... Australia Day manicure ...

Happy Australia Day Blogger Girls!!

It's made my day to see so many fantastic Australia Day nails on my feed! Excellent!  I love Australia Day. Seriously it's my favourite holiday. Don't get me wrong I love holidays like Easter and Christmas but Australia Day is always relaxing. It's always without any dramas ... without stress ... without worrying about what to eat or what to give people. It's just fun!

We spent the day at the beach having a BBQ with the kiddiewinks and a friend and just out relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and waves! Awesome!

I've gone for the good ol' Aussie flag on my nails today and in hindsight ....
a] shouldn't have looked on Blogger first as now I'm just embarrassed at this appalling effort compared to all the other beautiful nails!
b] I should have just found a Konad plate with stars instead of freehanding it ... but at the time I wanted to get the 7 points [and man they are hard to draw - even worse when having some alcohol beforehand]

I've used Glitter Gal Blue, Glitter Gal Red and NYC Color Casper ... oh and here it is again in the sun doing it's rainbow holo fun!

... My first Bellabox ...

I thought I'd try out "Bellabox" this month aswell after hearing rave reviews about it.

First impressions ... the box is TINY compared to the Glossybox I've received earlier. At least they packed more than 5 items in it!

And inside the box is another box ...

Finally! 

The January box is promoted as being "natural".  Can we actually forget the bad habits of 2011 and embark on a new, natural journey?

Actually this statement made me laugh as I dunno about you guys but my bad habits more involve chocolate than not using organic makeup ... but moving on.

So ... what did I get ... *drumroll*

Lot and lots of samples!! Compared to the Glossybox it's a lot of items and I know I find samples handy as I can put them into my handbag for emergencies but I'm impatiently waiting for this months GB to see which I prefer. 3 items appear to be full sized - awesome!

What I received ...

Pangea Organics Lip Balm - Red Mandarin with Rose

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

Soleo Sunscreen x2

Sparoma Organic Natural Balm [Lemon Mrytle and Honey

La Perla J'aime Parfum x2 - J'aime la nuit and Eau de Perfume

Laviol Organic Bearberry Brightening Moisturiser

Herban Essentials Towelettes

Qi Tea x2

As far as I can work out the value for my box is around the $50 mark which isn't too bad for $14.95.

Incase anyone decides they want to order the February box there is a referral program if you want me to refer you [no pressure - won't hate you if you just do it yourself] ... just email me and I'll send you the email link!

... Modelista Flash Nails - On Location Berlin with stamping ...

A quickie for you today! I got some Mash plates in a swap just before Christmas and finally had time to sit down and look [and try!] them out. Hoorah!! Thanks Jeanie for getting me these!

This is yesterdays mani of Modelista - On Location Berlin and I've used my favourite stamping polish [Face of Australia in White Gold] and plate Mash 10. I'm quite impressed so far - zero problems with this particular design. Definitely works a lot better than my dodgy Bundle Monster plates.

... Modelista Flash Nails - On Location Berlin ...

Please bare with me for this post as I've been trying to figure out photoshop and have no idea what I'm doing. I need to simplify the way I've been doing my photos as I definitely have been wasting way too much time on it lately as the program I use is rather slow and likes to appear with errors. There needs to be a 1 button does all for impatient people like me!! Argh! Comments or Tips on Photoshop really appreciated!!!!!!! Thanks in advance!!

Modelista Flash Nails - On Location Berlin

Purchased from Target [clearance bin!] - $4.89 AUD

Apparently Modelista is an Australian brand but I've never crossed paths with it before but it's obviously been around a bit judging from the date on swatches I pulled from google. Couldn't seem to find anything on this particular colour though.

First things first - On Location Berlin is a black polish with a subtle blueish silver shimmer throughout. I've used 2 coats for this swatch but I'm sure 3 wouldn't harm it. It is surpringly quick drying and I didn't find any lumps or bumps and it definitely dries smooth without a top coat.

 Heads up - this one is a bit of a stinker. The smell hits you as soon as you open the bottle which I'm sure will be a bit off putting to some users. Also the polish itself is a tad runny. I had to make sure I had super steady hands for this as we all know that removing mistakes in dark polish colours is generally a pain in the butt!

 ** Final Verdict **
If you can see past the stench and have patience to apply [or remove!] then it's not a bad polish. The colour is beautiful with that shimmer surprise inside. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some other colours from this line,

Oh and as promised here are some holiday vacation shots ... we only travelled to Victor Harbor which isn't too far away from home but hey - time away is good wherever you are!

Our temporary home ... which collapsed by half way due to strong winds! Whoops - either new poles or a new tent is needed before the next trip. The caravan park was really good with decent kids activities aswell.

It's the Southern Ocean - next stop Antartica!! Figure most of you never would have seen this particular ocean before.

And the pretty horse drawn tram with a carriage full of tourists that day - was choc-a-block as it was finally a cooler day after 3 days over 37'C [100'F]

... Ozotic 619 ...

Happy 2012 readers!! I seem to have picked up a few more newbies over the Christmas break so welcome!

I've been off on vacation with the family for majority of the year so far and finding myself still in holiday mode and struggling to get off my butt and actually photo my nails lately - whoops. Anyhoo - we took the kiddiewinks camping for 9 days which was a bit of an adventure. My nails were neglected big time and I only got the polish out once while we were there.

I have a few "blog goals" for 2012 which I'll post about another day - hopefully that'll keep me on track!

Ozotic 619

Purchased from LeBeauty - $13.50 AUD

So ... too kick off 2012 I bring you this Aussie beauty! Ozotic 619! This girl has been worn a lot by me as it's a beautiful holographic that isn't in your face or bossy about it's wonderful goodness!

It's a beautiful red with hints of brown and pink - although the Le Beauty site describes it as scarlet? I'm not sure I'd go that far but it's definitely a unique colour that is hard to describe. Red Earth maybe? Hmmm I'll get back to you on that.

This is 3 coats as the polish is quite sheer but you could easily solve that by putting a nude on first if you are worried about running out of polish. The scattered holo really likes sunlight rather than artifical light but I still really like it.

Ooh sparkle sparkle

** Final Verdict **
Beautiful scattered holographic polish in a gorgeous colour that's easy to apply aswell as easy on the eye. I had some fantastic wear from this polish in the past aswell which is a bonus as there is nothing worse that a pretty holo that likes to chip.

Oh and for the non-Aussies ... I've only ever seen 619 available at Le Beauty and sorry girls but they don't ship overseas.