Chancer by Butter London - weekly nail review

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Ahhh, the holiday season is here and what better way to celebrate than with sporting insanely red nails.  The gravitational pull towards Essies' new colours was still there, but sparkles and holiday colours began to beckon my name.  I've only worn glitter nail polish once as an adult and that was a few months back; the experience left me a bit hesitant, because my nails chipped straight away. I have since figured out why that happened (always in the same place, of course) - my zipper/fly is a polish muncher.  My right index nail always manages to get tangled between the teeth and then disaster strikes - my nail is left looking tattered and abused.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist, can't you tell?  And then frustation sets in, because I mucked up my manicure from being so thoughtless and careless.  What's a girl to do?

Wearing glittery things brings me back to my teenage years; Mom would often leave me to my own devices inside of the Limited Too (now known as Justice) to play with their makeup and to try on clothes.  I think I ended up purchasing up to 40 different shades of polish; it was cheap (less than 5 bucks a pop) and allowed me to express my personality.  Plus, being a chubby girl often proved difficult, because I couldn't really fit into the clothes they sold.  However, makeup always manages to fit all sizes, which is why I love the stuff so much!

Enough nostalgia and back to my nails.  The zipper muncher struck again, boo!  On the plus side, Chancer is such a stunning shade it shined beyond the tiny blemish I created.  The compliments poured in throughout the week; one girl went as far as stroking my nails - tee hee!

Scott has dubbed this colour as "cranberry sparkles."  I think it sounds waaaay better than Chancer!

What do you think of my holiday inspired nails?

My hair by Simone - an updo review

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Last Thursday I arrived at Forecast Hairdressing with several images in hand for Simone to pick from; I didn't care which direction we went in, all I was told: "Simone is an updo guru."  I laid the pictures out before her for a bit of inspiration and off she went!  In less than 45-minutes, my hair was sprayed, curled, teased and pinned to perfection. These are the looks I liked:

And this is the final result - 5 looks, mashed up:

Simone is a hair goddess!  I was really happy with how well my hair came out - business in the front, party in the back, wait?! All joking aside, many of my co-workers claimed they didn't recognize me; more often than not, you'll find me with my hair down at work.  Because so much hairspray was used, I was able to sleep on it and roll out of bed, albeit six hours later and head off to work with my hair still intact.

The Bagful breakdown:

Cost of Simone's handiwork @ Forecast Hairdressing:

  • $87.00

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

  • 8 out of 10 bags; a little expensive, but I'd do it again.  Simone works quickly and efficiently; plus, she truly transformed my mousy-brown hair!

Likelihood to re-visit:

  • I already booked another appointment to get my hair trimmed just after Christmas
 

MAC Glitter and Ice - First and only impression

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I typically cut through Myer or David Jones during my walk back from work every day; I like scoping out the makeup counters to see what's new and if any of the displays have changed.  Last Sunday, I noticed MAC had changed their posters from MAC Me Over and Style Driven to Glitter and Ice; this was a great indicator of the arrival of MAC's wintry collection Glitter and Ice.  By Monday evening, the counters were adorned with shimmery displays and plastic gift ball sets. Nothing really caught my eye and I wasn't really lusting after anything, especially after reading reviews by Karen and Christine.  I'm pretty disappointed by this whole entire collection, except for the brush sets; they are cute and sparkly.  With that being said, I've heard mixed reviews about the quality of the brushes in these gift sets, past and present.  I don't have any personal experience with using them myself, you might want to visit your local MAC retail shop and have a play.

For me, MAC's holiday release is a no go - I'll save up my pennies for something even better than this lackluster edition.

Below, you can barely tell that I swatched five out of the six Mineralize shadows, three Glitter and Ice Paint Pots, two Beauty Powders and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Baking cookies

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In lieu of writing about makeup this weekend, I decided to bake.  It's been awhile since I made cookies for Scott; what better time to do this than the lead up to Christmas - only seven days left! First, I asked Scott what he'd been hankering for and then I added in a few other options. Here's a list of the cookies I baked:

If you happen to be one of Scott's or my co-workers, then you are in store for an awesome treat!

After indulging in cookies a bit more than I should today, I think it's time for me to go on a walk. Bon appétit!