Here’s what they say:

“So two of the merchants at ThinkGeek went in together to convince the Powers That Be that we needed to stock nail polish for our customers. And it worked, because here you are.

“To bring these to you, we worked with Amanda from NerdLacquer, who blends custom polish colors which have a geeky theme. We picked our four favorites to stock at our monkey warehouse.”

That’s all lovely, but the proof of the polish is in the sparkle. At least in this case. And sparkle they do:

I think the word I’m looking for is I’LLHAVEALLOFTHEMPLEASE!

Here’s some more photographic evidence in case you weren’t already salivating enough:

I love the everything about these, including the labels. Even Warrior Ethos (the red) appeals to me, and I’m not a red nail polish wearer normally. That multi-sized glitter is stunning.

So I think it’s a given that I’m going to be buying a set. What about you – are any of these colours calling to you? The Think Geek nail polishes are US$9.99 each from Think Geek.

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

If you are not as nail obsessed as myself you may not know the super easy but ridiculous looking way to take it off. I thought since everyone she have a bit of bling, bling for their nails on New Years I’d start my long overdue return to PPP with a quick tip to make things easier taking it off.

All you need is your normal nail polish remover (I prefer one with an acetone base it works faster so you don’t have to rub as hard), cotton balls and some tinfoil. All you need to do is soak the cotton ball in the remover as per normal place on your nail then wrap in a strip of foil then scrunch it to make it tight to the nail. Leave it for 5-15 minutes depending on your patience and voila glitter off with minimal effort!

But trust me when I say one hand at a time!  I promise some far more interesting posts in the New Years- but at least I have the ball rolling again!

I first bought Nivea Visage Daily Essentials Extra Gentle Eye Makeup Remover (try saying that three times fast) a few months back after I’d finished a mini-sized bottle of Lancome Bi-Facils which came in a gift pack. Now Bi-Facils is a seriously good product but just too expensive for my budget, so I grabbed a bottle of this off the shelf of a local department store mostly because it said “Extra Gentle” on the bottle and it was well priced.

That impulse purchase turned out to be a good thing – I’m onto my second bottle and this is now my holy grail eye makeup remover. As far as I’m concerned it’s even better than Bi-Facils.

Here’s what Nivea say about their product:

“NIVEA VISAGE DAILY ESSENTIALS EXTRA GENTLE EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER is a light, oil free formulation that gently removes make-up around the delicate eye area, leaving no greasy residue.

HOW IT WORKS

NIVEA VISAGE DAILY ESSENTIALS EXTRA GENTLE EYE MAKE-UP REMOVER enriched with Pro-Vitamin B5 to soothe the skin:

• Gently removes make-up and mascara with no greasy residue
• Prevents stinging or irritation of the delicate skin around the eye
• Dermatologically and opthamologically tested

 Your sensitive eye area is gently cleansed and looking beautiful with cared for eye-lashes.”

I don’t know about the ‘cared for eyelashes’ bit, but  I can tell you that it does a really good job of melting away even heavy eye makeup so that it can be wiped away without the need for rubbing; it doesn’t sting my eyes (this is important – my eye area is very sensitive) and it doesn’t leave any oily residue. One cotton pad well dampened with remover is enough for one eye, although I wear non-waterproof mascara so I can’t vouch for how well it would cope with the waterproof stuff.

The water-based formula dries quickly on the skin without needing to be wiped off afterwards and doesn’t leave any residue behind, oily or otherwise. I can apply eye makeup once it has dried without it affecting the application, and I often use this on a cotton bud to fix up over-zealous or just plain bad makeup application.

The product is very subtly and pleasantly scented with what seems to me to be a “beachy” scent – but then I’m crap at scent descriptions so I wouldn’t pay any attention to that!

At around $12.00 for a generous-sized 125ml bottle, Nivea Daily Essential Extra Gentle Eye Makeup Remover is widely available throughout New Zealand in department stores, pharmacies and supermarkets.

Ingredients: Aqua, Poloxamer 124, PEG-8, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glycerin, Panthenol, Isosteareth-20, Steareth-20, Dipotassium Phosphate, Potassium Phosphate, Trisodium EDTA, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Limonene, Linalool, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Hydroxy-citronellal, Benzyl Salicylate, Parfum. (Note: I couldn’t find an ingredients list online so I typed this up from the back of the bottle. Apologies if there are any mistakes. Also, congratulations on your super reading skills if you did spot any mistakes!)

I’ll quite happily leave EEB outside the store though because I do rather like L’Occitane. I had a hand/body lotion of theirs once which I absolutely loved both for its formula and its scent, plus they have gorgeous packaging.

