to work bearable.

Steve Jobs was the man behind my first big Christmas present to Himself - a black iPod nano - and the first phone I owned that could really do more than phone calls and texts. I'm typing this on a MacBook Air. I'm thinking about bringing Himself's iPad to the hairdressers so that I can show them photos of the cut I want.

Of course, Steve Jobs did make me cry once, but I think for the day that's in it we can let that slide.

Like most people in the world who have been touched by his creations, his way of thinking, and and that speech at Stanford, I can honestly say that this brave, visionary man changed my life drastically and for the better.

So good night, Steve Jobs. And thank you for everything.

{image credits: 1. Apple; 2. via Broadsheet.ie}

Tights and sandals are awesome.

2011-10-05T10:30:00.063+01:00

Now that we're into October and the amazing weather of last weekend has passed, there's a definite sense of autumn about the place. I know this duo won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I really, really like the look of tights worn with sandals as the leaves begin to fall. Pairing the two means you can continue to wear your lovely summer shoes but no longer have to worry about having your toenails painted or your legs shaved, and you're toasty warm.

What's not to love?

Sheer tights with sandals. That's what.

Whether you prefer them ribbed or smooth - ooh matron! - stick with opaque tights and a substantial shoe to really nail this look. If money's no object, look to Falke and Wolford (the latter have outlets in Kildare Village in Ireland and Bicester Village outside London) or check out Topshop and Oasis for more budget-friendly offerings that don't pill and do keep their shape, even when regularly subjected to the ravages of a washing machine.

{photo credits: 1. Eleonore Bridge; 2. Topshop; 3. Rue; 4. hyeyoungworld on Tumblr; 5. Peruvian Connection; 6. Blair E. on Lookbook; 7. The Cherry Blossom Girl; 8. Junebug S. on Lookbook, all via my Pinterest}

A weeny little China Glaze haul.

2011-10-04T10:37:00.004+01:00

1. China Glaze Skyscraper
2. China Glaze In The City
3. China Glaze Flying Dragon

I don't usually go in for haul posts, where bloggers ~~show off~~ share cool stuff they've bought, but this is really more of a public service announcement so I'm making an exception.

Sally Salon Services are currently running a 3 for 2 on China Glaze polishes, including Crackles and the new Metro collection. I picked up these lovelies from my local yesterday for less than £13; that makes them 4 quid and change apiece.

Um, bargainous!

Find your nearest Sally store in the UK or Ireland here.

Just another Manicure Monday: @katespadeny skittle nails

2011-10-03T09:30:00.021+01:00

Here's what I wore all weekend: a simple mix of prints, solid colours, and glitter inspired by Kate Spade's designs.

L-R: OPI Elephantastic Pink, black polka dots on Clarins French White, China Glaze For Audrey, leopard print on Orly Country Club Khaki, Essence Make It Golden

Style spot: Sequin tees

2011-09-22T14:07:00.002+01:00

I spy a sparkly trend for autumn winter! Slouchy t-shirts and sequins are the ultimate pairing to inject a shot of laid-back luxe into your A/W wardrobe.

Wear with skinny jeans, flats, and a blazer by day, switching out your flats for heels and adding an oversized clutch for night.

1. Warehouse, £55
2. Topshop, £48
3. Oasis, £45
4. Topshop, £30
5. Ted Baker, £79
6. Oasis, £45

Today, I mostly wore loafers.

2011-09-19T21:20:00.000+01:00

Well, it is back to school season.

Top: Oasis (AW11)
Shorts: Forever 21 (SS11 but still in stock)
Tights: Oasis (AW11)
Loafers: Penneys (AW11)

On a side note, the pink in the ends of my hair has faded like crazy - this photo was taken the day I had it done, 3½ weeks ago.

I can't decide whether grab a tub of temporary dye and top it up myself, go pink all over, or chop it up into a long, asymmetrical bob and dye it red (either bright à la Florence Welch and Christina Hendricks, or auburn like Isla Fisher and Jayma Mays.)

Decisions decisions!

Talon-Tastic Thursday: Barry M bling

2011-09-15T23:54:00.009+01:00

Like all Barry M polishes, Red Glitter does exactly what it says on the tin: it's densely packed with small flecks of bright, primary red rectangular glitter. Which means it's not just phonebox or postbox or even Batphone red: this, people, is Dorothy's ruby slippers red. Red in any shade is not a very "me" colour and I don't think that this one suits me at all, which is unfortunate because I really like it.

Flipping typical.

Here, I'm wearing 3 thinly applied coats for maximum opacity and a layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat, which I think it definitely needs. Left to its own devices, Red Glitter dries to a quite matte finish and with that grainy grittiness that's characteristic of so many glitter polishes.

The finish with a thick topcoat is actually considerably brighter and more foiled-looking than I've been able to capture in this picture because my camera apparently hates glitter. The way it looks on my middle finger is probably the closest to how it appears in real life.

Sadly, even when topped and tailed with base and top coat, wear time isn't great: I only got 2½ days out of it before it flaked off in spectacularly massive lumps during a shower (as evidenced by my index finger, just seen in the pic above.) Wearing Red Glitter as a topcoat over a bright red creme or using 2 rather than 3 coats might do away with that issue, though.

Removal is, I'm quite sure, going to be a complete pain in the swiss. I'll be following my guide to glitter polish removal when the time comes. And if that feels too much like hard work, I might just let it come off "naturally" in the course of my next few showers and hope it doesn't all end up in my hair.

PSST - Today's a bit of a Talon-Tastic Thursday double whammy, because I'm writing on Beaut.ie about how to DIY gorgeous galaxy nails. You can check out the tutorial here!

Suits you, Barbie.

2011-09-09T14:50:00.005+01:00

I was gobsmacked when I saw Charlotte's photo of this original vintage Barbie at The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.

And not just because her sunglasses are awesome.

{photo credit & source: Charlotte @ Lipglossiping}

She's wearing one of the swimsuits I ogled a couple of weeks ago! (Except, y'know, in a more teeny tiny incarnation.)

Then I came across this photo of the Barbie Malibu Dream House by Jonathan Adler. Look very closely at the mirror above the fireplace and tell me what you see.

{source: Jonathan Adler}

Would a close-up help?

{source: telegraph.co.uk}

Jesus. Ok, that's more than a little creepy. But I'm pretty sure the universe is trying to tell me that I need a black and white chevron striped one-piece in my life.

Now, If the universe could just see fit to send the hundred-odd quid that Go Get Retro and Etsy seller ThomThom Vintage are charging for such an item my way, we'd be laughing.

Talon-tastic Thursday: It's Graphite, Jim, but not as we know it.

2011-09-08T19:03:00.003+01:00

Chanel Graphite is a very nice silver polish that glitters in the sun in a most enchanting fashion, but I'll be honest with you: I'm just not convinced that it's all that unique.

When photos of it began surfacing in March, I mentioned on Beaut.ie that I thought Andrea Fulerton Mischa would be an eminently passable substitute, and now that I've had a chance to compare them side by side I can confirm that they're extraordinarily similar.

Yes, Mischa is a bit darker, composed of slightly larger particles, and has some blue and purple leanings - Graphite is a cleaner silver, shot through with gold - but even a very slow horse with a serious interest in duping Chanel polishes wouldn't notice the difference.

While stablemate Peridot lasted on my nails for several days without any embellishment and was only removed when it had chipped to the point of being unwearable, Graphite stumbled within hours. After just one day of wear, I was properly bored with it, so out came the white nail art pen and on went the absolute hottest fashion print of the season: stars!

Stars were my doodle of preference when I was at school so I'm happy to see them making a comeback. I'm also almost certain that I used to draw them on my bare nails as well as any scrap of paper that came my way, so this was all very sunrise, sunset.

Then Karl the Bear randomly popped into my head, and I decided to try an accent thumb.

Nowhere near perfect (and a touch more smiley than either Karl or his bear) but how cute is that?

Nice legs!

2011-09-07T21:00:00.002+01:00

The latest IKEA catalogue arrived in my postbox today, so of course I had to have a flick through it.

I'm very taken with the curvaceous new ISALA line, and this cute little granny chic laptop desk (£149/€169) in particular.

Does the colour remind anyone else of Kelly Osborne's formerly lilac locks?

My Sunday afternoon in pictures: Nailphilia

2011-09-06T01:30:00.007+01:00

{Tempted, Sam Biddle}

{A tiny selection of Sue Marsh's work, including the original Minx at No. 6: actual metal nails!}

{Steampunk nails by Jenny Longworth, worn by Jessie J in the video for Nobody's Perfect}

{Mike Pocock installation}

{Nails by Meguni Mizuno photographed by Yasuharu Sasaki}

{Nails by Sophie Harris-Greenslade a.k.a. The Illustrated Nail...}

{... and the artwork that inspired them, Pink Again by Sophie Derrick}

{Fendi beetle from Sophy Robson's Bug Life installation}

{Untitled Paws. Nails by Sophy Robson, photographed by Kellie French and Gary Anderson}

I could go on and on (and on!) about all the amazing work that's showcased at London's first nail art exhibition, but instead I'll let the pictures do the talking and simply say that Nailphilia kind of blew my mind a little bit when I went along to check it out over the weekend.

Nailphilia
DegreeArt.com's Execution Room
12a Vyner Street
E2 9DG

Nearest tube: Bethnal Green

Open daily from 12-6pm until Sunday 25th September; admission is free.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Chanel Shade Parade

2011-09-03T14:32:00.005+01:00

Possibly the most belated Talon-tastic Thursday ever, but I promise that the wait's been worth it. Today I have something a little bit different to show you.

It's an amazing video of dancing fingers showcasing 18 of Chanel's most iconic nail polish shades - including my first, Rouge Noir - that has to be seen to be believed.

