SHINE, SHIMMER & SPARKLE

Hello!

Watsons has brought in the revamped Essence nail polishes that feature a different bottle shape, a different brush shape and a different volume. Together with these, Watsons has also brought in some of the Special Effects Topper polishes like shatter polish and glitter.

I picked up a couple of things from the Essence counter and here's a look at the polishes first.

The Nail Art Special Effects Topper was the last piece standing - it is 02 Circus Confetti (SGD$4.50).

I haven't used it yet but you can tell from the bottle shot that it is in the same vein as Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday and a tonne of other similar polishes that followed it like OPI Rainbow Connection, Milani Gems and so on. I swatched it on the nail wheel and it applies well - not patchy and no bald spots. All the glitter in it seems to be hexagon-shaped - green, blue, gold, silver, red, purple, pink, orange, with a smattering of more tiny multi-coloured hex glitter in the mix. More on this in another entry :)

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The re-designed Colour & Go (SGD$2.90) bottles are cute - shaped like a little vase with a bigger bottle cap that is easier to hold. The bottles hold more polish now - 8ml, up from the previous 5ml but what I like most is the more ergonomic design of the bottle cap and the new brush.

The new brush has more of a rounded tip which makes polish application easier. As is the case with the other Essence polishes I own, the formula was smooth, flowed easily on the nail and was not streaky.

The range is limited - there were reds, pinks, corals, oranges, a yellow and gold. What happened to the glitter ones, the blues, greys, teals and all the other funky shades they had? But I spied 2 red shades I liked and they came home with me.

Fame Fatal (which I think was also available in the older packaging) is a bright scarlet while Do You Speak Love is a deeper crimson.

I've been wearing Do You Speak Love since Sunday morning and I really like the shade - it's deep and yet bright and very attractive. 

In lower lighting, it looks deep and vampy but it brightens when light hits it. The photos below feature 1 coat of China Glaze Nail Strengthener and Growth Formula, 2 coats of Do You Speak Love topped off with 1 coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

*** Do You Speak Love is a little deeper than this in real life; it tends to photograph more vibrant.

I also tried to move away from a squarish nail shape to a more oval one - I think I prefer this oval shape although the square shape seems to be easier to create/maintain.

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The made-in France polishes are of great quality and it's always nice to see new collections on our Watsons shelves. I was too late and missed out getting Grumpy from the Snow White collection - the affordable price-point and the more-than-decent polish quality makes these a popular choice. I love these as much as I love my other polishes but I just wished the new Colour & Go range available here featured more exciting colours. Soon perhaps! Till then, you might want to check out the new polishes in the Essence display - I do notice they re-stock often so you might see something delicious!

                       Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead!

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Hello :)

Hope you are well! The Holiday 2012 Collections are slowly making their appearance on shelves and it is an exciting time - Holiday collections are my favourite, with all the blockbuster sets, special editions and rich hues. In this entry, I'd like to share with you one of the new nail lacquers from Laura Mercier's Holiday Collection, the Art Deco Muse Collection.

Despite having a huge stash of nail polish in various colours, all I've been wanting for my tips and toes recently are dark, vampy maroons and reds.

And Laura Mercier's Crimson (14ml / SGD$29) is just perfect food for my addiction.

Crimson is a deep oxblood red - it has a great balance of deep red and brown which is the kind of deep vampy shade I enjoy (as opposed to the purple-tinged berries). Crimson is a Limited Edition shade and is one of 3 nail lacquers Laura Mercier has created for the Art Deco Muse Collection - the brand's homage to the architecture, style and mood of the Art Deco period of the 1920s in Paris. The collection features rich shades of golds, blacks and reds. 

All 3 nail lacquers in the collection, including Crimson, are 3-Free and are designed to be chip resistant and long-wearing. The bottle is a simple square design - the top is smooth shiny plastic and despite the shape and size, I did not have difficulty wielding it to paint my nails.

