Cosmetic Cupcake

My eczema and contact dermatitis have been playing up so badly this winter that I've had to sport naked nails most of the time since coming home from warm Europe and HK unfortunately. But naked nails make for a sad 'chelle so I had to brave some nail art! I've been following a heap of celeb nail artists on Instagram and one of my faves is Steph Stone Nails and I couldn't go past her adorable summer drippy ice cream nails. I absolutely LOVE drippy nails and I've done them quite a few times but it was time for a proper ice cream looking mani! I followed her tutorial to create them but my version doesn't look anywhere near as polished obviously. Please excuse my terribly haggard looking hands and cuticles!


I started off with 2 coats of Kester Black Butter Cream* as my base for all nails except my accent nails where I used 3 coats of Etude House Dear My Party Nails PPK001 and added criss cross lines using Hello Darling Say No To Cameltoe using a striper brush. For the ice cream drips I decided to go colourful and I used Kester Black Fairy Floss* for my pinky, Hello Darling Ganache for my middle fingers and Cult Nails Tempest for my index fingers.


For my thumbs I used Hello Darling Mint Slice* for the ice cream drip and I used a large dotting tool and OPI Big Apple Red* to create the cherries. For the sprinkles I used China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, Keep Calm, Paint On and Life is Rosy and Models Own nail art pens in yellow and blue.


I love a bit of summer during winter and who doesn't enjoy ice cream in the cooler months?!! What do you think? Thanks for looking as always!

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

HELLOOOOOOOO everyone!! I am back home and it feels weird after being away for a month. I just want to continue honeymooning! It is nice to not live out of a suitcase but the worst thing about returning home is all the unpacking and laundry that needs to be done! URGH. We had an amazing time and I'll try to post some pics later but for now I have some of my hauls for you! We didn't really do too much shopping as we spent most of our time eating, sightseeing and doing more eating but I did buy a few polishes (of course!) and 2 big ticket items in Paris =D

Happy Friday ladies!! I've been back at work for only 5 days and I feel like I need another holiday already haha! I've definitely got the post holiday blues but at least it's Christmas soon so there's public holidays (and presents!) to enjoy =D Today I have my haul from my latest trip to Hong Kong for you!!! I didn't actually buy much in comparison to my other trips which is a good thing for my wallet haha xp The exchange rate wasn't so great and I'm saving for a few things so I used a LOT of restraint! I did more eating to make up for it lol.


As soon as I saw the Deborah Lippmann Space Oddity set on her Instagram I knew I had to have it!!! They aren't your typical holiday shades but they look absolutely gorgeous by themselves and together too. I also picked up the Stronger which is the collaboration shade with Kelly Clarkson - it's been on my wishlist for months and I finally picked it up squeeeeeeeeee! I love Kelly Clarkson!


I let myself get talked into buying the OPI Mariah Carey Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat xp I missed out on The Man With the Golden Gun last year so couldn't miss out this year!


I hauled a few things from Etude House for myself and for pressies! I love their stuff because it's just so sweet - pink everything! I got some polishes and a foot mask for myself and scored the little tin as a freebie.


My niece had her birthday party while I was in HK and my sis in-law asked me to do a little nail bar for the girls. Of course I said yes and it was so much fun! I didn't bring any of my tools so I bought the Lucky Trendy Dot Artist set to use but didn't end up needing to use it so I'm keeping it for myself haha. The purple is really pretty! I came across a Korean brand called Ally's Ajell and they had dual nail art pens so I picked up one in white to try out. I also bought 2 gorgeous glitters from Tony Moly!


I adore Anna Sui and I couldn't resist this limited edition Nail Care Oil!!! Isn't it just gorgeous? You shake it up and then apply and works wonderfully.


I stocked up on my favourite Zoya Remove and also picked up my first Pixie Dust in Stevie. I wish I had got a few other shades too because I am loving Pixie Dust! They wear so well and the shades are so pretty.


I picked up one of the new Canmake creme blushes in 04 and also restocked my HG Dolly Wink mascara which came with a bonus eyeliner woot!


Bioderma is my HG makeup remover and so I had to pick up this new bottle with pump dispenser. You should have seen how excited I was then I saw it haha!


