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.

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)

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)

Polish Us Pink – OPI DS Elegance

Collection: Designer Series (2006 Spring)

Rose pink holographic. October is the month well-known for Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA). Susan from The Subtle Shimmer and a few other decided to come together to do BCA posts during this month and opened it up to other bloggers to join them.

BCA is something close to my heart: my mother had a lump found in her breast 13 years ago. Thankfully, with early detection, the lump was safely removed. I don’t remember it too well as I was still young, but the fear and worry left an impression on me that lingers even today.

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

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.

Rainbow 02

Medium pink holographic. Since I was only bitten by the holographic bug this year, I missed out many great polishes that are now discontinued and hard-to-find (HTF). But this is not one of those at all. It’s from Daiso and is $2 for 5ml. It might not seem like a lot but it’s still cheaper per ml compared to China Glaze, Color Club or OPI.

The formula gave me no problems and it dries rather shiny. I added Seche Vite on my other fingers and I’m happy to report that it didn’t dull the holo.

I’m not usually into pink but I’d take a pink holographic over a cream any day. I will definitely be buying backups of this because the bottle is so small I’ll probably finish it in five manicures. Plus, it’s affordable.

Thanks for looking!

Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Rainbow 02 (2 coats)

Fairy Wings

As mentioned in my previous post, I have two more Elianto polishes to show you. But before that, I wanted to show you how Elianto Lilac would look layered over another color. In my swatch post, I pointed out that Lilac is very sheer even at four coats. So I tried it over a beige cream.

This looks like off-white with light pink glitter in both direct and indirect sunlight (as in see the two photos above). But that is misleading as it hardly appears like that in real life.

While the particles in Lilac are a mixture of pink and gold, the pink appears more strongly because of the sheer lilac base. I can usually see the pink glow whenever any light hits my nails but my camera can’t seem to capture that properly. The glitter should be brighter and more vibrant than the picture above.

Elianto Shimmer Pink

Collection: Sparkling Diva

Pink jelly with silver micro-glitter. The color is true to the picture above. When I first bought this, I liked it quite a lot. I think that was when I was just starting to discover nail bloggers. But I now realize that it’s not unique at all, though it is very pretty to look at.

The jelly provides a good base for the glitter to suspend in, but it is too sheer to provide the depth that the darker colors (from the same collection) have. Despite the amount of glitter seen, it dries to a smooth and shiny finish.

Thanks for looking!

Polish sandwich:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Elianto Shimmer Pink (3 coats)

OPI Sparrow Me The Drama

Collection: Pirates of The Caribbean (2011 Spring)

Purplish pink cream with a dusty tone. I knew I had to get this one the moment I saw the name because I love Jack Sparrow (ahem, Johnny Depp). It also has the distinction of being the first pink cream that I ever paid for. I have nothing against pinks but other colors were always more interesting to me.

But this, this is an interesting pink. The purple tint makes this cool toned and the dustiness gives a certain maturity to it. It’s a pink that compliments my skin tone and doesn’t make it look like I’m trying to be 13 again. Also note how it looks almost purple in the shade.

It doesn’t dry very shiny as shown in my pictures so I recommend a top coat. And a base coat as it stains a little. While the watery formula provided good coverage, it was full of drama. The first coat goes on as smooth as butter but the second coat ruins it every single time. I didn't know what was I doing wrong (and I still don't)! After three frustrated attempts, I gave in and added some thinner which solved everything.

Polish sandwich:
• OPI Sparrow Me The Drama (2 coats)