First taste of Butter London

Hello all! I am back! No more excuses now that my degree has finished. So be sure to check back for regular updates. Promise that I won't let you guys down! Heap more tutorials and nail art for you guys to indulge in :)

Now onto the actual content. Recently I bought my first few bottles of Butter London. I actually bought 7 bottles except one of them broke in transit so I was left with 6 and completely devastated. I wish companies would take better care when packaging them.

From left to right: Teddy Girl (pink), Crumpet (sand), Pimms (yellow), Squatter (green), Keks (blue), Giddy Kipper (purple)

Be sure to keep an eye out for them in my future posts. I can't wait to try them all out!

I have Squatter on my nails right now. I absolutely adore the colour. I love it to the point that I don't want to take them off. The photo makes it look a little fluorescent but it is actually much more muted in real life. It feels so fresh, perfect for Sydney's spring weather now that it has stopped thunderstorming.

I'm not quite sure how Butter London comes up with their names. But I like the wittiness. Hope you've enjoyed this colour too.

Until next time! ♥

Hibernation

I am apologising (yet again) for this long hiatus. I do have to confess that the reason is actually because I haven't been painting my nails. I feel so ashamed to not have been taking care of my finger tips, even neglecting to moisturise my cuticles.

This is just a quick update to thank you guys for still visiting me and keeping this little blog alive in spirit.

I painted my nails for my birthday dinner! Went a little over board because I missed doing my nails.

The base is Orly's Pure Porcelain. That's a sticker on my ring finger. I'm a cheater.

Hopefully I'll see you guys soon. Happy painting!

Mermaid nails: glitter review

I love glitters. And so does everyone else. I've been wearing this manicure for a week now and I've got to say, its so beautifully mesmerizing!

Thank you Born Pretty Store for sending my these awesome babies. Click here or on the photo to get yourself straight to the glitter pots. You absolutely need to give them a go!


I've done a mermaid scale inspired nail art with the blue to green tones, and just a tiny bit of gold at the tips for that extra shine. The photos honestly don't do them justice. I used Zoya Ivanka as base so even if they do fall off, I can still have glittery nails!

I encourage you to definitely give these a go because they're easy-peasy. Just use a bit of blu-tack on the end of a skewer to pick the glitter up one by one. Although it is an extremely laborious process, it is worth every second. I don't have any regrets.

Please use my discount code if you'd like to give these glitters a go. Click on the image to get to the site. Until next time!

Water decal mini tutorial + review

Thanks to Born Pretty Store, I can tick off another thing that I've always wanted to try: water decals. They've always puzzled me as to how they can still maintain their stickiness after getting soaked in water! But in reality, after my first hand experience, I'm in love with how quick and easy they are to use.

On with the review. The cutest nail file came with the pack of 12 water decals. Bonus points for matching colours. Click here or on the photo to access the direct link to the decals. I chose #20.

Below is a mini tutorial on the process that I went through to get these babies on my nails. The trick is pretty much to soak each decal for a good 5 seconds before trying to peel them off. And only file AFTER the decals have completely dried on your nails. Or they'll move and give you a hard time.

Here are a few more photos to show off this super gorgeous nail art pattern.

 My vanity never ceases to amaze me.

Final Verdict:
♥ Super easy to use. The more you wet it, the easier it is to work with.
♥ Extremely versatile and forgiving. You won't get any wrinkles because everything can be smoothed down when it's still wet.
♥ You have so many design varieties to choose from!
♥ Remember to seal EVERYTHING well with topcoat. Or they'll curl up and die in the shower because as water decals, they hate getting wet.

If you're going to believe someone just once in your life, then you should most definitely believe me on this one because you will not regret it!

Don't forget to use my discount code MUL91 at the checkout.

Until next time, my pretties!

Keyblade to my heart

Recently, I've started watching my boyfriend play Kingdom Hearts. It has quite a sweet and touching story line. One of those typical Disney things that's meant to put warm fuzziness into kids' hearts.

I was inspired to do a mani for it, of course. Hope you guys like it.

I used Milani Key Lime Light for the base. And the pattern was done with acrylic paint. Then sealed off with topcoat so nothing gets washed away.

Until next time!

An explosion of dots somehow adds up to a fish

I've always wanted to try some sort of fish scale nail art and since my creative mind functions completely different to a normal person, I ended up with a whole bunch of dots vaguely resembling fish scales.

