Kelier Purple Shatter Nail Polish NOTD: Shatter is now Colourful!

Wow, trends sure move fast! Remember back in ye goode olde times (well, more like a few months ago) when shatter/crackle polishes only came in boring black? Now, if you've ever wanted to shatter in a more colourful manner, you can! First it was China Glaze, and now all the other nail polish companies are following suit! Finally, the colourful shatter trend has trickled down to the comman woman, and shatter polishes are now available for cheap - and in colour.

I got my Kelier Nail Instant Cracking Nail Polish from Born Pretty Store, where they are currently selling them in a variety of colours for the low, low price of US$4.52 per bottle - and you get a discount if you buy more than one! As I'm sure you know, the Hong Kong-based Born Pretty Store has been on the radar of nail bloggers of late, for their cheap supply of nail products and tools.

Here are the results of the Kelier purple shatter polish on my nails. The base is Color Club's Who Are You Wearing?, a beautiful (if sheer and annoying to apply) off-white colour with a tinge of griege, that purple-grey hybrid that's been so popular in nail polish collections since 2009 or so.



One of the first things I noticed about the Kelier shatter polish is that it takes longer to dry and shatter on your nail. If you watch, you can even see the crackle lines forming! I even had enough time to take a few quick snaps, so you can see the polish shattering!

Here is what the polish looks like when first applied. As you can see, there aren't any shatters yet.



However, very quickly, the polish starts shattering from the area where the polish layer is thinnest:



And then you see more shatter lines forming as the polish dries and crackles further:



Aaannd...done! Ta-da!



As with other shatter polishes, how thick or thin the polish is influences how it crackles. Just like the Barry M Instant Effects Nail Polish, the thicker the layer, the less cracks you get, and the larger the cracked pieces are. So depending on how shattered you'd like your polish to be, you can adjust how much polish is applied on the nail. As you can see in the photo below, the ring finger has the thickest layer of polish, while the index finger has the thinnest layer of polish, and both shatter differently.



One of the things that I found odd about the Kelier purple shatter polish is that it peels off very easily, even with topcoat over it. Even though I had topcoated over this mani, I found that the smaller cracked pieces were starting to peel off the next day. I'm not sure why this is - perhaps the polish dries too slowly. I'm speculating that some fast-dry drops may help, but it is a little bit of a disappointment.

One last thing I noticed is that this is hard to get off. It doesn't remove easily, making removal a bit of a pain, but I suppose it's worth it for the cool purple shatter effect, right?



So would I recommend this? Yes, as a cheap, easily-available alternative to some of the other coloured shatter polishes out there. For my girls in Asia, who find China Glaze's coloured shatter polishes difficult to get hold of, this could be an easier to find alternative. However, the problems I had with peeling and the difficulty of removal mean that I would love this polish more if the formula is improved.

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

Orly Fantasea + Barry M Vivid Purple = Multidimensional Awesomeness!

There's something about the colour purple that I love so much, and I can't quite explain why. It could be that purple is a colour with enough oomph to not be boring, and yet still remains a colour that's pretty work-appropriate, or it could be that purple was the first colour of nail polish I tried, and fell in love with. Whatever the matter, I love purples, and I'm constantly trying to create more pretty purples to wear on my nails.

In one of my experiments, I tried creating a multidimensional purple on my nail, and I layered Orly Fantasea over Barry M Vivid Purple. Now both are gorgeous purples in their own right, and a quick google will turn up plenty of pretty NOTDs featuring one or the other worn alone, but I just had to try them together.

Here is the result:



Orly Fantasea, one of those hard-to-find but oh-so-gorgeous polishes, is a very pretty colour, consisting of multidimensional shimmer in a sheer purple base. It's the shimmer in Fantasea that's showing up on the nail and giving the entire layering experiment it's complexity. However, Orly Fantasea is quite sheer when worn alone on the nail, which is why I chose to layer it. I didn't want to waste my precious bottle of Fantasea trying to build up the colour by using 4 coats!

