Fall/Winter 2012 Nails: Classic Nude, Brown and Pearls

In my last post, I commented that this season's Fall/Winter 2012 nail trends were kinda boring, especially where colours were concerned, since this season's shades were mostly all dark vampies and fleshtone neutrals. So, I set out to jazz it up with a little bling, while still retaining some element of its classic, timeless feel. And here is the result - classic bling, in the form of pearls!

For inspiration, I actualaly looked at this modified french manicure, with a nude base and a vampy tip. It was making the rounds on the runway as part of the Fall/Winter 2012 trends this year. When I saw the look, I thought to myself, "That's a classic colour scheme, but I wonder if I could do something to it - it looks like it could use a teeny bit of bling."

(Source: Vogue)
So, I did just that! I retained the colour scheme - don't wanna mess with a good thing too much - but added the pearls, and changed the shape of the painted tip.


For the base, I used Rimmel Beige Style, which is seriously one of the most underrated polishes out there. It's cheap, available, and a classic shade that would probably look good on most people. Beige Style is a fleshtone nude creme (I think it's a creme anyway - it has the slightest of shimmer in the bottle that doesn't show up on the nail). For the nail tip, I used Megan Miller Ganache, which is a rich chocolate brown creme. I basically free-handed the curved tip using Ganache. It doesn't have to be THAT neat because the smile line will be covered by the pearls.


Can I digress a little at this point? I love Megan Miller polishes - the two I have are fantastic in terms of colour payoff, texture, and brush shape/size, but man, I really hate the bottles. The cork cap really annoys me to no end, because fluff and dirt and dust get onto the cap really badly. I have to like, do some dust removal every now and then. I think my cork cap is eventually going to get all moldy and gross (I live in a very hot and very humid climate near the equator), and I'm not looking forward to it. But anyway, moving on.


For the pearls, I used three different sizes of pearls and aligned them along the smile line from large to small. For handling of the pearls, I used the ever-helpful wet toothpick tip - basically you dip the tip of a toothpick in water, and the wet toothpick will pick up the pearls due to the surface tension of the water. When the pearl touches the wet nail polish, the pearl will stick to the polish. Much easier than using tweezers!


Anyway, this is my slightly-more-blinged-up-but-still-classic take on this Fall/Winter's French manicure. I'm really liking it, as it's easy to do, and looks great, even if you aren't into crazy nail art. In fact, my non-nail-polishaholic sister commented that she actually liked this look! I think it would be great to try this with other colour schemes too.

Shard Glitter Coolness: Cirque Potosi Nail Polish!

Glitter nail polish has always been something I've always loved, and I feel like with my latest discovery, glitter has just been amped up a level. This, of course, is Cirque Potosi. Cirque is a US-based brand of nail polish with an artisanal slant, and Potosi is the lovely shade I tried.

Cirque Potosi is a clear polish with a happy mix of glitter types. There's your usual small round silver, of course, but what really makes Potosi shine is the multi-sized polygonal glitter that makes it look like silver shards on your nails. seriously, how cool is this?



The shard glitter is quite new to me - right now I don't really have anything like it in my stash at all! I'm in love with the effect - it's a little bit random-looking, but incredibly eye-catching. Like shattered shards of metal, or a mirror, on my nails.



Here I've layered it over 2 coats of a random nail polish I got from Sasa, Sasatinne SPN103. It's a deep, dusty blue-leaning teal, and I think the two go really well together. I used one coat of Potosi, and did a little dabbing at any empty spots to get a more even glitter spread. So as you can see, the coverage is fabulous.



If you aren't in the US, you can get Cirque polishes from Mei Mei's Signatures for S$16-19 apiece. She ships internationally, too, so great for everyone who doesn't have Cirque in their area.

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

Acid Wash Jeans Nail Art

I've been wearing my jeans alot on weekends lately, so I thought, why shouldn't I do a jeans-inspired nail look? I also saw a couple of people posting such looks on Instagram, so I thought, I'd add my own take to the mix!

If you follow me on Instagram (I'm also Musicalhouses there), you would have seen me Instagram my acid wash jeans mani too! But that's a tiny photo, so here it is in it's full glory.

To get this look, I started off with two coats of Essie Aruba Blue as a base let to dry. I love this shade, and have featured Essie Aruba Blue as a standalone mani before too, back in the early days of my blog. But this time, I layered a white creme over it. Any white will do, I used my good ol' Wet n' Wild White.



