China Glaze - For Audrey

I have been meaning to get this colour for so long so I'm happy to be able to show you guys this :) This colour is certainly famous among the nail community but for those who don't know, this is the Audrey Hepburn-honouring nail polish whose colour is almost exact to Tiffany&Co's famous blue. I thought the name was sooo cute since it obviously refers to Hepburn's most famous movie - Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Unlike the other China Glaze creams I've had trouble with lately, this one gave me no trouble at all! I was really pleased. I used 2 coats.



The colour is super cute! Here is a comparison of it against a Tiffany&Co box.



It's the same colour! *cue the oouuu's and ahhhh's*

Honestly, I don't know why but I just wasn't insane about this colour. I think I'm just sick of the soft colours I've been wearing and was feeling something else. But it's a really nice colour with a nice formula for those who really like this colour :)

Also, I'm going to start putting Essie's 'Matte About You' to show you how the product looks on different polishes.



I ended up putting the matte top coat on all my nails after a few days and liked it! Except I found that rubbing my nails against my black leggings and coat caused it to stain after a few days and it was gross :\

China Glaze - Mrs. Claus

Hey everyone! It's exciting getting new followers :) so just wanted to give a shout out to you guys!

Today, I have a CG swatch. This is from their Christmas 2010 collection. It was on the wish list I have on my phone so I was super excited when I found it downtown, for $3.99!

Anyways, unlike the CG's I've been swatching lately, this one gave me no trouble at all. It was very easy to apply and is definitely a polish that is packed with glitter. This picture is 2 coats and as you can see, the coverage is great.



I really loved this on me. It was so sparkly and pretty but a bit pink-red as well. It was really bright, though. My coworkers commented on it as well and it made me feel self conscious, haha. Besides their comments, however, even I found it distracting when I was working. But I really, really enjoy this one.

The picture above makes it look matte, but I assure you, it's not. The picture below shows you what it looks like with light reflected on it.



Yep, yep. I know. Bright.

China Glaze - Sea Spray

This colour was actually for Valentine's Day, believe it or not. I asked my bf what he wanted me to wear for our weekend together and he said he wanted a light blue. I was shopping that day and picked up this colour from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection.

Blue has never particularly been my colour but I loved this colour! It's creamy, chique and just really compliments your hands without being too much. Definitely a must have that looks good for work as well. Application was not great. I really don't understand why I have trouble with China Glaze's formula. Maybe because recently when I've been using them, I've been doing it right before I sleep so I've kind of been in a hurry and impatient. Anyway, with Seche Vite's help, it still came out looking completely gorrrgeous and it was another one of those colours where I really could not stop looking at it.

This was 2 coats.



Honestly, isn't this SO pretty??



I was grasping a bottle of hand lotion... clearly about to use it as you can see my hands are dry. Winter really sucks.

Zoya - Bela

I saw Black Swan a couple weeks ago and although it was way too dark for me, I found Natalie Portman beautiful beyond words and the whole ballet concept absolutely irresistible! If you didn't know, this Zoya colour was shown in the movie. It had a little screen time when Natalie Portman was sitting in her change room. And yes, I am a pathetic sucker for marketing ploys. Anyways, I really wanted to get Zoya's Bela since.

As expected, it was a sheer polish that reminded me of a very soft pink jelly. However, after 3 coats, most of the VNL was gone. Application was pretty smooth and easy but a bit runny for my taste.

This picture doesn't show the true colour but I'm holding the bottle!



I was travelling downtown to go to work and my mom is usually with me in the mornings cus she works downtown as well and I started taking pictures of my nails cus I wanted to get a good picture of the true colour and she was like "What the hell are you doing..." LOL. Only us nail people will understand... Anyway, the picture below is a better depiction of what it really looks like (sorry for the blurriness). It's really a brighter pink than the one shown above.

Coming up..

Recently haul since I posted..



And.. yup! That's some of CG's Christmas 2010 line you see. I FOUND the ones I had on my wishlist for a really low price. :D
Anyways, a bunch of these I've worn already so I'll post reviews later.. stay tuned!
... oh, one more thing I got..



:D

SORRY!

It's been a while since I've blogged simply cus I've been busy but I've definitely been doing my nails a lot - even more than I did while I was blogging (haha). I took pictures so I'll post the other reviews soon!
Today I used OPI's You're A Pisa Work and OPI's DS Classic.



I got You're A Pisa Work a couple weeks ago and finally got around to using it and I wasn't that excited about it until I had it on cus bam! It's not only a super pretty dark fuschia colour but the formula is excellent! It's a one-coater (2, if you use super thin coats).

And cus I have been dying to get my hands on one of OPI's DS holo colours and I got one from my bf for Valentine's Day, I just had to use DS Classic even if it was only on 2 fingers (1 on right, 1 on left). Unfortunately, it wasn't the linear in-your-face holo I was looking for. But, it's still a super pretty, happy, glittery gold that isn't too bright.

I was going to tape my ring fingers and paint You're A Pisa Work around it so I could end up with a gold heart on them but I opted for the little star gems instead.



