Pretty Serious - CGA


Well howdy, there! Been a bit busy lately, so I've been late showing you a few more of Pretty Serious line. Most bloggers have beaten me to the punch already, but I thought CGA hasn't had a lot of love, so here it is! I thought it looked rather spiffy with my new ring. CGA (IBM reference, anyone?) looks pink, but in actuality is more of a lavender/mauve with a delicate light blue flash. This is two coats, but I think maybe I should have done three as I can see a little bit of VNL in these pics. The application is easy and it dries nice and fast, too. Ooh, so pretty! I'm not much of a pastel pink/mauve kind of person, but this was a really nice surprise. Now I want to try the matching lip gloss, too! Another shot with the ring, cos they make such a good team. Kaz hits it out of the ballpark, again! She made me like pastels! You can get CGA (and it's matching lip gloss and eyeshadow fashion inspiration) over at Pretty Serious for $9.95.

Duty Free


Duty free always suckers me in. I am one of those people that get to the airport painfully early due to fear of having to run through to catch my plane (been there, done that) so I had plenty of shopping downtime. Pink champagne, a new Smythson's notebook (I am one of "those people" that make lists of things to do). A little Tiffany bracelet... the small black onyx beaded bracelet. It's dainty, light and I haven't taken it off. My one regret is perfume related... I have completely given in to my perfume love and will be doing a short course for perfume geeks next year - I am that into it... but I sprayed two Miller Harris scents: Fleur Oriental and Coeur de Fleur. I got on the plane and kept smelling one arm. It was an amazing fragrance but I can't for the life of me remember which one it was. It was floral but with an intriguing depth and I must have it. A trip to her store in Mayfair is already on the cards...

Ways to use Crisco that Don't involve Eating It


Recently, I inherited a couple of blocks of Crisco. I'm not much of a baker (monumental understatement), but decided I'd go all Bree-from-Desperate-Housewives so it wouldn't go to waste. However, after I donned my starched apron, I noticed that the ingredients included the dreaded "partially hydrogenated fat". Which, duh, I should have realized. I hate to toss it in the garbage or pass it along to a food bank, so I'm seeking other uses. From answers.yahoo, I've found that Crisco can: Remove lipstick and tar from clothing (because you know how often you end up with tar stains); Remove dirt from your hands (although it seems like then your hands would be greasy); Prevent diaper rash; Help historical battle re-enactors lubricate their musket balls (I know, I know, my mind went there too); Be used to create white clown make-up; Season cast-iron skillets; Be used to make bird feed (although that seems cruel to the birdies); Moisturize hands, feet and face; Be used as an, um, relationship aid; I'm thinking about dumping it on some newspapers and letting the kids go nuts, like they do with shaving cream. Or maybe creating the clown make-up and letting them go wild with that. Any other suggestions?

O Happy Day!


So I was at the mall with my mother, and the local Icing store is closing out. 75% off the lowest price. So I got a couple polishes. For $0.63 each. Win! Putty Concrete and Peacock. Putty Concrete is a delicious shimmery taupe / greige bottle of gorgeous. Seriously. I've died and gone to neutral polish heaven. No pics cause I'm at my grandparents without my camera. But it's gorgeous. Pics later. I'm excited to try Konad-ing something lacy in black over it. Peacock is slightly more depressing. Gorgeous in bottle, it's a light teal blue with pink duochrome. Sadly, super sheer. I tried it over Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go, there was no trace of the pink, it just turned it into a pale blue metallic, much like China Glaze Metallic Muse. When I get home I'll try it by itself and over black, and maybe over a grey like China Glaze Recycle. Maybe over Putty Concrete, but I think I love it too much to risk it. I'll take pics of all these things when I get home as well.

