Prof's Study Tips For Students

Got some great study tips from one of our Paediatric professors yesterday for all those studying medicine (well you can apply them to any course really):

• After seeing a patient or having a tutorial go home that evening and study extensively around that topic from your text book, focusing on signs you picked up. The next day, 10 min before you start your other work, go back to that patient and look for the extra signs and symptoms you read about*.

• Use more than one text book. Different textbooks teach different sections differently so you may get great notes about pneumonia from one but better notes about gastro in another.

• When you're struggling to study: rather than reading for study sake, read as an examiner**. That is: look through the chapter for questions an examiner might ask about that topic i.e. definitions, classifications, important things on history, clinical signs you may illicit on examination, differential diagnosis, investigations and management. Write these out as quick point-form notes*** (makes later revision much easier).

If you're studying and have any valuable tips you've picked up along the way, PLEASE SHARE!


*Principle: Revision, revision, revision and the age old study technique of "see, hear, write and DO" (in order on increasing memory reinforcement)! For something to really stick you've got to revise the topic within 24 hours, then 7 days, then again during exam revision.

**This method really helps when you're bored, lacking motivation and need to get your studies focused i.e. those times you find yourself reading this first line: "this is a common disease" over and over again!

***Other than this I never make study notes anymore, in fact I haven't made any in years! In my opinion they're just a waste of time: you're wasting valuable time making pretty notes instead of actually studying and getting the info into your head; if they're messy you'll never read them again; you've tricked yourself into thinking you've studied but actually you've just had a arts and crafts session; you may accidently write something down wrong and then spend ages revising a mistake and lastly a text book is the best study note anyway - nothing you make will look or be as good!

Let Me Pick Your Brains...

I love Halloween. I love the dressing up, the candy, the scares, the spooks, the pumpkins, everything. It's always ranked fairly high on my list of awesome holidays. Sadly, this year I was supposed to be out of the country 2 weeks before Halloween, so I didn't think about it that much, and I definitely didn't prepare for it. Little did I know I'd be experiencing so much trouble getting out of the country, and would be in the states to celebrate the holiday of Caspers and cavities. The problem is, I usually start thinking about Halloween sometime around August, I don't do Halloween half-assed. :-D So, in an effort to celebrate the holiday, I painted my nails with Halloween goodness. I chose to do Zombie nails, because who doesn't like zombies? (unless they're being chased by them, of course)  Pardon the small piece out of the middle nail. I managed to break the nail before I got a picture of this manicure! :(

I used OPI Stranger Tides as a base, with American Apparel Raccoon brushed over it on a dry paper towel to dirty it up a bit. When it wasn't completely dry (mostly dry, but still dentable) I used my nails to gouge, scratch, and wrinkle the surface. The holes, dents, and scrapes I created were then filled with a mixture of Zoya Carmen and American Apparel Raccoon, then highlighted with Zoya Carmen on its own. To shade around the wounds, I mixed American Apparel Raccoon with OPI Stranger Tides, and to highlight, I mixed American Apparel California Trooper with OPI Stranger Tides. I topped everything with a coat of Essie Matte About You, then topped the bloody spots with Seche Vite top coat to make it glossy and sticky looking.

Happy Halloween!!! :)

In addition to the nails for today, while I was home visiting my family, my Aunt Roxanne expressed that she'd love for me to paint her nails, and that she really liked the Reverse Rockabilly design. I never really paint other people's nails, but I really like how they turned out. :)

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

My sister used this famous quote in a speech recently. I found it so inspiring, I thought I must post it up on my blog to encourage those out there (if there is anyone who still reads this blog) to keep standing out from the crowd:

"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? 

Actually, who are you not to be? 

You are a child of God. 

Your playing small does not serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. 

It is not just in some; it is in everyone. 

And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

It's often said to have been quoted in a speech by Nelson Mandela but this is not the case. Rather, it originated with author Marianne Williamson.

Halloween Nail Art!

I wasn't originally planning to do any Halloween nails but I had a Twitter request so of course, I had to oblige!

I used Miss Sporty Orange and Rimmel Black Satin as my base colours.

The stamps are from Bundle Monster plates BM224 and BM223 and I used white acrylic paint to freehand the skeleton.

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Deco Polish Rack Discount!

Hey Y'all! I want to tell you about a great product that I was contacted about recently, the Deco Polish Rack. It is a super cute polish rack that can be easily wall mounted. The Deco Polish Rack can hold between 55-70 bottles depending on the their size and is a beautiful and stylish art piece for you home or salon. Deco Polish Racks are currently available in white, pink, purple and
pink polka dots.




The creator of this poduct is Velvet Nail Lounge owner Nick Brown. He has kindly offered to provide me with a discount to pass along to my followers for $5 off your purchase for the month of November! When checking out use the couopon code: LOLO. The site is @ decopolishracks.com.

