Orly Stone Cold

Collection: Mineral FX (2011 Fall)

Sapphire blue jelly with small blue flakes. Light It Up Blue is an annual event on April 2nd for Autism Awareness. The date might be over but the whole month is dedicated raising awareness so I wanted to contribute this gorgeous blue manicure.

For more information on autism, please visit:
• Autism Society
• Autism Speaks
• Autism Association (Singapore)
• Autism Resource Centre (Singapore)

This polish has a thick base, presumably to suspend all the little blue flakes. In the photos above, the jelly base appears sheer at the tips but they are opaque in person.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• Michelle Base (1 coat)
• Orly Stone Cold (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

OPI GoldenEye

Collection: Skyfall (2012 Winter)

Yellow gold foil flakes. This was my Chinese (Lunar) New Year mani a few days ago as I did red last year. Red and gold are considered auspicious colors to the Chinese.

As seen above, GoldenEye is incredibly shiny. My pictures show that the edges of my nail are not covered completely but no one will ever see beyond the shine in real life.

I applied this polish in thin coats really slowly. It’s best not to make any mistakes because the foil is a pain to clean up. Removal is not so easy – I had to do a foil wrap the last time – so I used PVA glue here.

Happy Lunar New Year! And thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• PVA Glue (1 coat)
• OPI GoldenEye (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Crow Toes Merope

Collection: Pleiades (2012 Winter)

Taupe base with blue/ pink/ red duochrome shimmer and small translucent flakes. I’ve been looking for a blue to red duochrome every since I saw this. Merope definitely fits the bill and the shimmer even has an additional green flash.

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)

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)

Cult Nails Seduction

Collection: Divas and Drama (2012 Spring)

Sheer purple jelly with iridescent opal flakes. This is the polish that prompted my first Cult Nails order – I haven’t even touched the other colors! The sheer purple base can’t be seen here but Vampy Varnish has a good swatch of it at three coats.

The flakies are predominantly red and blue. The red does shift to orange and green, à la Nubar 2010. The polish itself was a little thick, but not any more so than other similar polishes. As you can see, one coat provides a good amount of flakes.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• OPI Road House Blues (2 coats)
• Cult Nails Seduction (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Sasatinnie FCGL002

Dark purple jelly with red/ green flakes, blue/ purple glitter & silver shimmer. This is supposedly a dupe for OPI Merry Midnight and Orly Fowl Play. I don’t have either but I did find someone who did a comparison between the three. In my opinion, this looks identical to FP while having the sheerness of MM.

Sasatinnie (left) vs. Essie (right)

I have a love-hate relationship with the Sasatinnie brush. Although the shape and size allows me good control, the stem is too short and the cap too bulky for my liking. The bristles are also a little stiff and uneven in length.

As I mentioned, this is one sheer polish. When I decide to do a full mani, I’ll layer this over a base color instead. Still, it’s a good alternative for local ladies who want FP or MM at a cheaper price. I bought it at two for SGD $5 at Sasa together with another flakie.

Thanks for reading!

Polish sandwich:
• Michelle Base (1 coat)
• Sasatinnie FCGL002 (4 coats)

Purple Paradise

It was my birthday on Sunday and I decided to treat myself by breaking out my bottle of Nfu Oh 51. However, since it has a sheer purple jelly base, I painted it over another untried color, Michelle M32. M32 is a purple cream that is nowhere near to 51’s base color (more on that below). No matter, I think it turned out well!

Zoya Caitlin + Nubar 2010

When I first saw this combination here I knew I had to try it! I haven’t really experimented with 2010 since I got it. I only have one bottle and I’m afraid I’ll use it all up! This is the first time I’m using Caitlin as a mani, but I loved it on my toes last month and I wanted to use it again!

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.

OPI Who Needs A Prince? + Nubar 2010

I managed to get my hands on the Nubar 2010! It's very hard to find Nubar in Singapore, but I found a blogshop selling it for just S$12.50! I know the flakie layering craze started out last year with Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure; Nubar 2010 and Nfu Oh 38 create a very similar effect. Every nail blogger suddenly had either the Hidden Treasure or 2010. Or both. But the beautiful swatches made me green with envy because I would never find either. Or so I thought.

Nubar 2010 has a clear base with translucent flakes that flash red, orange, yellow and green. It looks absolutely gorgeous in the bottle! And it’s equally beautiful when layered over other colors. I haven’t tried it over many colors yet but I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to play over the next few months!