Urban Decay Sale at Hautelook!

The Sale is on! Urban Decay Sale at Hautelook!

There's not a ton of selection- but it's on SALE!!! lol There are some eyeshadows, pocket rocket glosses, a few body powders, nail polish set, and a few other things.

Check out the Urban Decay sale at Hautelook!

Le Chat Summer 2011

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I had some press releases from Le Chat in my Inbox, so I thought I'd show you the ones you might be interested in.

Available for sale tomorrow (with "Where???" being the eternal question...) is a Dare to Wear collection of mostly metallic nail polishes.  Sorry about the little pictures, they're all I have.

Dare to Wear Bling It On Collection

They're also doing a collection of neon soak off gel polishes for their Perfect Match line, as well as a handful of other colors.

Le Chat Perfect Match Neon Gel Polishes

Le Chat Perfect Match Gel Polish, New Shades for Summer 2011

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Preview: New Bundle Monster Plates

You may have noticed that I don't post many previews. In fact, I don't think I've ever posted one but this upcoming release has me really excited.

Bundle Monster have been posting previews of the new plates on their Facebook recently. So far, they've been kind enough to show us five of their new designs.

This time around there will be 25 plates with 'lots of full nail and french tip designs'. The full nail and tip designs will be larger than the ones on the last set which I'm sure will come as good news to everyone.

At the moment, I can't find any evidence of a release date that's set in stone. It seems as though the guys over at Bundle Monster are working as hard as they can to finalize all the designs and make the plates available to us as soon as they can, which should be just a few weeks.

Follow Bundle Monster on Facebook and/or Twitter if you want to be the first to know when these plates go on sale.

I can't wait for the release of these plates and I'll be getting them as soon as possible. Here's to hoping they won't sell out before I get a chance!

EDIT: Since I posted this, they have released more pictures on their Facebook page. There are pictures of the actual plates and you can see the new, bigger pattern size.

The set of 25 plates will cost $21.99.

EDIT: Since I first published this post, I've edited it a few times to add new plates as we get them. There are a further 6 plates to the ones in the picture above and here they are all together.

EDIT: 3 more previews added 21/04/11

To buy these plates from Amazon.com @ $21.99, click here

To buy these plates from Amazon.co.uk @ £16.99, click here

Do You Think I'm Tex-y Too?

It's just a quick one today. I did spend quite a while writing about how I think this shade is similar to OPI's Do You Think I'm Tex-y then realised it didn't really make any sense! I blame it on the cold I've been suffering with since the weekend, my head is all stuffed up and I'm just too tired to make real sentences.

Konad Plate: M57

Base Colour: NYC Glossies 235

Konad Colour: Stargazer White

Top Coat of NYC

China Glaze Island Escape Swatches & Comparison

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still waiting for word on yesterday's interview, which went really well, so I have no news on that front, [I got the call - I JUST GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!] but I got a surprise from China Glaze this morning, so I have things to show you.  I went out to get some coffee early this morning, and as I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a Post-It on my front door, and when I went to look at it I found it was from FedEx and there was a little box at the door even though I wasn't expecting any deliveries.  I'm hoping it was placed there just yesterday... Anyhow, when I got back home I opened it up to find that China Glaze had sent their upcoming Island Escape collection for review, so I have some pictures for you.

First, I swatched the six polishes on a little thingy of fake nails (I believe "thingy" is the industry technical term for it), which I've never done before.  To be honest, I have no idea why I even had the fake nail thingy, it must have come with something else at some point, but it worked out fine.  Second, the sunlight here is almost non-existent and I did the best I could for you on the pictures, but if I notice a few minutes of good light I'll take additional pictures and add them to this post.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Swatches, Two Coats Each

For reference, everything in the picture other than nail polish is white, that's the light I was working with.  As for the polishes, I thought I'd just go through them one at a time like usual.  If you click the picture it'll open full sized in a new tab, which may be the easiest way to go back and forth to it.

Electric Pineapple is a yellow creme that has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it reminds me of a yellower Misa Green with Envy.  It's quite opaque for a yellow, and the second coat made it even and opaque.

