It's a haul, and I wonder if Renate, Marie and Lene Christin will be happy now? Today was spent at Alexandra Palace and IMATS, and I had a wonderful and exciting time there. Not only did I do some damage to my bank account, but I saw a lot of fascinating creations makeup-wise. I was a little disappointed that I didn't spot any YouTube gurus apart from Koren and a girl I don't remember the name of, but maybe tomorrow. There was a lot of buzz everywhere, and it ended up being quite exhausting.

Hunting for Treasure

My first target was the Inglot booth, of course. I was so afraid of finding a totally packed booth without any room at all for me, I actually made a backup plan of going to Westfield London to get my Inglot fix there instead. Addict much? But even if it was indeed packed with people I managed to get my hands on all the 30 eyeshadows I had on my list, plus three of the new rainbow eyeshadows (making a total of 33 eyeshadows and four of the Freedom System palettes). An enormous thank you to Øyvind who turned over just about every single eyeshadow there to find the ones on my list. After finding most of them.. the nice lady at the register told me that I could just give her the list, and she'd put them directly into a bag for me. Well, at least it was fun looking through them all! I won't go into details about the colors I chose now, but I promise to post pictures of my new palettes next weekend. She didn't put them into the palettes, so I have to organize them myself. Hurrah! Organizing a palette is half the fun.

The next booth on my list was BeautySoClean, a brand I hadn't heard about until recently, to pick up some of their cosmetic sanitizer mist. I don't know about you, but I've missed having a way of cleaning my eyeshadows ever since I started collection them, and spraying them with regular alcohol can often make them rock hard. I don't wanna risk destroying my precious eyeshadows, so I thought I'd give this a chance. I also purchased a box of cosmetic sanitizer wipes (for lipsticks and the likes of it), and two travel size mists.

I've been eyeing the brush set from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (still loving the name!), but I never felt like I could afford them. Well, today I decided to splurge and got the complete set. Cruelty-free! The woman at the booth was really nice, and I think it was my most pleasant experience of the day. So much that I had to ask if I could take a picture with her, and with David - the founder of OCC! He said he really liked my tattoos, and we like compliments, don't we? It certainly made my day! I would have picked up some of their lip tars, but I felt like I had already spent enough money.. so I decided to leave them for now.

After visiting the boots listed above I didn't have much more on my list. I had a few brands on there I wanted to visit if it wasn't too crowded, but somehow I stumbled upon ProChart - offering face charts! I've wanted face charts for a long time, so I picked up a stack of the A4 ones and also a stack of their eye charts, so I can play with composing looks on paper. Fun! They also have me two marshmallows on a stick, covered in chocolate with pink "sprinkles", as a gift. Such a cute little treat! What can I say, I'm easy to please.

I have a lot of pictures to share with you as well, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to edit and upload them while in London. If I don't, I'll have them up when we get back! Now it's snowing like crazy outside, so I'm quite anxious to look out the window tomorrow. We're used to this kind of weather, coming from Norway and all, but people here seem worried. My camera's recharging, I've removed my makeup - I guess it's time to crawl into bed again, so I'm ready for another day of IMATS tomorrow. Oh, and if I seem displeased.. let me assure you I'm not. I'm loving London so far, and I had an awesome time today, I'm just completely worn out!

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

We decided to venture out for a bit, and went to Brent Cross. Shopper's heaven? I didn't splurge too much, as I purchased the two new Dior Vernis in "504 Waterlily" and "694 Forget-Me-Not" at John Lewis - before I ventured on to Boots where I picked up two Rimmel Glam'Eyes HD palettes in "001 Black Cab" and "008 True Union Jack" (mostly because of the design), two L'Oreal Infallible in "016 Coconut Shake" and "021 Sahara Treasure", and a limited edition Philosophy Hope in a Jar moisturizer (15 ml as opposed to the regular 60 ml, perfect for testing purposes). Oh, and a rewards card! I have no idea what I'll use it for, as we don't have any Boots close by.. but I do love these neat plastic cards, you know.

