This post was sponsored by Nuffnang and Cadbury.

For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

I think you all know that I love chocolate… but I don’t think you guys know how *much* I love chocolate. When Cadbury sent me some of their new range to test out, I just about jumped out of my chair screaming in excitement. Seriously. They are giving you a chance to win some too but first…

…Want to know how in love with chocolate I am?

One day James came home after a long day out shopping…

He is clearly the best boyfriend ever because he brought chocolate with him!

Two of Cadbury’s new range- “Bar of Plenty”! Berry fruit/vanilla shortcake and Roast hazelnut/honey roast cashews… WIN!

How good does it look?

Captain downer comes to the party unfortunately…

My life is so hard right??

And the scheming begins…the cogs and wheels turn..

SUCCESS!

With your chocolate powers combined (cue Captain Planet theme… please don’t make me feel old by telling me you didn’t watch Captain Planet as a kid)…

That’s right… I love chocolate *so much* that I would split myself into two just to get another piece!

OH YEAH!! That’s Berry fruit/vanilla shortcake Violet on the left and and Roast hazelnut/honey roast cashews Violet on the right.

Unfortunately even though there are now two of me… we are very much the still “only child”.

We don’t share.

James is ever the optimist…

-_-’ Fail.

We also aren’t very nice people… but we work well together! Go team Violet!!

Mwahahaha! That’s how much I love chocolate!

The power of chocolate!

Oh yeah!

What Cadbury say about the new choc:

1. New Bar of Plenty combines interesting combinations of natural ingredients, all covered in smooth and creamy Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate.

2. Available in two different flavours: Oven Roasted hazelnut and cashews gently flavoured with honey and Summer berries with crunchy vanilla shortcake.

3. Available in local Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other selected outlets.

What I say about it:

• Vanilla shortcake flavor is like someone was reading my mind… this has become my go-to chocolate for the last week!
• I’m not a big fan of nuts in chocolate but James says the Hazelnut bar is very yummy too and not too hard to eat unlike other nut filled chocolates.
• The bars and actual pieces are massive, 190 grams I’d say the actual squares are about twice the size of regular ones… this makes me a *very* happy girl.
• I was send one bar of each of these. I actually loved the Berry/Vanilla one so much that I bought another 2 bars since then and ate them all myself! DO WANT!!

So are you hungry yet? I want some more!

This is the fun competition part of it!

To win  AU$50 of chocolate you just need to leave a comment answering the question:

“Why are you in love with chocolate?”

Unfortunately this one is only open to Australian readers. The competition closes Midnight AEST 22nd September.

Read the full terms and conditions here.

Thanks to Cadbury and Nuffnang for letting me eat all this chocolate by myself mwahahaha!

I’ve been wanting to try blue circle lenses for aaaages so I was so happy when E-Circlelens.net offered to send me some!

Yay for parcels in the mail! I was very happy when the post man delivered this

Lots of careful packing with Styrofoam so nothing was broken. Shipping was nice and quick too.

I received two pairs, firstly the Belita Blue which have a diameter of 14.5mm. They are US$40 and the manufacturer is Dueba

They are the ones I wore in the poufy hair  tutorial…

They have a black ring around the outside and very dramatic bright blue. On the website they look really crazy blue but when they are actually in I think they are more subtle. On darker eyes these would be quite subdued but I think they would really pop on light blue eyes.

My eyes are green with a brown ring in the middle so they blended quite well, I have fairly large pupils though. I think they might work really well for girls with lighter eyes too. After around 7 hours I found them to still be very comfortable and my eyes were only a tiny bit dry.

Verdict: Look massive, very cool for day to day wear. DO WANT

Secondly I received the Super Star Blue set which have a diameter of 14mm. They cost US$40, last for 1 year and the manufacturer is New Bio.

These ones are smaller than a lot of lenses but the black ring around the outside makes them pop anyway.

These ones have a much more subtle blue to them. Well there really isn’t very much blue but they have tiny blue stars! How cute is that? When you are a reasonable distance away it kind of looks just light blue flecks in you eyes but close up they really pop!

I wore these ones for around 6 hours and they were comfortable too. The only thing I didn’t like was that because my pupils are larger than average every now and then I could see blur from the stars entering my frame of vision.

Close up you can really see the little stars. I think these ones are really fun for photoshoots!

I think on darker eyes the stars would be more obvious. These photos were all taken with James’ DIY ring flash so that’s why there is a white circle in the middle of my pupils, it’s not part of the lenses

Verdict: Very cute effect but best for photoshoots. DO WANT

If you would like to see more lenses like this you can visit E-Circlelens.net here

This post has been sponsored by Nuffnang and Panasonic.

