Today is Two Birds Lacquer day :)

'ello peeps, how is everything going in your world? I hope things are running along beautifully and that stress is down and happiness is up.
It's school holidays where I am so I have the kid at home (she's out jumping on the trampoline and enjoying the sunshine at the moment) which is actually really nice. Of course, my little seaside town is also overrun with tourists, which is not so nice.

I still haven't heard back about that job I applied for working at a local veterinary practice, so I am fairly doubtful that I was successful, but it was still good to get out there and experience a job interview after so long. Mind you, I need to drop some weight because the only interview appropriate pants I own are too small- I guess that's what happens when you spend two years sitting on your bum having multiple surgeries haha

Anyway, I have been taking a lot of pics of my manis recently, which means I have far too many photos to wade through and I've just kinda avoided blogging because that means trying to organise a bazillion images and I just can't... But I really should.
Especially as I am about to receive a fairly substantial package from Glam Polish... after all, it's a given that I'm going to end up taking far too many photos of those babies, and if I don't do some culling now I'll end up drowning in nail polish pics and probably overload my computer in the process.
So here's some swatches for you all ;)
Today is a polish from one of my favourite Aussie indies, Two Birds Lacquer, from their aptly named Floral State-Ments Collection, which consists of nine lacquers based around our State and Territory flowers. This beauty is is Red and Green Kangaroo Paw, the official flower emblem of Western Australia.

Red and Green Kangaroo Paw

Now, as you know, I love a good green, and an interesting green is even better, and this polish fits both criteria beautifully.
Kangaroo Paw is a fabulous pea-soup green creme with teeny tiny sparks of red, white and green glitter throughout- not too much, just enough to give things a little twist. As usual the application was easy, dry time was good and it wore very well too. But what I really love about it is the colour... it's really different from any other green I own, and I own a lot of greens (seriously).

Red and Green Kangaroo Paw

And just because I can, here's a couple of pics of Kangaroo Paw teamed up with another Floral State-ments polish, Golden Wattle.
Golden Wattle is a stunning golden glitterbomb full of all types of gold glitter- tiny microglitter, iridescent glitter, delicate gold flakies... very, very pretty. I used it here as a topper but it can be used on its own also, although you'll need a couple of good coats to achieve full opacity. 

Red and Green Kangaroo Paw with Golden Wattle

So, to sum up- if you're like me and like a good green then I really recommend getting Kangaroo Paw, it is definitely unique enough to warrant buying. Golden Wattle is another delightful polish, and if you like sparkle with a twist then you'll like this one too.
If you haven't experienced Two Birds Lacquer then I reckon you should take a peek at their polishes and give them a try- they make consistently good quality, interesting, flattering polishes and I really think they're an Aussie indie polish maker worth supporting.

Anyway, that's it from me today.
Until next time, as always, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Part 2 of my Two Birds Lacquer review

Hi guys, I'm really sorry for not getting this second part of my Two Birds post done sooner.
I'm just so tired, like sleeping 14 hours every night and then having to have a nap in the late afternoon tired. I know it's not normal to be this tired, and I'm pretty apathetic too. And yeah, those symptoms generally go hand in hand with depression in my experience, so I I'm not at my best right now.
Winter doesn't help, feeling a huge sense of foreboding over my future in terms of financial security- hell, my future in general- isn't helping either. So, that's why I haven't blogged much recently. Hopefully my energy will start to improve soon and I can get back into the swing of things. Until then, I hope you'll bear with my while I try to get it together.

O.k, onto the review. Today's post features the most divine blue glitter polish called Chrysocolla, which is part of Two Birds Lacquer's gemology collection. This collection is discontinued, so if you want to get your paws on this polish, and others in this collection, then I would head on over to Two Birds now before they're all gone. I've gone back and snagged a couple of spares myself because they're so lovely, and I don't want to regret not doubling up when I run out, so yeah, my advice is don't leave it too late.

Outdoor shots

Now, I will add that the colour of this polish is almost impossible to capture accurately, so my photos have a fair amount of difference about them as a result. In real life the polish is a gorgeous teal leaning blue. My bottle seems to be more teal than other swatches I've seen around, so whether that's down to monitor differences or those small differences in the polish that comes with buying hand made lacquers, I don't know. My indoor pics definitely have the polish looking more "true blue" in nature in comparison to the outdoor shots, but it looks amazing regardless.

Indoor shots

I've posted pics from both inside and outside to give you an idea of the colour differences I faced when taking pics of my swatches, but I feel that the outside shots are a more accurate representation of the colour of Chrysocolla, but obviously these things can be quite subjective. Anyway, onto the review...
Chrysocolla is a royal blue jelly polish filled with various sized blue glitter, including hexes and microglitter and I must say, it is really interesting how these glitters work together with the base, as the end result is an almost a foil-like finish.
Now, when I first applied this polish I honestly thought there's no way that it was going to become opaque on its own, not in a couple of coats anyway. But I managed to get great coverage with three thin coats, and only needed one generous coat of Seche Vite for the whole thing to have a super smooth finish.
And yet the polish isn't overloaded with glitter to achieve the level of coverage it has, which makes it super easy to apply and there's no need for dabbing or glitter placement, at all. Plus the base manages to be opaque enough to give excellent coverage while still allowing the glitter to shine through. Awesome, right?

Outside shots

I wish I could adequately explain just how interesting this polish is, I have never owned a glitter polish that has a finish quite like it. And I love it. It's such a pretty colour, so flattering, even on my winter pale skin.
It's polishes like this that have me reevaluating my "I'm not a blue polish gal" more and more, and with good reason- I really can't recommend this polish highly enough, and I really do encourage you to get yourself a bottle if you can. I'd be very surprised if you weren't as wowed by it as I am.

