Found my marbles

Hi again!

After yet another long hiatus, I am back with some water marbling.

Used OPI Happy Anniversary for the base because it is the most versatile base polish.
Then I layered that with drops of Nubar Pasadena Purple to create this wonderful psychedelic effect. Loving the swirls but hating the yellow lighting.

Happy painting, girls!

Yoga-ta get some flaksies

Nubar 2010 strikes again! This is my absolute favourite. It looks amazing over anything and everything. I definitely recommend that you get your hands on a bottle of this liquid gold.

I've cut my nails really short for moving. My hands are still suffering from all the heavy lifting, packing and unpacking. Having OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue on my nails made me felt less like a cavewoman but it is Nubar 2010 that brought a smile to my face.
As if you wouldn't fall in love with this combination. Here's a close up if you're still not convinced.
The flaksies change colour with every shift in angle like Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum. I hope this post gets uploaded at the correct time since I'm using the "scheduled" uploader option as I would still be internet-less when this is posted.

Correction: Blogger, you've failed me. Scheduled posting doesn't work. At least I've gotten my internet back now

Pasadena Purple

I am so sorry for not blogging in so long but everything is just thrown into one huge, uncontrollable and evergrowing ball of messy things that all need to be completed very soon.

I wore Nubar Pasadena Purple a while ago and forgot to photograph it until after 4 days of wear and tear. The polish on my index finger had gone all wrinkly. But nonetheless, this is a beautiful and unique colour that many people had complimented.

Once again, my camera refused to capture the correct shade of purple so 11% opacity of red is added over the nails to achieve that gorgeous colour. The polish was very easy to apply and just 1 coat gives an almost complete opaque finish. However, I have 3 coats on my index finger and 2 coats on the rest. Maybe that's why the wrinkly appeared on the index finger only.

I remember seeing this polish on Ginnifer Goodwin from the movie, He's Just Not That Into You. I definitely recommend that you get your hands on a bottle of this baby because it is probably one of the most distinctive colours out there.

I am not responsible for any spelling or grammatical errors as I am in desperate need of sleep. I do apologise for not reading over my rambles.

Guilty pleasures

Attention: Any hint of arrogance present in this entry automatically translates to pride and pleasure.

Now that's out of the way. I am proud of my nail polish collection. Like any proud parent, I would like to see my babies grow and expand. Hopefully I would eventually reach the 1000+ mark. Sooner than later, I hope. There are so many more colours, finishes and textures that are still waiting patiently for me to discover them. I guess this is the purpose of this blog. To help you to discover something wonderfully new, whether it be an idea, a colour, or another way to procrastinate during the vital HSC period. I do feel rather sentimental today.

I really need a nail polish stand. A place to display my nail polish for easy access. Currently, they occupy one shelf on my downstairs bookshelf because that is the only place where the sun cannot get to. Sunlight + nail polish = bad. So don't ever store your nail polish where the sun can get to it. My other nail art supplies are stored in random shoe boxes under my coffee table. I hate it. I want a cupboard didicated to nails. Space is always an issue.

I think I current have 70-ish bottles of nail polish. I remember counting but not the number. It is a pretty pathetic number, I do have to admit. But a girl only has so much money to spend. I arranged them according to brand. I like the look like matching bottles. Since I have no life, I'll name every single one for you.

OPI:
Top row from left to right: Girls Just Want to Play, Dim Sim Plum, Chapel of Love, Mod about You, Happy Anniversary, Alpine Snow (Matte), Funny Bunny, Banana Bandana, Glitzerland, Bling Dynasty, You Don't Know Jacques, My Private Jet
Bottom row from left to right: Jade is the New Black, What's with the Cattitude?, Ski Teal we Drop, Yoga-ta get this Blue, Brand New Skates, Sheer your Toys

China Glaze: Lubu Heels, Doll's House, Light as Air, Strong Adhesive Basecoat, Matte Magic Topcoat, Ghoulish Glow Topcoat, Medallion, Sun Worshipper, Four Leaf Clover

Essie: Matte About You Topcoat, Haute as Hello, Pound Cake, Playa Del Platinum, Silver Bullions, Mint Candy Apple, Mesmerize

