OPI 'The Top Ten' Gift Pack Review

What an incredibly clever gift pack for OPI to bring out right before Christmas. Their top polish colours ever, all wrapped up nicely for the price of two big OPI polishes? Yes please!!!

If ever there was a way to quickly expand your nail polish collection... this is it! And who ever gets through a whole big polish bottle anyway? Now I think about it all of mine have gone gunky before I could use the bottom dregs anyway. So this is a great investment, and a brilliant Christmas gift idea.

We bought this gift pack as a congratulations for finishing uni present for my sister. She has posed as the hand model to demonstrate all of the colours below. The red and brown full polished hands pictured further down are my own, because those were the two colours I hadn't tried anything like before, so I was excited to wear them.

Left hand L-R: Alpine Snow, Kiss Me On My Tulips, Tickle Me France-y, Big Apple Red, Vamsterdam.
Right hand L-R: You Don't Know Jacques!, Bubble Bath, Lincoln Park After Dark, Red Lights Ahead...Where?, I'm Not Really A Waitress.

See order above

Alpine Snow: We already owned a mini from another gift pack and a large of this colour. It is a great plain white, but I don’t know of many people who just wear plain white on their nails. I suggest it would make a great French manicure tip, base for a neon or bold polish to make it pop/opaque, or to layer glitter over the top. Kind of reminds be of painting my nails with white out at school though… not so classy now ay?

Bubble Bath: A pretty perfect sheer pale pink, that needs at least three coats to look nice on it’s own. Or it performs brilliantly as a French manicure pink. Makes you feel girly, pretty and classy when wearing this on your fingertips!

Tickle Me France-y: I feel this colour is the let down of the pack. It’s a neutral brown-pink, that’s kind of a nothingy colour. It’s an ugly pink or a pretty blargh brown really.

Kiss Me On My Tulips: A beautiful bright and Barbie doll pink. Perfectly opaque and creamy, and is a great Spring/Summer colour. Gorgeous colour.

Red Lights Ahead…Where?: This is a nice opaque red with slight orange/yellow undertones, but it’s not for me. I already know with my pink undertones and fair skin that this will not suit me at all. However it looks gorgeous on my olive skinned, yellow undertone sister. Extraordinarily bright, it really makes a nail statement.

Big Apple Red: Now this is the kind of red that will suit me! This is a blue based red without a hint of orange/yellow. This is also a bright red but a bit more subdued that the previous red, as the blue base tones it down slightly. This colour reminds me of Frenchy/nautical outfits, and I can’t wait to wear it with a white and navy striped top!

I’m Not Really a Waitress: This is a Snow White-esque, metallic divine red. Absolutely amazing, and I’m not even a red nail fan. Shines like no other polish before, and looks so mesmerizing and magical on. A great festive choice!

How Snow White is this!? Love it!

You Don’t Know Jacques!: I’m not a huge brown nail fan, but this one is a nice brown. A taupe, creamy mid-tone brown.

Vampsterdam: Gorgeous, sexy, intruiging. It’s a dark, purple metallic colour that looks incredibly magical.

Lincoln Park After Dark: Extremely dark purple colour that is basically black, but without the harsh black gothic edge. More flattering. Wish it looked more similar to how it does in the bottle though.

L-R: Alpine Snow, Kiss Me On My Tulips, Tickle Me France-y, Big Apple Red, Vamsterdam.

L-R: You Don't Know Jacques!, Bubble Bath, Lincoln Park After Dark, Red Lights Ahead...Where?, I'm Not Really A Waitress.

And there you have it! This gift pack was $39.95 from David Jones (can also buy them from Myer in different packaging).

So what do you think? Do you like the colours in this gift pack? What is your favourite? 

If you want to take a look at some of OPI's many other great gift packs, check out my reviews here.

The Beginnings of Christmas - My First Festive Haul of 2012!

I know some of you will think this is probably about a month premature, but boy oh boy am I excited for Christmas already! 

You can really identify a grinch by their frequent exclamations of horror and annoyance such as "Whaaaaat?! Christmas decorations are up already... but it's only August/September/October!?"