Barry M Vivid Purple, the base colour, is a purple with gold shimmer that's opaque in 1-2 coats, and one of the standouts in the entire Barry M nail polish lineup (in my opinion anyway). The gold shimmer doesn't really show through after the layering, but I'm sure it's in there contributing in some subtle way.



I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the effect. The resulting purple is a gorgous deep purple with a certain multidimensional shimmer quality that I love. I can't quite describe it, but it seems to me to look like little flecks of shimmer just capture the light and wink at you. I can make out pink and blue, but I'm sure there are more colours in there I can't describe. It's not a duochrome, but it sure is pretty.

Application for both Barry M Vivid Purple and Orly Fantasea was smooth, and the entire combination lasted for about 4 days before chipping, which was average for me. I definitely love this colour, and I'm sure I'll wear it again soon!

NOTD: Nubar Twilight Kiss and Revlon Grapefruit Glimmer

Nubar Twilight Kiss is one of those "in-between-the-season" colours - it's not too dark or dusky for summer, and it's not too light for cooler weather. And when overlayed with a sheer shimmer, I think it looks pretty good. So that's today's NOTD is! The layering polish is a really old (and probably discontinued) Revlon goodie, the Grapefruit Glimmer from their ancient Glimmer Gloss range.



Nubar Twilight Kiss is a dusky light purple, and I think it's actually a pretty colour, and quite wearable to work. I kind of think it's one of those colours you can sneak into the office. Revlon Glimmer Gloss in Grapefruit Glimmer is definitely an office colour - it's a sheer pink with very fine, faint shimmer. Honestly, it's so sheer it probably won't look like much by itself. But I think Grapefruit Glimmer has a lot of potential over darker colours.

Here, I'm trying it out over a light colour, and I think it looks quite good. Just imagine the possibilities this one has with dark colours! In fact, I think that if you layer it over a dark grey-purple, you'd get a shimmer similar to Chanel Paradoxal. I mean, it does have that similar faint sort-of-pink shimmer, no? Not identical, but close enough, perhaps?



Application was pretty good for both - but then again I'm partial to Nubars and Revlons, they are some of my favourite brands. The brush size, shape, texture of the polish just works for me. Lasting power is average, these lasted for about 3-4 days before chipping, which is normal for me.



I like Twilight Kiss well enough, but I personally think Nubar has more exciting colours (like their awesome duochrome shades). Twilight Kiss by comparison is one of their more subdued shades, although it's still pretty. And Glimmer Gloss is a great work shade for someone looking for a slightly more interesting pink sheer. Not a bad combination altogether.

Nubar Purple Beach: Duochrome, Triplechrome, Multichrome Awesomeness!

Nubar ranks number one on my list of "most underrated nail polish brands ever". I don't know why they aren't conquering the world like they really ought to be doing. Their polish has near flawless application, they retail for less expensive than OPIs, they have one of the longest staying power for nail polish I've seen (on me, at least), and they make some of the best colour effects I've seen - duochromes, glass flecks, mattes, suedes, you name it - they have it. I just don't think they have a holo, but I may be wrong on that.

Anyway, one of the biggest draws about Nubar is that their duochromes are AWESOMELY DUOCHROME. It's not one of those wimpy duochromes that are like, "hey I'm a duochrome, but you have to tilt me at an 89.95 degree angle to see a slight flash of blue in the upper right corner of your nail". Noooo, Nubar duochromes are shameless little things - they scream "I'M A DUOCHROME AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO TILT YOUR NAIL TO SEE IT!" That's why I love them so much. Sometimes, you even get a colour that is called a duochrome but is far more complex than that.

Like Purple Beach. This one is billed as a purple/green duochrome, but I'm going to show you that calling it a duochrome isn't quite doing the polish justice. I prefer to call it multichrome (and I just made up a word, woo!)



