Royal Fire

I did this as my birthday manicure earlier this week; it’s Max Factor Fantasy Fire over Revlon Royal. I saw this combination some time ago and fell head over heels! The bottle of FF shows a purple base, but it’s pretty sheer so it hardly alters the blue base of Royal. And if any of you were wondering, that’s henna on my index finger; a friend did a design on the back of my hand over the weekend.

I got Fantasy Fire in April but this is the first time I’m wearing it since I wanted to save that tiny bottle (my precious~). I still have the manicure on currently, and let me tell you: the wear is amazing. I’m not sure if it’s Revlon, Max Factor or the combination of both, but there’s only a small chip and slight tipwear. And I’m not gentle on my hands; I don’t use gloves when I wash dishes and have a bad habit of using my nails to pick at things.

Essence Dotted Fish Tails

I did this manicure for the Essence Nailed It! Nail art competition. I admit, it’s not my best and it looks thick because of all the layers. Still, I like how the colors look together. If possible, please vote for my design by liking it on Facebook (:

I started out with the dots – I didn’t really have an idea in mind, I just wanted to practice the technique. It turned out rather pretty so I kept it. Then I searched the web for simple nail art ideas and settled on the fish tail for the rest of my nails.

Take at look at the other entries here. If you like my design, please vote for me by liking my picture, thanks!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Essence Walk Of Fame (2 coats)
• Essence Irreplaceable (2 coats) – dotted on index finger
• Essence A Lovely Secret (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Metallic Zigzag

After seeing this on Pshiiit, I’ve always wanted to try it out with a different color combination. I don’t understand French but the diagrams are pretty self explanatory (and there’s always Google Translate if you need it). Initially, I wanted to use these colors for a needle marble but that was an absolute failure so I switched to this. I’m glad I did because I’m happy with how this turned out!

For the base, I used a black cream from Beadstreet. I just have to mention how awesome it is: full coverage in one medium coat and it cost less than $2! As for the zigzag, I sponged on Deviantly Daring because I didn’t want any brushstrokes – plus it creates a speckled effect that prevents it from being too flat.

I hope you enjoyed my attempt!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Michelle S79 (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• • China Glaze Deviantly Daring – sponged
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Polish Days: MAN-icure

This month’s Polish Days theme is ‘man’ focused in commemoration of Movember. Movember is an initiative to bring awareness to men’s health issues, particularly testicular cancer. There’s no colored ribbon here for the guys – instead, they are encouraged to grow a moustache for the whole month.

And I thought, what better way to do a MAN-icure than with some ManGlaze? ManGlaze was made by men for men. Sounded perfect to me (;

I just had to do a moustache and tuxedo but not on every nail. There was no guarantee that I wouldn’t mess up (with my sad lack of art skills) and get frustrated instead of enjoying myself.

Under The Sea

Doesn’t this remind you of the Mediterranean and mermaids? I did this same combo last month on my toes (without Heartbreaker) and loved it so much I had to replicate it on my fingers too! I got Heartbreaker recently and it’s a perfect match. Both the flakies and shimmer have a blue-green shift to them that’s really hard to capture.

I was thinking of doing a fish scale stamp over this but I changed my mind and made it matte instead. I really like how the flakies pop when mattified! I usually take two sunlight shots but since they don’t do anything for flakies, I included more shaded images this time.

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• OPI Fly (2 coats)
• Nfu Oh 39 (1 coat)
• Pure Ice Heartbreaker (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• Ettude House Help My Finger Matte Top Coat (1 coat)

Essie Sag Harbor

Collection: North Fork (2009 Summer)

Greyed powder blue with silver pearl shimmer. As mentioned in Polish Days: Sentimental, this was my very first salon brand I ever bought. I love how the fine shimmer creates a pearly but non-frosty effect.

My bottle has a lot of mileage on it and had thickened over time. A bit of thinner solved that so I had no issues whatsoever. As one of my first loves, I dread the day I will finish the bottle. Luckily, China Glaze Sea Spray and L’oreal High Tide are both extremely close enough to be call dupes.

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Essie Sag Harbor (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)