Nubar Petunia Sparkle & Violet Sparkle
Nubar’s range of sparkle polishes really has me going…. Before I found Ozotics, their range of sparkle polishes are the only ones that actually “move” me deeply. *weeps* Not sure why I took so many years later to add these two to my lonesome Night Sparkle (review here, 2 years ago!) – I guess it’s because they were somewhat hard to procure back then for Singaporeans. Now, you can get them over at Mei Mei’s Signatures, or from beautybay.com which has free international shipping! Violet Sparkle Such a gorgeous purple. Why did I wait so long to get you?! This was 3 coats, IIRC. They have pretty good coverage, but erm… I do think they’re…
Layla Hologram Effects
I rushed to get them after seeing swatches from The Polishaholic! Yes, this was yet another “shut up and take my money!” moment. I won’t deny it – polishes are my weakness. I got them from Harlow & Co (based in Canada), which also stocks Nubars, Glitter Gal, Nerd Lacquers, Picture Polish – International Shipping is free for orders above $50 and each bottle is $16 USD, which is around 21 $SGD. (Also stocks on other sites, but this is the only one with free shipping to SG). Layla Cosmetics are from Italy, Milan and their I couldn’t figure out how to ship from them directly, so I went with Harlow & Co. – Mercury…
Max Factor Fantasy Fire + Nfu Oh 51
This is the supposed dupe of Clarins 230, and every one wanted to get their hands on it! Unfortunately for us, we don’t have it over here in Singapore and I had to get it shipped from the UK! Thanks to a friend for helping me get it! It’s just a 5ml bottle though, and people on eBay are making all the money off selling this at really inflated prices! (think 30sgd for a 5ml bottle!) I initially did this as a full manicure, but I realized that with different bases used, it gives really different results so I’m gonna show you today the different results (but still fantastic for all 3 bases). The different…
OPI New York City Ballet Soft Shades 2012
I got these 3 shades from Tammy of timtam00.blogspot.com (Have you checked out her GSS selection yet? Quote “EVONNZ” for 20% off!) and I love her service, plus quick delivery and she has really great customer service. I’ve always been on the lookout for great french manicure shades, and this selection was just great! Honestly it was always a hit and miss – Prior to this collection, I’ve purchased about 7 bottles of pinks like this and only 2 made the cut – they had to be easy to apply, not streaky, doesn’t make my nails look too yellow, isn’t too thick but must give the right amount of coverage for a french manicure….
I’m back with an EOTD, FOTD & NOTD & LOTD!
It’s like an explosion. I’m finally feeling so much better, and I’m back! And to “celebrate” this I decided to put on more make up and spammed my own Instagram a few days ago. *coughs* I celebrated over lunch by drinking iced water. And then again during dinner. Oh man iced water never felt so good down my throat. I’ve missed you so, especially during the hot afternoons!!! So exactly what make up did I plaster on my face a few days ago?! I’m wearing ZA’s newly launched Total Hydration BB Cream UV here! Yes, ZA has finally hopped onto the BB cream bandwagon! The cute little pink squeeze tube is about the same size…
Some Nubars swatches – Moon Dust, Iris Dust, Gem and Honeysuckle
Got some Nubar nail polishes from beautybay.com (free shipping! Plus Nubars are pretty reasonably priced over there!), and opening them just made my day. Gorgeous gorgeous colors! Moon Dust Greenish Gold – Magenta Duochrome. Very pretty, I love the magenta here, it is just so rich and vampy looking! Iris Dust Iris dust is a transformer. Shifts from Pink TO Gold – Yes all 4 images are of the same polish! Beautiful. Gem Taupe – purplish polish with holographic glitter bits sparsely scattered all over – this is really pretty too in real life. I find that this has a slight duochrome shift, and though the holographic glitter bits seem…
Some Zoyas Swatches – Yara, Kristen, Avery, Maisie, Twila
Zoya Kristen Kristen is from the Zoya Feel Winter Collection 2011. I love this dusty grey-blue shade… So soft, and feels so… dove. View swatches of the entire Zoya Feel Collection over at Scrangie’s site. Zoya Avery Avery is also from Zoya’s Feel Winter 2011 Collection, and like what Scrangie says… it really looks like a bottle of foundation. Personally I don’t like this – and frankly speaking it doesn’t really give me mannequin hands anyway – it brings out the red in my hands, and doesn’t compliment my skin tone. Slightly too yellow for me, but application was not too bad – opaque in 2 coats and streaks (due to my lack of…
