Euro 2012 Ireland

A green holographic tape mani – a combination of the different things I love! The picture above is too blue though, those in direct sunlight below are more color accurate.

Ireland's home kit is the one and only that has no white, red, or blue. I love the grass green color, it's so rarely seen in jerseys. The huge sponsor in the middle does ruin it though.

Surprisingly, I found that I have very little rich greens in my collection. In fact, these are my only two! They complement each other rather well in the shade but I love how it changes in the sun when the holo takes all the attention in the last picture.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• OPI Jade Is The New Black (2 coats)
• Nubar Reclaim – middle & ring fingers(1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Nubar Indigo Illusion

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year! I wanted to post this up two days ago but did not manage to. This is not my current manicure though, I have a red jelly sandwich on my nails. I'll try to post that one up by next week! In the meantime, here's an awesome duochrome!

Blue-green base with pink/ purple/ gold duochrome shimmer. This shade really reminds me why I love duochromes! I kept staring at my nails while I had it on; the color shift is very pretty!

The formula gave me no problems except for the slight brushstrokes. The brush was easy to control so that wasn’t a big deal. I noticed a few bald spots after my nails dried, but I think that was an application issue on my part.

Nubar Reclaim

Collection: Going Green (2009 Summer)

Grass green holographic. This is a much loved shade from Nubar as it’s every green lover’s dream. Usually green holos are light silver-green but this is far from it. I really love how rich this color is!

Thanks for reading!

Polish sandwich:
• Michelle Base (1 coat)
• Nubar Reclaim (2 coats)

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 Gem

Collection: Prism (2010 Spring)

Grey base with pink iridescence and holographic glitter. This is quite the tricky thing to capture on camera. The photo above shows the greyish base clearly but it doesn’t look like that on my nails at all. The pink flash is very strong in real life and consistently appears in all lightings. I wish the pictures had turned out better because Gem is such a beautiful and unique polish.

Gem is on the sheer side and required three coats for full coverage. The formula was pretty easy to work with, very thin and easy to control. The glitter gives it a gritty feel so be sure to use a top coat for a smooth finish and extra shine.

And here's a blurred picture to show the holo glitter! Feel free to click on the pictures if they’re too small. Thanks for reading!

Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Nubar Gem (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Nubar Spark

Collection: Prism (2010 Spring)

Warm holographic tan. I've been hit by the holographic bug recently and have been keeping a lookout for more to try. I really like the idea of a holographic nude. Though nude polishes are safe and understated, holographics can be rather loud and stunning. So a combination of both seems rather like an oxymoron.

In terms of holographic goodness, I would say this is between Revvvolution and Worth The Risque (at least my bottles of them). The base color is rather tan and has a brownish cast to it. In the shade, its very work appropriate but still noticeable; I got complements when I wore this to a wedding over the weekend. But as with all holographics, the best part is when the sun came out.

The formula is on the sheer side so I did three thin coats. Each thin layer dries quickly so there was hardly any wait time. In short, the application was a breeze. However, I got quite a bit of tip wear within two days, so a top coat should make it last longer. Feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them! Thanks for looking!

Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Nubar Spark (3 coats)

Hogwarts School Tie

After seeing all the Harry Potter inspired manicures on the MUA NB (MakeupAlley Nail Board), I wanted to do something similar to commemorate the last HP film too. I haven't watched the movie and I'm not sure if I'll watch it. In fact, The Order of The Phoenix is the only one I've watched in the cinema. But I have read all the books and have decided to watch all the previous seven movies at home.

This design is rather simple and I used very thin tape to create the stripes. I think it can also be done with a striper brush. It's my first time trying a tape mani so please pardon me for the messy lines. This idea was inspired by the Hogwarts School tie and I wanted to have each house represented on a different finger. Can you guess which house is on which finger?

I did a lightning bolt on my thumb, though it doesn't really look like it. This design was learned from Nailside, who does awesome tape manicures and has tutorials on how to replicate them.

Polish sandwich:
Index
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• OPI Dating A Royal (3 coats)
• OPI DS Glow (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
Middle
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• OPI Jade Is The New Black (2 coats)
• Color Club Worth The Risque (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
Ring
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Essie Bordeaux (2 coats)
• Couleur Inc Dazzle (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
Little
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• China Glaze Lemon Fizz (2 coats)
• Color Club Revvvolution (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
Thumb
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• China Glaze Ingrid (2 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
• Nubar Gem (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

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!