That's Purple Beach straight on in natural lighting. Notice that you don't have to turn and twist your hand into awkward angles just to see a hint of duochrome. I love purples, and I love duochromes, so this makes me VERY happy.



In this photo above, you can really see the green duochrome. And some brown. Woohoo, so this thing flashes brown, green, AND purple. Tri-chrome goodness!

Want to see more duochrome? I knew you'd say yes, so here you go:



And lastly, here is a picture of Purple Beach in indoor lighting. This one really brings out a different side of it. Here you can see it's primarily bronze/brown, with some flash of green-gold at the sides. Really gorgeous.



This lasted for almost a week before chipping, which is a record time for me! I'm absolutely in love with this shade. I love duochromes, and Nubar is my newfound love!

YSL Belle de Nuit Manicure Duo: Duping the Look for Less!

YSL came out with nail polishes sets that they call "Manicure Couture Duos", and for US$30 (or more if you're outside the US) you can get two polishes that are supposed to go with each other to produce a chic take on the traditional french manicure. In particular,one of the set of shades, Belle de Nuit, is rip-roaringly popular for Fall/Winter 2010. It consists of a deep purple and a shimmery gold.

Image from YSL Website

So I saw that, and immediately my first thought was - I GOTTA HAVE THAT! Then, when some semblance of sanity returned, I realized that I already have a gazillion purples, and a billion gold foils. In fact, the YSL colours aren't particularly unique. Every brand has a deep purple creme, and most brands have a gold foil. Then the realization sank in - I (as well as billions of polish addicts out there) could probably already dupe the look with the colours in my stash, for much, much cheaper!

So I set out to dupe Belle de Nuit. I took a look at the swatches on this blog, and decided that a creme base (like YSL had done) was honestly a little boring. I wanted something with a hidden shimmer to make it more interesting. But if you want to dupe the creme finish as well, then dark purple cremes are plentiful - my personal favourite is Nails Inc Dover Street Market.

Here is my dupe. I didn't use french manicure strips to create the lines, so you'll have to bear with my messy freehand tips. Also, my third fingernail looks like it's a lot thicker than the others, but that's just because I (still) have a nail wrap over it from way back when, LOL. My nails grow SLOOOOWLY.



I ended up using KOH's Purple Rain, and Collection 2000 Aztec Gold. I really should have bought those french manicure strips, because my freehand french manicure sucks.

KOH Purple Rain is a beautiful deep purple that has a hidden shimmer that is apparent when the light hits it, or if it is indoors. It's beautiful. Collection 2000 Aztec Gold is a metallic gold which is absolutely gorgeous - it's not a brassy or orange gold, but more of an antique gold. I really love this colour.

Here's a shot of my nails indoors. You can see the hidden shimmer where the light hits the nails. Beautiful.



KOH isn't a brand available in the UK (not that I know of, at least), and I think it's a Netherlands-based company. They do have some interesting polishes, but unfortunately I don't know much about them, other than that they have gorgeous bottles and packaging - each nail polish comes in it's own little case with a mirror!

Collection 2000 is a UK-based drugstore brand that is very cheap and readily available in any Superdrug. Aztec Gold was a cheap pick-me-up I bought from Superdrug. These polishes performed better than I expected - they were well pigmented and application was good, but they were very chippy on me. I think these are good for konading and layering.



What do you think? Has anyone else tried duping Belle de Nuit yet? Or is it so easily dupable that no one has even bothered?

Illamasqua Jo'mina and China Glaze Sci Fi KOTD: Purple and Silver

Illamasqua released Jo'mina (is it Jomina or Jo'mina?) some months ago, with the Body Electrics collection, and out of all the three nail polishes in the collection, Jo'mina was the hot favourite. I snagged it for 50% off because it wasn't "in season" anymore (sigh, I guess you know autumn is coming when the Spring/Summer collections start going on sale). But you know me, and you know I don't give a hoot about what's trendy or not - I wear what I like, regardless of season. And a 50% discount is timeless :P

Here it is in sunlight. I think this was the most colour-accurate I could it to be, but it's still not quite there. The base for the konad was Jo'mina, while China Glaze Sci Fi was used as the design. The konad plate was M65. Man, my fingers look fat.



