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,
It's been a long time since I last participated in the Crumpet's Nail Tarts tri-polish challenge, and there's been a a rule change, along with the new name "Tri-Polish Tuesdays", so here's a quick reminder of the rules: Each month, there are three colours that you can use in your manis (but you can now use different polishes every week instead of using the same ones all month). All manis must contain at least two of these colours and one must use all three. White, black, silver, gold and glitter are also allowed. Manis are posted on Tuesdays and that's pretty much it!

This month's colours are grey, brown and pink, which makes for some very pretty combinations. I'm joining in for week two with a Valentine's day mani (I don't actually do Valentine's day, but hearts can be pretty cute).

The polishes I'm using this month (because I did this and another mani before learning about the rule change) are LynBDesigns Eloquent Dust, Boulevard de Beauté 16 and MaxFactor Coffee Brown (22).

Peace out,
Captain Spacenails

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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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Hi everyone, I've been quiet for the last few weeks - I've had loads of work and it's planting season, and on top of it all, my Internet's all wonky and keeps losing connection, and after a while I got fed up with trying to reconnect every half an hour. I feel like in the old days on dial-up when you only connected when you had to send an e-mail or research something really quickly. Still, I have plenty of stuff to show you so I'm hoping I'll get enough connectivity to post this :)

Hallo ihr Lieben, ruhig ist es hier gewesen in den letzten Wochen. Nicht nur hab ich Unmengen von Arbeit und muss im Garten buddeln, sondern außerdem spinnt das Internet bei mir seit einigen Wochen herum und verliert dauernd die Verbindung. Surfen macht einfach nicht besonders viel Spaß, wenn man jede halbe Stunde 5-10 Minuten an der Verbindung rumbasteln muss. Ich komm mir vor wie anno dazumal, als man Mails offline schrieb und sich nur kurz einwählte, um sie abzuschicken oder ganz schnell etwas zu recherchieren. Aber ich hab euch viel zu zeigen, also hoff ich mal, dass die Verbindung mitmacht und ich das posten kann :)

 

Today's post is a big, fat, overdue thank you post to the girls of Varnished Valkyrie.

In March, they had a contest with the funniest Rafflecopter questions I have ever seen. (Go here for the questions and hilarious answers.) And even more entertaining, they decided to add an essay option: two winners would be determined by random drawing, but a third winner would be selected from among those who posted a mini essay on one of three topics, and that person would get to choose their reward first, because, as they said, "You spent time writing a flipping mini essay about something random for a nail blog.  You deserve something for that."

Well, I’m always up for weird stuff and I love to write, and I felt quite passionately about one of the topics (music), so I went and wrote an essay. And would you believe it? They liked mine best!

There were three lovely prizes to choose from, but one not only included nail decorations, a lovely indie and Urban Outfitters Sea Dust, it also included the legendary MaxFactor Fantasy Fire. Guess what I picked...

Mein heutiger Post ist ein großes Dankeschön an die Mädels von Varnished Valkyrie.

Im März machten sie ein Gewinnspiel mit den besten Rafflecopter-Fragen aller Zeiten. (Die Fragen und amüsanten Antworten könnt ihr hier nachlesen.) Und dem nicht genug, sie fügten auch noch eine Aufsatz-Option hinzu: Zwei Leute wurden zufällig per Rafflecopter gezogen, aber zusätzlich wählten sie unter denen, die einen Kurzaufsatz zu einem von drei vorgegebenen Themen posteten, eine weitere Gewinnerin aus, die dann auch erste Wahl bei den Preisen hatte (wer verrückt genug ist, einen Aufsatz für einen Nagelblog zu schreiben, sollte belohnt werden).

Naja, für Verrücktheiten bin ich immer zu  haben und nachdem ich gerne schreibe und eines der Themen (Musik) mich gleich begeisterte, schrieb ich einen Aufsatz – den sie tatsächlich am besten fanden!

Alle drei Preise waren toll, aber bei einem waren nicht nur Nageldekos, ein schöner Indie und ein Urban Outfitters-Nagellack dabei, sondern auch noch das legendäre Max Factor Fantasy Fire. Die Entscheidung fiel mir also nicht besonders schwer...

Two weeks ago, I got mail from the US – and I’m really sorry I haven’t posted this earlier, but I wanted to do this properly and not just sneak it in while I should be working.

Vor zwei Wochen kam das Paket aus Amerika dann an. Es tut mir leid, dass ich das erst jetzt poste, aber ich wollte einen ordentlichen Post schreiben und nicht nur schnell während der Arbeit etwas posten.

Here's a detailed look at the beauties - please forgive the slightly untidy swatching/ Sehen wir uns die zauberhaften Lacke mal genauer an - entschuldigt die etwas unschönen Swatches:

Urban Outfitters: Sea Dust

A wonderful flittery glittery muted greenish base that looks like foam on a stormy sea, with somewhat bigger turquoise glitter particles.

Pleasant formula, the picture shows one coat.

This is apparently a near-dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream.