Megan Miller Latte Swatches
Thanks to Meimei’s Signatures, I’ve been gifted with two new polishes to try and swatch! I’ve already reviewed Best Nail Treatment’s Bunny Girl in the previous post. The next would be the newest introduction into Meimei’s Signatures’ wide range of polishes, Megan Miller. Megan Miller – Latte I like the cork cap design – but most of the time I was wondering if it would ever disintegrate some day, haha. It’s pretty sturdy though, and the cork is actually surrounding a top cover so I gather that even if it disintegrates, it will still be able to prevent the polish from drying out. The beautifully designed Megan Millers are available at Meimei’s Signatures for $18…
Round Tip French Manicure
Was gifted with Best Nail Treatments’ Bunny Girl by Meimei’s Signatures, thank you dear! Best Nail Treatments’ Bunny Girl is a pretty pink in the bottle, and I know the brand name makes it sound like it’s a base coat or a topcoat, but it’s really a polish meant for french manicures and this color is just the perfect shade of jelly nude-pink! Here’s a swatch of it, 3 coats alone. A bit of a visible nail line, but that’s okay because I’m gonna do a french manicure right over it. I love the slight pink hue, because it’s not so overly pink that it’s unnatural, it’s a jelly which means it looks even…
China Glaze Tronica – High Def & Electra Magenta Swatches
I searched high and low for these, and I actually stood in front of them for 10 minutes searching for them because in the bottles, they didn’t look too impressive – I couldn’t spot the holo! I was wondering if I’d be disappointed – but after swatching them, I’m glad I got them! The Tronica collection is really pretty. High Def Was so, so so glad that I managed to get this shade! It’s a slightly muted royal blue holographic polish, though the holo effect isn’t as strong as those from CG’s Kaleidoscope collection (which.. unfortunately is really hard to get, meh). As you can see from the number of pictures,…
An Armed & Ready Essie & China Glaze Electric Beat / Prismatics from Spring 2012 collections
Essie & China Glaze both launched more than just one collection for the first quarter of 2012. My god! First from Essie, Essie Resort 2012, Essie Spring 2012 and Essie Go Overboard collection. And from the Go Overboard collection, I went straight for Armed & Ready! I was considering Go Overboard, but decided to scrape that as I have a similar shade from Orly. Armed & Ready I’ll call this a really dark, olive green accentuated with fine gold micro-shimmer… It’s the same “family” as OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? – It’s 若隐若现 (Peekaboo shimmer) hahaha. Formula was pretty good, and the brush was easy to control though slightly thin. Electric Beat…
BeautyAsia 2012 – Day 1 (Quick Coverage for Nail Polish Lovers)
Quick BeautyAsia Update This year’s BeautyAsia convention runs from 20th – 22nd Feb (till Wednesday), at Suntec Convention Hall (on the 4th Level, you can’t possibly miss it) and opens from 11am till 7pm. Prices China Glaze at $5 / 8 (depending on retailer, there’s 2, Ugateway ($5), and another more exp stall (United Nails Supply) which sells the latest Prisms collection, but $5.5 price is only applicable only if you buy above 12 bottles). Misa at $5 each – Plenty of colors! ORLY at $6 (does not include latest collection), Deborah Lippmann at $19, Zoya at $7 but are all subjected to 7% GST from Ugateway. Orly UV GelFX avail too but not sure…
OPI Holland
The latest offering from OPI – Holland collection for Spring 2012, which sees 12 lovely new shades. (Scroll to the bottom for more information about the other colors and links to lovely swatches by other bloggers) After much poking around for swatches, I decided on two gorgeous colors (well actually, just one. The other one belongs to Veronica but it’s so pretty that I want another for myself!) Dutch ’Ya Just Love OPI? Opaque in just ONE coat if you apply properly, and wow! The sun was perfect when I was swatching this, and it just took my breathe away! A deep, gorgeous plum purple with orange-gold shimmer in it, which shows up best in…
A-England The Legend Collection