Stay tuned for a complete review of this product!

Day 22: Inspired by a Song

I kind of cheated a little today, my mani is inspired by a few songs. Well, actually, an album! A few weeks ago, I went to see a guy called Charlie Simpson in concert and of course I had to decorate my nails for the occasion. I've been saving them to post today.

Charlie Simpson is such a great musician. He's been in a few bands in his time; playing pop rock, post-hardcore and now acoustic folk. I used his song, 'Parachutes' in my video tutorial for the Ocean Waves nail art so some of you may recognise it...


Charlie Simpson - Parachutes

My thumbnail is the album cover and each of my other nails is inspired by one of the songs on the album.

Don't forget to visit Cristina and Rie's blogs today to see their song inspired nails!





Thumb to pinky: Album cover, Sundown, Parachutes, Thorns, Cemetary





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Ozotic Mish Mash 531

I know quite a few of you have been waiting to see this one :) Ozotic Mish Mash 531. The truth is that I just wasn't feeling this one in the bottle and chose to wear the other blue ones first.  I didn't think I was really going to love this polish, I don't know why, but I just wasn't getting the vibe! 

I put this on and wore it to a wedding on Saturday and I don't know if its because it complimented my outfit so perfectly or what, but WOW was I soooo wrong.  I love this one so much.  It's my favourite out of the bunch of the Mish Mash polishes - hands down!

Ozotic 531 is the holographic version of Ozotic 502.  I'm certain it is 502 and not 520, because when you check the acute angle, it shifts to the bright yellow of 502, rather than the orange of 520 as can be seen in this comparison post.

The sun was also out on Saturday, so I was able to get some sun shots of this, as well as indoor ones.

The strong shimmer of the golden tones makes it a little hard to see the holographic rainbow at this angle.

OMG I love this next photo angle.  This shows what this polish looks like most of the time.  The spectraflair in the polish has toned down the maroon base and made it appear more brown or copper bronze.  The colour reminds me of our old 1c piece (a little like a US penny).

I love how the spectraflair can tone down the colours in a polish.  It seems to work like a blue/violet hair toner used on blonde hair that has a brassy look to it.   There have been so many times when I have been frankening and I think, 'this colour is a little to strong, it needs some white in it', so instead I add a little spectraflair and it's perfect.

Indoors, near the window, using the LED macro light on the camera.

Like all the other swatches, this was two coats over a black base.  So which is your favourite?  Are you going to buy any of these? Which one/s?

I did the comparison swatches yesterday (comparing my franken of spectraflair mixed 505 vs Ozotic 532 vs 505 + holo top coat.  The outcome is very interesting.  I also did a quick swatch of each of the Mish Mash polishes without the black base.  So pop on by tomorrow for those.

A Few more Halloween Designs

Hey y'all! I just wanted to share a few Halloween designs I came up with to sell in my webstore. Hope Y'all like! This month's sale is a free crackle nail set with your purchase of $30 or more. Don't miss it!

Jack O'Lantern Nails

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

It was time for a color change, so today I did another Halloween manicure since I might not have a chance to change it tomorrow.  Since I haven't done the obligatory black and orange combination yet, I figured I'd do that today with the jack o'lantern pattern from nail stamping plate D03, one of the two Halloween D-Series plates.

I wanted a bright orange, and for that I chose Zoya Paz.  It took three coats, and I thought I'd extend the theme and cut the stamping by 60% by alternating nails between Paz and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, the two coat black creme that was nearest Paz when I was gathering supplies for this manicure.  After allowing the base colors to dry, I stamped Paz with the Jack O'Lantern face in Konad Black Pearl.  I'd planned on stamping some additional Halloween patterns on the black, but after placing the first one on my pinky I thought the better of it and removed the stamp (this is the rare occasion when the decision that less is more was made at the front end of a manicure...).  I sealed the stamping and shined up the manicure with Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine and called it finished. Here are my Jack O'Lantern nails.

Jack O'Lantern Nails with Stamping Plate D03

This is probably my favorite of this year's Halloween manicures.  It really doesn't leave open any questions about what the intent is!

That's another Halloween manicure and all I have for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Today's criteria is a bit of an odd one. I couldn't decide if it meant inspired by an actual colour or inspired by a shade name or even something else completely that I didn't pick up on! In the end I decided to rummage through my stash to see if any of the colour names inspired me and this Rimmel polish, Purple Reign, gave me an idea straight away.

I decided to make a mani from the name and stamp crowns on my nails. Get it? Purple REIGN ;)

Head over to see whar Cristina and Rie came up with today.



Plate: Bundle Monster BM08
Base Colour: Rimmel - Purple Reign
Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC





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Ozotic Mish Mash 534

More pretty Ozotic holographic multichrome goodness today.  This is Ozotic 534, which is the holographic version of Ozotic 504.  The base colour for this polish is a rich blue it then shifts through purple to red tones on acute angles. 