For the base, I used 2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow (Matte) that I've never managed to pull off on its own because it is just such a terrible polish with the worst consistency and streaky texture. But it came out reasonable after I whacked on a layer of OPI Funny Bunny, one of my all time favourites (as you can tell because it's half empty, I mean is that even possible for a polish junkie?).

And here comes the rest of the gang! A whole lot of Essies and a Milani, featuring (from left to right) Splash of Grenadine, Smokin' Hot, Lilacism, Mint Candy Apple, Mesmerize and finally, Key Lime Shine.

I started dotting in the colours from the base of my nail, working my way up to the tip. At first I blotted each colour onto a piece of paper and worked with a wooden skewer, wiping off after each dot. But then I realised that it is so much easier just blotting using the brush of the bottle.

And ta-da! The final result of my experiment process.

 

I still haven't decided if I actually like the result or not but the thumb seems to look better than the other fingers. It was definitely quite a messy process with 2 hours spent on dotting. But I can't wait to try it again with different sized dots and maybe colours that are only varied in shade. Hope this tickles your fancy.

Warm fuzzies + flocking powder review

Love is in the air! February is the month of love with the very special Valentine's day falling on the 14th. I've been doing quite a bit of reminiscing lately. Even though all of the polish I own are very dear to me, this colour in particular holds very fond memories.

This is OPI Chapel of Love. What an appropriate name for Valentine's day, right? I got this 3 years ago as a Secret Valentine present from my dear Jenny (hello, if you're reading). So with the perfect colour for February as the base, I decided to spice things up with some flocking powder.

Born Pretty Store was kind enough to send me a whole jar of flocking powder. I chose white because I've always been obsessed with the perfect white mani. Flocking powder is actually not a powder. It should technically be called flocking fluff if it was up to me to name.

Click HERE for the link to the jar of fluffiness! 

The powder (or fluff) is super simple to use. All you need to do is to pour some out into a container. I used the triangular tray for flipping rhinestones because the pointed corners makes pouring the powder back into the jar super easy.

 

The powder does come out a bit clumped since it's been condensed in the jar. So just grab a little stick or tweezers or anything that you have handy (like your hand, I'm so punny) and break up the clumps.

Now you should have a good, even consistency because the last thing you'd want is for the powder to come out in clumps on your nails.

I wanted a fluffy heart-mani so I simply just painted the tips in white and dipped my nails into the powder while the polish is still wet.

On my ring finger, I stuck on a bit of masking tape in the shape of a love heart as a negative stencil. Then applied white polish all over the nail followed but a good sprinkle of flocking powder.

To get rid of the excess fluff on your nails and fingers, all you've got to do is lightly dust them with a brush. Also remember to gently press on the powder to make sure that they've settled nicely with the wet polish that you've used as the glue.

The result is a warm and fuzzy mani, all ready for February!

♥ Review verdict: Definitely Recommended!
It was super easy to use, although it does require quite a few pieces of equipments like a small tray and a soft bristled brush for dusting. But the powder has great lasting power. It can get wet and be dried in the blink of the eye and still look the same as when it was first applied. I love the fact that I didn't need glue for its application. Removal was also the same as a normal polish mani.

Born Pretty Store has by far, the largest range of colours for flocking powders and also the best value with its mega-sized jar filled with compressed fluff.

Remember to use my special code MUL91 for 10% off all of your purchases.

So definitely go ahead and give this mani a go for Valentine's day. ♥

Red bow + Born Pretty Store

I love to use rhinestones for my nail art. They're fast and easy. But the best thing is that they look so good with minimal effort! Sometimes the simplest touches can turn an ordinary mani into something quite special.

Base is 2 coats of OPI Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I always like to add the extra bits of bling on my fourth finger. To be honest, it just looks better on that finger.

A great place to get quality rhinestones and endless other nail art goodies is Born Pretty. They're extremely affordable, even for a poor university student such as myself. That store is like paradise! A nail art blogger's candy store.

Remember to use my special code MUL91 at the check out for 10% off your order!

And the world will be dominated by the bling power of rhinestones!

Make your polish dry faster: ice water method tutorial

I think by far, waiting for your nail polish to dry is the biggest turn off when it comes to changing manis. You can't do anything during that time! Even the slightly bump can ruin a perfect polish job.

