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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Early Christmas Haul ... And A Rant on Video Formats

The rant has to come first.  Because I have been SO PISSED OFF for like 3 days.  Partly I can only blame myself, but mainly I'm blaming Canon & Microsoft.
 
SO - I did just enough research, in looking into my new camera, to know that it shot videos in a different format than my old camera, and that Movie Maker does not support that format.  OK, so I'll have to switch to a new program, Live Movie Maker was supposed to support it.  SUPPOSED TO.  So I shoot, not one or even two but three different vids - a tutorial, a haul & a vlog - & I download Live Movie Maker ... and then, THEN I find the ugly truth:  If you can actually get it to work with .mov files, you have serious luck & have won the codec lottery.
 
Everywhere I look online are people having the same problems.  First it imports the video but I get no sound.  I updated my codec pack, and then I get nothing!  No sound OR video.  So I try converting it using my normal video converter - one format was half-crap with the sound unsynced, the other was total crap quality although the sound mostly matched.  WTF.  Canon, why would you do this to me & everyone else who's not running a Mac that will actually accept this format without a fight?
 
Eventually, after digging around online & searching forums, I found a work-around solution.  Turns out ZoomBrowser - which is Canon's software - actually has a feature I never had cause to use before, and can convert .mov's to .avi's.  After my first attempt I wasn't to optimistic but I gave it a try with crossed fingers.  Wonder of wonders it mercifully worked.  However, I thought I'd then be able to use them in trusty old Movie Maker - nope.  Denied.  So I still had to learn Live Movie Maker. 
 
I still hate it so far - it's all icons & no real (apparently now "old-school") drop-down menus, much like Office 2010.  But I managed to fumble my way through editing this haul vid together.  I hope you guys like it because it's made of blood & sweat & tears!  I'm still not 100% happy with how the quality ended up after conversion, and I'm still working on lighting & stuff, but ... here's my first vid with the new camera (I do recommend checking it out actually on YT if you can since the widescreen is a bit more of a smoosh than the 4:3 was):
 
 

 
On to the bottle pics - like last time, I didn't try to keep every shopping trip separate for the pics, I just sorted them out by brand.  First up are these gorgeous Sally Hansen Gem Crush glitters, several of which look like dupes to my eye for colors in the China Glaze Eye Candy collection:

 
Top row:  Showgirl Chic, Cha-Ching, Big Money, Bling-tastic (Best polish name EVAR!  You guys know that's my word LOL)  Bottom row:  Glitz Gal, Lady Luck, Razzle Dazzler, Be-Jeweled.
 
On to the China Glaze - as a side note, I don't remember if I mention in the vid but I only found the Eye Candy collection at one Ulta, so it may be more widely available now, or you may have to search it out:
 

Top row, from the Let it Snow collectionGlittering Garland, Ring in the Red, Blue Year's Eve, Tinsel Town, Icicle.  Bottom row:  Marry a Millionaire & Some Like it Haute (from the Eye Candy collection) & CG in the City (from the Metro collection).
 
Next OPI:

 
Top row, from the Muppets collectionGettin' Miss Piggy With It, Designer ... De Better!, Warm & Fozzie.  Bottom row, from Ulta's selection of colors that are being discontinued:  Ali's Big Break & Gargantuan Green Grape Matte.
 
From the Color Club Scent-suos collection, that I was shocked to find at Sallys:
 
 
Orna-minted, Kiss Me Mistletoe, Sugar Plum Yum.
 
One lonely Orly, from the Holiday Soiree collection:
 
 
 
L'Oreal, from the Birds of a Feather displays:
 
 
Raven's Strength & Amazon's Flash.
 
Butter London, from the absurd Dressing Table box set ... I tried, I  really did, to resist - I left them behind once but the second time I just gave in to the contrast of dark & light blings:
 
 
 
Elf - there was another set of 5 at Big Lots, but the colors were more boring to me than these:
 
 
Blue Mist, Purple Pleaser, Lilac, Fuchsia, Mango Madness.
 
And finally the Revlons:
 
 
Carbonite, Silver (which is not ... it's seriously just grey) & Pink Again.
 