Well I'm here to tell you, WHO CARES IF IT'S ONLY AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER IT'S CHRISTMAS DAMN IT! WHO ARE YOU... THE FUN POLICE!?

Whewww. Glad I got that out of my system.

So anyway, I am excited and already feeling so festive as you can probably tell. Over the course of this week, during many a lunch break from work, I checked out all of the new Christmas product ranges just released this week from many of my favourite brands. And I bought a fair bit for myself too...

So I wanted to show you some of the goodies I bought, and hopefully they will give you some gift buying ideas for your family/friends, or even just for yourself (like these were for me!).


First up we have the most incredible smelling Christmas candle I've ever encountered. It's by the iconic candle brand Glasshouse, who have just released three Christmas candles for the festive season.

I purchased one candle, which was my favourite of the three. It's called Christmas Party, and the scent is described as a "celebratory blend of ground nutmeg, orange and shaved ginger to capture the party spirit". To me it smells like a fresh, sweet, light mix of tangy orange, which is beautifully balanced by the smell of Christmas spices and cooking. It's simply amazing, and not too heavy or laden with deep spices or headache inducing. It lifts the spirits and is a pleasure to smell.

Also how cute is the jar, which you can continue to use long after the last wax has burned out.

They don't come cheap, at a whopping $40 (sadly they don't come in the cheaper smaller size that retails for around $16). But the smell of Christmas and the memories and emotion that evokes... I feel that's pretty priceless :P Also they last for absolutely ages. My last one served me at least a good year of sporadic burning (lasts over 80 hours). And the scent is so strong then even when it isn't burning the whole room smells like the candle, so it's almost unnecessary to burn it lots. I just love the scent so much I'd be happy to use it any time of the year. I purchased this candle from David Jones.



Next up I checked out the Christmas offerings from the gorgeous brand Philosophy. Their new gift packs were so adorable! The one I ended up purchased was called 'The Bake Shoppe'.  The products come in the cutest box, and inside are two of the yummiest sounding body products I've ever seen!

The first body product is a shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath called Christmas Cookie. It actually is like going to a Mrs Fields store, biting into a freshly made vanillary cookie and smelling the delicious smell wafting out of the crumbley goodness. It froths up so well as a shower gel, and it is the most luxurious experience to lather yourself with the foamy cookie bubbles. In the bath it's like being in a hot oven of baking Christmas cookies, with lots of bubbles and froth. I haven't used it as a shampoo yet (have any of you used these type of products as shampoos? Thoughts?).

The second body product is a body lotion called 'Sweet Creamy Frosting'. It smells exactly like vanilla or caramel frosting on a cupcake, and the delicious smell lingers on your body for hours after application. I especially love this lotion because Philopsophy don't seem to offer complementary lotion options of their shower gel type scents. So I had to snap this up while it was available.

This gift pack cost $30, which is the same price as a full bottle of their regular sized shower gels (each of the bottles in this pack is half the size of the big ones). Philosophy is sold in Melbourne only at David Jones on Bourke Street. I think this would make a great gift/Kris Kringle for Christmas, or just a must grab item for yourself :P 
They've also brought out a Candy Cane full size shower gel which would also make a great gift! I just would prefer to bathe in cakes in preference to mint.

Although not technically created for Christmas, I'm also in love with another of Philosophy's products I picked up this week - their Cinnamon Buns shower gel! This is my favourite product by them. It smells exactly like a vanilla chai latte. The lather and foam it creates is like bathing in a mug of chai. I can't adequately convey to you how genius and luxurious and wonderful this product is, only that you must get it. Now.

It's $30 and would make an excellent present for anyone who is as much of a sweet tooth and a stickler for indulgent sweet bath and body products as I am. I just love how each of their products has a recipe on the front of them too!



Next we have a festive foodie item. My sister brought home with her a surprise for us the other day... one of my favourite Christmas snacks! 

They are German Glazed Lebkuchen which you can buy here from Aldi shops. Basically they are soft gingerbread covered with a sugar glaze with a chocolate base and they come in different colours and shapes. They are delicious and very festive and cheap! Get your hands on some if you get the chance.


