All I want for Christmas: Korres Summer Fruits Pack

I'm generally fairly loyal when it comes to beauty products - once I find something I like I stick with it. But with shower gels, I'm a complete hussy. I hate to use the same one two days in a row, and big bottles frustrate me because they take too long to use up and I get bored with them (I don't like to have too many bottles on the go at once, there's not a lot of storage in our tiny shower). So something like this is perfect for me:



The Korres Limited Edition Summer Fruits Pack contains three 50ml shower gels in Guava, Kumquat and Mandarin Fig. AU$19.95 from Kit, the bottles are small enough that I wouldn't have a chance to get bored!

New Kit nail polishes for Christmas

Kit have released three new limited edition nail polishes for Christmas:



Left to right: Shake Up, Shine On and Fly High.

I'm undecided about this collection. Shake Up looks promising even to this non-red lover, Shine On is not my colour at all but may appeal to 14 Year Old Daughter, and while Fly High looks gorgeous it's hard to tell how close in colour it is to High Roller from the Chalk It Up collection, which I have. Just going by the photos I would say Fly High looks to be more of a crisp mint green, where High Roller is a greyed out mint green.

What do you think my pretties? AU$15.95 each from Kit.

Today's nails: more Kit Dulux collection and a Nfu-Oh!

Here are the last three polishes in the Kit Dulux collection. All the polishes were wonderfully pigmented and only required two coats (in some cases even one coat may have been enough depending on your application). The formula on all of them was a little on the thick side making them not the easiest to apply, but the colour payoff was so fabulous that I could live with some little application problems.

First, Blue Surf:


Notice the nose and paw to the right of that last photo? Jessie has a bit of an obsession with flashing lights (apparently it's the sheep dog in her ancestry) - she chases the flash when I take photos inside!

Look, here she is again!


See the paw attempting to catch the pretty light? She got so obsessed chasing a flashlight in the hall one night we actually ended up with dog slobber at the very top of the hall door. Seriously, that dog can jump!

Anyway, Blue Surf is gorgeous - utterly, utterly gorgeous. I have a few sky blues in my collection (Essie's Shelter Island and O.P.I. No Room for the Blues spring to mind, there's a few others as well), Blue Surf differentiates itself from them with a dusky undertone that was hard to capture in a photo. When I first saw it in the bottle I said it reminded me of Misa's Dirty Sexy Money, and while the colours are quite different (DSM is a dusky greyed out green with a touch of blue where Blue Surf is a dusky blue with just a touch of green), they do share that duskiness. This colour is definitely my favourite of the collection, and probably my favourite sky blue now.

Next, Hot Calypso:


Oh look, there's that Obsessive Compulsive dog again! If you're a lover of corals you're going to love Hot Calypso. 14 Year Old Daughter was quite taken with it, and it is a very pretty coral. It is totally not my sort of colour though and I'm not really loving it on my skin tone.

(Oh and apologies for the state of my nails, what you can see is buffing detritus - oops!)

And the last Dulux collection colour, Kiss:


Kiss is such a pretty, pretty dusky rose colour, I really do like it. I'd never, ever wear it though, it's just not my sort of colour!

All up, I'm really impressed by this collection. The four colours go really well together, the pigmentation is absolutely fantastic, the polishes have a beautiful glossy finish and all the colours are lovely, even if only two of them are colours I would wear myself.

And finally, the colour I'm wearing now and my first Nfu-Oh! polish, number 53. (Seriously, they put all that effort into their gorgeous bottles, you'd think they could put as much effort into some polish names!):


I can see why the Nfu-Oh! flakies are so popular around the nail polish community, they're so unlike any other polish I own. It's so hard to do justice to the flakies in a photograph, but in this one you can see them showing up pink in the blue jelly. It's a very, very sheer polish though, this was four coats and there's still lots of visible nail line - not so obvious in this photo. Next time I would definitely layer it over another polish.


This photo was taken with a flash and you can just see how the flakies in this light are flashing blue/green - so pretty. (You may need to click on the pic for the larger version to see what I'm talking about.)


And a picture of my thumb which shows how many flakies are jam packed into the polish.

And finally, check out how well this polish matches my opal ring. WOW!


Pretty!

