Nail Art Brushes!

 Sent for Review

Happy Easter everyone!

I'm just popping by for a quick post because I had been really busy brewing magic potions in my cauldron for the past few days. You can catch a sneak peek of my concoctions at my Instagram page. Everything is still not finalized yet but I am hoping to get them ready soon!

In the meantime, I thought I should share one of my recent finds on Born Pretty Store:

Nail art brush p*rn! As much as I try to do my nail art with just one nail art brush, I have to admit that different nail art techniques require different nail art tools for the best effect. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this set of nail art brushes that contains almost every brush that I can think of!

The fine tipped brushes that I reach out for very often to do details.

Thicker nail art brushes - fine-tipped, flat-ended or angled. I simply must try the one-stroke nail art technique one day!

Striping brushes that are good for drawing stripes. I used to avoid these because I thought the long brushes are hard to control but I've learnt to love them.

Fan brushes! To be honest, I have been looking for them for a while now. I love how people have used them for stripes, etc.

Last but not least, a fine dotting tool for some really precise dots.

Just in case you are wondering, you can find this set of 15 brushes (Item ID: 439) at the Born Pretty Store here for only about US$6 (definitely value for money if you ask me)! Born Pretty Store also has a wide range of nail art products and provide free worldwide shipping. Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

**Products are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**

Nail Ideas: Classy Studdicure

Sent for Review

Erm, so yes, I don't really know what to name this post BUT let's not dwell on my lack of creativity and focus on these pretty studs instead:

I was browsing through the Born Pretty Store online when I chanced upon this set of studs and I knew I simply had to have it. There are 12 different kinds of studs - oh, just imagine the possibilities!

Of these, the donut / wheel stud caught my attention immediately. I haven't actually seen it being used before so naturally I had to try my hand at it and this is what I (finally) came up with:

A simple design with a silver donut/wheel stud and two black studs, one in the center of the silver donut/wheel stud and the other just below it. I started with two coats of Orly White Champagne - a beautiful shimmery white. Then, I topped it with a coat of Seche Vite and stuck the studs on it before the topcoat dries. I thought the donut/wheel stud stuck out a little at the edges but it was surprisingly firm on the nail. I didn't leave it on for too long though so I am not sure if it will last beyond a day.

To be honest, I am on the fence for this one. It looks a little strange close up but I think it looks rather classy at a distance - probably something I can wear to a semi-formal event?

What do you think of this manicure?

Just in case you are wondering, you can find this set of studs (Item ID: 4993) at the Born Pretty Store here. And it looks something like that:

It is such a convenient and neat way to keep the studs! All you have to do is to turn the plastic cover and position the hole over the studs that you want.

Here's a quick view of all the studs in their little compartments without the plastic cover:

Born Pretty Store also has a wide range of nail art products and provide free worldwide shipping! Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

**Products are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**

Press Release: China Glaze App!

Oops! A little late on this one but I thought I should share this anyway because I love to match my nails to my outfit. It really completes the look!

Swatch it, watch it, match it! China Glaze® brings the world of nail color to life with the launch of the NEW China Glaze® App for iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®. The free app offers multiple features perfect for every nail polish enthusiast, and utilizes the latest cutting edge technology to transport users into China Glaze®’s colorful universe.

Nail polish enthusiasts will love the multiple features of the new China Glaze® App.

The new China Glaze® App offers a first of its kind “Match A Color” feature, where users can truly “Live In Colour” from the palm of their hands. “Match A Color” was created with the latest technology to allow users to take a photo of anything they desire with their iPhone®, iPad ® or iPod® touch and then browse through multiple options, from exact shade matches to related textures from the brand’s expansive treasury of over 300 colors.  This must-have feature allows nail polish enthusiasts to find polish-spiration anywhere at anytime.  That hot pink bag you were eyeing? Yep, there’s a China Glaze® polish for that.

In “Try It On,” users will find themselves in a China Glaze® fitting room, where they can select shades from the China Glaze® closet to try on customizable virtual nails. Users can determine which shade looks best on them by adjusting the nail length and skin tone to match their own hand, and save desired shades to the device’s camera roll for easy reference.

Sharing is caring, and in the colorful world of China Glaze®, “What’s Haute” is the place to see what’s hot. Connect here with the brand to see real-time updates of new collections, nail trends and “how-to” video feeds from the official China Glaze® YouTube Channel.  All features on the China Glaze® App allows users to share their favorite shades with their social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Did you say your friend really liked the shade Re-Fresh Mint you were wearing yesterday? Send the color straight to her Facebook page, or @her on Instagram.

Nail professionals, the China Glaze® app has something for you, as well. Salons and nail pros can register for product updates and to be listed in the Salon Locator feature, currently in development for future updates. Also in the works are features to expand the China Glaze® app into a true community, including Discussion Boards, Wish Lists and more.  

The China Glaze® App is available for free download from the App Store on iPhone®, iPad® or iPod® touch or at www.AppStore.com

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China Glaze® is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze® nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze® on Facebook (facebook.com/chinaglazeofficial), Twitter (@chinaglaze), Instagram (@chinaglazeofficial) and Pinterest (@chinaglaze).

