About a Boy & Butter London Gobsmacked

So, remember back in January when everyone and their dog were talking about how Nicholas Hoult was the next “It” boy? You don’t? Okay, well maybe you don’t spend as much time on the internet as I do, but trust me, they were. I had seen X-Men Origins, so I knew he was the young version of Beast, but until I read all of these articles, I had no idea that he was the kid from About a Boy. Reading about it over and over again really made me want to watch About a Boy. Hence, today’s review.

About a Boy is a story about becoming an adult, even if age-wise you technically already are. Hugh Grant is Will, a playboy who has never had to work a day in his life. He decides that he wants to date single moms because the break-up is easier (read they all think he is wonderful, but they just need to focus on being a good mom). He takes this brilliant idea to the extreme by attending a single parent help group and inventing a little boy. This plan backfires when Marcus, one of the children at said single parent group, discovers that Will doesn’t have a kid and blackmails Will. Marcus’ mom has recently attempted suicide, so Marcus needs a place to go so he doesn’t have to be at home and Will’s suits his needs perfectly.

These two begin to bond and Will begins to grow up, just a little bit. He even meets Rachel and thinks he’s finally found love, except that Rachel believes Marcus is Will’s son. Watching the movie, you know this will eventually blow up in his face, but you still start to feel sorry for poor Will because he is finally starting to be a decent human being. I believe this is Hugh Grant’s gift to us moviegoers. He has this amazing knack at making undesirable characters seem absolutely charming and convinces us that we should root for them.

Nicholas Hoult is really good as Marcus. He is a sweet, messed up little guy and he totally sells it. When he starts singing in the middle of class, so sad and funny! Toni Collete is also quite good as Marcus’ mother and Rachel Weisz is lovely, but left with little to do. Let’s be honest though, this is really Hugh’s movie.

Butter London is one of K’s favorite brands of polish, so it is always a bit of a surprise when she lets me review one of their polishes.  Today, you’re getting Gobsmacked.  It’s interesting because it is a matte glitter polish.  I’m not crazy about mattes, but adding the glitter definitely helped.  This picture is three coats without a topcoat.  Although it’s not my favorite Butter London, Gobsmacked is still worth a look. ~E

Shrek Forever After & OPI Who the Shrek Are You

Okay, so I’m back again. Hopefully the posts will be a little more consistant this week, but…we’ll see. My review for today is the last of the Shrek movies, and although Forever After isn’t the best of the four, at least it’s not the worst. In fact, it’s actually okay…for a fourquel (yup, I just invented that word).

Shrek finds himself longing for the happy days when he was a “real” ogre, not the domesticated one that family life and fame has made him. On a stupid whim, he makes a deal with creepy little wish granter, Rumplestiltskin, and finds that he never befriended Donkey, never rescued Fiona and never saved the kingdom of Far Far Away. In fact, he was never born at all and at the end of the day will cease to exist entirely. He sets out on (another) quest to accomplish all of the things he already did in the first three movies and set everything right again.

Puss and Donkey are hilarious as usual, although I find that the scenes with the other ogres fall flat. There are several jokes that I know are supposed to be funny, but aren’t. I do like the introduction of the Pied Piper as an assasin who can make any species of his choice bust a move and Rumplestiltskin, though a little bit annoying, has possibly one of the best villain lines ever (“Nobody’s smart but me!”). I don’t know that this installment was necessary, since it retreads a lot of ground already covered, but it did give me just a taste of why I fell in love with the first two movies. (Oh, and did I mention Fat Puss? Hilarious!)

This picture is 3 coats of OPI’s Who the Shrek Are You (from the collection that came out at the same time as this movie). It is a perfect Shrek green although it was a little bit runny and tended to drag during application. It’s not really my color, as it makes my skin look very red, but I’m sure it would look fabulous on people with darker skin. ~K

Shrek the Third & BB Couture Prince Charming Blue

Shrek the Third is the weakest entry into the Shrek franchise.  That’s not to say it’s terrible, but it was bad enough that it convinced me that I didn’t need to see Shrek Forever After, at least not in the theater.

