Monochrome Madness

Hey y'all! I just got back from Bangkok yesterday and during my trip there, I went a little crazy with all the monochrome clothes there - polka dots, tribal, floral, stripes and everything you can think of!

When it was time to do my mani, there was still some residual monochrome madness so this was what I came up with.

I used China Glaze White On White for the base and Beadstreet S79 for the black details. It didn't quite turn out as neat as I wanted it to be but it's my first nail art in a long time so I'm still pretty pleased with this.

Hope you guys dig the nail art! :)

Random China Glaze Spam

Hey there!

Today I have some random China Glaze polishes to show you. I swatched these ages ago but never got around to posting them.

This is It's a Trap-eze from the Cirque du Soleil collection. It contains glitters of almost every imaginable colour in a white base. The collection was released when everyone was going crazy over glitters, and with the whole indie glitter hype going on, it was no wonder why this was the star of the Cirque du Soleil collection.



This is probably very close to a jelly sandwich you can create with some white jelly polish (like OPI Don't Touch my Tutu) and a glitter polish (like OPI Rainbow Connection) without the trouble of layering. I'm wearing three thin coats here.



This next one is Fancy Pants, a blurple creme with a subtle pink shimmer. Most of the swatches I've seen online show Fancy pants as more of a dark periwinkle/blue shade but it is actually leans more purple. 



I'm wearing three thin coats here.


The last swatch I have for you today is Exotic Encounters from the On Safari collection. This was a teal that I absolutely could not resist. I told myself I didn't need another teal and I didn't get it for quite a while but one fine day when I was at DYON, this was just calling out my name and I succumbed to its siren call.
 


I believe I'm wearing two coats here but I could be wrong and this may have been three thin coats. Either way, the formula was good so no worries!


That's the end of my super random China Glaze swatch post. I'm gonna try to do some swatch marathon after this so I'll have more posts soon. I've been going thorugh a dry spell and I haven't felt like wearing/swatching anything in the last few months, which explains the lack of posts lately.

Hopefully things will pick up soon! Till next time!

Pretty Jelly, Pretty Serious and Lumina Lacquer Spam

HELLO POLISH LOVERS! Sorry for the lack of posts. It's the same ol' same ol' reason: work, work and more work that's been taking up my time. In fact, I was working the whole of yesterday (Saturday) up till 5am this morning so that I could have some time off to chill and paint my nails.

I have three very pretty polished to show you today! The first of which, is Pretty Jelly Hera.



Hera is from the Pretty Jelly Goddess Collection, a multichrome holo line which features five beauties that were inspired by the Greek Goddesses.

According to Pretty Jelly, Hera is a purple-indigo multichrome holo that shifts from cool icy blue-purple to a rich red-purple. Let's put her to the test shall we? For my swatches, I've painted three coats of Hera on my index, ring and pinkie, and two coats of Hear over a black base on my middle finger.



Cool, icy blue-purple, check!



Here, Hera is shifting to a warmer purple.



Red, rich purple, check!

Now, let's not forget that Hera is also holographic.



Final thoughts: I must admit, Hera doesn't really come close to the Ozotic holo multuchromes but it's nice to see some other alternatives out in the market. Hera was a dream to apply and built up nicely. You don't have to wear it over a black base, which is nice. The black base does bring out the colour shift a bit more but it's really optional. The Ozotics on the other hand, no way I'll wear them without a black base.



Now for Pretty Serious Phantom Planet.



Pretty Serious Cosmetics says it's a green foil multichrome that shifts through aqua and blue. I know it's totally not polish-related but when I first saw Pantom Planet, California (The O.C. theme song) was totally playing in my head!



Even in this first picture, where it's the most green, you can already see hints of blue.



This picture above makes me think of a mermaid's tale. What a beauty!



And now the aqua shift. Phantom Planet really is a pretty pretty polish. I thought it would be more "alien green" so the bluer side was a nice surprise.

Final thoughts: Phantom Planet has a pretty thin formula but it was surprisingly pigmented. I was wearing three thin coats on my index, ring and pinkie, and two thin coats over a black base on my middle finger. I didn't think Phantom Planet would build up so easily but it did! That being said, because of the thinner consistency, be careful not to get too much polish on your brush or else you'll flood your cuticles.



Lumina Lacquer Seastar is the last polish I have for you tonight.



Seastar is such a sweet, pastel glitter polish. It mades me think of lullabies so I chose a soft base colour to compliment the pretty, soft glitters.





This is one coat of Seastar over Chna Glaze Light As Air. The holo stars were easy to get on my nails, though I had to dab the other glitters on just so every thing would be evenly spread out. It was no trouble at all so really, it wasn't a big deal. The stars made me think of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

Final thoughts: This is a pretty pretty polish that mades me feel like a little girl! It's sweet and really cute! Formula was manageable and you can wear it over a multitude of base colours so the sky's the limit!


Hope you guys liked these three babies as much as I do. I'm really happy with them. I'm really hoping to have more free time so I can go back to swatch, swatch, swatching! I have so many new shades that I can't wait to show y'all. See you guys soon!


You can grab your bottles of Hera, Phantom Planet and Lumina Lacquer from Mei Mei's Signatures.


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Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for my honest opinions. I am not affiliated with Mei Mei's Signatures or Pretty Jelly, Pretty Serious Cosmetics and Lumina Lacquer.

Four Month's Worth of Hauls

My nails and cuticles are in no shape to meet anyone so I'm going to share my recent hauls with you while I try to get them back in order. This seems pretty little for four months but that's what happen when work takes over! :(

As always, I'm starting with the indies. Every time I think I've gotten enough, more just seem to spring out and I can never resist them!