The brush is normal / mid-sized which will be welcomed by nail polish fans who detest larger brushes like OPI's Pro-Wide brush.

The texture of the polish was smooth and creamy - 2 coats was all I needed for full opaque coverage and dries to a rather glossy finish. In the swatches below, I have on one coat of China Glaze Nail Strengthener, 2 coats of Crimson and 1 coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

The pictures you see below have been taken after 2 days of wear - and I've not been gentle with my hands - I've been packing away things, washing dishes, fixing jewellery hooks and loops and you can see the polish is still in pretty good shape. 

In shade or lower lighting, the deep brownish-maroon hue is what you'll see - like in the first swatch picture. In brighter light, the polish takes on a more vivid oxblood red hue. Crimson looks great for both for a manicure and a pedicure.

The Laura Mercier Nail lacquers will make their appearance soon - likely in it's new full-fledged counter in Tangs Orchard. There are a lot more Holiday sets and exclusive launches so keep a look out for them!

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Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead :)

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Disclaimer: Product featured was provided by the brand. All opinions expressed are my own and are unbiased. 

Hello :)

Hope you are well! The Holiday 2012 Collections are slowly making their appearance on shelves and it is an exciting time - Holiday collections are my favourite, with all the blockbuster sets, special editions and rich hues. In this entry, I'd like to share with you one of the new nail lacquers from Laura Mercier's Holiday Collection, the Art Deco Muse Collection.

Despite having a huge stash of nail polish in various colours, all I've been wanting for my tips and toes recently are dark, vampy maroons and reds.

And Laura Mercier's Crimson (14ml / SGD$29) is just perfect food for my addiction.

Crimson is a deep oxblood red - it has a great balance of deep red and brown which is the kind of deep vampy shade I enjoy (as opposed to the purple-tinged berries). Crimson is a Limited Edition shade and is one of 3 nail lacquers Laura Mercier has created for the Art Deco Muse Collection - the brand's homage to the architecture, style and mood of the Art Deco period of the 1920s in Paris. The collection features rich shades of golds, blacks and reds. 

All 3 nail lacquers in the collection, including Crimson, are 3-Free and are designed to be chip resistant and long-wearing. The bottle is a simple square design - the top is smooth shiny plastic and despite the shape and size, I did not have difficulty wielding it to paint my nails.

The brush is normal / mid-sized which will be welcomed by nail polish fans who detest larger brushes like OPI's Pro-Wide brush.

The texture of the polish was smooth and creamy - 2 coats was all I needed for full opaque coverage and dries to a rather glossy finish. In the swatches below, I have on one coat of China Glaze Nail Strengthener, 2 coats of Crimson and 1 coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

The pictures you see below have been taken after 2 days of wear - and I've not been gentle with my hands - I've been packing away things, washing dishes, fixing jewellery hooks and loops and you can see the polish is still in pretty good shape. 

In shade or lower lighting, the deep brownish-maroon hue is what you'll see - like in the first swatch picture. In brighter light, the polish takes on a more vivid oxblood red hue. Crimson looks great for both for a manicure and a pedicure.

The Laura Mercier Nail lacquers will make their appearance soon - likely in it's new full-fledged counter in Tangs Orchard. There are a lot more Holiday sets and exclusive launches so keep a look out for them!

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Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead :)

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Disclaimer: Product featured was provided by the brand. All opinions expressed are my own and are unbiased. 

Hello .. hope you are well :)

A little while ago, I popped by Chanel and picked up 2 items from the Blue Illusion de Chanel Collection. The Blue Illusion de Chanel was inspired by Chanel's haute couture show earlier in 2012, which featured 150 variations of blue - the blue palette for eyes and nails is refreshing, contemporary and the deeper shades are this season's take on the traditional smokey hues of blacks and greys.

