Vegas or Bust

Last night my work held their annual ball with a Vegas theme. The ballroom was filled with palm fronds, sky-high lilly centrepieces and a trillion paper lanterns. Some people dressed up as Elvis, Marilyn and showgirls, other people just looked fabulous and sharp. And as always, we were the last to leave the d-floor.

Bikram Learnings.

"In Western medicine, we use poison to kill poison. In yoga, we use pain to kill pain- it's up to ourselves to determine what dosage we need."

I did my first Bikram class this morning after 6 weeks, since I'm still trying to establish my new work-life balance. I looked at the clock this morning and debated between getting up and getting back into classes or to remain snuggled up under the doona for a sleep in. I got up. Best decision :)

O•P•I-O•M•G!

If you read my last post, you'll know I had a nice parcel waiting for me when I got home today. Well, this is what was in my parcel; 1 bottle of ZOYA and 3 bottles of OPI. I'm posting this up nice and quick because I had to show them off and I don't think multicoloured nails would go well with my ball dress for tomorrow night haha.

For a minute I could smell strawberries/raspberries and was like OH MY GOD THEY'RE SCENTED! But then I remembered I'd just gone on a manic red liquorice binge *facepalm*. It's been a long week.

Apologies in advance for the snapshot quality, it probably would have been better in natural daylight and a second lot of apologies for the lack of nail appearance- I just slopped the polish on without doing a nice proper soak/buff/file/cuticle push-back. Although I did add a top coat, just for good measure :)

From left to right:

Panda-Monium Pink (Hong Kong Collection). This colour was the prime reason I bought a whole stack of nailpolish in the first place. In my quest for the perfect candy pink my google searches led me to this shade. It goes on a little bit streaky, especially if you use thin coats (here I have 3 coats of colour plus the top coat). It definitely lives up to my expectation colour wise (colour IRL is closer to the third pic) and reminds me of cotton candy. Note to self: do not ruin manicure by trying to eat nails...
**EDIT** For the love of manicures wear a top coat with this one! After 2 days the colour started to gain a bit of a grey tinge, but that was soon fixed with another coat of colour and a top coat :) Just a warning..  

Ate Berries in the Canaries (España Collection). This gorgeous fuschia hue is probably closest IRL to the burgundy-pink of the bottle, but a little darker. Out of the four, this applies the best and you could probably even get away with a single coat of colour and a top coat if you're short on mani time (here I have 2 coats of colour and a top coat). I can definitely see myself doing crescent moons with this and Panda-Monium Pink *drool*.

Nova (Zoya). Everyone needs a bit of glitter in their life, and this is my mum's fave of my order. I was quite surprised that it only took 3 coats for you to no longer be able to see the nail through the polish, but it would probably stll be better to have a red undercoat as too many coats of glitter polish makes it squishy. I'd also note that you probably need at least 2 top coats to make the finish glossy, all the glitter makes the surface rough and you kinda lose the glitziness of it.

Mystery (Designer Series). From the picture I went off when ordering, it looked kind of lack/khaki/green/gold...ish. However, it's actually a really deep dark purple- think Maleficent, and then add in some more black. And then go even darker. That's how dark it is, kind of like a black with a visibly purple tint. I didn't realise it was purple until I put it on, which was probably a good thing since it just made me realise that a deep purple was exactly what my nailpolish supply was missing. It also has some gold shimmer in it, so like the Nova I would also recommend a good dose of top coat.

Now the only decision is which one I will actually paint on all of my nails. Argh, decisions, decisions!

Polishes from this eBay store.

Collie, Take 2.

Spent another week in Collie for work and just got home earlier tonight with a nice parcel waiting for me on the kitchen bench. But more on that later ;)

This trip I actually got to go out on a mine instead of sitting in an office, I must say it was quite a little adventure aside from all the work I had to do.

It's always nice to come home..

Hairspiration: What? I Woke Up Looking Like This...

When I think of sexy, tousled I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-looking-fabulous hair, the one person that comes to mind is French former actress/model Brigitte Bardot, and more recently, Blake Lively for Glamour magazine's July issue.

There's a certain je ne sais quoi about that 'come hither' look that makes me want to have a black eyeliner pencil and teasing comb in my possession at all times. I've never previously had any luck with tying a scarf around my head and having it look fabulous, so when I saw a 'turband' on sale I was a tad hesitant, but for 5 bucks it could have easily been used as a duster if it looked rubbish. Glad it didn't come to that.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable long weekend! I know I'll be catching up on all the missed sleep from this week thanks to work and more 21sts.