Read more about my policies on sponsored posts here.

Morning! Everyone is always asking me where I get my ideas from. How do I come up with craft ideas? What possesses me to add lace to everything I own? Why on earth do I insist on wearing such impractical looking clothing?

Today I thought I would try to give you a bit of an insight into myself and take you into a very scary place… my brain.

I was given the opportunity by Nuffnang to take a Panasonic Lumix TZ10 camera for a spin so I thought it would be a good way for you all to take a look into how I see the world! The best part is that there’s a competition at the end too ^_^

So are you ready to go in my brain? Make sure to wipe your feet before you enter, I don’t want you tracking mud all over my pretty pink brain!

Step 1.

Press play on the video below. It’s “Super Jet Shoes” by Perfume and it’s my favorite song at the moment. It’s been stuck in my head for several months now! This will be your soundtrack to my life ^_^

Step 2.

Hover your mouse over each of the images below to see the difference between how the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 sees life and how I see it. You might have to hover a few seconds for my view to load but don’t give up, they are all there!

Step 3.

Put on your Super Jet Shoes (mine are my boots) and let’s get going!

My constant companion for the day is my phone. Music, friends and fun are just a second away with this…

The Panasonic Lumix TZ10 is around the same size as my phone though it’s a little heavier. I have been keeping it in my jacket pocket ever since I got it. It has a lot of features that a gigantic camera has like a big zoom but it still has a little body. Great for snapping on the go. The “Intelligent Auto” feature makes it quite difficult (even for someone as uncoordinated as me) to take a bad photo.

We have started to catch the tram places now to see friends but it’s so different to Brisbane public transport!

Quick start up means you can get photos in a few seconds and snap stuff you wouldn’t normally see like the inside of a tram without the driver.

I actually think trams look like gigantic electric kitties. The second I saw them I was reminded of Susie who is obsessed with kitties!

The big back wires that hang everywhere remind me of spider webs or maybe knitting… or maybe gigantic knitting spiders.

Fancy “Intelligent Auto” feature means I can take photos in terrible lighting without having to fiddle with stuff or have the technical knowledge that James does.

Sometimes not having a car can be tough with getting all of our groceries or bigger items home but it’s much easier with a little help ^_^

Of course you really just can’t go past the shopping here

We visited Chadstone that day too and it’s massive!

Do you see a bit of a continued theme here yet??

More interestingly is what happens when I see something like this…

That happens quite a bit. I really try to see what something could turn into rather that what it already is

I wish our landlord allowed pets but I can always dream!

Very big zoom which allows you to take covert photos of other people’s pets from the tram

That pretty much sums me up I think… I hope you’ve enjoyed being in my brain for a day!

This shot was taken using the “Pin Hole” setting which is my favorite of the ridiculous amount of settings. I’ve been using the food setting lots too ^_^

So all of the photos in this post were taken with the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 aaaand thanks to Panasonic and Nuffnang you guys have the chance to win one just like mine! Well maybe not *just* like mine because  I’ve already deco’d mine mwahaha

So about the actual camera, I’m going to do a big proper pros/cons review on the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 this week in terms of being a good camera for blogging  and showing the quality of the HD video etc but here is a quick run down of my 3 favorite features:

-The big thing with Panasonic Lumix TZ10 is that it has built in GPS so if you go on holidays or you’re traveling around town near landmarks it will remember where you were and tag your photos with the location! The drawback to this is that unless you specifically switch the function off, it chews through battery even if the camera is off. The photo organization software it comes with also only works on a PC so I wasn’t able to test it.

-My absolute favorite feature is that you can register people on it so when you focus on me it actually says “Violet” and comes up with a little heart, how cute is that?! You can even register your pets!

-It can also take HD videos and fits neatly in my bag or pocket which is very useful for blogging!

This is the basic information from their website for the more tech savvy of you:

Key Points for the Panasonic Lumix TZ10:

• Built-in GPS for easy organization of the photos you took on your holidays!
• 25mm wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens…allowing it to have twice the shooting area of the standard 35mm lens
• Double hand-shake correction allowing you to take beautiful night shots at slow shutter speeds without blurring
• Record movies in HD with no loss of image quality!
• 12.1 Megapixels
• RRP AU$650

More information for the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 can be found here.

NUFFNANG COMPETITION TIME!

If you like the look of this camera you can enter into the draw to win one very easily ^_^

To enter just leave a comment on this post and answer this question “Where in the World would you take the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 and what photo would you take?”

Comments here will go into the draw to win the grand prize!

