Monday 9 December 2013

Bye for now!

Hi guys! So you may have noticed (probably not seeing as I'm not a big blogger) that I have abandoned my blog.

I have done this partly because I felt that I had nothing much to share that hasn't been posted all over the nail blogging world already. Also because I don't find it interesting writing about polish. I like to read other peoples opinions and just look at all the pretties. When it comes to my nails, I love painting them but I'm not huge on sharing them any more for some reason.

I do have some good news though! I have started a separate blog! It is called "Lost in the Lands". It is a blog all about my life living and working a tiny aboriginal community.

Screen shot of my new blog, Lost in the Lands
If you are interested in learning a bit more about what the indigenous lands in Australia are like to work and live in, drop by and have a read. I'd love to answer any questions as well! I have a little about myself and my fiancĂ©, James in the "About Me" tab and also a little about the community I live in. 

I think I will keep up with this new blog. I really enjoy sharing my experiences with other people. I have experienced some wonderful and terrible things while being out here and they're just too interesting not to post about!

As for Dusty Swatcher, I am going to give it a rest for now. I may return if I someday have the urge to start nail blogging again. I will however continue to follow the nail blogs that I already am.

Pop over and tell me what you think of the new blog.

Jess

Monday 10 June 2013

Aussie Nails Monday - PINK!

Hello Friends!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was very busy with work and then I got sick... Anywho, that's boring so here are my nails for AN Monday this week! Just a quick post today...

Natio - Vivd Fuchsia topped with Emily de Molly -Black and White Love Affair.

 I have to admit that I didn't do this mani until today (Tuesday) I was going to give pink week a miss until I saw Kelly's mani on FaceBook, It was simple and I kinda loved it, so decided to recreate. You can see Kelly's AN Monday mani here on her blog.

This Natio polish is one of the MANY polishes that Natalia sent me in her care package, Not one that I personally would have bought myself... BUT I LOVE IT! It went on so nicely, this is 2 coats alone, this polish has such a nice formula that the nail pretty much painted itself, I didn't even have to do any clean up which was a relief as I don't think I could handle the smell of acetone today. Another big thank you to Natalia for sending me this along with so many other polished that you can check out on my Epic Nail Mail post! Oh I also might just say that Black and White Love Affair also applies like a dream. I did one coat and then filled in a few gaps by simply dipping the brush in the polish and picking up a heap of glitter! No fishing required for this one!

So I hope you are all enjoying your week so far, hope to be back with another post soon!


Friday 17 May 2013

Epic Nail Mail!!

Hello friends!
                    On Tuesday this week I was blessed with the biggest and bestest nail mail in the whole entire world. I had seen the Australis Glitterati collection was on special at Kmart for 75 odd cents! So I jumped on facebook and asked if one of the Australian nail polish addicts would be so kind as to get them for me and post them to me and I would send them the money for it. Natalia was the first of many to jump in and say they could help me out. As soon as she heard of my living conditions and the distance between the shops and myself she started planning. She wanted to put together a care package of sorts and that she did! Instead of sending me the 4 polishes I originally asked for she sent me 57! (One isn't included in pics because I had it out to use in my next mani, its Ulta3 Lilac Bloom).
L-R Ulta3 Luck Bamboo, Pearly Grape, Rustic Red, Cherrylicious and Chinchilly

L-R Ulta3 Pink Peony, Party Shoes, Pink Supreme and Pale Dahlia
L-R Ulta3 Get Teal, Blue Marlin, Soft Hydrangea, Corsican Rose, Mojito and (Pacific Fever)

L-R Australis Lookin' For Some Hot Stuff, Studio 54, Boogie Wonderland, Funky Town, Castle on a Cloud, L'Oreal Mysterious Icon and Riviera Lavendar

L-R OPI Polka.Com, Island Girl 1143B, Sinful Colors Sugar Rush, Rainstorrn and Portmans Dazzling Blue 

L-R Essence Miss Universe, Prom-Berry, Icy Princess, Punk Royal and Peel off base coat


L-R Gloss 'n Sparkle Pink Cigarette, Alanna Renee Tranquil, Shades of Phoenix  Dionysus,  Femme Fatale Ebon Roses, Loony Lacquer Apple Jack and Loki's Lacquer Purple Passion

L-R Candeo Orchid, A Girl Obsessed Fruity Pebbles, Love Thy Polish Milkshake, Etude House ???, Covergirl ???, Savvy Pink Champagne
Might just add here... I almost died when I saw she had sent me Fruity Pebbles! Despite me not telling anyone, it was my biggest lemming! I have it on right now over L'oreal Riviera Lavender and I never, ever want to ever take it off ever!