Indoor shots

Two Birds Lacquer is available through their etsy store, although postage is limited to Australia for the moment- hopefully international stockists will start to carry their range so people from all over can get a hold of, and appreciate, their products.

I have ordered a back up bottle of this, and I also have a couple of other polishes on the way too, so keep an eye out for more reviews of two Birds products.
I did, unfortunately, manage to break one of my nails on my swatching hand, resulting in a nail cull, so my swatches will be a little on the shorter side for a while, but hopefully the beauty of the polishes will shine through and my little nubs wont be too much of a detraction.

My poor little nubs ;_;

Anyway, until next time I hope this finds you well and I will do my utmost to blog a little bit more regularly from now on- the structure would probably benefit me too.

And of course, love and glitter for all,
Em xox

Finally I can show you some Two Bird Lacquer goodies* (part 1)

Hi guys, how's life treating you? Hope it's not being too harsh. I'll tell you what, it is bloody freezing today- I swear it feels like the temperature's dropped 10 degrees in the last 10 minutes :[
It's also raining and windy and just vile... blargh. I am so not  winter person.
Plus it makes it so difficult to get outside to take some nice shots of my pretty polishes, so unfortunately you're stuck with the slightly crappy indoor photos, for the time being at least.
Hopefully, however, the polish I am going to show you at some point today will make up for my subpar photo shenanigans, as it is a very lovely polish indeed, made by the delightful Stacey of Two Birds Lacquer.
And although I bought the polish myself Stacey did very kindly ask me to have a go of her cuticle oil pens, which I will also review here (kill Two Birds with one stone... geddit?! badadadum).

Ok, first lets have a look at the cuticle oil pens. Now, I am the first to admit that nail care has never been something I took much notice of. Hell, I didn't even own a base coat or top coat until the beginning of this year. *gasp* Sacrilege!
Suffice to say this world of "cuticle oils" and "balms" and what not is all a bit new to me and I am not claiming to be an expert in any way, shape or form.
On the other hand, I can be honest and tell you that my fingers, and the cuticle area in particular, look bloody brilliant since I've been using the Two Birds oil. So it obviously does something right ;)

The pens themselves come in either no scent, lavender or ylang ylang and I received one of each of the scented oils. The ingredients listed are all nice and natural too- jojoba oil, sweet almond oil and the essential oil that is used to scent the product (lavender also has good soothing qualities too, which is an added bonus).
I will say that the ylang ylang took some getting used to, as it's quite a distinctive scent, but I quite like it now. However, if you're super sensitive to strong scents then I would probably go the lavender or one without essential oils.
Application is easy-peasy, you just take off the lid (obviously!) and twist the end of the pen clockwise until oil saturates the brush. The simply brush the oil around the cuticles, on the skin of the finger, on the nail itself and even under the nail- the brush design makes it easy to get the oil into those tricky spots which is pretty cool.
I now keep one pen by my bed and treat my fingers before I turn out the light (which has made for a slightly slippery lamp switch, but hey, we all gotta make sacrifices) and I keep the other one out here by the mac so I remember to moisturise during the day.
It's interesting how quickly I got used to incorporating these little routines into my day, but it's not second nature yet, and I want it to be as I really do think my nails and the skin around them is looking much nicer, and that makes for a happy camper.

Now, I have read on a few nail blogs that Jojoba oil is one of the few oils whose molecules are small enough to actually penetrate the keratin layers of the nail, helping the nail to become more flexible and less brittle, which is why I used the oil pens on my naked nails as much as I could.
I also wanted to show you what my cuticles and nails look like sans polish, as manicures tend to distract from the cuticles, however my nails also happen to be stained to hell and back, so I really wasn't sure whether to sit on the review until the staining grew out or just suck it up.
But, because I care about your cuticles, I have decided to share some awful, awful photos of my bare nails. So hey, lucky you!

I am soooo sorry (don't say I didn't warn you).  I stupidly didn't think to do some before and after shots either, so yeah, sorry about that :D
Anyhoo, if you can tear your horrified eyes away from the stained mess that is my nails, you will hopefully be able to see how awesome my cuticles look- nary a hangnail or dry bit of skin in sight! Which is great, because I tend to nibble those little pieces of dry skin and it ends up looking pretty blah. And my skin, which doesn't like the cold, is definitely handling this crappola weather waaaaayyyyy better than it usually does.
So, from a completely subjective standpoint I think these Two Birds cuticle oil pens are the bomb and I will certainly be grabbing some more once these run out.
And lets not forget that Two Birds Lacquer also have some simply stunning polishes that are, imho, absolutely worth checking out- they are such a promising new entry into the world of indie polishes. I'm really looking forward to seeing where they take this brand as they clearly care about making a stellar product and have a really creative take on their polish lines too.

 
And that's part one of this two part entry, as it was getting kinda long. 
Don't forget to tune in to the next enthralling episode!
Will my nails suddenly look fabulous and return to their natural colour? (no) Will I meet the love of my life over the polish clearance bin? Will my cats manage to shed even more fur directly onto my wet, freshly painted nails? Will I continue to ask ridiculous, rhetorical questions as if this were some cheesy soap opera that I'm trying to get you hooked on? Only time will tell...

Until next time (approximately some time in the next couple of hours) I say "love and polish for all!"

                                                                 ~fin~


*Please Note; the products in this entry were sent to me by the manufacturer for my honest and unbiased review. At no stage will I ever give a glowing review simply because I was sent the product. I believe that honesty is paramount when reviewing products, regardless of whether they were purchased by me or given to me by a supplier &/or manufacturer.*



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