OPI's jade is the new black KOTD

this is 2 coats with m39. i'm sorry for not being an entertaining writer. and i can't remember anything special about this polish, except that maybe my mood's not into this shade, even if it's green. imma picture spam you guys.

Claire's

oh how i wish i could get me some mood polishes from claire's. i'm not in the habit of keeping a lemming list anymore. it's just to long and financially draining. :O ! i've been searching for online sources for these pretties but i am not in the mood to pay $15 a pop for them. garrr.. grrr... pffft!

OPI's Ginger Bells

when i was wearing this mani it made me hungry all the time. it just reminds me of food. hmmmm...



this is 2 coats of color konaded with plate m77 using a pale blue polish from TFS, sealed with the Glass fleck from TFS as well.



i think this mani's reminiscent of the mani's over at Painted Ladies Fingers.(i really like her blog. pictures of the flowers are making me really envious.)

and to make a post that looks like hers, somewhat, let me introduce you my cat.



awww... she's so cute and innocent looking. let me assure you that she is ebil. see those ebil eyes.



she refuses to eat the fish that comes with the can food, the only flavour and brand that she eats. she will only eat the spam part.

Coastal scents and Hakuhodo Hauls

When Coastal Scents had a 20% back to school discount, i hauled some items that i wanted to try badly, namely a flat top buffer brush (i was using minerals foundations for a while and the short handled kabukis that i was using were a little too hard to hold) and a pointy pencil es brush. i also got the african black soap that was receiving excellent reviews, not just on the coastal scents site (i do my research eh heh heh heh).

the delux buffer brush(BR216) is very soft and feels luxurious. it's made with animal hair so there is a smell(and so do the Hakuhodos). what i don't like about it is that it's not densely packed and the hairs with spray outwards. not useful for when you want to buff foundation. so what i did was to hold the hairs with elastic bands so i get a smaller but dense brush head. it works well this way.i'm using the Bourjois Mineral Matte mousse foundation with this brush.



i also did a litle investment in the Hakuhodo brushes that Misschievious raved about a long time back. i've always found brushes prickly and sometimes scratchy on my sensitive skin so hopefully these will be soft as clouds.



here's a comparative pic of the pencil brush from Coastal scents(top) and Hakuhodo(bottom)

the hakuhodo brush is clearly better made, the bristles are soft with the natural tip intact and it's also firm but soft. the Coastal scents brush has a scraggly top and does not feel as dense. i have not tried it yet but i have used the Hakuhodo pencil brush for my inner eye corners (will poke) but works well on the outer corners for contouring



the big pointed blush brush is also dense but soft. i love the fact that it's pointed so i can blush near my nose to produce that sunburnt look or some simple contouring. it's does feel scratchy sometimes but i think that's because i'm super sensitive or that i'm going againt the direction of the hair.

the other Hakuhodo e/s brushes i got are smaller and thinner and are good for packing e/s but not for blending (i still like my Elf e/s brush for that). what i like about them is that after picking up the e/s and placing them on my lids, i don't discern any pigment left on the brushes, so there isn't any wastage of pigments.



here's a pretty picture of the brushes amongst my collection of cones from various vacation trips.

so that's my mini review on the brushes that i got. the shipping at Hakuhodo is farly reasonble so if i ever feel like another splurge i'd defintely get my brushes from them again.

OPI's japanese rose garden KOTD

i really liked how this turned out, it made my fingers look cute and young beyond their %$*( years.



i used plate m57 and m79 and the black and white special konad polish over 2 coats of the OPI. everything was sealed with seche vite.



i'm having fun konading and do plan to get the Monster bundle set. I do find it troublesome to keep having to clean the plate after every stamp though.

Color club's who are you wearing?

Konaded with the m57 plate and CC's High Society. i like the french look that resulted but i think i'm tired with the taupe colors for now. i'm hankering for brights and glitters!