This is cute and whimsical and incredibly well done; I actually forgot that I was watching hands a couple of times. Seriously. It's that good.

The last five things I bought... And then brought back.

2011-08-31T16:29:00.005+01:00

{Coat, jumper & tights from Topshop; shoes from Next}

Okay, I didn't bring all of them back.

Yet.

There's a running joke in our house that I manage to do all of my clothes shopping with the same tenner but never have anything to wear. You see, I'm a terror for buying things and only realising that they're hideous/badly made/don't suit me when I get them home and see them In Real Life. If something fails the IRL test, then it goes straight back to the shop for an exchange or refund; I don't have the space or the funds to keep things that I'm not going to wear.

Still, I think the jumper and leopard print flats are probably safe from my merciless bring back-ing: stripes and leopard print and bling are my outfit staples and these replace similar worn-out items in my wardrobe.

The teal heels have already been returned and I'm wondering if the (unopened) tights can be brought back, too: the colour's great but I meant to pick up 80 denier. D'oh.

The coat is decidedly more Dalmation than leopard print, which is actually quite nice, but it's double-breasted, which I don't think suits me. That, coupled with the faux fur, makes for a bulky silhouette and I immediately think of the Michelin Man when I try it on (albeit a very chic, metrosexual Michelin Man. The Michelin Man by Marc Jacobs, maybe.)

In addition, the buttons are crappy, thin, cheap looking, plastic affairs and would need replacing, which is pretty outrageous given the price of the coat.

I think I'll keep the receipt safe for the next month. Just incase.

Winter coat lust (or: Part two in an occasional series of obsessing about warm, stylish clothes.)

2011-08-25T15:30:00.048+01:00

I am determined to get me a new winter coat this year. And I'm sorry for breaking out the "w" word, but it could be worse.

I could be one of those annoyances who have already started inflicting their countdown to the "C" word on the public.

The thing you need to understand about winter coats is that the nice ones tend to disappear from the shops days after the first AW stock drop in August. If you see one you like over the next couple of weeks and it's available in your size, grab it with both hands, run to the tills, and don't let it out of your grasp until you get there.

Thinking that August is too early for winter coat shopping is one of the reasons I haven't bought one since 2007, and that cream River Island number is well and truly worn out at this stage. I'm trying to decide whether to attempt a dye job or chuck it in the washing machine; until now I've always had it dry cleaned because the lining of the last "machine washable" coat I had from River Island shrunk so badly on washing that it was rendered unwearable.

My other piece of winter-appropriate outerwear is a military style Mango number which I dearly love and get compliments on every time I wear it, but it's a bit ancient and not especially warm.

I really think that what I'm missing is a lovely warm faux fur coat like Kate Moss' beloved vintage leopard print.

{Wenn via Glamour}

{via The Cheap Girl}

{via Mystic Medusa}

{via Glamour}

Oh who am I trying to kid: what I'm actually missing is Kate Moss' beloved vintage leopard print and no other coat bar its identical twin will do.

Can someone please let Kate know that I'd be very happy to give The World's Most Perfect Coat a loving home should she ever tire of it? Ta.

Did you miss me?

2011-08-25T12:31:00.002+01:00

You may have gathered from my extended absence over the last two weeks and the recent fancy beachwear post that I've been away in forren climes. I'm just home from Zambia - it was seven different kinds of amazeballs so I might do a dedicated post on it in a bit - and the post-holiday blues are a sort of swirling, sucking, seemingly bottomless whirlpool of darkest navy at the minute.

The great walloping comedown of landing back in reality after holidays is never fun - especially when your return involves placating a small white dog who is spectacularly pissed off at being left with his babysitter for the duration of your escape - but I'm finding it particularly difficult this time around. As my Twitter followers will know, I am currently iPhoneless and shoeless, clothesless and make-up less (well, almost) courtesy of some light-fingered *insert vicious expletive of choice that would make a fishwife faint here* who pilfered my checked luggage on the trip home.

That definitely hasn't helped matters.

I've reported it to the airline (South African Airways) and started the process of putting in a claim on our travel insurance, but aside from the loss of actual stuff I'm gutted that the hundreds of photos I've taken documenting the last 18 months of my life are gone, most likely forever. So is the protective sticker I got for the back of the phone in San Francisco last summer, which sounds stupid but it reminded me of that holiday and everytime I saw it.

And it was super cute, dammit.

Oh well. At least the dog is starting to gradually warm to us again.

And now we come to the swimwear portion of our competition.

2011-08-05T10:24:00.003+01:00

I haven't bought a swimsuit since I was in my teens and actually went swimming regularly in the local pool. That was a black Speedo Endurance Medalist number, with turquoise and white side panels and a powerback for ease of shoulder movement.

With holidays on the horizon, I'm looking for one that's a bit more fashion than function this time around (although I should probably consider a powerback - after all, I don't want my mojito-lifting arm to be restricted.)

Something like these one of these retro-style lovelies would be ideal, if I could find a nice example for less than fifty quid...

{available from Etsy seller ThomThom Vintage; pic via Tais-toi, sois beau}

{£59.95 from For Luna}

{£59.95 from Anthropologie, size XS still available online at the time of writing}

{£59.95 from For Luna, on backorder}

That last one reminds me of something...

Oh right, it's just the Viv Westwood for Melissa heels that I obsess over in all colourways and designs.

As you were.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Good Romance

2011-08-04T13:23:00.006+01:00

I'm not great at maths, so it seems quite incredible that I have spent a large proportion of my professional life working in banking, finance, and accounts, dodging well-meaning managers who were keen for me to study accountancy by night.

Beauty maths, though, are a different story.

Here's one equation that I worked out for Beaut.ie recently:

{Foundation + body lotion = M.A.C Face And Body. Kinda.}

Today's Talon-Tastic Thursday is the product of a similar experiment.

I added a bright purple glitter polish and a squishy black jelly polish in hopes that the solution would ape Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance.

{China Glaze Liquid Leather + L.A. Colors Glistening Purple = Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance. Ish.}

Now, I know that Bad Romance also contains large hexagonal glitter, but I really just wanted to see if I could create an approximation of it rather than a true copycat.

Here's how it turned out:

Oh yes, works for me. I think I'll call it Good Romance.

If that hasn't sated your lust for a more Bad Romance-alike polish complete with hexagonal flakes, Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia looks like a good bet for a dead-on budget dupe.

{First sighting in the wild! Hand and photo are Eva's.}

It's not out until October, though, when it'll cost 9 of your finest Eurobux; I'll be quite happily making do with my DIY version until then.

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Scream for ice cream

2011-08-02T10:30:00.080+01:00

This is one of my favourite manicures yet, and it's perfect for the currently fab weather in London. Yesterday I wore shorts and a t-shirt all day, and didn't need to put on so much as a light cardigan when I brought the dog for a walk at 8 o'clock last night. According to the forecast, temperatures are set to hit 28°C today and 29°C tomorrow, with nighttime lows not dropping below the high teens.

Sticky. I am very glad not to have to (a) commute to work or (b) wear a suit/uniform this week.

Thanks to the ice cream accent nail, this mani was also bang on for the Foodies Festival at Battersea Park which we went to Sunday. Artisan ice cream from Yee Kwan (well, I couldn't very well not have some with that nail) and Pimms and champagne ensured that it was a rather nice outing indeed.

At least they did until I tripped on a cable ramp thingy which tore a lump out of the nail on my big toe. My poor feet now look fuglier than ever; I should probably sue for physical trauma and emotional distress (and the price of a packet of stick-on toenails.)

If you fancy trying your hand at the cloud print nails - they're easy, honest! - I've written a "how to" on that very subject over on Beaut.ie today. No specialist tools required.

Weird Aloha Yankovic.

2011-07-27T10:30:00.001+01:00

It's several years since I've worn this Oasis vest top, but I came across it in my wardrobe this morning while looking for something light and summery to wear. I slung it on with my skinny jeans and flip flops and lovely new plaited grey belt from the Oliver Bonas sale.

Nothing strange or startling there, but I've just this second remembered that the skin and blister is actually in Hawaii. Right now.

Coincidences kind of freak me out: wasn't there a thing in some disaster movie or telly show about an increase in coincidences meaning that the universe is breaking apart? Or, er, something? Answers on a postcard...

Hairspiration.

2011-07-26T09:30:00.017+01:00

I'm b.o.r.e.d with my hair and itching for a colour change. Here are my favourite 'dos of the moment, one or more of which will likely end up being shown to my colourist as "the sort of thing I'm after."

Just as soon as I find one to whom I care to entrust my locks in London, that is.

Dip-dye: Not just for Gwen Stefani's wedding dress

If you haven't been living under a big rock of late, you'll know that extreme dip-dyed hair is, like, so hot right now. Looking at some of these gorgeous examples, it's not difficult to see why...

{Abbey Lee Kershaw photographed by Max Doyle for Vogue Australia}

{via here, original source unknown}

{source: Bleach}

There are loads of guides for DIYing tipped/bleachenders/dip-dyed/tie-dyed hair doing the rounds both in traditional media and online, but even I and my ah-sure-have-a-go attitude to beauty would strongly advise going to a professional for this one. All but the very lightest blonde hair will need to be lifted with heavy-duty bleach before your colour(s) of choice will take, and you're just asking for your ends to turn to straw and snap off by going the at home route.

If you're in or planning a trip to London and looking for a proper hair dying mecca to get your dip-dye done, Bleach now have a concession in the basement in Topshop Oxford Circus that's easier to get to than their permanent home in Dalston.

In terms of colours, I'd steer clear of green (looks like you blew your nose in your hair), yellow (regardless of what Lady Gaga thinks), and dying the ends much darker than the rest of your hair (gives an attractive, just fell head first into a coal bucket effec- oh hai, Drew!)

{exhibits a, b, and c - the prosecution rests, y'honour}

Howdy, ombré...

