More Muppet Love

So I eventually relented and lifted the self imposed online spending ban to buy the Muppets mini nail polish collection for OPI (damn you Ebay, you big temptress!!). I had to, the sparkles were calling to me (plus, muppet themed nail polish can be considered a necessity, in certain circles at least. Ahem). Here they are:

Wocka Wocka is a blue based red with a light shimmer, this is 2 coats taken in daylight and flash (funky owl cocktail ring is optional, although it really shouldn't be) :

In light of the fact that it's the weekend I said I'd jazz things up with some sparkle, so I popped a coat of Excuse Moi! on top (a pink with small pieces of silver and pink glitter), followed by two coats of seche vite top coat (normal light and flash):

These photos really don't do it justice, the sparkliness is just so pretty. The other two shades in the set are Designer..de better!, a silvery-champagne shade and Warm and Fozzie, a bronze/gold shade. I shall be trying both out soon..
Hope everyone has a nice weekend, here's a Pink Lady cocktail to get you in the mood (I started the weekend early yesterday) :

They don't make them like they used to

Nothing like a bit of glamour of a wet Wednesday in Dublin, that glamour coming courtesy of the one and only Elizabeth Taylor:

I happened upon a documentary about her love affair with diamonds on Channel 4 On Demand the other night (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/elizabeth-taylor-auction-of-a-lifetime/4od), which aside from giving me a hankering for a tiara (you know, just to wear whilst loading the dishwasher etc) also gave me an insight into the life of a true movie star.

Hence the title of the post, they really don't make them like they used to. When I was looking up photos online for this, pictures of Lindsay Lohan (it's been confirmed that she's going to star as Liz in an upcoming film..seriously, how did that even come about?! Lindsay Lohan?!) and Kim Kardashian (apparently she bought some of her jewelry) kept popping up, despite the fact that neither are fit to be on the same Google search page as Taylor, in my opinion.
I've always liked Elizabeth Taylor, as she gave me my personal motto for life:

It's appropriate for pretty much every situation, although the "pour yourself a drink" part sometimes proves a bit awkward alright. Thank god for hip flasks, wha'?
The documentary pointed out how sharp tongued she was with journalists, whereby she just wouldn't put up with any stupid questions:
A journalist asked her if she felt she'd matured since a statement she made when she was 15, to which she replied: "Well I'd hope so, otherwise I'd be quite retarded, wouldn't I?". Brilliant.
I also found this little gem which I think will be particularly useful for married life:

Now in fairness, Elizabeth was far from an ordinary housewife, given her superstar status, her acting abilities (she was big into the Shakespearean stuff and was also the highest paid actress of the time for her role of Cleopatra), her many different husbands and ALL the jewels. Still though, great new motto! Elizabeth apparently had a "lifetime obsession with getting presents", something I can also relate to, eh HTB?! Given this obsession, it's no wonder that she associated pieces of jewelry with the person who gave it to her, a particular period of her life or a film she made, these babies being some of her favourites:

Gorgeous. Sadly, Elizabeth died last March, after which a sale of her jewelry was held, fetching over 135 million, making it the "most valuable jewelry sale in auction history". 

Go Liz!

What a legend.

I won pretty things!! Hurrah!

Aaaaahhhh!!!! I just won an amazing prize from the extremely glamorous Katie on:

http://whatkatiehealydid.blogspot.com/ 

and her facebook site:

https://www.facebook.com/WhatKatieHealyDid

Thank you Katie, I can't wait!!!

*Beyond excited..*

Recent delicious things

Here is a selection of yummy things I've been eating and drinking and (surreptitiously) taking photos of (so as not to look like a mentalist in restaurants and the like). Enjoy!:

From the top: a romantic Cappuccino, French Raspberry and Custard tart, Apple Mojito, Raspberry and White chocolate Cheesecake, Blueberry Mojito, Passion and Mango Margarita and a Red Baron (Gin, pureed raspberry and lime over Champagne), Banoffee with homemade banana ice cream, Irish, Baileys and Calypso coffees, Vodka soaked Strawberries with Meringue and cream...And now for the obligatory drooling..

Essie Ballet Slippers

I got two Essie polishes recently, having never used this brand before.
The first is Ballet Slippers, a very pale pink, so pale it almost looks like Tipp-ex..I did think my days of tipp-exing my nails were over, now I no longer have to find some way of entertaining myself during maths class but this is actually quite pretty on:

