Shades of grey

I did something a little bit different this week, while managing to use one of  my alltime favourite designs. I nearly always go for simplicity - if I can't draw/paint it with my left hand (and I'm not left-handed) then I really don't want to do it. Ok, my right hand looks awful regardless, but at least not *as* bad as it could.

The basic colour scheme this week evolved over breakfast on Saturday. As anybody who knows me well knows, I am always on the look out for colours and patterns that I like. And if I see a friend wearing a colour that I like, I am always going to figure out a way to use it.

So on Saturday morning I was sitting in my neighbours' flat, and looking at my friend Heather's grey nail polish. And I liked it. I have a few silvers at home, but I don't have a nice flat grey. And looking at it, I realised it was the perfect thing to go with my purple. But first, I had to figure out a design.

In the end, I plumped for the classic French polish - a design that would never interest me the 'normal' way, especially as my bare nails look better than that anyway - and hovered between grey with purple tips, or purple with grey. Such a hard decision - it took me ages to ask Heather to borrow the polish, just because I couldn't decide.


In the end, I went with grey with purple tips, I can't even remember why. I just thought it would look stunning. And it did.

I also, however, loved it with just the grey and was seriously tempted to leave it like that.

It's actually really good nail polish - that was the covering with one coat. But I ended up with two, just for the extra staying power. I also painted my right hand with green tips, instead of purple, as I realised the green would also look good with the grey. Though, writing that out just reminded me forcibly of my school uniform, which is not so cool.

And of course, with my left hand, I have awful nail painting skills...

I don't think the green looked *quite* as good as the grey, but in real life, it is still pretty nice. The purple however, was just perfect. Unfortunately, without my chip skip, basecoat or top coat, it started chipping on Monday. But on Sunday, just for a while, they were perfect.

Split nails and woollen scarves

I think I'm currently working on a weekly blogging plan. Basically, whenever I paint my nails. And anything else that can be reported - like the scarf I'm making - can be added at the same time.

This week has been super busy, now that I have classes sorted out, and the Uni has all their stuff sorted out too. I have at least 2 linguistic talks to go to every week, and every second week it's 3. Plus I have lots of reading to do, and questions to answer for readings I do. Everything right now is really go go go. But I've done all my reading for Tuesday, and I hope I can actually go to the wool store tomorrow, as I really want some new wool. I started working on a scarf last Monday at KnitSoc.

It's just an 8ply, Alpaca wool (of some type, I bought it in Germany), and I'm just doing rows of treble (double for Americans) stitch. I've got through an entire ball now and it's looking quite good. It might be a bit short, but I don't really feel there's much I can do about it. I'm hoping to actually do some knitting as well soon, because there's something quite infectious about being surrounded by knitters. Knitting is like a hidden passion - quite hidden - because every now and again, I just really feel the need to knit. I don't really understand why, as crochet is easier (for me) and far far quicker.

Still, the ability to make something is always nice.

But my nails! I still only have 3 colours to play with, so I have to be a bit creative if I want to avoid just 10 nails the same colour. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and I'm sure at some point they will all be painted the same colour, but right now I'm still trying to mix it up a bit. So I did a bit of eeny meeny miny mo this morning, and put the colours together to see which I liked best. I had already decided on a bit of a classic 'split' design. One nail, 2 different colours. I considered polka dots, but they can get messy and look awful. So I went with this instead - and I think I chose the right colours...

 Half painted

 One coat of each

The finished product.












And now for the final test I do, to see if ut reakkt worked. Sorry the lighting is so bad, by the way, I don't get much natural here - at least, not when the sun isn't shining.

The side shot. I love the fact that my nails look one colour from one side, and another from the other. But then, maybe I just like confusing people...

Nail polish dreaming.

So here I am in Edinburgh. I managed to leave all my nail polish behind - which was a huge disappointment - as well as all my cuticle sticks, my nail oils, my moisturisers, nail art brushes, decals and...well...everything. I didn't even have a chance to paint my nails before I went because I spent the day before I left packing. Oh, no, sorry, I spent the day I left packing.

