Exam break

I'm sorry guys, but I need to take a little break from blogging to study for my exams
... unless one of you wants to sit the exams for me???

... fine then!

I'll see you on the 9th of November! :D

Ulta3 - Nail Colour - 24 Carat Gold

This is a really nice shade that was released last year.
A warm, textured, gold glitter polish.
It takes two coats (minimum) to be opaque.

While Ulta3 is very affordable, it is so hard to find! 
And the customer service by the company is virtually zero! :(

Price: 5/5 (~$2.50 for 13mL)
Effectiveness: 3/5

Garnier - Light Complete - White Speed - Multi-Action Brightening Scrub

As you may be able to guess by the product name, I picked this up at The Reject Shop. 
It isn't normally available in the market here.

It contains pure lemon essence (I love citrus) and microbeads (which I am not so fond of, they are not biodegradable).
It claims to make you 'one tone fairer in one wash' which is absolute bulls**t.

The scent is a mix of lemon and banana (why they bring this noise?!).
It cleans well and is a good exfoliate.

But given the banana scent and plastic microbeads, I won't be getting this again.

Price: 5/5 ($2.50 for 100mL)
Scent: 2/5
Effectiveness: 3.5/5

Rexona - Sexy Bouquet - Roll On

I reviewed the spray on version of this, which did not perform well.
This however, works really well as a roll on.
There is no break through sweating.
It also doesn't irritate my skin.

The scent is great, a sweet vanilla and pink flowers scent. This is my favourite scent of deodorant.
The scent is not overpowering though.

The only drawback is it can be hard to find.

Price: 4/5 ($4.41 for 50mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Benefibre

This fibre supplement is so easy to take, and is a favourite of mine.

It has no flavour, dissolves colourless into water and liquid food.

It doesn't become gelatinous, so you can add it to your water bottle in the morning and drink it throughout the day.
The only negative is I would like it to have some insoluble fibre, but then it wouldn't dissolve as nicely.

Price: 5/5 ($16.99 for 261g, 74 serves)
Scent: 2.5 (no scent)
Effectiveness: 5/5

Birthday Gift! - For L

*Warning: This post has a curse word in it.

L is relatively new to make up, so Sam and I decided to get her a few basics.
These items can be used together, only some, or just one.
You don't need a full face of make up for these to make sense.

These are neutrals (although I will specify the concealer and lip colour are specific for L's skin tones).

I thought a good name would be 'The Basic Bitchez box'!

It contains a concealer, blush, lip crayon, eye shadow, mascara, and brushes.
And packaged in a recycled Bellabox box. (Yay, recycling!)

Feel free to use this idea, and if you do, let me know what you put in yours! :D

Healthy Care - Face Serum - Gold Flake Anti-Aging

This serum contains gold flakes, RNA, DNA, and placenta (eh, got to do something with this).
It smells nice, a bit like lavender.

It isn't sticky, absorbs quickly, and adds a little gold shimmer (don't worry, it isn't crazy).
It left my skin looking refreshed.

Price: 5/5 ($14.99 for 50mL)
Scent: 4.5/5
Effectiveness: 4/5

The Body Shop - British Rose - Instant Glow Body Essence

When I saw that the Body Shop was releasing a rose collection with a sparkly body lotion, I was super excited.

The smell is divine! I love roses (especially pink roses so you can imagine how much I loved this) and this is true rose.
The shimmer is a lovely pink colour, but not as intense as I would have liked.
It is barely perceivable once the moisturiser absorbs.

It is low viscosity formula, which allows it to be in a pump.
This thin formula allows for super quick absorption.

If I had it my way, I would have added the pink shimmer (x 10) to the rose body butter (I personally prefer the body butter).

The packaging though, it must be noted that the pump came with a re-attachable pump holder, so id doesn't dispense itself when knocked around in a bag (for example).
This is smart! Thank you for thinking of this!
It means you can travel with it!

