Dec 16, 2013

piCture pOlish Collab-Fest 2013

So we've had a few Picture Polish Blog Fests but today is a Collab Fest. An excuse for those of us lucky enough to have Picture Polish Collab shades, to show them off again (not that I don't anyway). Which means it's time for more Picture Polish Serenity photo spam :)
I love my collab shade, it is now my most worn polish. I had a phone case printed with my bottle shot so I could 'wear' it even when I'm not wearing it.
I'm disappointed with the quality of the case though, the print is blurry and washed out.  It actually looks better in these photos than it is.  Still it's cool that it's almost life size.
For today's post I wanted to do something pretty and delicate with Serenity so I went floral.  I can't help it, this polish will always make me think of flowers, in particular lavender.  If you missed my explanation of the inspiration behind the colour have a look here.
I used water decals for these flowers.  My painting skills aren't good enough to do them by hand and at this time of year "ain't nobody got time for that"!

Yeh OK I did just lose 2 minutes of my life watching that but these flower decals were very quick and easy to apply.  I just wish I could remember where I got them from because I want some more now.
This is 2 coats of Serenity with top coat then I applied the decals, added some dots and finished with another layer of top coat.  So simple for such a pretty look.
I used Picture Polish Violet Femme and a toothpick to do the dots.  I think Violet Femme is a pretty good match for the glitters in Serenity.  If you can't tell which is which have a look at my index finger.
The dots around the edges are Violet Femme and the ones across the middle are actually the square lavender glitters in Serenity.
Please ignore the weird bulge in the side of my middle nail.  It's broken and held together with silk and gel.  the break has almost grown out far enough to chop off but I didn't want to cut my nails before doing this manicure because I wanted more space for the flowers.
Yeh I have a frog ring and chives flowering in my garden but I just can't capture the purple shimmer of Serenity on camera. 
I hope you like my pretty flowers and the beauty that is Serenity :)
piCture pOlish Serenity can be purchased directly from https://www.picturepolish.com.au or through their international network. Check out piCture pOlish's facebook page for news and updates.
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Nov 25, 2013

Alanna Renee Golden Snitch

Today's AN Monday theme for Aussie Indie Month was gold, silver, black, white or any metallic colour. So here's Alanna Renee Golden Snitch, with some extra gold. I've shared this one before on IG and FB but this is the first time I've blogged it.
Golden Snitch is packed full of gold and silver glitter in a clear base. There's so much glitter you don't need undies.  It can be opaque in 2 coats.
Look there's even gold circle glitters like little snitches :)  I love this one but unfortunately when I wear gold polish my skin looks really pink.
Golden Snitch is from the Magical World collection and is a must for any Harry Potter fans. The whole collection is beautiful.
It matches my jewellery beautifully (yes my husband spoils me) so I did a little accessory posing.
Then I got a bit random with some BYS Glitter Dust.  Silver like the wings of a snitch.  Very sparkly but messy.


piCture pOlish Serenity by Polished Peripherals

So yesterday was an exciting day if you're a Doctor Who fan like me but I've had something even bigger to look forward to today.  The launch of my piCture pOlish collaboration shade!  So be warned this post is going to be long and picture intense.