Now I'm going to sleep and dream about tomorrow, when I'm going to IMATS to indulge in all kinds of makeup goodness. If you don't hear from me again I probably died from happiness (and superficialness) somewhere between the boots at Alexandra Palace.. Oh well, this is me signing out from Finchley. Good night!

About three years ago Øyvind gave me a gift card from Make Up Store for a 50 minute makeup lesson and my choice of products worth 495,- NOK for Christmas. It was the perfect gift, but for several reasons I was always prevented from using it while they were still situated at Trondheim Torg, and when they moved to their new location I figured I'd missed my opportunity. Since I was unable to let it go, I asked them via Facebook if I could still trade my gift card for the products at least as I thought I would be unable to have the lesson done (because of the stairs and everything). She who replied was really nice, and told me to stop by during January to have my gift card redeemed.

The Inevitable Haul

So last Friday I decided to go to Make Up Store, bringing my own car ramp to be able to enter the store. Since I didn't know whether or not it would work, I had asked if Øyvind could pick up a few items for me, just in case. As it turned out there's was no need for a personal shopper, my ramp got me safely into the store. I wandered around for a while, eyeing all their colorful makeup, before I let myself be drawn to the pencils. You might remember that I purchased three pencils at KICKS back in November? Well, I liked them so much that wanted to see if they had more of the Soft Metallics. I found one I didn't see at KICKS named "Wooden Metal", and had a really hard time putting it down. As I was the only customer there at the time, I also had the pleasure of having the wonderful M. to myself, so I started asking her for advice on which colors would look good with my dark brown eyes. She told me that I could use both warm and cool tones, it's the second time this week I've learned that, and pulled out a selection of blues, purples and browns, among them a mesmerizing dark blue and a gorgeous purple. Since I'm supposed to be saving money for our upcoming trip to London, I couldn't go as insane as I would have wanted, so I ended up deciding on "Deep Blue Sea" and "Wooden Metal", in addition to their Blending Eyeliner Brush 217. I was kinda amazed by this brush! It looks like a regular pencil brush (most brands have one), but it had a firmness I've been missing with the pencil brushes I already own. It's synthetic as well, and will be absolutely perfect for smudging any liner, above or below the lash line.

As it turns out I'm getting my makeup lesson after all, and I'm looking forward to it come March. A great big thanks to M., for making my Friday pretty much perfect! And for doing a pretty good job in restoring my faith in humanity.

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

Now it's time to share another haul, a collective one, which Mr. DHL brought me in mid-October. If you don't care much for haul posts or the likes of it, you might as well stop your reading here. As I've done earlier I've decided to break this haul into two parts, where this post is the first one out. Please note that this is indeed a collective haul, which means that everything has been purchased over a certain period of time - in this case, about four months.

Nordstrom

• Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs in "Ombre de Nuit"
• NARS Trio Eyeshadow in "Arabian Nights"
• Dior The Or Vernis Holiday 2011: 651 Merveille
• Dior The Or Vernis Holiday 2011: 871 Apparat

Thanks to Renate - thank you so much, doll - I recently discovered how easy it is to order from Nordstrom, and all of a sudden an enormous new world of glorious makeup opened up to me! Unfortunately, or maybe I should say thankfully, I seem to have contracted a bit of common sense and sensibility lately, so I didn't go bananas. I ordered two things I've been wanting for a little while, and I'm quite proud of myself; I could have filled my basket with a lot more, but I was sensible about it. Oh, and since Nordstrom offers free shipping, I sort of placed another order a few days later. As you can see from my list above I ended up with four items: one eyeshadow palette, one eyeshadow trio and two nail polishes.

Guerlain

The Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs is the palette that came out with Belle de Nuit Holiday 2011 - once again I fell in love with the amazing promo picture from this collection and craved this palette the instant I laid my eyes on it. I wasn't sure whether or not I should splurge on it, as Guerlain is one of the more expensive brands, but I'm very glad I love it as much as I thought I would. I adore the sea foam aqua especially, but the whole palette is simply gorgeous.

