27 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: From the Land of Plastic (apparently)

I've just discovered a shop called Plasticland, and I can't decide whether it's an awesome name, or just plain weird. Probably a bit of both really. And why are they called Plasticland? I mean it's not like they only sell stuff made of plastic - they stock clothes and shoes which are quite obviously not plastic. Perhaps all their staff are plastic? Perhaps they're like those mannequins in that episode of Doctor Who where all the mannequins come alive and Bad Stuff happens.

Yikes. I think I'm too scared to buy these shoes now, in case Bad Stuff happens.

But then, they are on sale, and there is only one pair left and it's my size. What's the worst that can happen? It's not like I'm going to look out the window and there's going to be an army of creepy mannequins staring back at me from the dark and being all evil and not inanimate now, is it? Is it? Umm ... I'm just going to go shut the curtains, mmmmmkay?

The Rockabilly Black Patent and Plaid Pin-Up Pumps are US$18.99 from Plasticland and at the time of writing there is only one pair left, in a US size 6 (which is actually one size up from mine, but that's what insoles are for!).

Swatch love: Fyrinnae Lip Lustres

Indie makeup company Fyrinnae's products have been getting a lot of love around the makeup blogs recently, so I decided it was about time I tried them for myself. I bought some of their eyeshadows, primers and powders which I'll talk about in another post, but today I thought I'd give you a quick look at some of their Lip Lustres.

Fyrinnae's Lip Lustres are not lip glosses - they describe them on their site as lip colour stains - and they have a unique weightless, soft velvet-like texture on the lips that I absolutely love, with none of the stickiness that many glosses give.  I bought six colours, including two blues for 14 Year Old Daughter who snatched them as soon as I opened the package and took them with her to her dad's, so swatches of them will have to come later. In the meantime here are the other four:


Left to right: Lace Gloves, Flavor of the Day, Acidic Cherry, Glitter Kittiez.

Lace Gloves
 

A hard one to capture with the camera, described on the site as a sheer with pink and red highlights - I LOVE this one on me, and I think it's going to become my go-to neutral. The pink highlight is so pretty.

Flavor of the Day

Described on the site as a semi-sheer light peach-pink with gold highlights, in the tube I thought this might be a little too peach-leaning for my skin but actually it's just right - a barely there shade with a lovely shimmer running through it. Another go-to neutral.

Acidic Cherry

Oh Acidic Cherry where have you been all my life? My full lips and hard-to-match skin tone make it nigh on impossible to find a vampy lip colour that doesn't make me look like a jaundiced zombie hooker, but in Acidic Cherry I think I've found my Holy Grail. Described on the site as a deep, sexy, shimmer burgundy, Acidic Cherry has a gorgeous pink sparkle to it, and is one of the opaque lip lustres - and when they say opaque they mean it, one swipe of this puppy and you've got full coverage.

Glitter Kittiez
Described on the site as a deep, sparkly magenta pink, this is the shade my camera had the hardest time catching. It's darker and more magenta than this photo shows. When I saw it in the tube I thought it might be a bit too pink for me, but on the lip it's quite lovely.

All the lip lustres have their own subtle scent which is lovely and not too overpowering (I'm quite sensitive to scent and find some lip glosses too much for me). I bought all of these as mini sample sizes (3.5ml) which are US$2.50 each, and I'll definitely be visiting the site again to order them as full sizes (5.8ml) which are US$4.50 each. Oh and to order some samples of their other Lip Lustres because I'm hooked.

By the way, normally I would tell you to click on the pictures to enlarge them so you can see the colours in all their glory but actually ... ummm, well, quite frankly I need to wax my top lip! Don't say you weren't warned! (I have Italian ancestry, it's given me a fiery temperament, a love of food and an excess of hair!).

26 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Gingerbread Man ring

Another day, another discovery - this time the cute and quirky jewellery of nelliD. I mean just look at this ring:


Awwww, lookit the little gingerbread man with his insane little grin. Doesn't he just look so yummy? Don't you just want to eat him all up, first his little head, then his little arms and then his little legs ...

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. He's obviously not real gingerbread, I mean that would just be silly. And cool, totally cool. Because then you could engrave the back of the ring with "in case of gingerbread emergency, break glass". I'm not sure what constitutes a gingerbread emergency but it could happen, just ask Hansel and Gretel.

Anywho, the Gingerbread Man ring is £4.00 in nelliD's shop on Folksy. I already bought it (SURPRISE!) but there's another one in stock. Oh and I also bought these cute mismatched earrings to go with it:

Which were the last ones in stock so, yeah, sorry about that.

