Blog Archives
Cutest Bird Art by Nicola Hemphill, Artiste
I finally had a chance to buy a piece of artwork from Nicola Hemphill, Artiste. And so I did. Take a look, isn’t it cute?! She has named this one ‘Loose threads and un-tied ends’
Her artwork is normally larger and very complex, but I really liked this smaller one too. I love the detail, the colours and the multi-media. She has used a doily as a edging, making it very reminiscent of curtain lacing. The two birds are similar in outline, although the one on white is smaller – but both are connected by, and holding on to, a piece of white cotton.
I could make a million different meanings from this, and I do, but I’ll leave it up to everyone here to interpret as they wish, if they wish! Thanks, Nicola, I’m really happy I bought this! Long may people scrap over your landrover paintings. 
China Glaze Skyscraper: Swatch and Review
This is Skyscraper, from the Metro collection – I think it was for Autumn 2011. This is two coats, base coat and top coat.
I like this colour, its a dark denim blue chocker full of silver glitter. The glitter particles are quite fine so there is a fair amount of sparkle without the huge grittiness (although it isn’t smooth, but you can’t quite sand wood with it once there is a top coat on.) I find it chips moderately quickly, but it is pretty enough that I don’t care.
The dry time is very quick, especially as it is quite a thick polish – but it covers well in two coats and again, does dry fast, especially with the quick dry top coat.
And check out the awesome chicken pendant made by Nicola Hemphill! Talk about talented...
As an interesting side-note, the ‘must have’ polish from the Metro collection, for most people, seemed to be Trendsetter. I’m assuming it was because it was the most different polish from the set. However, personally, I don’t know if anyone who has had a baby in the last 5 years would wear this colour. Mustard-y yellow on fingernails = NOT GOOD. What’s next, meconium green? Please noooooooo!
With apologies to Edvard Munch - image from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScream, altered by me.
China Glaze: Make Some Noise Swatch
Make Some Noise – from China Glaze’s Electropop summer collection.
Ooh I love this nail polish. I shouldn’t, but I do. Last day of summer has been, and we didn’t get a summer at all this year. Seriously, I still have two duvets on my bed, and they’ve stayed on. No heat, no sun. On the plus side though, my water tank hasn’t run out – there’s always a positive spin! So I feel that this colour is a big one-finger salute to the summer we didn’t get.
(People are blaming La Nina. I’m blaming La Ninja – there was a summer, it was just too FAST for us to see.)
This colour is a just-off neon coral – in the sun it shows a true orange/pink coral, which borderline doesn’t suit my skin tone, but I love. Its so obnoxiously in-your-face. In the shade it shifts to an almost tomato red. Its a cream texture, so painting and removal is a breeze. I also find this lasts a long time on my hands, and dries nice a quickly. There’s little not to love, in other words! I’d clarify the polish finish to being a jelly/cream – it has that squishy look to it, and some visible nail line, even after 3 coats. (Photos show 3 coats plus base plus top coat)
Check out the necklace painting! By the super-talented Nicola Hemphill. I love it!
Just for fun, here I have added little plastic blingy things on my middle fingers (again, symbolically saying ‘here’s to you, Not-A-Summer!’)
Mmm. Messy, rough, but sparkly.
And when that grew boring I popped a layer of that holographic top coat over it, to imitate the top coat that Electropop has in the collection (Techno).
China Glaze makes some of my favourite nail polishes. They are affordable, accessible, non animal testing and Big 3 free – and have a lot of variety of colour and finish. They have just released a new collection (Capitol Games, based on a series of books which I haven’t read), and there are about 3-4 shades I would LOVE from that. Sigh. One day! 