Revlon: Quick Dry Topcoat, Black Lingerie, Primal Purple, Fuchsia Fever, Franken (used to be Cherry Crush), Franken Squeaky (used to be Grape Shimmer), Franken (used to be Copperglaze Platinum)

Zoya: Ivanka, Gilda, Savita, Get Even Basecoat

Nubar: Sour Candy, 2010 (G188), Pasadena Purple

Milani: Key Lime Shine, Blue for my Baby

Colour Club: Worth the Risque (yes I bought 2 bottles, they were on special)

OPI mini: Tattoo You Want Candy?, I Love Mummy, Witch Arm?, Glow-ink the Dark

Orly: Fantasea

Bloom Seoul, Sally Hansen Nail Hardener, Kami Nail Foil Adhesive

Here are the under $5 nail polishes that I don't feel safe using anymore because they are packed with chemical goodness. So I use them extensively on fake nails. The colours are still wonderful though.

I can't wait to take another trip to Bankstown. I really want to expand my Essie and Orly collections so they can grow to compete with OPI for my love. I would also love to get my hands on more Zoya but Ebay is currently the only 'affordable' way of getting them. They still cost on average $12 a bottle when the exchange rate is high. I'll shut up now. Thank you for reading. I'm off to make a wishlist.

I have more platinum than you

Since I didn't post anything yesterday, I thought I should blog another entry today to make up for yesterday's inactivity. After slaving over Thoughtless Alice and its Red Queen counterpart, my nails had random blotches of nail polish on them. Plus the tips of my Chanel inspired mani was kind of worn. So I changed my nails.

I love greys. I want to paint my new but old house's rooms a nice neutral greige. This is where Essie Playa Del Platinum comes in. It is a creme grey that is more on the beige side with its subtle green tone, released part of Essie's Resort Collection, earlier this year. Average application, like most of Essie's polishes that I've tried. 2 coats was enough to cover the nail but the perfectionist within me demanded a 3rd coat.

I had to use Zoya Get Even Basecoat today because I couldn't find my China Glaze. Sucks not having a polish stand. I can still see my ridges. I applied 1 coat of Nubar G188 over the grey base. I absolutely love the iridescent flakies! Then I applied China Glaze's Matte Magic Topcoat over everything. To be honest, I still having touched my Essie Matte About You Finisher. I love the result though.

3 coats of Essie Playa Del Platinum, 1 coat of Nubar G188, 1 coat of China Glaze Matte Magic

It was quite difficult to capture the nails. It is matte but still sparkly. Difficult for me to explain. But you can see the flakies reflecting the light that falls upon them. Looks amazing in real life. So stalk me tomorrow at UNSW open day and I'll hold my hand in front of your face.

Due to the matte finish, the surface of my nails feel like dried, unpainted clay. Quite awesome actually. I then discovered that I can draw on them with normal pens and the pen won't come off. It doesn't even smudge. I can prove it.

However, the down side is that I'd have to be careful when writing as I've already gotten an unwanted dot. Boo.

Flakies

I kind of don't have the inspiration to paint my nails right now after scrubbing for 2 full hours trying to get China Glaze Doll's House off. No joke. Down side of ultimate bling-ness, I guess. My nails hurt from scratching. Maybe I'll paint my nails tomorrow because I have an idea right now.

So in the meanwhile, I thought I'd share with you something that I wore a while back. Nubar G188 over black. The black is Revlon Black Lingerie. It is a pure black with no fancy glitters or shimmers. Nubar G188 is a topcoat. Iridescent. Before your mind stray to Gwen Harwood, focus your eyes on the photo below.

2 coats of Black Lingerie, 2 coats of G188

I love it! So much. G188 has iridescent flakies floating in a clear base. Similar to Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure and Nfu Oh's something because I keep forgetting the number. G188 was released as a special 2010 polish by Nubar and I stumbled upon this in my quest to find a dupe for China Glaze Fortune Teller, a polish released part of their 2009 Halloween collection, if my memory serves me right. You should look it up. You'll fall in love with it too.

In my opinion, it looks even better than Fortune Teller and is also more versatile as G188 is a topcoat. It can be layered over any colour and reflect different colours depending on the base colour. I won't try to explain it because you'll just give me a weird look. I'll save myself the embarrassment.