Daiso Rainbow Holographic Polishes

So this is the first of my holographic polish series! I've been in a holo craze ever since I laid my eyes in OPI My Private Jet (original holo version), which I sadly do not own and I've been looking for as many holo babies as I can find (and afford) to fill up that void. HAHA!

Managed to track down 4 holographic polishes from Daiso at the IMM branch. The Ion and Eastpoint branches always only have the same 2 boring shades. I was so happy when I saw these 4 babies!









Took these first 4 pictures under my table lamp. Do you see how the silver holographic one has this pink sheen, especially in the forth picture?

The next series of pictures were taken next to my window in indirect sunlight.











End of picture spam! As with all the pictures on this blog, click to enlarge them!

I wore 2 coats of all 4 polishes in all the pictures but they were a little sheer so 3 coats would be better. Even though the bottles are really small (5ml each), they're only $2 and I will probably never finish any of my polishes so size should not matter! :D

I think the charcoal one is more holographic than my dud version of CC Revvvolution! For $2, it ain't bad at all! Perhaps I should have bought a couple more to mix with my other polishes and franken up more holo babies!

Today's the last day of January! How has 2012 been treating you so far? I hope that it's better than 2011!

Here's Your Chance To Win an Ozotic Polish!

Legiolinde is having a giveaway and it's open internationally! She's giving away a bottle of Ozotic nail polish and the best thing is you can choose what colour you want, so click on this link to take part in the giveaway too! (:

OPI Japanese Collection Nudes

This is the last post for the nude polishes series. That said, I'm so happy to say that I finally own all three of the nude polishes from the OPI Japanese Collection from 2005!

For these swatches, I used Nailtek Foundation II which dried matte and cloudy, which totally made swatching these nude babies MUCH easier! I used to have to do almost 4 coats for Miso Happy With This Color but I only had to do 2 coats here.

L - R: Have a Tempura Tantrum, Let Them Eat Rice Cake and Miso Happy With This Color (1 coat each)



This was one coat each and as you can see from the picture below, Nailtek dried a bit tacky and it caused the first coat of polish to dry a bit matte and rougher than usual.



L - R: Have a Tempura Tantrum, Let Them Eat Rice Cake and Miso Happy With This Color (2 coats each)



And here's a shot that's not so zoomed in so you can see the colors on my skintone. Top to bottom: Miso Happy, Rice Cake and Tempura.



I'm actually pretty surprised all three of them look decent on my skintone! YAY! More nude polishes for work! (:

More Nude Polishes!

Went through a nude polish phase a few monthsback because I'll be spamming nude polishes once I start work later this year. Bought a couple of them from timtam because she was having a Christmas promo! The newer OPIs were going for $10 while the older (and rarer) polishes were selling for $12.



L-R: Miso Happy With this Color, Coney Island Cotton Candy, Samoan Sand and Have a Tempura Tantrum

I already had Miso Happy but when I saw Tempura Tantrum, I knew I had to have it! I also just ordered Let Them Have Rice Cake so I'll own all three of the pinks from the Japanese Collection!



L-R: Miso Happy With this Color, Coney Island Cotton Candy, Samoan Sand and Have a Tempura Tantrum. 3 coats each!

I don't really think Miso Happy suits my skin tone so hopefully Let Them Eat Rice Cake will be better! I'll do a comparison of the three pinks when I get Rice Cake!

Joint Giveaway Results

The results are out and

 

*drum roll please*

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

CONGRATS dooey89 on winning Lynn's and my joint giveaway! :D We've just emailed you so please reply within 24 hours to claim your prize!

For those who didn't win, fret not! There'll be more giveaways in the future!

Ten Fingers, Ten Nude Shades

First of all, I'd just to to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year! I live in Singapore and most of us celebrate this day so if you are celebrating it too, GONG XI FA CAI! (:

This week, I'm going to show you some nude polishes, and next week, I'll show you some holographic ones! I've actually had quite a few posts done up in anticipation of my busy school semester so at least I can still concentrate on my studies while keeping this blog updated. Gonna finish posting my nude and holo posts before moving on to showing you my normal manicures again. Also, since I won't be painting my nails as often as I did when I was doing the 31 Day Challenge, I'll probably go back to posting at most 3 times a week.

