New Years Shoes; Which ones to wear?
So for New Years I'm going to a dress up party. My costume is all sorted but I will need to get changed to go out to the pub afterwards. I present y'all with 2 shoes to pick for me :) haha & the pros and cons :P Plz ignore my feet & shoes ha I took these straight after a stinkin hot day at work so ignore them but dont ignore the shoes!
Glittery Gold Peep Toe Pumps
-Pros: Comfortable on the soles of my feet
-Totes appropriate for new years!
-So damn pretty haha
Cons: Glitter will fall off! Do not want. (I have been spraying with hair spray however- & I'm thinkin that its working.)
-Kinda uncomfortable around the heel where it rubs on my feet- may need bandaids
-toes will hurt after a while
Black Suede Wedges with Ankle Strap (its ok that the sides pop out)
-Pros: Wedges are super comfy to wear all night without hurting your feet.
-I love these ones too! ha
-Easier to walk in without worrying about tripping
Cons: Ankle strap may get annoying (they are on super tight here anyways)
-Feels like I'm rolling as I'm walking in them
-Don't want to ruin the suede!
Anyways you don't need to go by the pros/ cons just the look of them if you like, I am already wearing the wedges with my costume anyway so maybe I could bring the other ones into just in case?
Thanks everyone, Happy New Years!
xxxx
-Pros: Comfortable on the soles of my feet
-Totes appropriate for new years!
-So damn pretty haha
Cons: Glitter will fall off! Do not want. (I have been spraying with hair spray however- & I'm thinkin that its working.)
-Kinda uncomfortable around the heel where it rubs on my feet- may need bandaids
-toes will hurt after a while
-Pros: Wedges are super comfy to wear all night without hurting your feet.
-I love these ones too! ha
-Easier to walk in without worrying about tripping
Cons: Ankle strap may get annoying (they are on super tight here anyways)
-Feels like I'm rolling as I'm walking in them
-Don't want to ruin the suede!
Anyways you don't need to go by the pros/ cons just the look of them if you like, I am already wearing the wedges with my costume anyway so maybe I could bring the other ones into just in case?
Thanks everyone, Happy New Years!
xxxx
Futuristic Cut Crease?
Woohoo I can finally honestly say I was happy with how this look turned out! I would definitely do this look again for clubbing or maybe even new years, I would probably add some glitter & it would be good to go. Also I think it this goes with any outfit.
So I was inspired by this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq-lEu73GI&feature=channel_video_title, & I thought it would be harder to get my eyes even but I got it fairly quickly. It doesn't matter if it is not perfect anyway because as they say "eye's are sisters not twins."
Eyes:
Lid: Stila Kitten. Also a tiny bit on the middle of the lower lash line (lll)
The lightest colour from Barbie <3 Stila from brow bone to crease (help with blending).
Crease: Nyx JEP Black Bean with an angled eyeliner brush and on the lll.
Black from 28 palette blended with a pencil brush over top of Black Bean.
A little bit of the black from the same Stila palette on the lll.
Maybelline Eye Allure Eyeliner.
CG Lash Blast Fusion
Japanese Eyelashes.
Cheeks: I think a tiny bit of E.L.F Fuschia Fusion
Lips: Maybelline Color sensational l/s in Party Pink on the outside with Mac Hue on the inside.
At first I was going to leave the lower lash line alone but it didn't look complete, so I started with one eye & it didn't look that good until I defined my lower eyelashes.This look is also a must for falsies, I got asked if it was just mascara or was I wearing falsies hahah. At least they are not noticeable :P
So that's it! I hoped that everyone had a lovely Christmas & Boxing day with their families and I hope y'all have a great new years!!!
xxxx
So I was inspired by this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq-lEu73GI&feature=channel_video_title, & I thought it would be harder to get my eyes even but I got it fairly quickly. It doesn't matter if it is not perfect anyway because as they say "eye's are sisters not twins."
Lid: Stila Kitten. Also a tiny bit on the middle of the lower lash line (lll)
The lightest colour from Barbie <3 Stila from brow bone to crease (help with blending).
Crease: Nyx JEP Black Bean with an angled eyeliner brush and on the lll.
Black from 28 palette blended with a pencil brush over top of Black Bean.
A little bit of the black from the same Stila palette on the lll.
Maybelline Eye Allure Eyeliner.
CG Lash Blast Fusion
Japanese Eyelashes.
Cheeks: I think a tiny bit of E.L.F Fuschia Fusion
Lips: Maybelline Color sensational l/s in Party Pink on the outside with Mac Hue on the inside.
So that's it! I hoped that everyone had a lovely Christmas & Boxing day with their families and I hope y'all have a great new years!!!
xxxx
Is PAGE dead on PBOC ban on non-Shanghai gold exchanges?
Mineweb (ex-Reuters) is reporting that "Gold exchanges in China outside of two in Shanghai are to be banned, authorities said in a statement released on Tuesday."
Looks like the much hyped Pan Asia Gold Exchange is dead. Not sure where this leaves those who claimed that it "will ultimately destroy the remaining short positions in both gold and silver".
I will come back to this story but for the moment I want to see how the pumpers and hype merchants spin it, or unspin what they said before.
I also find it interesting that this story breaks at the same time as China Daily reports that "China should further diversify its foreign-exchange portfolio and make more gold purchases when the metal's price dips but is still at a relatively high level, a senior central bank official said on Monday."
What is China's game re gold? How can we weave these two stories into a coherent explanation?
Looks like the much hyped Pan Asia Gold Exchange is dead. Not sure where this leaves those who claimed that it "will ultimately destroy the remaining short positions in both gold and silver".
I will come back to this story but for the moment I want to see how the pumpers and hype merchants spin it, or unspin what they said before.
I also find it interesting that this story breaks at the same time as China Daily reports that "China should further diversify its foreign-exchange portfolio and make more gold purchases when the metal's price dips but is still at a relatively high level, a senior central bank official said on Monday."
What is China's game re gold? How can we weave these two stories into a coherent explanation?