"Guerlain has developed a new color harmony made especially for night owls. The two textures create smoky, seductive and spellbinding eyes that will last from twilight to the deepest night hours. An iridescent texture of green, blue and grey pearlescent particles release luminous color with an extremely metallic finish and combine with an extra-matte black shadow that offers an incredibly comfortable finish for a precise, intense liner effect."

NARS

NARS is a brand I'm quite familiar with, and I have several of their eyeshadow duos in my collection, in addition to a couple of blushes, bronzers, a highlighter, some eyeliner pencils, a lip gloss, a few lipsticks and a nail polish. One thing I don't have from NARS is anything from the Nightlife collection, so when Arabian Nights was released with this year's holiday collection I felt like I had the excuse I needed to pick it up. It's dark, it's mysterious, but unfortunately I think the three colors in this trio is a bit too much alike. I don't think I would have purchased it if I had been able to swatch it first, so I might just have to add this to my list of "complete misses".

Dior

I have become such a fan of these Dior nail polishes, it must have been the Parisian magic! In addition to the two new Dior Vernis in this haul, I have three more I haven't even shown in a post yet, like the amazing 908 Tuxedo, 916 Czarina Gold and 558 Paradise. The two in this haul are a part of The Or Vernis Holiday 2011, and I knew I had to own at least one of these colors the minute I saw them. I was a little unsure about picking up 651 Merveille, but 871 Apparat was an obvious choice - but when someone told me that 651 Merveille was a one-coater, it kinda followed its sister into my shopping cart. And I'm not regretting my decision!

Sephora

• Dior 3 Couleurs Smoky in "091 Smoky Black"
• Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV
• tarte™ for True Blood™ Limited Edition Palette
• Stila In The Light Palette
• Laura Mercier Tightline & Define Cake Eye Liner Collection
• Sephora Collection Matte Blotting Papers in "Natural"
• Sephora Collection French Tips & Toes Manicure Pen in "White"

I don't know how much explaination this paragraph really needs, but I never grow tired from shopping at Sephora even though I have to use a 'Personal Shopper' service to get my hands on their goodies. I'm a little sad I'm missing out on my Beauty Insider points, I would have had a lot of them now, but I guess it's better than not being able to order from Sephora at all. Unfortunately the unthinkable has happened, and Sephora has decided to block freight forwarders! It makes me really sad, but now I'm not able to shop at Sephora again unless I'm visiting a city with a store.

I'm not going to go into details with every single product of this haul as some are pretty self-explanatory, but I'll add a few pictures and such.

Dior

You might remember that I picked up the Dior 291 Smoky Navy when we went to Kiel back in September? I really liked the whole concept of these palettes, and since I'm on a constant lookout for a good palette for a black smoky eye, I wanted to try 091 Smoky Black as well. At first I regretted my choice a little. I ordered it before I researched reviews and swatches, and I started wondering if I should have gotten the 481 Smoky Khaki instead. Then I saw this look done with 091 Smoky Black, and I immediately changed my mind. It looks so soft, so gorgeous, and I can't wait to use it. Unfortunately someone did a mistake somewhere, and I received this palette in 781 Smoky Brown instead of the Smoky Black I had ordered. I was pretty bummed out, as anything Dior is quite pricey, but thankfully it was quickly sorted out and I ended up getting my precious Smoky Black after all - in addition to getting to keep the Smoky Brown palette!

Urban Decay

The Book of Shadows IV. It combines makeup and 'technology' in a fun way by including the possibility to watch exclusive how-to videos on your phone, in addition to adding a portable speaker-on-a-keychain! I'm sold. I'm such a sucker. Oh, and 10 of the 16 shades are actually brand new, so I don't have to be as annoyed with this palette as I usually tend to be with Urban Decay and their constant re-release of old shades! Included are also a SuperCurl Mascara, a 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion, and the original Primer Potion in the new and improved squeeze tube.

tarte™

tarte™ happens to be a fairly new brand to me. I have a couple of their Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blushes, but I've never tried their eyeshadows. When I saw their limited edition True Blood™ palette I figured it would be a nice chance to try them out, and of course I was suckered into the design and concept. No pun intended. I love the HBO® series True Blood™, and a combination of makeup and a vampire TV-series? To me that immediately turned it into a must-have item! I also enjoy the opportunity to try out other products included in a set like this. It includes 17 limited edition eyeshadows, a full-size True Blood™ EmphasEYES Aqua-Gel Eyeliner in Black, True Blood™ Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara in Black, and a True Blood™ Lifted Natural Eye Primer. And the design? It looks so much cooler in real life then any photo could ever justify. I kinda regret not getting the tarte™ for True Blood™ LipSurgence™ lip tint as well, but a girl can't have everything she wants..