Jo'mina is a gorgeous beautiful bright lilac purple. I'm not sure quite how to describe it, and unfortunately, my photographs aren't that colour-accurate because it's also really hard to photograph! It keeps turning out a lot more blue than in photos. I took a gazillion photos, and they all turned out blue-purple. And I tried colour-editing it, but with my limited photo-editing skills, there was only so much I could do. I'm sorry I couldn't get a more accurate portrayal of this, so just try to imagine this as being a lot more red-based purple instead of a blue-based violet, okay?



I've read a lot about how Jo'mina was a total PITA to apply, so I was totally prepared to struggle with this one when applying it. To be fair, it isn't the best, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either. I used two coats for all my photos. To be fair they were thick-ish coats, so if you used thinner coats you might need more. Still, I didn't get as much pulling, tugging, or unevenness as I expected. Weird right?

China Glaze Sci Fi is awesome to apply and opaque in just one coat, which makes it perfect for konading. Of course, that's evident from these pictures!



I really love this KOTD. I mean, I love purple, and I love chromes, so combining them makes me a very happy girl!

Chanel Paradoxal's Cheaper Little Sister: Asos Paints by Ciate Sienna

Not all of us can afford to drop our hard-earned money on Chanel's new "must-have" shade, Paradoxal. While there aren't any dupes that I know of as of now, there are a couple of colours that are pretty close, especially in terms of base colour. If you're not exacting about finding a dupe, you can definitely find a similar colour at a lower price.

Today's "Get-The-Chanel-Paradoxal-Look-For-Cheap" shade is none other than Asos Paints by Ciate, in the shade Sienna. It's a creme, so it doesn't have any of that shimmer Paradoxal has, but the base shade is similar - it's one of those purply-grey taupey mushroomy colours that are so in fashion right now. These taupey mouse-y colours seem to be fast establishing themselves as the new neutral shades - I mean first there were greiges, then there was Chanel Particuliere and the like, and now there's this purply-grey shade. And that's all right by me, because I love them all.

But obviously you're not interested in my colour preferences. You wanted to see Sienna. So here it is under sunlight:



The ASOS Paints by Ciate range is sort of like the UK's version of Sephora by OPI. These polishes are exclusive to ASOS, have a different packaging from the usual Ciate polishes, and are sold jointly under the Ciate and Asos name.

As you can tell, Sienna is my favourite of the bunch. It's an awesome purply-grey-brown, that leans strongly on the purple and grey. I don't think there's much brown in this, if any at all. And it's a delicious creme. Photos cant seem to do it justice, because this one looks grey in some photos, and purple in others.

Here's another shot, this time indoors:



These shots were two coats, but the polish is very opaque and pigmented and really only needed one coat. I did two because the first coat was uneven. These have a similar consistency to Eyeko polishes - a bit on the thick side, but very opaque - so if you prefer a thinner texture, a couple of drops of thinner will do the trick.

So, obviously Sienna isn't a dupe for Paradoxal, although I'd say the base colour is definitely close enough. It's a good choice if you want to spend less money (it retails for 6GBP and can be found on sale occasionally), or if you want a version of Paradoxal without the shimmer, or if you are one of those people on whom Chanel polishes seem to chip easily, and you want something that will last longer. But even without the Paradoxal comparisons, I do think Sienna is a colour worth owning in it's own right.

NOTD: The My-Toilet-Overflowed-And-Ruined-My-Mani Edition

One fateful day, my housemate and I decided we would paint our nails together. She wanted to borrow my Orly Luxe (which for some reason, out of all the colours in my stash, is her favourite), and I wanted to borrow her YSL and Anna Sui. It seemed like a good idea.

