NOTD: OPI Samoan Sand

Another nude I’ve been wearing a lot lately.

This goes on quite streaky on the first coat but evens out nicely on the second. I wore 3 coats for maximum opacity and this also helps reduce the streaks. Definitely a must-have polish for “mannequin hands”. It also reminds me a lot of Zoya Melodie just that OPI Samoan Sand has a touch more pink/peach in it.

Yes, I certainly consider this a staple in any polish fiend’s stash.

ZOYA Bianca

This is Zoya Bianca that I picked up recently:

It is described on Zoya as a “soft dark mauve creme with strong cool red and pink tones. A classic shade for a distinguished ladylike look”.

Color Family: Mauves

Finish: Cream

Intensity: 4 (1=Sheer – 5=Opaque)

Tone: Cool

I love the way it looks on me, wouldn’t say it’s a “classic” colour because on me it appears a little more purple than anything else. I love it all the same though and I think this will look fabulous on short nails too

It’s a gorgeous color really, I don’t know why I didn’t pick this up earlier. I have another one that is very similar though and that’s Moxie. Will do a comparison post soon

The formula is great but I did three coats on them as I wanted to cover up all the bald spots especially at the tips. Though the formula is good to work with, it does take some time to get the hang of it so I ended up re-doing this manicure once.

Swatch & Review: OPI Who The Shrek Are You

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, been so damn busy that I hardly even have time to do makeup in the mornings :/

OPI Who the Shrek Are You is an ugly colour in the bottle and reminds me of baby poop. It is a green with deep yellow undertones.

I know right, the description sounds disgusting. But it is an instant hit in my books. Despite it being a “pastel-y” creme, it went on easily with minimal streaks. I am quite happy with how this colour looks against my skin tone as it adds a pop of colour without being too gaudy. Reminds me of MISA’s Green With Envy (which I do not own) but I had read that it is a complete dupe

Just to digress a little… I feel like I look better with shorter nails. It’s time to file them down but I wish I have more time on my hands!! Another month to go before I can finally find more time for myself

And to digress a little more, I finally checked out and bought the Lunasol Summer 2011 eyeshadow palettes! Post up tomorrow…. Will try

OPI Pamplona Purple

A few unfortunate things happened over the past few days.. I got sick with flu, cough and fever despite the heatwave and yesterday I broke a nail. My nails are down to tiny little stubs now and that’s not even all. There’s a break on my right thumb halfway down my nail bed, which I know is going to take a long time to grow out of

My parents had also decided to carry out some renovation and painting and I tell you, the fumes from the lacquer and thinner are unbearable!

Anyway. I collected OPI Pamplona Purple last week but hadn’t had a chance to use it but I managed to put it on yester-night after my fever had subsided.

OPI Pamplona Purple (2coats):

See how short and stumpy they are now. It’s time to break out the dark vampy colours.

Another winner from OPI although I had experienced a lot of bubbling with this polish on my first try but it could be due to too much shaking. It is a super creamy medium-dark purple creme which looks outstanding against many skin tones. I got this because it was said to be a Zoya Demi dupe. I much prefer the prowide brush from OPI and they are cheaper to get so I passed up on Zoya.

OPI Dating A Royal + OPI Lincoln Park At Midnight

Just swatches of some OPI polishes I had on yesterday and today:

OPI Dating A Royal (2coats):

Borrowed this from my sister This is a very nice rich-looking royal blue creme that looks perfect on about every skin tone. Every blue fiend needs this, Im not even a blue polish fan but I quite like how it looks on me even though it doesn’t look very attractive in the bottle. Formula was thin but pigmented and easy to apply.

OPI Lincoln Park At Midnight (2coats):

Under sunlight:

This is a vampy dark eggplant with very elegant shimmers. Even in artificial lighting it looks like a very dark plum instead of black like most vampy colors. Sigh, I love this so much and I can see why it is so highly raved. A good thing it isn’t LE! I had this bottle for a couple of years (why, it’s almost as old as my China Glaze Ruby Pumps) and the formula is still intact after all this years. Granted, it’s slightly goopy and crusty around the bottle opening but I had no application issues with this unlike Ruby Pumps which caused a jelly mess all over my cuticles. A definite must have for any vampy lovers. This is too sexy a colour to pass up.

It does remind me of Tease-y Does It though, just that Teas-y Does It has a lot more shimmers to it. I might do a comparison soon.

