More awesome giveaways!

From Polish Vixen: here

Congrats Marisa!

From Sam @Fashion Police:

here

here

here

Congratulations Sam!

On a side note, we are on our way to our first 50 followers (including our blog at tumblr)! Woo hooooo! We are definitely considering a giveaway once we reached the 50th mark! What better way to share a little polish love? ^_^ 

xoxo

Nail Fails: Water Marbling

Wow! It's already more than a month since we started blogging! Time really flies! So, I would like to start off this post by thanking all our followers for your support! We hope that you've enjoyed our posts as much as we've enjoyed writing them. :)

Although we have kind of neglected our blog for the past few weeks due to exams, we promise that we will blog more regularly from now on. *pinky promise* We are also looking at making some changes to our blog so do look out for them! We gladly welcome any suggestions for our blog. So please feel free to let us know what you would like to see!

Ok. On to today's post!

Ever since I've started frequently nail blogs, I thought that it will be fun to try some water marbling! Some of the designs are just so pretty!!

So... I enthusiastically took out all the barang-barang (meaning: things) and prepared my nail by wrapping them and painting one coat of white. Then, I chose three random cheap polishes and dripped them onto the water surface (it was at room temperature!).

Then... they refused to spread! *horrors* So began the search for another trio... It didn't take me long to discover that Camelot spreads like a dream over the water surface and I decided to pair it with my other two a-england pretties: Tristam and Lady of the Lake. They both spread beautifully too!

Most unfortunately...... I bunged up the design and this was how it turned out on my nail:

See the clump of black near my cuticles? I don't understand why the polish pool on the nail near that cuticles. It looks as if I have flooded them with nail polish!

Annnnd, you're right! There are bubbles everywhere! I have no idea why they appeared. :((

I was so disappointed in my design, or more accurately, the lack of a design, I didn't wait for the polish to dry before removing it. Some how, I've also missed the prettier part of the design - which got stuck onto the tape on the sides of my finger.

See the different rings? They look so pretty on the tape! I've completely missed that on my nail -_-|| Sigh.

I shall try water marbling again one day. I refoooooosee to believe that I cannot do this.
Any tips for me? :( I would really appreciate any help I can get!

xoxo

p.s. this should be the last of our scheduled posts! We will be having our last paper tomorrow! yippeeeeee!  So do watch out for more polishes coming your way! =D

Nail mail earlier this week

OPI: Ink

Today, I have for you one of the very first OPI I've bought...

OPI Ink is a stunning blurple loaded with blue, purple and even a scattering of pink shimmer. It looks absolutely magical and mysterious in the bottle:

On the nails, it is a gorgeous shade of royal purple but it occasionally shifts to a deep navy blue.

I had such a hard time trying to capture the colour on the camera! It actually appeared very blue on my camera. So, I spent a long time adjusting my hands to try and capture a glimpse of purple. But when I transferred the pictures onto my computer... *BAM* all the pictures appear purple and I could hardly spot the blue. :(

Here are the only pictures (out of the tonnes I took) that could capture the purple and the blue:

If you look closely at the picture above, the edges are distinctly blue while the center of the nails appear more purple. (please excuse the random flake on the ring finger.)

And in the picture below, the blue is more obvious on the left halves of the nails:

A close-up of the nail:

As with all other OPI colours, the formula and brush are great. The first coat is rather sheer but it is opaque on the second coat.

After all this while, OPI Ink is still one of my favourite colours. Although I love to try different colours on my fingers, I wear Ink on my toes most of the time. It's a gorgeous colour, shimmery, duo-chromatic, and totally exudes gothic charm. <3

What are your favourite nail colours that you will recommend?

xoxo

OPI: I Lily Love You

Goooood morning! Today, I have for you I Lily Love You - a layering polish from OPI's Summer Nice Stems Collection 2011.

I wasn't really interested in the pink hues they had to offer but the sparkly ILLY immediately caught my eye. It's a sheer pink polish packed with a mish-mash of all sorts of glitter and different sized flakes.

See how bright they are!

Here's ILLY on its own (3 coats):

Not very exciting on its own I must say... But it looks fabulous when layered over other colours!

Here's one coat of ILLY over two coats of Who Needs A Prince: soft, sweet and girly fun all at once!

Here's one coat of ILLY over three coats of The One That Got Away: glittery bomb!

indoors

You can see that the glitter and flakes in ILLY really complements the glass flecks in TOTGA. The result? A sparkling manicure with lots of depth!

From left to right:
Three coats of ILLY
2 coats of WNAP + 1 coat of ILLY
3 coats of TOTGA + 1 coat of ILLY
1 coat of ILLY

Overall, I really like how it takes on a different character depending on the base colour but I probably wouldn't wear it on its own though.

I guess you can already tell from the number of pictures which layering combination is my favourite! ^_^
Which is your favourite layering combination?

xoxo

Giveaways!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Another week passed quickly and I still haven't made much progress with my revision. :(

As an apology for not updating this blog as frequently as before...

Here's a giveaway hosted by Lucy from Lucy's Stash:

Can you believe it!? The new beetlejuice collection!!!
Closing date: 20 Dec 2011

Lucy is also hosting another giveaway for reaching 1100 followers:

This is ending in only a few days!
Closing date: 17 Nov 2011

And... here's another giveaway from Traceface Philes:

Closing Date: 25 Nov 2011

Hope these good news make up for our absence :)

xoxo

OPI: Cuckoo For This Color

I couldn't resist. Yes. Yet another green!

I bought Cuckoo For This Color on impulse quite a while ago but never got around to trying it because it looked rather disappointing in the bottle - a dark but faded / muted sort of green.