Some lovely gifts from Jen who blogs over at Life and Lens of Beauty! I met up with her as usual and did some shopping =D Thank you Jen and I can't wait to go shopping with you next year!! (Thanks for letting me use your Joyce Beauty member discount btw!!)


I picked up the new Roses de Chloe on an impulse but I haven't opened it yet because I'm not sure I'm going to keep it! I love the smell of it but I have so many perfumes already I'm not sure I really need another one.. I might end up gifting it to my sis but we'll see.


Some Forever 21 accessories! I love their accessories and always try to pick up a few each trip. Their accessories department takes up like an entire floor and it is always SO DAMN HARD deciding what to buy when on a budget!


My biggest splurge on my trip was a new 11" MacBook Air!! My beloved Air died a few months ago so I took advantage of duty free and bought a replacement. The 11" is the perfect size I think!


I hope you enjoyed seeing my Hong Kong haul! Thanks for looking as always and don't forget to enter my Face of Australia Carnivale giveaway!

Some quick swatches for you today! Nikki sent me over this gorgeous purple holo Etude House Dear Darling PP007 which I used it for a quick NOTD over the weekend. On a side note it's annoying when companies don't bother naming their polishes!


PP007 is a very pretty scattered purple holographic polish. It applied wonderfully with no dragging whatsoever and it was so opaque too! 1 coat would have sufficed but I did 2 out of habit which is pictured. I couldn't get any sunlight photos of this pretty holo unfortunately. How fancy is the bottle btw? Love it!


Close up:




I have a few more of these pretty Dear Darling collection polishes from swaps that I'm dying to try out now! Hope you all had a fab weekend =) Thanks for looking as always!

The thing I love most about bloggging is the blogging community. It's very supportive and so much fun to be a part of! One of the lovely ladies I've had the pleasure of knowing is the lovely Nikki who I swapped with a while back. A few weeks ago she surprised me with a wonderful package filled with awesome polish and masks!! XD She also very sweetly included a few things for my sis too!


They were all so beautifully wrapped! I didn't want to open them and there were sooooo many of them I spent ages opening them all up!


SO many awesome Asian nail polishes! *squeals* These brands are hard to find even in HK let alone Sydney. I seriously have way too many polishes now LOL.


An army of Etude House. Check out the awesome matte bottles!


Nikki included her favourite Etude House nail polish remover and it smells WONDERFUL. Much better than Zoya Remove! Also some Etude House Dear Darling polishes.


More polishes including the amazing Elianto Racing Green which I'll be showing you tomorrow! The finishes on the polishes Nikki sent are all really interesting - shimmers, duochrome, matte - just the ones I love.


Nail art items!! I enjoy using the Nail Star Two Way Nail Art Pen & Brush and these colours are super fun.


Awesome masks including the Hello Kitty Sexy Look masks eeeeeeeeeek. I've wanted to try these for ages! Plus lipbalms from My Lip Stuff which my sis has laid claim to haha.


Some cute items from Malaysia! The keychain is of a traditional Kadazan dress which is of Nikki's race, hair clips that Nikki made and also cute mini ear caps =)


Thank you SO MUCH for your wonderful package Nikki!! You really shouldn't have spoiled me so ♥ I've been trying out a lot of the polishes and they are awesome!

Hi ladies! Last month I received some lovely packages from 2 of my awesome blogger friends and it's about time I shared them with you! The first package was a wonderful (and very naughty!) surprise birthday package from my gorgeous British pal Aysh!! ♥


Not only did Aysh include a very sweet card and 2 packs of delicious Hotel Chocolat choccies (polished off very quickly by my family!) but yes you see right - she gifted me the amazing MAX Factor Fantasy Fire and also Meteorite!!!! *faints*


The 2nd package was from lovely Monika who sent me an awesome New Year/Chinese New Year package from sunny Singapore!


Nail polish!!!! Some fabulous polishes from Sasatinnie, Canmake, Etude House, Flormar, Disney Villians and my first Paul & Joe! Eeeeek! The Paul & Joe polish is from their Meow! collection and is sooooooo pretty. I had to use it the night I received Moni's package! I still haven't posted swatches though doh. Also a pretty purple Za lipstick and a Konad plate. It was all wrapped so nicely too =)


Moni also included some great skincare for me! The masks are too cute to use lol.


Thank you both SO MUCH for your wonderful packages =) It really brightened my month!