Safety cookies
What are safety cookies? Gold coins. Very amusing charaterisation in this article from Terry Coxon of Casey Research
Terry sees safety cookies (or coins in your pocket) as the first rung on the ladder of internationalisation. In light of the recent IRS reporting requirements, which require US persons to report "all worldwide assets subject to exceptions and applicable threshold amounts", you could also call coins privacy cookies.
Terry sees safety cookies (or coins in your pocket) as the first rung on the ladder of internationalisation. In light of the recent IRS reporting requirements, which require US persons to report "all worldwide assets subject to exceptions and applicable threshold amounts", you could also call coins privacy cookies.
Unsegregated Allocated
Following on from this post from 2009 where I identified five types of storage (Segregated Allocated, Unsegregated Allocated, Unsegregated Physical Backed, Unallocated Fully Hedged, Unallocated Unhedged), we now have confirmation that "Allocated" metal at a bullion bank is unsegregated from this interview with Kyle Bass (42 minute mark) where he talks about bars being all over the place when they did an audit.
The unsegregated nature of bullion bank allocated is why Bob Pisani picked up the wrong bar in his visit to the GLD vault as part of a HSBC promo.
This unsegregated storage is not necessarily a problem and would not make a difference in any bankrupty of a custodian as the key "segregation" is the specific bar numbers and weights in the client name. Whether bars belonging to two different clients sit together on the same pallet or are on separate pallets separated by air, I cannot see making a difference.
The unsegregated nature of bullion bank allocated is why Bob Pisani picked up the wrong bar in his visit to the GLD vault as part of a HSBC promo.
This unsegregated storage is not necessarily a problem and would not make a difference in any bankrupty of a custodian as the key "segregation" is the specific bar numbers and weights in the client name. Whether bars belonging to two different clients sit together on the same pallet or are on separate pallets separated by air, I cannot see making a difference.
GoldMoney is no longer Gold Money
Digital Gold Currency Magazine is reporting that GoldMoney is suspending the ability to make and receive payments in precious metals to or from other GoldMoney customers due to the "global increase of compliance requirements for payment service providers."
This capability was the key differentiator of GoldMoney to other online precious metal storage businesses. It is an unfortunate development for gold standard advocates.
The decision was not entirely driven by increased regulations as GoldMoney also indicate that "our customers’ use of the metal payments and currency exchange services is not significant." Looks like a case of disporportionate compliance effort for GoldMoney on something that didn't drive business.
Interesting then that customers have voted and said they aren't really interested in gold as money. Possibly this may change if those customers are faced with high inflation or banking system instability, but it will be hard for GoldMoney to restart the functionality and catch up with any regulatory requirements in place at the time (assuming there is any regulatory tolerance for alternative payment systems at that time).
Freegold anyone?
This capability was the key differentiator of GoldMoney to other online precious metal storage businesses. It is an unfortunate development for gold standard advocates.
The decision was not entirely driven by increased regulations as GoldMoney also indicate that "our customers’ use of the metal payments and currency exchange services is not significant." Looks like a case of disporportionate compliance effort for GoldMoney on something that didn't drive business.
Interesting then that customers have voted and said they aren't really interested in gold as money. Possibly this may change if those customers are faced with high inflation or banking system instability, but it will be hard for GoldMoney to restart the functionality and catch up with any regulatory requirements in place at the time (assuming there is any regulatory tolerance for alternative payment systems at that time).
Freegold anyone?
Has Gold's Uptrend Been Broken?
I have a post up on the corporate blog featuring a Sharelynx log chart of the gold price.
There is also a very good video of why gold was (is?) favoured as money over other elements/metals in this post The Science Of Gold
And in response to this cheeky question from JR re that post "Is the Perth Mint claiming that gold is money due to its unaltering quality!?", the answer is No. The "What others are thinking" category on the corporate blog is for non official views and maybe the wording "gold is all but unrivalled as the outstanding candidate for money" could have been a bit more qualified in retrospect. :)
There is also a very good video of why gold was (is?) favoured as money over other elements/metals in this post The Science Of Gold
And in response to this cheeky question from JR re that post "Is the Perth Mint claiming that gold is money due to its unaltering quality!?", the answer is No. The "What others are thinking" category on the corporate blog is for non official views and maybe the wording "gold is all but unrivalled as the outstanding candidate for money" could have been a bit more qualified in retrospect. :)
Christmas Look
To be honest, I wish I was more excited about Christmas. I guess it's not the same when your all growned up :( haha :P
So I did this look inspired by this blogger here. Mine wasn't meant to be christmassy but I decided that it can be since I haven't done a festive look yet. However It's a copy more than an inspiration because I didn't want to change a thing.& I got compliments at work so I was happy with that :)
Haha that's enough of me picking out everything, here's what I used
Eyes: TFSI
NYX Milk JEP
120 palette: see picture
Maybelline Line Allure eyeliner
Coastal Scents gold gel eyeliner
Nyx gold glitter
Cheeks... hmm I don't think its important since I can barely see in the pics anyway.. plus I forgot :S
Lips are by David Jones.. Some orange lipstick.
Happy holidays to all!! Thank you for reading, commenting etc :)
xxx
So I did this look inspired by this blogger here. Mine wasn't meant to be christmassy but I decided that it can be since I haven't done a festive look yet. However It's a copy more than an inspiration because I didn't want to change a thing.& I got compliments at work so I was happy with that :)
Ugh I could go into many things I want to improve, like mainly the eyeliner. I didn't mean to make the gold so thick & as it came out I didn't clean my brush enough so it mixed into the black but ohwells.
I also didn't want the yellow to be too outrageous so I added just a hint of it, & I wish I blended right to the eyeliner so it looked cleaner.
 | ||
| a tiny bit edited |
 |
| And most importantly, the inspiration pic |
Eyes: TFSI
NYX Milk JEP
120 palette: see picture
Maybelline Line Allure eyeliner
Coastal Scents gold gel eyeliner
Nyx gold glitter
Cheeks... hmm I don't think its important since I can barely see in the pics anyway.. plus I forgot :S
Lips are by David Jones.. Some orange lipstick.
Happy holidays to all!! Thank you for reading, commenting etc :)
xxx
Battle of the Eyelash Curlers
In this haul post here you will see that I finally bought a new eyelash curler. I had my old one for a couple of years now & it was time for a new one since I never really liked that one haha. It dug into the corner of my eyes, leaving marks in my eyeshadow that I had to fix. Soo annoying haha.
I wanted to do a quick review/ comparison of them both which I hope will be helpful to somebody, even if they are random brands haha.
The one on the left is my new one & the one on the left is (obviously, ha) my old eyelash curler. You can see that the MP is longer but not as chunky, which I think would be better to fit in a smaller makeup bag since it wouldn't take up as much room, if you get what I mean.
Sorry for the Elite one for being so gross! I had replaced the pads on it a little while ago after I finally found some hiding, so before that it was even worse.
Can you see how the EP one is more curved & shorter on the curler part than MP which is longer & less curved so it fits around my eye better, & gets all of my eyelashes in unlike EP. I hope that you can see what I mean & that I don't sound like a crazy person, haha.
*excuse the naked brows & unfinished eye makeup*
Maybe you can see it here, how much better the MP curler (on the right) fits my eye & doesn't dig in- although it kinda looks like it is, it isn't. It was awkward to take these pics btw haha
I added a mascara primer so you could see my eyelashes, I held them both on for about 15 seconds, & the MP curled my lashes a lot more especially the ones on the outside.
So I have to say that I quite like the Model's Prefer eyelash curler, but since I have not tried any popular brands like the E.L.F one which is meant to be good (I imagine it being like the MP one) or the oh-so-famous Shu Umera Eyelash curler I cannot compare it to them, but I hope that I can help somebody :)
EDIT: I made this post a few days ago & I have to add: don't squeeze too hard when curling!! It snapped on my eye lashes and is now broken :( :( Ohwell, I guess I will have to try the E.L.F curler!!
I wanted to do a quick review/ comparison of them both which I hope will be helpful to somebody, even if they are random brands haha.
 | |
| L-R: Models Prefer, Elite Professional. |
Maybe you can see it here, how much better the MP curler (on the right) fits my eye & doesn't dig in- although it kinda looks like it is, it isn't. It was awkward to take these pics btw haha
So I have to say that I quite like the Model's Prefer eyelash curler, but since I have not tried any popular brands like the E.L.F one which is meant to be good (I imagine it being like the MP one) or the oh-so-famous Shu Umera Eyelash curler I cannot compare it to them, but I hope that I can help somebody :)
EDIT: I made this post a few days ago & I have to add: don't squeeze too hard when curling!! It snapped on my eye lashes and is now broken :( :( Ohwell, I guess I will have to try the E.L.F curler!!
My thoughts on Freegold
A reader, LS, asked for my thoughts on the following topics:
1) freegold
2) the gold for oil trade
3) the current price is not a real physical price of gold because of happenings in COMEX/LBMA
4) do you believe the current world affairs will resolve itself towards freegold or something similar?
Firstly, I haven't had the time to read FOFOA in depth given the amount of material and thus give it justice. My comments here are therefore tentative thoughts.
Freegold is very interesting and I can see the logic of the idea of leaving fiat to perform the medium of exchange role and gold the wealth store role. I have a feeling free banking (see also) and a restriction on maturity transformation would need to be involved for it to work. There is a hell of a lot of discussion condensed in that sentence, more than I have time for at the moment.
I would also argue that Freegold needs to allow gold leasing but not gold lending. By "leasing" I mean as in leasing a car, ie physical asset rented (not borrowed and sold). Manufacturers of gold products like the Perth Mint could not operate without leasing because with Freegold's ban on lending of gold and other financialisations it would be difficult (impossible?) to hedge against gold price movements.
This leads to my next point, which is that the gold price under Freegold would not be stable and still exhibit some volatility. This is because under Freegold people can save excess wealth either in gold or by investing in productive enterprises (ie true investment). Human nature being what it is we will still have overestimation of the success of productive enterprises, thus failures, thus business cycles, ths varying preferences to store wealth in gold versus investments.
On the Oil/Gold idea, I don't have an option as this is not an area of FOFOA I've looked at much.
The current price is a real physical price as physical buyers and sellers of size (giants) are willing to exchange at that price. When aversion to counterparty risk really hits market players (MF Global you'd think should have been enough), then we will see a divergence between paper and physical.
As to the fourth question, well this is bound to my answer in the paragraph above, which is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, for Freegold to emerge. You would also need consensus that a gold standard is not the answer, and there are strong forces working towards that end. Possibly the biggest problem is getting people to understand the reason why financialisation of gold needs to be banned. How it will end is impossible to predict.
Either way it is going to be exciting to see how it plays out.
1) freegold
2) the gold for oil trade
3) the current price is not a real physical price of gold because of happenings in COMEX/LBMA
4) do you believe the current world affairs will resolve itself towards freegold or something similar?
Firstly, I haven't had the time to read FOFOA in depth given the amount of material and thus give it justice. My comments here are therefore tentative thoughts.
Freegold is very interesting and I can see the logic of the idea of leaving fiat to perform the medium of exchange role and gold the wealth store role. I have a feeling free banking (see also) and a restriction on maturity transformation would need to be involved for it to work. There is a hell of a lot of discussion condensed in that sentence, more than I have time for at the moment.
I would also argue that Freegold needs to allow gold leasing but not gold lending. By "leasing" I mean as in leasing a car, ie physical asset rented (not borrowed and sold). Manufacturers of gold products like the Perth Mint could not operate without leasing because with Freegold's ban on lending of gold and other financialisations it would be difficult (impossible?) to hedge against gold price movements.
This leads to my next point, which is that the gold price under Freegold would not be stable and still exhibit some volatility. This is because under Freegold people can save excess wealth either in gold or by investing in productive enterprises (ie true investment). Human nature being what it is we will still have overestimation of the success of productive enterprises, thus failures, thus business cycles, ths varying preferences to store wealth in gold versus investments.
On the Oil/Gold idea, I don't have an option as this is not an area of FOFOA I've looked at much.
The current price is a real physical price as physical buyers and sellers of size (giants) are willing to exchange at that price. When aversion to counterparty risk really hits market players (MF Global you'd think should have been enough), then we will see a divergence between paper and physical.