Today's nail: Kit Dulux collection Exotic Flower (and some Lego-Alikes)

The first polish from the Kit Dulux collection, and it's a doozy:




Gorgeously pigmented orange creme - oooooh baby! Two coats and a beautiful glossy finish, but not the easiest formula to work with. Some polishes just flow over the nail and virtually apply themselves, others you have to smoosh around a bit with the brush - like this one. With these polishes it's just a little bit harder to get a nice clean line down the edges, especially if you have little nails like me. Doesn't matter though because the colour is great.

And look at this:



Hey little Lego dude we, like, totally match!

10 Year Old Son was so amused by that photo that he immediately pillaged my polishes for other colours to match his Lego men. 10 Year Old Son presents, The Lego-Alike Collection:

Gun-toting, garbage can lid hat wearing ninja dude with China Glaze Recycle:

One armed mechanic dude with LA Girl Flare Sunny:

Grumpy flower t-shirt wearing hook arm dude with Collection 2000 Hot Looks Show Off:

Facially disfigured mustachioed Mongolian mechanic (seriously WTF?) with Color Club Queen of Speed and Where's the Soiree:

I rather get the feeling that through the years our Lego men have got their body parts a little mixed up!

Today's haul: Kit Dulux collection polishes

Here they are my pretties, my Kit Dulux collection polishes arrived today:



Left to right: Exotic Flower, Hot Calypso, Blue Surf and Kiss, plus a trial size sample of Cosmedicine Medi-Matte Oil Control Lotion with SPF 20, and sample sachets of Cosmedicine Private Nurse Recovery & Repair Cream PM and Primary Care Multi-Tasking Moisturiser with SPF 20.

14 Year Old Daughter has fallen in love with Exotic Flower, which is pretty gorgeous. Blue Surf reminds me a little of Misa's Dirty Sexy Money but bluer. All the colours look promising, even Kiss appeals to this non-pink wearer. It has a slightly dusky quality which I like.

I don't know about you, but I cannot wait to see these on!

Paint your house, paint your nails

Kit Cosmetics have released yet another nail polish range that I have fallen in love with (and by that I obviously mean 'ordered straight away').

Kit have teamed up with paint manufacturer Dulux to create the Limited Edition Dulux Nail Polish collection. Kit say: Previewing 2010/2011 trends from Dulux’s just-released colour forecast, these nail polishes match four of Dulux’s hottest summer paint hues.



Left to right: DULUX Hot Calypso (pure coral), DULUX Blue Surf (ocean blue), DULUX Kiss (summer musk), DULUX Exotic Flower (sunset orange). AU$15.95 each.

I don't know about you my pretties but I'm in love (obviously, since I just ordered them all!). I'm especially looking forward to seeing Blue Surf and Exotic Flower on.

Now I wonder if I can convince The Eccentric English Boyfriend that we need to paint the house to match my nails ...

Melbourne: I came, I shopped, I ... shopped some more

Well my pretties, I promised you pictures of my Melbourne shopping haul, so make yourself a cup of tea (or coffee, or a glass of wine), pull up a chair and away we go.

Saturday my friend Nic (also known as the most patient person in the world) and I spent several hours exploring Chadstone Mall. It's always interesting as a New Zealander shopping the malls in Australia and seeing which shops have reached New Zealand's shores. The likes of Cotton On, Jay Jays, Diva and many others have become fairly ubiquitous whichever side of of the Tasman you're on, but Australia offers many more shops that we don't (yet) have in New Zealand, including some pretty good department stores. By which I mean some pretty good department stores which stock makeup brands almost impossible to find in New Zealand - Myer, David Jones and Target, how much do I love your beauty departments, let me count the ways.

I blogged previously about the High Velocity polish range from Kit, and it was obviously a total given that I was going to buy them wasn't it? Lucky there was a Kit stand in Myer then wasn't it?



Look at those pretty colours (left to right: Speed Demon, Top Gear and Full Throttle). And, a Lipstick Queen Chinatown Glossy Pencil in Thriller. This is a product I've had on my To Blog list for some time, and I never got around to writing a post about it. Available in five colours, these chunky pencils are described as a 'draw on gloss' and they are amazing. They apply smoothly and feel so soft and creamy on - highly recommended. At AU$34.95 each I could really only justify buying one and I chose Thriller, which looks scarily bright red in the tube but on the lips it is a beautiful sheer pinkish red which I just love (and I have a terrible time finding reds for my lips that suit me).