Cha Cha Cha is a yellowish green with a gold shimmer, very much like China Glaze Moonpool, and I compared the two to find that Cha Cha Cha is a little bit brighter.  The only notable application issue was that I found brush strokes were pretty evident in the shimmer even after it dried, so it has to be applied carefully.  Here's Cha Cha Cha with Moonpool.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Moonpool Comparison, Two Coats Each

Blue Iguana is a great glass flecked bright blue, very much like a glass flecked version of Nubar's Mali Blue, which is a shimmer.  Actually, three of these are about the same base color as three of that Nubar collection with a different finish.  Anyhow, the color of Blue Iguana is gorgeous - I spent a couple weeks in the Bahamas a few years ago, and the balcony of the room I stayed in had a clear view of the beach and ocean (which I could stare at for hours), and Blue Iguana is the color that the water was near the shore.  There were no application issues to mention.

Senorita Bonita has the same finish as Blue Iguana, but the shimmer bits are pink in a purple base.  Senorita Bonita's base color is very similar to Nubar's Pasadena Purple, again with a different finish.  Again, nothing was noteworthy about its application.

108 Degrees is a fantastic bright pink, also with the same finish as the previous two, and the base color immediately brought to mind Nubar's Hollywood Pink.  108 Degrees was also easy to apply and even.

Papaya Punch is an orange creme, and it reminds me a lot of OPI's Flit A Bit from last year's Summer Flutter Collection.  Papaya Punch is quite thick, but I did not find that to be problematic, and it was almost good with just one coat (it needed the second to even out the color).

That's just about everything I know about China Glaze's Island Escape Collection, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

EZ Flow The It List

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I've been neglecting you because I've been neglecting my nails, I'm sorry.  I just wasn't up for dealing with another long removal and redoing this fake tip until I absolutely had to, and today I had to.  The old mani was nine days grown out and had a chip near a cuticle because I decided to tidy up my cuticles while taking a scalding hot bath a few days ago, and a bit of the gel came off when I did, so they weren't really looking too good.  Early this morning I got a call to set up a second interview for a position I really (really, really, really) want, and it's tomorrow morning, so the time had come to redo my nails.

The removal of the old mani was long again.  I did some more hunting for tips online and saw people say that the remover works better than acetone, so I used the remover that came packaged with it, but it was still pretty bad.  Since the Nubar removal was the easiest, what I did this time was use Nubar Gelicure products for nail prep, base, and sealer, and just the EZ Flow color gel in the middle.  This is my third time time using EZ Flow color gel, and I find that it shrinks in application quite a bit - both times before were with the whole EZ Flow system, so it doesn't seem like product incompatibility would be the problem here.  I worked around the shrinkage as well as I could, and the whole application, including one sculpted tip, was finished in under forty-five minutes (that's excluding the removal of the old one).

I went over a few options I had for what color to use this week (pretty easy since I don't have a ton of choices), and I found one I'm content with.  I considered a nice French, but vetoed it for this particular interview because it's a little on the girly side - the job's an IT team lead role, and girly just doesn't cut it.  I considered going with just clear since my nails are white enough to do that now, but I'm never comfortable with that and it would be distracting to me, and that thought led me to just wear something I'd be comfortable and confident in, which was a darker shimmery red from EZ Flow called The It List.  I know it's a bit bold, but I'll still be very understated overall - my clothes are the dressy IT choice of a charcoal skirt and a black sweater.

EZ Flow The It List Soak Off Color Gel

Looks like I got some towel lint on there after I washed my hands when I finished, so we'll all have to pretend we don't see that.  Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - it's familiar, not especially attention-grabbing, and so I'll be at ease wearing it.  The last thing I want to be thinking about for even a moment during the second interview for a dream job is my nails, and that'll be easy with this.

So that's the update for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Scotch Tape Take Two

Try and say that ten times fast?!

I just want to say thank you for all the lovely birthday messages. I truly loved them, thank you so much. It's so good to hear that plenty of you are still acting young for your years and getting away with it!

I've gone for a patchwork look this time with the scotch tape. The base is BYS Metallic Fuschia, then I painted on the purple sections with Barbara Daly Velour and the last layer is Rimmel Lycra Wear Black Satin. I used a thick top coat of NYC in an attempt to flatten out the lines.

Then I added some little sequins which I think is a nice touch but I preferred it without.

20 Candles

I turned twenty today. It's kind of momentus but disappointing at the same time. I'm no longer a teenager, I am a fully qualified 'adult' which I suppose is okay, but I sure am gonna miss being a teenager and getting away with all the things you can before you reach this age. Only five years ago, I was looking up at twenty-somethings and thinking, 'Woooooooow, look how old and responsible they are' but now it's me and I still feel like a 13 year old inside, but I suppose it'll always be that way.