WAYW went on a little gloopy, i think i wore 3 layers here. and for some reason my tips hurt after i finished with the mani. i suspect that the polish shrunk and was pulling on my nail beds, like how gel nails sometimes happen if it cures too thickly. i took it off after 2 days cos it really troubled me.

national day nails with OPI

i'm pretending that the flowers are orchids, which is our national flower.



this dark red color is achieved by painting a layer of OPI's Got the Blues for Red followed by 2 coats of Vodka and Cavier. I'll try to wear GTBFR on it's own for my next mani.



the Konad was put on after a day of wearing these color for 24 hours. I wore the mani plain for my company's D&D. the KoNAd was sealed with TFS's 05(?? the labels are in Korean, basically it's a clear polish with glass flecks in it. i've been using it as a top coat for many of my manis lately)



Hope you have enjoyed another blurry edition of the OPI haul.

national day nails with OPI's vodka and cavier

oOoOoOoOOoOo.. are your eyes watering yet? the next series of posts will feature blurry pictures all taken indoors with flash, or dim outdoors lighting what with the dreary rainy weather we have been having.

since our National Day is coming (9th augest) i shall be wearing red nails till then.



the fuzziness is giving me a nice aura.



the stars were spangles that were painted over with white acrylic paint. seche vite on top. 3 coats of OPI's Vodka and Cavier.

Nails on vacation: Blue graduation glitter gel nails

what a mouthful! i did gel overlay on my nails prior to leaving for France and wow they looked super shiny in the european sun.

nails in Monet's Garden, Giverny. Look how shiny they are even in an overcast day.



playing with my macro lens.



nails in Etretat.





seahorse, clown fish and kelp were painted on using acrylics and sealed with a layer of top coat.

nails at the boardwalk in Le Havre.


my hands are very knuckly and wrinkly. *sigh* but at least i have chio nails! LOL!

Vacation hauls

the DH and i went to france and italy for our summer vacation. it was so cold and then it was so hot! we actually didn't buy a lot of things this time since we had to lug and change hotels often but we did get some goodies.

cookies and chocolates.



souvenirs and some haulage for friends.



L'occitane's shampoo for his colleague and a prada wallet for another friend.
we also bought a new pair of wedding bands from Tiffany.

i got myself some scents.



he bought a few belts from the outlets in florence.



and i got myself some local goodies. LOL!!! some were on sale from the Florence outlets(aka TheMALL and SPACE).

Transdesign haul

i collected my haul from the spree'r yesterday and i am very excited about this lot. they arrived in the good old sg when i was still in Paris.

i chose these colors when i was in the mood for nudes and classic reds and pink, but since my vacay, i have been in the mood for corals and bright peaches and greens! luckily there are some oranges in there.



i feel another hual coming on.

TheSkinFood jojoba pure nail in hot pink

So while i'm trying to upload some vacation pictures onto Facebook i though i'd put up some NOTD.

i've been wearing this color since i came back. i'm in the mood for bright summery colors and this is the only color that goes well with my skin tone.



of course the glod glitter at the cuticle line helps to melt the color into my skin. i like the seamless look.

what's worse than dry cuticles? finger hair!!!



it is embaressing but it is also a part of me.

i bought this polish a few years ago when TSF first launched in sg. the polish will dry and set but in a jellyish way. it's still 'dingable' after a few days but maybe that's what gives it this translucant look. i'm wearing 2 coats here.

Tickle my francey is a pinkish nude. goes well with my yellow toned skin. i've decided to wear some sunflowers to celebrate my Tuscany vacation.



i've used gold glitter for the heart of the flowers, darkened with some black acrylic paint. painted the petals with red, orange and yellow acrylics.



3d effects were done using acrylic powder and painted again.



i've layered some glass glitter top coat over the base. it makes it look as if the polish has bubblez. eep.

Nfu Oh 444 with 2 looks

by the time this post it scheduled to be publish i will hopefully be seeing some lavender, even though i'm not in Provence.

444 is another taupey nude color that can look purplish in some light. it's a creme but i've layered some glass fleck glitter on top.



i think this is a rather neutral color, in the bottle it looks warm but on my fingers it pulls a cool tone.

and because i've failed miserably on trying to have lavender sprays on my fingers (purple totally disappears into the nail base), here's an alternate look.