Cosmetic Cupcake

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the long weekend ahead - 4 days no work YAY! Except I won't have much time for play as I'm trying to finish 2 assignments =(

So here is Part II of my GCOCL plates as promised. Please note that there are different versions of these plates and therefore plate numbers will differ from the ones shown in this post and previously. Please check with sellers if you are after particular plates.

Plate E01:
E01 contains 7 assorted flower designs; full nail design similar to Konad plate m25 and California design similar to Konad plate 28.

GCOCL E01 plate


Plate F01:
Plate F01 contains assorted flower designs - of which 3 are similar to Konad plates m2, m5 and m6.

GCOCL F01 plate



Plate K01:
K01 contains assorted flowers and a dolphin design similar to Konad plate m27.

GCOCL K01 plate


Plate K02:
K02 contains assorted flower designs (again!) and a large butterly similar to Konad plate m20.

GCOCL K02 plate


Plate K03:
K03 contains 9 different flower designs. Dejavu anyone??!!

GCOCL K03 plate
Plate K05:
K05 contains a lady beetle; a seal with ball; a crab (?); stars similar to Konad plate m14 and roses similar to Konad plate m25.

GCOCL plate K05

I hope this has been useful!

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I promised you guys details of GCOCL plates that I hauled last week and here is Part I. I believe there are about 17 GCOCL plates all together. I've quickly compared a few similar designs to Konad plates to show similarities.

Plate A01:
This plate contains 8 flowers and a heart image with stars.

GCOCL plate A01
Plate A02 (Hello Kitty plate):
As featured in my last NOTD! This plate contains Hello Kitty; grapes; cat; 4 leaf clover; butterfly; and flowers. The 4 leaf clover and grapes are very similar to Konad plates m22 and m37.

GCOCL plate A02

Plate B01:
This plate contains a mermaid (similar to Konad plate m34); a zodiac crab (?) and assorted flowers.

GCOCL plate B01

Plate B02:
B02 contains a cherry; a frog; a bee (or other insect); feet, and flowers.

GCOCL plate B02
Plate C01:
C01 contains an assortment of flowers and a cloud design similar to Konad plate m7.

GCOCL plate C01

Plate D01:
D01 contains 2 heart designs and an assortment of different sized flowers.

GCOCL plate D01
Plate D02:
D02 contains a full finger design with bubbles; flowers and a butterfly design similar to Konad plate m39.

GCOCL plate D02

Part II coming up in the next few days!

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I feel like I've been away from blogging for sooooooo long! This week has been intense with work and uni (I had 2 intensive days and a presentation due!) so hence the lack of updates until today =(

So 1st off I'll start off with my new crush on Essie polishes. I've been dying to try them but like everything in my life these days (HA!) I just haven't gotten around to it. Essie's colour range looks awesome and I love their bottles, they're so cute! My local nail supply shop stocks a large range but only of the pinky/neutral/red shades as the owner says the brand isn't very popular in Aus as it doesn't have the recognition that China Glaze has here. I picked up 2 colours the other week - Red Hot Mama and Bike Ride. I tried Red Hot Mama today.

Essie Red Hot Mama
Red Hot Mama is a gorgeous hot pinky/red colour. It went on like an absolute dream!! Opaque in only 2 coats it went on smoothly and dried quickly to a high gloss finish. Word of warning that this polish looks different in different lighting - sometimes more pink and others more red.

Without topcoat - waiting to add nail art!
I ordered a few GCOCL plates a few weeks ago and I finally recieved them last week! I've been dying to try them out =) I ordered quite a few plates as you can see below (I didn't intend for this many but due to a mix up I got HEAPS!) including the much hyped about A02 plate with the Hello Kitty image. I won't be keeping all the plates though as much as I'd like to as it's just waaay too many for me.

GCOCL plates!
GCOCL A02 plate
The plates look rather scratched as they have a thin protective plastic film over it which must be removed before stamping. I used OPI Alpine Snow to stamp the images which worked really well. I found the plate much easier to use than Konad to start off with and there's no need to use special Konad polishes. I did some test stamping with some old(er) Rimmel polishes and they came out clear and bold.


I'll be posting up close up photos of the remaining plates in my next few posts so stay tuned!

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Here's my NOTD which is more like a Nail Of The Week actually because currently that's all I have time for!

Ruby fruit fimo nails
I haven't done a manicure using fimo clay in ages so I decided to do another fimo fruit manicure. Please excuse my unkempt cuticles!! I did my manicure in a rush because I wanted to head off to bed =p

Here's what I used:

From L-R: Seche Clear; CG Love Letters; CG Ruby Pumps and Seche Vite
I used Seche Clear as base coat; CG Love Letters as sheer pink base colour and CG Ruby Pumps on the tips.

Fimo fruit slices
I then placed cut fimo slices and some diamantes strategically on my nails with a thick coat of Seche Vite as top coat and VOILA!

Ruby fruit fimo nails
Hope you like them!

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The lovely and very talented Lyra over at Nailjunkie is having an awesome giveaway which ends in 2days! She is giving away a WHOLE load of fantastic prizes to one lucky person!