So the nails are a cake and candles!

Thumb:

George @ Asda - Natural White

Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Dynasty

BYS - Astro Gold

Nails Inc - Victoria

Fingers:

Rimell Lycra Wear - Black Satin

Stargazer - White

Sally Hansen Chrome - Amber

I used nail art brushes to freehand the candles and a dotting tool for the flames.

Acrylic Nail Paint

Hello girls!

As I blogged last month, my sweet Boyfriend bought me a set of acrylic nail paint. Well I finally got the chance to play with it! My experience was fun but a bit messy. I had paint all over my hands, my legs and even some on the face! hahaha. But it's all fun! (^__^)

Will definitely do more freehand designs with it!

Here are photos of my design:

♥

Nautical But Nice

I hit the shops with my mum on the weekend and it seems that nautical is in again this summer which I'm very pleased to see. I love all the colours and patterns associated with the sailor style. Nearly everything I purchased was blue and/or white with plenty of stripes, sail boats and anchors to boot.

I spent this week searching for a perfect navy blue polish at a cheap price but didn't find much luck. Then I remembered I had this blue in my collection and the lemming totally disappeared. This colour is just the perfect accessory for a nautical outfit.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM08

Base Colour: No7 Poolside Blue

Stripes: Stargazer White applied with a striping brush

Stamp Colour: Sally Hansen Chrome - Amber

Top Coat of NYC

ZOYA Summertime Collection Swatches & Review

I just posted swatches and my review of the 6 polishes in theZoya Summertime collection up on the review blog... Check it out!

Jumpin' Through Hoops

Apparently there is some sort of competition going on right now with some college men & women who try to through a ball through a hoop & net. Go figure, it's March again, and what does that mean? March Madness. You got it. :) College basketball competition in full force!! Unfortunately, the teams of my home state of Michigan are already out of the running, so who do I root for? Who knows- but with this manicure I'll be looking 'sporty' doing it! :-D BASKETBALL nails!! They even FEEL like basketballs, it's weird.

I used OPI Ginger Bells as a base, then mixed it with Barielle Coco Bar for the dots, which I applied with a dotting tool. (which, honestly, was a scoring tool from my graphic design stuff since I can't seem to find my dotting tool) For the lines, I used American Apparel Hassid. Topped off the first 2 coats of OPI Ginger Bells only with Seche Vite top coat, because I wanted the dotted texture to show up, like it does on an actual basketball. :)

She shoots, she scores?

China Glaze Island Escape Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm busying myself with some housework today, and I just sat down for a break to find an email from China Glaze with the press release for the Island Escape Collection for Summer 2011.

Here's the picture of all six shades in a row:

China Glaze Island Escape Collection
 Papaya Punch, 108 Degrees, Senorita Bonita, Blue Iguana, Cha Cha Cha, Electric Pineapple

The color description from China Glaze are:

·        Papaya Punch: Crème based vivid orange.

·        108 Degrees: Flirtatious berry pink with specks of micro glitter.

·        Senorita Bonita: Passionate purple shimmer with pink micro glitter.

·        Blue Iguana: Bold and daring sparkly blue.

·        Cha Cha Cha: Vivacious shimmer green.

·        Electric Pineapple: High intensity crème based lime green.

They'll be available individually, in a six-piece set, and 36-piece display, and the press contact at China Glaze told me they'll be available for purchase in May (but Trans Design seems to get a lot of things early, so I wouldn't be shocked if TD had them very soon).

That's about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

My Baby Sister - LayLa Mae

So this post is not nail related.

Well I am so thrilled coz tomorrow(March 23) will be the graduation of my youngest sister

LAYLA from pre-school.
I'm a very proud "ATE" (filipino word for older sister.)

And she'll be graduating with honors! 2nd Honor to be exact!!! (^_^)


A lot of people always thought that I am her mother coz of the age difference.
For the past 3years I've taken care of Layla and my other sister Nicole(14years old).
Our paretns works in Kuwait. They only come home here in the Philippines every 2years.
I know that it's very hard growing up just seeing your parents every 2years. We have to sacrifice to live. All knows that the Philippines lacks in job opportunities.

So most Filipinos are forced to work abroad to earn money for their families.
That's L.I.F.E.




On a lighter note,
Here are some photos of Layla:

Isn't she adorable???