L-R Sally Hansen Mermaid's Tale, Showgirl Chic, Violet VOOM!, Scarab and Lava

L-R Milani Whimsical, Cyberspace, Orly Goth, Robo Romance, Natio Vivid Fuchsia, Nude Shimmer and  Esmalte  Flocados Espectral
That's not all though! She sent me 2 boxes in the post. The other box was my pamper and spoil box filled with all sorts of goodies. I got bath bombs, bath salts, nail files, a clay mask, some nice shampoo and conditioner, blotting papers, moisturisers, chocolates, lollies, AMAZING smelling tea, PEDI SOX(!!!) and all kinds of other goodies!

I have had to round off my nails due to a whole heap of breaks and I really just do not like them so nail posts in the near future may be sparse, however I am planning on trying to start to gather photos from around the town over the weekend to give you a small introduction to Jameson Community!

Have a great weekend!

Monday 6 May 2013

Hello friends!

Its that time of the week again for another Aussie Nails Monday mani!

This weeks theme was Bling Bling! I did order some rhinestones and studs a few weeks ago hoping they would arrive on time, how wrong I was! So I decided to go for some purple and holo glitter placement nails! This is the only glitter I have until my order arrives and this is its second appearance on my relatively new blog... But I think I made it work.

I used Ulta3 Spring Break. This is 2 coats, it could have used 3 however I was in a race against the sun to get them done to take a nice outdoor photo so settled with 2.
Here you can see my horrid little finger nail that I broke yesterday! My other nails are nubbinised as much as possible without filing into my nail bed... NO THANKS! So as I said yesterday, I've slopped another 2 coats of duri on and I'm going to sit on my bum and sulk.

Also today is a very special day! It is my "little" brother, Sam's 21st birthday!
Sam on the right


Sam and I are very close. We never used to be but in 2008 he had a bad motocross accident and broke his neck. I was at the hospital almost every day with him, cheering him up and bringing him Boost Juice! Luckily he did not damage his spinal cord and has made an almost full recovery! I even moved back home to help around the house while he was doing his rehab. After that we have been insanely close! Then in 2009 I was hospitalised with pneumonia and I was put in ICU and then isolation. Anyone who came into my room had to suit up in a plastic gown, gloves, mask and cap. (Sam is being a rebel below and not wearing a cap.) Despite it being a big pain to see me Sam was there every chance he got!
Here he is, being a goof and cheering me up when I was in isolation at hospital!


Sam (Left) and I (Right) as wee lil kiddies :)

So would just like to say a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sam! Love you dude!

Thanks for reading and have a great night ladies!
xx

Saturday 4 May 2013

Broken Nail! :(

Hello friends!

You know when you're flicking through IG or other blogs and you see someone with a broken nail and you think to yourself "oh you poor girl, that wont happen to me... I'm too careful!" well you are wrong!

I got my nail snagged in the tag of my dress this morning as I was putting it on! Just like that... SNAP! It's gone!


Now I have mega nubs and have cracked the shits and I don't want to paint my nails until they have grown out!

I've slopped two coats of duri on and I'm off to sit on the couch and sulk!

Hope you all have a better day than me!

MY STASH!

Hello friends!

Today I spent a looong time typing up my stash list!
If you do happen to have a squiz, please excuse the bad categorising of polish types... It's in Jess language!

Soo until I know how to add a button on my page which takes you directly to my list, this will direct you there!

Phew! I should have started that a long time ago!

Nighty night fellow nail luverrrrrrs!

Friday 3 May 2013

Hi guys!

For those of us who were sad to see Paint It Blue 2013 end, there is a solution! Paint it ALL THE COLOURS! Of course! What a brilliant idea! Similar to that of Aussie Nails Monday with a weekly theme but it goes all week long! You can do as many or as little of the theme as you wish. Basically its just another group for us to show off our freshly painted nails and to swoon over other girls designs haha!


Paint It All The Colours
Anyone can join! Just head over to the facebook page and send a request.

This week is week one of Paint It All The Colours and the colour that was selected to start us all of was... PINK! What a lovely change from blue. I usually don't wear blue, however I was open to any colour than blue this week so I decided to give it a go... After wearing pink for these last few days I think I am starting to enjoy it a little more. That is kinda the point of these groups though, to get you out of your comfort zone!