This one starts off with Fiona and Shrek filling in for the queen and the ailing king.  Shrek is of course miserable and itching to get back to his swamp.  Things get complicated when the king dies, passing the kingdom off to Shrek, unless he can find Fiona’s cousin Arthur.  As Shrek heads off with Donkey and Puss to find the teenage Arthur, Fiona announces that she is pregnant.  While all this is going on, Prince Charming is plotting his revenge and gathering an army of villains eager to take back their happily ever afters.

Shrek eventually finds Arthur, who turns out to be a nerdy high school outcast with doubts about his ability to be king.  At the same time, Shrek is having serious doubts about his ability to be a father.  By the time Shrek finally makes it back to the kingdom, Prince Charming and his villains have taken over the kingdom, leaving Shrek and Arthur to save the day.

There’s fun there, but it just doesn’t have the same spirit as the first two, and even the fourth.  If there’s one Shrek movie to skip, this is the one.

When K asked me what I thought of today’s polish, I informed her it was gorgeous and I loved it.  BB Couture’s Prince Charming Blue is a royal blue polish with lots of shimmer.  There’s some silver shimmer, some blue, and a hint of purple.  The polish was a little thin, but was opaque after three coats.  Like I said, this polish is gorgeous! ~E

Shrek 2 & All That Glitters Kissing on a Frog

So sorry about the unexpected hiatus, ladies. The last few weeks have been a little rough on me, but hopefully things are looking up and we can continue with our reviews of the Shrek series. Shrek 2 is by far my favorite of the Shrek movies. In it, Shrek and Fiona are just settling into married life when they are summoned to the Kingdom of Far Far Away to receive her parents’ blessing. Unfortunately for King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lilian (Julie Andrews), they weren’t expecting their daughter to marry a big green ogre and permanently become an ogre herself. Also less than pleased is Fiona’s Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders), who had big plans to marry Fiona off to her own son, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett). Adding to his odd assortment of groupies, Shrek befriends a swashbuckling kitty named Puss (Antonio Banderas), much to Donkey’s (Eddie Murphy) annoyance.

The voice cast is first rate (I’m particularly fond of Ms. Saunders and Mr. Everett as the baddies) and the story is vastly entertaining (and maybe a bit more believable than the story of the first movie). Hopefully I’m not spoiling anything when I mention how much I enjoy Shrek as a human. Stroke of genius on the writer’s part! Puss in Boots is also a great addition, I just find it a bit odd that he is bent on murdering Shrek one moment, then his best buddy in the whole world the next. A little convenient, right? Another great thing about this movie (and the Shrek movies in general) is the soundtrack. A fantastic listen.

This is 3 coats of All That Glitters Kissing on a Frog, a polish inspired by Disney’s Princess and the Frog, but I felt that it would work here (considering the ending) and I don’t regret choosing it for a moment. In fact, I pretty much LOVE this nail polish. It’s a shimmery gold/green base with a variety of different sized hex glitters in greens and periwinkle. The application was smooth and lovely and the glitter simply beautiful! My only quibbles are the sheerness of the base and the slight bending of the metallic glitters. Maybe that’s inevitable with metallic glitters, though. Although this polish is no longer available, All That Glitters has many other amazing polishes at their etsy shop here. ~K

Shrek & Barielle Polished Princess

When the movie Shrek came out, I wasn’t terribly impressed.  I mean, it was everywhere and everyone quoted it (remember the gumdrop buttons?).  Not gonna lie, it got old fast.  Plus a crude ogre as a hero?  Um, just not my cup of tea.  Then the second Shrek movie came out, and I this time around, I actually found myself enjoying it.

What really sold me though was Shrek the Musical.  I had zero desire to see the play, but on a whim I checked out the soundtrack from the library and completely fell in love with it.  Even though I passed up the chance to see the musical in New York, I did eventually see it.  And it was fantastic.  I saw it again over the weekend, so in honor of that, K and I decided to watch all the Shrek movies.

