Transdesign and more BJ haulage

my Transdesign orders arrived last week, 15 days after i placed my order and the notified shipping date. not to shabby :)))

i bought 9 bottles and used the USD$18 flat rate option. i'd love to buy more LOL.



i limited myself to nudes, purples, another pink(i have a pink problem), and a green.



from left to right, Color club's uptown girl, Chinaglaze's Spontaneous, Orly's Cashmere cardigan and Bon Bon.



Orly's Cupcake and Chinaglaze's For Audrey.



Chinaglaze's FYI, Opi's Tickle my france-y and Over the taupe.

and to tickle my happy bones, my nail polish enabler came back from beijing with 15 more bottles of NFU OH love. i am most happy with the collection of taupes and greys and purples.

and here's my entire nail polish collection as of today. eh heh heh heh.



i'm done collecting NFU's. they've tons of pretty cremes but the brushes suck. so it's a trade off. on a more psitibve note, they last real long on me.

mermaid toes

i had this crazy idea which i tried out on a nail wheel. i do have all the necessary items.

indoors flash.


indoors no flash.


things you will need.



various base colors in ombre style. i have

TheFaceShop GR501, a light chartruse
NFU Oh 089, a shimery tealish green that's a bit sheer.
Etude House GR603, emerald glittery green
Etude House BL503, cobalt blue with glitter
Ottie(??) or TheFaceShop BL607, a mysterious dark navy blue with purple shimmer.

various glitter in gradual colors to match the polish.

i don't have 'in progress' pics but briefly, all you do is to do a gradation color with the polish and while the last color is still tacky, start laying down the glitters. i start with the darkest glitter (blue in this case), and then slowly work my way up, lashings clear coats between colors. finally topping with top coat for a relatively smooth finish.

i took the opportunity to do my toes when the purple glitter lifted. i wonder how long these will last. i notice that glitters lift easily but are #^%$#@@^ to remove using remover.

indoors no flash.


flash.


no flash.


flash.


i now have glitter all over the place. next time i'm going to try using reds and oranges, like the sunset.

NFU oh 114 with lace

after the gel escapade i tried real hard to let my nails rest and get some moisture. i lasted a day. on sunday night i really wanted to wear NFU 114, a shimmery pinkish purple. it's such a sweet color. application was easy and dried in a decent time. unfortunately, it doesn't react well with the base coat that i have which resulted in bubbling. i notice some of the NFU shimmers will do that but it doesn't have this funky reaction with the Mavala base coat.

this are the ingredients that you will need for this look.



i shan't go into the usual like base and color. but you will need some scrap lace (i happen to have rolls of lace due to OCD hobby addiction), fine tweezers and scissors, toothpicks or a wet Q-tip(great for picking up things like rhinestones).

so basically what i do is to paint all my nails once with the base color of choice. cut and measure the lace for all my fingers and subsequently when i do the second coat of color, tap the lace over the tacky finger. tweezers or moist toothpick/q-tip with work well. slightly tap the lace in place without smudging the nail polish. stick on some glitter/rhinestones and you're done.

indoors with flash.


i did put on top coat (seche vite) over the completed nail. however, the lace will absorb the polish and turn transparent. the surface will not be smooth unless you are willing to pile on the top coat but you will lose the lace effect too.





changed the design on the thumbs for the sake of continuity.





and because i'm so proud of how this turned out here are some more pictures.

overcast sky.

acrylic pendants.

these were the reasons why i got acrylics in the first place. for crafting. but doing nail art is so much more satisfying. i will somehow end up with a collection of jewellery which will never get sold. *sighs*

a cherry blossom tree for spring and a summer apple tree. so cute.



wanted to try out a 'nail art' pendant but somehow it just doesn't translate so well. maybe the colors just don't work out. here's another style.

purple and white glitter gel nails

bought some swarovski crystals at the beads shop and really wanted to do a japanese style bling nails.

here's the outcome. i loved them and the stubbies make the effect cuter. i know gils who go for gel nails will also get extensions at the same time but on my fingers, stubbies look cute IMO.

slight overcast sky.




indoors with flash.




and guess what? i only managed to wear them for less then 24 hours. i completed them at 1am saturday morning, went out and then a nail popped out at 3 pm when i was cleaning the kitty litter. so i went ahead and pried them out. some of my nails peeled along when the gel lifted but otherwise my nails went unharmed.

here's the pictorial proof. they actually came out whole and i guess i can stick them back on but this is an excuse to try out another mani.



my next mani involves lace.

body shop, lunasol, magazine hauls

the Bodyshop warehouse sale was held at the same time as the IT show so the DH and I popped by suntec city. i bought a 500G HD as well as some bodywash.



i seems i don't have to get any shower gel for a long while. i'm not in the habit of hauling necessities but i do stock and and will use them all up before my next purchase. no problem with "hitting pan" on these.



i also got me some cute earrings at Bugis Street. these were 3 pairs for 5$. its a steal! the quality's not bad.



took the opportunity at the Kino members sale and bought 3 more nail magazines. Spring and weddings. everythings so pretty. i want to try out so many ideas.



i have not tried out the Lunasol Spring Palette #2 nature green. i only recall liking all the colors when i swatched it at the counter.

some close ups. with flash.


overcast light.




of all the lovely designs in the nail mags, this one particularly stood out. must attempt this one day.

superstar glitter toes

this look is so so so spectacular. i'm loving the lavender color and the bling. i wonder what with the DH think of them?

this idea was from a nail mag i got call ErikoNails. her designs are pretty and classic without being gaudy.

here's a brief tutorial.

these are the things you will need.


the glitter are actually from the magazine/mook. i painted my toes with a base purple color, which might or might not make a difference, i gues depending on how thick you pile on the glitter later.

using a clear coat polish, pick up some fine glitter with the brush and coat your nails thoroughly.







missing some spots is ok bacause you're going to cover them up with different size glitter.

this the end result of coating with the fine glitter.


next, use the same method with the mid size glitter. the coating will be more sparse so use the brush to spread the glitters more evenly. a thick coat is not required.

with the largest gliter, use a toothpick to pick them up and place them sparingly over the other 2 layers. wet the toothpick to help adhere the glitter.



you might want to cover any bald spots with the large glitter.



a glitter bomb pedicure is done!



you might not e able to pick out the difference in the individual sized glitters but the big one help to reflect light making it shine. but i also liked it with just the dense and fine glitter.



i did this nails on friday and they popped out today, which is a tuesday. my basecoat never really dried and were kinda like stringy glue. at least it saved me the pain of having to remove them with nail polish. all i did were to soak my feet in warm water to loosen the base coat. another great reason to do another pedi.

these were the nails that came out whole. hee...