To enter:
1. You need to be a follower via Google Friends connect
2. Mention her giveaway on your blog or if you don't have a blog somewhere on the net
3. Add her blog to your blogroll
4. Send her an email with the above

Click here for details!

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I’ve wanted to try Cetaphil cleanser ever since I read raves about it online. I don’t really like to purchase new skincare products until I run low cause it’s such a huge waste! Luckily I share products with my sis =)

I have combination skin and I get breakouts in the t-zone every month with varying severity. My t-zone can also get pretty oily especially after a long day (gross!). I’ve been using this now twice a day for about 2 weeks and I’ve noticed a difference in my skin. I haven’t had a breakout in 2weeks (!) and I've noticed a considerable reduction in redness meaning I don’t have to use as much concealer and powder etc. My skin feels much cleaner and fresher and my t-zone doesn’t get as oily as it used to as well.

My sis has similar skin to mine but her breakouts are worse than mine. She had a particular problem patch on her forehead for a while which just would not go away! Cetaphil has calmed it down and she hasn't had any new breakouts.

What it says:
"Recommended by dermatologists for oily, combination or acne-prone skin that needs special care.

*Removes surgace oils, dirt, skin debris and makeup from the skin with a gentle foaming action
*Rinses clean without leaving any irritating residue
*Doesn't leave the skin tight or overly dry
*Non-comedogenic (won't block pores)"

Ingredients: Purified water, PEG-200 Hydrogenated Glyceral Palmate (and) PEG-7 Glyceral Cocoate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Acrylates/Steareth-20 Methacrylate Copolymer, Glycerol, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Masking fragrance, Dexpanthenol, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Disodium EDTA, Methyl Hydroxybenzoate

Pros:
*Inexpensive - I purchased it for only $15.39 from Chemist Warehouse
*Gentle on the skin
*Water based
*Doesn't cause breakouts

Cons:
*The smell - it reminds me of cough syrup!

Will I repurchase: Yes!

Also I'm so excited because I won a giveaway! I literally never win anything so you can imagine my excitment at being 1 of the winners of Ena over at Shanghainese Dumpling's giveaway! Please read her blog it's fantastic and her son is the cutest =)

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The lovely Diana from Painted Lady fingers is holding a "Konad Eight Plates Contest" where you can win 8 konad plates!


To enter you need to:
1. Be a follower (mandatory)
For optional entries:
2. Let her know your favourite designs from the new plates
3. Blog about the contest
4. Tweet about the contest
5. Have painted lady fingers on blog roll or added her blog

Click here to enter!!

I hope everyone has had a lovely start to the week =) Mondays are always the toughest day of the week! Autumn is underway and Winter is coming and Sydney weather has cooled down with temps of about 22degrees compared to the sticky 28-30degrees of the past weeks. Which means lots of scarfs, knits and coats! Don't get me wrong I love summer for the cute summer dresses but weeks and weeks on end of sticky humid weather is soooo not my thing.

There are a few items I'm lemming for the upcoming season. I'm very choosey when it comes to buying clothes, I usually only purchase a couple of things per season if that to update my wardrobe.

Here are a few pieces that I'm lemming for the upcoming season so far:

Black solid stripe scarf - photo courtesy of www.countryroad.com.au
I am totally loving this look from Country Rd! It's simple and looks super comfy yet stylish, not to mention it's very "me". I already have most of the items ie. a black coat, white/cream top, black skirt and leggings so I'm only lusting after the cool scarf which retails for $59.95.

Next up is these over the knee black suede boots also from Country Road. I think these retail for about $299(?) and I know I won't shell out for them but they are very nice to look at indeed =p

Amelia over the knee boots in black - photo courtesy of www.countryroad.com.au
I'm a big fan of bows and this season bows are in! Bardot has alot of cute tops featuring bows and I'm totally lemming the Dot and bow tee, contrast bow knit and half bow skirt. With the contrast bow knit I'm in 2 minds about.. is the bow TOO big and weirdly angled? Guess the only way is to try it on!

Dot and bow tee RRP $44.95 - photo courtesy of www.bardot.com.au
Contrast bow knit RRP $79.95 - photo courtesy of www.bardot.com.au
Half bow skirt RRP $59.95 - photo courtesy of www.bardot.com.au
Lastly is a gorgeous blue dress from Saba. The whole outfit is gorgeous - the dress, the accessories and the boots! Dresses teamed with stockings and boots are such a practical solution for Winter when you want to wear dresses but don't want to freeze to death!

Streep navy dress RRP $259 - photo courtesy of www.saba.com.au
What are you after for the new season?

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I ordered a few Konad products from wowsocool using 30% off code courtesy of frmheadtotoe last week as they will no longer have discount codes any more =( However luckily ocnailart.com still accepts discount codes! I ordered last Thursday night (04/03/10) and my items were shipped on Friday and they said ETA would be about 12days. You can imagine my surprise when I got home on Thursday and my package was waiting for me meaning it only took 4 working days! I'm very pleased =D


I ordered 6 plates - m56, m63 (not shown as it's on back order) m71, m79, s9 and s10; double stamp set; 2 plastic scrapers; special princess polish in black pearl and special top coat in clear.