And next, comes the fun part - destroying your mani! I created the acid wash effect by taking nail polish remover, and basically remove the white bits and blend the two shades together a little. You can use acetone if you prefer, I just used nail polish remover because it was what I had on hand, but as a result I got some blue stains on my cuticles. I suspect acetone may leave less stains? Anyway. The Instagram tutorial I saw used a Q-tip, but I personally preferred a small brush, like the kind you use for cleanup. I guess it's just a matter of preferences.



So after applying three coats of nail polish and removing part of it, I get this really cool acid wash effect on my nails - just like jeans! And it's pretty easy to do too, since all you do is destroy your mani artistically. I'm actually pretty tempted to repeat this with other colour combinations!

Girly Glittery Nails: Sally Hansen Big Money and Essie Nice is Nice

So you know those awesome Sally Hansen Gem Crush shades that were recently released? I've been having quite a bit of fun with these ever since I bought them in the USA - they're great not just alone, but also lots of fun when layered. Just check out my latest mani as a case in point!



I was going for a pretty pastel look, so I layered Sally Hansen Big Money over Essie Nice is Nice. Essie Nice is Nice was from last year's Spring collection, but it's a very timeless pastel purple creme.



Sally Hansen Big Money consists of small gold glitter and larger (but not too large) light purple glitter in a clear base. This would probably be fully opaque in 3 coats if worn alone, but I was going for a gradient effect, so I just sponged it onto my tips. I just used a kitchen sponge, no fancy equipment. And yes, I still can't get my gradient right. It makes me sad.



Best part? I got em both on sale! I got the Sally Hansen Gem Crush shades when they were buy-one-get-one-50%-off, and I got Essie Nice is Nice from Marshalls for US$3.50! Score! It really made the cheapskate in me happy, it did.



Anyway, I like the overall look - it's a very pretty and office-appropriate way of wearing the glitters that are a mainstay of Spring and Summer collections. Now, if only I could nail the gradient technique properly...

Tribal Nail Art: Summer Colours and Geometric Shapes

One of this Spring/Summer's trends is the tribal print, combined with eye-catching, bright colours. While I'm not actually a fan of wearing tribal print, I thought that it would be awesome to do a tribal-inspired mani on my nails. I've also been seeing a few tribal-inspired nail looks too, so I thought I'd join the club.

Let me show you a few photos that were indicative of the trend that inspired this nail art. The tribal feel is acheived by a mix of bright colours and geometric prints.

(Source)

Here, less geometric shapes, but bright colours nonetheless!

(Source)

For this look, I was really going for the bright shades and geometric shapes feel. The base is Essie Fondola Gondola, the green bit is Nails Inc Spring Mews (which I've used in an NOTD before), while the coral shade is Eyeko Coral (which, if you don't know yet, makes a fantastic pedi colour for summer. The gold lines were done with Orly Luxe, which has to be my favourite gold polish ever, because I keep raving about it.



All this was done freehand. I simply painted Essie Fondola Godola, then I painted Nails Inc Spring Mews and Eyeko Coral at an angle to get the geometric shapes. I then painted over the lines with Orly Luxe, and painted in a small triangle with Luxe as well. It isn't the neatest nail art around, but it was quite fast to do, and if I probably had a bit more control the lines would turn out neater. Oh well, nail art isn't exactly my strongest suite. You can see I really messed up the gold lines badly.



I liked the combination of colours - so gorgeous and summery and girly, as I liked the geometric shapes, but I think it was marred by my own crappy application.



What about you guys? Have you tried a tribal-inspired manicure yet? Tell me!

Syrup Manicure and Sparkles: China Glaze Beauty and the Beach and Fairydust

I tried my hand at the syrup manicure the other day. I liked colour, but I didn't really like how the manicure itself turned out. I think I kinda sucked at the gradiation. So of course I did what anyone covering up for a failed syrup gradient manicure did - I put glitter over it! Here's the final look.

The syrup manicure uses just one colour, typically a very sheer jelly, in order to get the gradient effect, in contrast to other gradient manicures that use two colours. The sheer jelly shade would then be applied in successive coats to give the gradient effect. For this look, I used China Glaze Beauty and the Beach, which I bought like, in a haul a long time back, but haven't used til now (shame, I know). Anyway, I thought that since it was such a sheer jelly shade, it would be perfect for the syrup manicure.

In order to get the gradient effect, I started off with a coat of Beauty and the Beach all over the nail. I then applied a second coat of Beauty and the beach from three-quarters of the nail, and a third coat from halfway up the nail. The last coat was applied just to the top quarter of the nail, nearest the tip. That created the gradient look.



