31 Day Challenge: Day 16 (Tribal)

I was wearing Chanel Blue Boy and Blue Rebel a few months ago and when I had them on, I decided to do some nail art.I hope you guys won't stone me for using a $2 Daiso white nail art polish to paint over my Chanel nails but I couldn't resist doing a tribal pattern! I kinda knew back then that I already wanted to do this challenge so I kept this mani for Day 16!

The lines weren't as clean as I hoped for but this is rather close up so it looks less messy irl! The design was done during my school term so that's how long ago it was drawn and since then, I'd like to think my hand has gotten more steady, so I attempted some more tribal designs on my nail wheel.

I think painting with a thin stripping brush really helped with keeping the lines clean and my stripping brush is actually from a Daiso glitter polish. I replaced the brush of that polish with another spare brush and have been using the stripping brush for thin lines ever since! Really like the brush so I think I better get a back up soon.
Glitter challenge is next!

Chanel vs Nubar Smackdown

Received my Nubar Jeans polishes almost a month ago and I couldn't wait to compare them to the Chanel Les Jeans one.



From thumb to pinkie: Nubar Faded Jeans, Nubar Boyfriend Jeans, Chanel Blue Boy, Nubar Dark Wash Jeans and Chanel Blue Rebel

OH MAN. I feel like kicking myself for cracking and getting the two Chanels. The Nubars are so so so so so close and I dare say they even apply better because of the wider brush. Between Boy Blue and Boyfriend Jeans, Boyfriend Jeans seems a little more saturated while Blue Boy looks just a teeny bit more dusty. Between Dark Wash Jeans and Blue Rebel, again, the Nubar seems more saturated and the Chanel dustier, but the difference between these two are slightly more obvious than the previous pair. I didn't get Coco Blue but judging from how close the other 2 Nubars are, I'm guessing  Faded Jeans ought to be close enough to Chanel to call this collection a good smackdown!

Nubar wins for being easier to paint as well as being more affordable!

October's Haul

There's still a couple more days left in October but since I'm on my polish ban (apparently until Christmas or so, although I'm already starting to crack),  I don't think I'll buy anymore polishes in the next few days. Maybe when November approaches...hehe, my birthday's coming up soon so maybe, just maybe, I can get away will another haul. EXCUSES, I know, but I need to be cheered up among all the studying I have to do!

Now, I bombed ALOT this month and I bought so many polishes, that the normal "background" I use to take my pictures, which if you are interested to know, is the cardboard backing of my foolscap pad, wasn't large enough so I had to resort to using the cover of one of my Ikea boxes to take the next few pictures. LOL!

Presenting, the haul that put a big fat hole in my wallet...



Really really really, my savings this month is abysmal. I only manged to save a couple of bucks. I am so thankful I'm only hooked on nail polish and not other forms of makeup as well. Phew. To be totally honest, I got 3 more polishes but because I already spent so much in October, I pushed to to November's Haul! HAHA! Earnings (or rather, expenses) management.

Gonna show you close ups with names now..



Chanel Blue Rebel, Chanel Blue Boy, OPI DS Glamour, OPI Last Friday Night and Elianto Indigo Shine



Elianto Glittery Nickel, Beadstreet Barney's Suit (there are no names so I shall christian them! HAHA! Love how Barney, from HIMYM loves suits but this is obviously for Barney, the purple dinosaur), China Glaze Snow Globe, China Glaze Atlantis and Essie Bobbing for Baubles



Essie School of Hard Rocks, Beadstreet Enlistment (again, it's my own name for it), OPI Warm and Fozzie, Elianto White, Beadstreet Brick It Up and Beadstreet You Mustard! (HAHA! I love my corny names for the Beadstreet polishes!)



And lastly, four bottles of Sasatinnie Q10. I first saw swatches of them on a nail blog by someone who lives in HK so she had easy access to Sasa and I didn't think our local Sasa would ever bring them in but when I was there a few weeks ago and I saw these babies, I went ballistic. I bought four bottles in total, two for me, one for my (future) giveaway and I only got the last one because it was retailing at two for $5 so I might as well get four. From swatches I've seen, it's a good substitute for OPI Merry Midnight so go grab it if you want Merry Midnight and don't want to buy Orly Fowl Play. It's so cheap so just BBBMTL (Buy Buy Buy, Mai Tu Liao, which loosely translates to Buy Buy Buy, don't wait any longer / procastinate)!