It's similar to a Bourjois Ultra Shine polish (its either Rose Satin or Rose Lounge, can't remember for definite) one that I normally use for weddings cause of how neutral it is (so it goes with everything and as a bonus, if you move your hands really fast people could be confused for thinking you had gotten a French manicure done..yes, I am a total cheapskate) but ran out of and said I'd try this instead. This is paler than the Bourjois one and takes 4 coats to achieve the complete opacity you can see in the picture. I used a 17 base coat and a Seche Vite top coat and with the 4 coats I had to use of the polish itself it took bloody ages to dry. I happened to be trying to get a bar of chocolate out of its wrapper simultaneously but that was next to impossible when it was taking so long to dry so I ended up with a few smudges..doh!
Anyway, leaving my hypoglycaemia aside, wear time was actually really good-2 to 3 days until it started to chip, which is pretty great for me. I did start to get sick of it though, given how I'm usually drawn to colours, dark shades and er, glitter..so basically, anything but a neutral shade like this. Having said that, this is very work, interview and as previously mentioned, wedding appropriate, if that's what you're looking for.
The second polish I got is Candy Mint Apple green, which I will review once I can step away from the new additions to my OPI collection (of which there shall no doubt be several gushing posts about soon...mmm, OPI).

The Mistresses's Revenge!!

So I just read this book, "The Mistresses's Revenge: A Novel" by Tamar Cohen.
I feel like the cover for this should have depicted heaving bosoms (a woman's, preferably), said woman looking sinister and potentially very very angry indeed, a sword and a swarthy looking man.
As I bought this on my kindle for 13.68 US Dollars (I was robbed) I obviously had no idea what the cover looked like. But then I can say (smugly) that I am not one for judging a book by its cover. So I've just gone and looked the cover up online and it's of some wilting roses..I see. Profound.

The fact that I spent the first paragraph of a book review (yes, that's what this is, I'm surprised too, believe me but we're here now so lets go with it) talking about what potential covers this book could have had should alert you to the fact that it won't be making the list of my all time favourites. I should say that I got this book because a magazine I read (struggling to remember the name of said magazine) had an article about great female writers, and because authors I really love, including Zadie Smith, the Bronte sisters (not you Anne, sorry) and Sarah Waters made the list, I said I'd give this Tamar Cohen a go.
It took me a while to get into this one, I kept getting distracted by shiny things but I also didn't find it hugely interesting until I was reaching the actual end of the book.

Generally I find myself drawn to dark books so it was probably no surprise I ended up reading the story (written in the first person through a journal) of a scorned woman's misery and evolving pyschological breakdown after the man she's been having an affair with for five years dumps her rather carelessly and unexpectedly. As for her revenge..well, lets just say I wasn't overly impressed. I was expecting something a bit more spectacular or at least a bit more...revenge-tastic, given the book's title. One thing I also noticed as I was reading it is that all the female characters are completely unlikeable, including the main character. At first I thought Tamar Cohen was some sort of awful female mysogynist but then it also occurred to me that all the male characters are horrible too, literally there are no characters with any redeeming qualities in this entire book. If that's your thing, then go for it. I'm now gladly moving on to something a bit more entertaining and less bleak and depressing. Hurrah!

Chanel Levres Scintillantes

This little beauty- a recent gift from the Duty Free, is from Chanel's lip gloss range, described by the brand thusly:

"Gorgeous shimmer and a high-shine glow is delivered effortlessly to lips with just one stroke of this best-selling lipgloss. A wide range of shades, from sheer and natural to sparkling and rich, look beautiful on their own, or over your favorite CHANEL lipstick. Equally beautiful: the conditioning formula's comfort and long wear."    www.chanel.com

                                                                            Butterfly clips from Penneys, 3 euro for 2.

I was after a nice bright pink with the potential to drag me away from my beloved YSL red gloss/stain. This shade is called "Jalousie", no 169. I do love this, the colour is beautiful and highly pigmented, the formula is thick enough that it makes an impact on the lips but at the same time is easy to apply and there's just a slight sparkle which is nice as I don't like too much glitteriness.
God knows the beautiful Chanel packaging (handbag candy alert!!) always helps too but I will say, this doesn't last long through food or drink so regular reapplication is necessary. I consider this to be a minor flaw though..it's worth it for the prettiness!! Generally I'm wary of bright pinks on blondes because I personally feel hot pinks can look a bit trashy on us fair haired types but for some reason this is actually very flattering. Yay!
This is a swatch on my hand in natural light and flash:

And here it is, on my actual face, that being the best place for it:

Wedding Crashers

Similar to Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson so we were, last Saturday night when we crashed a randomer's wedding. Granted we only stayed for about 10 mins and unlike said film, we didn't try and pick up any hot women (as far as I know..HTB could have been up to anything while I was in the loo). Mainly we left so quickly because the band we were there to check out for our own wedding weren't amazing, I felt (with extreme paranoia) that people were looking at us as if we didn't belong (which, you know, fair play to them and their observational skills, cause obviously we didn't) and lastly, the red lemonade in my southern comfort and red was FLAT!! Thats right- FLAT!! Sorry for the outburst but seriously-poor form, random wedding barman. Anyway, this is what I wore:

The dress is Darling (that's the brand, I'm not just trying to sound very English and grand), from ASOS. I'm loving bright colours at the moment and I love lace, so was very pleased when I saw this on sale. For some reason it's now gone back up to full price again, which is odd but good news for me!