So here we have it... My first set of pink nails.

I must admit I have done these nails before. I loved the combo so much that I decided to do it again! This is OPI DS - Reserve and China Glaze - Material Girl on my accent. I used 2 coats of each on each nail, however the CG was very clumpy and I had to kind of mush it down with my finger before I applied Seche. (Time to invest in some nail polish thinner I think).
This is soooo sparkly IRL, I was very displeased with the photos I got.

Next up I decided to give one of my untrieds a go. In January when I left my job as Assistant Manager at Coles Express one of my employees, Khayat, was very sad to see me go. He had a farewell cake made up for me and then he went straight to Myer and asked the woman to get him "The best nail polish in the store!" She gave him a gift pack of Estee Lauder Nail Polishes that came with a cute little makeup bag! (I don't know why she thought those were the best.) I've never really seen anyone using Estee Lauder polishes before, so I was weary of the quality of them. When it comes to polish, top brands and high price don't necessarily mean good quality, however I thought this one was top notch! 
Black Forest Cake! It was delicious.

From Left to Right: 21 Pure Red, 08 Purple Passion, C2 Porcelain and 06 Berry Hot.
Aren't they adorable???
I of course used Berry Hot as it is pink week!


Like most mini polishes, the caps on these are pretty tiny which makes holding the bush a bit tricky, however I was surprised to find that the brush itself was pretty good! Nice and wide, but not too wide and good quality. The polish seemed to paint itself almost! I love it when polishes smooth themselves out and have a nice even coat.
This was opaque in 2 coats but I did 3 for good luck followed by a big ol' slop of Seche over the top.
This is not what I would call a "Jess polish", hot, hot pink with shimmer! Not me at all, however the longer I stared at it (especially in the sun) the more I loved it! The delicate hints of purple really do this polish justice.

That's it from me today. I'd love to know if you have any Estee Lauder polishes and what you think of them!

Sunday 14 April 2013

Week 2 of Blue Nails for Autism

This April I am painting my nails blue every single day for Autism Awareness. You can follow my progress on Instagram - @radjecca. Or if you would like to join in you can request to join the Facebook Group.

There are many amazing manis on there as well as silent Auctions on custom made one-of-a-kind nail polishes! All of the profits from these sales will be going to ASPEC Australia! To see some of the polishes that have been made so far head over to Paint It Blue 2013 blog!



Monday 8th.
First up this week I decided I needed to use some holo! I used Layla Ocean Rush. I love this polish, I have had it for ages and it is by far my most used and possible favourite polish so far!

Tuesday 9th.
How could I not use Essence - Blue Addicted over Essence - Hard to Resist. I love Blue Addicted sooooo much, I still can not believe that they discontinued it! (lucky I have 6 bottles hehe)

Wednesday 10th.
Dots! Polishes used in this mani were Essence - Walk on Air (dark) and Essence - Let's Get Lost (Light) Let's Get Lost stained my nails and I had to buff them out, nothing else was going to work. I was not happy with this mani but I did have a killer of a headache when I did it.

Thursday 11th.
My first Splatter mani! I had so much fun with this! I tried using PVA glue on my skin instead of tape for easier clean up and it worked a treat! It was much easier! I used Sinful Colors - Snow Me White for the base then Splattered Essence - Walk on Air, Essence - Let's Get lost and a bit more white to create this look.


Friday 12th.
I was in a mega rush on Friday but my bottle of Essence - BBC Orange Sunset from the Sun Club Trend Edition happened to be sitting next to my bottle of Australis - Blue Tiger and I though they would go really well together! They're OK I guess, not a huge fan and I left my camera at home so iPhone was the only option if I wanted to catch these in daylight :(
April 13th.
Another sunny day and another great opportunity to wear something holo! This is Sinful Colors - Endless Blue topped with OPI - Servin' up Sparkle, The glitter is much more holo and pretty IRL.

April 14th.
Last but not least is my personal favourite of the week. This is Essence - Nude Glam in Iced Latte with yet again, another appearance from Layla - Ocean Rush. I could not stop staring at these all day!!! Plus I was pretty impressed with how my dotting is getting better! I am very pleased with how my nails are looking now, this is the best they have ever look (health wise). I also jumped the guns here and did it for ANM tomorrow as the theme is polka dots!