But wait, there's more:


Burt's Bees and Benefit are also almost impossible to find in New Zealand. I've been wanting the Burt's Bees cuticle balm for ages, having read so much about it, and this kit containing the cuticle balm, a lip balm and sample sizes of hand creams, body lotions and foot lotion was AU$24.95 at David Jones. I love the cuticle balm and it smells truly gorgeous, but neither of the hand creams appeal. One is banana scented and the other almond scented, and both scents are so overpowering that wearing them makes me feel quite ill - admittedly both banana and almond are high on my most disliked fragrance list! The other products are lovely though.

Benefit Benetint is another product I've read plenty of good things about, so I bought myself the pocket sized version for AU$38.00 at Myer. Too early for a review of this one yet, I'm interested to see if it lives up to its long-wearing claims, especially since I'm in the habit of eating lipstick like it's chocolate!



These Revlon scented polishes are available in New Zealand, but I grabbed them in David Jones anyway for AU$24.95.

Here they are on 14 Year Old Daughter's fingers (I think I need to give her some polish applying lessons!):



The polishes do exactly what they say on the packet, when they're dry they have a fruity scent reminiscent of fruit candies. Being Revlon the application is lovely - the formula is thin in a good way and flows over the nail beautifully and bottle colour was achieved in two coats. I have to say the colours aren't my cup of tea and they aren't anything special, you'll find dupes of these all over the place from many other brands, but 14 Year Old Daughter loves them and the scent is a fun gimmick.



This cute tote and accompanying bag of goodies was AU$19.95 with any beauty purchase at David Jones. The goodie bag contains all sorts of fun things, including a full size David Jones body wash and sample size hair care and skin care products from the likes of Revlon, Ojon, John Frieda, Priore, L'Occitane, A'kin and Ultraceuticals. Lots of the brands are new to me, so I'm going to be having some fun trying these out!

Now we all know by now about my difficulties finding flat shoes I like, so you can imagine how happy I was with these little cuties:


They were AU$34.99 in Target and I love, love, love them! I even had a complete stranger in a lift compliment me on them!

Sunday we went to St Kilda which has some lovely boutiquey wee shops along its main street which are well worth a browse. Oh and a Hairhouse Warehouse, which is another of those shops I really wish we had here in New Zealand. Not only do they have a huge range of reasonably priced hair products, but they also stock makeup, including the bamboo makeup brush range from ecotools which I have been reading a lot about recently.



AU$29.95, which is a jolly good price for a good quality five piece makeup brush set complete with brush roll. I've given these to 14 Year Old Daughter who is a vegetarian and likes these because they don't use animal hair.

Oh and look at the colour of that nail polish by le Beauty, AU$4.95 also at Hairhouse Warehouse.


That's the entrance to Luna Park in St Kilda. I love that decades ago someone thought this would entice people in to the park. "Step into my mouth little ones, don't be scared." It's enough to give me nightmares!

After lunch we checked out the St Kilda Esplanade Market, which is on every Sunday from 10am to 5pm.


The market stretches along the waterfront at St Kilda and features over 150 stallholders selling everything you'd expect to find at an artisan market: jewellery, clothing, photos, paintings, ceramics, handcrafts and so much more. Definitely worth a look if you're in the area, I picked up quite a few lovely gift items.

Oh and look what else we got (for afternoon tea at a friend's house):


The cupcake trend hasn't quite taken off in New Zealand yet, so when I saw these in a bakery I HAD to get some. They were delicious - I want a whole bucket of the buttercream icing to myself!

Lastly, for a little bit of cute:


That's my friend Nic's cat Max. He has a bag obsession and loved to investigate my shopping when we returned, so I emptied out a bag especially for him!

And this is Buster the dog:


He's actually quite a lot naughtier than that face would have you believe, but so adorable!

That's not even all of what I bought - there were lots of gifts for the kids and EEB and other goodies. I had an awesome time and will definitely be returning, and for much longer next time!

Kit High Velocity nail polish

Australian company Kit Cosmetics have added new products to their Makeup Kit range. As well as new eyeshadows, eyeliners, and limited edition bags the range now also includes the High Velocity nail polish collection:



Left to right: Speed Demon (hot turquoise), Top Gear (creamy purple) and Full Throttle (vivid magenta). AU$15.95 each.

Full Throttle isn't calling me but Speed Demon and Top Gear look like must-haves. Which is fine because in three weeks time I'm going to be in Melbourne. As in Melbourne, Australia. As in, place where Kit Cosmetics have shops. Yippee! You can guarantee these will be going in my shopping basket!