But I know, guys don’t ever get it. My dad went “Your fingers looked like they got poisoned” during lunch today. 0_O

Color Club: High Society

I know I have done an entry on several Color Club polishes some time ago and that included High Society. But today I decided to wear High Society again and since the sunlight is fab, it’s a good time to take more pictures in natural daylight

High Society (2 Coats):

This one shows the true colour best

This has alot of lilac undertones for me and it’s one of those highly raved purple-grey colours (aka greige). Formula is great and applies well, it took me about ten minutes to do all 10 fingers including base and top coat. It’s now been 45 mins and my nails are all fully dried and operational

Zoya: Shawn

NOTD:

ZOYA Shawn (2 coats):

Color Family: Greens

Finish: Cream

Intensity: 5 (1=sheer, 5=opaque)

Tone: Cool

Original Collection: Wonderful

Zoya Shawn is an olive mossy green which almost borders on army green but not quite; it also has no shimmers, metallics or frosts in it. It appears darker in the shade/artificial lights than outdoors but it doesn’t look black in any way which is definitely attractive. I have a love-hate relationship with greens and so far Im loving this. It is shiny even without top coat but I added Poshe Top Coat on just in case.

I have this on for a day already and it’s holding up well so far without shrinkage. Formula and consistency is fabulous, it is nearly opaque in one coat and 2 coats are just perfect for total opacity. It applies well as the formula is smooth with no issues with streaking even though this is a full creme.

BLUE nails using LA Girl Funkadelic

LA Girl Disco Brite in Funkadelic (love the name) is my only current blue nail polish. It is a medium blue with just the slightest hint of green that is not distinguishable unless photographed.

It looks a little more green in the last picture because of the flash. The colour is true to the other 2 pictures.  Formula and consistency is usual that of LA Girl’s. My problem is always with the brush, I hope it could be wider and not so lumpy I don’t know why but I experienced some bubbling with this polish despite the fact that I did the manicure away from direct sunlight, air vent or fan.

Transdesign: Color Club

I received a package from a Transdesign spree recently and made my first Color Club nail polishes purchase. I had only bought 3 colours to try out since this is my first time using Color Club and I had to “test” the waters.

The three that I got included: (L-R) High Society, Positively Posh, Wild Orchid

High Society:

This is a very creamy mushroom color with dominant lilac undertones against my skin.

High Society is released as part of the Color Club Rebel Debutante collection in Spring 2010. In terms of application, this is the best out of the three and is my favourite neutral nail polish up till date.The first coat went on runny but pigmented and the second coat perfected the manicure. Application was even, smooth and there were no pooling or streaking whatsoever which was so common with cremes. This colour is indeed unique yet understated.

Wild Orchid:

Wild Orchid is a blue-toned gray with very fine shimmer that is too subtle to be noticed on the nails unless in direct sunlight. The shimmers add an interesting dimension to the nail polish without being too in-your-face.

I love it so much I wore it on both my tips and nails on that very day.

Wild Orchid was released in Fall 2010 in the Color Club Untamed Luxury collection. The colour appears like a darker grey indoors without that bluish undertone. It actually matched my grey denims perfectly

Application-wise, the formula was great. This went on smooth but (very) slightly streaky on first coat. 2 coats was sufficient to achieve total opacity like High Society but this has a tendency to pool if you are not careful.  Another winner from Color Club!

Positively Posh:

This is a dark mushroom taupe creme that reminds me of delicious milk chocolate. No shimmers but beautiful nonetheless.

Positively Posh was also released in Fall 2010 in the Color Club Untamed Luxury collection. This color looks very close to a milk chocolate block in real life.

This has the runniest formula out of all three and was very sheer even on second coat. You can tell from the swatches that I had some problems with the application for this one as I had to use 2 thin coats and one thick coat to achieve full opacity. This also has a tendency to streak and pool so it is important to apply each coat after the previous one had dried to the touch so as not to cause dragging. Nonetheless, the formula is not that hard to work with at all.

I love all these 3 polishes equally and I am definitely impressed with the formula and consistency of Color Club polishes. I remember reading somewhere that Color Club brushes are hard to work with but I think they are perfect. OPI’s Pro-Wide brush is my favourite but more often than not, they are too wide for my nail beds. Color Club brushes are slightly slimmer yet not uncomfortable to use.

This is a worthwhile purchase indeed, I’m definitely looking forward to ordering more Color Club polishes!

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Just a quick update on my NOTD, I was wearing China Glaze’s Lemon Fizz on my tips yesterday because it matched the blazing weather This pastel yellow was released in 2010 in the Up & Away Collection in conjunction with the movie. Which I totally love by the way.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

3 coats:

It’s such a vibrant and cheery colour even though it tends to bring out a lot of red in my fingers. Yellow is not something I’d opt to wear on my nails because just don’t go with my skintone. However this is a really pretty colour and I love it I apologize for the discrepancies in colour, the second picture gives the most accurate swatch of the polish.

Application-wise, this was surprisingly even as pastels/cremes tend to give me a lot of application problems but this was rather smooth. The formula is a little thick and goopy though, I’d have preferred it if it was slightly runnier so I can have more control over the application.