As to the fourth question, well this is bound to my answer in the paragraph above, which is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, for Freegold to emerge. You would also need consensus that a gold standard is not the answer, and there are strong forces working towards that end. Possibly the biggest problem is getting people to understand the reason why financialisation of gold needs to be banned. How it will end is impossible to predict.
Either way it is going to be exciting to see how it plays out.
Schmoking FOTN Pic Heavy + Nails
The other night I wanted to do something dramatic & smokey for going out for my mans work christmas dinner & then to hit the nighty afterwards. Of course I wanted to use this Bourjois eyehshadow which for some reason looks green... maybe it is because I don't think its quite black... hahah. It doesn't look green in swatches but maybe the JEP changed the colour of it.
Products:
TFSI
Nyx Black Bean JEP
Bourjois Eyeshadow No.4
Fyrianne Immortality glitter ( tiny bit on center of lid for dimension) over the top of Pixie Epoxy
Mac Satin Taupe in the crease ( Over the top of a brown I had for during the day)
White from the 28 palette over the top of Nyx JEP Milk (also used on waterline)
Nyx White pearl for highlight
Omigosh I have no idea what I wore on the cheeks :/ Luckily I don't have too much of a range maybe it was Nyx Peach *edit* I think it was bourjois rose blush 34 but it looks too peachy here haha ohwell
Lips are Nyx Sugar Pie lipgloss on it's own
I would have worn lashes but I didn't want it to be 'too much' but I wish I brought them out with me to apply after dinner. I was also a bit indifferent about the white waterline I should have made it darker but I think it made my eyes look bigger so that's good.
Hair: I used my Babyliss Pro Heat rollers and yay... my curls turned out looking good for once! I followed a tutorial as I was doing it so that made it easier. Also sorry for my hair looking a bit frizzy... I put some Moroccan Oil in afterwards but didn't want to use too much in case the curls fell out quicker. I also just teased at the crown a tiny bit for extra volume & pinned a little bit back.
As always I took heaps of pics before I actually got changed lol. This is a mini (& I mean mini, I don't think I could go without tights) dress from Supre.
Nails:
Nicole by O.P.I in It's Possible with Orly in V.I.P (purchased b/c of Lisa Eldridge haha)
Sorry if you don't like looking at toes! Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Hot Magenta with random bits of glitter that I bought from ebay, just to keep it interesting :)
Thank you for looking bbys, take care!!
xxx
TFSI
Nyx Black Bean JEP
Bourjois Eyeshadow No.4
Fyrianne Immortality glitter ( tiny bit on center of lid for dimension) over the top of Pixie Epoxy
Mac Satin Taupe in the crease ( Over the top of a brown I had for during the day)
White from the 28 palette over the top of Nyx JEP Milk (also used on waterline)
Nyx White pearl for highlight
Omigosh I have no idea what I wore on the cheeks :/ Luckily I don't have too much of a range maybe it was Nyx Peach *edit* I think it was bourjois rose blush 34 but it looks too peachy here haha ohwell
Lips are Nyx Sugar Pie lipgloss on it's own
I would have worn lashes but I didn't want it to be 'too much' but I wish I brought them out with me to apply after dinner. I was also a bit indifferent about the white waterline I should have made it darker but I think it made my eyes look bigger so that's good.
Hair: I used my Babyliss Pro Heat rollers and yay... my curls turned out looking good for once! I followed a tutorial as I was doing it so that made it easier. Also sorry for my hair looking a bit frizzy... I put some Moroccan Oil in afterwards but didn't want to use too much in case the curls fell out quicker. I also just teased at the crown a tiny bit for extra volume & pinned a little bit back.
As always I took heaps of pics before I actually got changed lol. This is a mini (& I mean mini, I don't think I could go without tights) dress from Supre.
Nails:
Thank you for looking bbys, take care!!
xxx
FOFOA, New Vaults and physical/paper price
A couple of weeks ago FOFOA made the following statement:
Do you remember the stories about HSBC clearing out space in their vaults, or JP Morgan building new vaults? What could be the explanation for this if the aggregate gold stock is so stable? Then it occurred to me that unallocated storage is much more space-efficient because the gold sits stacked on pallets. Allocated gold often gets put into cubby holes to assist in recordkeeping. That takes up much more space. So the process of allocation after many decades of non-allocation requires an expansion of vault space. This is how I now interpret these stories.
I left a comment suggesting other reasons for new vaults:
1. Investment's share of demand vs jewellery/industry is much higher now compared to past, thus more going into vaults rather than around necks.
2. ETFs and others (eg Goldmoney) share of investment demand vs coin/bar is greater compared to past, thus more going into vaults rather than backyards.
3. Industry consolidation during gold bear market meant vault closures and thus increase in utilisation of remaining vaults, leaving less spare capacity to absorb above factors before new vaults were needed.
Just to clarify that last point, say there were 10 vaults with capacity of 100oz but each was only holding 60oz. Total spare capacity is 400oz. Then you have 3 vaults close during gold's bear market and metal is moved into the remaining 7 vaults. You now have 600oz in 7 vaults, leaving only spare capacity of 100oz.
Another point is that allocated metal is not "often gets put into cubby holes". Allocated does not rely on physical segregation by client. For example, you can have a pallet of 32 x 400oz bars with 32 owners of each specific bar number on that pallet. My guess is that except for all but the most paranoid client (mostly likely central banks), most allocated at bullion banks is held this way, rather than piles segregated by client.
I also forgot to mention that my guess is that the amount of physical supporting unallocated metal accounts with bullion banks has increased, that is the fractionalisation has declined. This puts further pressure on vault capacity.
Evidence for this is that whereas unallocated accounts were free a number of years ago, there is now a small fee on unallocated. My guess is that the physical turnover/redemptions have increased in line with a more busy gold market and thus bullion banks have needed to hold more physical to back their unallocated to deal with day to day fluctuations.
Of course it could just be the banks going for a fee grab if they felt their clients would just accept it.
