Friday, 31 August 2012

Celebrating Malaysia's 55th Years of Independence!

Today marks Malaysia's 55th Years of Independence! And I feel my patriotism kicking in! I thought for awhile how I should do my nails in conjunction of today's celebration. I knew I love how well the colours of Malaysia's Flag goes together. They are all so vibrant and lively! Since, I've never attempted a proper chevron nails, I went ahead and did one for this special day!

To all Malaysians out there : 
Happy Independence Day!  

Merdeka Nails
Merdeka Nails
Merdeka Nails
Merdeka Nails
Merdeka Nails

Oh, I must admit, I was anxious of the final result. And I'm so glad they turned out well! :D My index finger nail gave me a lot of problems though because the shape isn't the same as the rest. It was chipped a little so I had to nub it. Anyway, I'm loving these! Hope you will like these nails as much as I do! :D

Nail polishes used:

  • BeauKiss (BK) - #02
  • Etude House - COR202
  • Revlon - Pretty In Papaya
  • Elianto - Blue Splash


Tuesday, 28 August 2012

More Fun Stuffs about Glitters

Good morning! I have here some knowledge about glitters which I think are very worth sharing. Have you ever had times when you wonder if it is your application technique or the glitter bottle just holds too little glitters? Well, I know I did wondered that. And off I go to google - tap tap tip tap tap pap! what is the best way to apply glitter?

Oh what a realization moment dawn upon me when I saw the dabbing technique. No wonder it was so hard getting those glitters on my nails those days. I was probably doing it wrong! Perhaps not wrong, just not the best way it could be done. Here's one tutorial I find very useful regarding the dabbing technique:

wait, did any of you actually know of this method and no one told me? whyyyy?? *sobs*

Let Happiness Ring!!!

Well, most of you may not know but just few weeks ago I was blessed enough to be one of the four fortunate people to win Gold polish from Tip Top Nails South Africa. Last Saturday morning, I've finally receive my gift!! How thrilled I was as I unwrapped the carefully packaged gift. I opened up the box, carefully slitting the sellotapes and pull out the polish bundled up with perfect care of bubble wraps and as I started unwrapping it - "wait...what? this feels like... omgosh, am I dreaming..?"

No, my good senses did not fail me. Instead of 1 gold polish, I've been surprised with 3 more polishes that greeted me on a Saturday morning!! Woohooo! I was literally jumping up and down with much joy!

Tip Top Nails South Africa

So so happy! And I quickly head on to do swatches as soon as time permitted me to. I have a lot of good things to say about these polishes. Particularly how blessed I am by God and by Tip Top team! These colours were colours I've been searching for but fail to find them around in Malaysia. What joy it is to find them sent to me in a parcel! :D

Tip Top Nail Chic Red Rendezvous
Tip Top Nail Chic Red Rendenzvous
Red Rendezvous is a gorgeous deep red and the colour is just right for my skin tone. I was just thinking of buying a solid red but thought they won't match my skin and maybe I won't wear it. Totally changed my mind after seeing this colour! I'd totally wear this! Great application and opaque in two coats.

Tip Top Nail Chic In The Navy!
Tip Top Nail Chic In The Navy!
In The Navy! is a very rich navy blue colour, one of the colours missing in my blue collection so you can imagine the joy I got when I saw this in the package. I love it. This is my favourite blue colour of all times! Smooth application, also opaque in two coats.

Tip Top Nail Chic Super Trooper
Tip Top Nail Chic Super Trooper
Super Trooper is a warm grey, slightly greenish. Totally a grey I was looking for! You won't believe how high and low I've search for a grey in this shade! Many I came across with were cool tone. This is just perfect! Like most of the polishes, smooth application, no streaks and best in two coats.

Tip Top Nail Chic Gold Drop Glitter
Tip Top Nail Chic Gold Drop Glitter
Tip Top Nail Chic Gold Drop Glitter
Tip Top Nail Chic Gold Drop Glitter
Last but not least, the gold polish that I've won - Gold Drop Glitter. As you can see, I've swatch it over all three of the other colours so you may have a taste of the variations. Although I did use two coats of glitters, they are pretty much compact with just 1 good coat of glitters with the dabbing technique (I'd talk more about this technique in my next post). But this is certainly yet another gold glitter that's  missing in my stash. And boy am I ever so glad to have receive this! And I must say I really love Gold Drop Glitter over Super Trooper. Oh did I mentioned its so sparkly? ;)

To conclude my post, these are certainly one of the best nail polishes brand I've ever tried. I love that they are absolutely fuss-free and super smooth application. Oh and seems like I got too carried away with my excitement I almost forgot to mention, Tip Top Nails South Africa's nail polishes are Toxin free, Formaldehyde free, Toluene free, DBP (Dibuthyl Phthalate) free and Camphor free. So they are totally safe to use! And thank you Tip Top Nails South Africa once again for the opportunity to experience such wonderful products.


