OK, first problem solved with no obvious reason... I'm still having problems with the second one - I tried it with a layered shader but problem is both materials have their own transparency value so I have no idea how to set it up...

Here's a render I did with lots of refraction and reflection blurring in 6 min.

Does someone know a better way to get a translucent mat effect? translucency doesn't appear to make a difference for some reason
Thanks,
Benny

PS: I'm having some problems with imageshack so I'll just attach this one: