Hey there, dear readers!

It's been a while since I posted geeky nail art, so how about some River Song?

I didn’t think I’d have that much to write about her but once I started, a whole post happened. Because she is wonderful and mad and at first I didn’t like her at all but it’s hard to resist the lure of someone so badass and resourceful. I confess, I was jealous of what she had with the Doctor, but now I’m rather more jealous of what the Doctor had with her. And I just know we’d be best buddies, because I’d ask something and she’d be all “Shh, spoilers!” and I’d be all “Thanks for the warning, never mind then – in fact, please don’t tell me, I hate spoilers!” and then she’d grin at me and snog me with her psychedelic lipstick and wait, what? Did I type that out loud?

Right, let’s get back to the lady herself. I have two wonderful polishes dedicated to her: Melody Malone aka River Song from LynBDesigns and Hello, Sweetie from Nail Pattern Boldness. (Well, actually I have three, but I'll have to feature LynBDesigns' Bespoke Psychopath some other time.) Interestingly, they’re all varying shades of purple. It’s not like she wears a lot of purple, but somehow the colour seems right for her.

For nail art, I chose her alter ego Melody Malone as shown on the cover of the book the Doctor is reading in The Angels Take Manhattan (then they take Berlin). Did you know that this story has actually been published as a book and, more importantly, as an audiobook read by River Song herself? I got it from Audiogo but you can also get it directly from the BBC store and other places.

I think it looks better before the addition of the smoking gun, because that causes the lines to muddle up, but I thought it was a good look for Hello, Sweetie as well so I just added three coats of that on top of Melody Malone aka River Song for the second look.

Melody Malone aka River Song spreads nicely and evenly like the other LynBDesigns shown in this post, though I did have some striping on the first layer. It’s a gorgeous lilac full of golden sparkles, pretty and still something you might be able to pull off at work. Like River, there are hidden depths to it.

Hello, Sweetie by Nail Pattern Boldness is simply glorious! The translucent reddish purple base is filled with gold, black and red glitter and spreads beautifully. Nail Pattern Boldness is one of my favourite indies – Slow Invasion blew my mind and this isn’t far behind.

With matte topcoat

I'm not even going to get into the feels that I have about the last appearances of River Song. Nope. But the feels I have about these polishes are wonderful, so why don't we focus on that? (Feel free to let your feels run wild in the comments though.)

Captain Spacenails

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It's the final tri-polish Tuesday of February and after several uninspired weeks I've finally got some nail art I'm actually pleased with! I used the same grey and pink as for the other tri-polish manis this month and added a bit of glitter, which unfortunately doesn't show quite as well on the pictures as it did in person (and even then it was subtle). Huh, who knew subtle glitter was a thing?

I made this a while ago for my niece's birthday - she loves elephants (and balloons!) and enjoyed looking at my nails. I really liked this mani and was sad when I had to take it off again for an appointment where it wouldn't have been appropriate. (It is a sad day when elephants are inappropriate.)

I'm not sure what it is about them that makes them so endearing, but elephants are the best! Don't you agree?
Check out the linky below for more grey, pink and brown! Next month's colours are green, blue and purple. Want to play?

Captain Elephantnails

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It's Tuesday, and that means it's time for the Tri-polish challenge. The colours are pink, grey and brown, and this time I used all three plus white and glitter. The colours screamed cupcakes to me, so here's some delicious chocolate cupcakes with white and pink toppings, sprinkles and a cherry on top (glitter from Life is Short and You are Hot).

LynBDesigns Eloquent Dust, Boulevard de Beauté 16, MaxFactor Coffee Brown (22), Essie Marshmallow, LOOK white, Lucky 13 Life is Short and You are Hot and Essence Nail Art More Than Silver (10).

 

This was going to be a post about how I don't actually like cupcakes, because the cream cheese frosting is weird and they're always way too sweet for my taste, but today I met a couple of friends for coffee at a tiny cupcake bakery and I'm willing to admit that I may have judged prematurely. 