Okay, end of haul. I'm gonna start planning November's Haul now! I already have 10 items on my to-buy list! :D

Chanel Les Jeans Collection

I headed down to MBS just the other night to finally catch Lion King before it ends (the show was really good btw so if you haven't seen it, go watch it before it ends on 30 Oct) and I was early so I went to Chanel to have a look. I've already seen the Les Jeans polishes when I was at Ion and I resisted the urge to buy them because my polish sister, S, decided not to get them. I liked Blue Boy but I didn't feel the impending need to have it so I passed too. Both of us were trying to save our money for better stuff!

BUT, when I was at the Chanel boutique at MBS, I showed my dad the polishes and asked him if I should get them and he said "Just buy lorh, they're limited edition right! Buy before them they're gone!" Haha, my dad is evil and that was just what I needed to hear to convince me to whip out my nets card!

I decided to get Blue Boy and Blue Rebel and I also got a bottle of Blue Boy for S because I knew she'd love it. The SA told me I was so lucky because those were the last two bottles of Blue Boy she had! I didn't get Coco Blue because the light blue shimmery shade just didn't call out my name. I love Nouvelle Vague (and unfortunately, when I learnt about its existence, it was already sold out across our island) and anything that is close but isn't Nouvelle Vague just won't cut it. I was rather on the fence on Blue Rebel because it just looked like your average dark blue and I already have China Glaze First Mate which I reckoned would be close but hey, limited edition right!



Here I have Blue Rebel on my index and middle fingers and Blue Boy on my ringer finger and pinkie.

I had a fracking hard time trying to accurately capture the colour of these two shades because my camera decided to go all wonky on me and none of the pictures I took even looked similar to the real colour so I had to resort to photoshop to correct the colours. Blue Rebel is a little less dusty and much more vibrant than in the picture, and Blue Boy is a teeny bit darker. They're both really shiny (unlike how matte they look like in the picture) and I used 2 coats for both. Blue Boy does look a little sheer and might have benefited from a third coat cuz right now, it looks like a jelly on my nail! Reminds me of Essie Lapis of Luuxry's finish!



This isn't the best comparison but here's First Mate on the top of my thumb and OPI Road House Blues at the bottom. Blue Rebel is close to First Mate and most people won't be able to tell them apart but First Mate is a little bit brighter than Blue Rebel. Road House Blues is just too dark and purple!



As for Blue Boy the closest thing I got was the Blue India franken I made (bottom of my thumb) but it was more warm while Blue Boy appeared cooler. Blue Boy does remind me of Blue India when I receive my bottle, I'd gladly do a comparison!

MAC Fatigues Comparison

MAC Fatigues was one of my first two MAC polishes that I recently got and I've been very into the whole military trend so Fatigues was really a die-die-must-buy polish for me, even though a couple of my friends (who are fully aware of my entire stash) advised me to just get Deep Sea. Knowing that I already had a couple of military green polishes, I bought Fatigues and prayed I wouldn't have any duped for it!
L-R: MAC Fatigues, Essie Sew Psyched, Chanel Khaki Vert, OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window and China Glaze Westside Warrior. Without flash.



L-R: MAC Fatigues, Essie Sew Psyched, Chanel Khaki Vert, OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window and China Glaze Westside Warrior. With flash.



Same order, from thumb to pinkie, without flash. I used 2 coats for all of them but Fatigues could have used a third coat. Fatigues was also the greyest of the bunch.

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Same order, with flash.



So to conclude, NO DUPES HERE! I was actually thinking of getting Zoya Dree but after swatching all 5 of these polishes, I think I have enough military green polishes for now!

Idolising Lapis and Sapphire

Decided to rock some blue nails and I dug out LA Girl Color Addict Idol, Essie Lapis of Luxury and of course, my new favourite bling bling polish, DS Sapphire!

I have two coats of Idol and three coats of Lapis of Luxury with one thin coat of DS Sapphire on top on my accent ring finger. Took this picture under my table lamp.



And this one was taken in sunlight!