Here's their contacts: 

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Oh Basketballs!

Hello dearies! I've just came back from celebrating my brother's birthday. And so I thought I should do basketball themed nails (since both of us likes basketball :D - although I have no talent in it) in conjunction to celebrating this wonderful day. Also, a chance to try out the black stripper I just bought recently!

NOTD - Basketball Nails

Wednesday, 22 August 2012

Scrape nail art Tutorial : Toothpicks/Small dotting tool

Just sharing a tutorial which I've delayed for sometime. I did this nail art which I've come to call it Scrape nail art, in Makeup Savvy's Nail Art Challenge Day 7. Its a method very much similar to the Chocolate Mint Tutorial. A little different though.

Scrape Nail Art Tutorial
click image for larger view

Steps Explained:
Step 1 : Prepare 3 coats of desired base colour. Yes, this is a must or else your base colour will end up getting scrapped off showing your nails underneath instead of just the colour. *optional: protect the base colour with a clear top coat. Allow drying time.
Step 2 : Using a contrasting colour (or any colour you desire), apply 1 fairly thick coat of selected colour onto a single nail. Work 1 nail at a time.
Step 3/4/5/6 : These steps need to be done fast. While the top colour is still wet, using either a toothpick or a small dotting tool, drag the toothpick/dotting tool (lightly) from the cuticle to the tip of your nail forming a middle line. Doesn't matter if its straight or crooked. Then do little lines that seem to converge to the center line. Until you get results similar to image in Step 6. 
Step 7/8 : Using your finger, gently tap down "pointy ends" to smooth the "frays". Allow this nail to dry and move on to your other nails repeating Step 2 - Step 8. 
Step 9 : Now that you're done with the designs, go ahead top it off with a top coat. 

So, I hope you find this tutorial and the explanations easy to understand. I've realized there were lack of explanations in the mint tutorial previously made (I have editted it a bit though). Anyway, this is a super flexible and experimental technique. Go ahead and explore! :D 

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Etude House PBK 801 (Swatch/Review)

Its morning here, so I'd say Good Morning! I dare say I've found an awesome polish from my previous shopping trip. And happy to know that Etude House is finally having new batch of nail polishes in their store! However, most were rather unappealing to me (see, fussy pot I am). Almost all, except this one!

Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801
Etude House PBK 801

Oh, I don't really know how to put in words how I felt when I saw these and used the testers there to test out on my hand. It was an instant grab! Etude House PBK 801 (MYR 19.90) is a jelly black base colour with various size red glitters. The brush is mighty huge! (well, broad) and soft too. Application wise, very smooth and I love that it makes application on thumb such a splendid experience. However, the brush is too broad for my remaining four fingers, but no worries! I turned it to use the "thinner" sides for a much more controlled application to the four fingers. It takes about 4-5 coats to get it to look like in the bottle because its really sheer. If you're not a fan of too many coats, consider layering. But I really love it on its own. In my pictures, I've used 4 coats on each nails. Oh! Before I forget, its rather smooth to touch and the removal process isn't too hard.

:D I really love it!

August Hauls

So, I went shopping yesterday. I must say, of all the shopping malls I've been to, Sunway Pyramid sure is my no.1 spot to go if I want to buy nail polishes (around Klang Valley). I've even spotted a couple of new nail polish brands available. Although, mostly are Korean brands; Holika Holika is one of the new beauty stores there - but no, I didn't grab any from there. I did try out their testers though, and find the application quite alright. I'm gonna apply the 3 days rule before I decide whether or not I'd buy one of the duochrome nail polishes there. Still its all good to see more choices available for nail polish consumers in Malaysia.

Okay, now to stay back in topic, I realised I've bought a lot of nail polishes for the past weeks of August! Which somewhat scares me, because I've never bought so many in a short time before! (haha!!) So looks like I'd be needing to control myself a little more from now on.

Hauls from Etude House
Etude House

Hauls from Pretty2U store
Pretty2U Store

Hauls from Essence
 Essence

Hauls from Bloop
Bloop

Hauls from Skin Food
Skin Food

As you can see, some of them I've already used them in the previous nail challenges. But I've not swatch them. Only time will tell when I'd find the time to swatch all of these. Haha! Oh, I will be swatching a new polish from Etude House in my next post because I love it so much I just can't wait to share~!