i bought this one a few days ago.  it took all of my willpower not to bring each and every colour of Crackle Overcoat home with me.

now that i've tried it, i'm glad i didn't buy more than one bottle.

i got Vintage Violet.  and i do love the colour.  but i can live without just about everything else about this polish.  i applied it over OPI's Not Like the Movies.  it is wearing very well from my last manicure.  most of the flower nail decals are long gone, but the polish hasn't really worn at all.  it's like iron!

first thing i noticed is that it is Stinky.  with a capital S.  okay.  no prob.  i have a few stinky polishes in my collection, i can deal with the smell.  second thing i was disappointed in was the size of the brush.  do i have monster nails or is it tiny?  i had to redip into the bottle three times to cover my ring finger nail.  and thirdly... it applied like crap for me.  it clumped up so quickly.  there was no time for going over any of the strokes, it clumped on the nail before i could redip the brush.  it's kind of hard to explain.  if i went over a stroke before it was dry it just got thick and lumpy rather than mixing in with the new stroke.  does that make sense?

it applied very thickly for me.  i tried on four nails and i just could not do a thin coat due to the small brush and quick clumping action.

it took a little longer than OPI's Shatter to crack, but i do like the crack effect.  yay... a positive!  lol.

i took all these pictures before adding my Seche Vite topcoat.  it adds a nice shine to the Sally Hansen Crackle, it dried semi-matte.  even with my trusty Seche Vite, it is still a bumpy manicure because the Crackle applied so thickly.

oh hai! pardon my reflection in the plastic.

i went to Winner's again today while my love was at the nearby Telus store buying us time for our cells.  i'll take any excuse to check out what's new at Winner's.

and i'm glad i did.  they had a bunch of new polishes.  quite a few Color Club sets, but they were mostly neon colours, and i'm not a neon kind of girl.  the other set they had was the Alter Ego Under Cover and i already have it :)

but, i did find this Kleancolor set.  and i can't resist glitter!  so it came home with me :)

these two are 172 V.I.P and 171 Kiss Goodbye.  V.I.P has small and large red and silver glitter and Kiss Goodbye is micro wee tiny multicolour glitter.  i see purple, blue, green and yellow in it, but the purple is the dominant colour:

 these are 188 Black Out and 169 Grand Finale.  Black Out looks awesome!  it boasts silver glitter in different sizes, right up to big hexes, in a black jelly base.  i can't wait to swatch this one.  Grand Finale is has long confetti glitter in a clear base:

and last but not least, 132 24 Carat and 32 Peaceful Heart.  when i was in the store purchasing this i thought 24 Carat was just plain gold glitter in a clear base.  on closer inspection i see that it has diamond shape pink glitter in it too.  they're rather large, like the hex glitter in Black Out.  Peaceful Heart has green/yellow glitter with teal hearts suspended in a clear base:

alrighty kiddos.  i'm off to answer texts and eat the wonderful steak my love has cooked up for us.  he is an awesome cook :D

so... i'm sitting here at a total loss for words.  what do i say to go along with this post?  i dunno.  it's a simple manicure.  with happy little black lacey flower nail stickers and a 3D pearl.  the pearl is my first bumpy addition to a manicure and it's taking a lot of willpower not to pick it off.  lol.

while taking off my last manicure last night i realized i need to go in for a fill very soon.  so i thought i'd keep the new look simple so as not to draw too much attention to the space between where my cuticles end and the acrylic starts.  that naked space.  i wonder if there is a name for it.  hrmmm.

anyway... on to the pictures.

sorry readers!  i said i'd take macro pictures of the fimo canes today.  instead i went out to run errands and came home with a migraine.  so i've been in and out of bed all afternoon/evening.  i hate saying i will do something and then not doing it without letting people know that i honestly intended to get it done but something stopped me.

i apologize :)  i did take a few photos with the macro and flash.  i don't like them as much as macro in natural light, but i'll share them anyway.

here's the whole bundle face up in the plastic baggie they came in (click to make bigger.  much bigger):

and the most curious cane of the bunch.  does anyone know what it is?  it is obviously a face with a yin yang sign on it's forehead, but i'm wondering if it's a figure with meaning in the east :)

lookie what i got in the mail today!  i'm just going to post the pic of them in the bag because the lighting is horrible for more pictures.  i'll take some macro shots of them tomorrow during the daylight :)

i found them on eBay.  they were $8ish for 100, including shipping.  not sure if that's a deal or not, but i don't really care much at the moment cuz i'm just so verklempt with their cuteness!  :)

we've been trying to conceive since November 2010.  so far, obviously, without any luck.

i am normally very superstitious about this stuff.  i'm only now slowly opening up about trying, i've joined a trying to conceive forum and told a few friends.  but i can't shake the feeling that it is something that should not be talked about until i'm actually knocked up.

yesterday while i was out and about running errands i was sadly drawn to the baby section at Winner's.  i felt awful.  like it's never going to happen for us, like we're past our prime and babies just aren't going to happen anymore.  starting families is for people in their 20's.  not in their 30's and 40's.

so while i was feeling all down and convinced i am never going to get pregnant i saw this outfit.  and something scary took over and i bought it.

i'm kind of embarrassed about my purchase.  i didn't tell my man about it, i kept it hidden in the shopping bag so he wouldn't see it.  and now it's hidden in with some of my yarn stash.  i keep thinking that buying this baby outfit before i am even pregnant is going to jinx our chances beyond all hope :\

trying to conceive is slowly driving me insane. 

this pretty came in the mail yesterday.  it took a while to arrive, thank you Canada Post strike.  the folks at FabulouStreet were really wonderful about working around the strike.  i highly recommend them if you're looking to buy yourself some Nfu-Ohs :)

i unwrapped my new Nfu-Oh while eating dinner out at a restaurant and could.barely.stop.myself from applying a coat right then and there.

as soon as i got home it went on over my skittles mani.  it has a wonderfully different effect on the different colours.  my favourite, although i could not capture it with the camera, is the funky way it creates a shimmery lilac/blue over the yellow polish. 

i'm excited to try it over black :)

pardon the second rate pictures and dry cuticles.  i was way too excited about taking the pictures and moisturizing my cuticles was a thought that got pushed to the back of my mind in a fairly quick manner because i just.had.to.take.pictures.naow.  i take my photos near my living room window to take advantage of the natural light, but by the time we got home from errands and dinner the sunlight had waned and wasn't great for capturing the wonderful magic of Nfu-Oh 40.  so expect better pictures in the future :)

the polishes under the Nfu-Oh are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Grape Going!, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Fashionista Orange, Hot Yellow and Be Seen Blue.  last but not least is China Glaze Reggae to Riches (fuchsia).