I actually did this swatch a really really long time ago but after transfering the images from my camera to my hard disc, I totally forgot about them until I was looking through the pictures in my hard disc and realised I haven't blogged about these 10 differennt nude shades yet!

Like I said, these pictures were taken a long time ago so I'll try to recall the colours as best as I can. Hopefully I'll name them correctly!

 I'll try my best to recall the names!


From pinkie to thumb: Essie Jazz, Essie Sand Tropez, OPI Tickle My France-y, Etude House BR307 and Tony Moly TR07. They should all be 2 coats here if I remember right. These are the cooler nude shades from my stash.



From thumb to pinkie: OPI Dulce de Leche, OPI Miso Happy With This Color, Rimmel Barely There, OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square, OPI Barefoot in Barcelona. 2 coats each, except Miso, which should probably be 3-4 coats! These are the warmer nudes.

I definitely have more nude shades but these few are the better ones! I'm starting to invest in more nudes, just bought myself OPI Samoan Sand, Coney Island Cotton Candy, Let Them Eat Rice Cake, Have a Tempura Tentrum and Essie Topless and Barefoot. I'm preparing my Helmer for the boring nail colours days that are soon approaching (this coming August)!

I think out of the 10 nudes, I really like OPI Barefoot in Barcelona the best. Weird thing is, I've never worn it before! This is what happens when you have a Helmer full of polishes but only 10 fingers! Do you have a favourite nude shade? If so, please share what is it! (:
A

December's Haul

December's haul was so epic I had to split the entire haul up to take photos. I actually paid for most of the polish you're about to see in October/November but the polishes only arrived in December which is why they're featured in this month's haul. So technically, I wasn't THAT naughty in December!

This first set of pictures are of the polishes I collected from Cheeying from Inkypolisholicious and from Susan. I wasn't able to meet up with Susan to get my polishes but she was meeting up with Cheeying anyway and I too was going to meet Cheeying during the weekend, so she was kind enough to help me collect my polishes from Susan and passed me all my polishes! Thanks Cheeying, if you're reading this!!



December's Haul: Batch 1. This batch consisted of the Cult Nails polishes, Nfu Oh polishes and mini franken bottles the Yings helped me to order, and the RBLs and piCture pOlish Festival that I bought from Susan!

Don't worry, I got some close up shots for you! (:



Love how the Cult Nails bottles came wrapped up in brown paper with their names on the sticker! Doesn't the packaging look so chic? It really makes the packaging look so much more personal, showing how every bottle was individually wrapped by hand, with love!



Here they are unwrapped! The order's opposite from the above picture (i.e. L-R: Wicked Fast to Clairvoyant).



RBL BiBs! These were the RBLs that got shipped to Singapore first because they were from an earlier batch of BiBs. BUT, not all four are mine. One of them is actually for the giveaway that Lynn and I are going to have! We have yet to discuss the details but we should be doing the giveaway very very soon so do look out for it! And for now, I shall keep you in suspense as to which colour we'll be giving away! (:

Susan sent me the remainding two RBLs when they arrived and here they are!



These two Catherines are all mine! They're so pretty!



FLAKIES GALORE! Here are the two Nfu Ohs the Yings helped me to get and piCture pOlish Festival which I purchased from Susan! The Yings aren't really selling polishes, I just tagged along with their Nfu Oh order but Susan is selling piCture pOlish as well as Ozotic Pro polishes so if you're interested, head down over to her blog for more details!



Festival is a gorgeous multicoloured flakie in a clear base which makes it VERY interesting! Here is it next to Clairvoyant, which is also a multicoloured flakie, except it had a darker base!



You can see the flakies better from this angle! Aren't they so purdy? (: And if you're curious how they compare on the nail, Susan did a good comparison post between Clairvoyant, Festival and Nubar 2010, so do check it out!




Here, we have the Starbites pigment I bought from TKB Trading. They make really nice glass fleck duochrome topcoats when put into clear polish! You can check swatches out here, here and here! I've made my glass fleck top coats already and you only need a little pigment for a 5ml bottle and I have plenty left so if you're interested, drop me a comment and I can make and sell you a bottle! (:



And I ordered another 20 mini fraken bottles! I've already used up 17 bottles from my previous batch of 20 mini bottles I ordered a couple months back so I needed to restock my frankening supplies! I somehow don't remember using 17 bottles! WEIRD!!!