I had a tiramisu cupcake, which was a perfectly soft and moist chocolate muffin with a just not too sweet tiramisu cream topping. It was divine. I even bought a chocolate-orange cupcake home as a treat for tomorrow (because you really can't eat more than one of those a day, and that was a bit of a struggle). So I change my opinion (because I'm mature enough to admit when I'm wrong): I don't like most cupcakes, but when they are just right, they are divine.

How do you feel about cupcakes? And have you checked out the other contributions yet? 
Captain Spacenails

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Dear readers,

I.O.U. - a review of His Last Vow. But to be honest, that Sherlock season finale was filled with so many brilliant and funny and unexpected (and any combination of those) scenes that I'm still not quite sure what to think. Meaning, I need to watch it again and then I need to write about it, and that could take a while. I'm pretty busy with work at the moment, so I'll just try to get it done by the time the episode airs in the US...

In the meantime, have a dragon. No review of the Hobbit (reasons: see above), just the eye of Smaug amid his hoard of gold.



Stay safe and don't meddle in the affairs of dragons!

Captain Dragonnails

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Spoiler warning: This post contains spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Sherlock Season 3 (The Empty Hearse and The Sign of Three) and a minor spoiler for Doctor Who Series 1 Ep. 10 (The Doctor Dances). The nail art and screenshot contain very mild spoilers. Also, this isn't a proper review but more of a reaction post.

First of all, dear fellow BBC Sherlock fans, I’d like to apologise for punching you right in the feels. Don’t think the nail art is sad? Stay away from this post until you’ve watched the episode or you’ll be majorly spoiled. Seen the episode but still don’t have enough feels about that scene? Listen to this, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 I don’t know about you, but I had to take this off at the earliest opportunity because I couldn’t deal with the sadness every time I looked at my hand. 

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

"The Sign of Three" ©BBC One*

But wait, it’s a happy and funny episode, right? In fact, it’s the funniest Sherlock episode ever.  Best man speech! Drunk deductions! “Am I a pretty lady?”

Half a year has passed since Sherlock’s sudden reappearance, filled with cases (check out John’s blog!) and, more importantly, wedding preparations. Sherlock is the best wedding planner and maid of honour anyone could ask form throwing himself into the wedding preparations with a fervour usually only reserved for particularly interesting cases. He vets the wedding guests (Sherlock’s mini-me is just the best thing ever! Everybody’s parent!lock fics just came true). He even comes up with several napkin folding suggestions and tries to tell Mary he learned it for a case.  "I’m not John, I can tell when you’re fibbing." – "Learned it on youtube."

Yeah, Mary’s totally running her boys.

Poor Sherlock. The disbelief in his eyes as he realised John considered him his best friend was heart-wrenching. Oh Sherlock, you didn’t know?

He may not be the best best man ever, but he’s definitely the best wing man ever (at least for weeding out the bad ones).

For once, my nail art actually looked better with a glossy coat. Here's the  matte version for comparison.

Sherlock’s definitely off his game though. Twice during the wedding he makes “one more deduction than I was expecting”. The emotions he discovered during his absence and after his return are making things harder. Alone used to be what he had, “alone protects me”. But he didn’t realise he was lonely until he had had John’s companionship and then had to leave for two years (see his comment to Mycroft in the previous episode, when Mycroft says he’s not lonely: "How would you know?")

So now he deduces the sign of three (turned that title around completely, furthest departure from any A.C. Doyle titles so far, content-wise) and realises it is indeed the end of an era. But he vows to protect them, to always stick by them. It is as touching a scene as I’ve seen with the three of them. And then he sends them to dance.

Mary: "But what about you?"– John: "We can’t all three dance. There are limits." – Sherlock:  "Yes, there are."

This is adorable and sad at the same time all by itself, but if you’d like to add some subtext, remember how Moffat used "dancing" as a euphemism for sex in Doctor Who? Yeah. Also, want some more crazy talk about nebulous hidden references? That episode, The Doctor Dances, is the one in which “just this once, everybody lives“. As does everybody in this episode. (Though to be fair, nobody died in The Empty Hearse either. Told you it was nebulous. It’s most likely just a coincidence (even if the universe rarely is that lazy), but it’s a pretty one.)