Well, thanks again for reading! Hopefully I might have another post this time before my next weekly instalment  (Please don't hold it to me though :P)

Happy Sunday Everyone! xx




Saturday 6 April 2013

This April I am painting my nails blue every single day for Autism Awareness. You can follow my progress on Instagram - @radjecca. Or if you would like to join in you can request to join the Facebook group.

There are many amazing manis on there as well as silent Auctions on custom made one-of-a-kind nail polishes that will be sold in silent auctions! All of the profits from these sales will be going to ASPEC Australia! To see some of the polishes that have been made so far head over to the Paint It Blue 2013 blog!

So here are my manis so far this week...

Monday April 1st.
Today was not only the first Paint It Blue day, but also Aussie Nails Monday. This weeks theme was Inspired By Clothing. I chose to imitate the beautiful blue gradient of my favourite dress.
I started off with 3 coats of Sinful Colors - Snow Me White then using a sponge I added China Glaze - For Audrey and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away. 
This was my first time having a go at gradient nails. I am very pleased how they turned out!

Tuesday April 2nd.
April 2nd is the official Autism Awareness Day and Light It Up Blue, so I had a crack at some nail art to resemble some of the logos I have seen while reading about the cause.
I started off with 3 coats of Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, then added the blue which is Sinful Colors - Endless Blue. I used Endless Blue on my accent nails and drew the light bulb logo with Essence - French Manicure & Pedicure Pen.
I was very pleased with these and had trouble bringing myself to remove them for the next days mani.

Wednesday April 3rd.
Today I was in a bit of a rush so I just did a quick mani with Sinful Colors - Blue By You. I am in love with this colour, it has much more of a Teal-ish shimmer rather than light blue that shows in the pic.

Thursday April 4th.
Today I used my favourite blue that I own, L'oreal - Mystic Blue and added some silver holo glitter that Emma sent me in my Secret Santa package last year!

Friday April 5th.
I finally found some tape! So I decided to do the famous chevron mani using Essence - Hard to Resist topped with Kleancolor - Holo Blue. The girls at school loved this one and asked if I could bring some polishes and do their nails for them, so I asked the principal and he said yes!!!

Saturday April 6th.
I was feeling very uninspired and just in a bad mood in general so I went with a simple gradient using Sinful Colors - Snow Me White (On thumb, not shown), Maybelline Mini Colorama - Party Blue, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away, Sinful Colors - Endless Blue, L'oreal - Mystic Blue all toppped with Essence - Prince Charming from the Snow White Special Effect Topper Collection.

Sunday 7th April.
I tried to do water marble nails but I couldn't get the temperature of the water right and the polish just wouldn't spread out. After about an hour of fiddling with the temp, tyring different polishes and swearing I was in no mood so went for quick and easy French Tips using Essence - Underwater Love from the Show Me Your Toes Collection. I'm not sure why but this collection says that it is "toenail polish" I don't know what the difference would be, meh, works on fingernails too! I topped this off with an unnamed Satin blue glitter.

So that was my week of blue nails. Tomorrow is Aussie Nails Monday and the theme is Candy, I'm off to think of some blue candy I can try to interpret into nail art!!!

Happy Sunday Everyone xx






Indie Wish List

Here is my Indie Wish List so far:

Alanna Renee:
 - Purple Addiction
 - Pacific
 - Horcrux
 - Hedwig
 - Draught of Peace
 - Dementor
 - Chocolate Frog
 - Ablaze
 - Avada Kedavra
 - Fawkes
 - Stupefy

Femme Fatale:
 - Abyssal Reflections
 - Coldwraith
 - Crimson Acolyte
 - Ebon Roses
 - Fatal Attraction
 - Gilded Rose
 - Hydraxia
 - Lucent Ametrine
 - Mana Ruby
 - Miasma
 - Noble Garden
 - Spring Fling
 - Tricky Treats
 - Winter Hyacinth

Glam Polish:
 - Indigo
 - Jem
 - Nebula
 - Lilas
 - I.Q.
 - Lucky
 - Nite Sprite

Loony Lacquer:
 - Cinderella's Slippers

Love Thy Polish
 - Miss Bossy Pants
 - Girly Girl
 - Touch of Paradise
 - Royalty

Sayuri Nail Lacquer:
 - Fairy Kei

Gloss 'n Sparkle:
 - Hearts Afflutter
 - Sleepy Head
 - Purpetual Darkness
 - Sweet Charity
 - Fruit Tingle
 - Passion Pop
 - Blue Monday
 - Strawberry Jive
 - Retrovertigo
 - Cuticle Oil