December's Haul: Batch 2. These polishes are the ones Janelle helped to buy from the US and mailed it over to me! She was very patient with all my orders because I was collating orders from 4 other gals and she also included some extras for me because she was busy with school and had to delay sending the polishes out! She was way too kind and I'm going to repay the favour when she send me the list of polish she wants from over here! (:

Top row: Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, MAC Blue India (!!!!!!I FINALLY OWN THIS BABY!!!!!), Sally Hasen Gray by Gray, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal, NOPI Green Up Your Act and Color Club Artsy Crafty

Bottom row: Color Club Bojo Mojo, Manglaze Matte is Murder (these were the two extra bottles Janelle got for me!), Revlon Perplex, Orly Fowl Play and OPI Nantucket Mist

Really happy with this US haul because I got to satisfy so many of my lemmings. I finally own Blue India! It's been on my wishlist since the second month of my addiction and when I saw it on eBay for a reasonable price, I jumped at the opportunity! I also managed to get Perplex, which is a well know dupe for Chanel Paradoxal, which I also have but who can resist such a good dupe? Certainly not me. I also got a backup bottle of Fowl Play and Nantucket Mist. Sadly, I overpaid for Fowl Play, Nantucket Mist and Artsy Crafty but considering Janelle threw in Bojo Mojo and Matte is Murder, I'm still a very happy kid! (:



December's Haul: Batch 3. Collected some of these polishes from Candy and bought the rest during my outing with Lynn and Candy. Oh, and some were Christmas gifts from the very very very generous Candy too! I tell you, shopping with two fellow polish addicts is very damaging to your wallet! HAHA, this batch contained so many polishes I had to take a vertical shot! D:

Let's go to close ups shall we? (:



L-R: Essie Size Matters (What a fabulous name! HAHA!!), Topless and Barefoot, Color Club Fashion Addict and Worth the Risque (THEY BOTH ARE THE FRIGGIN STUD HOLO VERSIONS!)



Nameless Beadstreet polishes again! I friggin love Beadstreet polishes because they're of a very good quality for the price you pay! And since they are nameless, I shall exercise my super creative (read: lame) brain power. L-R: 3 bottles of clear which I'm not gonna bother naming, Yellow Yellow Dirty Fellow, Orange You Glad I'm Only $2 and Night Sky. And yes, I'm VERY happy they only cost $2 per bottle!



L-R: Color Club Magic Attraction, Art Club Glitter Hologram and Gold Hologram



Took a blurry picture just to show you how holo these three polishes are! :D



Finally bought myself some proper yellows! I was doing my nail wheels and got so pissed off at having to paint 5 coats of cheap yellow polish to get it opaque! L-R: China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Happy Go Lucky, Refresh Mint and Essence Lime Up!



And lastly, Essie Smooth Sailing, Orly Sapphire Silk and Pixie Dust!

Okay, as you can see, I'm pretty much broke and need to eat grass for the next two months so I can afford to buy the gorgeous polishes coming out in 2012! I'm praying my addiction will improve in the New Year! HAHAHA! That shall be my New Year's Resolution! TO BUY LESS POLISH! :D



(L-R: Elianto White, Twilight, Perisian Indigo, Night Glitters, Etude House BL505 and OR207)

December's Haul: Batch 4. These were the polishes I bought during my one day trip to JB. I was searching extensively for Elianto and when I finally spotted it, I squealed! Got myself a back up of their black and white polishes because I love how creamy and opaque they are, and I also got two more polishes from their Sparkling Diva range. Etude House was ahaving a 30% off for their polishes so I grabbed a multichrome blue and a dusty salmon/coral colour. Really Happy with the coral colour because I've been having a tough time finding a coral I like and this one is so pwetty!



(L-R: Extra Strength Lacquer Remover, Emerald City, Sacred Ground and Twisted Vine)


December's Haul: Batch 5. These were from the SpaRitual nail class I went to with two of my friends as well as Cheryl! Emerald City came with my goodie bag, along with a buffing block, zebra file and samples of their Handprint Hand Serum and Hydrating Hand Salve (which are not in the picture above). As for the rest, the course fee of $38 was fully redeemable for products and I chose to redeem the lacquer remover, Sacred Ground and Twisted Vine.

