Deconstructed Nails: Deborah Lippmann Marquee Moon and Some Bling

One of the key colours for nails this Fall/Winter season has been grey - specifically light grey (a la Chanel Frenzy). I've also been inspired by the idea of deconstructed nails lately, so I thought I'd combine the two to get a deconstructed-looking nail!

When I googled "deconstructed nail look", I got a lot of pics of crackle polish (yawn, so yesteryear), and that look Emma Watson wore on a magazine cover (which IMHO doesn't look deconstructed, just destroyed). I personally prefer my polished nails to actually look like polished nails, so I set about thinking about how the nails could look deconstructed but not ruined. I guess in the end it just had to do with random placement of sequins and gems.

For this look I used two costs of Deborah Lippmann's Marquee Moon, which is silver hex glitter in a silver base. I swear, this polish deposits it's glitter anyhow it wants! Sometimes (more often than not) I get less or no glitter, sometimes I get a bunch of glitter all in one clump. I like the concept of the polish, with its idea of playing on textures, but man, this was driving me nuts. I then put two square pieces of gemstones on my nails randomly on each nail. And ta-da, deconstructed nails with a nod to the season's colour trends (not that the colour trends matter, really).


Anyway, there you have it! My deconstructed Fall/Winter nails. It's quite a fun look, and pretty easy to do, as my nail art tends to be (because my skillz suck). The best thing I like about this look is that it is quite neutral colour-wise, and would go with just about anything, although its also edgy enough not to become a wallflower nail look.

Fade to Black Gradient Manicure

Look! Gradient nails! And with three colours, too! I don't know about you, but I recently started experimenting with making gradient nails with a sponge, and I'm loving it! For these nails, I did a gradient with three - yes three! - shades. I think this is a first for me, LOL. I used Wet n' Wild White, Wet n' Wild Black, and Essie Chinchilly for the grey.

I first painted my nails with Wet n' Wild White as a base, then I took a sponge (I just use whatever I can get my hands on - I use the sponges that I have at home to wash dishes), and did three stripes of paint in each colour next to each other on the sponge. Then I transferred the polish from the sponge to my nail. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the "sponge marks" on my mani. Maybe I should have used more polish on the sponge, or a different type of sponge? Anyway, when I figure it out, I'll let you guys know.


The trick to this, I think, is to blend the polishes on the sponge before transferring them to the nail. Also, I think it helps to use polished that are opaque and give good coverage.

The downside to this is that you get polish all over your cuticles and skin around the nail, and cleanup can be a pain. Especially if, like me, you used black or a dark shade, then it's quite hard to remove all that crap that gets stuck at the base of your nails. But the end effect is so cool, I think it's worth it!


So ta-da, my gradient manicure! I'm really loving how this looks, despite the pain it was to clean up, it has a very moody-chic vibe to it.

a-England King Arthur v Ciate Velvet Tuxedo: Comparison

It's dupe comparison time! In a previous post, I wrote about a-England King Arthur, a gorgeous gunmetal grey. I thought it looked similar to Ciate's Velvet Tuxedo, so I decided to do a comparison to see if these were dupes or not.

In the bottle, both look quite similar. Both are deep gunmemtal greys with shimmer in them. My Ciate bottle used to have a cute ribbon on it (I actually have a super old NOTD and a bottle pic of Ciate Velvet Tuxedo on the blog - it's super old, so look at your own risk). But over time the ribbon came off, so now I have a ribbon-less Ciate bottle. No cute ribbon...it actually makes me a little sad.



Here's a swatch picture of the two in natural light. You can't really see it in the photo, but Ciate Velvet Tuxedo is actually a shade darker than a-England King Arthur. It's not a big difference, so for some reason the camera didn't pick up on it. The shimmer is the same in both colours, though.

L-R: a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo

Below is another swatch picture, this time in more shaded lighting conditions. You can see the shade difference a little bit more clearly here. The Ciate shade is a shade darker than the a-England shade, but otherwise, both are quite similar.



L-R: a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, a-England King Arthur, Ciate Velvet Tuxedo

So, the final verdict - do you need both? To be honest, I feel like they are both quite similar. I'd get a-England King Arthur over Ciate Velvet Tuxedo, just because it's lighter and thus looks a little more grey and less black, especially in lowlights. But unless you wore the two side-by-side and looked closely at them, it's easy to think they're the same colour.

(a-England product was sent for review. All other products were bought. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

A-England King Arthur: Gorgeous Gunmetal Grey

So I finally got around to trying A-England polishes! After hearing all the hype about them, I kinda felt like I was missing out. The UK-based brand does have some gorgeous colours, and a lot of their polish names are themed around medieval England. So good colours, great names - what's not to like?