China Glaze® is a division of American International Industries.

About American International Industries

For 42 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines include Andrea, Ardell, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, It’s So Easy, Jeris-Lustray, LASH BeLONG, Nail Tek, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Poshe, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.

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Do you match your nails with what you wear?

How-to: Nail Whitening

Purchased By Me

Once in a while, I get a little crazy and I'll look at my nails and start thinking, "Hmm I feel like going naked today." But, of course, I never had the courage to do that because my nails are horribly stained from wearing polish almost everyday for more than a year! And that is the vicious cycle of polish: polish -> stained nails -> more polish to hide stains, etc.

So when I heard that Cuccio's nail whitening paste was available at a good deal at this year's BeautyAsia fair, I jumped at the chance to try it for myself. I didn't actually manage to go to the fair but the lovely Lauretta from A Lacquered Affair helped me grab a tube to try! Thank you, L!

The instructions are simple: (paraphrased below)

1. Wet a nail brush thoroughly.
2. Squeeze a generous amount of nail whitening paste on the brush.
3. Scrub like nobody's business. (Official instruction says to scrub for 1 min. Longer if your nails are very stained.)

Of course, I had to do it my own way. Since I didn't have a nail brush, I used a small toothbrush instead. I've tried putting the paste on the brush but I realized that it is quite wasteful as the paste gets smooshed deep into the bristles so I dabbed a bit of paste on each nail instead. I did follow step 3 to the T though. 

I was a little disappointed on my first try but I stuck to it and diligently scrubbed my nails everyday for 6 days and I am extremely happy to say: YES, it works! Take a look:

Before:

Yea... those orange tips make me cringe too. >.< Only the nails near the cuticles are "spared" because they are relatively new growths.

After:

Gosh, my nails grow pretty quickly, don't they? But, no more orange stains! I grabbed my sister's hands for a quick comparison and my nails still look slightly yellowish next to hers but she did comment that they look much healthier.

I paraded around with my nails naked and it sure felt good... for two days. I couldn't take it any longer and slapped on some color after that. :P
I did vow to scrub my nails at least once a week though to keep them looking healthy so I can go naked whenever I feel like it.

Do you have stained nails too? How do you whiten them?

xoxo,
mich

Color Club: Halo Hues 2013

In 2012, Color Club took the nail community by storm with their Halo Hues - a gorgeous collection of six holographic shades with excellent formula. This year, Color Club once again lived up to all our expectations by delivering six more stunning holos:

Mindblowingly holo, aren't they? I've skipped the holos last year because they were too light for my taste but the 2013 ones come in more saturated colors so I caved in and snapped them up!

Swatches below are taken under indirect light and direct morning sunlight (super sunny - Singapore style). Please excuse any awkwardness in the sunlight pictures - it was so sunny I couldn't see a thing on my camera when I took the pictures. Please also excuse the weird red glow on the bottle in some shots - I was wearing my red t-shirt and the sunlight was bouncing off it in all directions... *_*

Kismet. 2 coats.
A lime green-gold holo. I thought this would be my least favorite from this collection because I am not a lime person but seeing as I've already started using it for nail art, it looks like I do love it after all!

Cosmic Fate. 2 coats.
An orange-tan holo. Interesting color - I haven't actually seen a lot of orange holos. It is not as mannequin on me as it looks in this picture. The morning sun made my hands look more orange than it actually is.

Miss Bliss. 2 coats.
Pink holo. I am not a pink person either but this was a medium pink that was not too coy so I am ok with it. Plus, the holo-ness redeemed it all.

Eternal Beauty. 2 coats.
Another saturated color... this is a medium purple holo. Really pretty. Not my usual shade of purple but I do like it a lot.

Over The Moon. 2 coats.
A medium aqua blue holo that reminds me of Layla Ocean Rush. I am all for blues this year so naturally I had to get this.

Beyond. 2 coats.
Charcoal black holo. Gahhh... no words for this beauty.

As you can see, these colors are really holographic so it was hard for me to capture a shot to show the base colors on the nails. I was only able to capture them on swatch sticks (on a cloudy day, no less) because the plastic swatch stick dulled the holo significantly (they blaze with rainbow goodness on the underside where I paint the polish) :

Although the plastic swatch sticks dulls the holo, be rest assured that you can add a topcoat over these beauties to protect them from chipping. Thicker topcoats may dull the holo a little initially but the holo should be back to business once the topcoat dries to a thin film - at least that's my theory. :P I've tried topping them with my usual Seche Vite and it did not seem to dull the holo significantly.

Application for these pretties were excellent. Unlike other fickle holos, I did not have any trouble applying these over my usual base coat, NailTek Foundation II, and they only required two coats for complete coverage. Really, what more can I ask for? Nothing... except more holos? *flutters my lashes*

What do you think of these holos? Which ones caught your eye?

xoxo,
mich

Comparison: Revlon Royal & OPI Eurso Euro

Here's a quickie comparison between Revlon Royal and OPI OPI... Eurso Euro:

Sorry for the slightly dark lighting. This is the only way that I can photograph these accurately.