But Sherlock doesn’t get to dance, does he. Not even with head bridesmaid 'it’s a shame you’re...whatever you are' Janine. Even though he loves to dance so much...

Instead, he leaves the wedding early. Alone used to be what protected him. But it doesn’t anymore. If ever there was a danger night, this is it.

Poor Sherlock...

I was going to add a lot of gratuitous speculation on His Last Vow, which airs tomorrow, but I’m so nervous about it that it’s taken me this long to even get a coherent post about The Sign of Three written. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I haven’t been able to think about anything else all week. I don’t remember a TV show ever getting into my head like this. It’s a testament to the writing skills of Moffat, Gatiss and team and the acting skills of the entire cast that they have managed to captivate me like this. Whatever the ending, I know it will be brilliant. I’ve already heard it’s unexpected, which gives me hope, as all the endings I’m imagining are devastating. So perhaps, just this once, everybody lives.

Captain Spacenails, full of admiration for Moffat & team

*Disclaimer: To the best of my understanding, the BBC Terms of Use (for personal use) permit me to use BBC content on this blog when correctly credited. Should this not be the case, I will be happy to take the screenshot down, just please let me know by mailing me at boldly_polish (!ät) yahoo[dot]com or contacting me via one of my social media accounts in the right sidebar.

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6 January is generally assumed to be Sherlock Holmes' birthday, so let's wish the immortal sleuth a happy birthday! Not that he would have cared much for such a thing, I believe, but sometimes birthdays are more of an opportunity for other people to celebrate the life (even if it's fictional) of someone they love. 

Considering his was the first fandom, with people mourning him in public, wearing black armbands and accosting Arthur Conan Doyle on the streets when he killed off Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem, I'd say he's pretty well loved. (I can only imagine the mobs of London shaking their fists and screaming "Doooooooyle!" in much the same way that our current generation of Sherlock fans screams "Moffaaaaaat!")

But he doesn't die, does he? He comes back. He always comes back. #Sherlocklives. And that is why we're here today (well, I am, I don't know about the rest of you), to celebrate his life. 

Let me close with a lovely poem by Vincent Starrett, journalist, writer and Sherlockian (learn more about him at this great blog).

221b

Here dwell together still two men of note
Who never lived and so can never die:
How very near they seem, yet how remote
That age before the world went all awry.

But still the game’s afoot for those with ears
Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:
England is England yet, for all our fears—
Only those things the heart believes are true.

A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane
As night descends upon this fabled street:
A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,
The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.

Here, though the world explode, these two survive,
And it is always eighteen ninety-five.

-- Vincent Starrett (1886-1974)

1895 began about 7 months after Holmes' return from the dead. BBC Sherlock has returned and is now celebrating his best friend's wedding nine months later. For Sherlock and John, right now, it is their 1895.

I love those closing lines. Starrett wrote this poem in 1942, during World War 2. But it is just as true today: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are still alive, 126 years after A Study in Scarlet was first published. They have lived on in countless incarnations, on radio, in movies and on TV, in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books and in the thousands of stories written by Holmes aficionados (the Sherlock Holmes fandom: Producing fanfic since 1893.)
Their faces may change, but somewhere, those two will always sit in their chairs by the fire, smoking their pipes (or applying nicotine patches or experimenting with eyeballs to deal with quitting smoking), reading the papers, and Sherlock Holmes will explain his deductions to his adoring John Watson.

Happy birthday, Mr Holmes.

Captain Spacenails Sherlocked

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Well, I say spoilers, but if you've read any Reichenfall theories or Sherlock fanfic in the last two years, there's nothing in here that you haven't read before. Because that's essentially what this is: All the speculation condensed into a fan-fic-tastic episode.

(In all seriousness though, there's detailed discussion of E1 and obscure minor spoilers for the rest of the season - and the trailer linked below is okay for E1 as long as you don't click on the interactive stuff, that has E2 (edit: and now also E3) content, which I'm avoiding. Also, this post contains gifs. Spoilery gifs.)