I attempted to do a Kimmi doll NOTD using s09 which I was most excited to get, however I found the flower designs really hard to work with so it didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to.


I used Seche Base ridge filling base coat as my base coat and CG Innocence as base colour. For konading I used CG Passion, Konad Special Polish in white and Princess polish in black pearl for accent finger and Special Polish Top coat in clear for top coat.

From L-R: Seche Base ridge filling base coat, CG Innocence, CG Passion and Konad Special Polish in white.
Konad Special Polish Top coat in clear and Princess Polish in black pearl.
I gave in and purchased the top coat and I must say I can notice a difference especially used with the black polish. I had no patience doing my mani so I just put the top coat on straight away after konading and the smearing was hardly noticeable. The Princess Polish is really pretty in the bottle with little reflective gold bits in it and I love the shape of the bottle. It doesn't come up as dark black as the Special Polish when stamped btw.

Image plate s9, double side stamper and plastic scraper.
As I said above I found the flower designs on this plate really hard to work with. The stamper just would not pick up the designs for me! Has anyone else had this problem? I originally tried my non-konad polishes with the plate which didn't work very well and even with Konad polishes it didn't pick up the whole design. Methinks partly because the flower designs are just so thin..? The japanese doll came up really well though! So at least the plate isn't a total waste. The double side stamper is well worth investing in as the green side is a huge help for placing the small designs for a newbie like me! The plastic scraper is good in that it doesn't scratch your plates but there's no need to go out of your way to buy it.

For the Aus girls, Sally Hansen's new products are now available in Aus from Priceline! The World Square store in the city had a whole stand of new products with the Hard as nail Xtreme polishes, Insta-dri nail colour, Colour quick fast dry nail colour and the nail art pens which I wanted HEAPS when I started my nail art. Since I've bought so much lately I didn't purchase any thing from the range but perhaps next month =p

Sally Hansen Nail art pens
Sally Hansen Colour quick fast dry nail pen
Apologies that all my posts lately have been only about nail stuff, with uni in full swing it's the only thing I can squeeze in - I haven't worn full makeup in weeks! =(

Off to hit the books again. Have a lovely weekend ladies =)

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Hey ladies!
This is just a quick post about my new colour. I got my hair cut and coloured on Wednesday night even though I should have been doing readings doh! I never really get anything new with my cut, just a regular trim and reshaping of my layers. I've been going to my hairdresser for something like 10yrs now and she just knows I'll say "just a trim and reshape the fringe" LOL which is why I play around with my colours.


I get 1/2 a head of foils and lately I've been sporting copper and red foils but this time I went for a lighter brown.

Sorry for the dodgy photo!! Can you see the lighter foils on top?
I'm loving it =)

I'll post more over the weekend as I just recieved my Konad haul from wowsocool.com!

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I celebrated my 24th birthday this week with a low key dinner at Hurricanes Grill at Darling Harbour. Hurricanes Grill has THE BEST RIBS IN THE WORLD. I am not kidding you. The pork ribs are so tender and flavoursome and just plain addictive!

I had 2 separate birthday dinners this year - one with my family earlier and one with the bf on my actual bday as my sis started year 12 exams this week. It was stinking hot so we sat outside at the restaurant and enjoyed the lovely view of Darling Harbour.

Darling Harbour
I started off with an Oriental Mule cocktail:
Belvedere vodka, crushed limes topped with ginger beer and served with lychees
We had a starter of the garlic mushrooms:

I can never ever decide whether I want to get steak or ribs whenever I go there! I was starved after work so I decided to go all out and go with the best of both worlds and ordered the steak and pork rib combo which consists of a 200g steak and half a rack of ribs.

Steak and pork rib combo with mushroom and monkey gland sauce and chips
The red sauce in the above photo is called "monkey gland sauce" (NO monkeys in it!) which is absolutely delicious with chips and I get it everytime. It's a chunky bbq sauce with chunks of onion and chutney in it - a must have at Hurricanes! The ribs are basted in this wonderful marinade which smells and taste so divine and the steak is heaven too.

The boy had the 350g prime rib eye which was delicious as well:

The portion sizes are HUGE as you can see so you don't need to eat for 3days afterwards! I could barely make it home after dinner as I was just so stuffed! =p

I recieved a Superdry bomber jacket I've been lemming for aaaages (but just too stingy too buy!)


I can't wait to wear it out! It's the coolest item of clothing I own and I just feel like a total biker chick in it. I was sweating like crazy trying it on to take the photo so bring on winter. I also recieved a Thomas Sabo nail polish charm for my bracelet! It's so cute =)


I had mentioned in passing to my sis ages ago that Breadtop make an adorable puppy cake that I'd love to try. You can imagine my suprise when I get home and there's a puppy (cake) waiting for me!



I really dislike the fact that I'm getting older (but hopefully wiser!) however I'm blessed to have reached another year surrounded by friends and family =)

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