You must be a resident of Australia to enter, please view the full terms and conditions on Nuffnang’s blog here.

Good luck everyone and I hope you enjoyed being in my silly pink brain today

So up until now I’ve been selling nails on Etsy and privately when someone emails me… but now I’ve officially opened my own store attached to the blog

Violet’s Store!

The first wave of products has been uploaded and they are ready for sale! I’ve been working on this for quite some time so I really hope you enjoy it all. I’m still tweaking a couple of things and updating all of my links so please do let me know if you find any problems!

For now I will be selling just nail art but eventually I will be adding deco’d items and  prints of my art work! I will be taking commissions too so if there is something you would like me to make you please just let me know ^_^

Now let me introduce you to the nails I’ve been working on… These are just small snap shots to give you a taste, to see the full set just click the picture!

The Princess’ Afternoon Snack

Pink Safari

Spring Fling

Bling Bling

Come Over to the Dark Side

That 70′s Pattern

The Snow Princess

Chocolate Disco

The Dark Flower

Rockabilly

Ice Cream at the Malt Shop

Happily Ever After

Red Glass

Stripe Me Down

Tea Party

Losing My Marbles

Bad Dog No Biscuit

Leopard to Match a Hat

Private School

Pink Safari

Icing Stripes

Plus many more!

Thanks so much for looking everyone! I hope you find something you like!!

Stay tuned tomorrow because I’ll be having a big give away to celebrate a couple of milestones here

Today’s post is a little different than usual and very special indeed ^_^ I’ve been very secretly excited about doing this post for quite some time now!

There was a very special package in my letter box the other day… Such cute bags it came in too…

And lovely boxes inside that…

The super special announcement that I’ve bee wanting to make is that Dora from “Gems 4 Everyone” has designed a special collection of jewelery inspired by me! That’s right… me!!

How *awesome* is that???

Gems 4 Everyone make beautiful beaded unique jewelery.

The collection is called “Dinner with the Princess”

I’ll show you some of the other lovely pieces they sent me so you can see that they make all kinds of jewelery not just the OTT pearls and bows that I love!

I’m not used to writing about things like this so imagine me putting on my best game show girl voice as I walk you through the show case

Please note that while the prices are listed in Malaysian Ringgit (RM) international buyers can pay via US$ via Paypal.

Snod Izaro China Crystal Earrings

These are beautiful heart drop earrings  I like them because they are very light and delicate. They are long and dangly but not at all heavy so after wearing them for a whole day my ear lobes weren’t at all sore.

Material: China crystal, Silver finding
Code: E016
Design: Crystal Earring
Length: 6cm
Price: RM12

Ravenous Ailsa Swarovski Crystal Bracelet

This crystal bracelet is one of their standard designs but who could say no to something so sparkly and pink

Code: B042
Design: Crystal bracelet
Length: 16cm
Material: Swarovski crystal in rose, light rose, white, silver findings
Price: RM90

I wish I could show you how much it sparkles in person! I think it’s very versatile because it’s delicate enough to be worn during the day but still blingy enough to go out with in the evening.

So shiny!

Concupiscence Brigantia Plastic Floral

Gems 4 Everyone also make a lot of much larger statement necklaces like this piece.

Code: N027
Design: Plastic bead necklace
Length: 39cm
Material: Plastic bead, Silver finding
Note: Can be made using genuine Swarovski crystal (Price may varies)
Price: RM25

This one is extra cool because from a distance the clear beads are invisible and it looks as if the pretty red flowers are suspended in mid air around your neck.

Ameliorate Bertrada Floral Beads

For those with less over the top tastes there are of course more traditional options too

Code: N025
Design: Plastic + Cultured pearl necklace
Length: 43cm
Material: Plastic bead, Cultured pearl, Silver findings
Price: RM15

The first time I wore this one out I got quite a few compliments, it’s nice to wear something so summery in the dead of winter! I love the tiny little pearls ^_^

Now all of those pieces were very lovely… but what I really wanted to show you was my collection!

~Dinner with the Princess~

The set has 3 pieces comprising of a ring, choker and bracelet named after the three dinner courses.

Violet’s Entree-

The ring is a cluster explosion of pearls, tiny pearlised seed beads and crystal beads.

Code: R016
Length: 6.5cm
Material: Cultured pearl, Swarovski crystal in white, beads, silver findings
Design: Cultured pearl & Swarovski crystal ring
Price: RM35

It comes on a band made of beads for the perfect fit. I love rings with non-traditional bands because it makes them so much more comfortable.