♥

Simpleton

So far I've been keeping up with my blogging schedule. For those of you that didn't catch my post a little while back, I mentioned that instead of putting pressure on myself to post every day as I used to, I'm setting myself a goal of 3 posts per week. I've finalized the plan and the schedule is to post on Monday, Wednesday and either Saturday or Sunday. Whenever there is a special occasion, like St. Patrick's Day for example, I might throw in a quick, freebie nail art post.

Last night was my first attempt at a 'Scotch Tape Mani' made famous, I believe, by the fabulous Erika at Chloe's Nails*. It basically involves placing strips of scotch tape on your nails which act as a stencil to give you crisp lines between multiple coats of colour. Depending how you use the tape, you can get all kinds of great results and it's so easy to do. Make sure you check out Erika's blog to see what amazing effects you can achieve.

My first few attempts were a bit disastrous to say the least. I'm very impatient and wanted to get to bed so I kept putting the scotch tape on too quickly and it would rip off the base colour so after a few failures I decided to leave my base coat to dry over night before subjecting it to any tape torture.

I used Jay Jays Thrillseeker as the base colour and applied a top coat of NYC last night. I got to the fun bit in the morning when I applied the tape diagonally across my finger and used BYS Fools Paradise for the second segment. I then applied Barry M Blue Glitter with a striping brush for the dividing line and topped it off with another top coat of NYC.

* If I have this wrong and you know of someone else who was using the technique before Erika, please let me know as I like to give credit where credit's due.

Nice Stems! OPI Preview

Summer Pinks in Bloom!

Nice Stems! by OPI Revamps Nails with 

Vibrant Pink Hues for Summer 2011

Stop and see the flowers with summer’s Nice Stems! by OPI, a limited edition collection featuring four new nail lacquers in stunning shades of pink. With whimsical names based on their floral inspirations, these vibrant, flirty colors range from pale, frosty pink to rich fuchsia. Nice Stems! offers fingers and toes a perfectly pink shade for all of summer’s looks.

“These vibrant, feminine hues complement 60’s ladylike fashions, 70’s glam looks, and bold color-blocking, which are the season’s staples,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “The Nice Stems! collection also offers an interesting contrast and feminine accent to the punk and biker looks on the runways.”

Nice Stems! by OPI shades include:

Play the Peonies

We’d put our money on this lovely soft-pink.

Come to Poppy

Surrender to shine with this shimmering coral-pink.

Be a Dahlia Won’t You?

Give the gift of fabulous fuchsia—to yourself!

I Lily Love You

Fall head over heels with this light pink sparkle.

“Using different micas and glitters can give lacquer a 3-dimensional look,” adds Weiss-Fischmann. “I Lily Love You is a glitter coat that can be layered over any of the other three shades to add a bright sparkle; or, it can be worn on its own for a subtle tint of pink with strands of glitter.”

The Nice Stems! Nail Lacquers by OPI contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application.

This limited edition Nice Stems! collection will be available beginning June 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

Zoya Summer 2011

Hello, Dear Reader!

I'm writing this in advance in order to pass these pictures on to you as soon as I can - Zoya sent promo images of their Summer 2011 collections this week that can't be published until this very minute.

First up is the limited edition collection of Mod Mattes.  The colors are Phoebe (bright blue), Lolly (pink), and Mitzi (bright green).  There are no verbal color descriptions, so I don't know if they're creme or shimmer.

Zoya Mod Mattes for Summer 2011

There are two additional regular collections as well, Sunshine and Summertime.  Here are Zoya's promo image and color descriptions for each:

Zoya Sunshine and Summertime Collections for Summer 2011

ZOYA SUMMERTIME COLLECTION

·         Sooki (ZP552) - Bright, clean, crisp cool cherry red cream with a subtle jelly finish. For an irresistible, attention-grabbing red nail.

·         Tamsen (ZP553) - Medium warm brick red with strong orange tones with an opaque cream finish. A special red that is both enticing and mysterious

·         Areej (ZP554) - Pink with an opaque cream finish. A pink for when you want a bold pop of color but not something neon-bright.

·         Kieko (ZP555) - Warm, red toned dusty light purple with berry tones with an opaque cream finish. A nice alternative to pure pink or berry, especially flattering on warm skin tones.

·         Mira (ZP556) - Blue toned medium purple with dusty lavender tones and an opaque cream finish. For a muted yet colorful purple that isn't too dark.