Ombré hair hasn't gone away, you know, and it's a more natural take on the two-tone trend that's subtly fashionable rather than all out festival fab. The ombré look is a graduated effect that gets progressively lighter from mid-lengths to ends but lacks any harsh demarcation between layers of colour. It may be tamer than the Rainbow Brite dye jobs featured above, but it's still capable of looking striking when done right...

{Mel C by Big Pictures via Glamour}

{Olivia Palermo via Look}

{Rachel Bilson via Pinterest, original source unknown}

{Drew gets it right, looks gorgeous via Look}

If you're already some class of blonde and fancy trying to get your ombré on at home, you could try spritzing John Frieda's new Go Blonder Lightening Spray through damp ends to achieve the effect. The fact that it's a progressive lightener makes it perfect for the job: with each subsequent use, simply shift your attention a little further along the hair shaft towards the tips.

Now before you rush off to buy barrels of the stuff, a small caveat. I tried this on my light brown hair since the label - and the John Frieda website - implies that it's suitable for hair up to and including light brown. The phrasing they actually use is "NOT SUITABLE FOR USE ON MEDIUM BROWN OR DARKER SHADES OF HAIR", which suggested to me that those with light brown hair could happily fire away. While it did lighten the hair that I treated in a subtle, non-brassy way, it also left me with candyfloss textured ends.

Brown-haired buyers beware.

Are you a fan of either of these styles, or do you reckon any class of dip-dye or ombré is a hair don't?

Who wears short shorts?

2011-07-24T00:25:00.004+01:00

I had a consultation for laser eye surgery on Thursday morning, and then on the way home I took a little detour and treated myself to a wander around Westfield. It's a brilliant shopping centre at Shephard's Bush in West London; it's also the biggest shopping centre I've ever seen.

To give you some idea of the enormity of the place, it has 96 escalators (according to their website; I didn't go around counting them. Honest.)

While I was there, I spotted these shorts in New Look:

They were reduced to a tenner but I left without them because I wasn't arsed to join the half-a-mile long queue for the only open changing rooms in the place, and now I'm in the throes of some major non-buyer's remorse.

In truth, I'm probably not sufficiently leg confident to actually wear them - and there's the small matter of my feeling cold if the temperature dips below 28°C - but in my head I would look freaking awesome Rocking them (yes, with a capital R) with sunnies and flats and my black blazer.

Just like this, in fact:

{photo credit & source: See Jane}

And speaking of Harry Potter...

2011-07-15T20:30:00.007+01:00

Yep. Still.

Harry Potter and the Illustrated Nail

2011-07-15T20:11:00.013+01:00

I promised myself months ago that I'd treat myself to an appointment with the lovely and ridiculously talented Sophie from The Illustrated Nail to get my nails done for the final Harry Potter movie. Well, we're going to see it tonight and luckily Sophie was able to squeeze me in earlier for an emergency paint job.

Want to see what my HP-ready nails look like?

{l-r: Harry's scar, Hedwig, HP initials with golden snitch,
Harry's uniform, skull representing the Dark Mark}

Um, AMAZEBALLS.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Spot-tastic

2011-07-14T09:30:00.010+01:00

There was a special offer on Revlon nail polishes in Boots a few weeks ago, so I picked up One Perfect Coral (pictured above; the clue's in the name) and Tropical Temptation (a pinkish light orange that does nothing for my skintone and looks quite like Chanel Orange Fizz in the bottle.)

These are my first Revlon polishes, and I gotta be honest: I'm really not sure about them. The brushes are almost skinny enough to be stripers, which mean that it takes several strokes to cover the nail rather than the standard three. In addition, the formulation is kind of thin and they're inclined to go on very streakily.

I was inspired to wear something reddish on my nails by this photo:

{Photo credit: Jenna Alcala for Matchbook Magazine}

Then, true to form, I got bored of the plain coral about three minutes after I applied it.

Hey. I'm nothing if not consistent.

I initially tried a mint accent nail on my ring finger to break it up a bit, keeping a coral half-moon at the base for a vintage-y look, but in the end just decided to channel the retro feel of the photo with randomly placed polka dots for a more coherent (in my eyes) end result.

Remember, kids: dots are easy peasy to DIY with a ballpoint pen!

Everything must go!

2011-07-11T09:30:00.000+01:00

I'm selling as many of my earthly possessions as I can bear to be parted from on the fleaBay, to make a bit of room in our too-small-for-the-amount-of-stuff-I-have flah and hopefully get together a bit of spending money for my summer holidays at the same time.

If you're a shoe size 3 or 4 and a 6-8 in clothes, you might like to have a goo at my listings. I'll be adding more items (primarily shoes and clothes) in the course of the next couple of days, but here's a taste of what's on offer at the minute...

{BNIB gold ASOS sandals, sz 4}

{Kelly green ballet flats from Sfera, sz 3}

{Blush pink ballet flats from Sfera, sz 3}

{Silver glitter flats from Dune, sz 3}

How Pinteresting.

2011-07-08T10:30:00.003+01:00

Pinterest is my new favourite thing. It's an online bookmarking tool that allows users to create visual reminders of all the inspirational or just plain neat stuff they come across on the web. The whole operation is really nicely executed, from the guide on pinning etiquette (which includes reminders to credit sources properly) to the clutter-free layout.

As someone who has notebooks full of lists and reminders, files and scrapbooks overflowing with magazine tear sheets and clippings, and a bookmarks folder that would take days to get through, Pinterest is totally my kind of party.

I use it to keep track of all sorts of things that I find in my Internet travels:

{interiors inspiration}

{recipes}

{random loveliness}

{cool rigouts}

{nice nails}

Pinterest is currently invitation only, which put me off applying to join for ages: I figured the wait for an invite would be insane. However, it only took a few days for me to receive my ~~golden ticket~~ invitation, so it's really well worth putting your name on the list. You can do so here, but be aware that it's highly addictive and you may have difficulty getting a tap of work done ever again.

So consider yourself forewarned. Oh, and happy pinning!

fleaBay Find: Adorable Poodle Print Top

2011-07-07T22:16:00.003+01:00

I LOVEEE this black and white River Island poodle print top so much! I actually used to have just like it but eventually had to give it to a good home (my sister's wardrobe) as the size I got just didn't fit me properly.

Sadface.

If you're a fan of kitschy and are an 8-10 on top (these are fairly loose fitting), you could bag this li'l size 8 beauty for yourself. It's just gone up on fleaBay and there are no bids on the £1.99 starting price yet, so it could be a right bargain!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lie in wait for my size to crop up...

{image source: eBay user starz3010}

Talon-tastic Thursday: More tribal nail art

2011-07-07T14:03:00.005+01:00

I'm writing about how to DIY an easy tribal manicure on Beaut.ie today, so I thought I'd show you another of my attempts to nail the tribal look here.

This one (inspired by The Illustrated Nail) is a bit more involved, and I don't think it could really be replicated without at least a black nail art pen (I used the pink, white and black from my Nails Supreme set.)

To DIY:

1. Paint the entire nail white.
2. Add the thick black stripes from about 3/4 way down the nail plate to the tips (just use a regular nail polish brush that's not overloaded with product and a steady hand.)
3. Add the pink stripe. This will cover any unevenness at the base of the black stripes.
4. When the pink is dry, use a black nail art pen for the skinny mid-pink stripe.
5. For the detail at the cuticles, draw a straight line to form the base first using a black nail art pen, then draw the outline of each mini triangle, then fill in.
6. If you don't have a nail art pen, try adding a row of small dots across the middle of the thick pink stripes and at the cuticles. You can use a ball point pen for this.

Annoyingly, my Sally Hansen InstaDri topcoat caused quite a bit of dragging. GAH. There are few things more frustrating than slaving over a hot nail art pen only for your topcoat to pull your design across the nail.

It's great for finishing off a normal paint job, but I'll be using good ol' Seche Vite in my future design endeavours!

Finger-fabulous Friday: I heart leopard print

2011-07-01T19:21:00.007+01:00

Since I'm a bit (ehem) late with today's (yesterday's?) Talon-tastic Thursday, I thought I'd show you two slightly different takes on my current favourite heart 'n' leopard print design to try and make up for the tardiness.

{taken with Instagram, colours are brighter In Real Life}

This here is China Glaze For Audrey with Barry M Peach Melba on the accent nail. The leopard print and heart details were created using my black Sally Hansen nail art pen.

Does the accent nail remind you of anything? Like, say, a pair of shoes that one might covet with covety covetousness?

Like, say, these beauts, which will never be mine because I didn't buy them when they were actually in the shops and they are now absolute unobtanium?

*Weeps quietly in a corner.*

That paint job lasted a solid 7 days before any of the nails chipped, and I'm damned if I can work out why. I slapped on a layer of basecoat (Orly Bonder) and topcoat (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) as normal and then did all the things you're not supposed to do with your nails (as normal) and it still looked almost perfect when the time came to take it off.

Usually I get about 2-3 days out of a mani before the first chips appear, so that kind of performance is almost unheard of.

Yesterday, I decided to try Rimmel Lycra Pro in Peppermint. Now, Peppermint's not a dead on dupe of For Audrey. It's lighter, brighter, reads more like a pastel, and is a smidge more green-leaning.

It isn't, however, a hundred million miles off. Here's a more colour-accurate shot of China Glaze in action and one of Rimmel Peppermint:

{Yuck. Those nails are waaay too long on me.}

{Ah, that's better.}

Of course, within 24 hours I'd gotten busy with a nail art pen (the black from my Nails Supreme set this time) and OPI's ElePhantastic Pink and scrawled all over Peppermint's shiny blue-green ass.

You look lovely today.

2011-06-28T16:56:00.005+01:00

{image source: keep calm gallery}

And I'm not just trying to keep you on side because posting's been so light lately.