So, I'm all set for a while I think ... until I give in to that urge for more magnetic polish, hmmm... =)
 
As a side note, huge wide screen vids take eons to upload.  I prepped most of this before bed, but the vid took like 3 hours so that's why it's getting posted in the morning before work.  I'm really hoping we're in good enough shape I won't have to do 10 hours today - if I get home at a reasonable hour, I'll be catching up my posts &, if you people would like, posting the tut for the manicure I'm wearing in the haul vid.  Thanks for reading
 
~Colette


 

17 comments:

  1. I might able to help (studying 3rd year of Film and TV). There is a great converter that's free called Square 5 MPEG Streamline. It's a little complicated at first but once you get the hang of it's super easy and has every codec and conversion settings you could possibly want. If you're looking for a better editing program, I've heard Adobe Premier is really good. I've never used it before but I lot of my classmate say it's fairly easy and more effective.
    It's a shame that Final Cut Pro is strictly Mac, it's the best editing program IMO. And the latest Final Cut Pro Express was designed specially for Youtube users.

    Gosh, I sound like such a nerd! I hope any of that helps.

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  2. Hi Colette--Glad to see that you were able to get some of those Muppets colors. they are very pretty and have cute names. see you tomorrow for turkey day :)
    -Rachel

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  3. OMG I'm dying to get my hands on that Sally Hansen Gem Crush line. I haven't seen it where I am in Canada yet... maybe I never will... sniff. But I'll maintain hope. I mean, I really don't need any more polish anyway (repeat until I believe it)... Love your blog Colette!

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  4. Wow, amazing haul! I love all the colors you picked :)

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  5. Hi!

    Do you know if any nail polish brand has a red hologram in their collection? The brands I'm mostly interested are: OPI, China Glaze, Zoya, Essie, Color Club and Orly. Those brands are easy to get even here in Finland =)

    I love your blog! =)

    Mari

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  6. Crikey! Nice haul you've got there :)

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  7. Thought I'd finally comment on your blog to post this:

    http://handbrake.fr/details.php

    It's a video format converter. It's a bit complicated to use, but it may work to transcribe your videos into a format you can use in your favoured movie editor. I've used to to transcode a ton of movies for my iPad.

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  8. Hi! I have China Glaze's CG in the city and it is a very pretty glittery purple. It is very sheer though, it took me practicly 7 coats to make it just right. but its very pretty and i love it!

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  9. I just saw those new Sally Hansen's last night at CVS but decided not to get any yet since I just bought all the China Glaze Eye Candy colors on Tuesday from Ulta. So I want to compare them first online more to see if there's any major differences, especially since the Sally Hansen line has 8 colors and the China Glaze is 6. The major difference I first noticed was the bright blue Sally Hansen, Bling-tastic...but that one just immediately reminded me of Revlon's Blue Mosaic. So as excited as I was last night to first see the new Sally Hansen's collection, I ended up a little bummed out overall since they mostly look like colors I already have. I am excited though cause I ordered the Black Knight duo from Butter London earlier this week as well as Fairy Lights by itself, they're having a 30% off sale on their site, so I can't wait till they arrive.

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  10. ALY - Thanks =) I'll definitely check some of them out if I find I can't stand this current work-around. I try not to get like an old person, all "technology is moving too fast!" but I feel like upgrades should be actual upgrades that make things easier!

    ANON - china glaze does have a somewhat holo red, but it's an old discontinued color - the most current one that comes to mind is from Nubar's Prizms collection, I think the red holo was called Prize =)

    CLAUDIA - thanks! I'll check it out =)

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  11. Oooh, I would absolutely love to see the ELFpolishes in action, haven't ordered any for myself because I'd like to see if they're any good!

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  12. Decided on 3 of the Sally Hansen Gem Crush polishes today. I got Lady Luck, Big Money and Be-Jeweled. They're the three that I decided are different enough from polishes I already have that I wanted to buy them. I'm really digging the purple flecks in with the gold glitter in Big Money!

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  13. Ah God I want every single one of the Gem Crush shades ... I had no idea I loved glitter so very much until my last mani (post forthcoming) with SH's Strobe Light.
    Didn't even know that Gargantuan Green Grape came in matte. Interested in seeing that swatched, for sure!

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  14. So pretty! I was trying to find the gem crush collection, but I had no luck :( Oh I have Gargantuan green grape matte! Its very pretty But Still Kind of wish I had it in non-matte because it changes the color when I add a top coat.

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  15. Wow those L'Oreal ones sure look gorgeous! If you plan on wearing them any time soon, please post a NOTD!

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  16. I haven't seen these Sally Hansen colors yet. I'm going to have to go to Walgreen's and stalk the makeup aisle. I'm sorry about your video headaches, hope some of those links above help!

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  17. I picked up the Elf polishes at my Big Lots and have had a lot of chipping. Took it off after a day. Goof thing they were so cheap!

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Thanks for commenting! I will read every comment, and try to respond to any questions =)