·         Breezi (ZP557) - Soft, dusty, medium cerulean blue with an opaque cream finish. A super chic  high-fashion denim look for nails.

ZOYA SUNSHINE COLLECTION

·  Reva (ZP546) - A cool toned strawberry red with glowing golden metallic sparkle. A very rich and luxurious looking gilded red.

• Kimmy (ZP547) - Gleaming metallic candy apple red brightened by gold sparkle. Not your usual red shimmer- this one has a fiery attitude.
• Apple (ZP548) - Luminous yellow-toned apple green packed with gold metallic sparkle. A dimensional green that's clean and bright.
• Tanzy (ZP549) - Light, bright tangerine orange with yellow gold metallic sparkle. A sunny orange that's easy to wear year-round.
• Rica (ZP550) - Warm light coral with pink and orange tones and heavy gold metallic sparkle. An alternative to flat corals for when you want to shine.
• Faye (ZP551) - A bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with right gold sparkle. A unique gilded shade that will work in any season.

Those descriptions are copied and pasted, so the text color and formatting are not mine.  I figured neither your nor I care enough about the color of the text or formatting inconsistencies to warrant the effort involved in adjusting things, so I didn't.

I'm interested in seeing the real colors - I don't really have a sense of the two regular collections from the promo picture.  The image for the new mattes, assuming it's accurate, gives a clear picture of the colors, but to be completely honest with you I was pretty done with mattes some time ago.  They're great summer shades, I just can't get past the weird feeling of the surface of matte nail polish and I'm finished trying, so I'll skip those altogether.  The others look like there's potential there.

There's nothing else new and exciting to tell you about, so I'll be nice and just wrap it up. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Added at 5:30 pm on 03/20/2011 (before publication, but unrelated to this post):

THANK YOU, Dear Reader!  I was so sad having to post about the addition of new ads, for which I was prepared to take criticism, but it seems that many of you have responded by clicking the ads.  Each click is putting several cents toward paying the May utilities so I can begin to worry about June rent, and I really can't thank you enough.  You're giving me a light at the end of the tunnel, and I very deeply appreciate it.

My Top 10 Colours

Despite having a very sizeable collection of nail polish in my possession, it seems I'm always reaching for the same ones when I'm refreshing mani and I'm sure a lot of you find the same. So I thought I'd do a quick round up of my favourites. I've picked out my ten favourite colours, most of which (kind of predictably) are blues and purples, then listed them from most worn down to slightly less worn.

Barry M 

Cyan Blue

Blue is my favourite colour. If there are colour options for anything, I take the blue every time without a second thought! I can't put my finger on why I love this shade so much but it's at the top of my list.

E.L.F. 

Innocence

Sometimes I don't feel like wearing anything too loud on my nails but I need to wear a polish to cover the yellow staining that I have from years of non-stop polish wear. This colour is perfect because it gives great coverage in 2 coats and it doesn't look like I'm even wearing any polish. I just ordered my second bottle as this one is nearly dried up.

BYS

Fools Paradise

This colour is quite similar to Barry M Cyan Blue but there's more green in it. When I first bought it, it was runny and sheer but since it's thickened up, it only needs one coat so is great if I'm in a rush. It's even thick enough for stamping these days.

NYC

Prince Street

This is one of the most unique shades in my stash. It's the perfect purple with a frosty metallic finish and it looks absolutely stunning with a matte top coat.

Barry M

Bright Purple

This purple has a hint of pink which makes it very easy to wear. It's not as bright as the name would lead you to believe but just bright enough that it stands out from my other purples.

BYS

Metallic Fuschia

I hardly ever wear pink shades of polish. It's just not a very 'me' colour, but this one from BYS is dark and metallic so it looks very classy and verges on red.

Barbara Daly

Cardinal

This one is a berry pink with a subtle frosty finish. The bottle is tiny and nearly all gone so I'm having to scrape the polish from the edges!

La Femme

Grey Cream

I only acquired this shade recently and it's my first light grey. I can't believe I never purchased a similar colour before. Maybe some will think it's boring but I think grey nails look great on anyone.

No7

Blackberry

Everyone needs a dark purple in their possession. I actually have quite a few but this is my favourite. It's not too dark that it looks black and it has tiny flecks of glitter in.

No7 

Totally Teal

This comes out so much darker than it looks here. It's such a rich colour and definitely the darkest of all my favourites.