This next photo is probably the only one where I managed to catch the red tinge on the middle and index fingers.

This one really is beautiful.  I prefer it over 533, and like it about the same as 532.  Same excellent formula and application as I have come to expect from Ozotic polishes.   This was two coats over a black base with Seche Vite top coat.

No other chit chat tonight, it's been a stupidly busy weekend and I can't believe it's Monday already tomorrow. I feel the need to stop and look around, just as Ferris said, 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.'

Gone Gonzo!

Hi everyone :) I recently received OPI's Gone Gonzo in the mail and went well...crazy haha. Only because it's a bottle of polish filled up with glorious, glorious glitter ♥

Shown is three coats of Gone Gonzo and there was still some visible nail line. I could have done with an additional coat but I really couldn't be bothered by then :P Each layer dried really quickly though, so that's definitely a plus!

It was a huge pain to remove though, I think I'll be layering it over a base colour next time cos I still love the polish ^^

What do you think of this pretty? :) Do you like glitter polishes?

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

31 Day Challenge: Days 1-20

So here we are at Day 20 of the challenge and I just want to say how proud I am of Rie, Cris and myself for making it this far! The end is in sight and it really looks like we're going to make it. 

Thank you so much to all you amazing people that stop by to check out our challenges every day! Here's a quick recap of Days 1-20 in case you missed any...

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Day 20: Water Marbled

If I could take one sick day from the 31 Day Challenge, it would be today! The mani you see here is my third attempt at a decent water marble. By the time I finished I was suffocating under the sheer amount of marbling fail. Never again, guys, never again!

In hindsight, my experience with water marbling was not that bad, but at the time all I wanted to do was scrub this off my nails as soon as the pictures were taken. It looks kind of nice, but for the hours, sweat and tears it stole from me I probably won't be doing it again any time soon!

Head over to Rie and Cristina's blogs to see if they had better luck than me with their water marbling!

Base colour: BYS Lilac Bliss

Marble colours: La Femme Grey Cream, Nails Inc Victoria, George Scarlet Kiss

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A polish change 100 Follower Giveaway!

A polish change is having a 100 follower giveaway!

Giveaway ends October 31stSo if you wish to enter go (HERE)

Happy Nails Unexpected giveaway!

Happy Nails is having a giveaway!



Giveaway ends 29 October 2011

So if you wish to enter go (HERE)

Ozotic Mish Mash 533

Hello lacquer lovers.  Here is another of the new Mish Mash polishes.  Ozotic 533.  This is the holographic version of Ozotic 506, which is a cyan blue, with a purple multi chrome shift.

This one really does look similar to 532, just as 506 and 505 are very similar too.  

One thing I noted with these polishes that I didn't say yesterday is that because of the Spectraflair in these polishes, the base multichrome colour is paler than the original non-holo version.  Anyone that has played with Spectraflair would know  how that it lightens your polish when you add it.  They have the balance just perfect though, and it only lightens the base slightly.

All these pictures were taken next to the window with diffused overcast skies, using the LED macro light on my camera.  They are all two coats over a black base with Seche Vite top coat.

Also, Amy X asked if I could do a comparison swatch of one of these Mish Mash polishes vs a Spectrafranken holographic multichrome vs a multichrome with a holo top coat applied.  Great idea, I will do up a comparison swatch this weekend.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I'm back with an addition to my Numbskull Salon Effects manicure I wanted to show you because it turned out surprisingly well.  I'd mentioned that adding glow in the dark top coat to it was a possibility, and I added China Glaze Ghoulish Glow with nice results.

This is a bottle I bought in a prior year.  I'm not sure when, I just knew I already had a GID top coat.  I was hunting for my Wet N Wild one because I'd read it worked better after being stored for some time, and although I couldn't find it, I did find Ghoulish Glow.  It was on its side in a plastic drawer thingy, and although the GID pigment had visibly settled, it mixed in easily when I shook it up, so I held the bottle up to a light and checked it in the dark and sure enough, it was glowy.  I added two thin coats of it to Numbskull and then top coat to dry it, and it gave the manicure kind of a zombie cataract look.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow Top Coat over Numbskull Salon Effects

I stopped in the bathroom (the only windowless room here) and shut the door to get a picture of the glow.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow Top Coat over Numbskull Salon Effects in the Dark

So it worked, and I get to wear this out!  I noticed the glow doesn't last as long as the OPI GID's, but what the heck... I think Sephora by OPI Full Moon, the white GID from last year, is the best there is for that of glow in the dark polishes I've used, but this was nice to just tack on to an already-finished manicure.  I guess I'll just be running up to available lights to charge my nails as often as I can get away with!

That's it for today, Dear Reader, I just wanted to share some spooky Halloween glow in the dark fun with you.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.