I wore this very cute trench coat over it (and this exasperated expression, I'm sure that was mostly due to issues with stupid camera). I love this coat, it's navy with little birds all over it. Check it out:

So cute.

Bosco!

Is this the greatest mug of all time?

Potentially, yes.

Cupcake nail wraps

While watching Japanese thriller "Battle Royale" (a dystopian science fiction film, fairly similar to the Hunger Games, except that it came out 8 years before Suzanne Collins's novels...hmm, suspicious), I felt the need for some anime/manga-esque nails. Hence these little babies:

I decided 10 of these might be a bit much so I just used one on my ring finger, painting the rest of my nails with Revlon's Charmer. I love this polish, it's really easy to apply, is opaque in 2 coats and dries really quickly. Plus I love the colour. Pastel heaven:

The nail wraps themselves are easy to apply (they're basically just stickers) but are hard to get completely smooth although the pack does come with a handy cuticle stick and a nail file which helps, so I think I would get these again (available on the asos website) but I may try the other varieties, such as the happy smiling fruit. I do love cupcakes though..look at him there, such a cute little guy. I've decided to call him Jim. Jim, the cupcake.
These supposedly last 10 days, but I may get sick of poor Jim before then and have to remove him.

Mini Book Haul!

Yay! Mini book haul!:

Given my love for the Bronte sisters classics "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights", it was a no-brainer for me when I saw these little lovelies on Amazon:

There isn't much to say about these as I've read them both about a million times, except-look at the fancy covers. How I love me a nice fancy hardbacked cover. I'm easily pleased.
Whilst there, Amazon also made some more helpful suggestions for me (I find Amazon's creepy computerised knowledge of my taste in books rather..well, creepy).
I have and love "Love Letters of Great Men" and always felt it was a bit of a gip that the ladies romance-writing abilities weren't as well represented as the dudes, so I was delighted when I saw this:

It features letters from famous female figures throughout history to their men folk, including; Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn (God love them), Queen Victoria and Emily Dickinson. Lovely.

Next up, the modern feminist classic "The Beauty Myth-How images of beauty are used against women" by Naomi Wolf, which I've been intending to read for a long time now.

There shall of course be a review to follow at some stage (I'm adding it to the other big pile of books I have to read), although it no doubt may seem slightly ironic to have a review of that particular book on a blog that's chiefly concerned with beauty...hmm.
Lastly, I have "The Irish Bride's Survival Guide":

a very thoughtful gift from a friend which will no doubt come in very handy!! I also have loads of Kindle books as yet unread, which means lots of reviews to come!

My Owl obsession grows

HTB brought me home this rather beautiful owl necklace from his travels this week (he also got me the lovely new Chanel lip gloss next to it, which I'll review at a later date):

I do love owls, since I got my fab owl print dress. Naturally HTB then thought of me when he saw the above. Yay! I wore it with the following today (dress-Boohoo, cardigan and tights-Penneys, Bag-Topshop, Shoes-A Wear):

The lips are courtesy of this little beauty:

I previously mentioned this YSL gloss/stain (in Rouge Philtre) in a previous post but hadn't shown it on. Here's a close-up:

I love it so. Easy to wear and a flattering shade of red for my very pale skin tone. Hurrah!

The Cabin in the Woods

Ah, how I love a good horror. This one was enticing me for several reasons, the first being the publicity surrounding it, which described it as a "genre-bending" horror. Intriguing.

Joss Whedon, one of the producers (beloved creator of Buffy, Angel etc) describes the film as a "loving hate letter" to the horror genre, which he feels has devolved completely with the introduction of torture porn movies (Hostel, Saw etc).
Fair play Joss, I'm getting a bit sick of the old torture porn myself, having watched the first 3 Saws, the 2nd Hostel and the Collector (a film I'm still mentally scarred by a year later), I've been waiting for something a bit more clever to come along. The Cabin in the Woods is about 5 friends going to a remote cabin in the woods..and that's all I can tell you without ruining the plot. It also has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is usually a good indicator.
Below: Why must they always investigate the basement, why?!:

Whedon throws in all the usual cliches, the creepy redneck working at the broken-down gas station on the way (who is hilarious by the way), the sexually promiscuous blonde (a firm favourite to die first), the jock (also no chance of survival) and the virgin (horror film rules state the virgin always survives) but similar to "Scream", these stereotypes are taken and cleverly used to make fun of the horror movie genre, while still making the audience jump in their seats.

The special effects also have Joss Whedon written all over them, after his years of creating creepy-crawly creatures on Buffy and Angel. There's also lots of pop culture references- zombie movies, Japanese horrors like The Ring and the Grudge and classics like the Evil Dead 2 etc, also something Whedon used to use to great effect in Buffy.
While this in no way scared me, I found it highly entertaining and would recommend it as a good date night choice, assuming you enjoy seeing large quantities of blood on a date night..I do, but then I'm odd...Enjoy!