Today I bring to you, wait for it, drum roll please... A tutorial on using a bowl of icy water to dry your nail polish in under 15 minutes (I also had in total 6 layers of nail polish: 1 base, 4 polish, 1 topcoat). And I should add, I slap on really thick layers of polish each time.

Step 1

Before you dive into painting your nails, get the water and ice ready. There's nothing worse than ruining your nails before you even got to dry them. You'll need a cup of ice, and half a bowl of tap water.

Step 2

Add the ice into the bowl. Be careful because I got splashed.

Step 3

Watch the ice starting to melt already! Now you can start painting your nails. On a hot day, it'll still take the ice 30 minutes to melt away completely. So don't rush yourself. Slow and steady wins the award of perfect-no-clean-ups-needed-manis.

Step 4

Make sure to always put on topcoat. I waited around 1 minute after my layer of topcoat, then plunged my fingertips into the bowl of icy water.

The rule is:
Alternate every 15 seconds for each hand. Otherwise your fingers will feel like they're going to freeze off. Repeat each hand 4 times so it adds up to 1 minute per hand. 2 minutes in total.

You can dry your hands off afterwards but make sure to avoid your nails. My polish was dry to touch in 5 minutes' time after taking them out of the water. The most amazing thing is that they're pretty much indestructible after half an hour! As opposed to my normal 2 hour wait because I like thick layers.


Check out the result! I used Essie Lilacism. It is such a gorgeous cool shade for summer.

Like they say, time is money. I've just saved myself a lot of money.

5 minutes glitter nail polish removal tutorial

I'd like to thank everyone's support for the success of my previous removal tutorial and roll out the second installment, how to remove the much loved (and hated) glitters.

This tutorial is everywhere already but I hope this will be the mother of all tutorials! Be the most comprehensive.

Step 1

Get the piece of foil ready. Any type will do. The cheaper the better. I like to find mine in those variety / $2 stores. But it doesn't really matter because there is an ingenious way of saving foils and time!

Step 2

You'd have to trim the large piece of foil down to smaller pieces. I'd like to have mine around 4cm by 5cm because I have rather long nails which make typing pretty difficult. The trick is to make a little snip (shown in the previous image) and just rip along the snip. Saves time cutting without folding the foil.

Step 3

Gather your foil pieces. So shiny! Sparkle sparkle.

Step 4

Get your nails ready. Mine's all ugly and chipped because I was naughty and didn't put on topcoat from my last mani.

Step 5

Put a cotton strip over your nail like shown in my last tutorial. Click HERE for the link. I've just noticed that my nails are green in both tutorials. Fate is at work. Kind of scary since I sometimes have dreams about an event then it comes true the next day. Usually bad things. Sucks to be me.

Step 6

Grab a piece of foil and wrap it around your nail. Don't worry if it is messy and it's not rolled up like a perfect tube. Foil is the most forgiving, nail-related material I've ever used.

Step 7

After it's been wrapped around your nail, fold the extra tip down behind your nail. Gently squeeze around your finger to make sure everything is secure. The key reason for the foil is to prevent the nail polish remover from evaporating. They keep everything nice and moist so the remover can do its job to be fullest.

Step 8

Repeat steps 5-7 for all of your nails. I'd like to do one hand at a time because it is a bit clumsy working with foil as fingertips. Shiny sparkly fingers. Leave it on your fingers for 1 to 2 minutes.
WARNING: Your nails WILL feel hot underneath the foil. That is because although manufacturers try to make their chemicals as 'safe' as possible, it is NOT natural for your skin. Don't worry, just remember to moisturise really well afterwards.

Step 9

After 1-2 minutes, remove the foil capping while still leaving the cotton on your nails. I like to save the foil cap to do my other hand with.

Step 10

Like in the first removal tutorial, hold down and drag the cotton piece off the nail. This is with just one swipe. Pretty impressive, right?

Step 11

As you can see, the only flaw is that this method isn't 100% effective on chunky glitters. Not to worry! You can either scratch them off with your nails, or repeat the cotton piece removal method on the chunky glitters. They've already been softed by the remover so they'll have no problem coming off.

Step 12

Like I said before, recycle the foil tips and use them on the other hand! Saves you time cutting, folding, squeezing and they're so much eaiser to use the second time around.

I hope this was helpful and comprehensive enough. I swear this took me 5 minutes. No joke!