Loving the KBShimmer Spring polishes I got! I swatched them here. As for Bank Geek and Bejeweled, they will have to wait!



This next brand is becoming one of my favourite indie brands. I started taking notice of Hare Polish on tumblr quite a while back and I fell in love with the first few olours ever made - A Positive and Bisbee and I am so glad the brand is more accessible now! I'm still eyeing a couple of the older shades like Archipalego and Tropic of Cancer so I'm sitting tight and hoping they get re-released!





Now for the Australian indies...I swear everytime I see new pictures of the new creations made, my heart flutters and my wallet cries.



HOLO HOLO HOLO! Thee new holo shades from Emily de Molly are stunning!



These are the last of my Lynnderella haul (for now). I've got to start saving for my next haul because damn, they're expensive.



Moving on to the more mainstream brands, I got a friend to CP Lady Sings The Blues for me from BeautyAsia and I bought Ray of Light from the lovely Annette of Shoppe Eclecticco when she did some unearthing and found a spare bottle in her stash.



Here are the China Glazes I purchase recently. Ever since the indie craze, I haven't really bought much mainstream brands but these few still managed to capture my attention. I also got the three Zoyas from BeautyAsia.



Yes yes, I hauled the entires China Glaze Hologlam collection. I had to. I am a holo hoarder so this was such a no brainer. Swatches of the collection as well as comparisons can be found here and here.



I also couldn't resist the Color Club Halo Hues 2013. Seeing how amazing the 2012 ones were, I had to get the six new shades to complete the Halo Hues family!



That's it for my haul! I guess working does not have its perks for my wallet! :)

KBShimmer Oh Splat!

Sorry for the lack of updates y'all. Work's starting to become hectic and all I want to do everyday after work is sleep so I haven't exactly been painting my nails of late.

It's raining now and I thought I'd show y'all something bright and happy to chase the gloom away.

KBShimmer Oh Splat! is one of those indies that you know you just NEED to have. I resisted it the first time round but when Harlow had a restock, I jumped on the chance to own this beauty.





I started off with a coat of white polish. I didn't want to deal with any headaches with the white in Oh Splat not bulding up sufficiently or being streaky or whatever so I painted on a thin layer of China Glaze White on White.



Then for the fun part, I painted on two layers of Oh Splat! I absolutely love this baby. It's like a riot on my nails! It's so colourful and cheerful, sure to brighten up the gloomiest of days.





The polish just reminds me of the circus - colours bursting everywhere!


KBShimmer polishes are available on the KBShimmer website and internationally through Harlow & Co.

Color Club Halo Hues 2013

I've been trying to resist the six new Color Club Halo Hues 2013 but the moment I saw them at Dyon International yesterday afternoon, I was sold.

The holo hoarder in my strikes again!



Kismet is a pale gold holo and it's one of the palest gold holos I have seen. It's pretty unique and since it's not too saturated, it'd pretty much go with most skin tones. It's also a work appropriate shade so all the better.



As I've said, Kismet is quite pale compared to the other gold holos I own. Jade Mystic Gold is obviously more saturated and Layla Gold Idol is just a tad richer though formula wise, I'd pick Kismet over Gold Idol in a heartbeat.



Cosmic Fate is a pinkish copper toned shade and I honestly thought it'd be more copper than pink but the pinker undertone was a nice surprise. It makes the shade daintier. This is probably my favourite out of the six because of its unique shade. Again, this one is also super work appropriate so you don't have to worry about bosses or clients complaining about your nails. Unless they're jealous, of course!



I have such a special spot in my heart (and Helmer) for pinkish copper holos and the other two have nothing on Cosmic Fate. Holoness wise, Cosmic Fate wins, just edging out Ozotic 522 but an eyelash (is that a good metaphor? HAHA!).



Miss Bliss is the lady of the collection. She's the pink one and I don't wear pink often but Miss Bliss ins't too pinky pink (if you know what I mean) so I'm still loving this baby. It also doesn't hurt how holo she is!



At maximum holoness, Miss Bliss looks pretty similar to Halo-graphic.



But holoness aside, you can see that Halo-graphic is the paler of the two.



Eternal Beauty is a heart stopper. Purple holos always are. I don't think I need to say anything more, do I? ;)



Eternal Beauty is pretty different from Cloud Nine, the purple holo from the first Halo Hues collection. The closest thing I have is Jade Fascinio Violeta but it is a tad lighter and less saturated than Eternal Beauty.



My my baby blue, I've been thinking bout you. Over the Moon is the...POW WOW!



Over the Moon is close to FNUG Futuristica but seriously, nothing can compete with Futuristica in terms of holoness. My picture doesn't show it but trust me.



Blue Heaven from the original Halo Hues is paler than Over the Moon so no dupes here.





And finally, we have come to the gem of the collection. Beyond is beyond amazing. It's a black holo. A BLACK HOLO. Not a charcoal holo but a black holo. In case you have no idea why I'm raving about a black holo, please let me enlighten you. Typically, when you add spectraflair or any holo particles to any shade, it becomes lighter, paler and greyer so when a black holo polish is made, it is a rare thing.



The only other black holo I know of is Jade Magia Negra (which I think translate to Magic Black) and it is the blackest holo that exists unless you use a spectraflair top coat over a black base. Beyond is only a tiny tiny bit paler and for the price difference, Beyond triumphs Magia Negra.



Formula wise, I used two coats for all six shades. These six new Halo Hues applied wonderfully and I didn't need an aqua base at all. They were admittedly a little think but it's nothing a little bit of thinner can't fix.

Hope you guys enjoyed the swatches and comparisons!