And while I'm doing posts on my comments on FOFOA's blog, here is another for those who don't follow the FOFOA blog comments closely - and I can understand that considering some posts get 400+ comments (link here):
Re 1) [major refiners would start posting their own price for physical gold, having their own auctions, making the trading volume public], that is what the Perth Mint already does. The 5 tonne or so per week we refine is currently auctioned. Settlement can be full cash, but mostly is done in London paper gold plus a cash premium. I just watch this premium, it will tell me when paper gold has really disconnected.
BTW, miners sell their metal to us either for cash or swap for paper gold (which they then on trade).
The system will break when miners find few willing to take their paper gold or the price offered is much lower than what we will pay. And in that situation we will always be after to better the offers they get because we are getting better prices for the real physical at the other end.
Because the Perth Mint stands as intermediary between physical buyer and physical seller, the miner is always informed as to the real price of gold.
We are not reliant on the London market to tell us the price, we make a Perth price every day. However currently London is a convenient settlement mechanism for us the miners and the buyers, but it is just to help the flow.
Do you remember the stories about HSBC clearing out space in their vaults, or JP Morgan building new vaults? What could be the explanation for this if the aggregate gold stock is so stable? Then it occurred to me that unallocated storage is much more space-efficient because the gold sits stacked on pallets. Allocated gold often gets put into cubby holes to assist in recordkeeping. That takes up much more space. So the process of allocation after many decades of non-allocation requires an expansion of vault space. This is how I now interpret these stories.
I left a comment suggesting other reasons for new vaults:
1. Investment's share of demand vs jewellery/industry is much higher now compared to past, thus more going into vaults rather than around necks.
2. ETFs and others (eg Goldmoney) share of investment demand vs coin/bar is greater compared to past, thus more going into vaults rather than backyards.
3. Industry consolidation during gold bear market meant vault closures and thus increase in utilisation of remaining vaults, leaving less spare capacity to absorb above factors before new vaults were needed.
Just to clarify that last point, say there were 10 vaults with capacity of 100oz but each was only holding 60oz. Total spare capacity is 400oz. Then you have 3 vaults close during gold's bear market and metal is moved into the remaining 7 vaults. You now have 600oz in 7 vaults, leaving only spare capacity of 100oz.
Another point is that allocated metal is not "often gets put into cubby holes". Allocated does not rely on physical segregation by client. For example, you can have a pallet of 32 x 400oz bars with 32 owners of each specific bar number on that pallet. My guess is that except for all but the most paranoid client (mostly likely central banks), most allocated at bullion banks is held this way, rather than piles segregated by client.
I also forgot to mention that my guess is that the amount of physical supporting unallocated metal accounts with bullion banks has increased, that is the fractionalisation has declined. This puts further pressure on vault capacity.
Evidence for this is that whereas unallocated accounts were free a number of years ago, there is now a small fee on unallocated. My guess is that the physical turnover/redemptions have increased in line with a more busy gold market and thus bullion banks have needed to hold more physical to back their unallocated to deal with day to day fluctuations.
Of course it could just be the banks going for a fee grab if they felt their clients would just accept it.
And while I'm doing posts on my comments on FOFOA's blog, here is another for those who don't follow the FOFOA blog comments closely - and I can understand that considering some posts get 400+ comments (link here):
Re 1) [major refiners would start posting their own price for physical gold, having their own auctions, making the trading volume public], that is what the Perth Mint already does. The 5 tonne or so per week we refine is currently auctioned. Settlement can be full cash, but mostly is done in London paper gold plus a cash premium. I just watch this premium, it will tell me when paper gold has really disconnected.
BTW, miners sell their metal to us either for cash or swap for paper gold (which they then on trade).
The system will break when miners find few willing to take their paper gold or the price offered is much lower than what we will pay. And in that situation we will always be after to better the offers they get because we are getting better prices for the real physical at the other end.
Because the Perth Mint stands as intermediary between physical buyer and physical seller, the miner is always informed as to the real price of gold.
We are not reliant on the London market to tell us the price, we make a Perth price every day. However currently London is a convenient settlement mechanism for us the miners and the buyers, but it is just to help the flow.
Negative Gold Lease Rates (again)
If Tom from Metal Augmentor keeps on putting out great stuff like this post on negative lease rates, then I'll be out of a (blogging) job.
It is heavy going but a comprehensive discussion of the issue with a dramatic speculation that "The selective collateral nature of the tri-party format may force bullion banks to eventually declare their unallocated LBMA gold accounts as backed by 100% physical bullion." Other key points if you don't have the time to read the 8500 word article:
"leasing is probably done directly by the bullion banks on behalf of commercial banks for a fee. Instead of pledging the assets acquired with the sale proceeds of gold leased pursuant to a carry trade, the borrower of gold now pledges existing collateral that it could not otherwise sell without incurring a loss. The central bank accommodates the gold leasing by accepting a wide range of collateral that would be otherwise prohibited in conventional funding schemes"
"An outright sale of gold could always be hedged by acquiring a gold forward contract. Therefore, even if gold leasing has not experienced a recent resurgence, the increase in the gold forward rate indicates that owners selling gold to generate liquidity still want their gold back once the funding need has abated. The combination of a falling gold price and rising forward rate is quite a bullish feature of the gold market that is lost in the reporting on negative gold lease rates."
"the persistence of negative lease rates could be accompanied by the emergence of something entirely new: The result could be negative gold “lease rates” as gold price expectations may create an entirely new phenomenon: cash borrowed to buy gold for future delivery (what I call “gold bonds”). In effect, this is the equivalent of gold owners forward selling their gold at higher and higher prices, and receiving cash up front to be used for current liquidity needs. The above scenario may appear a lot like the current futures market because it involves leverage but the difference is that “gold bond” transactions are 100% backed by metal."
A few of comments:
Tom: "From the perspective of the borrower (typically a bullion bank or its customer, a hedge fund), gold was historically leased as a way to fund a gold carry trade under which excess returns could be earned by using the sales proceeds from leased gold to purchase highly-rated securities meeting the central bank’s collateral requirements."
Bron: This is by far the major use of leased gold, but gold can also be leased by users/manufacturers of gold products to provide physical funding of their work in progress inventories, which does not involve any sale of the leased gold.