MAC Blue India and Comparisons

OH YES, YOU READ RIGHT. MAC FRIGGIN BLUE INDIA. And this didn't even cost me as much as I thought it would so double yay! (:

A few weeks back, Candy sent me an email requesting for a comparison swatch between Sally Hansen Gray by Gray, MAC Blue India and Essie Bobbing for Baubles, and I decided since I'm gonna swatch my precious, I might as well throw in some similar shades too.



L-R: Tony Moly Indian Blue, Sally Hansen Gray by Gray, Blue My Mind (my own franken), Mac Blue India and Essie Bobbing for Baubles



The closest of the five are Gray by Gray and Blue My Mind.The latter is a tad greener though. Just a tad.
Gonna show you individual swatches first before the comparison.



This is Tony Moly Indian Blue. I'm not even lying about the name. On the bottle, it only says TR11 but when I checked my receipt, I saw the name Indian Blue. I mean seriously? Come up with a more original name! Two coats here. I love Tony Moly's formula. Real nice and buttery to apply. They just glide on!



Sally Hansen Gray by Gray. I wanted this the moment I saw it on ALU, being compared to Blue India. Sadly, my bottle had swirls in it, like the pigments weren't blended together. And it caused streaks when I painted it on my nail. Grey streaks. It isn't that obvious but close up, OMG, the horror! I'm cringing! Colour-wise though, lovely colour. The tappered brush is similar to Rimmel's brush and it does miraculously help me to paint neater. Wearing two coats here.



My gorgeous franken Blue My Mind. See how much more original my franken's name is than Indian Blue! This baby's formula is great, applies like butter, isn't too thick and best thing ever? It's a one coater.



The star of the show, or rather, post, MAC Blue India! This was two coats but I have a teeny tiny bald spot so maybe three coats would have been better. I'd still wear two coats though, probably with a ridge filler below to make it apply more opaque. This one had the jelly-est consistency of the bunch.



Essie Bobbing for Baubles. Deep blue polish that applied well with 2 coats. Very hot colour! I'm waiting to get Essie's Luxeffects and layer them on this baby! I must save up because Smoochiezz will be having a booth at Jurong Point when school reopens so I NEED TO SAVE MONEYYYYY!



Thumb to pinkie: Indian Blue, Gray by Gray, Blue My Mind, Blue India and Bobbing for Baubles.



Same order but from a slightly different angle. The colour is slightly more accurate here.



These three are so close to each other. Gray by Gray, Blue My Mind and Blue India. So so close. Which means my franken was pretty darn close! :D

Blue My Mind is greener than Blue India and Gray by Gray is greyer. Blue India is, well, bluer than the two, so technically, no dupes here but for all normal-people-who-are-not-polish-addicts purposes, you don't need all of them.

I got my Blue India on ebay and Gray by Gray from the US, just in case you're wondering.
Okay, going on my one week break now! See you!

31 Day Challenge: Day 31 (Re-create Your Favourite Challenge)

WOW, last day of the challenge! Can''t believe I actually managed to finish the challenge although I took a total of 76 days.

For this last challenge, I had to re0create my favourite look and I really liked Day 15: Delicate Print. I really liked the lacey look and wanted to try another similar look, this time with konad.

The inspiration for this manicure came from here and mine is so much messier but I couldn't wait to finish the challenge so I didn't restamp my nails even though some of the lines were blurry.

First, I painted Essie Jazz then stamped on a fishnet design using konad plate m57.



Totally hating myself for not doing a better job on my index finger and pinkie.

Next, I stamped on what I call the "toilet paper" design using konad plat m71.



There you go, lacey nails in a snap. So much faster than the crazily intricate lace design I drew on my nail wheel for Day 15!

Polish used:
- Essie Jazz
- Elianto Twilight

YESYESYES! I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS 31 DAY CHALLENGE! I'm so happy and not to mention tired from painting my nails almost every night. I'm totally going on a one week break after I post the next entry I have lined up, as a promise to a friend!