Just a quick post of Mom's nails - she wanted to wear Butter London Wallis just about as soon as I bought it, and when I wore it (original post HERE) she was reminded, and finally got around to it a few months ago:
I am trying to "force" myself to post more than just on the weekends - not that posting is a chore, just that it can be tricky to fit it in. So if I catch myself just sitting, during a commercial or something, I give myself a mental kick to go edit pictures or do something constructive =) Not that there's anything wrong with zoning out or relaxing but I have way too many little things that need catching up to waste time on a daily basis LOL
I was excited to receive these colors from a Butter London product rep:
Here's a closer look at the bottles - left to right Disco Biscuit, Royal Navy & Yummy Mummy - which as I mention in the vid was supposed to be a lip gloss which is currently still on it's way =)
I have a bunch of other haul vids that I recorded & uploaded & then never got around to taking bottle pictures for the blog post ... in addition to all the NOTD pics I have to edit ... and finish up books from (ugh) last year & then start this years list ... in other words plenty to do but for now I'm headed out to lunch with Mom LOL.
The name isn't actually as naughty as it sounds - I guess it's slang for having a good time, like a dance or party =) Butter London Knees Up a gorgeous red:
I really could have left it alone but I tried to Konad it ... and I say tried because it wasn't one of my more successful designs, I used Sally Hanson Tassel & Bundle Monster image plate bm11:
They're supposed to be little hearts kind of strung across your nails ... but it came out so faint I really wasn't totally happy.
Mom had been wanting to wear Butter London Big Smoke for quite a while, and when I picked up Sally Hansen Glass Slipper she decided to pair them together. Here's a "before" shot of BS on its own:
So, my unworn pile ... heap ... well, let's be honest, mountain is getting a tad out of control. Just a tad =) So I had the thought I should try to do more manicures that use more than 1 color. I wanted a lot of bling, and I thought that Butter London The Black Knight & Sally Hansen Lady Luck went really well together. The bit of pink in TBK matches perfectly with LL. But my first attempt, a totally blinged out funky french, didn't sit well with me:
It just came out so think & chunky looking. I think it looks quite a bit better in these pics than it did IRL. It was ridiculously late, but I couldn't stand it - since the polish wasn't completely set, it wasn't horrible to remove, even though they're both glitters. I redid the mani with my original idea, going with TBK as my main color & LL for accent nails - I considered switching on my other hand but I ended up doing them both the same:
Then I had the not so great idea to matte-ify them ... then I thought if I dabbed on some clear to bring the glitter out, it might look like little gems on the matte background. Final result was all of that but not a bag of chips if you know what I mean LOL. Matte, yes, and little gems, yes - but one of my better ideas, no I don't think so:
Which is your favorite? Mine is obviously the middle version, but everyone has their own taste so maybe you like #1 or #3 =) Leave a comment & let me know!
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:
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:
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
I ended up liking Butter London Wallis a lot better on my nails than in the bottle - I mean, I liked it in the bottle I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, but on my nails it really came to life. It started looking more gold in certain lights - unless I held it up nexto anything actually gold, or actually green, then it looked green again LOL. And not as dark as I expected either, a really nice fall shade:
I have my first Halloween tutorial recorded, just have to squeeze in editing =) Thanks for reading.
This one was .... odd. Butter London makes decent polishes - not worth the $14 price tag I don't think, but if you catch them on sale you might indulge. But All Hail the Queen hid it's beauty in almost every light, and I didn't get enough time in the sun to really enjoy it. & that honkin big square bottle is mighty awkward also, even with the fake part of the top off. Anyway, if you enlarge the sun pic, you'll get just a hint of the different colored shimmers that are hiding in this apparently drab polish:
So, my first Butter London polish. Gorgeous color, nice enough formula ... worth the price tag? I'm still debating that. I don't regret buying them, but I don't think I'd want to pay full price.
Big Smoke is the kind of dark blue that is extremely dark but still definitely blue. Not one of those secretive vampy colors that only you know is not black. I wore it on its own for day 1:
polish. Gorgeous color, nice enough formula ... worth the price tag? I'm still debating that. I don't regret buying them, but I don't think I'd want to pay full price.
is the kind of dark blue that is extremely dark but still definitely blue. Not one of those secretive vampy colors that only you know is not black. I wore it on its own for day 1:
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