A-England King Arthur, the colour I tried, is a gunmetal grey with a shimmer finish. It's a basic colour, but still very nice to have. I think I'll have to make a comparison post to another gunmetal shade I have in my stash. But I love the name King Arthur for this polish. It kind of reminds me of the blade of his sword, or the metal of his armour. Very romantic and evocative.



One of the things I really liked about this polish is that even indoors, it doesn't look black. It looks grey most of the time to me, which is always a plus. I also like the shimmer inside the polish. A-England describes it as "subtle diamond shimmer" (another very romantic description I love), and although it's subtle indoors, when the sun hits it, you can really see the sparkle. I'm all for bling on my fingers, so I love it.



Application of King Arthur was good, and I had no issues with either the polish formula, or the brush size and shape.



I can see why these have been so hyped-up lately. They do have some pretty colours with great formulas. Also, perhaps equally adding to the hype are all the very evocative medieval names. The only downside is that they aren't widely available. Within Asia, you can get them from Singapore-based Mei Mei Signatures, which is an online shop selling all kinds of hard-to-get-within-Asia nail polish brands. They also carry Nubar, Nfu-Oh (two other awesome brands), and a range of others, so do check it out if you're thinking of getting some!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Chanel Graphite Dupe Search: Comparisons with OPI and Face Shop

Chanel's Graphite nail polish, one of their Fall releases, has been making the waves, with its stunning shade and foil finish. I suspect part of the hype is just that it's Chanel - few brands just have that je ne sais quoi that cause such a frenzy everytime something new is released.

As usual, I ooh-ed and aah-ed over the new Chanels, but was less keen on the price point. So I swatched Chanel Graphite next to other existing polishes I already had, just to see whether I really needed it or not. *Sighs* Oh well, what's a girl on a limited budget to do?

The first polish is OPI Brand New Skates. Now this has been established by other bloggers to NOT be a dupe, but I thought I'd just swatch them side by side for anyone who was still curious about the differences between the two.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Both OPI Brand New Skates and Chanel Graphite have the same greyish, slightly green leaning base, but the shimmer in both polishes is totally different, despite the same base colour. Chanel Graphite is obviously a lot more blingy - the foil finish is very strong, and the foil glitter is very dense, while Brand New Skates isn't a foil - it's more of a grey-green base with dispersed gold/bronze/silver glitter. Also very pretty, but not a dupe.

Another difference is that OPI Brand New Skates is really sheer. What you see applied is 3 coats of medium thickness. Graphite, on the other hand, is fully opaque in 2 coats.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Brand New Skates is a gorgeous colour, to be sure, it isn't a dupe. Perhaps for someone who liked the base colour of Graphite but not the foil finish, Brand New Skates may be a better pick. For me, the best part of Brand New Skates is that I got it for a cool S$8 from my friend Luna in a blogsale, so to me, that's a total steal!

The next polish that I thought looked similar to Chanel Graphite in the bottle was a really random Face Shop polish I had purchased sometime back. This is The Face Shop's Face It! nail polish range, and the colour is GR502. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I'm ashamed to say I've only worn it once! Here's a comparison with Graphite:

L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

Since I wasn't really expecting the Face Shop one to be a dupe, I was surprised to see that it was actually quite similar to Graphite! Granted, they aren't exact dupes, but they are pretty close. Both Graphite and GR502 have the same green-grey base that looks a little olive in certain lights, and both have that intense gold foil.

The only difference is that Chanel has a more intense foil finish than Face Shop. This difference in foil finish is more obvious in some lights than in others - in stronger lights, GR502 looks quite convincingly similar to Graphite, but in low lights, it doesn't. The photo above shows the two in sunlight, where they look similar. The photo below shows a shot of both in lower lights, where you can see the difference in foil finish.



L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

So although Face Shop GR502 isn't a dupe for Chanel's Graphite, I do think they are close enough to kill my very expensive Chanel lemming. And for our ladies in Asia, this is so much cheaper, and more accessible too. If I remember correctly, in Singapore the Face Shop Face It! polishes are around S$8 or so, making them less than a third of the price of Graphite.

If all three of them were the same price, though, I'd spring for Graphite in a heartbeat, just because it's the bling-iest of the lot, and you know I love me some bling on my nails! But I guess since I'm not willing to pay exorbitant prices for bling, I'll have to settle for the lesser blinged out alternatives, and just wait until the drugstore brands put out their dupe versions. Are you a dupe-lover? Or would you prefer to spring for the original?