The Myth of Ghosts

This post has been circling around my head for a few years, came out of an experience that happened when I was younger and has resurfaced because of the Amy Whinehouse discussions of the past week. In fact this post really has nothing to do with her at all apart from to illustrate an observation of disturbing human behaviour - the re birthing of the dead into saints and angels.

Let me start at the beginning. When I was 16 my father died. He died suddenly and was only 39 at the time. My mother and father had divorced when I was 5 and the majority of my family memories involving my dad include my mum's anger at him being unreliable (not paying child support on time, turning up on his visitation days... you know that kind of thing). As a child I did what any child does - I did anything I could to prove that I was worthy of his love. A futile exercise given he died before I could even accomplish graduating high school. I only disclose these details to explain why at 16 I didn't really know who my dad was - as a real person.

After my dad died though, he was no longer a somewhat irresponsible risk taking, unreliable parent. He became perfect. Stories of his humour and cheekiness where shared freely, while those that showed a darker or dare I say more human side were kept from me. Looking back on the behaviour that followed his death, I can now see the wider family dealing with the shock of his death as much as I was. But the outcome of this behaviour was to create the myth of a man who never existed and that I didn't know. That became another painful dart in addition to the one of never getting to know who my father really was anyway.

Think now to the death of pretty much every celebrity and can't you see the same process happening? Micheal Jackson is no longer a drug-addicted, recluse with questionable relationships with younger people but just the King of Pop and a misunderstood rock idol. Today Amy Whinehouse is no longer the butt of "how pathetic" comments (which were never helpful given that I believe addiction is a disease) and is now a shining musical talent taken from us tragically too soon and number 1 on iTunes.

Obviously influenced by my own experiences I find this need to re-invent human beings into angelic creatures that never did anything wrong extremely dishonest and disrespectful to the memory of the person affected. If I die tomorrow I might expect people to say I was kind, clever and funny but you know what I was also equally pig-headed, irritable and selfish and to forget that is to forget who I really was (or am).

Just my opinion.

Jac x

Top 10 and Sunshine Awards

Recently I was nominated for a Top Ten award by the fabulous Miss Flossy of Flossy Locks and a Sunshine award from the lovely Su of My Perfume Diaries. These awards have slightly different rules with the Top 10 asking you to list your top 10 products, while the Sunshine award has me telling you 10 things about myself before nominating 10 other bloggers (a requirement of both).

So let's jump into 10 things about me (gosh I am scrounging here)...

1. I was born in Tasmania but grew up in Adelaide.
2. I wanted to be like Clarice Starling when I was in year 11 and 12 and fancied that I would head off to University to study forensic psychology.
3. I watched a bit of the original Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a kid and it gave me nightmares for a week (the scene where Freddy scrapes his nails on the fence as he runs up the lane).
4. I used to stay with my grandparents for school holidays when I was young and they had sheep and I loved being in that clean country air.
5. I struggle with claustrophobia - it's mostly an issue where people bring up being buried alive but I also have trouble where people are in tight spaces in movies or TV shows.
6. I used to wear a "Who Killed Laura Palmer" badge on my school uniform when Twin Peaks was all the range.
7. I am pretty much allergic to something in most alcohol products and that means no wine, very few spirits and no beer. I miss wine - it's lovely.
8. My mum and I graduated from university the same year.
9. I didn't get my driver's licence until I was 26 years old.
10. My home is my sanctuary and I struggle to entertain because of that. I don't want lots of other people in my space but would love to go out with heaps of people to a restaurant any day of the week.

Now onto my 10 favourite products:

1. Zoya Nail Polish - I guess that's a no brainer right? For reliability and complexity of formula they are pretty much the cat's meow IMO.
2. Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Iced Nude - This is a gorgeous colour and formulation. While the markup on Revlon outside the US stings this is one shade I adore.
3. NYX Lip gloss with Mega Shine - This is my HG lip gloss formula - it lasts without being sheer or sticky and for $4 they cannot be beaten.
4. Too Faced Neutral Eye Palette - if you love neutral and shimmer (not glitter) this palette is universally flattering and suitable all year round. I like this one over the NAKED palette because the colours are lighter.
5. Inglot eye shadows - for range of colours, varied finishes and price these eye shadows are unbeatable IMO. While other ranges may have one standout shade here and there, Inglot beats all others I have tried for consistency and quality.
6. Sukin Creamy Cleanser - I started using this one after giving up my Neutrogena one and I love it. Not only does it get rid of most makeup (not sure how it would cope with waterproof stuff), it smells Divine AND is Carbon neutral. I'll do a proper review of this cleanser soon.
7. MAC Opulash Mascara - obviously everyone's eyes are different but this mascara makes a massive difference on my lashes, it doesn't irritate my eyes and my lashes still feel soft. I've gone through 1 tube already and have a back up ready to crack once all my others are done.
8. Rimmel Silky Finish Loose Powder - this loose powder is just gorgeous for dry skin. I'm almost through 1 container and will be buying another one for sure. Best in the drugstore for dry skin IMO.
9. Nars Sheer Glow - I haven't tried a lot of high end foundations but NARS was one I ordered while cashed up a few months ago. It is neither sheer nor glowy but the finish is incredibly natural. If it had SPF my search would be over.
10. Peach blushes  - I have a few I adore MAC's Miss Behave and Milani's Luminoso are both equally gorgeous examples.

And now it's time to nominate 10 other fabulous people. Some of these lovelies may have been nominated before and if you are listed here and you have done the tag already please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

1. Eat Paint Sniff Glue
2. Miss Prissypants
3. Jade Musing
4. The Science of Beauty
5. Keeping Up With Me
6. Add Cart to Blog
7. Commander in Chic
8. My Perfume Diaries (love to know your 10 fav products)
9. Becoming Beautiful
10. Vintage Makeup

And if you aren't listed above and you feel inspiried to blog, I'd love to hear your Top 10 too.