As you can see, the colors are really close but not identical. OPI... Eurso Euro is a tad more red-toned as compared to Revlon Royal. Royal is also slightly brighter and more vibrant.

If I really have to choose between one of them (heaven forbid), I will go for Revlon Royal. It is more versatile - think jelly sandwich, etc! <3

Which do you prefer?

xoxo,
mich

Nail Ideas: St. Patrick's Day Manicure!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Although we don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Singapore, I couldn't help joining in the fun after seeing so many St. Patty's Day manicures on Instagram! So here's a quick manicure for the day:

Of course, it had to be green! I used OPI Stranger Tides as the base color. Then, using a fan brush, I added stripes with Color Club Kismet (for a glimmer of the mythical gold and rainbow) and a-england Dragon. Here's a quick tutorial by simplenailartdesigns for those who are interested. My stripes are a little sparse though and I thought it ended up looking a little like the spun sugar / stringing mani I did before!

What do you think of this mani? How are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

On another note, I've just realized that Google is killing Google Reader for some unfathomable reason. The service will end on the 1 July 2013 so if you have been following our blog and other nail blogs via rss feed on Google Reader, you may want to consider hunting around for an alternative. There are plenty of articles floating on the net on this topic - eg. lifehacker. Alternatively, you can also find us on bloglovin'! <3

xoxo,
mich

OPI: Euro Centrale 2013

Yay! I am finally done going through the pre-orders so I took some time to play with some of the pretties that I've got this week!

Presenting... *drumroll*... my picks from OPI's Euro Centrale collection!

Oh my... look at those blues!! They stole my heart the minute I saw them in the preview picture. :L

My Vampire Is Buff. 3 thin coats.
A pretty pale yellow-toned beige. A bit more beige than what this picture shows - closer to the color in the first picture. I don't usually buy shades like these (especially yellows) but I love how soft and delicate this is!

You're Such A Budapest. 3 thin coats.
A pretty periwinkle with very subtle blue and pink shimmer. You can see the shimmer in the bottle (pic below) but it doesn't show up very much on the nails (close-up on left). Oh and I absolutely love the name for this one - too cute!

Can't Find My Czechbook. 2 coats.
A gorgeous aqua blue that is both bright and dusty at the same time. It is dustier looking than what the picture shows - closer to what the swatch stick shows. Definitely more gorgeous than what I can capture. Love the name too!

OPI... Eurso Euro. 2 coats.
A vibrant deep cobalt blue - another stunner. I had a super hard time trying to photograph this - somehow my camera picks up the vibrance but couldn't handle the richness of the blue. The first picture shows how rich and deep the cobalt is.
And, yes this is almost an exact dupe of a hot favorite: Revlon Royal. Almost... but not really. I wanted to do a comparison but I realized I've used up my Revlon. I need to head out and get one asap. On the swatch sticks, Eurso Euro is slightly more red-toned and is less jelly/squishy as compared to Royal (let me know if you want a picture). They do smell the same though - probably because they used the same ingredient.

I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw. 2 coats.
Ahhh... a rich midnight blue. Another head-turner. No way I could pass it up.

Formula-wise... I did have some trouble with certain shades.
My Vampire Is Buff and You're Such A Budapest were slightly thin and streaky. I had to use three coats and even then, I am not entirely satisfied with how they look.
OPI... Eurso Euro is a crelly (creme-jelly) so application was a bit tricky as well. Too much exposure to the air and it will start to thicken up. If that happens, cap the bottle and give it a little shake before painting again.
Warsaw and Can't Find My Czechbook applied beautifully.

So what do you think of these colors? Which Euro Centrale colors caught your eye?

xoxo,
mich

Femme Fatale Cosmetics: Librarian's Shush & Sparkleshell

Happy Sunday everyone!!
Weekends are fast becoming my favorite time of the week but, urgh, it is just too short! If I run the country, I would decree that we should all work on weekends and rest on weekdays... right. :et

So anyway, here are some swatches of my recent haul from Shoppe Eceleticco - yup, MOAR Femme Fatale Cosmetics!! :e

Librarian's Shush. 3 coats.
A soft light grey filled with a mix of white, black and silver glitters. I bought this after seeing a swatch, thinking that it was a latte with black, white and brown glitters but for some reason, mine turned out to be quite different. I must admit being a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong - this is pretty but I was hoping to get some nude glitters for work. 8|

Sparkleshell. 3 coats.
A soft yellow-white / ivory color with brown, yellow-gold, purple and periwinkle glitters. I fell in love with the unique combination and it sure didn't disappoint! I am not too sure what it is meant to resemble but Google gave me this:

and lots of other reference to World of Warcraft? I am not a gamer so pardon me if I am a bit perplexed.

Formula-wise, I am very happy to report that everything was a-ok! Not much glitter fishing was needed this time round because the glitters are not too large or heavy.

So, what do you think of these FFCs?

xoxo,
mich