Which was when I learnt a valuable lesson. If your suitcase is too full, and you *have* to take out clothes...you don't necessarily want to take out all your shirts and just leave underwear. Which is pretty much what I did. Reasoned, of course, that underwear is small while shirts are big and take up more room. So when I got here, I had enough socks and undies to fill up a drawer, and 4 shirts. And 3 pairs of jeans, 2 coats and some shoes. The worst bit was that I actually took out all my long sleeved shirts so I arrived, in Scotland, at the start of autumn, with 3 tshirts, and one long sleeved shirt. My problem,in all of this, was there were things I *had* to have. I had to have my white cord jeans, because I can't live without them. I *had* to have my red coat for exactly the same reason. And the coat will be very useful, just as soon as it warms up a bit. And possibly starts raining. It's a great jacket - it's waterproof - it's just not very warm.

The flight here was insane. I had a bad moment, sitting at Brisbane airport, and wondering if it was too late to just go back. Seriously, can you go back past security? I couldn't help wondering. But I got on the plane, and found myself between a Swiss woman, and a nigerian man. Both very nice people, but it's hard to get comfy in the middle. Both ways I turned, when I was trying to sleep, left me facing someone. Plus the nigerian guy tended to take up space. He wasn't fat, he just took up space. Like both his arm rests, with his elbows into my chair. But at least the conversation was interesting. And I got lots of exercise, every time either I or he decided to go to the toilet. The worst bit about it was that it was 14 hours. It's so depressing - you watch a movie, and then another movie and think "woo, I just got rhrough 4 hours of flight" and then you realise "there's another 10 hours on this plane, and then another 7 or 8 on another plane". And that's when you cry. No, kidding, but you get extremely depressed and start watching more movies. And Friends. I watched every episode of Friends they had on offer.

The stop at Dubai consisted of meeting a girl from Hong Kong, who grew up in Canada, and now studies in Durham, who gave me a headache tablet for the severe migraine I had coming on. That was a weird moment. You probably shouldn't accept drugs from strangers, especially when you don't recongise them, but sometimes depseration just drives you on. Plus, in Dubai, swiss woman bought me a bottle of water. Which was so kind, as the first plane had been very hot and I got through my bottle. As fot the 8 hour flight, it was awful. My screen wouldn't work, so I couldn't watch movies. My neighbour didn't want to talk so I didn't even try. Thankfully I had a book, and spent the entire time reading it. Until I finished it with an hour to spare.

And then, Newcastle. Possibly not the best place to come in, because they didn't have much in the way of Immigration. Just 4 people processing all these incoming students and holiday makers coming home. Standing in line for 50 minutes, watching the UK and EU passport holders sailing through beside me. And I saw 3 plane loads come in and go through quicker than me. Only to get there and have to show proof that I am actually going to uni here. Thankfully I remembered to pack it. Seriously, I nearly forgot and shoved it in my bag last minute. My last day in Brisbane was not well thought out or reasoned. As I realised when I got here and found I forgot loads of things I wanted to bring.

I had a great trip up from Newcastle to edinburgh. I love the scenery here, so I just sat back, ipod in ears, and enjoyed the trip. Didn't enjoy the 'getting off the train with heavy roller luggage' bit, and really missed my 13kg backpack, which had waighed less and was easier to cope with.

And as for Edinburgh itself. It's beautiful. It's just stunning and I love it. Ok, it's hard to find vegemite, and impossible to find milo or timtams. We're not allowed a toaster in case we accidentally set off the fire alarm and evacuate tbe building, but that's the main downside. My flatmates are great, my neighbours are excellent, and there is a guy from brisbane living downstairs. So I have the accent of home around me whenever I want. Plus a girl from Melbourne upstairs. So it's win win really.

The weirdest thing though, is that I keep meeting people who say (and I kid you not) 'oh, my best friend is from brisbane", or at least "I have a friend from Brisbane". I don't know what people from brisbane do, but we really get around. But it's nice that people have heard of it, even though I still have to explain where it is.

But of course, I am here to talk about nail polish! I obviously don't have any of mine here, so I've had to buy some. And I had no nail polish remover so I had to buy some of that too. I got these fantastic nail polish remover pads here. I've never seen them back home, but I will admit to massive OPI bias. But they're just cotton pads, soaked in remover. And they don't even smell too bad. And, being me, I took a picture.

Ok, ok, not much to look at. But I was excited.

And then, I went back to Boots and bought nail polish. I found an emerald green, like I've always wanted , and a nice purple, and a good pink.