It is *definitely* an attention getting ring, there is no mistaking that you are a pearl lover when you have one of these babies. For those of you in cold climates you can wear it easily outside with gloves by tuning it into your hand ^_^

Violet’s Main-

A stunning cultured pearl choker offset with  Swarovski crystals and a crown pendant.

Code: N035
Design: Cultured pearl + Swarovski crystal necklace
Length: 37cm
Material: Cultured pearl, Swarovski crystal, Silver crown, silver findings
Price: RM110

I don’t know what to say about this other than… *drool*

I just love the attention to detail in this piece, the inner row of pearls is slightly smaller so it sits perfectly flat on your neck. And the crystals… oh the crystals! As if it wasn’t pretty enough they’ve added crystals between the pearls!

The crystals shine beautifully and at a dinner party they really catch the light and draw the eye. The little crown is the perfect way to finish a choker like this and I can tell you that wearing it you really do feel like absolute royalty!

Violet’s  Desert-

A lovely bracelet featuring pearls, dangling crystals and small delicate metal mesh bows.

Code: B039
Design: China crystal + ribbon + glass pearl bracelet
Length: 18cm
Material: China crystal in pink, glass pearl, ribbon, silver findings
Price: RM18

This piece is the most delicate out of the collection and I just love it to death ^_^

I love the little mesh bows on this, it really brings a lovely flavor to the little dangly jewels and pearls. I also love the way that something so cute and small fits in perfectly and doesn’t get overwhelmed by the other pieces in the collection.

I love all of the pieces they created and I’m absolutely honored to have a collection inspired by me!

As a special thank you to all my readers if you spend over RM100 at Gems 4 Everyone you will receive a special mystery gift too!

To claim your gift when you email your order through please include the phrase “I want to dine with the Princess” as your subject line

And if you live in the Penang area of Malaysia you can see all of these products in person on the 27th June 2010 as they will be at the Flea Market on Upper Penang Road near to SS/Mois club/E & O Hotel.

Please go have a look at the Gems 4 Everyone website or visit their Facebook page and I’m sure you’ll find something you love too  <3

Almost 3 weeks ago Jolene at The Sticker Monster sent me a package of fun things to review for your guys and seeing as I have such a sweet spot for deco I just couldn’t say no

This is a super long post but stay with me because I’m going to show you how to make a whole bunch of really cool things!

This was the package that arrived on my doorstep… I couldn’t believe how much was packed into it! The delicate items were very well protected and nothing was damaged at all. It took around 1 week to arrive from Malaysia.
Shipping- 5/5
I had to giggle at the adorable business card!

So what was inside?

Several packs of Swarovski crystals in many colours and sizes. I’ve never used Swarovski before so I was really excited to try them out.

Lots of yummy plastic cabochon, pretzels, flowers, whipped cream and chocolates! This was my favorite part of the package, mwahaha more sweets to add to my collection!

10 fimo fruit canes in some really fun designs.

Pre-glued jewels on sheets in cute designs

Pre-glued pearls, big jewels and mini boullions in gold and silver.

Of course there was a whole host of their trademarked stickers! Glow in the dark, glittery and little hearts, totally adorable!

Prestuck felt sheet and furry leopard fabric sheet.

Jolene was also lovely enough to include 2 sheets of special deco protection paper. Basically the idea is that you glue your deco design to the sticker and then put it on your expensive items (laptop/cellphone/whatever) and then if you don’t like the design/want to sell your laptop you can remove it with no damage!

So I think the questions you’re all asking by now is “What on earth did you do with all of these supplies??”…

Well I was a little overwhelmed with all the design ideas so it took me a while to decide what to do first

First thing I did was decorate my make up brushes!

So you need:

• Make up brushes
• Preglued jewel stripes
• Scissors

It’s really easy to do… just measure how many rows of jewels you need while they are still on the plastic, remove the plastic, stick them down and press down for a minute to make sure the glue sticks.

I chose to add the jewels at the top of the metal band because it won’t interfere when I need to wash them.

I had some jewels left over so I added a stripe to each of the ends ^_^

Very easy to do and very pretty no? Over the last 3 weeks I’ve used my brushes every day and washed them as per usual with no damage at all. The only tip I have is don’t submerge the pre-stuck jewels in water, if you do by accident just pat it dry with a paper towel.

I liked it so much that I did my Magical Pick deco tool as well! My lovely friend Jin sent this to me and as soon as I can get the proper internet back I’m going to tell you all about it!