 

Ein schimmernder Lack in einem leicht ins Graue gehenden Grün, der aussieht wie Schaum auf den Wellen wenn auf der Nordsee ein rauher  Wind bläst, vermischt mit größeren türkisen Glitzerpartikeln. Angenehmer Auftrag und recht undurchsichtig: Auf dem Bild trage ich eine Schicht davon.

Dieser Lack soll ein fast-Dupe von Deborah Lippmanns "Mermaid's Dream" sein.

 Darling Diva Polish: Wedding Day Jitters

 This is a funny one, it looks pink in the bottle but if you apply it on its own, it looks mainly blue. This makes it pretty much the polar opposite of Models Own Indian Ocean in my mind, which looks blue in the bottle but looks pink on its own.

(Over white they both have more of their bottle colour.)

The swatch shows Models Own on the left, Darling Diva on the Right, and Models Own over Darling Diva in the middle.Would you have guessed?

I like this one, it's quite subtle in tone but has fantastic glitter shapes (hearts, diamonds, hexagons, squares) that add bling.

Wedding Day Jitters ist ein lustiger Lack - in der Flasche sieht er rosa aus, allein aufgetragen ist er aber eher blau. Damit ist er für mich das Gegenteil von Models Own Indian Ocean, der in der Flasche blau aussieht, auf dem Nagel aber viel stärker ins Rosa geht. (Auf Weiß aufgetragen sehen sie aber eher so aus, wie man es erwarten würde.)

Auf dem Foto seht ihr links Models Own, rechts Darling Diva und in der Mitte Models Own über Darling Diva. Überraschend, oder?

Ich mag diesen Nagellack, die Farbe ist schön subtil, aber es sind lauter große Glitzerpartikel (Herzen, Rauten, Sechsecke, Quadrate) drin, die ihm einen Kick verleihen.

MaxFactor - Fantasy Fire

I think this polish needs no introduction. It's every bit as brilliant as I've heard.

I started off by layering it over different shades of purple (and on its own on the pinkie).

The undies are LOOK Nail Quickie Mystic, OPI Purple with a Purpose, and IQ Cosmetics violet (No. 8) - the order of the nails and the bottles is identical.

Ich glaube, zu Fantasy Fire muss ich nicht viel sagen, außer, dass es genauso toll ist, wie es immer heißt.

Ich hab gleich mal angefangen, zu experimentieren - zuerst auf verschiedenen Lila-Tönen sowie (auf dem kleinen Finger) allein.

Dafür hab ich LOOK Nail Quickie Mystic, OPI Purple with a Purpose und IQ Cosmetics violet (Nr. 8) verwendet - auf den Nägeln seht ihr sie in der gleichen Reihenfolge.

 

This is just one coat of each. As you can see, Mystic is a very dark purple with more red than blue in it. What surprised me is that Fantasy Fire is so unassuming on its own.

Ich habe von jedem nur eine Schicht aufgetragen. Wie ihr seht, ist Mystic ein sehr dunkles, stark ins Rote gehendes Violett. Ich war recht überrascht, dass Fantasy Fire für sich allein nicht besonders spektakulär aussieht.

with Fantasy Fire

But add it as a top coat and you see the magic at work!

It's pretty, if a little subtle on the other shades, but on top of Mystic - bam! I find it fascinating how different (in the case of the bottom picture, green) it looks from other angles. I see a lot more layering experiments in my future.

Als Topper entfaltet es aber seinen Zauber. Auf den anderen Lacken ist er schön, wenn auch etwas subtil - aber seht ihn euch mal auf Mystic an! Und besonders faszinierend finde ich, wie anders er aus anderen Blickwinkeln aussieht - in diesem Fall grün, wie auf dem unteren Bild zu sehen. Mit diesem Lack werd ich sicher noch jede Menge experimentieren.

with Fantasy Fire

I have plans for the little copper beads and rhinestones too - once my nails have recovered from gardening (cf. Models Own swatch)...

Sobald meine Nägel sich vom Gärtnern erholt haben (s. Models Own-Swatch), hab ich auch mit den Kuperfkügelchen und Straßsteinchen etwas vor...




If you don't know Varnished Valkyrie yet, I recommend browsing their blog a bit. We share a love of Doctor Who, Monty Python and general geekiness, they have great manis and their posts are fun to read. And if you're intrigued by the idea of giveaways that require some thinking, you might want to check out their Literary Lacquers contest (ends May 3rd). I didn't participate of course but I'm enjoying reading the answers! 

Falls ihr Varnished Valkyrie noch nicht kanntet, empfehle ich euch den Blog sehr herzlich. Die Mädels haben tolle Nageldesigns, schreiben sehr unterhaltsam, und wir haben einiges gemeinsam - z. B. Doctor Who, Monty Python  und andere nerdige Sachen. Und falls ihr auch gerne mal an einem Contest teilnehmen wollt, bei dem man etwas nachdenken muss, und ihr euch auf Englisch halbwegs sicher fühlt, dann könnt ihr euch ja ihren Literary Lacquers-Wettbewerb ansehen (bis 3. Mai). Bei dem mach ich natürlich nicht mit, aber ich les die Antworten sehr gern.