Stila

Here's another palette I've been eyeing for a while now, but never got around to picking up. I already have Urban Decay Naked in my collection, so I didn't really need this one, but my common sense wasn't present when I clicked the "checkout" button. Imagine that. This palette is such a nice mix of neutrals and colors, and it's quite small and handy to bring when I travel. The palette consists of ten different eyeshadows: Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone, Champagne, Gilded Gold, Luster, Night Sky and Ebony - and it even includes a limited edition Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Damsel, which is a matte chocolate brown.

Laura Mercier

Now this is a brand I've been wanting to try several different items from, but I've never felt able to justify a splurge as it's on the pricier side. One of the products I've been dying to try out is the tinted moisturizer, but there's no way I'd feel comfortable with paying $42 for a tube that might be a complete waste upon arrival because I failed at finding my color on the website. I have however been eyeing the tightline cake eyeliner for a while, so when I came across the Laura Mercier Tightline & Define Cake Eye Liner Collection with three colors: Black Ebony, Violet Asphalt, Mahogany Brown, a dual-ended brush: tightlining and eyelining, and a Full Blown Volume mascara in Black, I figured it was an excellent chance to give it a go.

These cake eyeliners are meant to be 'activated' with a tiny amount of liquid, like water, but Laura Mercier recently released a new product: tightline activator. I read several reviews before I decided to actually go ahead and order, and many people warn against using the activator as it will render the product unusable with water. You can however use just water, but you'll have to decide between the two, and I chose water for mine. $20 for a tiny bottle of some magical (polymer) liquid was a bit too much to my taste anyway.

NARS Cosmetics

• NARS Nail Polish in "Space Odyssey"
• NARS Larger Than Life® Long-Wear Eyeliner in "Via Crispi"

In honor of Fashion's Night Out 2011 NARS Cosmetics launched a special Larger Than Life® Long-Wear Eyeliner in Via Crispi and a nail polish called Space Odyssey. These two items were available for one week only in the beginning of September, and ..I guess that made me snatch them up while available. I frequently use silvery grays for my eye looks, so I can definitely see myself using this baby a lot. I already have two other Larger Than Life® pencils, and they are indeed good eyeliners I've been reaching for several times already. Space Odyssey is a crazy aluminum-colored nail polish, which I think is awesome. If you think Space Odyssey sounds intriguing, it's already been repromoted with NARS' Holiday 2011 and is still available as we speak - but beware, it's still limited edition!

Photos: NARS Cosmetics // © Shamini Thevarajah '11

These sets are the same Crushed Metallic Pigments as the ones released with M·A·C Spring Colour Forecast and Surf Baby!, which is a set of four corresponding pigments in one stack. As I was standing there, speaking with one of the makeup artists, I swatched a few of the colors in the purple stack on my hand. Just for the fun of it. And I liked them quite a lot. I have to be honest about Light Violet in the purple stack being quite useless, and I kinda have the urge to throw it out because of its lousy quality. It's impossible to swatch, impossible to work with, impossible to stick to the skin, just.. impossible. I do on the other hand like the rest of the colors, and I'm wondering if I should have picked up the third sphere Smoky Berry as well, just because of the dark strawberry color called "Spicy Smoke". It's such a beautiful color! As I recently saw someone else saying: one should have been able to mix and match these stacks oneself. Unfortunately they are quite pricey in Norway, so I won't be getting the third ornament unless I'm able to get it from the US at retail price before it's gone. If you poke around the internet you'll find a lot of different opinions on which of these kits are the best of the bunch, but I'll have to say that my personal favorite must be Smoky Blue. For some odd reason it actually reminds me of a wintery fairytale, giving me a fuzzy feeling.