Honest.

Just another Manicure Monday: Chanel Mimosa

2011-06-20T22:19:00.007+01:00

A famous quote that's usually attributed to Coco Chanel says that a woman should remove the last accessory she put on before she leaves the house. Since I'm more likely to look in the mirror and decide that I need another few baubles than follow that bit of advice, it's probably no great surprise that I felt like embellishing the sunshine-y goodness of Chanel's SS11 must-have, Mimosa.

Mimosa (€21) is a polish that's already got quite a lot going on - it's bright yellow, and shot through with microshimmer, and did I mention that it's yellow? - and it looks very special indeed in the bottle. It's a surprisingly good colour on my nails and not unflattering to my skintone. However, it does make my unkempt cuticles look quite red and horrific, as Himself was kind enough to point out to me yesterday afternoon.

Eventually I reached for my bottle of OPI Bring On The Bling, thinking that a multi-coloured glitter accent nail would break up the full-on, cuticle-reddening expanses of Mimosa nicely. I had this cheery photo in mind when I broke out the sparkles:

{source: Rue Magazine via pinterest}

It makes me wonder why I don't already have yellow tights and sequinned peep toes in my wardrobe every time I see it.

Then, because loading bling onto a yellow manicure wasn't quite OTT enough, I found a white nail art pen and went all Jonathan Adler on the remaining nails.

Madame would be horrified.

Talon-tastic Thursday: The Paul & Joe accent nail

2011-06-16T18:51:00.008+01:00

If you're a lover of beauty or cats - or both - you'll no doubt remember Paul & Joe's cat-headed lipsticks from Autumn/Winter 2010. While I never purchased a tube of kitty lippy for myself, I loved the concept and, of course, the predictably gorgeous packaging.

So when I saw this nail wheel...

{source & photo credit: Clara Hwang}

... and the nail inspired by one of those Paul & Joe lippies, well, I clearly had to have a go myself.

Now, the picture above doesn't really represent how the packaging of Moon Shadow looked In Real Life, since the flower print was actually on a light gray-green untextured background. Here's a visual reminder incase you can't quite picture it.

{image source: BeautyBay}

'member?

Anyway, I decided that I actually preferred the version with polka dots on a beige base and thought I'd work it into a retro red manicure as an accent nail. I used Orly Country Club Khaki as the base on my ring fingers, Essie Wife Goes On for the red in the flowers, an ancient polish called Sassy from Tesco for the pink, and Barry M Racing Green for their leaves, all of which I hand-painted with a small brush. I used Sally Hansen's nail art pen for the polka dots, and the other nails were painted with Essie Wife Goes On.

Want to see how it turned out?

BOOM.

Mmm. Shoesday.

2011-06-07T15:18:00.007+01:00

It was only a matter of time until my beloved, bargainous, and bejewelled Accessorize leopard print flats got too worn and tatty looking to wear anymore. I suppose I always knew that that day would eventually come, but I still can't quite believe it's arrived.

And now that their time is up, I am utterly bereft.

They've been my go to shoes for just over a year so I'm panicking about what I'll do without them. In a particularly cruel twist of fate, I recently discovered that Next had almost identical shoes in stock until a couple of weeks ago.

My eBay Watch List is primed and ready to tell me if a pair pop up online, but obviously I need something to wear on my feets on the meantime.

I think that these little beauties from Oasis (£25) will do the job very nicely indeed. In addition to being gold and glittery with a lace corsage and pearl 'n' bling embellishment - all of which I love, of course - they're super comfy. Nice one!

Pimp my gaff.

2011-06-03T14:33:00.001+01:00

This weekend, I shall mostly be trying to obscure the contents of our glass-fronted kitchen presses.

Being able to see all our cups and cereal boxes even when the doors of the presses are closed really isn't my idea of a good time. I have bought me a roll of hot pink opaque window film (from these very nice peeps) and I am NOT afraid to use it.

If my home improvements humour holds out, I also intend to do this to the back of our front door.

{photo credit: Lisa Barrett}

And it shall look amazesballs.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Back to basics

2011-06-02T17:05:00.003+01:00

You might not have guessed it from yesterday's ninjas, but I wasn't joking when I said recently on Beaut.ie that I've been less and less bothered to do nail art lately.

Case in point: these plain, wallet-matching nails, which I wore for almost a week without any temptation to do so much as an accent nail before the ninjas took over.

I know you can't see my thumbnail, but I promise there are no fancy BlackBerry bling shenanigans going on with it. It's just a bit short and stubby and self-conscious feeling so asked not to be included in this picture.

What you're seeing here is two coats of Rimmel Lycra Pro Coral Romance (which I got in March 2009 so we're heading into our THIRD summer together - who says nail polish doesn't keep?!) with Essie Super Duper Topcoat.

Psst - I had to use my Orly Nail Repair Kit on two of the nails in the photo before painting them. Can you tell which ones? (The correct answer, by the way, is "No Lynnie, these all look perfect and seamless to me!" Just so you know.)

Come Shop With Me

2011-06-02T09:30:00.003+01:00

To get away from a monster spider lurking in the hot press and our upstairs neighbours' noisy grandkids, I took myself into town on Tuesday evening to get something to wear to the two summer weddings we've been invited to.

Want to see what I tried on?

{petrol beaded dress & coral pintuck dress from Topshop}

At £150, I shouldn't even have tried on the dress on the left. It's way over budget, but at least I didn't fall in love with it in the changing rooms. I actually think it's wildly overpriced for what it is. It's a nicer, more Prussian blue colour in person, and the beading's lovely, but I just didn't think that it looked like an expensive dress when it was on.

It's also made for someone taller than me: the boob area seams were somewhere down around my waist, making the neckline look decidedly more daring than would be appropriate for a daytime event. And - as if I needed another reason to pass! - the pleating and flounciness on the lower half made me look (a) completely out of proportion and (b) like I had something to hide.

Eh, NEXT!

I am not very good (read: completely rubbish) at up-styling plain items of clothing, so I can't really see myself being able to make the shift pintuck number on the right look particularly special for a wedding. I can see it with a skinny gold metal or patent leather belt, or maybe some chunky jewellery, but that's about it.

This is a bit overpriced too, I feel, for a polyester offering that I can only really envisage as a day dress. It clocks in at £46.

The colour and cut were vay flattering, though, and it would be a good summer staple... ok, this is one that might yet find a way into my wardrobe after payday.

{floral printed tunic dress from Zara}

{lantern dress from Zara; the one I tried was this shape but plain & hot pink}

I find that Zara clothes look great on the hanger but heartbreakingly manky on me. The fluorescent tube lighting down the sides of the mirrors of the Zara changing rooms that emit as much heat as they do unflattering light don't help matters.

Both the above frocks made my mildy pear-shaped arse and hips look cartoonishly enormous.

Yeh, a bit like that, but more tragic and less cutely kooky.

A quick look around Miss Selfridge, River Island and French Connection didn't turn up anything suitable either, and at that stage the shops were closing.

It was time to head home. With, er...

{navy & cream heart print cardi from Topshop}

{bling & bowtie blouse from Ci Ci at Topshop}

{chunky costume necklaces with semi-precious stones from River Island Design Forum}

{gold Nadalia trainers from French Connection}

I don't suppose there's a chance that some permutation of these items will add up to a wedding outfit, is there?

Nails Of The Day: NINJANAILZ!

2011-06-01T15:19:00.005+01:00

This handful of miniature, super stealthy, ever watchful ninjas was inspired in part by The Daily Nail and in part by the gang of rogue Hassansins in the fillum Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time, which we watched on Sunday night.

Lookit, Sunday was a slow night on the tellybox and actually, it wasn't that bad.

The dude on my middle finger is clearly the ringleader, with his snazzy headband, and he and his covert crew are on a mission to take out bad manicures wherever they see them.

Well, that's not strictly true. Mostly they're on a mission to sneak around tabletops or appear on Himself's shoulder demanding tea and say "hiii-ya!" a lot. Having these little characters on my nails has been loads of (very, very childish) fun.

This is an easy one to DIY. I used Barry M Peach Melba, which is absolutely gick on its own on my nails, for the flesh colour. You could use a pen or the end of a sewing pin for the eyes - see my guide to creating polka dots on Beaut.ie for more deets.

Oh, and keeping the black borderline under their eyes as straight as possible will make them look a bit more menacing, which obviously helps to ensure that demands for tea are met promptly and without the need for the ninjas to get nasty.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Glitter Monster

2011-05-26T18:22:00.003+01:00

{image source: the glitter guide}

A couple of weeks ago when Himself was in Las Vegas with work and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself as a result, I had a look in my stash for a nail varnish to cheer me up.

Obviously, I was going to pick a glitter polish for the job, but which one should I go for? That random gold from Tenerife? My Lancôme BB Sand? A Milani holo? A little Deborah Lippman number? My new and gorgeous OPI Bring On The Bling?

In the end, I decided I wanted multi-coloured super happy bling. I lashed on three coats of the L.A. Colors purple 'n' blue 'n' pink glitter I told you about a few weeks ago, and here it is for your viewing pleasure:

{indoors, no flash}

This photo was taken after 10 days of wear with no topcoat, during which time no touch ups were required. I am definitely picking up some more of these blingy minis on my next trip to Westfield!

The stockist there, for anyone wondering, is a place called Beauty Base, which you'll find on the ground floor between Superdrug and Boots. It mostly does fragrance and looks like the lovechild of The Perfume Store and the beauty section of a T.K. Maxx, but without the knockdown prices. Maybe the smellz are cheaper there than in other stores, but it seemed to me that cosmetics and skincare items weren't reduced. Wah.

