Breast Cancer Awareness Month Manicure: Pink Gradient Glitter Nails

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I thought I'd do a BCA-themed manicure because breast cancer is actually the 5th top cause of deaths. If you're in the at-risk age group (50 to 74), the best way to detect breast cancer is to get a mammogram once every 2 years. And as with all illnesses, early detection helps!

My BCA manicure that's pink, shimmery, and IMHO, awesome!

Pink and White Gradient BCA Nails

So after my first Breast Cancer Awareness month manicure, I decided to do a second BCA mani! This time, I used the same pink and white colour scheme, but I used a bit of glitter as well! And of course, the pink ribbon is there on the accent nail.

Although this mani is simple, I actually used a total of four different polishes. For the white and pink gradient, I used Wet n' Wild White (duh), while the pink was RBL Lulu, a very pretty pastel pink of the BCA variety.


The pink ribbon is Wet n' Wild Quartz of Course, and I freehanded the ribbon again this time. And then I topped that with OPI Princesses Rule! which actually is tiny glitter in a base that has a slight tinge of pinky sheerness. I kinda overestimated how sheer the polish was, and when I applied it over my mani it actually made everything look pinker. Oops.


So that's my second BCA mani! Hope you guys like it! Stay healthy and pretty everyone, and take care of your health! You can read up further on breasts cancer here, and there are lots of other resources available too. Breast cancer is the 5th top cause of deaths, so if you're in the at-risk age group (50 to 74), the best way to detect breast cancer is to get a mammogram once every 2 years.

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.

OPI Pink Friday Nicki Minaj NOTD: Just Celebrity Hype?

OPI's Nicki Minaj Collection, released sometime back, was quite well-received by the blogger community. I think part of all the hype was just because it was Nicki Minaj, you know? I personally didn't find the collection that inspiring or original, in that similar colours already exist elsewhere.

Anyway, I got OPI Nicki Minaj Pink Friday in my Vanity Trove last month, so I thought that since it was one of the much raved-about colours in the collection, I should at least do an NOTD with it, right? So I busted my mini-bottle out and did a mani with it.



I know a lot of bloggers have liked it, and about how it's such a great pink. Apparently this was Nicki Minaj's favourite colour (not hard to see why, I guess). Perhaps it's the celebrity factor, but this didn't do much for me. It's a light pastel pink with a warm lean, which would make it ideal for warm-toned girls looking for the pastel pink that won't look ashy on their skintone. And in that sense, it brings something to the table, since most pastel pinks are cool-toned. But otherwise, I found the colour just meh. It didn't look particularly great on my skintone, and I mean, pink-lipstick-similarity aside, this colour is a big yawn to me. Another pastel pink? Great, let's just move on.

Another gripe I have about Pink Friday is the application. This is kinda thick, so it tends to pull and be really streaky upon application. If you're lucky you can get away with two coats, but mostly I used three to even things out, and it ended up looking a little bit thick in the end. It doesn't really have the best application. I was hoping for a really opaque two-coater, but this wasn't quite it.



Anyway, I KNOW that this is the same shade as Nicki Minaj's lipstick, and that it's cool and all, but for some reason I can't like this colour. Maybe it's the crappy application, maybe its the fact that pink (seriously, pink lipstick aside, why would an artiste known for making daring sartorial choices put a pink in her nail polish collection?), or maybe it's just that the colour doesn't look all that great on me. Overall, I feel like this is a over-hyped colour I could do without.

Reverse Chevron Manicure Tutorial with OPI Nicki Minaj Shades

When I got my Feburary Vanity Trove, my mind was just racing with all the possibilities for some nail art fun. Finally, I settled on these pink and black glitter Chevron nails.

These were pretty easy to do, too. The tutorial below shows you just how easy it is.

1. First, paint your base colour. (I'm assuming you already have base coat on, of course.) Here I used OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj Collection.



2. After the base layer is dry, stick tape on top of the base layer in your desired Chevron shape.



3. Then, paint the top shade from the taped area to the ends of the nails. Here I used Wet n' Wild Black.



4. If you want to jazz up your Chevron, add a little glitter! This is OPI Save Me from the Nicki Minaj Collection.



5. Wait for the polish to dry, then peel off the tape, and viola! Chevron nails, with glitter on top!



Lastly, here are a few final tips I hope you'll find useful. Firstly, before you lay the tape over your base layer, make sure the base layer is really, truly dry. If not, the tape will peel the base layer off your nail. Also, for a sharper Chevron edge, wait til the polish is dry (or mostly dry) before peeling off the tape. If the polish is too wet, it will smudge when the tape is being peeled off.

I like this combination very much, I like the contrast of pink and black, and I also feel like the holo and silver glitter in Save Me really stands out against the black. I actually got these polishes in my Feburary Vanity Trove, so if you're interested you can check out Vanity Trove.