Not sure if any one has heard of the legend of Saint George. I first heard of it when I was in Barcelona, where Saint George is the Patron saint of Catalunya / Catalonia, Barcelona. In short, he’s the saint who fought a dragon to save a princess, pierced him with a sword and where the blood was it spilled grew red roses. If you want to read more about it here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Day I loved A-England‘s polishes, and when I saw the new collection on Scrangie’s blog I immediately emailed them to order them even before they were up on the website! And now, they are here! Here are the colors I got!…
Some Rimmel polishes
Got them in London from Boots! Hot Shot Bright, neon pink. So bright that my camera went nuts and it turned orange so I had to adjust it a little in Lightroom… and tadah! My fingers are blue. Seriously. Very blue like almost poisoned cos I was swatching some blue polishes and they ALL stained my fingers! *Roars* Pretty color, nice brush.. And IIRC, cheap. LOL. It was a 2 for xx amount promotion in Boots. Not sure if you can find this in Singapore… But I don’t think so. Anyone care to enlighten me? Pompous I remember when I first saw/knew of the word Pompous back in my schooling days… I was smiling away…
Essence Polish Swatches
Found them in Barcelona. Whew! Thereafter I never managed to find them anywhere in France Guess I didn’t know where to look! Essence Twin Effects The twin effects had really cute names. Troy & Gabriella, Belle and Edward. And as the above suggest, they work best in pairs! But they could be purchased separately, and since I already bought some cremes from Kiko that were similar to the creme part of the pairs… I just bought the glitter alone. : D (06) Edward (Teal Glitter) It (he) was so sparkly, it (he) was practically begging to be carted. (08) Troy (Purple-Blue Glitter) You know what this one reminded me of… Mad as…
Rachel’s Wedding 04-02-2012
Rachel’s big day! She looked really resplendent in all her dresses and her red cheongsam for the day (tea ceremony) was gorgeous and fits her so well! I like! Plus she really worked it out for her wedding man – figure was perfect. If only I had half her sportiness… haha. Used for manicure: Zoya Raven Skinfood gold polish Gelish Top Coat Studs (I think Ying mentioned they were from Arab Street?) Actually it is not recommended to use gelish top coat over normal polishes as it may cause shrinkage or wrinkled nails, but mine felt fine (well it is day 1 after all) and even if it doesn’t last too long, it’s fine with…
Kiko Milano Polish Swatches
Some Kiko polishes I got in Rome, Italy. 245 (red) This cost me 3.90 Euros. The rest (below) are all 1.50 Euros (some promotion going on in store… I saw Kiko in Barcelona again but this time round they had no promos on the nail polishes, so I got make up instead! Prices in Italy and Barcelona were all the same.) 299 (teal blue, pearl-ascent) Reminds me of Zoya Kotori. But this is not as sheer. 301 (purple, pearl-ascent) The two above are pretty nice colors, but didn’t wow me much… saved by great brush and nice formula (and friendly price!) 293 (creme purple) 342 (creme teal) URGHHHHHHHH this one…
Accessorize Polishes (from London!)
From the moment I reached Europe I have been popping in and out and in and out of Accessorize shops to the extend where when le husband sees one he will automatically point it out to me. Hahaha. Anyway I was there only for the AWESOME polishes! (Which unfortunately, Singapore shops don’t carry.) At £4 per bottle they’re pretty okay priced – but it’s a pretty small bottle at 10ml (then again, 用不完 one). And the brushes… they’re okay but the one for Aztec drives me nuts. They have some really great colors. (I was dying for Pink Spice and Aztec ever since I saw Iris of Roguedeluxe’s post on them – Am still lemming…
Random Polishes from Europe! (swatches – GOSH, Models’ Own, H&M, Douglas)
So I got quite a number of polishes from all over the cities I visited in Europe… Basically Kiko in Italy, H&M, Accessorize and Models Own in London, etc etc… Here’s some of the single bottled ones I got! Model’s Own Pro – Green Envy (London) The shimmery green on the bottle caught my eye – and I got it instantly! If I recall correctly, this cost me £8, which works out to about $16 SGD at the time of my exchange rate. It’s supposed to be limited edition but it didn’t seem to be selling out anytime soon. From what I’ve read, the difference is just that this Pro range is the big 3…