Three Beauties Radient Turquoise

Sheer green base with blue/ purple duochrome glass flecks. I bought this polish on a hunch that it’ll look awesome over a black base and I’m happy to show you that I’m right! Look at that glass fleck duochrome goodness!

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.

ManGlaze Matte is Murder

Black matte with subtle shimmer. The shimmer appears to be a mix of green, pink and holographic silver. It’s doesn’t really turn up but you can tell it’s not just a plain black.

The wear I got was pretty good; it lasted longer than traditional mattes. But the dry time was longer too – that can be either good or bad. If you’re looking to paint your nails five minutes before you head out, dents and smudges will still occur. But if you always wanted a matte that allows you to take your time while painting, then this is for you.

Generally, I struggle quite a bit with matte polish because I’m a slow painter – I prefer little to no cleanup. This was perfect for me. Then I ruined it when I attempted a tape mani – the tape pulled up bits of the polish (I waited fifteen minutes). So no pictures for the tape mani!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• ManGlaze Matte is Murder (2 coats)

Aritaum 21 Tweed Jacket

Collection: Modi Glam Nails

Clear base with black and white glitter. There are small and medium squares, medium hexagons, and bar glitter. This is my first black and white glitter polish and I love it so much I had to show you right away! It’s obviously inspired by a certain Lynnderella but it’s not a copy.

As with many Asian polishes, 21 is the code for this shade. This brand also names their polishes – in Korean. Tweed Jacket is what Google Translate provides me with so I’m not sure how accurate that is.

There’s a good amount of square glitter in this, the other glitter shapes are sparser. That’s alright for me, because I have a huge weakness for square glitter. Hexagons are just, well, normal glitter ;)

The clear base is rather thick and dries fast – it was starting to get clumpy as I tried to spread the glitter. I recommend the dab and spread method as it gets more glitter on (as seen on the index). I used the normal painting motion for the other nails.

Polish peels:
• PVA Glue (1 coat)
• Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy (2 coats)
• Aritaum Tweed Jacket (1 coat)
• American Classics Gelous (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Aritaum is a cosmetics brand from South Korea. I discovered them while searching for swatches of Innisfree (another S. Korean brand) polishes. Like most of you, I don’t read, write or speak Korean. After a lot of googling, I bought their polishes from Qoo10 (our local Gmarket) and the package took around two weeks to reach me.

You can also find this brand on the Korean Gmarket site, or you can check out their brick and mortar stores. The Glam Nails shades are 10ml while the Juicy Nails are 7ml. I think the original shop prices are KRW2500 (7ml) to KRW3500 (10ml). They also have other interesting shades; a few are inspired by popular Deborah Lippmann colors.

Euro 2012 Germany

This is a simple design that I used a striping brush to do. I did manage to make the lines pretty straight but my yellow polish applied too thickly, causing an uneven bump even after I put on top coat.

This is the German’s home kit. I do like white kits because there’s just something elegant about the color. As for the team, I was disappointed when they were knocked out at the semis. I really thought that a final between Spain and them would have been great, but alas, it wasn't to be.

The weather over here has been rather finicky, so I settled on some lamp light shots. I'm sure you’re seen this white shimmer in sunlight a couple of times anyway.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)
• Konad Special Polish Black (1 coat) – ring finger
• Essie First Dance (1 coat) – ring finger
• China Glaze Lemon Fizz (1 coat) – ring finger
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

The Face Shop BK901

Collection: Hologram

Charcoal holographic. It’s a bit more holographic than my pictures are showing here. Although it’s not true black, the grey base makes it rather unique among holos.

The formula is also lovely! Two easy coats with little fuss, no special base coat needed. I did put on Seche Vite as it didn’t seem to negate any of the holoness. Here's a bonus shot of the holo goodness in the bottle (please ignore my awkward hand):

Thanks for looking!
Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• The Face Shop BK901 (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Strawberry Jelly Sandwich

My first jelly sandwich! What is that? It's basically glitter sandwiched between two jelly layers. Since jelly polishes are not meant to be opaque, it showcases the glitter underneath it beautifully. It's been popular on the Nail Board for a while and I thought, why not try it with a black glitter instead? I had the idea to try it with a red jelly and thought that it would be perfect for Chinese New Year since red is considered an auspicious color.

Does this remind you of strawberries? Because this is what it makes me think of! Essie First Dance is a neutral tone red jelly-cream and I love how squishy it is. I secretly wanted to lick my nails because they looked so yummy!

Since First Dance is a little opaque as a jelly, I tried to do the second coat as thinly as possible. I also gave extra dry time for the glitter to set as the brush can drag the glitter around, as seen in the bald spot in my middle finger.

Thanks for looking!

Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Essie First Dance (1 coat)
• L.A. Girl Uninhibited (1 coat)
• Essie First Dance (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Nfu Oh GS14

Collection: Glitter

Black jelly with small holographic hexagonal and square glitter. I have to admit, I bought this more for the bottle than the polish itself.

The cap is a corset with the tie strings at the back. The bottle itself is like the skirt of a gown and the back folds reveal the petticoat underneath. Isn't gorgeous?

Nubar 2010

A clear base with multichromatic flakes. I've already done a post with 2010 layered over a white jelly here. This time, I've decided to show how different it looks like over a black base. The flakes flash mostly orange, but certain angles allow you to see the green, gold and red. I used Silkygirl Jet Black as my base color which was thick and caused me some major bubbling but the imperfection was hidden behind the flakies.

Color Club Revvvolution

Collection: Femme Fatale (2009 Spring)

A black scattered holographic. It’s my first and only (at the current moment) holographic polish. The holographic effect is rather subtle in sunlight and even more so in the shade. The picture above portrays it generously in the shade. Still, I think it’s a beautiful polish and it wets my appetite to get more holos to try out.

Revvvolution is very pigmented, one coat was enough for my nails. The formula was a little thick so I added some Seche Restore to it. It dried extremely fast and the finish is a little satin-like. From my observation, adding top coat didn’t seem to dull the holographic particles. Can you guess which fingers have top coat?

China Glaze Black Mesh

Collection: Crackle Glaze (2011 Spring)

A black crackle matte. It's my first crackle polish and I love it! It dries matte as most crackle polishes do but a top coat will solve that. It was very fascinating to see the crackling while my nails dried. I stared at my nails the whole time, trying to guess how and where the polish will crackle. The end of the crackling also meant that the polish was completely dry.

The base color I used was a light purple cream from Nature Republic, a South Korean brand. The code for this polish is Color Waltz PP402.

Polish sandwich:
• Poshe Fast Drying Base Coat (1 coat)
• Nature Republic Color Waltz PP402 (1 coat)
• Seche Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• China Glaze Black Mesh (1 coat)
• Seche Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)