Happy weekend to everyone

Jac x

Blog Sale

Ok it's time to make way for some of my new stuff and more importantly send off some of my unused items that deserve to be loved by others.

Here we go:

• This blog sale is for Australian residents only (sorry everyone else).
• All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).
• Postage is $5AUD for up to 5 items and $8AUD for more than that.
• No items will be posted before Saturday 23 July (due to work commitments).
• Sales are final - please feel free to ask questions before buying and I have done my best to show everything as accurately as I can.
• I am happy to hold something for 24hrs if you need to ask questions or just want time to makeup your mind.
• Unless shown in the picture assume that original packaging has been removed. Most items will still have original brushes (except for the 88 palettes -which were removed as a result of their...um...crapiness).
• Please email me at chloeblue2005@gmail.com to buy something and first in best dressed of course.

88 Palettes ($10)- these have been swatched and used maybe a handful of times each.

88 Ultra Shimmer - picture taken without flash

88 Warm - - picture taken without flash

Sleek Palettes ($8) - these have been swatched and used maybe a handful of times each. Please note these come with a plastic cover sheet which I placed across the mirrors in the shots - the mirror is not actually covered in eye shadow (picture fail).

The Original (594)

Sunset (568) SOLD

 Storm (578) SOLD

Stila Haute in the Hamptons Palette ($10) - worn eye shadows once and swatched blush and bronzer once.

Urban Decay Ammo Palette ($25) - all colours swatched (pictures on the blog) but never got around to wearing it. (sold)

MAC Venomous Villians goodies - all in original packaging.

Beauty Powder in Oh So Fair ($25 ) - swatched for blog and worn once or twice.

Lipgelee in Resort Life ($15)-  swatched for blog and worn once or twice.

 MAC Sheertone Blush in Pink Swoon - ($10) - used several times. SOLD

MAC Single Eyeshadows ($10) - some colours just swatched and never worn but most colours have been worn a few times - always applied with makeup brushes.

Phloof!(frost), Naked Lunch (frost), Shroom (satin), Ricepaper (frost)

Gleam (lustre), Bold and Brazen (starflash), Expensive Pink (veluxe pearl), Mulch (velvet)

Green-smoke (lustre), Pink Venus (lustre), steamy (frost), moon's reflection (veluxe pearl)

MAC Studio Moisture Fix SPF15 ($20)- 24m on the bottle had it for less than 12m. Used less than 10 times - my skin was too dry.

Purminerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup SPF15 in Porcelain ($10) - used twice with brush

Mirenesse Velvet Maxi Lift Foundation in Vanilla ($10) - used twice.

Eyeko Nail Polish - being sold as a group - ($14) - used once or twice to do nail tips. A couple worn by me on the blog in NOTD and some not worn at all like Rain and Vampira

Ok that's it for now. Next task in a nail polish and NYX sale but I'll need to psych myself up for that in the months to come lol.

NOTD: Zoya's Charla

For those of you getting sick of my obsession with Zoya polishes I hope you will begin to understand my fascination with them after seeing this lovely. Is she green? Is she Blue? Is she both? I'll tell you what she is - FREAKING AWESOME.

Zoya describes this colour as a "topical blue sparkling metallic" and to be fair they have hit it on the head. The base appears to be teal with green-gold shimmer but move the bottle in the light and you will see all those colours and more. Unfortunately the green colour isn't showing up in the pictures -must be camera shy but trust me it's there.

It's pretty freaking gorgeous right? All photos were taken in natural light and have 2 coats. I am almost 100% sure there is no top coat - but I didn't write it down (sorry!).

What Zoya shades have stolen your heart?

NOTD: Zoya's Indigo

Ok I was so excited when this polish turned up - It's freaking DARK navy with multicoloured microglitter. While I love shades like these I usually find them horrific to apply as the dark polish stains my fingers around my nail in a way that looks like I got one of my cats to do my polish for me. Not so this time people, Indigo played very nicely and as such I adore her for that.

Now I love Zoya but I also call a spade a spade  so while Indigo was a dream to apply it did not really have visible microglitter in it like the bottle suggests once it was applied. It is certainly no deal breaker but I was disappointed all the same.

My apologies about the return of the ugly yellow wall but it was the only way to show how dark this is but still navy in sunlight. This polish was opaque in one coat but I did 2 as usual. I also used my seche vite top coat as I have found it plays nicely with Zoya - who knew? Unfortunately I can't say how long this would have lasted as I broke 2 nails moving the coffee table after only 2 days and my Indigo mani could not be saved :(

Is Indigo your idea of winter polish perfection or are dark shades not on your radar?

Just a quickie about posting and comments this week

I'm in Melbourne this week so have organised some NOTD posts featuring my much loved Zoya polishes but wont be able to respond to comments until I return home next Friday.

Hope you like what you see until I return.

Jac x

NOTD: Zoya's Tallullah

OMG I have been waiting for a blue to come along like this my whole life. This is as close to blue perfection as it gets for me and just reaffirms every positive thought I have about Zoya Nail Polish. I cannot understand why this brand is not raved about more - they are in my opinion pretty untouchable.

These pictures were taken outside in natural sunlight after 5 days - yep that's right 5 days and all I can see is a small chip on my naughty finger. I had this colour applied while enjoying a professional manicure so this also has a top coat on top.

Did anyone else think of Jodie Foster's character in Bugsy Malone when they saw the name of this shade or am I showing my age?

 image source

The wrap up of this NOTD in 2 words or less - polish perfection.