Price: 2/5 ($29.95 for 250mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 4/5 (lost a point for lack of shimmer) 

Art break -  The World's Creepiest Art Project

I unfortunately started this before I was blogging, so I don't have a lot of early photos.
This is an acrylic/ watercolour paint on recycled board.

This was inspired by a documentary I was where someone had preserved a lock of Beethoven's hair, which was then used to show he was exposed to high levels of lead during his life, possibly leading/contributing to his illness.

So I thought, what could I create that would use part of my body? Something with my hair, my DNA. 
I don't care that it is creepy.
That adds to its interest.

I painted a image of myself as a mermaid, on a rock.
The hair is my hair.
Her eyelashes are hairs from my leg (bulb attached).
Her tail is my skin (from my feet - don't worry, I didn't hurt myself harvesting this).
Her scales are my nails.
The seaweed next to her is also some of my leg hair (bulb attached).

The nails took a while to collect up.
Here is the painting before the scale adding began:

Here are the nails:

Let's remove that nail polish:

And paint them in a uniform colour:

Blu-tack helps a lot!

1207 Tinseltown

785 Matte Pearl Glaze

Avon Opal top coat

Done!

And we start gluing them on slowly, a few each day:

I had some left over nails so I made a flower and a oyster.

I even put a tiny pearl in it!

And the final piece:

*I have something in mind to take the place of the oyster (a human pearl of huge sentimental value, generated by a dear friend) but I have to wait to see if I am ever the lucky owner of this particularly precious piece.
If I acquire it, the oyster will simply be moved to the rock.

The Body Shop - Almond Nail & Cuticle Oil

So after a run in with onycholysis (possibly due to the Revitanail keratin strengthening serum, because I did not have onycholysis prior), I tried using the almond nail and cuticle oil from the Body Shop.

The packaging is terrific. It doesn't leak at all. The brush for applying the oil is soft and applies the oil evenly. The massager is firm enough if you wanted to use it to push back your cuticles (which I would NOT recommend).

It smells really nice and appears to absorb well.

So here are the before and after photos of one month of use (applied 1-2 daily):

Before

After

Verdict: No more hang nails and the onycholysis is going :)

Price: 3/5 (RRP $10.95 for 1.8mL)
Scent: 4/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

The Body Shop - Lip Balm - Honeymania

I got this out of the Advent calendar from earlier this year.
It isn't something I would normally gravitate towards, but I am glad I have it because I LOVE IT!

It is your basic waxy barrier balm formula but also adds some moisture as well.
The honey flavour/scent is a genuine honey scent and isn't over powering.

This is great to put on before bed so you wake up with lovely, soft lips. <3

Price: 3/5 ($9.95 for 10mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

O.P.I. - Glitter Off - Peelable Base Coat

I love glitter nail polishes, but they are a pain in the butt to remove it with nail polish.
The glitter shreds the pads and glitter goes everywhere.

This peel-off base coat is a great solution to that!

When you are ready to get rid of the glitter, you just peel off all of the polish!
No exposing your nail to trying nail polish removal, no glitter going everywhere, just a blank nail!

If you like to wear a lot of glitter nail polish or want to give your nails a break from nail polish remover, this is great!

Price: 2.5/5 ($19.95 for 15mL)
Scent: 0/5 (don't sniff it!)
Efficiency: 5/5

Same Product, Different Colour - Schwarzkopf - Brilliance Intense Permanent Colour - 47 Copper Mahogany

I honestly wasn't too happy with the result of this one, it was too dark and too brunette.
And unfortunately I got it as a twin pack, so I guess I'll have darker hair for a while (or bleach... bleach is tempting me)

Art break - Thermochromatic Pen

When I was younger, I had a pen which looked black, but changed colour when it was heated up.
The ink itself was just normal ink, but the casing was thermochromatic.
Thermochromatic = changes colour in response to heat.

One way to do this is using liquid crystals (like in your LCD television).