To finish off on a Christmassy high, check out these festive nails of my sisters:

They remind me of Christmas holly or mistletoe! 

This is how she created them:

-Painted a white base with OPI's Alpine Snow
-Blobbed Essie's Fiesta on the nails for the berries/flowers
-Added dimension to the blobs using Essie's Bahama Mama on a toothpick
-Used Essie's Mint Candy Apple for the leaves
-Added dimension to the leaves using OPI's Fly (Nicki Minaj collection)


So that's it guys! Hope this post got you thinking about some good Christmas ideas and started to get you pumped about the festive season. I had fun typing it and thinking about Christmas!

Which brands Christmas ranges are you most excited about? I'm looking forward to checking out Lush and The Body Shop next. Do you get excited about Christmas as early as me, or do you think I'm crazy? :P

P.S. There are only 58 days until Christmas!!

Creative Present Idea #2

Continuing the creative present series, I recently created this for my boyfriend's birthday.

My best friend actually gave me the idea, when I begged him to help me think of present options. My boyfriend is in a band, and he jams with his friends and occasionally plays small gigs. So the idea is to create a famous band memorabillia frame, as though their band is famous and fans would spend lots of money buying such merchandise!

This present idea would work for anyone who is in a band, who has dreams of making the big time! It really plays to their band pride :P

So this is my creation:

You'll need the following:

 

-Big dramatic heading with band name

-A photo of all the band members that is humorous and could form a potential album cover

-A guitar pick (because obviously it's a collectors item!)

-A plaque with their band name, band members names, and other band information (origination/location/years playing, etc.)

-Record or CD with their band name on it

-Another photo of them playing a live gig

 

So there you have it! You'll make the recipient of the gift feel famous, flattered, and proud of their band. Plus it's a really personal and funny gift, and they'll appreciate the effort involved.



If you have any creative/personalised present ideas, I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for new ideas!

Creative Present Ideas #1

Perhaps you experience the same sentiment as me, every time a birthday, Christmas, important anniversary, Valentine's Day or other gift giving occasion approaches...

What on earth do I get my boyfriend for a present?!

If your boyfriend/significant other is anything like mine, then he will already possess everything in the world that he could ever want. Every time he wants something, he just goes out and buys it immediately. I know right...how selfish of him!! :P

So basically every gift giving occasion involves a lot of thought and effort on my part. And a lot of googling along the lines of "dear google please help me find a creative/romantic/funny/sentimental gift for my boyfriend, please please help me ahhh...".

Also to make it even more difficult for myself, I always tend to include a lot of elements in every present - a joke one, a sentimental one, a more expensive one etc. I usually end up buying about 5 or so presents for every occasion! I've kind of shot myself in the foot with this though, as we've been together nearly three years and I'm fast running out of ideas!

So I've decided to create a series of present ideas to help you all out with this ridiculous problem that will never stop occurring as long as you stay together.

Present Idea For Boyfriend #1:(this would also work well for a friend too)

I wanted to get Rich (the boyfriend) some sort of cool box thing to put all of his man things in (cufflinks/tie clips/guitar picks etc.) I decided on making him one as I thought I would gain points for the effort involved. And this is what I ended up creating:

So as you can see it is a wooden box, with printed out pictures of his favourite things stuck to it. I purchased the box from an art store (Riot Art and Craft) for approximately $10. Then I searched for all of his favourite things, printed them, then stuck them to the lid. After that I coated the lid with watered down craft glue, as it is transparent and creates a glossy sealed surface over the pictures (it goes on white but then dries clear). 

Inside the box there are 6 sections. I lifted up the segments and placed blue felt below, so the inside of the box had a soft base for all of his items to sit on and be protected.



So I think this present fits the thoughtful/creative/personalised/useful bill, and it was very well received! And great fun to make!

In case you would prefer to buy a similar male trinket box, I thought these leather ones from Fossil were also perfect. My preference was the Dark Brown, however they are fairly expensive at $249.

Let me know what you think of this idea, and if you have other suggestions for great boyfriend presents! Keep an eye out for future present suggestions as part of this series.