Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A stripy nail art

Hellohello~When surfing the internet for some nail inspiration, I came across this Korean nail blog and fell in love with the design. It didn't look too complicated so I decided to try it out for myself :)

I started off with two (goopy) coats of Ulta3 lily white. I then freehanded the turquoise stripes using Essie Turquoise & Caicos. Next, I took my nail art striper and applied the thin black stripes over the the middle of the white stripes. I finished everything off with a layer of OPI Servin' up sparkle.

stripy nail art1

stripy nail art2

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I think this kind of reminds me of candycanes lol....should have done this while it was still Christmas haha! What do you think of this design? :)

Thanks for dropping by!
~Sharon

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Friday, January 27, 2012

My love for purple never ends ♥

Hello everyone~ My friend recently gave me some polishes she didn't want (I gladly accepted them! :D) and one of them was Essie St. Lucia lilac. I love purple and I love pastels so this polish was an instant love! I applied three coats as I found it was still a little patchy at two coats.

st lucia lilac1

st lucia lilac2

After a day, I layered over a Dark purple crackle from Nails and Stuff over it. To top things off, I applied one coat of Gel Top Coat. It was quite thick but dried extremely fast. I found you have to be careful with application for this or you'll end up with bubbles.

st lucia lilac with crackle1

st lucia lilac with crackle2

What do you think of this purple on purple layering? :)

Thanks for dropping by!
~Sharon

A product was provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Are you in the mood?

Hello everyone :) Today I have for you a mood changing polish. I remember early last year (or was it late 2009? *memory fails*) when mood polishes became popular. I was super lemming the mood polishes by Claires and was so envious of the US girls who were able to get their hands on them. Well, I finally won an auction on ebay for the Calm/wild...and have since worn it twice? I found they weren't so fit for the summer weather here...no gradation at all! :( I've since given up on it, until I received Dear Rus LAD560. Deciding to give it another go, I tried it on.

Shown is two coats. On the Nails and Stuff website, this polish has been renamed to LAD560 - Turquoise - Hot n cold Colour changing polish and retails for $9 each.

dear rus1

dear rus2

I'm not sure I like the warm colour of this polish haha. Lime green just isn't for me! What do you think of mood/colour changing polishes?

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

Product provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Chinese New Year mani

Hi everyone :) Today is the day before Chinese New Year and it's huuuuuge! One of my cousin is cooking up a storm for dinner tonight - CAN NOT WAIT :D Anyway, this was a mani I came up with just before I left for Hong Kong :) I was going to wear it over but I had to wash the dishes and turned out it hadn't dried thoroughly so it wrinkled :( Too bad then!

Anyway, here's my simple CNY skittle mani :)

cny1

Pinky: Two coats of China Glaze Poinsettia and then layered two coats of Ring in the red.
Ring: Two coats of Ulta3 Lily white and then layered over it China Glaze White cap.
Middle: Two coats of Poinsettia with Nubar 2010 on the tips.
Index: Two coats of Hello Kitty Golden girl and then layered Essence Make it golden over it.
Thumb: Two coats of Zoya Gloria.

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cny3

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Alllllllllll the polishes I used haha!

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Happy Chinese New Year to all who celebrate! I'm off to stuff myself silly... :D

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Review: Nails and stuff

Hi ladies :) This is my first of a few scheduled posts while I'm away in Hong Kong!

About a month ago, I was contacted by Annika who runs an online shop called Nails and Stuff, selling nail polish and other nail related goodies such as stickers, rhinestones and foils.

nailsandstuff1

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try out some of the nail polishes they offer in their range, including a mood changing polish and crackle nail polish which I will feature in later posts. First up for today though, I have a brand of polish which I don't usually see around - Eclipse. To my knowledge, this brand is Korean as I have seen these polishes in Morning Glory before, a Korean stationary shop. And well, they have Korean writing on them :P

I applied two coats of 706 onto my fifth and middle nails. This polish is very opaque and I would have left it at one coat, but I wanted to see if the colour built up with another. I really like this shade of blue (really loving these brighter shades lately!) and the best thing is, it doesn't stain! :D On my fourth and index nails, there is two coats of 276. It has a magenta shimmer running throughout it and I'm sure this will be instant love for pink fanatics :)

nailsandstuff2

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On my fourth and fifth nails, I applied one coat of 527 over the base colours. You can see it also on my thumb - it shows three coats and still has visible nail line so layering is definitely a better option. I might try it over a silver base next time :)

nailsandstuff4

These nail polish retail for $7 on Nails and Stuff. For ladies who live within Australia, shipping fee is shown below (registered shipping):

 purchase amount
 shipping fee
 under $30.-
 $10.-
 $30.- - $59.99
 $5.-
 any order $60.- and more
 FREE SHIPPING

International shipping is also offered, however you may have to contact Annika for more information regarding pricing.