I was reminded of this pen (long since lost in the folds of time) whilst watching SimplyNailogical's thermochromatic nails video.

I couldn't see why this couldn't be applied to a pen casing.

So I grabbed a pen and painted it in black acrylic paint.

I have a million of these pens!

Then I put on two thick layers of Solar Colour Dust liquid crystal paint. (They also sent me a sample of holographic glitter! <3)

Looks so unassuming!

Don't worry, it dries clear!

So far so good!

Finally, a sealing coat of top coat nail polish.

Verdict: I LOVE IT!

Physiogel Hypoallergenic - Daily Moisture Therapy - Intensive Cream

This has no added fragrance, colours, or preservatives. 
It is especially aimed at those with very dry, sensitive skin.

The scent is a faint, clinical smell.
When applied, it doesn't really absorb, but rather create a waxy barrier over the skin.
I personally didn't find it that moisturising, it will just keep pre-existing moisture in.

If you really can't handle fragrances, I guess this is good.
My skin is really sensitive thought (it will get mad at even too much water) and can tolerate other, more moisturizing creams. 

Price: 1/5 ($28.68 for 100mL)
Scent: 2/5 
Effectiveness: 3/5

Book Review - The Complete Works - H. P. Lovecraft - Part 1


Brace yourself, this is a big blog.

I became interested in looking into Lovecraft stories after the Blurry Photos Podcast episode on him.
Prior toy it, I had avoided it based on descriptions about them from my ex.
But to be fair, my ex once described 'The King In Yellow' to me, I had read it, he hadn't and his description was completely in inaccurate and bullsh!t (and made it sound dull, which it is not!).

So 99¢ later and I started reading it on my phone.
There are quite a number of stories so I'll do a short review of each.

So as I go along, the symbol # next to a story means it is worth reading.

Multipart Introduction - Go away! I don't want you colouring my view of the following stories!

The Beast In The Cave - I can see what you were going for, but you completely missed the mark.

The Alchemist - Wholly forgettable.

The Tomb - blah.

Dagon - meh.

A Reminiscence Of Dr. Samuel Johnson - I don't know why you even bothered writing this.

Polaris - meh.

Beyond The Wall Of Sleep - We are starting to move into better story telling. Did not like how the main character thought the mountain people as lesser beings (this may have particularly pissed me off knowing that Lovecraft was a Racist and Anti-Semite).

The Transition of Juan Romero - Wow, really ramping up the racism!

The White Ship - I don't know what the point of this tail was. Like a shitty 'Moby Dick'.

The Doom that Came to Sarnath - An obvious story with a little jab of white supremacy at the end.

**Guys, I don't know how much poor storytelling and racism I can take. And don't say he was just 'a man of his time', he was a c**t.

# The Statement of Randolph Carter - Ooh, this one was good. Not the best I've ever read, but stellar for this collection so far.

The Street - And back to crippling racism! 

Sweet Ermengarde - A poorly written soap.

The Tree - This could have been good, but it's like he got bored and just phoned in the ending.

The Temple - This was okay, although this time he turns his preconceived notions towards the Germans.

Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family - A lot of lead up for something so obvious halfway through the story. 
Lots of racism as well!

** The night after I dreamt that I was reading a better written story. XD

Celephaïs - Is he on drugs? Has he been smoking while writing these? Could explain a LOT!

From Beyond - Only a few pages in and I am already bored, quit repeating yourself and eat the damn oranges!

The Picture in the House - I was wondering how long it would take him to drop the N word (and I don't mean 'Necronomicon'). 

The Nameless City - I'm not feeling this trope of 'I saw something horrid, but I won't try and describe it because it's too horrid for words or your imagination'. 
Honey, I've had more nightmares than you have had racist thoughts.
I bet I can see it without going mad and then suggest something worse.
At best, it is a poorly executed idea.
At worst, it is lazy writing.

The Quest of Iranon - Iranon sounds insufferable. I'd hit him if I met him.