L’Occitane’s range of gift sets contains something for most tastes, including those perennial favourite scents lavender and rose (both of which I don’t like so please don’t buy them for me!):

Relaxing Lavender Box ($90.00), contains 500ml Lavender Foaming Bath, 100g Lavender Candle and 75g Lavender Soap:

Rose Shower & Body Duo ($72.00), contains 250ml 4 Reines Rose Shower Gel and 250ml 4 Reines Rose Body Lotion:

How about cute stocking stuffers for a little bit of luxury at a budget-friendly price?

Delice des Fruits Perfumed Soap ($8.00):

Delice des Fruits Bath Ball ($6.50):

Something for the men in your life?

Shaving Essential Gift Set ($79.00), contains 150ml Cade Shaving Cream and 75ml Cade After Shave Balm:

Verdon Essentials ($26.00), contains 50ml Verdon Face Wash, 50ml Verdon Shower Gel and 100gm Verdon Soap (Verdon is described as a blend of peppermint, citrus and aquatic notes and while it may be aimed at the guys it sounds like exactly the sort of scent I would love, so feel free to buy this for me!):

And of course you can’t go too wrong with a nicely presented set of body care products.

Shea Butter Gift Set($123.00), contains 200ml Ultra Rich Body Cream, 150ml Shea Butter Hand Cream and 250g Extra Gentle Milk Soap.

Mini Hand & Foot Kit ($32.00), contains 30ml Shea Butter Hand Cream and 30ml Shea Butter Foot Cream:

L’Occitane can be purchased from their New Zealand website, or from their stores around New Zealand.

So how goes the Christmas shopping pretties? Panicking yet? I know I am!

Natio’s new offering looks good and seems to be well thought out:

Attractively packaged with two toiletry bags (a large and a small) there’s a good range of products in there, and the inclusion of the Gentle Cleansing Wipes seems particularly sensible – much easier than faffing around trying to wash off your cleanser in a tiny aircraft bathroom. I also love that they’ve included two empty bottles for you to fill with your own products – perfect for shampoo and conditioner, or whatever other products you feel are essential for your travelling comfort (I would probably use them for a hand cream/body lotion and a liquid soap for hand washing).

The Natio Travel Essentials Kit is $42.00 from Farmers stores and pharmacies nationwide.

I’ve got my eye on the Back to Boho Shimmers 7 pack ($34.50):

and the Back Stage Pass 7 Pack ($38.50) – also known as OMGSPARKLY!:

Specials only available in New Zealand.

Glitter Gal silver:

Glitter Gal Dark Purple and Glitter Gal Blue:

Glitter Gal Deep Green (quite possibly my favourite holo polish ever):

Glitter Gal have just announced their latest shade ’10 to Midnight’, described as a “gun metal grey with high holographic presence”. Grey? Holo? Swoon! Seriously, somebody should buy this for me for Christmas!

Here’s a picture from the Glitter Gal blog:

Yep. I need that polish in my life!

Glitter Gal polishes can be ordered from their website and they are currently running a special – order three or more Glitter Gal polishes and receive either a free lip gloss or body glitter from their Kissing Booth Lip gloss range. A list of other stockists internationally can be found here.

Revlon’s Christmas gift set range is always fairly extensive, with something in there for most budgets. While I personally find the colour choices in their sets fairly safe, not everybody is as fond of green nail polish as I am, so here’s my pick of gift sets to please the makeup lover:

Perfect Plums Set ($35.00)

Includes a Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Plumalicious, Revlon LashFinder Mascara in Black, Revlon ColorStay Lipliner in Plum and a beautiful kiss-lock purse.

Mini Delights ($35.95)

Includes a Revlon Simply Enchanting 10ml Roll-on, Revlon Love Her Madly 10ml Roll-on, Revlon Classic Nail Enamel in Coral Me Wild and a cute coin purse with matching compact mirror.

Colourburst Lips Set ($45.00)

Includes Revlon ColorBurst Lipsticks in Soft Rose, Blush, and Soft Nude together with a gorgeous bow purse.

From Day to Night Eyes Set ($45.00)

Includes a Revlon CustomEyes Shadow & Liner in Sweet Innocence, Revlon CustomEyes Shadow & Liner in Smoky Sexy, Revlon CustomEyes Mascara in Black and a gorgeous coin pouch. Exclusive to Farmers stores.

Fire & Ice 5 Piece ($69.50)

Includes a Revlon Fire & Ice 50ml EDC, Revlon Fire & Ice 10ml Roll on, Revlon Fire & Ice 150ml Body Lotion, Revlon Classic Nail Enamel in Cherry Crush, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Plumalicious.

Lucky for this polish its awesomeness more than makes up for the earworm.

Stunning – a gorgeous dark purple creme. In low light it looks almost navy, in sunlight it leans less blue than the photos show.  Application was fabulous, two coats to opaque and it went on like a dream.

Models Own nail polishes are available from the Models Own website for £5.00 each.