25 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Belle boots

14 Year Old Daughter has just come home sick from school and the first thing she did when she got in the door was vomit. And vomit again. And then vomit some more. (Why she couldn't have vomitted at school I don't know. I mean why else would they call it the Sick Bay?) So, I am on Vomit Bucket Duty - one of the many joys of motherhood. My life: you know you want it.

At times like these I like to remind 14 Year Old Daughter of when she was a tiny little three year old who would sit fascinated beside her pregnant mother as she barfed endlessly into the toilet. Friends who looked after her were told matter-of-factly "my mummy wommits, she goes BLAH". Bless.

Anyway now that The Wommity One is asleep I need something pretty to erase the thought of all that vomit from my mind. Pretty boots on sale should do it:


Well would you look at that, pretty boots on sale. Completely made me forget about the womitting. Until just then, when I mentioned it. Damn.

The Belle boots are £17.50 from boohoo.com.

23 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Tweet Tweet

How many of you are on Twitter? I'm a total Twitter Addict (which I guess makes me a ... Twaddict?) - Twitter has given me the opportunity to chat to so many of my fellow bloggers from around the world as well as keep up to date with what my favourite shops and brands are doing. Best of all, I can follow my favourite celebs on Twitter and really feel like I know them personally. And then unfollow them when I realise that actually most celebs have very little of interest to say!

These cute wee earrings from ModCloth are the perfect accessory for a Twitter Addict:

The Trending Topic Earrings (Twearrings?) are US$9.99 from ModCloth.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter. I can't promise I'm any more interesting than most celebs, although you will get updates on the latest place the dog pooped and the crazy things my kids do!

LBD Barbie: I can has?

Let's face it - I'm just a big kid really, aren't I? So it's no surprise that the Barbie Little Black Dress collection has me all aquiver. Available in a variety of hair styles, hair colours, skin colours and of course LBD's, these Barbies are a great excuse to play with dolls:



Six of the Barbie Little Black Dress range are currently available on ASOS, and Barbie Little Black Dress Two is my favourite, because she totally looks like me:

Totally looks like me. If I was a plastic doll. And considerably slimmer. With longer legs. (And possibly Asian?) Oh ok, the only thing we have in common is the haircut!

There are also four accessory packs available for hours of Barbie dress up fun. Go check out the Barbie Lounge on ASOS and indulge your inner child!

21 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: a panacea for the sickly

Wah! You hear me my pretties? WAH! I have a cold. My throat hurts. My head is thumping. I slept all day and didn't get any swatching done. And I slept in a really odd position so I have a painful crick in my neck. So, you know, *sniff* *moan* *creak* *cough*. And WAH!

There is one, and only one, thing that will make this better.

Shoes.

Y'know, I've never been that partial to orange, but darn it if I don't love it on these shoes. I feel cheerier just looking at them. I'd feel even cheerier if The Eccentric English Boyfriend bought them for me. "Oh darling ..." *sniff* *pout*

The Chevelli Court Shoe is £70.00 from Faith. Which is another addition to the list of shops we'll be visiting in England!

20 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Amalfi Empire Top from Fever Designs

I know I haven't mentioned this for a long time, my pretties, so it's high time I reminded you that in 4 months, 10 days, 12 hours and 23 ... wait ... 22 minutes we're off to England. It is slowly beginning to dawn on The Eccentric English Boyfriend how much shopping is going to be involved in this trip. I mean there was a lot of shopping on our last trip in 2007, but the list of shops I must visit this time is steadily growing longer and longer. And longer. Oh and of course 14 Year Old Daughter will be with us, and boy does she take after her mother!

Fever Designs is high on my list. I mean just look at this top:


The Amalfi Empire Top is £39.99 from Fever Designs.


Ooh, now it's 4 months, 10 days, 12 hours and 14 minutes. Woohoo, eight minutes closer!

Today's nail: Maybelline Tasseled Taupe

My pretties I have so much nail polish to swatch for you, including a look at the two collections Color Club are releasing here in New Zealand for winter. Hopefully I'll get some swatching done tomorrow, and in the meantime here's today's colour, which was part of a bulk lot I bought off TradeMe a while ago:

I'm quite partial to taupes, and Tasseled Taupe is a beauty. The base is an amazing dirty brown/grey creme, and it's packed with gold shimmer. Not the greatest application, there was a lot of streaking which meant that three coats were required for it to be opaque, and it wasn't particularly self-levelling - a top coat of Seche Vite was required for a smooth finish.

