Once again, it's the end of the month and that means it's time for another Monthly Favourites. So, without further ado, here is the list of the things I particularly liked this month.

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Begin Again Soundtrack
I saw this movie in the cinema when it first came out and I really loved it. Like, really, really loved it. It was just so different and so refreshing. It was the ending that really got me. I wasn't expecting it to end where it did and I wasn't expecting the ending that it did have. However, I was glad that it did end how it did - I thought it was very reflective of the whole tone and mood of the movie. The soundtrack is also just beautiful and well worth a listen.

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Melanie Martinez
I came across this lovely singer quite by accident. Her cover of Toxic by Britney Spears came up on my tumblr dashboard and I loved it. Her version is just so haunting and beautiful. So far, most of her songs that I have heard all share that ethereal, haunting, lilting quality that I really like in my songs (although my mother thinks it's just depressing and morbid - I disagree). Basically, she's a great artist, in my opinion.

Nail Art Inspired By: Avengers Assemble - Captain America

Hi lovelies,

So, I disappeared again.... The reason this time is even sillier than normal (and it's a little sad that I have a 'usual' reason for my occasional and completely unexplained absences but let's move on). Basically, I got stuck writing one post and so just hid from it. Which also included hiding from every other potential post I could have written in the meantime, while I struggled with this particular post.

Anyway, today I thought I'd post one of my favourite nail designs that I've done in a long time. This is my second contribution to my Avengers Assemble collection and yes, I am going to do all of them and no, I have no clue what I'm going to do for some of them (Hulk? Hawkeye?).

Luckily, the Captain was actually fairly easy to translate into nail art, thanks to the simple design of his shield and uniform and I am really proud of them.

Face of Australia Dark Side Review | Part Two

Okay, so today I'm back with the second half of my Face of Australia Dark Side collection review. If you missed the first part, you can find it here.

First up we have Ursula, named for the wicked sea witch from the Little Mermaid.

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Face Of Australia Dark Side Review | Part One

Hi lovelies,

So, today I have some really, really, really lovely polishes to show you. Normally, I'm pretty good about my polish buying. I don't do extremely extravagant shopping sprees and I normally keep my 'Absolutely Must Have' polish list to a length that won't break the bank. All in all, it means that I generally never end up buying an entire collection.

But.... When I was walking through my local Priceline last week, I came across these babies and I just knew that I had to own them all. But I was very frugal - I fought my my inner polish demon and only bought half. I felt very proud of myself.

And then I went back the next day and bought the rest. :)

Well, actually, technically, my sister bought one of them, so I didn't buy the entire collection, but at least I have the entire collection available for my use. :)

Face of Australia have brought out some really great polishes recently (See my rave about their Carnivale ones here) and these are no different. They are really gorgeous polishes and also, are named after famous villains. For me, this was what really cinched the deal. How could I pass up the opportunity to tell people I was wearing Voldemort or Darth Vader on my fingertips?!?!?

First up, we have Mystique, named after the amazing villain-but-not-quite from the X-men series.

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Nail Art Inspired By: Fifa World Cup

Hi everyone!

So, who’s excited for the world cup final??

Actually, if I am completely honest, I’m not that excited. I’ll watch the soccer while it’s on, but I’m not a massive fan. However, my sister and dad are quite into it and so I keep up with the scores and the goss and as a result, have been quite sucked into the world cup this time round. :)

But, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some appropriately themed world cup nails, could I? However, because I had done my nails only a day before, I was not taking them off, so it's a good thing my mum was happy to have some soccer themed nails. :)

I was actually really proud of them! Especially the Argentinian flag. I honestly thought that was going to be a flop, but it turned out much better than I expected. I don't actually think it's recognisable as the Argentinian flag by itself, but with the soccer balls and German flag, I'm hoping/assuming people will get the gist. :)

Nail Art Inspired By: Marceline The Vampire Queen

Hi lovelies,

As you would know if you've been reading my Monthly Favourites, I really quite like Adventure Time. It'ss just so soothing and lovely and wonderful. For a children's program it's surprisingly well-thought out and the characters are really quite three-dimensional.

Anyway, I won't go into the rest of the reasons I love Adventure time right now, but if you are interested, I did write a little more in this Monthly Favourites.

While my favourite character has to be Finn, Marceline comes a very, very close second. She is just a pretty cool girl and I love her songs. So when I decided to do Adventure Time nails, she was definitely my first choice. I just think she has more scope to incorporate in a nail design.

Or at least, that's what I thought when I started out. I had a great plan to do a little Marceline face on each thumb, bats on a couple of fingers, one nail of her guitar and one of a full body, or at least a torso, to make sure I could include her fabulous hair! So I started off and did the thumbs and they turned out great! I was so confident I was going to nail this design.

I mean, look at that - it's so true to life! It looks very much like her.

But then, I started doing the other nails. The bats turned out okay but the guitar nail and torso nail just flopped. The guitar was completely unrecognisable as a guitar and I went a little overboard with her hair and she ended up looking a little bit like one of the trees from The Lorax. Well, if the tree bit was bigger and black and the trunk was shorter and was split in two and was red (for her boots).