Now onto some real nail art

Have you guys ever used fimo canes? They are so much fun! I’ve actually got pretty much a lifetime supply of them now because the delightful Jacie sent me a bunch of them which are going to be featured in another tutorial too ^_^

So I’ll cover the basics here… they are made of fimo or sculpy and they come in sticks with pretty much any design you can think of.

Using a *very* sharp knife you cut them into small slices. This can be really tricky because they like to roll around. I got around this by taping the cane to the cutting board so I could have more control with my hands.

You want the slices to be *really* thin because it makes them more flexible to shape around your nails when you stick them on.

Apparently you can get over 100 slices from one cane sometimes! I got sore hands after cutting for a while so I made James finish them off I cut them all up at once so I never have to do it again!

Keeping on the topic of nailart… these are the nails that I’ve been wearing for the last two weeks. Over two weeks I managed to move house with these babies on so they were super durable!

I used the little silver boullions to fill in spaces between the diamantes, it gives it lots of extra punch!

Heehee typically I managed to lose my first nail like 20min before James was ready to take the photos yesterday *_* You can spot one of the little fimo cane bows from Jacie in there too ^_^

I decided to experiment by using a big fabric bow this time too. It was very durable and went well and by using hand sanitiser a lot I was able to keep it nice and hygienic. Cute but I probably wouldn’t do it again because I fiddled with it too much! You can see the nails survived the move by my skin didn’t, time for a hand treatment!

Next it’s sticker time!

I’ve been looking at ways to deco my laptop for a while, I deco’d the entire front section twice but didn’t like either design. The second I saw these little heart shaped stickers I knew I wanted to stick them to my keyboard!

It’s fairly self explanatory… I just stuck them on randomly ^_^

I also used some matching yummy macaron/sweets stickers that the lovely Trashtastika gave me and went crazy with them!

LOVE the finished product and it’s a great starting point to inspire the rest of my laptop’s design. I’m going to use the deco protection sheets on the back of my laptop and start again with an even better design!

This next project was probably my biggest overall… I was very inspired by the leopard print fabric and the pre-glued deco sheets to finally decorate my little handy camera and it’s case

First thing I did was add some of the little black rose stickers to all of the buttons on the back of the camera. They were the perfect size! The flash from the camera makes them look kind of shiny but in natural light you can’t see the sticker part you only see the black roses with silver outlines.

Nice and classy unlike the rest of my design which pretty much slaps you in the face with the pink

I used the prestuck jewels and the sticky leopard print for the case.

Again this was one of the easiest project I’ve ever done… I stuck the sheet of jewels on the front of the case, it fit perfectly!

And I stuck leopard print on the rest of the case. I added a stripe of lace to cover the line… and that’s it!

I keep it in my purse all the time and it’s been really great, none of the jewels have come off the sheet which surprised me as I’ve always assumed they aren’t very durable. Very happily surprised!

Now on to the actual camera! I wanted this to be sweets themed but I didn’t want it to be completely crazy. It also needed to fit back in the case which was a bit of a tight fit to begin with *_*

I played around with the design a bit and decided that this would be perfect to try out using Swarovski‘s for the first time!

I used a lot of the cabachons, the prestuck pearls (which I removed the stick backs from and glued down) and several colours of crystals. This is what I ended up with after around an hour!

Totally cute but not too crazy!

Like?

I got a request a little while ago from a reader asking for cute ideas to store nail art supplies and nails there is another tutorial coming on this as well but here’s a quick and easy idea for you!

This is one of the boxes I keep my supplies in…

It took me about 2 minutes to cut out the sticky backed felt and cover the box! SUPER EASY.

It needed a little something extra so I added some of the other cute stickers in the pack ^_^

This is completely random but this is the rest of the sheet the stickers came on… all the cutest ones like the little bears weren’t actually cut out as stickers I just cut them out and stuck them on anyway!

Last but not least I used some of the other Swarovski crystals to jazz up a little heart photo thingy that I got aaaages ago. I put in some purikura of James, Susie and I and deco’d around the edges.

Sorry Susie parts of you got covered in jewels ;_;

I really loved using the Swarovski‘s, they certainly do shine a hell of a lot more than acrylics! They are much heavier but I think they are going to be so much more durable too. Love durability!

So now you’ve seen all the fun things I got to make here’s my final review on The Sticker Monster!

Communication-

Every email I sent was replied to very very promptly, in fact I don’t think I ever waited more than about 12hrs for a response about anything. If you live in Malaysia Jolene also has her mobile number online for inquiries and even arranged meet ups if you want to buy a certain number of products. To top that off she is super polite, very friendly and really knows a whole lot about her products. She actually collects and uses them herself so if you have questions about anything she has proper first hand knowledge.