My mani was the most awesome combo ever - or at least, it sure did feel like it then. I used YSL Black Tulipe #34 as the base (or at least I THINK that was what I used - she didn't know what colour it was, and she didn't keep the box so unfortunately I had no way of verifying the colour name, since YSL puts the name of their polishes on the box, not the bottle. But it looks pretty identical to other swatches I've seen). I then layered Anna Sui Nail Color in 020. I have no idea what that is - it must be discontinued or Asia-only or something, since I can't seem to find any other swatches of it, and it isn't listed on the Anna Sui website. Lastly, I sealed in the glitter bits with two layers of topcoat, since they were rather large and I wanted a smooth finish.

Anyway, there I was, luxuriating in the sheer gorgeousness of my mani - hey it's purple, and blingy, and you know I love my purples, and I love them with a bit of bling! And because this mani was a whopping 6 coats (1 base coat, 2 YSL Black Tulipe, 1 Anna Sui 020, 2 top coats), I felt sure it would last forever, because I mean, 6 coats takes a longer while to wear down, right? So I would be able to be absolutely blingtastic for longer! Woohoo!

Sadly, it was ruined the very next day. I went to sleep, happy with my mani, and the next thing I knew, I was woken up at 8am by my housemates, and found that somehow, in the morning, our toilet bowl had overflowed and dirty water had soaked the entire lower floor of our apartment, which housed all our bedrooms and bathrooms. The floor was literally flooded with crapwater. We called the landlord, and he called the plumber, but in true British fashion, they said they would arrive anytime between 9am and 6pm. At that point I just wanted to scream. This is an emergency plumbing service, not Fedex package delivery!

So while my housemates and I waited for the plumbers (who arrived very punctually at 5pm), we spent our day vacuuming out the dirty water from our apartment, and hoping that the toilet bowl wouldn't flood anymore (hah! Murphy's law seems to love situations like this, doesn't it?). We were literally carrying pails of crapwater. It was that bad. It was beyond bad. It was gross, smelly, and just...UGH. If you were following me on Twitter, you would have been subject to my updates on this - I think I must have complained a lot, because some user called "Carpet Cleaning Tips" started following me, LOL!

And after the plumbers had left, we spent the rest of the day cleaning up after the mess. I had to shampoo my darn carpet twice to get rid of the smell, and I think I used up a good third of a bottle of carpet cleaner. At some point I was so desperate I was just pouring carpet cleaning solution into the carpet. At that point, my carpet was clean, but it was still wet. As of now, my carpet is still slowly air-drying, so it's damp and squelchy, but at least it doesn't stink. Sigh.

So what did this really gross story have anything to do with YSL, Anna Sui, or my mani? Well, this is because the two days of maniacal cleaning, carrying, and generally getting my hands wet all the time took its very sad toll on my mani. By the end of it, there was immense tipwear, and there were chips, and my cuticles were dry and red.

And you can take a look for yourself at the damage all this manual labour did to my nails. This is the "better" nail that suffered less damage. To be fair, I think I was relatively fortunate - it could have been much worse:



Can you see the major tipwear? Yes, that's how much work my poor hands were subject to. I think my housemates must have thought I was crazy, because while everyone was complaining about the smell and the work, I was moaning, "This is so going to ruin my mani!" But you know how it is...it's always the manis you like best that get ruined in the most horrid fashion. I wouldn't have felt so bad about it if it was a crappy colour I didn't like.

Anyway, YSL Black Tulipe (hopefully my sleuthing was on the mark and I got the name right) is a decently pigmented 2-coater. The first coat was a little bit streaky, but it came out just fine with a second coat. I also love the colour - it's a gorgeous medium-dark purple plum creme that is deep in colour, but not deep enough to be classed as a vampy shade. It isn't that unique, however, and does remind me a lot of another colour I've worn before, Nails Inc Dover Street Market, in this post.