Jam jars + doilies + tea lights = AMAZEBALLS outdoor lighting idea

2011-05-13T20:11:00.007+01:00

{image source: Crafts By Amanda}

Sticking tea light in jam jars is a dead easy way to get some al fresco lighting on, but I've always felt it to be a bit of a bachelor pad/utilitarian looking solution. And then I saw these prettified doily-embellished versions and had an honest-to-goodness "now why didn't I think of that!" moment, complete with mucho forehead slapping.

This is one of the nicest little DIY projects I've seen in a while, and I fully intend to follow Amanda's instructions and make several myself. Just as soon as I've amassed enough jars to do so on a grand(ish) scale - I currently have a grand total of one, which wouldn't exactly look spectacular.

I only wish that I'd come across this "how to" while I was waiting on Camden to send me recycling bins, when I had about six weeks' worth of recycling piled up and a veritable army of glass jars that would have been perfect for the job.

In other news: must really try and get Himself to polish off the last of that honey and jam this weekend. The jars they're in are taking up valuable cupboard space.

Ehem.

Talon-tastic Thursday: In the nude.

2011-05-06T16:38:00.008+01:00

I spent my nail painting time yesterday helping Himself shop for "business casual" clothes - we're still none the wiser about what that might actually mean - so Talon-tastic Thursday was put on hold until this morning. This week, I decided to DIY some Shellac for myself, going for the light white-pink Romantique shade for a change.

Totally out of character, I know. I blame that Kate Middleton wan and the way her nudey nails might look at you.

{outdoors, direct sunlight, no flash}

For anyone who hasn't heard about it before, CND Shellac is a salon treatment for natural nails that applies like polish but wears like gel, offering 14 days chip-free wear. It's cured under a UV lamp so there's no risk of accidentally ruining your new manicure as you try to fish your car keys out of your bag before the paint job's totally dry. It's priced, usually, at €35ish quid, but I've seen a few places offering it on special for €20-€25 recently.

The only downside for me involves the removal process: because most salons charge to take off Shellac, I just MacGuyver some removal wraps with cotton pads, tin foil, and acetone to do the job myself.

Since it's messy and takes quite a while, I reckon the other essential bit of kit for the task is a box set.

Not long after my Shellac-ing, I happened upon a bottle of L.A. Colors Jewel Tone glitter polish (99p! Looks to me like a dead ringer for Models Own Disco Mix!) that I'd picked up in Westfield with Kirstie a couple of weeks ago.

You can probably guess what happened next.

{indoors, no flash}

Ahhhh, bling. Much better (although probably not business casual.)

Talon-tastic Thursday: Something for the weekend.

2011-04-21T17:02:00.003+01:00

OMG BUNNY NAILZ!!!

Ehem. These sweet pastel rabbit tips would be perfect for the weekend that's in it, and I reckon they shouldn't be too difficult to DIY, even if you don't have any nail art tools at your disposal.

How to: OMG BUNNY NAILZ!!!

1. Taking care not to overload the brush of your chosen nail polish, do the slightly rounded outline of the head first and fill in.

2a. Use one brush stroke per ear. Remove excess polish from the tip of the brush by cleaning it on the inside of the neck of the nail polish bottle as you draw it out. This should also slightly flatten the tip of the brush, and you can use the "corner" at the flattened tip for extra control.

2b. Work from the tip of the ear back to the head so most of the polish on the brush is distributed at the tip; this will help give a tapered effect.

3. For the white ear insert, repeat 2a above with a white polish. Simples!

4. For the eyes, repeat 2a above with a black (or brown, or dark grey) polish, but this time use the long, flat edge of the flattened brush to create the eye lines.

5. Finish with a clear topcoat - Seche Vite or Sally Hansen Insta-Dri are my favourite fast-dry versions.

{image source: jennyyourworld}

Talon-tastic Thursday catches Royal Wedding feevah.

2011-04-21T11:15:00.005+01:00

If the manicure from their engagement photos is anything to go by, it'll be nearly-nude nails all the way for Kate Middleton next Friday.

Elegant, understated, and finger-lengthening, they'll be perfectly appropriate for the occasion and allow the rings to take centre stage.

This obviously means that I will have to have enough going on with my talons for the both of us.

No worries, Kate. I think I've got it covered.

The plan at the moment is to wear Butter London No More Waity, Katie with a big ol' cartoon diamond on the ring finger while judging the dress/hair/overall day in the manner of Four Weddings and - hopefully - having buns. (We will be missing the local street party on our adopted London street and I am now obsessed with THE NEED TO HAVE BUNS to make up for it.)

Oh, and there will definitely be extra marks to be had if they pull something like this out of the hat:

Awe. Some.

It's a Jersey thing.

2011-04-19T12:31:00.004+01:00

I have never actually watched an episode of Jersey Shore, but that didn't stop me from gleefully playing with the Jersey Shore Nickname Generator. Stick in your given moniker, tell the nice generator if you're a boy or a girl, start working on your accent, attitude, and tan, and it'll tell you what your name would be if you were a Jersey Shore character.

You may now refer to me as - wait for it - "The Opportunity".

Himself's Jersey Shore name, meanwhile, is "The Prince of Paramus".

Er... right.

Even the dog's ("B-Train") is better than that.

{image source: South Park Studios}

Talon-tastic Thursday: Sophisticated bling

2011-03-31T14:03:00.011+01:00

I took an absolutely ridiculous number of photos of this paint job. Seriously. I'm so embarassed about it that I don't think I can bring myself to actually tell you what the final count wa- oh, go on then, twist my rubber arm.

It was 72.

And this was the only one of them that came close to doing it justice!

This week's Talon-tastic Thursday offering was inspired in part by Nonie Creme's work for the Yigal Azrouel show at New York Fashion Week (black with jagged gold glitter tips) and in part by Sophie's diversionary mani (a reverse French manicure in greige with perfect gold tips.)

My weapons of choice for this one were Essie Chinchilly, a grey creme with a slight purple undertone, and the gold glitter from Tenerife that seems to get a mention every other time I do a nail post.

What can I say, I heart it.

I applied a base coat of CND Stickey, two thin coats of Chinchilly, and then sparingly applied the gold glitter polish to the tips (I did a little "how to" on this for Beaut.ie; you can find it here.)

You could use loose glitter, of course, but I usually prefer to use a glitter polish where possible. It's far easier, not to mention less messy, especially for someone as graceless as myself who would be quite likely to upend the loose glitter and then have to spend the next 6 months picking bits of it out of the carpet...

A note on the lighting conditions in these photos: The weather in London hates me and wants me to cry. That is all I can conclude from the truly terrible light that it throws my way anytime it sees me getting my camera out. All of these pictures (and the other 68) were taken indoors without a flash, but the one of my nails was taken during a split second of proper bright daylight that was nowhere to be found when I was taking the rest. Bah!

Hat's all, folks.

2011-03-28T19:45:00.006+01:00

Since Himself's 3-year-old niece decreed that my straw cowboy hat was so last season (by putting her foot through the crown of it), I am in dire need of a chic sunhat for an upcoming trip to Orlando.

The lucky item I choose will need to work with my lahvely '50s cat's eye stylee Tom Ford tortoiseshell sunnies, which is the easy part.

It'll also need to work with what I'll euphemistically describe as a diverse and eclectic summer holiday wardrobe, most of which probably doesn't go that well with the sunglasses anyway.

Oh, and it'll need to not make me look like a twat, which is a lot to ask of any hat that's to be worn on my noggin.

Here are the current frontrunners - all of which I have yet to try on In Real Life - and yes, there are only four of them:

{two from Topshop}

{both from Accessorize}

Mais oui!

2011-03-26T01:09:00.014Z

{all images from the Dior website}

I love these bits of bling from Dior.

What perfect placeholders* for An Actual Engagement Ring, representing the hopes of the proposer and the opportunity for the proposee to pick out one she'll actually want to wear for the rest of her life.

Well, they're a bit more elegant than a jelly ring, like...

* Yes, I said placeholders. I'm a high-maintenance sort of bird, y'know.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Spot the difference

2011-03-24T12:44:00.002Z

I was going to hold off on showing you this paint job until next week so that I wouldn't have two green nail posts back to back, but it's so damn pretty and spring-appropriate that I just had to share.

The base colour is Topshop Gone Fishing, and I did the spots with my white Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen, which is rapidly becoming my favourite implement ever. It's more like a regular pen than any other I've used and as a result is far easier to control. Oh, and the polish it dispenses is water soluble, so although you must use a topcoat to prevent your design disappearing the next time you wash your hands, correcting any mistakes you make while creating that design is an absolute cinch.

In other news, spring has sprung good and proper in our new-to-us, didn't-have-to-do-any-work-in-it garden! It seemed to happen overnight; I just walked out one morning to find this:

Nice one.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Lá Fhéile Pádraig special

2011-03-17T15:29:00.007Z

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I've no idea yet what we'll do this evening; Porterhouse in Covent Garden has been suggested, but I think I might be too old to put up with the crush.

Oh well. At least the nails are done.

I used Barry M Mint Green as the base colour on all nails except my ring finger, then sponged a nameless Claire's Accessories yellow-green and Sephora by OPI Leaf Him At The Alter over that, trying to achieve an impressionist mossy/lump of shamrock effect at the tips.

The shamrocks on my thumbnail were done with a white Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.

For the nail on my ring finger, I started with a base of M&S Baby Blue and then used Sally Hansen and Nails Supreme nail art pens to draw Howyeh Kitty (inspired by this manicure.)

I got these shoes last weekend in Madrid without even thinking about Lá Fhéile Pádraig, but they're accidentally perfect for the day (and night) that's in it!

Ben de Lisi's canine lamp: the dog's danglies or bullology?

2011-03-16T12:17:00.004Z

I can't quite make up my mind about this French bulldog lamp by Ben de Lisi for Debenhams (€56).

