Polish Days: To Boldly Go

This month’s Polish Days theme is science fiction. I’m not much of a sci-fi fan, except for being a huge geek over Star Wars. I blame my brothers because they love the original trilogy (episodes IV, V and VI) and we used to watch all the reruns on TV.

Polish Days: The Number 5

Apologies for cutting it really close this month by posting this up now. I know being sick over the weekend isn’t a good excuse, but I nearly gave up on this manicure because I just couldn’t get it right. After three days and over half a dozen attempts, I’m glad to say I’m finally done.

Polish Days: 7 Deadly Sins

This month’s theme is the 7 deadly sins – envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath. I confess to having committed all of them before, some more than others. Instead of any specific sin, I was inspired to do a blood splatter. Because it was blood that washed my sins away.

Polish Days: Back to Nature

Where I live – near the equator – the weather can be simply labeled as either rainy or sunny. We don’t have four distinct seasons, but there are two monsoon seasons: December to March, and June to September.

My nails were inspired by the cloudy skies of the monsoon season. The blue and white show off a bright but cloudy day we often get during this month. It gets pretty windy too so I tried to make the clouds appear as though they were moving.

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)

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.

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.

OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu!

Collection: New York City Ballet (2012 Spring)

Sheer soft white jelly. The polish companies have been listening to us for the past year, fulfilling our many wants. But this collection – in my opinion – was a sleeper hit. When I saw the swatches, I knew I had to have the white!

If you prefer sheers, apply a coat or two and you’ll be done. But since I love jellies, three (or sometimes four) coats were perfect for me! I really love how soft this looks – white without the stark. The sheerness would also be great in jelly sandwiches.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu! (3 coats)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

Orly Au Champagne

Collection: Holiday Soireé (2011 Winter)

White shimmer with a satin finish. This is officially my first white polish as I’m sure some of you might know. I used it plenty of times in my EURO Series. The shimmer is there but not loud. If you’re looking for an affordable and easy-to-find white polish with delicate shimmer, you should really try this!

Although it has a satin finish, it doesn’t dry as fast a traditional matte polish. It’s very easy to apply and can be a two coater if done carefully. I’ve also taken pictures of this with a layer of top coat – it’s real pretty. It may not show the differences very well, but it’s definitely more sparkly.

Topped with Cult Nails Wicked Fast

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)

Happy 47th Singapore!

Singapore celebrates her birthday today! Over here, we always have a parade with lots of marching, performances and fireworks. The fireworks are a real treat as it’s illegal to set them here bar exceptions like these.

I knew that drawing stars and a crescent was out of my league so I didn’t try. I wanted a soft white (instead of stark) and a dark red (instead of bright) so it’s what I used. Then I spied Dorothy and just had to put her on my thumbs!

(Please ignore the retarded claw pose) Did you manage to see the holo? Thanks for looking and have a great National Day!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
Index / Middle
• OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu! (4 coats)
• Spectraflair Top Coat (2 coats)
• Cult Nails Wicked Fast (1 coat)
Ring / Little
• Essie Bordeaux (3 coats)
• Ozotic 518 (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)
Thumb
• Essie Bordeaux (2 coats)
• NYX Girls Dorothy(1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

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.

Euro 2012 England

I really like the classic white jersey. It’s timeless so I decided to use my new white jelly to create an elegant effect.

England’s home jersey is a very clean white with red accents. The stamp I used makes me think of a lions face – the team’s nickname is Three Lions (look closely at their crest).

I loved how this turned out despite my less-than-perfect stamping. The dots from the stamp didn't appear very well so I used a dotting tool to fill them in. It was raining when I took these shots so the two pictures above are under direct lamplight instead of sunlight.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu! (4 coats)
• China Glaze Thunderbird (RA-120) – ring finger
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Euro 2012 Russia

This one’s a simple design: red nails with the flag colors as an accent nail.

When I first saw Russia’s home jersey, I thought the diagonal strip was just white and blue. Only after closer inspection then I realized that it was tricolored.

The accent nail gave me a bit of trouble because I painted the blue as the base color. The red was too jelly-like; resulting in a maroon like shade. The white section became too thick as it needed three coats to become opaque.

Thanks for reading!

Polish peels:
• NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
• Essie First Dance (2 coats)
• Michelle M31 (2 coats) – ring finger
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats) – ring finger
• Essie First Dance (3 coats) – ring finger
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Euro 2012 Poland

Another red-white combination. It’s the easiest design in my opinion, so I decided to freehand the lines. The lines could be straighter and the red polish less thick – I guess I need more practice with the striper brush.

Poland is one of the two co-hosts this year. Their home jersey is rather simple and leaves me uninspired.

I really hope you guys haven’t been bored looking at the same polishes in the last few posts. As I mentioned earlier, I only have one white polish. I do love the shimmer and the fast drying time, it’s great! I’ll do a proper post on it in the future!

Thanks for reading!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)
• Essie First Dance (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Euro 2012 Croatia

Checkered patterns! This is another one of my first attempts and I think I’m starting to get better at these tape manicures!

This is Croatia’s home jersey. I actually don’t like the red-white and blue-white color schemes on clothes. It looks a tablecloth or picnic mat!

I do love looking at them on nails though! I know it’s possible to do more squares but I like the symmetry of just four squares.

Thanks for looking!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)
• Essie First Dance (1 coat)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Euro 2012 Denmark

This is my first time trying a ruffian manicure. I think I did a decent job as the lines are pretty clean. The bald spots were more of an application error than a problem with the polish itself.

Denmark is the other team that didn’t survive the group of death (together with The Netherlands). I think the matte/shiny stripes on the home jersey look rather cool. I don’t have matte/shiny stripes (a good idea to try in the future) but I have the non-matte version of my manicure.

These pictures were taken before the matte top coat was applied. The white polish used dries into a satin finish which is clearly different from the shiny finish of the red polish. The different finishes are definitely more obvious in real life!

Thanks for reading!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)
• Essie First Dance (2 coats)
• China Glaze Matte Magic Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.

Euro 2012 Portugal

Are you a football fan? If you’re not, I hope you’re bear with me during this period of Euro madness!

This is Portugal’s away jersey. It’s definitely one the more weird unique jerseys in this year’s competition. Since I’ve brought up this country, no, I’m not a Cristiano Ronaldo fan. I prefer Lionel Messi ;)

I used striping tape and scotch tape to create the lines. I know the lines are not perfect but I’m rather happy with the results. I would say that it’s an improvement over my previous tape mani here.

Thanks for reading!

Polish peels:
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
• Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)
• OPI Jade Is The New Black (1 coat) – index & middle fingers
• Essie First Dance (1 coat) – ring & little fingers
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (1 coat)

All jerseys featured are for illustrative purposes only.