For anyone who has never seen the first Shrek, the story centers on a reluctantly soft ogre, who just happens to be Scottish, his best friend Donkey, an unconventional princess names Fiona, who’s got her own curse to deal with, a maniacal and height challenged lord, and an assortment of fairy tale creatures.  In order to get said fairy tale creatures out of his swamp, Shrek agrees to rescue the princess from a dragon guarded tower so Lord Farquad can marry her and become king.  On the return journey, Shrek and Fiona discover they have a lot more in common than either of them would have thought.

This really is a great tale about being true to yourself and being open to true love, even if it isn’t exactly what you had in mind.

Barielle’s Polished Princess is appropriate for this movie for a few different reasons.  First, Fiona starts off trying to live the perfect fairy tale, but kind of lets her guard down and becomes more human and less polished princess.  Second, it’s green and so is Shrek.

Anyway, the polish is quite nice.  It’s not my typical shade of green polish, but I still like it.  It’s kind of a sour apple green with multicolor shimmer.  The formula was okay, but it did require three coats.  Still, it’s a fun polish, and would be great for the right occasion.

For any musical theater fans out there, Shrek the Musical is a definite must.  If you get the chance to see it, do.  I saw it recently when it came to town. ~E

Bonus Post – Magicians & Mirrors Collection Preview

Here is a quick preview of my new collection that’s coming out sometime next week (hopefully…fingers crossed!).

From L to R: Speaking Stones, Faerie Road, Starecross, Thistle-Down, Raven King, Ashfair, Magicians & Mirrors, Plucked Eye & Heart, Hurtfew, Moss-Oak, Heartache and Lost-Hope

Inspired by my favorite book ever, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, this collection is almost entirely made up of duochromes!  (And here’s another hint about things to come in the future…holos. But you didn’t hear it from me!)

The Lady Varnishes You Have No Power Over Me Collection Pt. 2

To complete my collection of Labyrinth themed polishes, these are listed in alphabetical order. 🙂

The Lady Varnishes Don’t Lose Your Head is an orange jelly with iridescent microglitter, white, pink and yellow shreds and pink and orange bar glitter (2 coats + topcoat)

The Lady Varnishes It’s Not Fair! is a pale blue/gray with different-sized hexes in white, copper, rose and ice blue. (2 coats + topcoat)

The Lady Varnishes None May Pass is a pale yellow jelly with blue bars, green squares and red and iridescent hexes. (2 coats + topcoat)

The Lady Varnishes Such a Nice Beast is a red-ish brown with brown microglitter and gold iridescent, brown and gunmetal hexes. (2 coats + topcoat)

The Lady Varnishes Them’s My Jewels! is a deep brown with different shapes and sizes of glitter in purple, lavender, turquoise, burgundy, holographic and iridescent purple. (2 coats + topcoat)

The Lady Varnishes You Remind Me of the Babe is a milky white jelly with red, white and iridescent bars and red and iridescent squares. (2 coats + topcoat)

All of these polishes (and many more!) are available at my etsy shop.

Crossing Delancey & Color Club On the Wild Side

I had no preconceived ideas about Crossing Delancey before I saw it. I’d maybe heard the title here and there, but that’s about it. And I’d never really seen Amy Irving in a movie before (hearing her voice a cartoon character doesn’t really count). I found her to be an adequate leading lady, but I think this material really allowed her to shine as an actress, but more on that later.

Ms. Irving plays Isabelle, an (aspiring) intellectual who works in a fancy New York bookstore and swoons over pedantic author Anton (Jeroen Krabbe, who still gives me the willies because of The Fugitive), a man who is everything her traditional Jewish upbringing is not. Her grandma is concerned for Isabelle’s love life (as well she should be) and hires a marriage broker to find a nice man for Isabelle. Enter Sam (Peter Riegert, a surprisingly attractive romantic lead…I’m used to him as the mean detective in The Mask or the snarky butler in Oscar), a nearby businessman (pickles, to be specific) whose had a crush on Isabelle from a distance for years. Isabelle thinks she’s too good for a pickle peddlar and snubs him, but for some reason can’t get him out of her mind…I’m sure you can guess the rest. Isabelle is a pretty unlikable character and I think any actress would have had a hard time convincing me that this woman was worthy of sweet Sam. Amy does her best, though. (Did you notice that we did a movie starring the infamous ex-Mrs. Spielberg just after watching Steven’s Indiana Jones movies? Total coincidence…)