Personally, I find some of the nail polish a little pricey (but I'm cheap :P), especially since I've seen Eclipse nail polish sold for around $4 in Morning Glory stores. However, Nails and Stuff is definitely a great alternative for those who can't easily access the brand.

-update- I have been informed by Annika as to the price differences in the Eclipse nail polishes. I've included the explanation below.
Morning Glory does sell it for less than $7.-, but as you probably know, most brands of polish will use either a-grade or b-grade ingredients. Unfortunately there is no easy way for the consumer to spot the difference. We pay extra for the a-grade ingredients in our Eclipse. Their version of Eclipse does not use the a-grade ingredients. This explains the price difference.
Thanks for reading.
~Sharon

Product provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Monday, January 16, 2012

Off to Hong Kong! :D

Hi ladies~ You may have noticed my decrease in posting lately - this is due to me being being busy preparing for my trip back to Hong Kong! Because I'll be busy enjoying my holiday and shopping, posting will definitely be more sporadic. I do have some posts which are scheduled and I'll probably update if I can while I'm in Hong Kong, but for the majority of the time, I won't be able to come onto my little blog corner!

Before I go though, I have a favour to ask you all ^^ Last time I was in HK, I wasn't into nail polish. Now that I am and am going back too....where are some good places to shop for nail polish? I'm hoping to find cheap Korean brands like Skinfood and The Faceshop as well as Nfu Ohs (hopefully!!!) and other hard to find brands in Australia :D Thanks in advance!

As for now...


Thanks for reading :)
~Sharon

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Back to basics: A good old holo!

Hey everyone~ Sometimes, after some complicated nail art or even just sponging, it's a nice feeling to just be able to slap on some nail polish and call it a day :P No spending time thinking of a design, no need to wait for coats to dry, and best of all, it takes less than 20mins! ♥

Here I have 2 coats of Color Club Fashion addict. This is only my second time wearing it - darn, I need to bring my holo polishes out more to wear!

No sunlight:

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Direct sunlight:

fashion addict2

fashion addict1

And under artificial light. It's not colour accurate here, but just look at the gorgeous holo coming to life! <3

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I know a lot of polish lovers adore holo polishes. Are you any different? :P

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Fiery tips

Hi ladies~ A short and sweet post for today as I'm lacking in words :P I saw this on a blog once but I can't remember where - if you know and can link me, it would be greatly appreciated!

Two coats of Ulta3 black satin with Nubar 2010 applied at the tips.

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Ahh, if only I applied Nubar 2010 better onto my tips, then I'd love this mani. What do you think of it? :)

Thanks for dropping by.
~Sharon

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

A mossy green

Hey everyone~As promised, here is a post of Bootie Babe Cosmetics Bossy mossy. To be honest, I'm not usually one who wears 'ugly' colours like this one. And...I'm not sure I like it that much either :P Shown is two coats of Bossy mossy. As I mentioned in my previous post, the brushes in the nail polish are short and stiff, which makes application a little more difficult.

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Because I wasn't so certain about this shade, I decided to layer over it a coat of OPI Super bass shatter. It's an interesting combo and the purple shatter definitely pops better than over Metallic 4 life!

bossy mossy with super bass shatter1

bossy mossy with super bass shatter2

bossy mossy with super bass shatter3

Overall though, I wasn't a fan of this mani and took it off asap, haha. Oh, and Bossy mossy stains. A lot. I have extremely yellow nails now...I look like I've been smoking for years! :(

What do you think of 'ugly' shades like Bossy mossy?

Thanks for reading :)
~Sharon

Products provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Swatches and review: Bootie Babe nail polish

Hi ladies! :) Last month, I had the opportunity to receive the most awesome packaged nail polishes ever. Yup, you guessed it - I'm talking about the hilarious bum shaped bottles sold by the people at Bootie Babe Cosmetics! For more information, check out here and here!

In terms of application, the brush was short and a little stiffer than I'm used to. As a result, I had to apply carefully and redip my brush into the polish a few times so that I could cover my nails. The handle is small and so it makes holding and controlling the brush clumsy. I hope that Mark can fix this though, as I think these polishes are so fun!

From left to right, top to bottom:
Bossy mossy, Hella baloo, Lemon nada, Pinky dinky

bootie babe

From pinky to index:

3 coats of Lemon nada: This is a bright neon highlighter yellow. At three coats you can still see vnl - definitely not a polish which will reach opacity!

