Yes, this is a lazy post, but I'm a lazy girl. It's one of those days where I don't have a creative bone in my body so I'm skipping the verbal mumbo jumbo and giving you some pretty pictures instead.

I just won Chanel Troublant and Palpitant on eBay for eight bucks. That's for both of them. Holy hell maybe today is getting better.

Bourjois Bleu Magnetique - a very pretty but somewhat dupeable blue. A bit frosty as you can see from the brushstrokes. I love these old Bourjois bottles though so I couldn't pass on it even though I probably have a lot of other blues like it.

Ruby Kisses Creamy Purple - Oh man, old Ruby Kisses had the most AMAZING creme formula. It's thin enough to not go on goopy but thick enoug for nice coverage in a couple of coats. Beautiful. This colour is delicate and pretty, which is definitely not my style, but I still like it a lot.

Clarins 230 (over purple) - My beautiful Clarins 230 was a gift from a lovely gal and I adore her for it. My pic does not do this colour justice. In different angles it shines anywhere from gold to red to orange, green and purple. Simply amazing. If you see this anywhere consider trading your grandma for it.

Icing Deep Sea - I hate to do this to you, but this is discontinued. I've lusted after it for many a year, first salivating over swatches at nailgal only to find that buying Icing polishes outside an actual Icing store is damn near impossible. I managed to get it through a trade, and now I have Icing "fairies" who shop on my behalf when the new stuff comes out and mail it over yonder. A lovely deep blue with a hint of teal. Love it.

Icing Dirty Girl - Another Icing that is long gone from their stores. What a fabulous name too. From other pictures I had seen I thought that this was a straight up steel grey, but IRL it's definitely more blue. Very nice too.

Hard Candy Stop - Yes, Hard Candy. Stop. Stop making me think I could forego all other reds and love only you. Only you forever. Marry me.

Stargazer 138 - Do not be put off by the fact that Stargazer polishes are so cheap. I was for a long time, and I'm missing out on gorgeousness that looks like this. Simply stunning.

Elle 08 - I bought this one locally, and very cheap too. I love foils and this is as bright and inyo'face as the picture suggests. Highly pigmented for random no name dollar store polish. I was expecting it to be super sheer. Ugh I don't do sheers.

Icing Pink Sparkle - The more effeminate sister of Icing Grape-A-Licious, Pink Sparkle is nothing short of incredible. This is ONE COAT. One coat people! Run out and buy it if you can get past the spectacularly ganky Icing brushes. This has also satisfied my lemming for Superstar Rising Star Razzberry.

Lippmann Don't Tell Mama - The friend who sold this to me wanted to offload it because it looked too black to her, and while I do have to agree - In most lights DTM is pretty much black, it's worth it for that gorgeous green glow it gets under lights or out in the sun. I can't wait for Birthday Party either!

China Glaze It's 5 O Clock Somewhere - I never thought I'd own this colour, but I should know better than most to never say never. I've had so many awesome polishes make their way to me through the sheer kindness of my girls and I love them for it. Big hugs to my ChG fairy. You know who you are dollface. *smooch*

Models Own Blue Gem - I bought five of these recently, and I'm still not sure how I feel about them. The polishes are quite thick, and the bottles don't have any ball bearings in them to help shake up the polish. Other than that, with a little thinner I guess they come out okay. Blue Gem dries matte as it is technically a neon, but this pic is what it looks like with top coat. It's a really nice blurple.

Well see you next week. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

China Glaze - Watermelon Rind

I like China Glaze more than OPI.

There. I said it. I've just always found their formula and colour range to be superior and I'm likely to fawn over their collections 90% more of the time than I do OPI. But China Glaze has done something recently that tests my loyalty. It makes me re-evaluate how much I love them.

You know I love you China Glaze... But c'mon. This is ridonkulous.

Head2ToeBeauty.com used to be the place I bought all my China Glaze, Essie, Color Club, Misa and occasionally OPI. Customer service was good, and shipping was reasonable. The price was cheap. They sell at trade prices to the general public. I live in a country where China Glaze retails at anywhere from $19.95 all the way to $29.95. Exceptional, yes?

Exceptionally BAD.

So as you can clearly see, H2T ensured I got more bang for my buck. That is until recently when China Glaze prohibited them from shipping their products outside the US.

I really don't understand this. Are the retailers in countries outside the US complaining to China Glaze's parent company that online etailers are restricting their trade by offering a better deal? I believe that H2T has purchased the products from China Glaze, and therefore ownership has transferred upon payment. It should be up to H2T where they send their goods and how much they charge for them.

If its the age old "sending polish via airmail" argument, then they would simply change their shipping methods to only allow international courier delivery. It's legal and a valid option. H2T will no doubt lose a lot of business over this decision and therefore they will buy less stock from China Glaze.

It just seems like such a bad, bad move. Restricting the circulation of your product is very very bad PR.