Sadly, I wasn't very pleased with how the gradient turned out. I felt like the gradient was too sudden, and wasn't very "gradient"-like. Anyway, I decided to salvage it by adding glitter on top. I mean, glitter makes every manicure look better, right? So on went a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. Muahaha, now with my tips all covered with glitter (holo glitter, no less!) noone's going to notice that the syrup gradient isn't done right! How smart am I, seriously?



Anyway, if I had done the syrup manicure bit properly, I think I would have liked this a lot more. Although China Glaze Beauty and the Beach is annoyingly sheer, when layered it has a gorgeous lit-from-within glowy shimmer that I love. And of course, its annoyingly sheer nature makes it perfect for the syrup manicure. I also like China Glaze Fairydust - I swear, this polish just looks good over anything.



So there you have it - my failed attempt at a syrup manicure, and an equally fail attempt to cover it with glitter. Maybe next time I should do a few practice nails before jumping into these things. But for now, this is perfect for the spring and summer seasons - bright, happy, and tropical.

Girly Nail Art: Spring/Summer Stripes and Pearls

I wanted to do a nail art inspired by some of the Spring/Summer colours I've been seeing around. I'm not very much into fashion in terms of clothes (the way I've got it figured - you either look good in a piece of clothing or you don't, and if you don't, no point wearing it just because it's trendy because you'll just look silly), but I do like appropriating colours I see on the runway and incorporating them into my nail art. After all, isn't there that quote along the lines of "Good artists borrow, great artists steal"? Here is my nail art then, inspired by the fashion runways.

Anyway, let me show you a few of the photos I was looking at that inspired my current nail art. Basically, girliness and sweetness with a little pop of colour.

(Source: Style)

So I tried to use a similar theme - girly, but with a bit of brightness thrown in - as a base for today's nail art. And I liked the pink-and-green combi, too, so I used that colour scheme as well. And because it wouldn't be nail art without any bling, I threw in some pearls for good measure. And that was it, really.




Okay, so not exactly like Prada on the runway. But I quite like it. For the pink base, I used Nails Inc Bruton Street, one of my favourites in terms of the perfect soft neutral pink. The green (or more accurately, aqua) is China Glaze's For Audrey, which I've already done an NOTD with before. The purple is Illamasqua Jo'mina, also a previously featured polish.



This was all done freehand, hence the messy lines. I just painted the pink first, then the green, then the purple. I originally wanted to cover them up with some striping tape, as I like to do when my nail art is messy, but I figured, well, maybe not this time. So yes, you get to see my messsy lines in full glory. The pearls were added last, followed by topcoat.



So there you have it! My runway-inpired girly nail art for Spring/Summer this year. It's pretty easy to do, if you have a steady hand (obviously I don't so it's not that easy for me), and I really liked the addition of the pearls - it really makes it just that little bit girlier.

Caviar, oops, Fish Egg Manicure, aka Bad PR 101: How NOT to Handle Bloggers

Here is my Caviar, oops, I mean, Fish Egg Manicure! I'm sure by now, you would have heard of how Ciate stupidly unleashed a backlash against its own brand. Well, that's a large part of the reason why I'm writing today's post, too.

It all started so well. One of the more unique trends that was coming up this season for nails was Ciate's Caviar Manicure. This basically a nail surface that is polished, and then covered with beads. It lends a texture and look that resembles caviar, hence the name. (I guess maybe "bubble manicure" didn't sound as good.)

A lot of nail bloggers were inspired by the look, and began doing their own DIY versions. Most brands consider it a good thing, even if these bloggers aren't using their own products (Ciate's manicure sets aren't avaialble til June). The reason is simple - more publicity leads to increased sales, or at least, increased general brand awareness. This was a virtuous cycle - bloggers love a product, readers know about it, brand gets good publicity, and sales.

(Source)

So far, so good. Then Ciate began sending Cease and Desist letters to bloggers (an example here), on the grounds that they are infringing on their intellectual property. Ciate claims that because they are in the process of trademarking the terms "caviar manicure" and "caviar nails", all nail bloggers using either terms are liable for IP infringement.

Of course, nail bloggers, being a tight-knit bunch, were unhappy. The outrage culminated in "Fish Egg Friday", where bloggers all did their own DIY caviar manicures (now re-named "Fish Egg manicures") to express solidarity and unhappiness with Ciate regarding the situation. (One of my favourite posts regarding the entire situation is here.)

As it turns out, Ciate didn't even invent the caviar manicure. It was first done by Dashing Diva more than a year before Ciate, for the Cushnie et Ochs show in 2011. And back then, it was called a caviar manicure too, not as a trademarked term, but more as a general description (like shatter polish doesn't specificaly refer to OPI's shatter range). And yet, if you read the Ciate website, it says, "The inspiration behind the Caviar Manicure™ came about when Charlotte, Ciaté’s Creative Director, was looking to create 3-dimensional nails for a front cover magazine shoot and wanted to develop something feminine, indulgent yet delicately extravagant."