On one hand, it's got a decidedly Abigail Aherne/Jonathan Adler-esque feel, but without the price tag associated with either of those designers.

On the other, I don't think the lovely idea of turning de Lisi's pet Ella into a lamp has been perfectly executed. The shade sits a little too high, exposing way too much of its silver stand for my tastes, and the base is seriously super shiny, which looks a bit cheap-y, although I'm told she's a proper stunna In Real Life.

Still, there's no getting away from the fact that the eyes look a little strange. I bet she could bend you to her will no bother.

What do you reckon? Love it or leave it?

Puppy power.

2011-03-14T17:21:00.004Z

Having reviewed all relevant reports, Puppeh is decidedly unimpressed with the latest quarterly figures.

Heads will roll, dammit.

Jog on, kitties.

2011-03-07T10:27:00.003Z

My Monday morning gift to you: the brilliant Cravendale cats TV ad.

Yizzer welcome.

Of green, white and gold.

2011-02-23T23:17:00.005Z

I cannot for the life of me understand the Union Jack as design icon. I see the original incarnation popping up every so often on doormats and in various pink and pastel colourways on soft furnishings, but I just don't see the aesthetic appeal.

Anyway. The Irish tricolour doesn't usually come in for the same kind of love from the creative community. Prada, however, have bucked the trend and saw fit to pay homage to the national flag/Offaly hurling team with these in their SS11 collection.

{via Angela Scanlon}

I'm not going to be running out to buy a pair anytime soon, but still. Nice to see the flag/Offaly gettin' some love, yo.

Ikea do Cath Kidston on the cheap

2011-02-21T14:06:00.006Z

This (above) is Cath Kidston's Classic Rose bed linen. It's very pretty, and would be an ideal bedding choice for lovers of country or floral or shabby chic style.

It's also expensive: think 70ish Eurobux for a Cath Kidston duvet cover, plus €12-15 per pillowcase. Ouchie, sez your wallet.

But before you sadly resign yourself to never having a bed that looks like a rosebush threw up all over it, allow me to show you this (below).

It's an affordable damn-near doppelgänger from Ikea (legend has it that the Rosali fabric was actually designed for everyone's favourite Swedish furniture overlords by Kidston herself.) Although it's not listed on the Ikea Ireland or UK sites, there were plenty of duvet sets in blue or white colourways in Ikea Wembley when I picked myself up a duvet cover and four pillowcases for £20.42.

Something to keep an eye out for on your next meatballs run!

Images via This Charming Wedding and Kaboodle respectively

Baby it's (still) cold outside

2011-02-18T10:04:00.007Z

It never ceases to amaze me that the ~~stylists~~ cool kids who keep fashion diaries or get snapped by street style photographers don't seem to feel the cold. There could be several feet of snow on the ground but our intrepid fashionistas would still be out posing in pager-bag waisted shorts with bare legs or knee-high socks and a sheer floaty top, doing a pidgeon toed pose in impossibly high heeled sandals while pouting/looking coy/gazing thoughtfully into the middle distance.

Pictures of ~~stylists~~ cool kids wearing coats or closed-toe shoes and looking stylish and warm are much harder to come by, but here are a few of my favourites.

{via Grazia}

{source: The Sartorialist}

{Annmarie O'Connor in Joanne Hynes, I think! Source: The Style Scout}

{via Elle UK}

{source: The Sartorialist}

{via Elle UK}

{via Lookbook.nu}

{source: The Sartorialist}

{via College Candy}

{source: The 10 Cent Designer}

Talon-tastic Thursday: Turbo minty fresh with Topshop

2011-02-17T23:38:00.005Z

I took myself off to the Haymarket Hotel today to attend the launch of Marks & Spencer's 2011 Spa Collections ranges, be treated to a fish pedicure, and sit down with Tess Daly for a few minutes/be overwhelmed by her gorgeousness.

This here's what I wore on my fingertips: two coats of Topshop's soft minty Gone Fishing topped with Seche Vite. This was £5, so by Topshop's reckoning that's probably - what? €30?

Cheeky feckers.

Owner emigration forces reluctant sale.

2011-02-11T12:22:00.005Z

Since we only have one dedicated parking space outside the gaff in Londonland and driving over here gives me palpatations (and not in a good way), I decided that it would be sensible to sell my car.

Coming to that realisation was horrible. Painful. I got a huge lump in my throat that I thought I'd choke on when that head-over-heart decision was made, because I really flipping loved that car.

The Polo wasn't actually my first car, but I think of it as my first and of the Punto That We Shall Mention No More as an unfortunate blip on my car ownership record. I used to spend hours on end on VW enthusiast forums deciding on small DIY mods for The Polo that I could do with my own two hands.

The first thing I did was replace the rear lights: the standard lights on this Mark 4 model are multi-coloured affairs with orange stripes, and I knew that the car would look completely amazeballs with the solid red rear light casings that came on the next model up.

You can imagine the strange looks that went around the office when I took delivery of a pair of Mark 5 Polo lights from a scrappie in Donegal.

I also switched out the orange indicators for clear versions and the orange side repeaters for crystal clear ones, got some aero wipers on, and added rear mudflaps. I had two boxes of specialist car valeting gear from Meguiars and Autoglym which were bought especially for The Polo. I used to regularly do things like clay the car to get rid of contaminents from the paintwork and knowingly referred to Halfords as Halfrauds. Funds were never going to permit any lowering or new wheels or alloys or a 16v rear bumper, but this summer I was planning a few more small mods like adding front mudflaps, replacing the rear badge, and maybe adding a rear roof lip spoiler.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that this car is superior in looks and performance to others of a similiar age so I wasn't surprised in the least when Dad found an enthusiastic buyer at close to asking price for The Polo during the week.

I was very, very sad, though.

Talon-tastic Thursday: In your satin tights / fighting for your rights / and the old red, white and bluuue...

2011-02-10T23:07:00.010Z

She was one of my very favourite TV characters when I was growing up in the '80s, but I always had a problem with the fact that Wonder Woman's transformation from Diana Prince to eponymous superhero involved taking off her specs and letting down her hair.

That was well before I actually wore glasses, but it was my first remembered brush with the celluloid cliché of nerdy/bookish/reserved female characters removing their glasses and shaking loose their buns/sleekifying their formerly fuzzy manes to gasps of "But - you're beautiful!" and it's gotten right on my wick ever since.

Still, it didn't stop me DIYing a Wonder Woman costume last Halloween, or accidentally paying homage to her with the manicure you're about to see.

I was originally going for matching red lips and tips, so slung on a coat of Essie 'Wife Goes On' to roughly co-ordinate with my Rimmel 'Be Bold' pout. A couple of hours later, I was fed up reapplying my lippie and bored of my plain nails. I pulled out some nail art pens and

(imagine me spinning around here, singing the Wonder Woman theme tune as my transformation from a glasses-girl to Hot Babe takes place)

BAM!

The white half moons on red remind me of her boots, and I packed the WAH-inspired accent thumbnail with as many teeny polka dots as I could manage for a true Ben-Day pop art effect to pay homage to her comic book beginnings.

Sure, I could have done stars and stripes and the WW logo and the Lasso of Truth and all that jazz, but I wanted something that was a bit less obvious.

What do you think of them?

In other Wonder Woman news: MAC's Wonder Woman collection went on counter in the States today, so I'll definitely have a goo at it while I'm in New York. I don't think my wallet's in too much danger from it, though.

With the exception of the nail polishes, the packaging is just pure minging to my eyes!

Something for the weekend: a little light reading.

2011-02-05T01:10:00.010Z

I thought it was fixed, but my poor laptop is getting sicker by the minute. In addition to randomly turning itself off and then refusing to switch back on, its screen is now on the way out.

Sadface.

At least Himself's iPad, which has become my back-up device, is good for reading online magazines. That's good because it is absolutely no use for working on, so I shall be flicking through these mostly interiors numbers on the iPad while keening over the smouldering remains of my clapped out laptop over the weekend.

{lonny magazine}

{rue magazine}

{high gloss}

{ivy & piper}

{gifted magazine}

{utterly engaged}

There are lots of ridiculously involved American crafty-type projects in all of these, so best not peruse them if you're feeling a bit inadequate about your skillz or commitment to your to do list.

And no, the last choice there does not mean I have "news".

It just means that I like to be passremarkable about the weddings of strangers and admire nice tablesettings.

Talon-tastic Thursday: New Barry Ms fail to impress

2011-01-27T17:45:00.004Z

This has been a bad week for me where nail varnish is concerned, I'm afraid. The three Barry M colours I excitedly picked up in Topshop on Monday evening are all epic fails: one is the wrong flipping colour altogether (Black, I'd meant to pick up Racing Green), and the glitter pieces in another (Lavender Hexagonals) are too sparse to replicate anything like the look of the polish in the bottle. The last member of this sad little triumvirate is Neon Pink, which as Babaduck quite rightly suggested, is seriously channeling Constance Carroll with its opalescent blue flash.

It's beyond gross.

To take my mind off all that disappointment, I'm busy planning what to do with my nails this weekend. Himself's uncle's retirement do is tomorrow night, and his sister's 18th is on Saturday, so it'll be all go! At the minute, I'm leaning towards a sophis nude or French Shellac mani for the retirement gig, and then an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink glitter leopard print with rhinestones number atop that for the 18th.

Deadly nailz are a surefire way of ensuring that I can be all down with the kids and shizz, yo.

Pelmet Me Entertain You.

2011-01-21T11:58:00.003Z

Our rented flah here in London has Venetian blinds on all the windows, which I do not love. The day we moved in, I treated myself to a three-pack of interiors magazines (£6 for the lot in Tesco!) and one of the spreads had a photo of a simple rectangular box pelmet covered in purple fabric which was hung as an accompaniment to a Venetian blind.