Tom: "As just mentioned, the gold (or silver) lease rate does not represent the actual rate at which lease transactions are being done in the market. The published lease rate is simply an indicated value derived from two related variables, the gold forward rate and LIBOR."
Bron: In support I would say that the Perth Mint has always paid positive lease rates when borrowing gold, although it does so for inventory funding rather than carry trade etc reasons. Note Perth Mint borrows without posting ANY collateral because of the West Australian Government's AAA rating.
Tom: "a customer may execute a gold swap with a bullion bank pursuant to which the customer’s physical gold is initially stored in an unallocated account and used as the collateral for dollars loaned to the customer. The bullion bank then sells the gold from the unallocated account to replenish its funds and concurrently enters into a gold forward contract with a gold refinery. The forward contract is then used to back the gold liability to the customer."
Bron: My emphasis on "physical" in that. This sequence of transactions is what fractional bullion banking is. In this case the customer's metal is "lent" to the refiner.
Tom: "sane market participants will naturally demand that gold as a financial instrument retain its utility as the ultimate collateral for non-recourse funding. Under these circumstances, the appearance of 100% physical backed LBMA unallocated bullion accounts seems like a very good possibility"
Bron: I note that some years ago balances in LBMA unallocated accounts attracted no fee, whereas now there is a very small account fee as % of value. Indication perhaps that bullion banks have had to increase the percentage of physical backing unallocated (and thus need to recover that cost) due to an increase in physical redemption/turnover on those accounts.
It is heavy going but a comprehensive discussion of the issue with a dramatic speculation that "The selective collateral nature of the tri-party format may force bullion banks to eventually declare their unallocated LBMA gold accounts as backed by 100% physical bullion." Other key points if you don't have the time to read the 8500 word article:
"leasing is probably done directly by the bullion banks on behalf of commercial banks for a fee. Instead of pledging the assets acquired with the sale proceeds of gold leased pursuant to a carry trade, the borrower of gold now pledges existing collateral that it could not otherwise sell without incurring a loss. The central bank accommodates the gold leasing by accepting a wide range of collateral that would be otherwise prohibited in conventional funding schemes"
"An outright sale of gold could always be hedged by acquiring a gold forward contract. Therefore, even if gold leasing has not experienced a recent resurgence, the increase in the gold forward rate indicates that owners selling gold to generate liquidity still want their gold back once the funding need has abated. The combination of a falling gold price and rising forward rate is quite a bullish feature of the gold market that is lost in the reporting on negative gold lease rates."
"the persistence of negative lease rates could be accompanied by the emergence of something entirely new: The result could be negative gold “lease rates” as gold price expectations may create an entirely new phenomenon: cash borrowed to buy gold for future delivery (what I call “gold bonds”). In effect, this is the equivalent of gold owners forward selling their gold at higher and higher prices, and receiving cash up front to be used for current liquidity needs. The above scenario may appear a lot like the current futures market because it involves leverage but the difference is that “gold bond” transactions are 100% backed by metal."
A few of comments:
Tom: "From the perspective of the borrower (typically a bullion bank or its customer, a hedge fund), gold was historically leased as a way to fund a gold carry trade under which excess returns could be earned by using the sales proceeds from leased gold to purchase highly-rated securities meeting the central bank’s collateral requirements."
Bron: This is by far the major use of leased gold, but gold can also be leased by users/manufacturers of gold products to provide physical funding of their work in progress inventories, which does not involve any sale of the leased gold.
Tom: "As just mentioned, the gold (or silver) lease rate does not represent the actual rate at which lease transactions are being done in the market. The published lease rate is simply an indicated value derived from two related variables, the gold forward rate and LIBOR."
Bron: In support I would say that the Perth Mint has always paid positive lease rates when borrowing gold, although it does so for inventory funding rather than carry trade etc reasons. Note Perth Mint borrows without posting ANY collateral because of the West Australian Government's AAA rating.
Tom: "a customer may execute a gold swap with a bullion bank pursuant to which the customer’s physical gold is initially stored in an unallocated account and used as the collateral for dollars loaned to the customer. The bullion bank then sells the gold from the unallocated account to replenish its funds and concurrently enters into a gold forward contract with a gold refinery. The forward contract is then used to back the gold liability to the customer."
Bron: My emphasis on "physical" in that. This sequence of transactions is what fractional bullion banking is. In this case the customer's metal is "lent" to the refiner.
Tom: "sane market participants will naturally demand that gold as a financial instrument retain its utility as the ultimate collateral for non-recourse funding. Under these circumstances, the appearance of 100% physical backed LBMA unallocated bullion accounts seems like a very good possibility"
Bron: I note that some years ago balances in LBMA unallocated accounts attracted no fee, whereas now there is a very small account fee as % of value. Indication perhaps that bullion banks have had to increase the percentage of physical backing unallocated (and thus need to recover that cost) due to an increase in physical redemption/turnover on those accounts.
Move over Bio Oil...
..Because i've moved on to Rose Hip Oil. I know I know, its old news, & I'm sure many of you have heard of or even use it, but I had been using Bio Oil for quite some time, so when I ran out of my 2nd bottle I wanted to try something different. I'm loving it & just wanted to share my thoughts on it.
As you probably know, my skin is dry/dehydrated with scars. When I wash my skin it can feel tight & gross but when I apply this, it feels greasy at first but as it sinks in it feels lovely. If you have oily skin it may feel too greasy so don't go overboard.
I have been using this for about 4 weeks & can notice an improvement with the leftover scars from my peel & the texture of my skin feels nicer. You can also use it on your body if you want to. I only use it in the morning before moisturizing but you can use it day & night, especially if you have bad scarring. & you will want to apply it some time before doing your makeup so it would have sunk in.
I love the bottle of this particular brand! As you can see it has a little drop thingy on it so you can measure the amount you need which is much better than pouring way too much into your hand. I guess it depends on the type of brand you get, the bottles wont all be the same.
The bottle says to use 2-3 drops but I usually only do 1-2 because it spreads really easily. I put a drop on my fingers & then rub them together to warm it up then apply using a circling motion with my fingers & massage it over my face.