We know Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are aware of what goes on on tumblr, so they probably just decided to do a nice little "best of" medley for the episode. (Heck, I wouldn’t be awfully surprised if they came out on Sunday with the actual first episode of the season and went "haha, just messing with you, that one doesn’t count!")

Sherlock fans, in turn, have been inspired by the episode (or rather the trailer), too:

© geothebio (tumblr, Twitter, Redbubble)

© @vereentjong (tumblr)

So yes. After two years‘ wait, he's finally back. For readers of George R. R. Martin’s books, two years is a blink of an eye, but I'm still glad to finally see Series 3 of Sherlock. I watched the first episode and it was one giant festival of poking fun at fans and still managing to be a brilliant Sherlock episode (and then I watched it again because I was laughing so hard in some places I missed some of the subtler things).

Sherlock is back, thankfully with a haircut (the Jesus hair didn’t really suit him) and a possibly new but still dramatic coat ("I have lots of coats."). He’s ready to have it out with Mycroft over a game of chess – no, wait, Operation (bahaha) and to pick up with John where he left it, because what life could he have had while Sherlock was gone. So naturally he goes to surprise him at a restaurant, only to find him perusing the wine menu (not the dessert menu, like I assumed) and wondering how to propose to Mary (called that one, but it was rather obvious).

I didn’t particularly expect to like Mary’s character (though I didn’t set out to hate her, and certainly not Amanda Abbington, as some crazies have done - I just couldn't picture the dynamic), but I LOVE HER. She is cool, she is funny, and she totally ships it. (As does Mrs Hudson, loved that scene! "So soon after Sherlock? What’s his name?" – "It’s a woman." – "A woman?! My, you really have moved on!") 

I love how at first she’s all 'you bastard, you have no idea what you’ve put him through' but then as he’s explaining it at Speedy’s and the kebab place, she starts to come round and by the next morning she’s reading the stories on the blog and totally fangirling for them to get together again (in a crime-fighting way, of course). 

And can we take a moment to remark how SMART she is? She recognised the text message cipher right away. (Okay, maybe that’s because she’s a clever linguist, as Sherlock deduced.  But he also deduced she’s a liar. I’m not quite sure whether to interpret his expression as she gets into the cab as worried or simply confused by this woman.) Is she just awesome or is there something sinister about it? Is she in cahoots with Mystery Man? God, I hope not, she’s just way too cool. I hope she lives a much longer and happier life than in Conan Doyle’s books.

John’s moustache: Loved Sherlock’s "we’ll have to get rid of that". Thank God John did, that thing was really awful. "Does yours come off too?" was also a pretty good one. But oh Sherlock, did you really have no idea how inappropriate your appearance at the restaurant was? Grinning like a child with a particularly good trick, emphasising the "old friend" and "familiar face" and despairing when John doesn’t react, so pleased with himself when John finally recognises him... John’s reaction was spot on. Having him pretty much lose his voice from being overwhelmed and shocked and furious was a nice touch.

Content ©BBC One*, gif from Olga

Content ©BBC One*, gif from Olga

Sherlock’s either changed during the time he was away and come to realise he misses John and gotten better at showing emotions - or he’s gotten better at faking them. You see it a lot in this episode: The discussion about friends and loneliness with Mycroft (could just be to rile him though, since Mycroft obviously has even worse issues than Sherlock), his conversation with Molly at the end of their day together (and the little kiss), the way he wants to surprise John. Of course in the train he’s obviously faking (and probably faking the mind palace exploration as well), but did he have this sort of humour before? And John’s commentary in his head while he’s trying to use Molly as a substitute sidekick (engaged Molly, who very, very obviously has a type, and it’s not 'sociopath'), not enjoying the showing off without John there. "Forgot to turn up your collar", "jealous?". The other emotions he displays in the episode may be faked, but this is real. He feels incomplete without John. Overall, he seems more emotionally invested in the world around him.