Dreamcatcher


It was difficult, but I'm trying to get used to wearing my nails without something Konaded over top. I keep telling myself, I got through 10 years of wearing nail polish without my Konad, it has to be possible. So here I give you Claire's Dream Catcher who looks exactly like Chanel Jade. Honestly, while applying it, I did not think that I liked it. There was something about the colour that made me think to myself with each brush stroke "Brynne, what the f*ck are you putting on your nails?". But then I finished... added a coat of Seche Vite... And I love it. For the same unknown reasons that I disliked the colour during application. If this is a Chanel Jade dupe like I've been reading all over the internet, then I love Chanel Jade. And actually, compared to my usual amount of nail wear, this is holding up pretty good. I've showered and done a load of dishes and I have 1 tiny chip and some tip wear. Usually I'll have half a nail chip off in one go. I'm almost sad to take this off later today to make way for my weekend manicure. Oh well. Them's the breaks. Ps: The colour is much more vibrant than these pictures suggest. These make it look quite dusty. However I'm not practiced enough with my photo editing program to try to tweak them to the proper shade.

OPI Sparkle-Icious


I believe I've worn OPI's Sparkle-Icious before, however if I remember it correctly I merely used it as a layering polish back then. For new year's eve I wanted to be in the mood for the occasion and used it on it's own. This time I applied 3 coats, 2 coats work as well. Isn't it remarkable? I don't think I've ever tried a glitter polish this tightly packed with glitter. The glitter comes in 3 colours: gold, pink, and blue. In the sunshine it's almost blinding, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that but I'm sure you can all imagine it's wonderful shining glory. The good thing about glitter polishes is that they usually have the most amazing staying power, but I always dread the entire removal procedure. Since this polish had so many glitter particles I imagined it would be a complete nightmare to remove it. Then I came to think of something I've seen in other nail polish blogs, the tinfoil method. Soaked up a few cotton pads, put them on each nail and wrapped them in tinfoil and waited for 5 min. Boy was I surprised when everything came off in one go! I will never ever have to ponder on whether I should wear a glitter polish or not. Thank you, whoever came up with the tinfoil method! I seriously love you!

Choosing Diet Plan


The most diet plans guarantee you everything. You might know, those dieting "gurus" tell they’re going to get you in perfect shape and the only thing you have to do is follow along & finish every last phase. So you purchase the plan because you saw it on Telly or learned about it online. Then you see that that great plan features different steps that require valuing nutrient, measuring caloric units of all meals, building a register of foods you can afford to eat and so on... Not exactly what you were expecting, right? I mean, you got the action programme because of the end results they assured. What they didn’t mentioned is how much time and effort you’ll have to to gain your desired weight loss destination on this thing. I mean, that there is stage 1 and 2 and only after that the maintenance phase. It’s supposed you’ve got to consume those heavy foods for 1 month straight with your 1 hand chained behind your back whilst while eating. Of course, you might think this is kind of an inconvenience, just try it. After two weeks your belly will turn at the thinking of swallowing one more than egg for your meals. You want to make it to phase two ’cause that’s when you get to eat all these cool foods in gobbets that wouldn’t satisfy a bird.


The dieting plan says this is when the actual benefits break in. You merely finished phase one and finally achieve the following phase. You impatiently turn to stage 2 just to find out that, you’re required to only eat a limited list of food products that you have to search your supermarket to buy. Then you must valuate that calories and eat limited products during certain times of day while doing simple workouts. Okay, by now you’re getting really tired of this diet. Maybe some people that successeeded using the system, but all this phase nonsense is making you crazy. The last pieces of inspiration you had for this plan simply drained out of you. It makes no difference, you still need to lose that belly. Is there anything simpler out there that can help you burn that weight and keep your sanity too? Of course, there’re dieting programs so simple that even a baby can follow them efficiently. Don’t think I’m comparing you to a baby, but I am telling you that there are better ways to become healthier. The Weight Shapes diets do that, but you still have to make a commitment to the plan and stick to basic phases, but those are much easier to follow. I exaggerated a bit here, but I do consider that diets which are over complicated cast a damper on larger number of people than they help. Most of us are living hectic lives and few people have time to look in the fridge figuring out what food products are allowed today.