Prices-

All of the prices are in Malaysian currency (RM). When converting to Australia Dollars the prices are really cheap! Things like the sticky fabric sheets and pre-stuck jewel sheets were around half the price of what I’ve seen them for in shops here in Aus. Even when you factor in shipping it’s still much more cost effective.

Quality-

I didn’t find one single piece in the selection I got that I wasn’t happy with the quality. A lot of the things like the jewel sheets and the Swarovski‘s far exceeded my expectations. Even little things like comparing the silver/gold boullions to ones that I had previously ordered from a nailart site in bulk, the Sticker Monster boullions were slightly larger, shinier and more uniform in size than the bulk ones. Couldn’t be more pleased with everything.

Overall-

Considering the prices, exchange rate, ridiculous number of products actually available on the site and the super friendly service… I’m already putting together a mental order list DO WANT!!!

Socks and stockings are possibly my favorite accessory over all, it’s very rare that I ever leave the house without them!

The Sock Boutique sent me a couple of pairs to test out so here is my honest review ^_^

This is the cute little package that arrived at my house, I think the ribbon is a sweet touch!

The two pairs I received were:

White Lace Ruffle Anklet Socks

Pink Over the Knee Socks

Shipping-

The shipping was super fast, coming all the way to Australia only took a few days. I was actually surprised when the post came as I hadn’t been expecting it! The packaging was as expected, everything wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a cute bow.

Ruffle Socks

These socks are US$5, they are branded as Leg Avenue and are 100% Nylon. Available in pink, white, black and red.

The main lace used in them is a very soft and comfortable to wear while the top ruffle is made out of standard nylon lace and is not quite as soft. These ones are taller than most of the other ankle socks I’ve had over the years which makes them quite versatile. They are tall enough that they look cute with very tall heels but if you fold them down a little more they would be cute with sneakers too.

The one thing that I found a bit odd with these socks is that the seam is sewn under the foot and up the back. It’s not a big deal, but I think that after a long day of walking around it might be uncomfortable.

Verdict-

Lace quality aside I think these are a very cute way to top off an outfit ^_^

Over the knee socks:

These socks are on sale for US$8 and come in lots of other colours. These are quite interesting because they are billed as Eco Socks…

“Surprisingly soft over the knee eco socks by The Sock Boutique. These soft and comfortable regenerated socks are earth friendly and go above the knee to thigh high.  The cuff has holds the socks up perfectly without leaving a dent in your skin. 85% Regenerated Cotton/Acrylic/Poly (*regenerated from preconsumer (unused) fabrics*) 10% Nylon 5% Elastic”

So recycled socks= good for the environment hurrah!

The colour of these is really vibrant and they came up to around mid-thigh length. After wearing them for walking all day they had migrated around 2 inches down which is pretty good. I also have quite small legs so they would probably fit others more snugly ^_^ I thought they were very comfortable for a full day’s walking. Quality-wise they are right for the price, they are not as high quality as say Innocent World but they sure don’t cost $25 either They are soft and comfy, warm enough to wear in the Australian winter and stay up nicely. The description was right too, they didn’t leave horrible bands on the tops of my legs at the end of the day either which I was very happy about!

A close up of the stitching in the toes.

Verdict-

Comfy socks that stay up well through the day and come in lots of cute colours ^_^ Do want!

Bonus outfit photo of what I was wearing that day

This post is also for everyone who has been asking me where they can get white stockings/tights like the ones I wear. It’s very hard to find here in Aus, especially if you want good quality opaque ones. I can’t attest to how opaque these are but the Sock Boutique also sells white opaques here for US$7. Problem solved, hurray for The Sock Boutique!

After my last circle lens review I have completely fallen in love with them! I mentioned last time that I wanted to try different colours… especially violet! E-CircleLens.net were lovely enough to send me some I was so excited for them to arrive!

This was the cute package that came!

Whenever you purchase they send a travel contact case, last time I got one shaped like a puppy and this time I got this one:

How cute is that? I think it’s very Anna Sui inspired

I got Candy Violet lenses and Marie Violet lenses.

Ok review time!

Marie lenses.

These are a light violet colour with yellow flecks in around the center. They are 14mm diameter.

Because these ones are quite transparent I found they didn’t make a strong colour over the top of my green eyes but the effect was really pretty anyway.

One lens in the left eye, nothing on the right:

Because I naturally have yellow around the pupil of my eye they really bring that out too With them both in:

Comfort-wise I thought they were really great, I’ve been wearing them quite a bit for the whole day and by the end of the day there’s no discomfort.