I always like it when a show pokes a bit of fun at the fans. This episode definitely hits all the buttons. All the different crazy Fall theories... I felt pretty let down at the beginning when I thought that this was actually how it happened... and then I fell for it again with the last version, going "seriously? They got it right? Even the ball? Wow!"  – I really should have gotten suspicious when I thought I recognised the phrasing of the ball explanation from a theory I’d read). My favourite has to be the Sheriarty one though, and I’m glad to say I didn’t fall for that one. Their giggling and the faces they pull – priceless. And of course the kiss. 

Content ©BBC One*, gif from Zap2it

Why does Sherlock know Anderson’s first name but not Lestrade’s? Also, I really expected Lestrade to punch him in the face. But aww, how happy he is to see him!

The terrorist plot is pretty decent but, as in any Sherlock episode, far from complete because there’s layers there (in this case it was mostly the backdrop against which all the important stuff happened). I had an issue with the missing train car (not carriage) though: Wouldn’t Train Guy have spotted the train being too short for the platform? Pretty sure they have the same amount of cars on those trains. Should’ve looked different on the footage, assuming both cameras were at the end of their platforms. Unless they use shorter trains at night and it therefore didn’t strike Train Guy as odd?  By the way, I totally called the "underground network". Yay me.

 

Oh, Sherlock. I thought you were crying and was slightly disturbed and quite moved, but then I see you pointing and laughing at John and you’re just a bloody bastard aren’t you? I would’ve killed you. (It was pretty funny though, I’ll give you that. Do bombs really have an off switch? Seems like a useful thing to have, but really?)

Content ©BBC One*, gif from Luciawestwick

I’m a bit upset that I already know who the Mystery Man at the end is. Did you really have to give his identity away in advance, BBC? I would have enjoyed the mystery of not having any idea who this ominous man was who seems to be behind the bonfire incident, possibly even the bombing... he could have been a remnant of Moriarty’s network, perhaps even the man himself. I feel cheated out of the thrill of speculation.

But let's not forget that it's not all about fandom references, there's also the usual brilliant play with A.C. Doyle canon references. I thought it was a nice nod to The Empty House to have an old book porn collector (British Birds was a genius touch!) whom Watson suspects of being Holmes in disguise but who' really just some old guy (instead of Watson suspecting nothing in the original when Holmes in disguise shows him books with the same titles as the porn here, then fainting when Holmes takes off the disguise). Then of course there's the striking fact that The Empty Hearse only referred to Anderson's little fanclub and there's no Adair in sight, and Moran is someone completely different. There's A Case of Identity (and look at how angry Sherlock is at the stepfather!), and I realised I had been both right and wrong about the rat hint (yes, Sumatra, but not the way I imagined it). I'm sure I missed a few more.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable episode. Mr Gatiss, Mr Moffat, you’ve outdone yourselves.

It won't have escaped your attention that this post contains gifs for the first time in my blogging career. Well, an image says more than a thousand words, and sometimes you need a gif to relive the best moments of a show. And let's not forget the people of tumblr said nearly everything I said except briefer and funnier. And they spotted a TARDIS. Whoa. But they're also crying, which I'm not.
Still, in celebration of this episode and because we all know tumblr is where the real fangirling happens, I've joined tumblr. Nothing much going on there yet, but I'll be linking my fandom-related blog posts there and partaking in some real fangirling, gifs and all, if that's your thing.

Happy weekend! Oh yes, and speaking of cakes and surprises: don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway for books or beauty items.
Captain Spacenails Fangirl

*Disclaimer: To the best of my understanding, the BBC Terms of Use (for personal use) permit me to use BBC content on this blog when correctly credited. Should this not be the case, I will be happy to take the relevant gifs down, just please let me know by mailing me at boldly_polish (ät) yahoo[dot]com or contacting me via one of my social media accounts in the right sidebar.
 

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I'm not having a very good day. I'm frustrated, depressed and bored, a combination that usually leads to bad decisions, like eating so much chocolate I get sick, ranting on the Internet or summoning Great Old Ones.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Sorry about that, world. Enjoy your final moments of freedom with some nail art.