Cirque:
 - Cape Liz
 - Curiosity
 - Cypress
 - Dark Horse
 - French Roast
 - Hellebone
 - Lapis
 - Never Nude
 - Ophelia
 - Planet Caravan
 - Tibetan Nights

Crows Toes
 - Bone Daddy
 - Cheshire
 - Heartless
 - Triple Black Diamond

Emily de Molly:
 - Ruby Soho
 - Blue Print
 - Cosmic Forces
 - Somber Pantry
 - Girls Best Friend
 - A Beautiful Mistake
 - It's Just a Phase
 - Sweet As
 - Harmony
 - Regal Beginnings
 - A Certain Shade of Green
 - Dark Depths
 - When Planets Collide
 - Stuck on Blue
 - It's Complicated
 - Cuticle Oil

Enchanted Polish:
 - Hot Chocolate
 - Freeze Machine

Girly Bits:
 - Boo-berry
 - Arctic Sunrise
 - Cosmic Ocean
 - Daddy's Little Girl
 - Eggnogoholic
 - Fathomless
 - Hot Shot
 - Magically Delicious
 - Purple Potion
 - Razzle Dazzle
 - Rogue

HARE Polish:
 - A Positive
 - Afterglow
 - Asteroid Turf
 - Atolla
 - Cast in Bronze
 - Hooky at the Hamlet
 - Midsummers Midnight
 - Pegasus
 - The Sky Was Pink
 - The Teen Queen
 - Why so Igneous?

Rainbow Honey:
 - A Little Kindness
 - Kawako
 - Kitsune
 - Cuticle Balm

Smitten Polish:
 - Candy Kisses
 - Confection
 - Hocus Pocus
 - Nerds Redux
 - Pink Goes Good With Green
 - Pink Lemonade II
 - Who Steal's a Dead Woman's Shoes??
 - Winter is Coming
 - Travelling By Bubble

I know it is lots, I am hoping now that I am working I can start to make a dent in this list. If you have any of these polishes on a blog sale etc., or if you know someone who does please let me know!

Wednesday 3 April 2013

My First Blog.


This is my first blog… Ever. So I guess I will start off with a little bit about me.

My name is Jess Curnow. I am 23 years old. I am a self diagnosed nail polish addict.
In January 2013 I moved from my home state of South Australia to a remote indigenous community in Western Australia called Jameson (Mantamaru) with my boyfriend, James. Jameson is located approx. 900kms south west of Alice Springs, NT.
Great Central Road, WA/NT Border
I work here at the Jameson Remote Community School as an EA (Education Assistant). My work mainly involves helping the teachers with the children. There are two classes in the school. “Little Kids” and “Big Kids”. The “Little Kids” class has students from pre-primary up to year 4 and the “Big Kids” class is year 5 up to year 12.
It may seem that such a wide age group and learning stages in one class is a real handful and not very beneficial to the children, however we are lucky to have a maximum of 18 children in the school at one time. The average attendance of the children means there is around 5-6 kids in each class on a normal day, sometimes less or none at all. There is always one teacher and either myself or the IEA (Indigenous Education Assistant) in each class, so the children get a lot of one on one teaching. Because of their non attendance the children are very behind with their learning, keeping in mind that we teach in English and their first language is Ngaanyatjarra and most of them start school with little or no English. So its fair to say our school works differently than “mainstream” schools. I find it is really challenging and keeps my brain active all the time. I love it.
I have been addicted to polish since Christmas 2011 when James paid for me to have acrylics put on as a gift and I wasn't happy with the finish they had on them so I painted them… And then it begun, I couldn't have enough polish and I still can’t! I am not an advanced polish-aholic like some of the girls I have met and grown to love, however my nail art is slowly becoming better and more creative and my swatches neater. I no longer have my acrylics on, thanks to the support and suggestions from the AN community my nails are starting to flourish and look the best they ever have! What better time to start a blog about them then?
On this blog I plan to post about my nails and the polish I use on them. I am going to mix it up a bit and blog about my life here in Jameson. I think it could make for an interesting read!
While I have your attention I would just like to ask that you please be patient with me. As I mentioned and as the title states, this is my first ever blog and to be honest, I have no idea what I am doing. I have discovered some very helpful “blogging for beginners” websites that I am going to sit down and study over the weekend and slowly I will get the hang of it.
Thanks for reading!