Smitten Polish Glass Elevator

Pale milky aqua base with micro light blue glitter and small iridescent aqua hexes. This was my Christmas manicure; my first Indie polish! Since this country is tropical, I figured I could at least have a white Christmas on my nails (:

I found the formula good. The base is sheer enough to let the glitter show, yet is opaque in three coats (please ignore the spot I missed on my pinky). There’s enough iridescent glitter to go around, no fishing required. I do love the overall icy feel this polish has; it’s a great introduction to the world of Indie brands.

I bought this polish from Shoppe Eclecticco. They carry a good range of Indie brands from Emily de Molly to Rainbow Honey. They also have some commercial brands like Layla and Nfu Oh. And the best part is that they ship internationally so anyone can buy from them.

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Smitten Polish Glass Elevator (3 coats)
• American Classics Gelous (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Innisfree 103 Autumn Leaves

Collection: Poem (2012 Summer)

Blessed Christmas!

Reddish brown/ orangey gold duochrome foil. The foil particles also have a strong pink flash that’s hard to capture. This is a gorgeous autumn shade but I think it’s a great shade for Christmas too. It’s much prettier in real life though.

I don’t know if all Innisfree polishes have a scent, but this one smells like orange chocolates to me. Some of you might not like the scent – I didn’t initially but my nose is a little sensitive. I found the formula easy to work with after I added some thinner. I do prefer polishes with a thinner consistency because I tend to do medium to thick coats.

I hope you enjoy your Christmas festivities! Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:11 (NIV)

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Innisfree 103 Autumn Leaves (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

China Glaze Glitter All the Way

Collection: Holiday Joy (2012 Winter)

Small gold, purple, red and slightly larger green hexagonal glitter in a clear base. I love the colors in this; it’s like having a Mardi Gras party on my nails! It might not be the typical Christmas color scheme but I think it works just as well. Also, I love the name! Jingle bells, jingle bells, glitter all the way~~!

The glitter itself spreads pretty well but it clumped a bit when I applied a thick coat. My advice is to apply a thin first coat without worrying about the coverage. The second and third coat will cover almost everything up, it doesn’t matter if you miss some spots – no one will notice. I didn’t even notice there was a bald spot on my index nail before I saw the pictures on my computer!

Polish peels:
• PVA Glue (1 coat)
• China Glaze Glitter All the Way (3 coats)
• American Classics Gelous (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• Ettude House Help My Finger Matte Top Coat (1 coat)

Michelle M32

Periwinkle blue cream. I used this polish a year ago for my birthday manicure but the color seems to have changed. I’m not sure how accurate the photos were but my memory tells me it used to be purpler. I tried going down to Beadstreet to compare but I couldn’t find this shade so I think it’s discontinued.

Color change or not, I do love this hue. Like the other Beadstreet creams I have, this is thick but evens out well. It bubbled a little on me because of the thickness so I would recommend thin coats.

Polish peels:
• Michelle Base (1 coat)
• Michelle M32 (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Polish Days: Bling

Collection: All Night Stars (2003 Winter)

We all know that the yearend festivities are usually showy and sparkly. But this month’s topic was also chosen because Hannah, the amazing lady who organizes the Polish Days, has gotten engaged recently! Her new ring (and fiancé) inspired her to call us to go blingtastic!

Just a year ago, I hardly had any glitter polishes. Estessimo TiNS The Neptune was probably the first full out glitter I bought. Since I had not tried it yet, I figured this would be a good time.

Innisfree 108 Aquarius

Collection: Star Sign (2012 Summer)

Clear base with multi-shaped glitter. At first glance, the glitter appears to be purple with a sprinkling of green. But when you take a closer look, there’s also a bit of pink, blue, silver, gold and red. It’s basically a purple version of Libra (108).

I didn’t like the how crowded my nails looked the previous time, so I loaded the brush with less glitter this round. That’s why the glitter looks sparser here even though both bottles have the same formula – which is rather thick.

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting in the last few weeks; my hands went really dry all of a sudden. The skin around my fingers (and thumbs) started flaking and peeling so I decided to take a short break.

Polish peels:
• Nature Republic PP402 (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• Innisfree 108 Aquarius (1 coat)
• American Classics Gelous (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

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)

Polish Us Pink – China Glaze Something Sweet

Collection: Up And Away (2010 Spring)

Pastel pink cream with lilac tones. It’s a pretty stark color and I tried my best to capture that. I didn’t have to do any color correcting, but the glowy edges you see above doesn’t appear in real life. However, the base color is more accurate than the images below (as sunlight washes it out a bit).

This is the last BCA for this month. For more information on Breast Cancer:
• Breast Cancer Foundation (Singapore)
• Singapore Cancer Society
• Pink Ribbon (International)

OPI My Private Jet

Collection: Night Brights (2007 Spring)

Dark brown with silver flakies and holographic glitter. According to this comparison, my version is unfortunately known as the yuk brown. It is actually pretty unique in my stash – it’s just different from the original holo one.

It has a pretty good formula, completely even in three coats. However, I bought this polish thinking that it was the original. No matter how unique or good the formula is, my disappointment has made me dislike it.

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• OPI My Private Jet (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Essence Blue Addicted

Collection: Color & Go

Deep blue jelly with blue and green hexagonal glitter, and small blue square glitter. I’ve had this for months but dreaded putting it on because I dislike glitter removal. But with PVA glue to make it trouble free, I’m so in love! Doesn’t it look like the deep blue sea?

The formula was very gloppy – it needed around 20 drops of thinner, which is a lot for a 5ml bottle. There’s a lot of glitter in this polish so there’s no need to fish for them even after thinning. In fact, I try to get fewer hexes on the brush or else my nails become too clumpy.

Polish peels:
• PVA Glue (1 coat)
• Essence Blue Addicted (3 coats)
• American Classics Gelous (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Polish Us Pink – China Glaze Pink Plumeria

Collection: Summer Neons (2012 Summer)

Bight pinkish coral satin with golden shimmer. I don’t normally go for pinks, especially bright pinks. I wanted to try one and I thought, why not go for the one that everyone has been raving about this summer?

For more information on Breast Cancer:
• Breast Cancer Foundation (Singapore)
• Singapore Cancer Society
• Pink Ribbon (International)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy

Medium grey cream. There’s a drop of green in it that pulls out the red in my skin tone. This is one of the two RBLs I have, the other is Scrangie. I used Stormy as a base under Aritaum Tweed Jacket.

My RBLs were the luxury brand polishes I ever bought. I got them through a mass order during a 50% sale but they were still expensive after shipping and conversion. The formula for Stormy is fantastic though, easy to control and very opaque.

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

China Glaze Stone Cold

Collection: Capitol Colours (2012 Spring)

Charcoal matte with silver shimmer. Like all other matte polishes, this dries fast. No need to wait if you’re in a hurry. It also chips easily – I had one within 24 hours. And that shimmer also gets everywhere during cleanup (and removal).

While I had it on, I noticed something weird – the charcoal base gets worn off, making it more silvery over time. Especially at the tips. If you dislike such a thing, then this polish is not for you.

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• China Glaze Stone Cold (2 coats)