There was another Illusion d'Ombre in the collection, Destination - a paler silvery blue which I deliberated on, as did I on the Precision Eye Definer in Aérien - I left after deciding I could live without those 2.

I've yet to wear Apparition but I loved how it sparkled and glimmered in my swatch in-store and in the pot (as seen below)

Chanel's Creative Director Peter Phillips describes Apparition as an "intense greyish blue". 

I usually don't wear my Illusion d'Ombres on their own - I prefer using them as a topper for my eyeshadow, for a pop of glimmer and sparkle on the lids or the centre of my lids. So far, my collection of the Illusion d'Ombres include Vision (gold), Graphite (golden-pewter khaki), Fantasme (sparkly silver white), Illusoire (smokey eggplant) and Riviere (pale teal green) .. and now Apparition.

Her World Plus featured some lovely shots of the backstage action of Chanel's 2012 Spring Summer Haute Couture which featured the Blue Illusion de Chanel makeup, of which I share a couple. You can view the rest of the wonderful photos HERE

My favourite photo of the lot!

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When I first saw these photos of Le Vernis in Skyline, I knew I would HAVE to check it out - rather than a frosty polish, it seems to have that ethereal glow about it that makes it so pretty.

I wasn't wrong ...

Skyline is a pale, pearlescent blue, with the slightest touch of silvery periwinkle to it. When you inspect the bottle closely, you can see ribbons of pearly shimmer coursing though it. 

At first, I thought it might be a touch pale and stark - however, I think the pearlescent quality gives it such a beautiful lustre, it looks like pearls on the hands.

I find that it can look a little deeper or a little brighter depending on lighting or the angle (as seen in the shot below) - it is not a shade-shifter but I think the lustrous quality of the polish lends itself to this nuance.

Taken against the greying evening sky - you can see how there are no grey tones in Skyline at all

It is relatively easy to apply but there are some visible brushstrokes which can probably be minimised further with real meticulous application. I found that a coat of Seche Vite made the brushstrokes a little less obvious though.

I don't have any other polish remotely similar to Skyline so I can't make any comparisons. However, The Beauty Look Book, as usual, has an amazingly comprehensive comparison swatch photo in her blog entry HERE - do check it out and you'll see how the luminous Skyline leaps out at you from the nail wheel.

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Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a beautiful week ahead

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Disclaimer: Products purchased with my own money. Official descriptions and photos of the Chanel haute couture show courtesy of Herworldplus.com

Hi!

Things are a little messy right now - school work (it's like everyday I try to finish that one piece and it never happens) and then there are other things happening.

I also had a little breakout situation on my lower half of the face - so new skincare had to stop but thankfully it's gone away now and I'm resuming the usual routines and trying out new things.

My Mom and my chums keep good company so that's a blessing. A lot of backlog on the blog but it will all come out slowly but surely. This is something I enjoy and I want to relish the photo-taking and the experience of trying the products out as well as pouring out my thoughts - on that note, I've been taking LOTS of pictures of all the new and accumulated goodies I've hauled and received so those will roll out one by one.

In the meantime, here is a brief snapshot of what I've been up to :)

My lightbulb sort of burst in my room and I had to shift all the piles and piles of bags with goodies and when I started sifting through them - I realised I had lots of things remaining unused because they're new and have yet to be nicely photographed. So I've been carting stuff, one lot at a time, and photographing them - natural bright light is really the best: colours are accurate and everything just looks so clean, pristine and great.

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Then of course, there's new makeup to play with - these are all CPs thanks to dear Elaine and I'm chuffed over these! 

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And more polish hauls - I've eaten humble pie. I used to think that pastel creme polishes are so blah but I finally realised their value. So pretty and delicate - I was totally lemming the Models Own Ice Cream Sundae Boxed set but shipping is crazy so I headed to Etude House instead - the polishes are reallllly nice for the price. The 2 A-England polishes in Galahad (aqua creme) and Guinevere (lilac creme) - I had my eye on them for a while and snagged them when A-England had a sale recently. So glad I got Galahad - it's really soft but bright.

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Then again, how long can I be kept away from glitter? It took me a while to hop onto the Indie bandwagon but a lot of them are really hard to resist. I have one more Indie polish on its way to me so I'll do a little series on these - they are AWESOME. A little sidenote - if you have any polishes from All That Glitters, DON'T TOUCH THE LABEL WITH WET HANDS - the print COMES RIGHT OFF. The bottle on the extreme right - it was a gift from Elaine and it's All That Glitters Cha Cha Twist. I touched with with wet fingers (I was at the pool taking photos) and it came right off much to my annoyance. The beauty of the polish more than makes up for that minor boo-boo though.

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The cap of my NARS eyeshadow primer broke and I didn't want to let it dry out so I wanted to depot it - I didn't want to depot it into the usual sample jar - I feel that's so messy so I googled around and found a suggestion to use a twist up pen - similar to the Stila lipgloss pens HERE. I have no idea how that girl pulled apart the Stila lipgloss pen but I found these empty ones on eBay and they were inexpensive. I sliced the NARS primer tube apart and filled the empty pens slowly - works awesome and the brush applicator is so convenient. 

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Fixing my hands - my hands are very rough. I don't know why and it frustrates me to no end. And ironically, I HATE wearing moisturiser because it feels all icky and sticky and I'm fidgety to start off with so then I get moisturiser everywhere.

But I recently got very determined to fix this problem - I bought a pair of Organic Cotton Moisturising Gloves from The Body Shop and I tried out a couple of body creams with ok results. But 2 nights (I only use the gloves and creams at night) in a row of the Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream and I SWEAR I feel a difference - it's not princessy smooth yet but much softer. This is a deluxe size (30ml) and will finish soon, at the rate I'm going. I'm definitely picking up the full size.

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And moving on to the non-makeup related things ....

I've always had a soft spot for spots :P Polka dots make me very happy (happier than stripes make me) and the polka dot nails and Marty in Madagascar 3 just cemented my love for polka dots. This is one of my latest acquisitions - my red polka dot bag. I love it so much, I want to carry it everywhere, with everything! Nicely made - sturdy and neat and I think you can't expect any less from Korean manufacturers.

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Speaking of made in Korea - my friends are Kpop, Kdrama mega-fans (I call them KpopKrazies actually). Usually, I'm the one who does all the psychobabbling - this time, they psychobabbled me into watching a Kpop music video, my first ever. This one is by Girls Generation and goes Gee Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby Baby (cue scissor leg movement) - I've got to admit, rather entertaining. 

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Quality time and sky-gazing with the parents - I spent a lovely evening at Sembawang Park with my Mom, after chauffering Dad to a nearby place and we all went off to eat tandoori and prawn briyani after that ...

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I used to have a tennis coach and then it got so expensive and I had no one to play with - my place has nice tennis courts but no tennis-ball shooting machine (is that what it's called?). But I badly wanted to start playing racquet games again - so I've managed to psychobabble my chums to play badminton with me weekly. This sunscreen makes me GLISTEN in the sun :P

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On that note, I've been also trying to watch what I put in my mouth a little more - not always successful but I'm playing with portions now - also trying very hard NOT TO EAT CHOCOLATE ... and hence, I resort to this instead

Incidentally, I ventured to Mustafa (which is like a stone's throw away from my place) WITHOUT LIPSTICK OR EYESHADOW :P I never used to do that!

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Thank you to my dear friends who always have something nice to say, drag me somewhere and find things for us to do. Thanks also to my parents, Mom especially, who does everything for and with me.

I recently re-read some of my maiden blogposts and in terms of the photos and writing, I think things have gotten much better from how I started off. I'd like to thank all of you who've come by often and have been part of this journey with me - it means a lot, truly.

As always, thanks for stopping by and have the loveliest weekend ..