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

My first Shades of Phoenix post and a little bit of Smudge spam

Hullo all.
Today I decided to try on a creation by aussie indie polish makers Shades of Phoenix.  I recently came into possession of several Shades of Phoenix polishes and, from what I can see so far, they produce some really solid polish.

The one I'd like to share with you today is called "Mother is God 2.0", a dusty berry creme with what looks like very fine gold and pink glitter as well as small holographic hexes and squares. It's really interesting and quite hard to capture on film as different lighting changes it quite a lot.
I found that it appears more dusty in real life compared to the pictures I took, but this should give you some idea;

Mother is God 2.0

Apparently the name is in reference to this being a revamped version of the first polish Teneil (the woman behind SoP) ever made, which she gave to her mum. Hence "Mother is God" (smart girl).
I need my own daughter to take heed of this name, because I am actually all knowing, all seeing and fairly god-like and it would behoove her to remember this as she gets older ;)

Thankfully this was an easy polish to use, unlike some creme/crelly glitter polishes I have come across. All I needed was two thin coats and there was no dabbing or fishing required.
It did dry a little bumpy, but two coats of Seche Vite smoothed everything out and allowed the polish to really shimmer and shine.

I found that the dusty aspect of this polish really comes out in the shade, whereas direct light seems to bring out the berry side of it, but in any light it is a very pretty polish. I also like that it's a colour that suits any season, and would look just as good on tanned summer hands as on winter white.

Unfortunately this particular shade is no longer available, but Shades of Phoenix have some beautiful polishes that are well worth checking out on their site.

And now, on a completely unrelated note, my little boy Smudge went in to the vet's yesterday to get the snip and he's been super clingy all day, lying all over Sophia as she plays Minecraft.

Strangely enough, he wasn't sleepy or dopey at all yesterday when he came home- quite the opposite, I was up at 1.30 this morning giving him a very mild sedative because he was bouncing off the walls and making sleep for any of us impossible.

The nurse at my local vet was very taken by him and said he was a total cuddle baby the entire time he was there and very well behaved...I actually wondered for a moment if she had Smudge confused with another cat ;)
Naw, he really is a sweetheart and he adores his family, especially Sophia and Peanut (I just feed him and clean up his revolting poos, so obviously I'm not as important haha).
But it's nice to know he won't be getting any girly cats pregnant or start spraying or straying because of all that testosterone. It will be interesting to see if he changes much, but from what I've seen today he's still the same old adorable-but-naughty Smudge we all know and love.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I hope you're all having a great weekend and I'll be back with some more polish goodness in the next day or so :)
Em x