I instantly thought it'd be a great way to jazz up the blinds here, but the fact that rawlplugs (and therefore big eff off holes in the rented wall) would be required to hang such window dressings meant that it looked like a no go.

A little bit of obsessive Googling, though, turned up an ingenious solution that I fully intend to utilise myself. Jenny at Little Green Notebook used foam board instead of MDF for the DIY box pelmets she made for her daughters' bedroom. You'll find it in art supply shops (my local has sheets of it of varying thickness) and it's so light that tape alone can hold the pieces together. No glue or screws required.

Being super light means pelmets made from foam board would be brilliant for renters since a couple of small nails - or even Velcro tabs or Command strips - should be all it'll take to hang the suckers up.

I feel a project coming on...

Talon-tastic Thursday is a bit AWOL.

2011-01-20T23:59:00.007Z

Apparently Virgin can't come to hook us up to telly and broadband any sooner than the 5th February (!), so for now I'm relying on Himself's iPad for all my blogging needs.

That means I can't, unfortunately, show you any of the manicures I've been sporting since moving to London: a black glitter gradient mani, fuchsia nails covered in rows of little white hearts, a teal creme paint job, and a grey with black half-moons at the base that I came up with one especially homesick day when the skies and buildings and footpaths here became one big concrete-coloured blur.

Anyway. Hopefully I can figure out a photo fix over the weekend and things can get back to being a little bit less all over the place shortly, but in the meantime did you know that my Marc Jacobs nails are now a little bit famous? Sophy Robson was kind enough to feature them on her blog (I had a lovely email from her on my birthday that absolutely made my day) as were WAH Nails, who had me blushing with all the nice things they had to say about me.

Thanks, you guys!

By the way, hello and welcome to my new followers - er, I promise that there are a lot more nail posts around here when I'm not in the middle of moving my life to another country ;)

Interior inspiration: Stand-alone shoe cabinets.

2011-01-08T12:49:00.004Z

Yes, yes, I should be packing. Thanks, ma. Instead, I'm thinking that THIS is definitely how shoes should be stored.

{image source: This is Glamorous via Apartment 132}

{image source: Shoe Daydreams via Apartment Therapy}

{image source: LivingEtc}

I'm *very* hopeful that I'll be able to work some similarly grand shoe storage solutions into our new ~~apartment~~ flat in London. I have these mad notions about how I'll just happen across gorgeous antique or vintage or just generally amazeballs pieces of furniture, possibly for free or else completely dirt cheap, in the big English smoke.

Like a set of gently used Eames Eiffel chairs for a fiver in a charity shop or a beautiful ornate bed frame in a skip begging me to take it home. You know the sort of thing.

I'm quietly confident that a glass-fronted display cabinet, ideal for shoe display purposes, will fortuitously come into my life in the same way once we get over there.

Moving meanderings.

2011-01-07T18:58:00.001Z

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully normal service here will resume next week but for now I am drowning in moving boxes and bubble wrap and brown packing tape.

Suffice to say, the packing is *not* going well. Himself started work in London on Tuesday so I was home alone for the week, which I thought would mean I'd get loads done.

It mostly just meant I couldn't watch any of my usual crime/murder/vampire telly shows because I'd be awake all night in a cold sweat waiting to hear a step on the stairs or the feel of a blade on my throat or a sudden chill in my bedroom.

So far, I've half-packed one box with what I'm calling "decorative accents" (so, er, candleholders and vases, then.)

Subscibe to the blog or Puppeh gets it.

I did also manage to fill two boxes with clothes and shoes and stuff for the charity shop, which was actually a real achievement for a world-class ditherer. Bloody lucky that my hits-once-every-five-years purging humour coincided with having to pack up almost every stick and stitch that we own.

Mam is in a very bad way about The Impending Move; not even trotting out the line that she'll have free B&B half an hour from Oxford Street could cheer her up today.

Telling her it's a good job that it's only me who's moving and not my sister Lisa because she'd have to be hospitalised for that seemed to remind her to be thankful for small mercies, though!

Sales fail.

2010-12-29T12:14:00.002Z

I'm on a bit of a self-imposed Internetz hiatus this Christmas - and frankly I'm a little disappointed to see that it hasn't collapsed in my absence - but I hope you've been enjoying the festive break!

Have you hit up the sales yet? Myself and Himself headed into Dublin town yesterday to check out what was on offer, so I thought I'd show you the loot from that epic trip.

(Brace yourself, Betty.)

Yes, that's right. With gift cards burning a hole in my wallet and every intention of bringing home a new Marc by Marc Jacobs bag, I bought:

- a pair of black Topshop tights
- one of my everyday foundations
- a Topshop blusher
- a pair of River Island earrings

And no, none of them were actually flipping discounted.

Talon-tastic Tuesday Double Bill

2010-12-14T23:59:00.003Z

Without further ado, here's that nail double-whammy I promised earlier!

It is ridiculous how many compliments this manicure has received. Straight blokes who haven't actually been trying their hand at nail varnish-related chat-up lines have commented on it. This is that random Tenerife glitter again with freehand leopard print that I drew on with a nail art pen, topped with Seche Vite.

Today's its fifth full day in situ, so it's lasted really well. And even after a weekend in London and all the lugging of suitcases and bags that goes with that, there are just three damn near invisible chips to report!

Now, please excuse the quality of this next pic. And the hack of my cuticles in it.

I have a serious soft spot for Marc Jacobs. My Petal To The Metal pouchette (I managed to nab it in tan, thanks to a tip-off from Kirstie) is one of my absolute favourite things, and I have my eye on a lips print scarf. And, er, a larger Petal To The Metal bag (it's the birdies. I just can't get enough!)

MJ nails inspired by these by WAH

Tried & Tested: I Can Has Cook's Sausage and Bean Bake Thingy

2010-12-14T12:09:00.000Z

There'll be a nail double-whammy coming up this afternoon to make up for missing Talon-tastic Thursday last week, but in the meantime I just wanted to take a minute to direct anyone looking for an easy and delicious wintry dinner to the sausage and bean bake thingy over on fab foodie blog I Can Has Cook?

I made it last week and it was ridiculously NOM, so I'm happy to personally vouch for its tasty ways.

And let's be honest: it's a rather more sophisticated way to combine sausages, bread, and tomatoes than my usual saussie sambo with ketchup effort.

Image source: I Can Has Cook?

You can't take it with you: Blog sale

2010-12-09T09:30:00.005Z

Well, the process of sorting through all my worldly posessions has begun.

Rather than mucking around with eBay, which has been frustrating me lately, I've decided to have a blog sale instead. So if you fancy having a nose at what I can bear to part with from my wardrobe/make-up case, just clicky here for a goo!

UPDATE: New items added 14/12/2010.

I can haz Big News?

2010-12-07T15:41:00.002Z

No, not the Big News that everyone expects anytime any woman of any age anywhere in the world says that she has news... sigh...

HimselfhasacceptedajobofferinLondon!

Apologies about the lack of spacing there - I've been experimenting with different ways of telling people and I'm really feeling the "get it all out there in one go, like ripping off a plaster and accidentally waxing yourself" approach today.

As news goes, it's simultaneously exciting and absolutely terrifying.

source

X Factor Frock Watch: Week 9

2010-12-06T19:52:00.011Z

Forget about howling that Mary wuz robbed or hissing that Cher wuz just turning on the waterworks to grab a sympathy vote or hatin' on Cowell for changing the rulez at the last minute in last night's X Factor semi-final results show.

Let's focus for a minute instead on the truly important issue, on what X Factor is really all about: the judge's frocks!

Dannii rocked my favourite look of the weekend on Saturday night, in a full-length nude dress by fellow Aussie Aurelio Costarella. I wasn't mad keen on the zip-through front and thought she was wearing half a fox across her shoulder when she arrived on stage initially, but once I realised it was a supersized gauzy corsage I was sold.

No prizes for guessing that Dannii's earrings were Annoushka (well, Selim Mouzannar for Annoushka)...

source: Annoushka via Facebook

source: Christie's

I also really liked Dannii's hair; that quiff thing that I can't pull off for love nor money, much to my despair, looks so good on her.

Cheryl, meanwhile, opted for a white smushed origami mini-dress yoke by Stéphane Rolland on Saturday night - she still has legs, I see - which is actually a pretty nice bit of kit if worn properly and not crushed into oblivion. Still, her hair is so much better since she got rid of that manky plum colour. She appears to have ditched some or all of the extensions, too, and I think the shoulder-length length suits her so much better than extreme Rapunzel-stylee locks. She has a petite little face and it's inclined to look a bit swamped when she wears her hair mad long.

Sunday night was, frankly, disappointing, as both ladies went back to black.

Dannii's dress wore her: what should have been a sexy little black number veered dangerously towards mumsy despite its corset-style bust, peekaboo cutouts and sheer lace overlay simply because it was too long for her petite frame. On the runway, the hem of this Jasper Conran dress hit models right on the knee rather than mid-calf as it did on Dannii.

Cheryl's Zuhaid Murad dress kind of looked like it'd been hacked at by a 5-year-old, with its one shoulder and multiple trains, but I didn't completely hate it.

Probably because it's precisely the kind of dress I used to draw aged, well, 5 years old, when I imagined I might be a fashion designer.

Must try harder, ladies.

Talon-tastic Thursday: RRRrrawwr with a not-quite-Riva-alike

2010-12-02T09:30:00.005Z

I was trying to conjure up a Chanel Riva lookey-likey the other day by layering various shimmery sheers over warm turquoise polishes when I remembered that light blues are really not best flattering on my fingers. Rather than start again from scratch, I decided to try and make the most of my For Audrey/Sally Girl iridescent glitter combo by leopardising things up a little.

As Hamlet himself was fond of saying, there are few things in heaven and earth that cannot be improved by the addition of a bit of leopard print.