(Screen-capped from Ciate website. Snarky text and red circle added by me.)

So in essence, Ciate is claiming that they invented the cavair manicure, which was invented over a year ago by someone else under the same (non-trademarked) name, and now they are going to trademark it so that noone else (including the original creator, Dashing Diva), can use the words "caviar manicure" or "caviar nails". That's just total and utter crap to me.

Ethical issues aside, this has to do with dealing with bloggers. If it was some skeevy Ebay seller selling fake Ciate beads, then by all means, excercise your IP and slap them with a C&D. But for bloggers, who are individuals acting in a non-commercial manner, and who could be your customers, this is overkill. Even if you have the legal right to do so, a savvy company would not use that as the first step. As I wrote in my previous post the last time something like this happened, it's not a good idea, and I quote:

"However, sending a lawyer's letter right off the bat is a very heavy-handed response given that they are just dealing with one individual, and is one that is too harsh, and bound to give the company a bad reputation. Instead, a much better thing to do would have been to get a PR person to send out a more friendly-sounding email clarifying the situation - that would have gotten the same effect, and have avoided the drama. Justified or not, this is still really bad publicity for [Ciate], which could have been avoided. A lawyer's letter should be the last line of resort, not the first thing you think of, especially when dealing with harmless individuals who are your customers!"

Ciate has since then softened its stance against bloggers, but it does seem like too little, too late.

Anyway, I'm sure you had enough of my ranting (well, what is my blog good for if not ranting I guess!). Let's move on to the actual good stuff - more photos of my very own Caviar Fish Egg Manicure! I'm too late to the party to add in my blog for the link list that's been going round since I was at work all week, so this is not for any type of publicity I could get from the outrage, but more to just express solidarity in my own way.



For this Caviar Fish Egg Manicure, I used OPI's Barefoot in Barcelona as the base. It's been sitting around in my untrieds for over a year, and I can't believe it took me all this time to use this baby. It's a gorgeous pinky-brown sandy neutral, and would look good on almost anyone, I think. Heck, I think this would even make a great lip colour too!



For the beads, I used some random beads I got from Born Pretty Store. Mine were only one colour, but you can get a few colours and mix them together, if you're more artsy than me. In order to get the beads onto the nails, I painted two coats of Barefoot in Barcelona, then basically poured beads over my nail while it was still wet. Some areas are harder to reach than others, so if you want you can dip your nails too. Once I was satisfied with how the beads looked, I added some topcoat to seal everything.



All in all, this was a really easy manicure to do. I mean, pouring stuff over your nail - doesn't get much simpler than that! The downside though, is that some of the the beads came loose, and I felt like my manicure was going to drop off eventually, bead by bead. I suppose it's great for a night out, but I don't expect these to last more than a couple of days. Besides, I also have this really horrible habit of picking at my nails, and a rough and bumpy texture like that of the Caviar Fish Eggs manicure would really tempt me to pick at them soo much.



The bottom line? I'd probably wear this for a glamorous night out, but not for everyday. And although it's easy to do, you'd have to be quite patient to work with tiny little beads that may be prone to spilling and rolling all over the floor. But otherwise, I think it doesn't look that bad - it's really a hate or love kinda thing, but I am actually starting to get to like it. I just don't think I'll be getting Ciate's version of the beads.

Spring/Summer Pink Nail Art: Neon and Neutrals Colourblocking!

One of the trends this Spring/Summer season has been the contrast of nudes and brights! On the runways this has translated into colourblocked outfits juxtaposing neutrals and bright shades, but there wasn't really any parallel for nail art.

I saw a couple of nail bloggers bringing this juxtaposition to nail art, so I decided to give this a go too! I colourblocked a light neutral pink with a neon pink, and decided to make it my own by adding - of course - some bling!

For the light pink base, I used RBL (Rescue Beauty Lounge, for those who don't use acronyms) Lulu, which is a pretty neutral pastel pink. For the neon pink, I used one of my favourites, Eyeko Punk Polish, and painted it in a reverse-Chevron shape. Eyeko Punk Polish is a retina-searing, neoner-than-neon hot pink, which I love. For old-time readers of the blog, if this looks familiar it's because I've actually used Punk Polish before for a Valentine's Day manicure. I then used some white striping tape to outline the V-shape, and topped it off with a pink gem!