This is Color Club’s On the Wild Side, a deep gray frosty mess. All I can say is ugh. This picture is two coats and a topcoat and you can keep it, Color Club! ~K

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull & OPI Peru-B-Ruby

Confession time. I know everyone on the planet pretty much loathed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I didn’t mind it so much. Yes, it’s a little weird with the whole inter-dimensional beings and all, but realistically, all of the Indiana Jones movies are a little on the heavy side when it comes to the super-natural. What it does have is the same manic energy as the original trilogy.

It’s 1957 and instead of Nazis, Indy has to contend with the Soviets, led by the slightly unhinged Dr. Spalko (Cate Blanchett). Joining him on this adventure is Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a young greaser; Harold Oxley (John Hurt), an old colleague of Indy’s, and Indy’s old flame Marion Ravenwood, who is now known as Mary Williams and is Mutt’s mother.  This rag-tag little group is trying to return a crystal skull Oxley found to a temple in Peru, while fighting off the Soviets who are hot on their trail.  Along the way there’s a fridge nuking, man eating ants, and a trip over three waterfalls.

The cast is first rate.  Harrison Ford is back in his element as the roguish archeologist and Karen Allen is just as feisty and beautiful as she was in Raiders.  Shia LeBeouf does his best Marlon Brando impression, but it works. Cate Blanchett’s Ukrainian accent seems pretty good, but her dark bobbed hair seems a little off, and it’s hard to take her too seriously as an evil villain.

Like I said, it’s not the best of the series, but I don’t think it’s as terrible as it could have been.  My recommendation, give it a chance and don’t think too hard.

OPI’s Peru-B-Ruby is a lovely polish, but it’s not very original.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve reviewed a similar polish several times before.  It’s almost a fuchsia pink with shimmer.  What did impress me was the coverage of this polish.  I find that shimmery polishes often take three coats, but this picture is only two coats, so not bad.  ~E

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade & OPI Berlin There Done That

All fairness? I don’t know what K is smoking but it is totally not fair to stick me with Temple of Doom and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Am I right people? Plus, she got to do her favorite Indy movie, so in all fairness, I should get to do mine!

Ok, enough venting. Like I said, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favorite in the series. I love Harrison Ford’s Indiana, but throw in Sean Connery as his dad, and I am at a loss to figure out how to make it better. Oh yeah, bring John Rhys-Davies and Denholm Elliott back as Sallah and Marcus Brody respectively, and make them even funnier than before, and this is almost the perfect action movie, at least in my book.

This story opens with a little look into the back story of Indiana Jones. We find out that Indy’s father is obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, which has the power to give eternal life, and we see where his hatred of snakes stems from (“I hate snakes, Jock! I hate ‘em!”). This opening scene sets the stage for “the Jones’ Boys” quest for the Holy Grail. This involves slogging through catacombs in Venice, hitching a ride on a Zeppelin, and contending with Indy’s old nemeses, the Nazis.

In Raiders, the best parts of the movie were when Indy and Marion were sparring. In this one, the sparring is also terrific, except it’s between Indy and his dad. Alison Doody is gorgeous as Dr. Elsa Schneider, but she is just no match for Sean Connery.

OPI’s Berlin There Done That is a brownish-grayish cream polish (is it just me, or does it seem like I am always wearing creams?)  The formula is quite good and was pretty much opaque after just two coats.  Although I don’t love the wide brush, I have tiny little nails, but I am getting used to it and not slopping polish all over the place, at least not too badly.

I can’t say why, but I have become a sucker for these seemingly odd colored cream polishes (like Orly’s Mirror Mirror or OPI’s Skull and Gloss Bones).  They are colors I didn’t think I would like initially, but once they are on my nails, I sort of loved them, and this is no exception. ~K