Thank you so much, Kas, George and Robyn, I love my prize!
The weirdo essay-writing nail newbie

Nochmals herzlichen Dank an Kas, George und Robyn!
Euer aufsatzschreibendes Nagelnewbie

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Heute mal nur ein paar Bilder von einer Mani vor ein paar Wochen: MaxFactor Max Effect 14 Dazzling Blue, je nach Lichteinfall zwischen Türkis und Hellblau changierend (das Türkis sieht man am kleinen Finger ganz gut). 

Am Ringfinger trage ich außerdem Essence nail art special effect! topper - 10 Glorious Aquarius. Der ist ziemlich ergiebig, ich hab nur eine Schicht verwendet. Ich find's besonders schön, dass manche der Glitterteile aprikosen- bis kupferfarben glänzen.

Sonst mach ich diese "Akzentnagel"-Sache nicht (warum, könnt ich euch aber auch nicht sagen), aber diese Kombi gefiel mir echt gut!

Euer glitzerndes Nagelnewbie

Just a few pictures today, of a mani I wore a few weeks ago: MaxFactor Max Effect 14 Dazzling Blue, which shifts wonderfully between light blue and turquoise depending on the angle (you can see the turquoise on the pinky).

On the ring finger, I added a coat of Essence nail art special effect! topper - 10 Glorious Aquarius. It's jam-packed with glitter, I only needed one coat for this result. I particularly like that some of the glitters have a slightly apricot-copperish shimmer, it goes nicely with the blue and green.

I don't usually do accent nails (though I'm not sure why) but I really liked this combo!

The bedazzled Nail Newbie

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March haul

Der April ist ja schon wieder halb um, deshalb ist es höchste Zeit für meinen März-Haul-Post!

An meinen Einkäufen sieht man klar, dass die blaue Phase eindeutig weitergeht, begleitet von ein bisschen Grün und Türkis - und meine altbewährten Lieblinge Lila und Rosa sind natürlich auch wieder dabei.

April is almost half over already, so how about that March haul? 

As you can see, the blue phase continues, accompanied by some green and turquoise - and of course my perennial favourites, pink and purple, make an appearance as well.

MaxFactor Max Effect 05 Sunny Pink, 14 Dazzling Blue

Einige der Lacke hier habt ihr ja schon in Verwendung gesehen und die Dotting Tools und Pinsel, die im Vordergrund ins Bild ragen, hab ich euch auch schon vorgestellt. Außerdem habe ich ein bisschen "Spielzeug" von Essence gekauft: ein Stamping-Set, einen Magnetstift für Freestyle-Magnetmuster und einen Colour Changer-Lack, um den Nail Art-Stift, den ich im Jänner gekauft hab, auch anwenden zu können. Die hab ich aber alle bisher nicht probiert. Ach ja, der rote Stift ist Nagelhautpflege.

You've seen some of these polishes in action and I've already shown you my dotting tools and brushes, which are just barely visible in the foreground. I also bought some "toys" by Essence: a stamping set, a magnetic pen for freestyle magnet patterns, and a "colour changer" polish to go with the nail art pen I bought in January that is supposed to change the colour of the polish. I haven't played with any of these yet though. Oh, and the red pen is cuticle butter.

The toppers

Ich hab auch paar nette Glitzertopper von Essence gekauft:

I bought a few cute glitter toppers by Essence:

• Essence nail art special effect! topper - 10 glorious aquarius and 
• 16 cool breeze (fluoreszierend/fluorescent!)
• Essence nail art twins reloaded glitter topper - 03 mr big

Blues and greens

• Astor fashion studio 226 Charleston (used here and here)
• Catrice 11 Miss Piggy's BF (used here)
• Layla Ceramic Effect 22
• Essence special effect topper 10 glorious aquarius
• MaxFactor Max Effect 14 Dazzling Blue
• s-he stylezone 285 (used here)
• p2 color victim 920 up in the air! (used here)

Purples and pinks

• MaxFactor Max Effect 05 Sunny Pink
• Essence Twins reloaded 03 Mr Big
• p2 color victim 950 like a movie star 
• Astor fashion studio 200 (used here)
• Essence colour and change 04 unexpected galaxy

Nur im Gruppenbild/not shown separately: 

• Essence colour & go 33 Just in case (used and shown here)

Ich tu mir schwer damit, hier einen Favoriten auszuwählen, aber der blaue MaxFactor ist schon besonders schön... eine Mani mit ihm zeig ich euch demnächst.

It's hard to choose a favourite from these because they're all quite lovely, but the blue MaxFactor polish is something special, as you'll see when I post a nail look using it.

Ich würd gern sagen, dass ich mich dafür diesen Monat etwas einbremsen werde, aber ich hab jetzt schon fast so viele gekauft wie im ganzen März... (aber was würdet ihr denn machen bei Butter London um 5€?)

I'd like to say I'll show some self-restraint this month, but I've already bought nearly as many as in March (but could you say no to 5 € Butter London?)

Euer Nagelnewbie, das sich einfach nicht einbremsen kann

The nail newbie, who really has no self-control (but lots of new polish)

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