For defs what she looked like. Only, in black and red and shades of grey. Source here

What I Liked About June

Hi lovelies,

So this month I was determined to get this post up before late on the night of the 30th, but I guess that didn't happen... But.... Guess what? I actually did more this month than just listen to music! Unlike last month... Anyway, on to the actual post.

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Miami Heat by Sinful Color
So, this polish. Logically, I shouldn't like this polish as much as I do. It's not a glitter, I didn't have to covert it from after until I could justify the high price/ridiculous shipping costs, it's not a purple or a pink and I didn't even have issues getting my hands on it. It's really actually just a plain blue creme. I picked it up on a whim with five other polishes I bought in a sale at Kmart this month. I really only bought it because I didn't have a darkish-blue creme. It wasn't until I got home and looked at my haul again that I fell in love with it. It's so shiny and pretty and really gorgeous and extremely wearable.

Also, I loved it so much that the first time I wore it I couldn't even bear to put nail art over the top of it - I just really wanted to show it all in it's full, if illogical, beauty. Check out my post about it and the tiny bit of nail art I did over it here.

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My New Phone (Motorola Moto G)
At the beginning of this month, I bought myself a new phone and I'm still pretty excited about it. I lost my old phone on a bus about 2 months ago and I'd been using a very old phone we had lying around the house. I got sick of it pretty quickly and started looking for a new one and I ended up with the Moto G. It's my first smartphone (I know, I was very late joining the ranks) and to be honest, that's probably like 60% of why I'm still excited about it. All the new things I can do!! :)

What I Liked About May

Hi lovelies,

Well, weirdly enough, it's now the end of the month, and that means it's time for another Monthly Favourites.

I'm going to say right up that this is going to be a short post because a) I didn't plan during the month and write bits of the post as the month progressed b) I forget that today was the 31st until just now, which is evening for me and I'm not very inspired at the moment c) I am really super tired! I was baby-sitting last night and they didn't come back until 2 in the morning, which is way, way past my bedtime. But, enough of my excuses and explanations - let's crack on.

Lorde
I got her CD Pure Heroine at the beginning of this month and I really, really love it. Her songs are just really haunting and beautiful - especially those that weren't released as singles. The lyrics are really evocative and I love the way some of the songs seem to be about nothing, and yet all of them make sense. I find her work very similar to Natasha Khan's - or Bat For Lashes, whom I also really love for the same reasons - the imagery and emotions that the lyrics and songs create. I talk about Laura (by Bat for Lashes) in this post.

Currently, I think my favourite song on the CD is 400 Lux, just because it's really beautiful.

What I Liked About April

Hiya lovelies,

So, April has come and gone and it's time for me to reflect on what helped make this April a good one, in my humble opinion.

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Horrible Histories
I am a huge history nerd. I love it. I also love learning about random facts that have very little relevance to everyday life. Also, I love singing and music. And bam, there is Horrible Histories in a nutshell. I like it because I find it really funny and I like learning random facts. Loving Horrible Histories is also something that me and my youngest sister have in common and watching it is something we can do together. However, I am super sad that it's now over for good.... Season 5 was the last season that they are ever going to make of Horrible Histories. Isn't that sad?

What I Liked About March

Hi lovelies,

So, this is the start of another new series on this blog (exciting right?! Two new series starting so soon after each other! :) So, at the end of each month, I will be doing a post about what I liked best about this month. It can be tangible or not - just things that I did like about each month. Hopefully, it will give me to look back on at the end of the year and I can see exactly what was good about each month. So, in no particular order, here are the things I liked about this month...

Some Supernatural Nails

Hi lovelies,

These are Supernatural inspired nails I did quite a while ago, but I came across just today and thought that it would be a good time to post them, as season nine is coming out.

Why I Hate Beauty and the Geek

Hello to all you wonderful people out there,

Here's a post I wrote ages ago, when Beauty and the Geek was on, so it's a it out of date, but the messages and my opinions remain the same.

In Australia, it’s that time again. That time where my sisters, and father, huddle around the television on a Thursday night, while I try desperately to get out of earshot. The time where I am subjected to listen to countless recounts of last night’s show over who went home, who kissed who and who is absolutely clueless, all the while casually degrading everyone they bring up. Yes, it is time again for Beauty and the Geek Australia.

Christmas Nail Challenge - Day 7

Hello lovelies,

Well, guess what? Today means that we have reached day 7 of the 12 Days of Christmas Nail Challenge. Yay! That means we are over half way through. While this challenge has been really fun and definitely something I would do again, I do feel my enthusiasm waning a little. It's hard to have to stick to a schedule of when I need to paint my nails - I'd rather just be allowed the freedom to do them when I want to. Although, saying that, I generally paint my nails every 2-3 days anyway. It's just occasionally that I really can't be bothered doing them. Today was an example of such.

Anyway, back on track, today's prompt was 'Inspired by a Christmas Movie'. I chose 'Sleepless in Seattle' , which might not be the most Christmassy of movies, but it was Christmassy enough for me. :)

This is what I came up with.

Purple Nurple Nails

Hi lovelies

Okay, maybe that post title is a little weird but I was watching an old episode of Supernatural last night and Dean kept going on about Purple Nurples and when I painted my nails like this, it made me think of him and his alcohol. :) Oh Dean, why are you so beautiful...