So now I just have to decide whether I need more nail polish or not. I think, for now, that I'm going to see how much I can do with just three colours. I'm already planning something called "pink and purple polkadots'. And, I have nail polish buddies, so I will be knocking on their door when I need something a little extra. I think my neighbour Heather has something to go perfectly with that Green. I just need to check it out.

And I need to select a new nail painting day. Though, without any oils, basecoat or topcoat, it probably won't be such a lengthy process as it would be at home. I already miss having variety though. And it's been a fortnight - this doesn't bode well...

Black, with a touch of suede and matte

So my nails are painted again this week. I decided to actually make the time on Monday, because I figure I don't know how much longer I can keep painting them. I'm hoping to take a few bottles with me, but even if I can figure out the logistics of transportation, I will be sadly low on variety. As it is I'm still torn between 'absolute favourite colours' and 'a range across the spectrum'. I could do either - the former will mean I will be missing colours like yellow and orange, but the latter means I might not be able to take my very favourite colours. The decision is hard.

Fortunately, as I do have so many things to do right now, I always have a few stock patterns in the back of my head. Fairly simple designs that can look quite striking with the right colour combination. And I often like to have quite different polishes within the patterns - iridescent under something quite plain, without any shimmer. I took this idea again this week, but I went with something I think I must have done before, because it is such a good idea. But I can't remember ever doing it quite like this. Basically, I got my favourite shimmery black - Baby It's Coal Outside - and did 2 coats, with a top coat. And then, with one of my nail art brushes, I painted a design (a very simple design) over it, using La Paz-itively Hot - Matte and OPI Ink - Suede. The reason I did the top coat before I painted on the design is quite simple - if you paint top coat over the suede or matte, it loses the effect and just looks like normal nail polish. And I have been known to do that, because they are both such great colours, regardless of whether they're matte/suede or sparkly. But I didn't want that effect this week; this week I wanted to effect of something sparkly on the bottom with something very flat on the top. And it worked! Though, I don't think it comes across as well in the photos as I would like. It's hard to get the sun to really pick up the shimmer while also showing the matte effect well in a picture. And, we haven't been getting much sun where I am anyway, which made it even harder.

But I did try...

Whoops, slack

So, no nail polish post OR ice cream post this week - slack I know.

There is no ice cream post because last week I decided to make Peach sorbet instead. Mainly because I bought the can of peaches back in January, and I'm moving overseas soon so it feels a bit...wrong...if I don't at least make the effort. In my defense, I also (at the time) bought a can of peach and mango, which I very quickly turned into (a very delicious) sorbet. But it's a bit involved, so I wasn't in a hurry to do it again. Plus at the time, there were so many ice cream combinations to try - I hadn't yet perfected my condensed milk/cream mix. But now, I really feel I should. It's just, that on top of that, it's really time consuming. You have to make a sugar syrup, you have to pulse the peaches, you have to mix and chill for hours (as the sugar syrup is hot), and I'm working so much that I don't really have the time. Not that I would blog it anyway - it's just a bit boring.

And my nails...well, I took my nail polish off yesterday and found that I was nearly out of my nail polish remover wipes. As I'm leaving in a little over two weeks, buying anymore doesn't feel very sensible. I could use cotton balls, I suppose, but we currently have one. And then there are the cotton pads for make up removal (which I tried and are excellent), but that somehow seems like a waste of money, because they're so lovely and soft for make up removal. So when I was working this morning, and because I had no real plan in my head, I just decided to give my poor nails a break. It does seem a bit of a waste with the eminent move, but there you go.

Cake inspiration

So I decided to paint my nails yesterday with very little idea of what I wanted. I was out most of the day before and went to bed with a massive headache. And woke up with it too. So I hadn't really had the time to devise anything. Sometimes I have it planned a week in advance, but usually, if I want to do something fancy, I have it worked out the day before. But yesterday was just impossible.

I sat there this morning, thinking about what I wanted to do. Rifling through my memories to see if there was anything I could use. Colour isn't usually an issue, because, with the exception of Emerald green, I can do most shades, or pretty close. My lack of Emerald is the downpoint of my nail polish life.