Verdict- These ones are really good for a subtle look, they purple isn’t overpowering and it looks quite natural. Love them!

Candy Lenses.

These ones are a really bright violet with a black outside ring. They are 14.5mm in diameter.

These ones are my favorites out of all the lenses I own now! They are absolutely HUGE! It’s funny because they are only 0.5mm bigger than the Marie pair but they look soooo much bigger because of the black ring.

Lens on the right side, none on the left:

I’ve been wearing these ones pretty much non-stop since they arrived because they give such a cool effect. They are dark enough to cover the green in my eyes and because they are this dark I can wear more/darker eye make up without looking washed out. LOVE IT! They really do give a huge dolly style eye, perfect for hime style!

These were the lenses I was wearing the other day in the curly pigtail hair tutorial and there were lots of comments about them!

Verdict: LOVE. Super comfortable, pretty, bright and the colour is awesome!

Mwahaha this is my growing lens collection… I think I’m addicted now!

Now the second part of this post! Quite a few of you have been asking questions about caring for your lenses and how to clean them etc. I’m by no means an expert on the subject but after researching and talking to the very helpful staff at E-CircleLens.net I wanted to try answer your questions… so I’ve made a super quick video about it. On anything more complicated than this I though I would suggest you talk to your doctor or optometrist

Before you do anything I suggest buying a decent sized bottle of lens solution so you can keep everything clean and hygienic. This is the lens solution I’m using in the video:

And here’s the quick video ^_^

So I hope that helped and answered some questions!

Next time I’m going to be doing the hair and make up tutorials you’ve been requesting ^_^

Today I wanted to give you guys first pick of my new nail art for sale ^_^ This is all going up on the Etsy store soon but I want my blog readers to have first preference. I’ve also made a few of those bow and heart rings that you all loved so much on Twitter. All the information on ordering is down the bottom, I hope you enjoy!

Set 1. Strawberry Fields

Description:
Yum yum strawberries, it’s that time of year again Alternating in red and pink these nails will catch some attention! Each small gold ball has been hand placed to represent strawberry seeds and they shine in the sun like crazy! Good enough to eat, though I don’t suggest trying to…

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$25

Set 2. Ribbons and Bows

Description:
These beautiful pastel nails have so much detail going on they are really eye catching! Alternating between pastel pink and blue each has silver glitter and then white candy stripes. Painstakingly hand painted on top in each corner is a big red ribbon bow. Perfect to wear for a tea party or just to look adorable every day!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$25

Set 3. Purple Passion

Description:
These nails are a beautiful dark satin purple. They are very different to most nails you would come across, the only thing that shines on these babies are the silver glitter half moons at the bottom. Pair them with a slinky dress and you’re ready for a night on the town!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

Set 4. Loving the Leopard

Description:
This set has been so popular I’ve made another one!

There is no hiding from these nails, you won’t need to camouflage! With a bright purple base and fluro pink leopard spots these nails sure make a splash! The tips have been dipped in bright pink glitter and a matching pink diamante has been added to polish off. These are guaranteed to grab attention!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

Set 5. Burn Baby Burn

Description:
Fire is ultimately cool but who has the time or effort to set their own fingers on fire everyday? Now you can have the look without the third degree burns! With an orange/red base and flames of red, yellow and orange people might be fooled into calling the Fire Department, wear at your own risk!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

There are still a few sets left in my Etsy store of the last batch, click here to see ^_^

Bow and Heart Rings

Please note that I can custom make these in any colour and size combination. If there is something you want that is not here just comment or send me an email ^_^

Pink Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn, it is very comfortable to wear and is attached to a matching crochet ring.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

The inside of a bow ring. The ring section is crochet as well, its quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Pink Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Pink Crochet Bow Ring with Pearls.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn and beaded with plastic pearls to keep it light weight. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Blue Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Red Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Red Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Black Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Blue Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Black Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Ordering Information!

Custom Orders:

I will take custom orders, please comment or email me (violetlebeaux@gmail.com) with what you are interested for a quote

Ordering:

Before you order please take the time to read all of the information.
You can order by either commenting here or by emailing me using my Contact Page to let me know which set you would like to buy and your email address so I can send you a Paypal Invoice. Please note that the email address you put in the comment form can only be seen by me so if you are uncomfortable publishing your email either put it there or order via the Contact Page. Anything that doesn’t sell here is going to be put up in my Etsy shop, if you would prefer to buy via Etsy let me know and I will create a listing for you

Payment:

Payment must be made via Paypal. All prices are in US Dollars.
Australian buyers have the option of doing a direct bank transfer in Australian Dollars but must contact me for details.