I totally recommend using Rose Hip Oil for scarring, stretch marks, rosacea & even if your skin has no particular issues, just because it feels so nice! I will continue to use it because it gives my skin the extra boost it needs.
Overall:
Product: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Quality 5/5
Price: Around $18(15ml) but it depends on the size & where you purchase it from.
thank you for reading & I hope its useful for someone!
Oh I just wanted to mention a giveaway that Starryskies is holding... it closes on the 19th of December ( I left it a bit late to post this but there's still time! )
click the picture to enter :)
I have been using this for about 4 weeks & can notice an improvement with the leftover scars from my peel & the texture of my skin feels nicer. You can also use it on your body if you want to. I only use it in the morning before moisturizing but you can use it day & night, especially if you have bad scarring. & you will want to apply it some time before doing your makeup so it would have sunk in.
I totally recommend using Rose Hip Oil for scarring, stretch marks, rosacea & even if your skin has no particular issues, just because it feels so nice! I will continue to use it because it gives my skin the extra boost it needs.
Overall:
Product: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Quality 5/5
Price: Around $18(15ml) but it depends on the size & where you purchase it from.
thank you for reading & I hope its useful for someone!
Oh I just wanted to mention a giveaway that Starryskies is holding... it closes on the 19th of December ( I left it a bit late to post this but there's still time! )
MF Global and HSBC case
As usual, Zero Hedge and others hype a story way beyond the reality (see here for the Bloomberg story), such as:
ZH: "is whether or not MF Global was rehypothecating (there is that word again), or lending, or repoing, or whatever you want to call it, that one physical asset that it should not have been transferring ownership rights to under any circumstances."
TF: "A lawsuit such as this one could easily bring about the total destruction of the Comex/LBMA-based, fractional bullion banking system"
Here is a suggestion, read the actual Interpleader Complaint for the facts:
1. Mr. Fane and MFGI entered into five COMEX gold contracts and three COMEX silver contracts relating to the Property. HSBC is the depository for the Property pursuant to a certain Gold Delivery Point Agreement and a certain Silver Delivery Point Agreement entered into between HSBC and the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.
2. By e-mail dated October 25, 2011, MFGI notified HSBC that "MF Global’s customer Mr. Fane would like to take possession of [the Property] and move [the Property] to his account at Brinks (sic). I have already canceled for load out. Customer will advise of date and time.”
3. Mr. Fane did not contact HSBC to request that the Property be transferred to his account at Brink’s prior to the Commencement Date.
4. By letter dated November 18, 2011, HSBC, through its undersigned counsel, notified the Trustee that it had possession of the Property. HSBC also notified the Trustee, in light of HSBC having received instructions from MFGI prior to the Commencement Date to transfer the property to Mr. Fane upon his request, that HSBC would act in accordance with MFGI’s prior instructions barring an injunction or contrary instructions from the Trustee.
5. By letter dated November 21, 2011, Mr. Fane requested that HSBC transfer the Property to his account at Brink’s.
6. By letter dated November 22, 2011, the Trustee, through his counsel, asserted to HSBC that the Property constitutes customer property under Part 190 Regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and that the treatment of the Property must be administered by the Trustee. The Trustee further instructed HSBC not to release the Property to Mr. Fane.
7. By letter dated November 22, 2011, HSBC notified Mr. Fane that the Trustee had instructed HSBC not to release the Property to him and that the Trustee asserted an interest in and claim to the Property.
Not being a lawyer, I read this as "before you went bankrupt, you said I could have my metal", "yeah, well, you didn't take it before I went bankrupt, so it is now part of the bankruptcy proceedings".
So no rehypothecation or loaning, no "suing" by HSBC, no stealing or counterfeiting of the bars and certainly not the total destruction of bullion banking. Just another lesson in counterparty exposure and possession is nine tenths of the law.
Go insane, throw some glitter make it rain
I couldn't help the title lol, a couple of weeks ago we went to a festival that had bands & DJ's including Avicii, LMFAO (my fave! they were awesome haha), Bloody Beetroots, Pnau & many more.
I wasn't sure how I wanted to do my makeup but I wanted it to be more festival-like so at the last minute I threw in some glitter & felt like Ke$ha haha. Too bad it kinda looks like dirt from afar. I actually had a spray tan done a few days before, I will post those FOTDS later but here it is quite natural, just the way I like it.
Products:
Eyes:
UD Sin, buck, naked
MAC Satin Taupe
Nyx White Pearl
Black Bean JEP as a base for the glitter e/l which was NYX disco glitter e/l
a lil bit of UD Half Baked on the lower lash line
Ebay falsies cut in half on the outer corner of the eyes
Fyrianne Pixy Epoxy as a base of the glitter
NYX glitter in silver, hot pink & gold
Cheeks:
Nyx taupe blush for contouring
Nyx Peach blush
Lips:
Nyx Dolly Pink l/l
Sleek Amped l/s
As always thanks for looking loves <33
I wasn't sure how I wanted to do my makeup but I wanted it to be more festival-like so at the last minute I threw in some glitter & felt like Ke$ha haha. Too bad it kinda looks like dirt from afar. I actually had a spray tan done a few days before, I will post those FOTDS later but here it is quite natural, just the way I like it.
 | |
| that stray eyebrow hair will be the death of me ahah |
Eyes:
UD Sin, buck, naked
MAC Satin Taupe
Nyx White Pearl
Black Bean JEP as a base for the glitter e/l which was NYX disco glitter e/l
a lil bit of UD Half Baked on the lower lash line
Ebay falsies cut in half on the outer corner of the eyes
Fyrianne Pixy Epoxy as a base of the glitter
NYX glitter in silver, hot pink & gold
Cheeks:
Nyx taupe blush for contouring
Nyx Peach blush
Lips:
Nyx Dolly Pink l/l
Sleek Amped l/s
 |
| I wanted my hair to be quite punkish but cbf teasing it properly so it didn't go up too high, but I twisted some sections along side for the effect ( lilithedarkmoon tutorial) |
 |
| I went crazy trying to find the right top 2 days before & found this last minute & loved it! It has a tie up back so I wore a bandeau top for protection lol. |
 | |||||
| Rawr!! |
As always thanks for looking loves <33
Makeup & Hair Essentials Haul + more :)
When going to Perth for a weekend, one thing is guaranteed: Shopping! Since I don't get to do it too often I take advantage, and it had been a good 6 months since we last went up haha. I have named this my makeup essential haul since most of the makeup i bought is what I call "practical"- no fun eyeshadow's & lipsticks, but things I need. haha if you get what I mean.