The great thing about this manicure is that even if you aren't great at nail art (like me, for instance), this is still easy to look good. When you're painting the Chevron shape, you don't have to worry about the edges looking neat, because the striping tape will cover that. And when you're sticking on the striping tape, you don't have to worry whether the two pieces of tape will meet nicely exactly in the middle, because the pink gem will cover that. So each step covers the mistakes made in the previous step, leaving you with a pretty good-looking manicure, if I do say so myself. Seriously, aren't I awesome? LOL. (And yes, I totally plan out my nail art to cover up my noob skillz as much as possible. It's how I make my non-existent nail skillz look good).



Anyway, other than hiding my non-existent nail skillz and making them look awesome, I really like this manicure. I went for an all-pink look, of course, but I feel like I should repeat this look with different colours, and perhaps with contrasting colours, even! I mean, the all-pink look is nice, but it can get a little dull.



Anyway, I love this - it's pretty, girly, and Spring-y. And it's actually pretty easy to do, although you'll need to set aside some time to do all the nail polish layering and striping and sticking on the gem. But at least you know it'll turn out looking good!

Nail Art with China Glaze Full Spectrum, Essie Foot Loose, and Striping Tape!

Ever I bought my China Glaze Prismatic Collection polishes, I've been experimenting with these babies, and boy, are they awesome! Even if you don't like how they look on their own (and how can you not?), I love how they really add that extra zing to any mani.

As proof, here's my NOTD (Nail of the day)!

This was a base of Essie Footloose, and then jazzed up with China Glaze Full Spectrum. Essie Footloose is a creme pinky-purple shade that's just perfect for Spring/Summer (which I've featured before), while China Glaze Full Spectrum, as one of the much-hyped Prismatic Collection polishes, needs no introduction. I've swatched Full Spectrum before (together with other Prismatic polishes), but I thought it would still be cool to share my mani with you guys!



This look was actually really easy to acheive. I first painted Essie Foot Loose as the base, then added on China Glaze Full Spectrum. After that, then I added on the white striping tape, which I got from Born Pretty Store. The good thing about adding on the striping tape is that the tape actually hides my messy edges when I painted out the shapes with Full Spectrum. In these photos, you can see the striping tape sticking out at some of the edges of my nail, as I wasn't very good at estimating lengths. I ended up using a nail clipper to clip off the extra striping tape sticking out! (Please don't laugh at me, it was my first time using striping tape!)



I really like this mani - it's girly, but still fun and eye catching, and has just the right bit of glitter for those who are glitter shy. And I have to say, I think the Prismatic polishes look fantastic layered - the different sizes and colours of glitter really add a bit more dimension to the nail. I'm definitely glad I got these, and I'm still looking for more ways to experiment with them!

Easter Nail Art: Pastel and White Stripes!

Look at my Easter nail art for this year! It's all pastel-ly and stripe-y and totally inspired by the shades and designs of easter eggs! Although it's pretty simple, I really like how it looks. I know it isn't the most original nail art out there (if I'm not wrong, there are TONS of people doing Easter stripes nail art too), but I feel like for once, I actually did freehand nail art without screwing it up (too much), so this look is special to me!

For the base I used RBL Lulu for the pink, Illamasqua Jo'mina for the purple, Nails Inc Spring Mews for the green, and Maybelline Banana Puddin' for the yellow. I don't have that many pastels, so this was about it I think. Still, I was glad that they worked together without clashing or anything. For the stripes, I just used this LA Colors white striper that I got from another nail blogger sometime ago (I believe it was Scandalously Polished, but her blog is no longer up. *sobs*). I was worried that the striper would be too sheer, but it turned out alright.



Being pastels, some of these shades had difficult application - that's the thing about pastels, for some reason, they're always trickier to apply than un-pastel colours. Nails Inc Spring Mews and Illamasqua Jo'mina were good, and fully opaque in two coats. (I've actually featured Nails Inc Spring Mews before, not just once, but twice, for my Valentine's Day nails, and I've also blogged about Illamasqua Jo'mina too.) RBL was sort of a two-and-a-half-coater, meaning that it was opaque in two coats, but still streaky, so I had to use three to even everything out. Maybelline Banana Puddin' was just a pain in the behind to polish - it needed a full four coats before it was opaque and not streaky. (I've actually complained about Maybelline Banana Puddin' before, but in the end I just put up with the application for the colour...it's hard to find a yellow that looks great on my skintone.)



Anyway, despite the painful application on some of the colours, I really love my Easter manicure. It's not particularly original, or perfect, but I'm really loving it. I know Easter isn't really all about eggs and bunnies and things like that (it really has a much deeper meaning to it that's so powerful), but I figure that anyway I can celebrate Easter on my fingers can't be bad.