Eeeek dry cuticles + hands... haha, sorry! But I like this :) It's fun, but maybe a bit too fun for work.. but luckily it's the l-o-n-g weekend (for us Canadians)! WOOOHOOOO!! Have a great one, guys!

Revlon - Cloud

Revlon's Cloud! It's a nice pastel-like purple that has a blue/grayish hue. I have 2 polishes from Revlon and I thought their formula was streaky and bubbled and I thought it might've just been my technique but I saw other reviews saying the same so I guess it's not just me!

This took 3 coats for the streaky look to go away but after 3 coats, there were still a bunch of small imperfections including bubbles!

I just bought a bottle of top coat from Seche Vite and was looking forward to trying it after my Deborah Lippman polish chipped after 1 day! I'm happy to say it did not disappoint at all. It dried fast, made the nail super glossy and got rid of all traces of streaks, bubbles and the other uneven areas - I couldn't stop running my fingers over it today!



Finally got to take a picture with proper sunlight today, haha (yay!).



Annnnddd I love the name of the polish, I think it's so cute :)

PS. Any suggestions for nail treatments? I always see 'nail restoration' polishes but never know which one is actually good. My nails have been hurting lately and I think I should use it and give my nails a rest soon.

Deborah Lippmann - Across The Universe

After a longing for Katy Perry's collaboration with OPI line (in particular, Teenage Dream), I opted to get Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe instead. Not that I have any regrets. Although this polish isn't new (Fall 2010, I think), I have read too many reviews about this colour and today I decided it was just enough and I was going to get it. Luckily, the Holt Renfrew near my work place had it in stock so I happily picked it up at lunch :)

Application was smooth. I should've waited longer between coats and applied thinner coats so that the colour could've turned out lighter. I'm still in love with it, though. The layers of teal sequins and blue glitter swimming in the blue jelly polish came out looking amazing. It dries relatively smooth as well. I would still recommend putting a top coat (or two!) on, though.

Unfortunately, leaving home for work early and returning late means I pretty much don't see the sun so I won't be able to capture this beautiful polish in sunlight. But, I took some using artificial lighting.
Here, I put on a base coat, around 4-5 coats of the lippmann polish, and two coats of top coat.





These pictures really don't do the polish justice, but isn't it pretty? I love a polish where I don't feel the need to decorate it somehow just because it's that good on it's own :)

Red Earth - Shimmer

Sunday means finally-have-time-to-post day! You know I'm busy and tired from work and life when I only have time to do my nails once a week : (

Haven't been feeling very inspired lately so I just tried out a polish my sister gave me that she got many years ago. It's Shimmer from Red Earth. It looked really pretty in the bottle and I expected it to look more like this (with flash) ...



... but it looked more like silver which I did not like so I was going to take it right off but decided to wear it for the rest of the day since I didn't have enough time to change it when I did it yesterday. I actually ended up really liking it after wearing it through the day and seeing how it looked in different lighting and angles.

Application was pretty smooth but drying was a bit slow and it took 5 coats before I couldn't see VNL anymore.



Under artificial lighting.



Under sunlight.

Dreamy Glitter Blush

I was really sad when I broke a nail yesterday :( So I had to cut them all. Hate to sound like 'such a girl' but I haaaate when it happens. Anyway, Sunday is my day of rest :) So of course I did my nails.

I bought some nail polishes from Charlotte Russe during the Christmas break. It was a little side purchase in addition to the clothes I bought there since they were only $2.99 for a set of 3. This one (base colour) is called Blush. The glitter on top was this amazingly cute glitter polish I got last weekend. I was so so so so very excited when I bought this since it's pink and it has a very good mix of glitter - little orange/pink circles, shiny glitter and little pink stars. It's called Dreamy Glitter by NYX. I bought a bottle for my friend too cus I like it so much and it's so perfect for layering :)

I used 3 coats of Blush, 2 coats of Dreamy Glitter and 2 coats of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri top coat.



Close up of the glitter!



The picture above shows the true colour well



Closer look at the glitter in the bottle, I love this! Much better and more exciting than the glitter polishes from OPI's Nicole collection.

P.S. Sorry my nails are still messy. I usually wait a few hours before I clean them up with a q-tip but I was too excited to take pictures so I'll be cleaning them later.

China Glaze - Sunset Sail

So I've been reading reviews about and looking at China's Glaze's new Anchors Away Collection for Spring 2011 for a couple weeks now and really had my eye on Sunset Sail. Apparently the collection is officially out Jan 12, 2011 but I purchased it at my favourite China Glaze store last weekend. Originally it was just a trip to look at nail polishes but I got pretty excited when I saw the new collection sitting on the counter. I'd been exhausted from work lately with the wonderful addition of the lengthy and painfully slow commute that comes with travelling from uptown to downtown via the TTC, but I was finally able to try it last night.

And wow. I love this colour. It's described as a "delightful peachy pink high shine crème" and to me, that description is pretty close. It's a pastel-like nude peach colour with a subtle glittery sheen that you can only really see in sunlight. This is definitely my new favourite colour in my collection of nail polishes and it's a shade that is conservative enough for work :).



This picture may not capture Sunset Sail in all it's glory.. I really need to learn how to use my camera.