Dazzlesphere! Smoky Blue Ornament	Dazzlesphere! Smoky Plum Ornament

Sadly I'm not half as intrigued by the collections M·A·C keep pushing out as I used to be, so most things just pass me by unnoticed. I've stopped keeping track of release dates. I already own a lot of stuff from M·A·C (from older collections), but I don't have the urge to own every single piece released anymore. I guess the magic has gone, and I honestly feel a little sad about it. I don't understand what the people behind M·A·C are thinking, but the constant price increase, the insanely expensive "special" collections, the downsizing of actual product, the diminishing quality - what is going on when not even repromotes have the same color payoff and quality as the original product anymore? - is not making me wanna buy more, it's making me stray away from the brand that used to be my very favorite, feeling nothing but cheated and ripped off. It's been a nice few years, M·A·C. I hope we can rekindle our passionate relationship some other time.

Photos: M·A·C Cosmetics

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

The main reason why I was so interested in KICKS was the fact that they sell cosmetics from the Swedish brand Make Up Store. We already have a Make Up Store boutique here in Trondheim, but as I've ranted about before they have chosen to remain inaccessible to wheelchairs users, which is why I've been carrying out my own little boycott. I mean, surely we are in 2011, no? Apparently there's still not room for everyone. I've been lusting after a few products from Make Up Store for a while now, so I wanted to see if KICKS had what I was looking for. Unfortunately they didn't have any of their Eye Dusts as of yet, and I didn't really fall for any of their eyeshadows, but I did however pick up three of their Eye Pencils: Duchess, Golden Days and Dusty Smoke. All three are of the kind 'Soft Metallic', and incredibly soft and creamy.

Duchess · Dusty Smoke · Golden Days

I also wanted to join the KICKS Club to start collecting points, but apparently they were all out of applications so I was unable to receive a card, and my 405 points. Had I known I could register online I would have before I left home, or even in-store via my iPhone. Oh well. I'm quite positive I'll be going back to KICKS when the store is a little more settled in.

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

I totally love the idea! You just remove the nozzle of your favorite perfume, and fill up your Travalo by pumping it up and down on the tube. When it's full it contains more than 65 sprays, and you can easily see how much is left in the fill level indicator window. The Excel also comes in a 'crystal case' to protect it when you're carrying it around in your purse, or wherever.

I wasn't really planning on ordering one, but when I noticed that Travalo donated money to the fight against breast cancer for every pink atomizer sold during October, I decided to order one after all. It cost £12.49, which would be about 113,- NOK with today's exchange rate plus international shipping of 23,- NOK. I ordered on a Wednesday, the package was shipped on the follow Thursday, and eight days later it arrived in my mailbox.

Since I have a few perfumes to choose from I haven't quite decided which one to fill my Excel with, but I'm so happy I don't have to bring any glass vials or bottles with me the next time I travel. I also asked Travalo a question about using the same atomizer with several fragrances, and they recommended using one atomizer with one perfume since it's impossible to clean it in between fragrances. I was thinking that it might be a fun way to mix perfumes, and make your own personal fragrance?

Where to purchase?
http://www.travalo.com/

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

I'm not writing this post because I feel like I owe anyone any explanations, but seeing that a written medium like a blog lacks both facial expressions and tone of voice when trying to communicate something to my readers, I just wanted to put my thoughts into words, or at least try to. I'm not superficial, and I'm not rich, I just found a way to cope though a whole year of frustrations, hardships and my own personal hell. And materialistic or not, it really did its part in helping me fight through the darkest of days.

Haul: M·A·C Paint Pots

M·A·C hasn't released anything lately that has really captured my attention, I've found their new collections both boring and blah.. in general, but when Posh Paradise came out with eight new Paint Pots even I couldn't resist getting a few of them. I have a kind of ambivalent relationship with Paint Pots. I'm not very big on using bases when I do my makeup (a primer is a must though), and I absolutely hate "Painterly" - a so-called 'Holy Grail' base for many makeup lovers out there.

