ManGlaze Fatty's Got More Blood

Fatty's Got More Blood was one of the ManGlazes I knew I had to have from the moment I saw swatches of it. And I absolutely love how fitting it is withManGlaze's gory/tough image!

This is three thin coats of Fatty's Got More Blood.





After adding a top coat, I realised that Fatty's Got More Blood has this subtle purple sheen to it.



I love how ManGlaze polishes always look so different with a top coat on. It's like two for the price of one!





After seeing the purple sheen, I had an idea of layering Max Factor Fantasy Fire over Fatty's Got More Blood. Boy, was that a good idea!

This picture shows the redder side of Fantasy Fire. 



Here's a macro shot of Fantasy Fire over Fatty's Got More Blood. I love how the red/amber/green shimmer fromFantasy Fire mixes with the purple/blue shimmer from Fatty! HELLO GORGEOUS!



Now we can see the warmer side of FF, with the red to amber shift.





And I'm ending things off with a picture of FF's amber to green shift.



Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Perfect matte polish and a perfect topper! 'Nuff said.

ManGlaze ILF

I must admit, I gave in to buying this polish after contemplating for months. What did it for me was Jane's swatches of ILF and her glitter gradient. 

This is three thin coats of ILF.



ILF is such a lovely seafoam shade. It's so lush and yet so bright and cheery!



Adding a top coat made ILF a tad bit darker and greener, and it bought out the shimmers even more.



Glossy ILF just takes me away to some resort in the Bermudas. I just want to chill and dip my toes in the ocean. 





Absolute love <3

Mani-Faces of ManGlaze Contest

Shoppe EClecticCo's and A Lacquered Affair were having a nail art contest and I decided to flex my creative muscle since I'm so bored at home watching fringe all day.

What we had to do was to come up with a ManGlaze-inspired nails and our design had to include either one of the following:
                1) Using ManGlaze polish, OR
                2) Using matte effect for your design, OR
                3) Using any ManGlaze graphics or logos as a nail art inspiration

So, I wrecked my brains and came up with this:



I sure had a lot of fun coming up with the design, which was wholly inspired by ManGlaze Matte is Murder, the polish I used as the base colour for all four nails.

On my index finger, I have a silver gun that has just been shot. My middle finger shows the smoke from the gun that I've used a clear top coat to draw on, showing the extremely pretty glittery base of Matte is Murder! I have a blood splatter going on, on my ring finger (which I've tried to make a 3D effect of), from the victim that has been shot and is depicted on my pinkie.
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Now is where I'm going to ask you all to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help vote for my design! There are a couple of ways to help vote:
1. You can visit this site, select your favourite (hopefully #4!) and vote
2. You can 'Like' your favourite(s') photo(s) via Shoppe EClecticCo's or A Lacquered Affair's 'Mani-Faces of ManGlaze Contest Entries' albums
3. You can also 'Re-pin' your favourite(s) from A Lacquered Affair's board 'Mani-Faces of ManGlaze Contest Entries' (only re-pins from the original pins count)
4. If you have an Instagram account, you can 'Like' your favourite(s) via official entry photos on A Lacquered Affair's profile
5. And lastly, you can also tweet "#ManGlazeContest by @AnnetteAEdwards & @LacqueredAffair - #4 is one Hot Mess! bit.ly/Ng5ct7" (Spamming's a no-no, so please limit to ONE tweet a day)
Voting is open internationally and closes on Saturday, 14th July 2012 11:59pm SGT, so please help vote for design #4!

ManGlaze Matte is Murder

First up, if you haven't heard of ManGlaze, what rock have you been living under?

ManGlaze currently offers 13 matte shades, and 2 matte topcoats (one clear and the other is a glitter top coat which I'm dying to try). They have the craziest, in-yer-face names for their polishes and they make no apologies for them!

Today I'll be showing you Matte is Murder, a matte black polish.

This is one coat of Matte is Murder. Now, we all know matte polishes dry REALLY quickly. You don't have to paint your nails with lightning speed but you still have to be quick enough. I've read a few sources and generally, it's adviced not to use a base coat below matte polishes as it may cause the application of the polish to be more streaky but considering how quick matte polishes normally chip, I decided to paint a coat of NailTek II (a matte base coat).

Back to the above picture, as you can see, with one coat, the polish does appear streaky but fear not.

This is two coats and the second coat definitely even things out. Yes, it's still a little streaky but I'm going to blame it on my application and not the polish. I haven't been painting my nails very often lately and so I've kind of gotten rusty with my application "skills" so I tend to have to take longer to paint my nails, which was what probably caused the streaks. Plus, my pictures are really zoomed in and the streaks aren't that noticeable irl. Seriously, go look at The TraceFace Philes' swatches and you'll see how awesome the ManGlaze formula is.

Another thing about ManGlaze polishes is their label designs. THEY ARE RIDICULOUSLY COOL. Seriously, look! It's art on a polish bottle!

I love that the labels are all matte too, really amps up the whole matte thing ManGlaze has going.

I then proceeded to paint glossy tips. I've seen so  many matte manicures with glossy tips and I've always wanted to try it! Plus, it's an added "cheat code" to help make your matte manicure last a little longer too.

One last thing. You don't ever have to worry about ManGlaze polishes looking flat. Matte does not have to look flat. No no...

...because when the sun hits this gorgeous polish, you can see turquoise and pink glitters! I mean, seriously, LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY. You have to click on the picture to enlarge it and see Matte is Murder in its full glory!

I don't know about you but I'm already convinced I need more ManGlaze. SERIOUSLY. I can't wait to see how Fatty's Got More Blood, ILF and Lesbihonest (love the name!) will look like on my nails!

I know it may be hard to get your hands on ManGlaze polish but I've got some good news to share!

EClecticCo is now selling ManGlaze polishes at $22.50 per bottle, or $21.50 per bottle if you buy 3 bottles and more. And the best thing is that shipping is available within Asia!

But wait, there's more! Quote "MGMELLE" when you purchase your ManGlaze polishes from EClecticCo and you'll enjoy a $1 discount for every ManGlaze product you buy! You can use the code even when you're buying 3 or more bottles, meaning you can save up to $2 per bottle! SO HURRY AND GRAB YOUR MANGLAZE POLISHES NOW!

 

China Glaze Stone Cold & Smoke and Ashes

I'm so glad I only caved for 2 of the colours from China Glaze's Color from the Capitol collection!
I really wanted Stone Cold because I only own one other matte polish (which you will see later) and Smoke and Ashes looked so intriguing and mysterious.

All the pictures were taken in natural sunlight. The order of polish on my digits is:

Index - Stone Cold + top coat
Middle - Smoke and Ashes
Ring - Stone Cold
Pinkie - Smoke and Ashes + matte top coat















I love how mattifying Smoke and Ashes brought out the subtle green flakes and how putting a top coat on top of Stone Cold changed its look entirely! Two polishes, four different looks!

And now for the other matte polish I have...



Here on my thumb, I have ManGlaze Matte is Murder and on my ring finger, I have Stone Cold. You can see how the tiny particles in Matte is Murder is so much smaller than those in Stone Cold.



Now with a top coat on, you can see how the particles in Matte is Murder becomes pink and aqua whereas the particles in Stone Cold are still silvery. Colour wise they're almost the same but finish wise, they're pretty different!

So what colours did you pick up from the Colors from the Capitol collection? (:

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.