The Moon-Bog - He really doesn't think kindly of anyone he sees as 'below' him. If he wasn't dead, I'd hit him.

Pictured: A place you may find me dancing.

The Outsider - Another one that is obvious half way through.

The Other Gods - Don't poke the bear.

Herbert West - Reanimator - STOP REPEATING YOURSELF! I remember what just happened!

The Music of Erich Zann - Meh. That horror-beyond-imagination-trope again.

** Note the lack of recommended stories so far.

Hypnos - Talk to your doctor about your disturbed sleep, consult a specialist, and don't believe everything you see in your sleep. 
If I believed my nightmares I would still be hiding from the authorities and zombies, and I have better things to do.
Also, does our narrator want to bang his 'friend'?
I doubt this story would get so interesting.
Is he using the nightmare-world as an excuse to get close to him?
I'm going to believe this now and make this story a secret love letter.
He talks of sensations he cannot describe, and following torment, I'm going to assume he is getting used to hot butt sex with his mysterious, handsome 'friend'.
Also, his 'friend' is an addict and the narrator is getting hooked.
It's like 'Naked Lunch' meets basic homoerotic fiction meets racist/classist people.
Is that the secret to Lovecraft stories?! Have I uncovered the unwritten tales hidden behind the shitty attempts at horror?

**I think I'm losing my grip on reality.

Ok, let me just address something that he keeps incorrectly repeating. Moonlight is silver or white or pale, NOT GOLDEN!
The sun is golden, you f&%kwit!

The Hound - First mention of the Necronomicon and I don't care. The narrator and his friend are already undertaking things worse than what the stupid book has detailed so far.

The Lurking Fear - My guess is the two hired men used the castle and our narrator's feeble mind as a means of escape from his company.

The Rats in the Walls - Did you have to call your cat that?! I have NO sympathy for you!

The Unnamable - Good, it looks like he was called out on his bullsh!t trope whilst still alive! It was like someone told him that that humans fear the unknown but was too stupid to understand it properly.

The Festival - For this one, I drank some vodka then read the story out loud to Parental Unit 1.

Notable comments:
PU1: "So far I like it. I just wished they had translated it better."
Me: "It was written in English."
PU2: "Oh!"
-------------------------
PU2: "He's a ghost as well, isn't he!" 
-------------------------
She thought the whole thing was scary, that it was possibly all in the narrator's mind.
She thought the creatures were the Luck Dragon from 'The Neverending Story' and that they were in a volcano/centre of the earth.

Pictured: Unspeakable, maddening horror.

-------------------------
SPOILER ALERT!
When I asked her what she thought was behind the wax mask, 
she suggesting it was just hollow and the narrator was okay with the mask because it may have been part of the festival.
When I told her what I thought was behind it, she was horrified.
I then asked her who she thought was more morbid, Lovecraft or myself, she said it was definitely me. (WIN!)

Ok, I'll leave it there and pick it up again in Part 2!

Turns of Fate - Relationships

It has been a few years since my last serious relationship, and while I was ready to love someone exclusively again I didn't exactly go out looking for someone.

Fate just brought him to me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you can stop sending me your many letters of admiration!

Pictured: all of your love letters to me XD

I have a boyfriend, and he is the sweetest guy I have ever met.

*Just be happy for me, basically :D

I have some friends who are amendment that no one will ever date/love them. 
No matter what you say to them, they believe it happens to others but won't happen for them.

This bugs me. If you honestly believe  that no one wants you (a delusion I might add), then why spend all that time bemoaning it?
It means you are free to focus on other things, find happiness in other facets of life.
Then before you know it, love finds you.

I understand how powerful loneliness is, but there is more to life than a man/woman (who you have little control in finding).
Plus, your friends are there for you! You are not bugging me if you want to chat or have a sleep over :)

The point is you have love (friends, family), but you have to let true love find you.

Although, if you really want to find a love that will last a lifetime, I can tell you where to find that:

It's you, love yourself, because you are amazing.