2 coats of Pinky dinky: A medium tone barbie pink shade. I think I might actually like this pink! *shockhorror*

2 coats of Lemon nada over a white base colour: Oh, so bright! A little too bright for my taste as I'm not a neon girl but layering over a black crackle would make a pretty mani!

2 coats of Hella baloo: A pretty dark sky blue crème. Watch out for this one, it stainsssss :( Definitely double on the base coat when wearing this one.

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Like I said before, if the brush was fixed and maybe the handle a little larger, these polishes would be lovely :) Check out Bootie Babe's website for more polishes! These nail polishes are currently sold at $4 per bottle, although I remember them retailing at $9 before. I'm unsure if the price change is a temporary sale or a permanent change - in any case, grab these asap! International shipping is also available :)

I'll be posting Bossy mossy in my next post as I wore it as a full mani and layered another polish over it. In the mean time, what do you think of these bum shaped polishes - tacky or hilarious?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

Products provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Swatches and review: OPI Nicki Minaj collection part 2

Hellohello :) Part 2 of OPI's Nicki Minaj collection consists of Metallic 4 life and Super bass shatter. Frankly, I'm starting to get really sick of shatter/crackle polishes. 2011 was the year of crackle, and I'm totally looking forward to 2012's trend (pleaseeeeeeee be flakies!). But I digress.

Metallic 4 life is packed with two different sized silver glitters, swimming in a jelly black base. I applied two coats over my nails here and found the result a little lumpy. Perhaps if I had waited longer between coats it wouldn't have turned out so bad. There was still slight patchiness at 2 coats but I was going to layer over it so I didn't bother fixing that. Next time, I'll be layering this over a black base for sure! Formula was slightly thick and drying time a little longer than usual from glitter polishes. I recommend waiting around 3-5 mins after painting all five nails before applying the next coat.

metallic 4 life1

metallic 4 life2

I then decided to layer Super bass shatter over it. Unfortunately, the two polishes don't go well together and the shatter isn't very visible. In person, it simply looks like I layered a sheer purple polish over the glitter base. The shatter cracks like all of OPI's previous shatters. I actually quite like the shade of this one and I'll post another try of this shatter over a more contrasting base soon!

metallic 4 life with super bass shatter1

metallic 4 life with super bass shatter2

What do you think? Are you as sick of shatters as I am? :P

Thanks for dropping by!
~Sharon

Products provided for consideration. For more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Swatches and review: OPI Nicki Minaj collection part 1

Hi everyone! Today I have the first of two parts of OPI's Nicki Minaj collection to show you :) I'll be honest - when I first saw this collection, none of the nail polishes really wowed me except for the one with the bar glitter in it. And even then, it wasn't too interesting as bar glitter tends to make your nails look hairy. HOWEVER. I pretty much ate my words up the second I saw the bottles in person, and even more so when I wore them.

The first polish I tried was Fly. While it may look like a boring crème, it was so much more to me. I love the bright teal look as most of my teals are more of a dusty or dark shade. This was two coats of awesomeness and look at how glossy it is even without a top coat! The formula was a little thicker than normal crèmes but I didn't have any application problems with it. No clean up required!

fly1

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I decided to layer on one thick coat of Save me over this shade and really liked the outcome. I love that the polish isn't filled with bar glitter (yay, no hairy nails!) - the silver glitter really helps add something extra to this beautiful polish. The bar glitters are holographic so see it dance the colours of the rainbow when your nails are in the sun!

While I didn't try this, I'm sure the glitter is able to be built up in 3-4 coats. I didn't try it as I loved this look and well...the thought of removing glitter didn't really appeal to me that much :P

fly with save me1

fly with save me2

Here's a bottle macro shot of Save me. Doesn't it just look divine? ♥

save me

What do you think of this layering combo? :)

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon
Product provided for consideration. Fore more information, please view my disclosure policy.

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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Preview: OPI Nicki Minaj collection

Hi ladies~I hope you've had a Happy New Year celebrating with family and friends! I received four of the polishes from OPI's Nicki Minaj collection just before the holidays but was caught up in the festivities and didn't get around to posting it until now :) Just bottles shots today and two macros of the beautiful glitters. I'll be posting swatches and reviews of the nail polishes in the following posts!

Nicki Minaj collection

save me

metallic 4 life

This collection will be available in Australia in selected beauty salons mid January and in all David Jones stores early February 2012. Each bottle retails for $19.95.

Are you excited for this collection? :)

Thanks for dropping by.
~Sharon

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