The other day I looked through my spreadsheet - yes, I have a spreadsheet for my makeup collection - where I counted 10 Paint Pots, plus these three new ones, and I'm embarrassed to confess that most of them remain unused. I think the main reason is that I tend to steer away from time-consuming activities like putting down a base, but I've promised myself to start using these more often. I have a lot of good ones in my collection, and I really don't want to see them go to waste. At least I'm honest, as opposed to in denial.

Idylic · Pure Creation · Imaginary

I wasn't planning on getting anything from Posh Paradise, but since things seldom go as I plan, I ended up choosing "Idyllic" (mid-tone copper bronze), "Pure Creation" (mid-tone frosty blue) and "Imaginary" (blackened navy). These colors are beautiful! Maybe especially "Imaginary", just take a look at these swatches by Jennifae. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided on "Pure Creation" though, but if you have any good ideas on how to use it.. feel free to leave me a comment below!

Did you get anything from M·A·C Posh Paradise?

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

• Gelous™ Advanced Nail Gel Coat
• CND™ Stickey™ Anchoring Base Coat
• CND™ Colour 582 Dark Amethyst
• CND™ Colour 583 Midnight Sapphire
• CND™ Effects 584 Sheer 24K Sparkle
• Color Club® 852 Revvvolution
• Color Club® 898 Red Velvet
• Color Club® 893 Nothing But Truffle
• Color Club® 902 Covered In Diamonds
• essie® 696 Chinchilly

Unfortunately I found it impossible to photo the three darkest gems from Color Club, but I decided to add photos to the post anyway. Please excuse the quality! As so many times before Neglelakkmani was the one who influenced me into buying some of these nail polishes. This because I trust her opinions and judgement completely, if she recommends something then it's worth checking out. I was already planning on giving Color Club a try, and "Chinchilly" had to be mine because of its name (me having former career as a chinchilla breeder). I decided to ask Karianne over at Neglelakkmani if there was anything else I should get while I was at it, I mean.. you can fit nine nail polishes into a SFRB, I would be an idiot not to take advantage. Right? Right. She told me about the brand new, and limited edition, The Look Fall/Winter 2011 from CND - them being one-coaters and all she knew I'd be intrigued. And boy, I am. If you don't believe me, check out her own swatches. Amazeballs!

CND™ Stickey™ · CND Dark Amethyst · CND Midnight Sapphire · CND Sheer 24K Sparkle

From Color Club I just had to have "Revvvolution" after seeing these swatches, it being a charcoal grey holographic polish. It might seem like this specific polish exist in at least two different versions, but I haven't bothered researching it properly. I've got my one bottle, and I'm content with that. In the bottle I can't see any holographic shimmer at all. None. Zip. Nada. Since we're not blessed with much sunshine nowadays I can't really put it to the test, but I'll get back to you on the matter. I'll be seriously disappointed if it's just.. flat.

The two next polishes from Color Club are from the same collection - Untamed Luxury - and are called "Nothing But Truffle" and "Red Velvet". I'm not sure which one I'd place on top of my list of favorites from this haul, but it's a close one between the three. "Nothing But Truffle" is a blackened base with copper shimmer, and it looks like the perfect mysterious color for the dark months of October and November. "Red Velvet" on the other hand, is a simply gorgeous black jelly base packed with tiny red glitter - and it's pretty similar to China Glaze Lubu Heels, Eyeko Vampira and Milani Spellbound according to The Hungry Asian. As I don't own any of the mentioned polishes from before, I settled on Red Velvet (despite my hate for glitter) and I'm loving it!

Last, but certainly not least, it's the gem of my haul: "Covered in Diamonds", also from Untamed Luxury. I would have to say it's more of a layering polish than one that would work on it's own, with its transparent base bursting with multicolored flakes of glitter resembling tiny shards of glass. I could seriously stare at the magic going on inside the bottle all day! There might be other polishes like this one out there, but I haven't seen one, and I can imagine the most boring nails turning into nails you can't take your eyes off, if you top your manicure off with these "diamonds".