Postage:

Shipping fees are included in the listed prices. Shipping is via Australia Post. International shipping will be by standard Airmail (unless you want to pay extra for express).
Insurance is not included in the price, if you would like to buy insurance please contact me. If you do not opt to buy insurance I cannot be held responsible for lost packages.

Notes:

Please note that these nails are all hand painted and as such they are all unique. They are not mass produced and therefore they have small irregularities. Please view the pictures carefully to be sure before you place your order as I will not accept refunds if you just change your mind. Larger photos are available upon request.

As a lot of you would already know James and I will be moving cities soon, it’s very exciting! We’ll be living in an apartment so we’re trying to compress all of the things we have into as small a space as possible… what this leads to is us having a big clean out sale  ^_^ I’m not going to constantly spam you about the sale here so I’ll just post the link and tell you that I’m updating it with new stuff pretty much every day so check back often! There are all kinds of things there including clothes, jewelery and other bits and pieces.

If you want something just email me an offer!

Click here to go to Violet and Jimmy’s Online Garage Sale

Thanks very much for looking!

So if you’ve been following my Twitter you’ll be aware that I’ve been testing out Circle Lenses! So what are circle lenses? Basically they are coloured contact lenses which make your eyes appear bigger, they are very very popular in Asia especially with Hime Gyaru models. I’ve been interested in trying them for like 2 years but never got around to it until now when E-CircleLens offered to send me some

You can’t imagine how excited I was when I came home from Melbourne to a package from E-CircleLens!

Inside the package were 3 different lenses, some pamphlets and instructions, 3 cases and a cute little doggie travel kit!

How cute is this? The little cases for the lenses have bows on them!

They came with cartoon instructions showing you the do’s and don’ts of putting them in and caring for the lenses.

This is the little doggie travel case! He’s found his way to my handbag now!

The doggie opens up and inside is… a mirror, tweezers, a bottle for contact solution and a case!

All of the lenses come packaged really well in styrofoam, when you take them out they are in little glass bottles like this:

It took a bit of work to get the aluminum lids off but that’s probably because I’m incredibly weak heehee!

These ones here are the Aryan Ring Circles. They have a diameter of 14mm which is huge and they last 1 year.

This is a photo of me trying to put them in for the first time. Considering how un-coordinated I am, it’s surprising I didn’t lose an eye! It was a lot easier to do than I was expecting, I think if I can do it anyone can!

So what kind of difference do they make? Here is me with one of the Aryan Ring ones in and one eye natural. Big difference right?

And when you add some make up, they look awesome!

These ones look really dark but still have a burst of natural colour through the middle.

Here is a close up comparison between natural eye and made up eye with the Aryan Ring Circles:

The second set that they sent me are called Walkure Brown and they have a diameter of 14.5mm! These ones are my favorite because they are the absolute biggest!

Here’s the comparison between my natural eye and the Walkure Brown up close:

These ones were slightly harder to apply because of the size but once they were in, they just look fantastic! The dark brown works really well with hime style as well which is great for me!

I was surprised how natural they looked on me as my eyes are actually green normally ^_^

From a distance they just look cute!

The third set I received was the Angel EX Green with a diameter of 14mm. I was excited about these ones because they were so natural looking and they really made the green in my eyes pop! It probably helped that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in Ageha as well

It’s such a pity that these photos don’t seem to capture the real colour of these lenses, they are a really deep vibrant green in real life. I wore them to lunch the other day and got 3 compliments about my eyes, no one even guessed I was wearing lenses

They are darker than my natural eyes but the green really stands out!

Pretty!

So my review!

Ok the quality of the packing was really good, the box arrived dented by a careless post office worker but the insides were still perfectly ok because of all of the packaging. The complimentary instructions they include are really easy to follow and well set out. I have never used lenses before and I managed to put them in very easily.

I have to say that unlike some other resale companies I’ve dealt with, the staff at E-CircleLens were super helpful and really knowledgeable about their products. I couldn’t have been happier with the support I received.

The actual lenses were really comfortable to wear and after I got the hang of actually putting them in I didn’t really notice that they were in during the day. On the first day that I wore the Angel Ex Green ones I actually forgot they were in, if James hadn’t reminded me I probably would have gone to bed with them in

If you want your own sets, all of these lenses can be bought via E-CircleLens for around US$40 and they last for 1 year if taken care of correctly.

I’ve made a fun little video tutorial to show you how to apply circle lenses, click below to see!

So in conclusion, my first experience with  Circle lenses has been really positive, I’m definitely going to keep wearing them and I want to get lots more different colours to try out

What do you all think?