I splotched some Milani pink neon and Sally Girl magenta neon from the States on my thumbnails, whipped out a black nail art pen, and got to work...

Ahhh. Much better!

French Connection produce the perfect party frock... Almost.

2010-12-01T09:30:00.012Z

Himself's 30th birthday is coming up, and I was full sure that I had found the perfect party dress for the occassion.

This here is French Connection's "Samantha" frock. It's covered in sequins, which obviously thrills my magpie instincts, and its full back and long sleeves nicely offset the super short length, making it appropriate for dinner and drinks and dancing. They also mean that it's warmer than other sparkly offerings (ideal for wintertime bling), and can cover a multitude (pasty skin that I couldn't be arsed to tan, bingo wings that I can't be arsed to tone up).

Available in black or this midnight blue, I tried both colours on yesterday and the blue was only bleedin' gorgeous. If I do say so myself.

However, those gorgeous sequins added inches and the draped wrap front of the dress was actually mega unflattering: even the most concave of stomach would look like they had a proper pot belly going on in this dress. You can kind of see in the picture below how the model's waist has been damn near completely oblitorated by the cut of the dress, and she's slinky out.

If I'm totally honest, it was way outside my budget anyway but that doesn't help much with the disappointment. Blub.

No recession on here, wha'?

2010-11-30T22:52:00.001Z

Hard luck if you were hoping to get your hands on one of these embroidered silk-jacquard Alexander McQueen capes: them's all sold out over at Net-A-Porter.

That's despite a price tag of - wait for it, waaait for it - €29,980.

Ment. Al.

Ooooooh / How do you like my ruuug?

2010-11-25T10:50:00.002Z

If the title of this blog post didn't run to the tune of More More More in your head, Rachel Stevens and I are very disappointed in you.

Now, to business. This is the rug in question:

The super observant among you may be thinking that this looks rather more like 15 sheets of 8'x4' plyboard than a rug. You'd be right: it does. It is.

Which might lead you to wonder why there is there enough plyboard in my sitting room to carpet every house on my road.

Well, we are going to floor the attic with the stuff, but someone (*cough* Himself *cough*) accidentally ordered the wrong size sheets (they should have been 8'x2'), and the bloke in the hardware place miscalculated how much of it we need (the attic is teeny). So that's why there's so much of it.

Why is it in my sitting room? Ah. The hardware place was closed by the time Himself realised what had happened, and the chap who craned the plyboard into the back garden off the back of a lorry told me it couldn't be left outside for more than an hour or two. So in we carted the sheets one by one for fear they'd warp if left out overnight.

I really hope they agree to change them. There's only so much rustic chic a girl can cope with, y'know?

Talon-tastic Thursday: A DIY duochrome

2010-11-25T09:30:00.005Z

What's better than a bottle of glittery nail varnish?

Why, TWO bottles of glittery nail varnish!

What we have here, ladies and gents, is a manicure that has eluded accurate capture with my camera lens. This blurry shot was the closest approximation I could get to how it looks in person, and fails to do justice to its true awesomeness. There's a great depth to it, and it's really darker and moodier than it appears here. I think (a) it would make a nice change to all the bog standard red/gold/silver paint jobs that will no doubt be doing the rounds next month, and (b) I am TOTALLY wearing this some Halloween when I eventually get to dress up as Probably My Favourite Baddie EVA, Maleficent.

I carefully layered a thin, sheer coat of Essence Choose Me! over two coats of GOSH Gasoline to allow the purple glitter of Gasoline to peep through. The result is a gorgeous, super shimmery duochrome effect that is nowhere near as blue as it looks on camera and at once flashes green and purple.

Love.

Rap Safety Authority get down with the youngsters.

2010-11-22T09:45:00.004Z

via the RSA website

I see that the Road Safety Authority are getting hip to the kids, yo, with their current Safe Cross Code campaign. It features six creepy looking animated childer who put me in mind of zombie children, rapping the SCC.

Cher Lloyd, eat your heart out.

There's a dance (how modern!), and a forcefield that blocks the road unless you invoke the code (ooh, futuristic), but all I can think when I see the ads is that I miss Judge from Wanderly Wagon. And the amazingly catchy song. If you're of a certain vintage, I bet you remember every single word of it - is that rap really going to stick in kid's heads in the same way?

I seriously doubt it.

The original & best, via dinadangdong on YouTube

Inspiration on the tellybox: 'Mo Thinteán Féin'

2010-11-19T17:32:00.008Z

In honour of the fact that interiors show Mo Thinteán Féin is an Irish language programme, broadcast on the Irish language television channel TG4, I started to write the introduction to this post as Gaeilge.

Then I remembered that, as bad as my conversational, spoken Irish is, I have no confidence at all in my written Irish, so it was back to the Béarla with a bang.

Anyway, Mo Thinteán Féin follows Eimear Nic an Bhaird as she does up her new-to-her gaff in Kilmainham, Dublin 8. Interiors junkies like myself will no doubt recognise the name: Eimear was formerly the editor of Irish interiors mag House & Home, so it's fair to say that the lady knows her arse from her elbow when it comes to decor and design.

Every week, Eimear tackles a different space in the house, visiting gorgeous Irish interiors like Bellinter House and The G Hotel for inspiration. She also travels around the country to top craftspeople who help her create some gorgeous bespoke pieces for her home.

At a time when "craft" has almost become a dirty word thanks to the proliferation of Martha Stewart wannabes and the kind of rubbish that you see every day on Regretsy ("Where DIY meets WTF"), I think it's fantastic that Mo Thinteán Féin showcases some of the truly awesome Irish craftspeople that are out there.

I was particularly enamoured with the stained glass panels that Eimear and Bianca Divito created for the bathroom and bedroom doors:

... and the hand-printed wallpaper made with Paget in the Dublin Textile Workshop that eventually adorned the stair risers:

This lovely white lightshade with its geometric, textured design also caught my eye:

There's lots of DIY - and DadIY, my kind of girl - here, and it's refreshing to see a homes show that's really focused on creating an affordable personal space.

As opposed to one that's focused on throwing telephone number sums of money at a new build (Grand Designs, where the windows are always late and the missus always winds up pregnant halfway through), painting everything magnolia (oh hai Property Ladder, where the presenter always winds up pregnant halfway through), or confusing the words "classic" and "classical" in every episode (*cough* Showhouse *cough*).

All images via TG4

Note: Mo Thinteán Féin has now finished its run on TG4 but, as of today, you can catch the final three episodes here, on the TG4 Beo Player.

Lyndar the Merciless

Talon-tastic Thursday: Kate Spade AW12

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Polka Hearts How To

Manicure Monday: Valentine's nails for you to try at home

OMG AMAZE: Mary Katrantzou for Topshop SS12

Talon-tastic Tuesday: The wheel of love

Pricey but pretty: Premium glitter clutches

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Glamorous tribal vibes

Spot the difference.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Inspired by David Duchovny

Manicure Monday: Feeling retro in monochrome

NOTD: The Crackle Conundrum

London Reader Reminder: Stila Lipgloss Amnesty Tomorrow!

Talon-tastic Thursday: The 12 Nails Of Christmas

Bootylicious.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Understated matte sparkle

Talon-tastic Thursday: Tardy vintage-feeling mix

Talon-tastic Thursday*: Eye eye!

Topshop EDITED by Lynnie*

An excuse for cake. And shoes. (AS IF one was needed.)

Treat or treat: Halloween beauty bits

I guess he liked it so he went and put a ring on it.

OH. MY. GOD.

Monday's mane attraction: Katy Perry in the pink

Talon-tastic Thursday: Polka dots and bling

The Steve Jobs post.

Tights and sandals are awesome.

A weeny little China Glaze haul.

Just another Manicure Monday: @katespadeny skittle nails

Style spot: Sequin tees

Today, I mostly wore loafers.

Talon-Tastic Thursday: Barry M bling

Suits you, Barbie.

Talon-tastic Thursday: It's Graphite, Jim, but not as we know it.

Nice legs!

My Sunday afternoon in pictures: Nailphilia

Talon-tastic Thursday: Chanel Shade Parade

The last five things I bought... And then brought back.

Winter coat lust (or: Part two in an occasional series of obsessing about warm, stylish clothes.)

Did you miss me?

And now we come to the swimwear portion of our competition.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Good Romance

Talon-tastic Tuesday: Scream for ice cream

Weird Aloha Yankovic.

Hairspiration.

Who wears short shorts?

And speaking of Harry Potter...

Harry Potter and the Illustrated Nail

Talon-tastic Thursday: Spot-tastic

Everything must go!

How Pinteresting.

fleaBay Find: Adorable Poodle Print Top

Talon-tastic Thursday: More tribal nail art

Finger-fabulous Friday: I heart leopard print

You look *lovely* today.

Just another Manicure Monday: Chanel Mimosa

Talon-tastic Thursday: The Paul & Joe accent nail

Mmm. Shoesday.

Pimp my gaff.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Back to basics

Come Shop With Me

Nails Of The Day: NINJANAILZ!

Talon-tastic Thursday: Glitter Monster

Jam jars + doilies + tea lights = AMAZEBALLS outdoor lighting idea

Talon-tastic Thursday: In the nude.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Something for the weekend.

Talon-tastic Thursday catches Royal Wedding feevah.

It's a Jersey thing.

Talon-tastic Thursday: Sophisticated bling

Hat's all, folks.

Mais oui!

Talon-tastic Thursday: Spot the difference

Talon-tastic Thursday: Lá Fhéile Pádraig special

Ben de Lisi's canine lamp: the dog's danglies or bullology?

Puppy power.

Jog on, kitties.

Of green, white and gold.

Ikea do Cath Kidston on the cheap

Baby it's (still) cold outside

Talon-tastic Thursday: Turbo minty fresh with Topshop

You look lovely today.