Absolutely in love with the olive-gold shimmer in Idol! And well, the idea of layering DS Sapphire over Lapis of Luxury wasn't exactly my idea. The moment I saw it on Fashion Polish and Spaz & Squee, I knew I had to try it for myself!

YAY! In love with this accent combi! By the way, since I'm talking about blue polish, have you seen Chanel's Les Jeans de Chanel Collection pictures yet? I have my eye on Blue Boy!




Pictures taken from temtaplia!

OPI Touring America

No, I didn't buy (or rather I haven't bought) any of the Touring America polishes yet with the exception of Uh Oh Roll Down the Window (which I have yet to receive) but I mamnaged to swatch a couple of them the other day when I was at Robinsons! I had to grow some balls to blatantly swatch all 5 of my fingers but I did it and not to brag but I think I did a pretty neat job too, considereing the fact that I was shaking (from being hungry as well as being a little paiseh) while polishing my digits!



L-R: Are We There Yet?, A Taupe Space Needle, Uh Oh Roll Down the Window and Road House Blues



And here we have Get in the Expresso Lane

When I went home, I went through my Helmer to search for dupes cuz we all know how much we love dupes (or at least I do)!



Potential dupes!!!



Road House Blue and China Glaze First mate but I think Road House Blues has much more purple to it so I pulled out OPI Dating a Royal.



Dating a Royal looks similar to First Mate in this picture but trust me they're not the same! Dating a Royal was too light though.



Now we have Essie Sew Psyched vs Uh Oh Roll Down the Window.



And here we have Khaki Vert vs Uh Oh Roll Down the Window. I was deperately trying to find comparison shots on google but I couldn't so I thought I'd find out myself!



Khaki Brun and A Taupe Space Needle, which I saw high potential dupe material.



Are We There Yet? vs Milani Fashion Design.

And then I painted on the potential dupes on the side(s) of the Touring America swatches! (PS: You can click on all the pictures to enlarge them, especially for the following two!) The order for the below picture is as follows:

Pinkie: China Glaze First Mate and Road House Blues
Ring: Khaki Vert, Uh Oh Roll Down the Window and Sew Psyched
Middle: Khaki Brun and A Taupe Space Needle
Index: Are We There Yet? and Fashion Design



Orders are reversed for the next picture! Please ignore the dust on my pinkie.



Sadly, no dupes at all. Fashion Design was pinker than Are We There Yet?, Khaki Brun is VERY similar to A Taupe Space Needle just that Khaki Brun was browner than A Taupe Space Needle, Sew Psyched and Khaki Vert were bluer than Uh Oh with Sew Psyched being the darker of the two and First Mate was too light.

They're all gorgeous colours too so please go out and get them cuz NO DUPES here!

Chanel Paradoxal vs Essie Smokin' Hot: Take 2

Wasn't exactly happy with my first comparison post because I knicked one of my nails and god, it looked ugly. I'm wearing Paradoxal now and I thought I might as well remove the colour on one nail to do this comparison. Take 2.



On my index finger is Essie Smokin' Hot and I have paradoxal on all the other nails. Here, you can see that Smokin' Hot looks more like a blurple (kind reminds me of OPI Sapphire in the Snow from the swatches I've seen online) while Paradoxal reminds me of eggplant. =/ And of course, Paradoxal has that shimmer to it that Smokin' Hot doesn't.



This picture is for comparing the base colour. I guess depending on the angle you look from, the two can appear to be similar in colour, especially when the polish ain't getting much light.



Close up of the two so you can see the shimmer of Paradoxal vs the creme finish of Smokin Hot.

Honestly, I kinda prefer Smokin' Hot in terms of colour. It's just a tiny bit darker and it really makes a world of a difference. It looks so much more dark and mysterious.

All pictures were taken with flash because my table lamp bulb blew and the Courts are Jurong Point doesn't sell light bulbs! (WTHBBQPORKCHOP, like seriously?!) I used 2 coats for Paradoxal (no top coat) and 4 coats for Smokin' Hot (with Poshe top coat). And before any of you go "FOUR COATS?!", don't freak out yet. it only needed 2 but I knicked my nail so I painted on the 3rd coat. And then I knicked it AGAIN so I did a 4th coat and immediately slapped out some Poshe top coat to make it dry. Pictures were taken after 1+ day of wear so not much (or any) tip wear just yet!