You'll have to excuse the white powder at the very ends of my nails in the last picture, I must have scratched my face in between photos because what you see there is remnants of my mineral foundation! Oh and check out my long nails, which are actually cheap glue-on artificial nails from a local dollar store. I picked my nails down to nubbins again, silly me!

19 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Ballerina Bow Flats from AsiaJam

When I was a wee girl I - like most wee girls - dreamed of being a ballerina. I also dreamed of being a champion showjumper, an ass-kicking gun-wielding super-secret agent and a rock star. Obviously my imaginery self is way better at multi-tasking than my real life self.

Any dreams of balletic fame were hampered by the fact that I never actually took ballet lessons, and I was (and still am) a total klutz. That didn't stop me from spending hours with my toes pointed and my fingers held just-so, plie-ing and arabesque-ing around my house. It was a small house. I may have broken some stuff.

My younger self would have loved these cuties:

I live in a bigger house now, I could wear one of my frouffy tulle petticoats, put these on and dance around the house:

*dance*

*crash*

*woof*

*YELP*

Yeah ... maybe not. The pink ballerina bow flats by Sechuna are US$48.00 from AsiaJam.

15 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Bella Luna Moonstone earrings

These gorgeous earrings have a real science fiction vibe to them. If you push on the stone in the centre a rift probably appears in the time/space continuum. Or a shadowy disembodied head appears to warn of the impending arrival of a fleet of warships. Or they hang from your ears looking pretty. One of those things.


The Bella Luna Moonstone earrings are US$20.00 from hARTjewelry on Etsy. And if you push on the moonstone and the universe implodes in upon itself don't say I didn't warn you.

Today's nail: the BB Couture Vampy Varnish collection

Here's the Vampy Varnish collection - a collaboration between BB Couture and Kelly of Vampy Varnish. This collection of six polishes contains some amazing colours, many of which are really unusual and unlike anything else I've seen. These were all swatched without a top coat, and I think in the case of some of the glitters a top coat would do a good job of bringing out the glitter more and giving them a smoother finish - you can see in some of the pictures that a couple of the glitters have a slightly rough finish.

Redwood Forest: Such a hard colour for my camera to capture, I had to fiddle with the colour settings and it's still not quite right. Redwood Forest is more vibrant green than this picture shows, with lots of tiny pinpricks of green glitter. A real stunner, I knew I'd love it when I saw it in the bottle, and on the nail I love it even more again. I went with three coats with this as the thin jelly base was a bit sheer. Gorgeous glossy finish.

Kellys Green: I've never seen another colour like this one and it definitely polarises people - I've had a few friends pick up the bottle and say "yuck", but I love this avocado green. Two coats and lovely application from the thin formula, but the glitter does disappear slightly into the creme formula, giving the slightly rough finish you can see in the pics.


Napa Valley Red: Such a well-named polish - every time I look at it I think that if somebody decided to make a sparkling red wine this is what it would look like. Napa Valley Red is a thin jelly base (that again required three coats to be opaque) of vampy burgundy red with red glitter. It was impossible to capture with the camera the lit-from-within quality of this polish so you'll just have to trust me that it's a stunner.

Union Square: Of the six in the collection this is the only one that doesn't really blow me away - not that it isn't a great colour - it is - but it's not really my kind of colour. That said this bronze metallicy-shimmer has brilliant application and has virtually no brush strokes despite its metallic qualities and was nearly a one-coater, although I went with two.

Mendocino Midnight: A gorgeous dark blue/green  creme (I think it's creme) base with green glitter and a pink shimmer - the pink shimmer isn't as obvious on the nail as it is in the bottle. Lovely application, the two coats went on like butter, and it was very nearly a one-coater. The sky had clouded over and the rain had started by this stage, so my pictures don't quite do it justice.

Vampy Varnish: The eponymously named Vampy Varnish is a dark dark green jelly base with blue and green glitter and is my favourite of the collection. Another thin polish, but although the first coat was very sheer the second covered perfectly. Again you can see the slightly rough texture which a glossy top coat will cover nicely.

Kelly and BB Couture did a great job with this collaboration, and it's awesome to see four greens. As always I bought these from my gal Kim at Overall Beauty, who ships BB Couture internationally.

14 February 2010

I may have bought the silliest shoes EVER!