Color Club Revvvolution · Color Club Nothing But Truffle · Color Club Red Velvet · Color Club Covered in Diamonds
essie® Chinchilly

Swatches of "Nothing But Truffle", "Red Velvet" and "Covered in Diamonds" (and the remaining polishes from this collection) can be found at The Hungry Asian.

O·P·I Suede

I also got my hands on the whole O·P·I Suede collection a little while back, solely because Neglelakkmani described them as "sweatpants for the nails", and seriously.. who doesn't want an easy and quick solution for beautiful nails? OK, so I might be easy to persuade then. I did debate whether or not to look for them as I own essie® Matte About You (a top coat for making any nail polish matte), but someone told me that it wouldn't be the same thing - and actually, Scrangie has a post with pictures that shows exactly that. Scroll down to the end of Scrangies post to see the difference between the original, the original with matte top coat, the Suede version and finally the Suede version with a regular top coat. Gabrielle over at The Edge of Sanity has also posted swatches worth taking a closer look at. Was I sold? Oh yes siree!

We'll Always Have Paris · Lincoln Park After Dark · Ink
Russian Navy · You Don't Know Jacques · Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees

I actually wore the gorgeous blue "Russian Navy Suede" on my nails last weekend, and it was immensely easy to work with. It required almost no clean up, which made the whole manicure a real breeze, and one coat was enough to make the color deep and opaque. Unfortunately I noticed tip wear after only 24 hours, but I guess it should be expected for a manicure without base or top coat.

Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatics

I never mentioned that I ordered the Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatics from piCture pOlish in Australia back in mid-August either. Funny story actually. I was sitting on the fence as usual, waiting for God knows what, and failed to decide whether or not to order these gorgeous multi-chrome polishes - until one of them actually got discontinued. Bah. I hate it when that happens, and apparently I never learn. So I sent a few e-mails, asked around, and managed to find one bottle of the "503 Rainforest" with my name on it. When that was done I figured I could add the rest of the Multi Chromatics to my order while already at it, and as said.. well, as done. After a lot of e-mails back and forth my package was finally on its way from Australia to Norway, and they certainly didn't disappoint me as I ripped open the bubble wrap to reveal them. Since I suffer from a mild case of OCD, it hurt a little inside as I discovered that I had received one of the new bottles, but at least I got them all before it was too late.

• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 502 Sands
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 503 Rainforest
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 504 Twilight
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 505 Eclipse
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 506 Reef
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 520 Molten
• Ozotic Pro Multi Chromatic 521 Sunset

502 · 503 · 504 · 505 · 506 · 521 · 520

I might, reluctantly, agree on what many nail bloggers have said many times already, the shipping was a bit steep, but shipping is what it is - glass bottles do weigh a bit. piCture pOlish now offer international shipping through DHL, which means it'll arrive within days even if you're on the other side of the world from Australia. Quite neat if you ask me, and piCture pOlish have the best customer service you could ever ask for.

And as a little bonus I give you the link to two bloggers showing extraordinary swatches of the now discontinued 502 Rainforest and the magnificent 505 Eclipse! If you poke around Google you'll find swatches of most of these polishes, some good - and some.. not so good. Keep in mind that these babies need a black base to shine, as they are too sheer to use on their own.

Le Métier de Beauté Rock 'n' Romance

Having typed this much about nail polish already, I might as well tell you about the limited edition Nordstrom exclusive Le Métier de Beauté Rock 'n' Romance nail polish set I've had sitting on my desk for a couple of months now. I would never have had the chance to get my hands on these beauties if it hadn't been for the sweet and wonderful Blushing Noir - thank you a million times, dear! This set consists of four polishes: "True Romance", "Heat of the Night", "Midnight Rendevouz" and "Chrome Passion", and even though the bottles are indeed tiny (about 4 ml each), they are so.. extravagant. So classy. So sophisticated.

True Romance · Heat of the Night · Midnight Rendevouz · Chrome Passion

If you'd like to read more about these beauties, seeing more pictures and swatches? Please visit Blushing Noir.

Do you indulge in the occasional nail polish haul?

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '11