Another quickie, this time with Arcane Lacquer

Hi everyjuan (thank you ediotz for that- every time I pronounce "everyone" in my mind it's like that now).
Anyway, that's a totally obscure reference to e-drama that I'm guessing 99.99% of you will find completely meaningless, so onto something we all know and love, nail polish :)
Today is just a very quick post featuring a couple of new Arcane Lacquer releases, Strutter and Lividity Setting In. Both are fabulous on their own, as usual (Bec makes fantastic polishes) but they also look great together in a subtle, vampy gradient.

I only have a few, sub par swatches of Lividity Setting In, but here's a couple to give you an idea of how lush these colours are;

Lividity setting In

Lividity setting In is a deep, deep eggplant purple with a gorgeous gold shimmer effect that I totally failed to capture in these pics- I will take some better ones over the next few days and you can see just how lovely it is.

Strutter

Strutter is a stunning deep burgandy with a subtle gold shimmer running through it and it is one of my current favourite polishes, full stop. It is so rich and lush and yummy.

And here they are together, such a fantastic match;

And there you have it, a very simple but very effective gradient using two gorgeous polishes from the wonderful Arcane Lacquer.
Arcane Lacquer is (are?) also releasing a Halloween duo that looks amazing- the always lovely Christine over at Serenity Nails has a review of them up now and her swatches are fantabulous, so go check them out...they've been added to my "must have" list (even though I'm technically on a "no buy" boohoo).

Welp, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend... it's school holidays here so I'm just going to be chilling with the kid for the next couple of weeks.
In other news, I have emailed the vet clinic where I had my job interview, just to touch base and keep my name fresh in their minds and I really, really hope I get the position as I need to be working at a vet clinic for 15 hours a week if I want to get in to that veterinary nursing course next year *fingers crossed*. I will definitely post about that when I find out, either way.

Oh, and I also have some very exciting news regarding a lovely Aussie indie polish that I'll be revealing soon, so keep an eye out for that one.

Until next time, ~love and polish for all~
Em xox

My best ever gradient (that I am so proud of)

Hey all, how are we today? Hope everything is fine and dandy.
Today is something a little different, I'm going to share with you one of my best ever gradients.
I love gradients, they're my go-to nail art favourite. I also love dotticures, but for some reason gradients are my favourite and I can't seem to help myself from whacking on more polish if I get the chance. And this one is by far the prettiest I have ever done, it's like a tropical sunset or a deep space supernova. Something bright and gorgeous anyway ;)
So, without any further ado here it is;

The polishes I used were Mud's Pink a Lot and Dark Room, Pretty Serious Cosmetics' My Darling Clementine, Arcane Lacquer's Funhouse and The Power, The Passion and finally Miss Ashleigh's Too Hot to be Blue. All but Mud are Australian indie polishes and they're fabulous too.

I can't begin to express just how stoked I was with how this turned out, it really is my best gradient to date and I think I'll be hard pressed to top it.

What do you think? Do you like gradients? What's your favourite go-to nail polish trick (if you have any) that you use to jazz up your mani with?
I'm going to be doing another gradient today as I'm going to a family do tomorrow and want my nails to be really bright, so if it looks as good as I'm hoping it will I'll post some pics of that soon.

Until next time ~love and polish for all~
Em xox

Today I want to show you Arcane Lacquer's oh-so-pretty "The Power, The Passion"

Hello to you all on this cold and dreary Saturday, I hope everyone is having a good weekend.
The house I'm renting is (unfortunately) currently on the market, which means my daughter, our youngest cat and I all have to nick off for 20 minutes every Saturday morning while they have an open for inspection. It is such a pain in the arse... I just want to spend a Saturday morning in my pj's, lounging around and being completely unproductive, so I really hope the house sells soon.

This Saturday in particular is a bit bleh as I'm starting to feel nervous about Monday's surgery. I'm getting my bag packed, running through my list of things to take and feeling like I'm forgetting something, like I always do. And just to add to the mood my skin has broken out, which is par for the course when I'm stressed.
Oh well, it''ll all be over by Monday evening, which will be a huge relief.

Anyway, in the meantime here's a mani I did yesterday featuring my other recent Arcane Lacquer purchase, "The Power, The Passion". I also used Nubar's "Star Sparkle" on my accent finger to add to the bling factor... and it really is blingy :D

"The Power, The Passion" is a dark, purple based glitter polish, not exactly what I'd call a jelly as it's not particularly viscous, but that's the best description I can think of. And in that base is a veritable smorgasbord of different coloured microglitter- from hot pink to green to holographic- all of it adding heaps of character to the polish and phenomenal levels of bling.

As with my other Arcane Lacquer's the formula is a delight to use, the dry time is minimal and I only needed two coats to achieve full coverage. Of course, being a glitter dense polish it dries slightly gritty, but one generous coat of Seche Vite was all it took to achieve a glassy smooth finish.

And will you look at that bling? So beautiful! The sun makes the colours jump out from that gorgeous, rich purple base. It's another "keep your eyes on the road" type polish that has me constantly distracted by the rainbow flashes as I'm driving.
I wonder if you can insure for nail polish induced accidents?

I don't know if I'll get around to doing another mani before I head off to hospital, especially as it all needs to come off for the operation, but if I do I'll try to take some nice pics before I go.

I must admit, the best part about all of this is that I'm coming home to a ridiculous amount of nail mail... I ordered far too much this week, but I justified it with the fact that I'm about to be operated on.
Plus, I'll use the polish as a recovery tool- happy minds/healthy bodies and all that.
So really, it was all for my health. Totally legitimate, right? See, I knew you'd understand. Those silly debt collectors, they just don't get it ;)

Arcane Lacquer is available through Etsy as well as through several overseas nail polish stockists- for a list of names just check the info page on Arcane's Etsy store.

If you happen to remember, please throw some good thoughts my way this Monday arvo when I go under the knife, and I'll see you all soon,
Em xox

A quickie post today- hospital news and Arcane Lacquer's The Power, the Passion

Well, I got a call from the hospital yesterday, I go in for my third, and hopefully last, surgery on Monday (well, last for a while anyway).
They really didn't give me much notice- five days isn't cool when you're a single mum needing to organise school runs and house sitters and all that jazz. Thankfully we're all pretty used to this, so it only too a few phone calls for things to fall into place.

Of course, going in for surgery also means having to take all my polish off and show my stained nails to the world haha. And they are badly stained, thanks to a cheap black polish that managed to breach my base coat's defenses and leave my nails a delightful shade of gangrene.

I'm currently umming and ahhing about whether to go nuts and paint my nails everyday leading up to Monday, or be a tightarse and stick to what I have on now for as long as possible.
IDK, chances are I'll have a new colour on by tomorrow's end.

Today, however, I just had a very quick play with my other Arcane Lacquer acquisition "The Power, The Passion", a deep, dark purple that is so full of different coloured microglitter I almost drove off the road staring at it.

The Power, The Passion

I thought it would look good with the pink of Funhouse and I was right, the colours really compliment eachother.
So I did a very quick gradient and then spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to capture the ever elusive sparkle...

Anyway, there you have it, a very quick, slightly messy but oh so shiny gradient using the gorgeous Arcane Lacquer's "Funhouse" and "The Power, The Passion".
Hope you like it :)

Let me introduce you to Arcane Lacquer's aptly named "Funhouse"

I say "aptly named" because this polish is bright, pink and a lot of fun to wear.

Now, as I'm sure you know, the indie polish market is pretty saturated (terrible pun, I know) and it can be hard for polish makers to stand out from the crowd.
I'm lucky because Australia has some of the best indie polish makers around, so we're kinda spoilt for choice over here. But even with all the competition and all the great indie brands there are a couple that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Arcane Lacquer is one such brand.

Bec, the creator of Arcane Lacquer, also runs a nail blog called Nail Gun xs,and does some of the best nail swatches I've ever come across. She really is gifted. And it's clear she takes as much care with her polishes as she does with her swatches, because every single one I have tried or read about is sublime.
The formulas are so easy to work with, the colours are true and beautiful, regardless if its a work-safe grey or bold and bright purple... what can I say? Everything just seems to work together perfectly.
Now, me being the sort of person I am and also being stuck at home, well, I can get away with wearing any colour I choose, so I decided when ordering my polishes that I would get something bright and cheerful and, of course, blingy...The Power, The Passion and Funhouse filled all of those qualifications and then some;

Funhouse and The Power, The Passion

It wasn't easy choosing which polish to try first, but I decided to think pink and went with Funhouse.
 

And oh boy am I glad I did :D
This is a scrumptious polish, full of bright, vivid pink microglitter that sparkles and shines and shifts as the light hits it. And what makes this really stand out from the crowd is the scattering of vivid blue microglitter throughout, a combination that gives the polish an orchid purple look in some lights.

The formula of this polish was a breeze to use, smooth and easy, with the dense microglitter dispersing evenly across the nail. It dried quickly between coats and I was able to achieve a glassy smooth finish with one topcoat of Poshe. It really doesn't get any better than that.

I used three coats here and, while you could get away with two, I think three takes it to the next level in terms of colour depth and richness.

All in all I really like Funhouse and I can see myself wearing it a lot- I think it would also work really well with nail art and I'm already thinking of things I can do, most likely involving accent nails and neon stars (that really seems to be my go-to mani, it's so much fun and doesn't take away from the beauty of the main polish).

 

 

 There's nothing left to say except go and check out Arcane Lacquer, you won't be disappointed. I'll definitely be reviewing The Power, The Passion sooner rather than later, but until then enjoy the glory that is Funhouse :)

Em x

Lyme Disease in Australia, or why our governement needs to step up

Hi guys,
Today is a little bit different because I want to discuss a pretty shitty situation that's been going on in Australia for countless years. We actually have a lot of stuff that needs addressing, like any 1st world country that is a result of colonialisation, but this little rant is about Lyme Disease.

Now, as I'm sure most of you know, Lyme Disease is a well known illness that occurs when bacteria from a tick bite infects the host. It can cause a whole range of symptoms, many of them debilitating and baffling, and because no one person has the exact same symptoms of another, it can be hard to diagnose and many people spend years being told they have MS or neurological illnesses when, in fact, they have Lyme Disease.

Unfortunately our government here in Australia refuses to acknowledge that Lyme Disease occurs in this wide brown land, relying on a flawed study that supposedly showed that our ticks do not carry the bacteria responsible for the disease, even though other studies have shown that yes, our ticks do  carry the bacteria.

What this means is that people presenting with the symptoms of Lyme Disease are not afforded effective treatment, to the point where people have actually been harmed by hospitals  providing treatment detrimental to the patient because they refused to acknowledge the illness.

I cannot imagine how frustrating and simply soul crushing it must be to live with something so devastating, only to be told that's not what you have and to be denied effective treatment.

So, in recognition of this situation, and in part as a gesture to a young woman who I have met on one of the Australian nail appreciation pages who is suffering from late stage Lyme Disease, I decided to do my nails as part of "nails for lyme awareness".

For this manicure I used a white base, Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear "White On", and used Arcane Lacquer's "Little Quibble" and Rimmel 60 Seconds "Camouflage" for the green gradient.
I then used a generous coat of Essence "Quick Dry" top coat to help blend the colours even more, waited til that was reasonably dry and then whacked on a coat of Essence "101 Dalmations" glitter topper. I finished it all off with some Poshé topcoat and voila! There you have it;
My "Lyme Disease Awareness" mani.

If you want to find out more about Lyme Disease in Australia you can read about it here and this gives you an idea of the uphill battle those doctors who do recognise Lyme Disease face in trying to treat their patients effectively.

Here's hoping that our government steps up and does the right thing, sooner rather than later.
Em x

Nail Art and Other Coping Mechanisms

So, I've been spending a lot of time reading nail polish blogs and playing around with my nails because wtf else am I gonna do?

Here's some pics of the gorgeous nail polishes I have collected, and some that I want oh so bad (Australian Indie polishes are amazing btw);

This is Arcane Lacquer's "Festive Embrace", a gorgeous red jelly packed with gold, red and holo glitter. My pics do not do it justice.

Arcane Lacquer's "Little Quibble"
Such a pretty green (I have a thing for purple and green polishes- I think I only own 1 blue... IDK why greens make me so happy)

This is Emily De Molly's amazing "Cosmic Forces", one of the most amazing polishes I have ever seen. It's like looking through the Hubble Telescope... stunning.

Another Emily De Molly "Fashion Victim" (swatch is from her web site) This is much, much more intense and sparkly in real life, it's gorgeous.

Emily De Molly "Serenity" (swatch from her site). A very pretty turquoise colour with copper, lavender and blue glitter

Emily De Molly's "Oceanic Forces", another amazing jelly polish with fabulous depth and holo glitter (swatch from her site). Love it.

And finally Emily De Molly's "Absent Minded". TBH this is the only polish I've bought from her that didn't floor me, but it is still very pretty. It might just be that I have too many similar coloured purples as it is, so it needs to be pretty amazing to impress me(swatch from her site)

Speaking of AMAZING purple polishes, meet Arcane Lacquer's "The Power and the Passion"
This is on my "must have" list bc omg sparkles! Green and purple! Shiney!
(swatch from Harlow & Co)

I've also recently bought an LED light and Gelish soak off base and topcoat so I can start to do some gel manis from home. I might do the odd one for friends, but it's mainly another way to fill in time as I wait and recover from various surgeries.

I did do the cutest nail stamping mani the other day, which ended up looking like a tiger. So much fun and a really cheery mani too- cute hey?

Anyway, that's what I've been doing recently to keep myself occupied while sitting on my disabled arse all day.

My car's alternator repairs have cost $760, of which I have paid $400 and I am hurting very badly financially speaking.

My surgery has been pushed back a week to the 7th of April and I have to pay $1195 in rent on the 5th and then pay $265 car rego on the 10th, plus I still owe $90 to the vets for my cat's $1800 surgery... this is all going on while living on around $20,000 a year on a disability pension with an additional parenting payment.

And my rent alone is over 50% of my income, let alone utilities, food, petrol, medication, school fees, school uniforms, clothes for my kid, vet care for my cats... you get the picture

This is Smudge, our baby cat who fell asleep with his leg over his head because he's a silly billy. I got him a couple of months after our precious Big Cat died as I felt that Peanut was lonely. Smudge adores Peanut, it's too cute.

And this is poor old Peanut after his major surgery- a double femoral osteotomy after he broke both back legs along the growth plate where the thigh bone meets the hip socket. He's much slower since the surgery and certainly can't jump fences anymore. He's had a rough trot- he's been hit by a car, had a bad reaction to the anesthetic when he was spayed and then he broke both back legs... but he's a sweetheart of a cat and we love him lots.

And my daughter, who just turned 10, is growing up so fast! And gee, she's going to be a very lovely woman :)

Anyway, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, and I thank god for the pension as it allows me to survive. BUT, I live on the poverty line, raising my daughter and 2 cats (plus a psychotic bunny rabbit). So emergencies like a vet bill or car repairs totally decimate my bank account.

Seriously, when you live on the dole there is no such thing as a financial safety net, there is no extra couple of hundred set aside for emergencies... it's always all spent because there is so little.
My daughter has school photos next week and I don't know how I'm going to pay for it...

Shame I decided to spend money on polish literally a couple of weeks before my car died. Like, my timing is so shitty.

I had thought I could maybe make a bit of $$$ here and there doing the odd manicure, so it seemed like a good investment at the time and I do have people interested.

And it's viable too as I can do nails while seated, so unlike house painting my disability doesn't affect my ability to do this, and I can work around my depression and so on by simply not doing anything when my mind isn't working right.

I had even thought I could eventually start making my own line of polish as I have some fantastic ideas, and it's something I think I could be really good at, however it takes a fair bit in terms of start up costs. But it was a goal to work towards at least.

Honestly, it really did seem like a good idea at the time, until I got hit by this financial avalanche of disaster, which has screwed me so totally I don't even know when I'll have a spare $20, let alone hundreds.

 At least my surgery is now taking place on the 7th of April, which is the 1st day of the school holidays, so I don't need to worry about having someone getting Sophia to and from school while I'm in Melbourne, getting cut open yet again.

Fingers crossed they get it right this time around- 3rd time lucky, right?

Regardless, I'm still attempting fantastic, I've just had a couple of major obstacles to overcome in the meantime ;)