Chanel Paradoxal

Bought this baby last year and I haven't used it yet so I thought why not? It's got a great purple shimmer that's only noticeable if well, you take notice of it. Application was easy enough, it's a Chanel so I wouldn't expect otherwise. It did take quite a while to dry because I used a rather thick coat. Here it is, with 2 coats. One thin one and then one thicker one on top. No base or top coat.



In sunlight.



Under a lamp.

It's a pretty purple and I really hope Revlon Purplex (which is rumoured to be a major dupe for this) hits our shores so I can stock on on some purple goodness! Is it worth $35? Well, I think if Purplex does really come to Singapore, then no, it's not worth it. This has been a good Chanel polish for me so far because I normally experience quite a bit of tip wear rather quickly whenever I test of my other Chanel polishes, so that's gotta count for something at least!

Anyways, I went to collect my polishes from Gwen last night and I can't wait to try them out / swatch them! Unfortunately, my lamp's bulb just blew so I won't be able to take pictures (I normally reach home at 6.30pm so notm uch sunlight left) for now! Thankfully, I already have some posts drafted out so hopefully, swatches and entries will come flowing as per normal!

Till next time! (:

Chanel Paradoxal vs Essie Smokin' Hot

So much talk about Paradoxal being the same base colour as Essie's Smokin' Hot and I must say, they are close. But of course, that wasn't going to stop me from getting them both right?



The amazing duochrome shimmer of Paradoxal in its full glory!



Swatched Paradoxal on my pinkie and it's very very smoky. It's so pretty! This was 2 coats.



This is one coat of Smokin' Hot on my ring finger and one coat of Paradoxal on my pinkie. Clearly, you can already see how much darker Smokin' Hot is.



This is two coats. Both went totally opaque in 2 coats and sadly, after painting the second coat on, I knicked the two nails on the edge of my laptop which resulted in dents. I didn't re-swatch them because you can still see them pretty well even with the knicks, and I didn't wanna waste my precious Chanel. Hope you don't mind!



This was with flash to bring out Paradoxal's beautiful shimmer!



Chanel already owns my soul.

Chanel Khakis Collection

I recently added Khaki Brun to my Chanel polish collection. It's not really a collection when I only had 2 but whatever. It's going to be a collection one day! Headed down to MBS to swatch Riva but the sales assistant told us that they had brought a couple of bottles of Khaki Brun in from overseas cuz they sold better here! And of course, S and I cracked and gave our $35 away! In the picture below, I've compared Khaki Vert and Particuliere (not from the Khaki collection) with 2 rather similar looking Essie polishes! Khaki Vert with Essie Sew Psyched and Particuliere with Hot Coco.



The Essie colours are rather similar to the Chanel colours but I wouldn't consider them dupes but rather, cheaper alternatives. Chanels should never ever have dupes.



So, coat number one! On the left, we have Khaki Brun and on the right, Khaki Vert. With the first coat on, it was clear that Brun was much much much more opaque than Vert.



Here they are against the light so you can see how opaque/sheer the first coat was.



Second coat now and they look better already. I'm sure skilled hands can get away with one coat of Brun! Vert definitely needed the second coat.



Again, against the light, Vert was still a bit sheer against the light but it was quite alright for me on the nail. Brun was perfectly opaque with coat number 2.



So here they are, Brun on top and Vert below. Brun's an olive while Vert is more army green.



And here is Vert with Sew Psyched. Sew Psyched is on top and Vert below. Sew Psyched has a very slight silvery shimmer to it upon closer inspection but further away, it looks very creme like. And you can see Sew Psyched is more blue-based while Vert is more yellow-based. So, they are really not dupes!



Left to Right: Sew Psyched, Vert, Brun





Left to Right: Brun, Vert, Sew Psyched, with flash, after 2 days of wear.



I added China Glaze Ingrid on my pinkie because it was in the whole earthy-tone range and I wanted to see what it would look like with the other 3 colours! I think minus the shimmer, it would have been a nice combination!



In natural sunlight (not direct, cause I was just sitting beside a window).



Hope you liked this review / comparison post! Oh, and did I mention the Chanels applied like butter? Really easy to work with!