Kit Chalk It Up polishes

It's about time I posted some swatches isn't it my pretties? I've been taunting you for days with an endless parade of newly purchased polishes and I know you're all looking forward to seeing them on.

For this post I'll concentrate on the Kit Chalk It Up polishes.



These polishes totally live up to their name, the colours are so much like the colours of my kids' pavement chalks. I wouldn't be me though if my polishes didn't remind me of food. (Obsessed with food? Me? Why yes, yes I am!).



Mmmmm, fruit sticks. Sugary fruity goodness.

All three polishes were two coaters, with a slightly thick formula that had a tendency to pool at the sides. As with most pastel cremes there was some tendency to streaking but not so bad as to be frustrating. Overall I was happy with the way they applied.

High Roller:




When I saw High Roller on the website I wondered how close it would be to Barry M Mint Green but actually it's quite different. High Roller is a greyed-out pale green, I would call it sage green (the photo is giving it a slightly blue tint that isn't really there). It is absolutely gorgeous and my favourite of the three.

Game On:




Game On is lovely, a pastel peachey colour.

Winner Takes:




This is my least favourite of the three. It's a very pretty pastel pink, and for a pastel quite bright, if that makes sense. I do like it, but it is so very wrong on my skin tone, although I rather think it might make a cute pedi.

What do you think of these my pretties? I am so pleased with them, definitely a good reward for my continued non smoking.

A haul and a reward

A few more visits from Mr Courier Dude the last couple of days, including one super-duper exciting parcel which I will get to in a minute. First up, some more polishes from TradeMe:



Left to right: Love My Nails Heavenly, Sea Grape and Plum Pearl (all from the Chrome range), Revlon Glimmer Gloss Blueberry Burst, Pure Ice Iced Copper and L'Oreal Resist & Shine Titanium (no name) Number 305.

And now, drum roll please... I've been smoke free for over a month! The Eccentric English Boyfriend promised me a nail polish reward for lasting one month (at three months I get expensive shoes) and I was going to get the Butter London Spring Fashionista's Favourites, but it turns out they don't ship to New Zealand*. So instead I decided to get the Kit Chalk It Up range, and added the two polishes whose packaging was designed by Kit Design Award 2009 winners.



Left to right: Dream Run (packaging designed by Jessica Singh), Wild Ride (packaging designed by Lucinda Dryden), Game On, High Roller and Winner Takes.

Did I mention I've been smoke free for One Whole Month? I am so proud of myself - YAY ME!

* Note to American retailers: Shipping internationally and shipping to England are two entirely different things. If the only place outside of America that you ship to is England then don't say you ship internationally. Just saying.

Kit Chalk It Up nail polish

Browsing the Kit Cosmetics site I found these three gorgeous polishes, released as the Chalk It Up range:



Chalk It Up is a very appropriate name, the colours do look just like the colours of my kids' pavement chalks. Left to right they are: Game On (pastel melon), High Roller (pastel mint) and Winner Takes (pastel pink).

I'm definitely coveting all three of these. They are AU$15.95 each from Kit, and annoyingly High Roller is out of stock.

How to entertain a bunch of teenage girls

13 Year Old Girl had a bunch of friends over today, and the three girls present were keen to get their nails done (as always) so we decided to try a little nail art. One of the nail polish blogs I follow (I can't remember which one unfortunately so I can't credit her for the idea) posted recently about using blue painter's tape for nail art, and what do you know it's brilliant. Unlike most of the french tip guides I've tried it doesn't pull up the polish underneath or leave sticky residue behind and it can be cut into all sorts of shapes. We thought we'd try something basic for a start, so all the girls had two-colour diagonal designs and here are the results:



Click on the pic for a closer look at the design.

Shannon and Lizzy are wearing Maybelline Wet Shine Pink Crush and Kit Big Bang, and Nikita is wearing Nicole by OPI (bought off TradeMe and the name has been peeled off but I think it's either I've Got the Power or Stolen Kisses) and OPI Light My Sapphire. The two pinks on Shannon and Lizzy's nails didn't show up so well in the photo, in real life the difference between the shocking pink of Pink Crush and the magenta of Big Bang was much more obvious. The blue black of Light My Sapphire over the Nicole polish was very dramatic on Nikita's nails. Aren't my girls gorgeous!