The Eccentric English Boyfriend and I went to the Avondale Markets this morning.  As well as buying lovely fresh fruit and veg and cute second hand clothes I bought what may possibly be the silliest shoes ever.


So pink! And the sole and heel? Plastic. I kid you not, they're made of plastic. I almost thought these were kids dress-up shoes, but the insole is actually soft and cushioned and the straps and flowers are made of leather. Are these not the funniest shoes ever? I just couldn't resist them, especially for NZ$4.00. I suspect I'll never actually wear them, but I'm going to put them on display in my bedroom!

The Eccentric English Boyfriend, meanwhile, bought a ladder. So we both bought things that make us happy!

Today's nail: BB Couture Disco Lady

I recently splurged on the BB Couture Vampy Varnish Collection (swatches to come) and Kim at Overall Beauty, who is always such a sweetie, popped a couple of extra wee treats in with my order including this gorgeous polish:


Disco Lady is part of BB Couture's Disco Ball Collection, and she is one pretty lady.  A blue jelly base with lots of tiny green glitter, the first coat was very sheer and with two I can see a little visible nail line in some lights so I possibly could have gone up to three coats.  The formula is very thin and just a little prone to dragging at the cuticles so careful application is required, but that doesn't matter because this is a gorgeous polish and well worth having if you're a blue lover!

Your daily dose of pretty: Kellie Eyelet Dress from dELiAs

Apparently winter must be on it's way. I know this because winter clothes have started arriving in the stores, and all the summer stock is on sale. Funny really, because it's blazing hot outside - it seems that the summer sales start earlier every year, which means earlier every year we have to come to terms with the inexorable slide towards winter. Still it's not all bad, I can buy lots of summer clothing in the sales and still have plenty of summer left to wear it.

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, however, I know you're probably overjoyed to see the summer clothes starting to appear in your stores. Some of you have had a pretty rotten winter!

To put you in a summery kind of mood, here's a cheerful wee dress for you:


See, isn't that pretty? Doesn't it make you think of blue skies, fluffy white clouds, picnic baskets and frolicking through the fields picking daisies? Ok maybe not so much on the frolicking, but can't you just feel the sun on your skin?

The Kellie Eyelet Dress is US$44.50 from dELiAs.

13 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Forever 21Jocelyn Pump

Remember The Eccentric English Boyfriend's offer to buy me shoes for Easter since I can't have chocolate? Well what do you reckon are my chances of getting two pairs of shoes; if they were, say, two pairs of redonkulously cheap on sale shoes. Like, oh I don't know, just off the top of my head, these shoes:

Look at that heel! The platform! The striking velvet inset! The price!

US$14.99 in the Forever 21 sale - at that price I could get two pairs of shoes. Or even three. Couldn't I? Maybe if I bat my lashes ... *bat bat bat*. How do you rate my chances?

11 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Pebble Beach jewellery set

When I look at this gorgeous pendant I almost feel like if I shook it all the little pieces inside would jump around:


The Pebble Beach Fused Glass Jewellery Set consists of the necklace and matching earrings and is US$45.00 from Glass Elements on Etsy.

Also, does anybody else think these rings totally look like eyeballs?:


Anybody? Anybody? Ok maybe not the yellow ones so much, unless they were the eyeballs of somebody with a really bad case of jaundice. The ColorPop rings are US$14.00 from Glass Elements.

Today's nail: Napoleon Perdis Voodoo

I bought this polish as part of a gift set at the Napoleon Perdis counter in Farmers. The set contained a lip gloss and nail polish and was NZ$17.00 on sale, which is a great price considering the polish on its own normally sells for around NZ$17.00.


Now I have to say, I really think somebody was having an off day when they matched these two products. The gloss and polish are both called Voodoo, and I chose them based on the colour of the lip gloss tester - here's a sunlight pic of the gloss:


Pretty blue-leaning purple. Here's the swatch:


Yep, blue-based purple. Now, here's the polish:

 
 

Erm, I'm not going crazy am I? That's not a blue-based purple is it? Unless my eyes are deceiving me on an epic scale that's a vampy dark plum, reminiscent of O.P.I.'s Lincoln Park After Dark.

I wouldn't in a month of Sundays have matched these two colours and I admit I was a little disappointed when I realised what colour the polish was - I already have a couple of colours similar to this in my collection.

Colour matching issues aside, these two products are pretty good, especially at the price. The gloss applies nicely and is not excessively sticky, although it does wear off and require re-application quite quickly. The colour is very sheer and gives my lips a only a slight purple hue. It is very nicely glossy though, and would work really well over a lipstick.