I have had to keep this secret for so long.  Way back in 2012 I was one of the lucky bloggers who received two piCture pOlish shades to swatch and review for Blogfest 2012 (here and 2013 here).  Even luckier I was then selected as one of the bloggers to work with piCture pOlish to produce a shade of my own, my dream colour with my name on it!
Now coming up with my dream colour was interesting.  I love green but Cathy from More Nail Polish had already beaten me to the perfect green with piCture pOlish Kryptonite.  The other thing I love is lavender.
I love the plant, the scent, the colour and it's my surname.  It's a tradition in our family for the women to carry on the Lavender name.  When I was 12 my great uncle came to visit from England and researched the Australian connections to the Lavender family.  Lavender Bay in Sydney is named after an ancestor, George Lavender who was a boatswain on the Charlotte in the first fleet and later boatswain of the convict hulk Phoenix which was moored in the bay.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/765429/negative-lavender-bay-new-south-wales-1878
My great uncle showed me the family tree and in short I learned about my family and officially changed my surname to Lavender-Roberts to keep the name going.
When I got married I kept the name and we had a floral theme for our wedding with lots of lavender.
We had dried lavender sprinkled on the tables, lavender in my bouquet and decorating the cake, all the ladies got lavender plants as a gift and the scent in the reception hall was amazing.
That beautiful lady is my Mom, with some spare lavender plants.
My father was very proud to explain during his speech that I would be keeping my name and continuing the tradition.
For our honeymoon we visited a lavender farm and when I close my eyes and relax that's where I go. I picture fields of lavender.
A seat in the shade of a tree at the top of a gentle hill, overlooking a field of lavender, with a haze of shimmery purple above the blue green foliage.
This is actually a tree I met on a farm holiday.
The sun is warm but it's cool in the shade. I can hear the ice in my glass cracking and there's a slight breeze bringing with it the scent of lavender and the sound of bees.
This was a cool drink, you can tell right?
There were so many bees around when I took this photo, the noise was incredible!
I have nothing I need to do right now, nowhere else I have to be and no one to answer to (and my nails look amazing). Relax, enjoy, this is my serenity, piCture pOlish Serenity!
Serenity takes me to a peaceful place :) I could stare at this colour all day. When I look at it I can take a deep breath and drift away. Strangely enough I get images of gum trees and tropical waters as well as fields of lavender so that's a bonus.

Serenity is a shimmery blue green with a subtle lavender haze and just enough purple glitter to enhance the lavender without dominating.  It's one of those polishes that changes with every angle. In some lights (like flash) it looks like a turquoise foil and in other light it becomes a grey geen. The lavender haze is more obvious with indirect light and impossible to photograph. I've taken lots of photos to try and show all the colour changes.
I've worn this a lot since I got the sample bottle. Mostly it's a two coater but if you don't let it dry enough between coats it can drag so I have three coats in some shots because I hurried my painting.
Outdoors in full sun.
Outdoors in shade.
Like other piCture pOlishes I've worn it goes on smooth and even, and I've worn this for a week at a time without chipping (with base and top coat). There's no sign of staining and it comes off as easily as any polish without glitter.
When I first saw Serenity I knew I'd have to try it with piCture pOlish Wisteria.  I used piCture pOlish Violet Femme for the lines. I wasn't happy with my line work so I tried painting some lavender next.
I sponged a gradient of Serenity and Wisteria for the background. The colours look so pretty together :)
I wanted to stamp some lavender but the closest match I could find to a bunch of lavender was some Thanksgiving wheat and the design was too small for my nails. So I had to paint my flowers by hand, roughly.
I hope you'll love Serenity as much as I do and a special thanks to the girls at piCture pOlish for making my dream come true.
piCture pOlish Serenity can be purchased directly from https://www.picturepolish.com.au or through their international network. Check out piCture pOlish's facebook page for news and updates.

Nov 24, 2013

Day of the Doctor!

Finally today is The Day of the Doctor.  The 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who and the much anticipated special episode.  It was shown at 6:50am here this morning but we haven't seen it yet.  We're waiting until we can all sit down together tonight to see it (which means I'm avoiding online spoilers today).  I did some quick Doctor Who nails yesterday for a trip to the ABC shop's Doctor Who day.
I didn't have a lot of time for art so I used some flashy blue nail foil and a TARDIS feature nail.
The foil has holographic stars so I paired it with MckFresh Laser Pointers, a metallic silver polish with holographic bar glitter. 
I know there's a lot of people who don't like bar glitter but this stuff is ultra fine so there's no sticky up bars and it's so pretty.
I finished the foil with a coat of Picture Polish Revolution and The TARDIS is a vinyl nail sticker, I just added some details.  An ultra quick mani :)
...and just because here's some Doctor Who themed photo spam, in no particular order.  We seem to have something Doctor Who themed in every room of the house and my 8yo is a huge Whovian.  These are random photos I have sitting on my harddrive.
My last visit to the UK and the Doctor Who exhibition at Llangollen 1997.
















Data was watching me take photos outside.  He really doesn't understand all this Doctor Who fuss, he much prefers Star Trek.
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