Anyway, I finally decided to try this color because it looked rather miserable sitting in the corner of my drawer. ><

To my surprise, it turned out to be quite a beauty!

On the nails, the dusty green transformed into dark teal shade that takes on a slightly more blue-ish or green-ish hue depending on the angle at which you look at it.

It even has the slight dark-at-the-edges look:

AND... it has a scattering of bright blue micro-glitter! What really surprised me was that it's very sparkly even in the shade!

The slight frost finish only shows up under flash:

I couldn't help but compare it with my other green polish, Sally Hansen's Jumpin' Jade.
Although they look similar from afar, they are really different on closer inspection. Cuckoo For This Color has a stronger blue base.

On index and ring: Cuckoo For This Color
On middle and pinkie: Jumpin' Jade

Excuse the flooded cuticle on the middle finger, I still have not mastered the Sally Hansen Insta-dri brush :( But I'm slowly getting better!

The difference is clearer under flash:

On index and ring: Cuckoo For This Color
On middle and pinkie: Jumpin' Jade

CFTC is also slightly more sparkly:

On index and ring: Cuckoo For This Color
On middle: Jumpin' Jade

On index and ring: Cuckoo For This Color
On middle: Jumpin' Jade
(with flash)

Top: Jumpin' Jade
Bottom: Cuckoo For This Color

I would say that both colors are gorgeous in their own ways. Jumpin' Jade appears more mysterious while CFTC comes across as being more glamourous... Perfect for that upcoming Christmas party! Yup, it's just round the corner!!

Random shot of christmas decor along Orchard Road

xoxo

Giveaways!

Boo! Here I am again! I just can't seem to keep myself off the internet. ><

Anyway, I'm just popping by to share a few goodies with you!

Two of my favourite nail bloggers, Eugenia from Ommorphia and Sam from Fashion Polish are celebrating one year of blogging by having giveaways!

picture source

Here's wishing Ommorphia and Fashion Polish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ^_^

While we celebrate and enjoy the giveaways, we really must thank Eugenia and Sam for all the hard work they have put into bringing us the wonderful swatches and reviews!

After starting our own nail blog, we realized that it is really not an easy thing to do. While we absolutely love to paint our own nails, swatching takes it to a whole new level! There's photographing, removing the polish to swatch another (which makes the cuticles weep), choosing and editing the photos, etc... and last, but definitely not least, writing the blog post. It really takes a lot of effort and passion to continue blogging!

So here's a huge THANK YOU to Eugenia, Sam and all the other nail bloggers out there! You are truly inspiring to all of us newbies! :)

And if you are not already following them, you are sure missing out a lot! ;)

xoxo

Edit: I've decided to have a giveaways page for all the links to the giveaways. Do check these bloggers out!

a-england: Tristam

Forgive me, for I have broken my promise of doing my revision. BUT I just couldn't leave Tristam alone without having it on my nails!

I'm sure many of you would have already heard of a-england. This London-based brand has been making waves amongst polish-lovers ever since it launched both for its wonderful polishes and the very interesting medieval concept behind its collection. Who could resist gothic charm?

As for me, I've been itching to try a-england since I saw swatches of The Mythicals on some of the polish blogs. So, I finally took the jump and bought three polishes after finding out about they are currently providing free international shipping on all orders!

Tristam was the first to make it on my list.

TRISTAM the courteos knight
The symbol of the knightly virtue, and romantic love. When Tristam and Iseult accidentally consume a love potion, fall helplessly in love. Despite facing numerous trials to test their secret affair their love was never known to fade.

Source: wiki

I must confess I am not very familiar with the legend but I was immediately drawn by it and spent almost an hour googling and reading it. It is such a beautiful romantic story! *dreamy*

Ok, back to the polish...
Tristam is described as the colour of a "night blue sky with starlight glimmer and glow". And, oh, it's simply gorgeous!

On the nails, it is an alluring shade of dark navy blue / indigo packed with lots of shimmer that gives the colour a speckled look from afar, very much like twinkling white stars.

On closer look, you can see the subtle and elegant holographic effect.

And here's a close up:

Oops! Sorry I went a little picture crazy this time. But, ahhhh... it's just so gorgeous!! I couldn't stop taking photos of this beauty and trust me, these photos are just fraction of what I took.

I am more than pleased with a-england's polish...
Not only is the color perfect, the formula is excellent. It is very smooth and pigmented - I could get away with one thick coat if I really want to. It is quick to dry and extremely shiny! The close-up above was taken without top coat. I kid you not. You can even see the window grills on the left and my reflection on the right.
Application was also easy - all the pictures are taken without any clean-up!

So... what are you waiting for?
The Mythicals are available on their website. They are still offering free international shipping for all orders and delivery is extremely fast. It took only about a week to get to the far-away island of Singapore.

I can't wait to see their new collection and try other colours from The Mythicals. What colours do you have your eye on?

xoxo

---
Edit: 9 Nov 2011

You might have already realised from the pictures above that they are taken on a cloudy day.
Well, the sun finally came out this afternoon! And guess what?
My camera and I literally went crazy from the holo!! The camera was actually making so much strange clicking and whirling noises that I was afraid it may die on me.
Thank goodness it survived to tell the tale:

Colours were literally dancing on my nails and they shimmered each time I move my hand around!! You really have to see it for yourselves! It's absolutely breathtaking!
I think the last few pictures really showed how the holographic glitter looks against the deep blue base... it's really beautiful and almost magical. *sighs happily*

And yup, that was four days without chipping! ^_^

xoxo