So now here we are on the eve of the release of 50 new fabulous China Glaze glitters and my purchase options just keep getting narrower and narrower.

Not cool, China Glaze. Not Cool.

I tell you, its some sort of freaky black hole time warp where the good old stuff goes to retire.

Like Florida! But for nail polish. You understand!!

My latest huge package *snicker* arrived a few days ago, and honestly, I didn't think that I'd be able to top the last one. BUT I DID.

Are you seeing this crap? Seriously? This stuff has all been discontinued for quite some time now, but here it is, sitting in front of me, good as new. I love you Japan. Seriously, I do.

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Don't worry, I'm as surprised as you are. I had previously written off Avon in regards to doing anything out of the realm of "safe" colours. You know, the salon specials. Sheers, pinks, mauves, corals and red if you're looking for something spicy. But then I found these ladies on eBay and my interest was piqued to say the least.

When they arrived, I was pretty much wowed. They are part of the Avon Nailwear line, which is now either discontinued or reformulated and repackaged. To be fair, these days Avon are a bit more up to speed and have some great blues, purples and a yellow in their current line, but these polishes came out in 2000, making them almost ten years old. (Still in perfect shape too!). Ten years ago you didn't see much in the way of blues and greens outside Revlon's Streetwear line, so bravo Avon! I had totally misjudged you!

Lets peek at the colours below.

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I've got incredibly pale skin. So much so that in winter (which it is now) it glows. The colder weather and almost a complete lack of sun seems to bring out the blue tone in my skin, which is a bummer because I often find myself drawn to warm toned colours like orange and gold.

Thankfully I was able to find some cool toned golds to tide me over for the winter, with my favourite being OPI - I Get A Kick Out Of Gold. A very close second would be Urban Decay Twisted, but we'll leave that post for another day.

The pro-wide brush (I know some of you hate it with a passion) made application a breeze and the formula was good. Two coats was all I needed. I've done my usual combo of Seche Base and Orly in a Snap as my base and top coats and today on day four I have a little bit of tip wear and a single chip on my right hand, which I guess is to be expected as it is my dominant hand.

OPI I Get A Kick Out Of Gold was part of the Holiday 2006 collection and has since been discontinued. It can still be found (although a bit pricier than retail) on eBay, and according to Steph from The Polish Addict Lippmann Nefertiti is a close alternative and can still be found on Lippmann's website.

I love exploring the public photo archive of Flickr, the Commons. You find the most amazingly beautiful shots like this one from the Brooklyn Museum.

I'm so incredibly fascinated by historical photographs. The change that the world cannot seem to stop saddens me. It looks so beautiful, so simple and so romantic.

Just wanted to share that with you all and I'll be putting up some further blog entries later today.

Yeah I know its like Thursday now, but gimme a break. I started this on Monday... and you know how it is.

The Lonely Island may be the greatest fake MC's on earth, but for the title of greatest fake rock band in history, there is simply no competition. It's gotta be Spinal Tap. Big Bottom is one of my Spinal Tap faves and no matter how many times I hear it, "mudflaps" and "bumcakes" somehow never become any less hilarious.

If you haven't seen "This Is Spinal Tap", first of all I'd like to enquire as to what rock you've been living under for the last 25 years and secondly I would like to suggest that you drop everything and go watch it now.

The year is 1982 and Martin Di Bergi (Rob Reiner) is a documentary filmmaker who accompanies the world's loudest band, Spinal Tap on their American comeback tour. Dave St Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel (Michael McKean, Harry Shearer & Christoper Guest) make up the enigmatic Spinal Tap (give or take a few drummers) and De Bergi's "Rockumentary" follows the scandal and events surrounding the release of Spinal Tap's latest album "Smell The Glove".

Last week my boyfriend picked up Spinal Tap's new album "Back From the Dead" which features all of their old songs remastered. It sounds great and it's still hysterically funny. In addition to their studio efforts, the band have also "re-formed" for some live shows including a sold out gig at Wembley Arena and the Glastonbury Festival.

This is probably the most well known scene from "This is Spinal Tap". Well maybe apart from the 18 inch Stonehenge debacle.

Spinal Tap's latest comeback isn't the first time they have re-formed to bring us something musical. The clip above (It will take you to youtube, as I am unable to embed it) is for The Majesty of Rock, released in 1991. The Return of Spinal Tap, a direct to video sequel was released in 1992. It's not as good as the original, but still highly enjoyable. Spinal Tap: Break Like the Wind - The Videos was also released at this time. And yes, the title makes me giggle inappropriately.

On an interesting note, Spinal Tap also did commercials in Australia for a pizza pocket product called Rock & Rolls, made by Findus. There were three of four different commercials that I can remember, with the one above being the first. These aired in 1991.

That's all for today and I hope you've all enjoyed your Spinal Tap edu-ma-cation.