The polish applied beautifully - although it's a jelly it only required two coats for absolute opaqueness, and it has a gorgeous glossy shine to it.

This is my first experience of Napoleon Perdis, and despite my disappointment with the colour match I'm keen to try more. In fact I might have to scope out Farmers to see if they still have these sets on sale.

EDIT: For all my Auckland-based pretties, I've just had an email from Napoleon Perdis advertising a sale at their Sylvia Park Makeup Bar - 40% off everything until 28 February. Yay! I'm going - who's coming with me?

10 February 2010

In lieu of chocolate

Continuing with the theme of "Selina is all whiney because of her special diet and is going to go on and on about it until someone slaps her around the head with a baguette", I'm wondering whether these really do taste like chocolate:

They come in Caramel, Truffle, Chocolate Orange and Strawberry Cream flavours and contain extracts of rich cocoa and coffee seed, as well as sunflower seed, avocado and jojoba oils.

Hey here's a brilliant idea: since I won't be eating chocolate this Easter, perhaps The Eccentric English Boyfriend could buy me a set of these instead?

The ChocohoLICKS Lip Gloss set is US$44.00 from Jane Iredale.

New Zealand stockists of Jane Iredale are listed here.

Your daily dose of pretty: Cupcake Rings (mmmmm, cupcakes)

Since I started my special MS diet I've become a little food obsessed. Ok actually quite a lot food obsessed: I'm watching every food programme I possibly can no matter how banal, spending hours staring at pictures of food online, and only just managing to stop myself from buying every food-themed item I can lay my hands on. Like these cute Cupcake Rings - I think I'd like one in every colour:


Mmmmm, cupcakes.

However I do think I am starting to adjust to this diet gradually, which is a good thing because otherwise the next logical stage is for me to do a Homer Simpson and start hallucinating that everyday objects are food. Probably not a good thing - as much as I love our Fred he is a very smelly little dog and I'm pretty sure attempting to eat him would result in all sorts of digestive unpleasantness, no matter how much like a large bar of white chocolate he might look.

The Cupcake Rings are available in your choice of size and colour from Cupcakes and Mace on Etsy (a fellow Kiwi, by the way), and are US$11.00 each.

09 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Dolley shoe by Linzi

Why hello there pretty red shoes, you are very pretty. I can't wear you though, because my dog broke my toe. No, seriously. Stop laughing please.


Ok you know what, if you don't stop laughing I'm just not going to buy you.

...

...

Oh who am I kidding, you're gorgeous and I want you.

The Dolley shoe by Linzi is £30.00 on sale, and is also available in purple or black. I love the way the ever so slightly over the top ruffles are offset by the slightly chunky heel and platform. My toe won't hurt forever, I should probably just buy them anyway!

08 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: Dragon Princess tote

I'm starting to think that despite my repeated assertions to the contrary I might actually have a bit of a thing for handbags. Or at least for pretty handbags like this one:


And look, a cosmetic purse to match:


The Dragon Princess Tote is US$39.00 and the cosmetic purse is US$9.00 from HautTotes on Etsy.

Yep, I definitely need more handbags. I also need to carry a lot less stuff around with me so that swapping all my stuff from one bag to the other doesn't take half a freakin' hour!

07 February 2010

Your daily dose of pretty: grumpy earrings and a dangerous dog

See this my pretties, this cute, fluffy, butter-wouldn't-melt because I'm such a sweetie face?


Don't let that face fool you my pretties, that dog is a menace. He broke my toe!

Ok in all fairness there was no malice aforethought in Fred's actions, it just happened that I was at the precise point in my stride where all my weight was on my toes and he ran across my bare foot. Ouchies. Big ouchies. I had to curtail today's trip to the mall because I was all "oh woe my toe hurts bad", and I didn't even buy anything! No shopping and sore toe make Selina a grumpy girl.

These earrings are an exact representation of the look on my face when I came home:
 

Seriously, if I donned a pink dress and grabbed my grey cat Molly who loathes being picked up it would be like looking in a mirror! The Indy Grrrl Earrings are US$12.50 from Indy Grrrl on Etsy, and they're too too cute!

EDIT: Ok you know that thing I do where I taunt you by blogging about something and then end up buying it for myself? Yeah, about that ...

But hey, it put a smile on my face and when Selina's happy everyone's happy right? Right?