Best,
Captain Summoner

inspired by this amazing work of art

The light green background looked so yellow I tried grey & white instead. Nah. Bring on the sickly green of R'lyeh.

Summoning the bad things

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Before you start reading, please be aware that this post contains information about the new Doctor. I'll hide videos behind links and won't actually use the actor's name but my comments may still give something away, so if you’re trying to avoid spoilers, enter at your own risk.

Dear readers,

Welcome to the next edition of Friday Flailing!

Last week I told you about my stance on spoilers and how I chose to deal with them in the case of Sherlock. Now it’s time for another of my favourite shows, Doctor Who.

I really didn’t want to know. And then I decided I did, so I’d have time to get used to the new Doctor before Christmas. I fully expect to be underwhelmed and then grow to love him slowly as the eighth series unfolded. Neil Gaiman says it here much more eloquently than me.

But you know what? The instant I heard him say “I’m the Doctor”, I knew he was telling the truth. He IS the Doctor.

There’s been a lot of criticism (more so than with previous Doctors, I think): Time Lords can swap gender, so a female Doctor was a possibility, and instead it’s a man again, and a white one at that. And he’s not even ginger. But quite honestly, I don’t care. Because LOOK at him. He has the classic Doctor Who look. And that little smirk when he says he’s the Doctor, like he’s telling you a secret? That reminds me so badly of the Tenth Doctor it hurts (and Ten is my Doctor).

Am I Ginger? - No, once again. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Some people complain he’s too old to be the Doctor – I beg to differ. People also complained Matt Smith was too young to be the Doctor. Previous Doctors have been older. Canon-wise, it doesn’t matter. The guy is about a thousand years old. And you know what? I actually like it. (And let’s face it, he IS slim and a little bit foxy... )

 

Why yes, yes you are (Slim and a Little Bit Foxy)

(And as others have pointed out, he did play a WHO doctor in World War Z – best unintentional hint ever!)

I’m looking forward to seeing him in action – and hopefully in interaction with Clara and a certain spoiler-abhorring lady. I started writing a few lines about the latter, but I think she deserves her own post. Look out for River Song polishes, nail art and fangirling next week on Fantabulous Friday Fangirl Flailing! (I still can’t decide in what order those words belong – let’s just call it FFFF, okay?)

I’m sure I will cry when Eleven goes and I’ll miss his bowties and crazy hair, but I don’t think I’ll be as heartbroken as I was when Ten regenerated, because I know a wonderful new Doctor is just around the corner. Welcome, Twelve.

LynBDesigns Am I Ginger? Three coats, sunlight.

For today’s nail art I used LynBDesigns polishes from two of her Doctor Who collections. It shows Doctors Nine to Twelve in Slim and a Little Bit Foxy over Am I Ginger? All nail art shots except for the one at the bottom are with a coat of Lucky 13 Lacquers Revenge is Suede. 

I'm not too happy with the nail art - well, Nine and Eleven turned out alright but I had issues with David's glasses and chin. It didn't look quite right without but I couldn't get the shape right. Twelve was tricky because we don't know his distinctive features / clothing style as a Doctor yet. His hair isn't as distinctive either. But I am sure this time next year there will be just the perfect little detail that will characterise him just as much as Matt's bowtie.

The formula, as always, is wonderful to work with. It spreads evenly and dries rather quickly. Am I Ginger is an orange linear holo with quite a good bend. It’s not as crazy holo-y as ILNP's ultra-holos but about on a par with Literary Lacquers. Here it is on its own and in comparison with Literary Lacquers Greatest Treasures (middle finger) and More Like Fire Than Light (pinkie).

Slim and a Little Bit Foxy is a stormy slate grey with dark green particles that are only visible in sunlight. Here it is on its own and with one coat of Oh You Beautiful Idiot, which is from the Innuendos in Space collection just like Slim and a Little Bit Foxy.

What do you think of the new Doctor? Which one is your favourite?

Happy Friday!

Capt. Spacenails

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