On Sunday, I was at the Ekka - or the Exhibition to those not from Queensland or Australia. I went on a bit of a whim - I haven't been since I was in single digits, and even then I only ever went for the showbags, as rides have never held an attraction for me. But I have fond memories of wandering around with my brothers and my uncle, with my arms tired from carrying showbags, as we (or possibly I) did insist on getting them first. The logic being, of course, that if we didn't get them first, they might sell out. But when my middle brother started going with a mate, he used to take my list of showbags and buy them for me. And after Sunday, I feel I should probably thank him because I had no idea it was such a struggle.

Though maybe, 20 years ago, it was less so.

The whim was caused by the fact that I am moving overseas in a few weeks. Not permanently, but long enough to make me want to do something really Brisbane-y. Something that just screams childhood memories and 'things you can only do at home'. And among all the things I looked at were the cakes! Or, to be exact, the icing.

And that, in the end, was the inspiration. I saw a lot of cakes that I liked - a few, particularly, in white and black. But one of my favourites, and possibly the most easy to reproduce, was one in dark brown and light pink. It had stripes, it had flowers, and the colours just worked so well together. Funnily, though, they were the colours that could give me the most problems. Light brown and dark pink, fine, I have many. But dark brown and light pink, not so much. I trawled through my polishes - and I really mean trawled - and I finally found what I wanted. Or as close an approximation as I could get.

And then, the other problem was - do I just do stripes on my nails (a bit of an old favourite) or do I try for something a bit more difficult? I decided on the bit more difficult idea, which involved vertical stripes until I got to the white of my nail, which I then painted brown. Depending on how it looked, would depend whether I drew flowers or not.

And I have to say, when I finished the basics, it looked pretty awful. The fact that I was working at the same time didn't help, as I had to paint some nail and then do something else. And vertical stripes aren't easy unless you have a very steady hand. It was just a mess. So I decided to draw flowers on the tip - or at least, a flower - which is when I had my brain wave. Diamantes. I love diamantes on my nails, but I rarely use them because they're a bit of a nuisance to apply. Fiddly tweezers, wet nail polish, so there's a real chance of smudging, it tends to be a nightmare. And by the time I had decided I wanted them, my first two coats were painted and already too dry. So, in the end, my 'flowers' became 5 lines that met in the middle, and on this I pressed a diamante. And I have to say, it adds a bit of class.

Unfortunately, however, it does mean I had to take the picture when they were still a bit messy, generally, as diamantes hate staying on (for me anyway), and generally come off when I'm doing something.

I'm still a bit undecided whether they look great, or whether they look awful...

Lime & Coconut Ice cream

Thursday, so it's ice cream making day again! One of my favourite days of the week - at least, when I have a recipe in my head that I've been wanting to make for a while.

I devised this one last week, at the same time as my chocolate coconut ice cream. Mum had been looking for recipes online using coconut and found a Lime Coconut one. I got very excited, as it is one of my favourite cake flavours, but it was one of those recipes that is 'some lime, some coconut, some vanilla ice cream'. And when it comes to ice cream, that is not how I work. I want to make them from the base up. But I had a big hurdle to get over - I use 600mls of cream, and if I add lime juice to that, it is very likely to curdle. And I don't want curdled ice cream. I decided, in the end, to ignore lime juice and just use the rind. I considered making a sorbet, instead of ice cream, but I wasn't really sure how it would go with shredded coconut. Plus, even though I like sorbet (especially in the middle of summer), I love ice cream.

So in the end, I devised the following recipe, and it worked quite well. The limes I used were quite small - as they tend to be here - about 5cm (2inches) in diameter. I *think* I've seen them bigger overseas, but I could have been confusing that. So if 5cm is what you have over there, you're fine.

Rind of two limes.
1/2 cup shredded coconut
395g tin condensed milk
600ml thickened cream.

I grated the rind off the limes, and mixed it with the coconut and left in a sealed container overnight. I was hoping to infuse the coconut slightly with the taste. No idea whether it worked, but the container smelt good in the morning. In the morning, I mixed the cream and condensed milk in a bowl, and then added the coconut/lime rind, and mixed well. I let it chill in the fridge for 30-45minutes, and then just poured it into my ice cream maker. I was a bit concerned at first that it had curdled, but I think that was just coconut.

And the result was a nice, creamy, lime flavoured icecream. With coconut. It was really quite good - though right now, I am feeling extremely full. The lime was just right (for me, anyway), not too overpowering, but strong enough to be noticeable.

Now, I just have to figure out a flavour for next week...