Nail Ideas: More Chinese New Year!

Hi everybody!!

It's been too long since I was last here! I went to US and stopped at almost every nail polish place we chanced upon and tried out their polishes! There was so many that, even as I told myself that I would not get any for fear of them being confiscated at the customs or broken in my roughly handled luggages, I could not help buying three bottles >_<

Anyway, here is a picture taken on one of the days after visiting SEPHORA (omg nail polish heaven). Pardon the untidy painting because I was standing in the shop and people kept bumping into me.

China Glaze's Up All Night is on my little finger, but it has chipped from unpacking my luggage. Maybe a post next time! On the index, middle and ring fingers are from Nails Inc. I am totally in love with the one on my index and could not help staring at it all the time! Flakies! Not a great fan of green, but the one on my middle finger is gorgeous too! The one on the ring finger is a magnetic polish; the effect was more obvious right after I did it, but it actually faded away after a day! Was quite surprised and disappointed. No magnetic for me I guess? I cannot remember the one on my thumb but it reminds me of Deborah Lippman's Ruby Red Slippers, which I have been hankering after but could not find anywhere despite keeping a constant lookout. Quite upset about that. Oh well, but at least I can borrow it from Mich to try ;)

Anyway, so much about that. Let's get started with the nail idea for the lunar new year! As most Chinese would know, red is the colour to wear for the lunar new year; at least that is what is expected of us from the elders and the older generation. Colours like black or other darker colours are really taboo and a definite no-no, at least on the first day of the new year and when visiting others' houses. So, red nail polish is kinda 'duh'. Something like this:

 And under white light (super bling-bling!):

I used Paris NeedMe nail polish for the base. It has a bit of a pearly finish, but that is not quite obvious. The formula is quite thick, so one coat is sufficiently opaque. The red is quite bright on first coat, but a second coat gives it a deeper tone that I love. This is with one coat:

This is with two coats (you can see the pearly finish a bit better here):

The difference is not very obvious, but I personally prefer two coats, because the dark red is so mesmerising. However, bearing in mind that my grandmother prefers to see brighter colours for the new year, I have decided to stick with one coat. Here is a side-by-side comparison (only the nail on the little finger received two coats):

I made the camera go out of focus so that the glitter would be less distracting and the base would become more obvious, as in this picture:



And that brings me to the glitter polish, something that we have come across before, right here on ThePolishWell: OPI's Teenage Dream! As in the picture below, the glitter is silver and reflects multi-coloured goodness (picture above) =O

The glitter is quite dense, so one layer is enough (for me):

Somehow, I saw one of the polishes I bought in the US - Sinful Colors: Nail Junkie - and thought: why not? It was kind of an impulsive decision to layer Nail Junkie on, since green (sheer green base) does not go all that well with red, right? But I was too anxious to try on the tantalising bottle to care. So here it is - just one coat and the glitter is so dense and breathtaking:

The formula is jelly-like yet not so thick that it's difficult to apply. In fact the glitter spreads out more easily than those in Teenage Dream. Even so, the density is enough to go without needing another coat! I simply love this polish!

Admittedly, it is not the perfect combination but it did not turn out as bad as I thought it would. Perhaps I was too pessimistic. But the thing is, layering Nail Junkie on red is awesome!! I have since then looked at other swatches of Nail Junkie, but most of them are on green-ish polish, and as mentioned above, green is not really my colour. So this really made my day - that my green-ish Nail Junkie polish turned out to be so awesome. Muahaha. Following which, I went mad with the camera. Here's Nail Junkie on red from the left:

Here's Nail Junkie on red from the top; from this angle, it is so dark and mysterious, yet shiny and colourful:

From the left:

I am totally taken away by this seemingly ordinary polish. Purple, blue, teal, lime green, yellow, orange - it has it all! The glitter comes in different shapes and sizes, just like those in Teenage Dream. Definitely goes right to my list of favourite polishes! Here's a real close-up view, and you can see the red base work its wonder:

The red base does not make the background seem so harsh, as a black base would. Some other bloggers who have used Nail Junkie layered it over navy or dark green, but that would not quite go with the Chinese New Year theme in my case. However, I might just try a comparison swatch with my other dark coloured polishes with Nail Junkie some time in the future, so watch this space! ;)

So here is the end result - all bright red with a tinge of rebelliousness =P

With this bright red get-up, you might even be forgiven for bringing that black wallet or handbag out, or wearing black killer heels (though you still might not want to wear a black dress).

Here's wishing you a very happy lunar new year, and may all good things come your way! Let me indulge in some festive greetings: 恭喜发财，万事如意，鸿运当头，事事顺利! (Loosely translates to: have a prosperous and smooth-sailing year ahead!) =D

Till next time,
xoxo
jayo