I got all of this from Priceline. They have a huge section of this makeup brand called Models Prefer & I liked the look of their stuff & tested it a bit. Its reasonably priced too.
1: Models Prefer eyelash curler. I needed a new one badly, my other one didn't seem to fit the shape of my eye properly but this does. Review to come soon. I think I may just chuck all of the same brand into one big review lol.
2: Models Prefer brush cleaner. I've needed one of these for a very long time too. Unfortunately, when I got home I found the bottle didn't squirt properly :( So I have to open it & tip a tiny bit of it onto a paper towel when I want to use it. It still works fine & dries quickly, however I don't think you *need* to purchase a brush cleaner, as it only has 2 ingredients you could make it yourself: Isopropyl Alcohol & fragrance, even though it just smells like alcohol to me haha.
3:TRESemme heat protector spray. Just a back-up, if i ever run out of my other bottle haha
4+5:
Models Prefer Illuminator, Models Prefer Concealer in medium. The illuminator gives such a gorgeous glow to the skin. I'll let you know if I use it in a FOTD soon. I tried the concealer at the shop, It says its for fine lines (which I don't have.. yet) & for dark circles, but it felt really nice, the colour blended in & it isn't drying, which is important for me, so its a hit!
6:
Face Of Australia Eye Primers in Matte + Shimmer.
I've used these once, it did help bring out the 'matteness' or the shimmer in the eye shadow's, but it didn't last as long as TFSI does for me. I will bring you a proper review soon.
7: Bourjois E/S (04) & Blush (34 Rose D'or)
They had a special, buy one eyeshadow or blush from Bourjois & get the second one free (they are $20 each). Since I love my other blush I knew I wanted to get another one. I have also wanted the black e/s for ages, however I don't think they had it & it was hard to tell if this was black or not. It looks sort of purple, & it has shimmers. I haven't used it properly yet but again I'll let you know when I do.
8: Glam Nails Nail Art pen in Hot Pink
I haven't used this properly except on semi dried nails so that didn't work too well lol but let me tell you it took soo long for any colour to come out. It says to press on your hand until it does, but I did it on my nail because the tip is soo sharp & eventually some came out. It also came with stencils so I'll use it with them to show you! I only got one colour to try it out but if I like it next time i'll buy more :)
Hair stuff
I also got these from priceline. The first one is a 3 in one curling set with a large curling barrel, small barrel & triple barrel (or deep waver). I have wanted a triple barrel for so long, but a few days before I got this I bought one on its own. Then when I saw this pack 2 days later for $10 less I knew I had to buy this, and try and sell my other one! If not I'm sure I can find someone to give it to, haha.
Models Prefer Travel Hair dryer + Straightener: This was another bargain for $22 & I have wanted one for a while, even though I don't travel that much, when I do it will save a lot of space in the luggage!
Rae Morris Express Makeup Book
As I was flicking through this book I wasn't going to get it, then when I saw how much I was saving, why the hell not?? As what someone said, even if I only read it once it will make a good coffee table book haha. But it has some good tips in it, even if I don't agree with *everything* haha
Novo Wedges
I saw these in the front display & knew I had to have them! They are gorgeous & so comfy, and they look so nice on. A nice pair of wedges is definitely a staple!
So apart from that, I bought a lot of clothes, sandals & books, plus if you already read, I bought a laptop. I had to include a pic of the instructions it came with, I thought they were hilarious how simple & obvious they are that even a man can read them :P
Oh I almost forgot, I got these back home from Woolworths (supermarket). I haven't used my beloved Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion in so long due to trying other ones and I am really missing it, lol, so when I need more mascara I will be stocked for a little while.
They were only $10 instead of $18 which is what they usually are, so its a huge saving for me!!
So that's basically all the makeup & hair stuff I have bought recently to last me a while haha. Have you found any bargains lately you want to share?
1: Models Prefer eyelash curler. I needed a new one badly, my other one didn't seem to fit the shape of my eye properly but this does. Review to come soon. I think I may just chuck all of the same brand into one big review lol.
2: Models Prefer brush cleaner. I've needed one of these for a very long time too. Unfortunately, when I got home I found the bottle didn't squirt properly :( So I have to open it & tip a tiny bit of it onto a paper towel when I want to use it. It still works fine & dries quickly, however I don't think you *need* to purchase a brush cleaner, as it only has 2 ingredients you could make it yourself: Isopropyl Alcohol & fragrance, even though it just smells like alcohol to me haha.
3:TRESemme heat protector spray. Just a back-up, if i ever run out of my other bottle haha
4+5:
6:
Face Of Australia Eye Primers in Matte + Shimmer.
I've used these once, it did help bring out the 'matteness' or the shimmer in the eye shadow's, but it didn't last as long as TFSI does for me. I will bring you a proper review soon.
7: Bourjois E/S (04) & Blush (34 Rose D'or)
8: Glam Nails Nail Art pen in Hot Pink
I haven't used this properly except on semi dried nails so that didn't work too well lol but let me tell you it took soo long for any colour to come out. It says to press on your hand until it does, but I did it on my nail because the tip is soo sharp & eventually some came out. It also came with stencils so I'll use it with them to show you! I only got one colour to try it out but if I like it next time i'll buy more :)
Hair stuff
Models Prefer Travel Hair dryer + Straightener: This was another bargain for $22 & I have wanted one for a while, even though I don't travel that much, when I do it will save a lot of space in the luggage!
Rae Morris Express Makeup Book
Novo Wedges
So apart from that, I bought a lot of clothes, sandals & books, plus if you already read, I bought a laptop. I had to include a pic of the instructions it came with, I thought they were hilarious how simple & obvious they are that even a man can read them :P
So that's basically all the makeup & hair stuff I have bought recently to last me a while haha. Have you found any bargains lately you want to share?
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