Anna Sui 020 is absolutely gorgeous. Normally I'm not that much of a fan of glitter-in-clear-base variants, but I'm making an exception for this one because it just stands out with it's two types of glitter, making it a lot more interesting than most glitters. There is the more obvious glitter, composed of sparse round discs of silver glitter, and then there are also smaller glitter squares that are gold in colour. I actually really like the fact that they combined gold and silver in this polish, so it can be layered over virtually any colour without looking "off". Neat, huh? It applied pretty nicely, but as it usually happens with glitter polishes I had to work a little bit to get the glitter to spread out more evenly, otherwise it tends to clump together in one spot.



Here's a shot of my nails with the Anna Sui bottle, in case anyone here happens to be an expert and can help me track down exactly what range/series this came from. I'd really love more info on this colour - and need I say I'd love my own bottle too? :P I really love this combination of purple and glitter - it looks vaguely cosmic, like a purple alien sky filled with stars.

One of the things I noticed about the Anna Sui polish in particular is that it's scented with a fruity scent. It smells like lychee to me (and my housemate agrees). Even after applying 2 coats of topcoat on top of it, after the nail polish smell has worn off, I can still smell lychee on my fingertips. It kind of makes me want to sniff my fingers more. For people who are unfamiliar with lychee (since it's not really easily found in the West), I've come across the smell being described as a rose scent. I personally think lychee is a better description, but I can how it smells like rose if you've never eaten/smelled lychee before. In any case, it's a sweet fruity smell.

Rats, typing that just made me feel like eating lychee all of a sudden. Anyway, that was my NOTD of awesomeness that got ruined by the toilet. The toilet needs to DIE. But I'm glad that all it did to my NOTD was wear it down quickly. It really could have been worse - at least I didn't break a nail!

How to Fix a Broken Nail With a DIY Tea Bag Wrap

There I was, opening the freezer door to get some food. I was hungry, therefore I was impatient, and therefore I wasn't really thinking too much about what I was doing. While opening the freezer door, my fingers slipped off the door handle - except my third finger, which caught onto the door handle. I felt a snag on my finger and a bit of pain, and it took me a few seconds to realize that I had just torn my nail.

I was so upset I had to Twitter about it, and my non-nail fanatic friends were laughing at me because they thought it was so funny that I could get so worked up over a nail. But you know how it is with these things. You spend months growing them out, shaping them, caring for them with hand lotion and cuticle cream, and then, just when you think "My nails don't look like rubbish after all", they tear. It's heartbreaking, really, because if you trim them all the way down after a tear, you start from scratch, all over again.

Have a look at the damage. The freezer needs to DIE. I'd have smashed it to bits, but it had three tubs of ice cream inside, and I didn't want to ruin the ice cream.



I didn't want to trim my nails all the way down and start from scratch again, so I decided to try a DIY wrap with a tea bag to hold the nail in place until it grew out. I don't do this very often, so my skills at making teabag wrap are really Noob-ish, so you'll have to put up with the lousy skills here.

You'll Need:
1. Nail Polish Remover or Acetone (swipe over nail before applying the wrap)
2. Cotton Pad (for swiping acetone over nail before application)
3. Nail Glue (not base coat or nail treatment)
4. Tea bags (cut to just slightly smaller than nail size)
5. Scissors (for cutting tea bag wrap to size)
6. Tweezers (for placing the tea bag wrap over your nail surface)
7 Orange Sticks (for holding down the wrap while they dry)
8. File or Buffer (for smoothing out the wrap after application)



I'd like to point out that it HAS to be nail glue that you're using, as I had a question from a reader asking if she could use base coat or nail treatment instead. These weren't made to funtion as adhesives, so if you use them, the tea bag wrap won't stick to your nail. Any kind of nail glue will do, as long as it's a nail adhesive. I used the Nailene Ultra Quick Brush On Nail Glue, which dries fast, and also dries clear, which is useful if you don't want to sit around waiting for the nail glue to dry.

I also used a tea bag. Yup, your normal average tea bag. Cut it out to the size and shape of your nail. I just used a pen and a scissors for that. The cutouts here shown are the actual shape of my nail, but before you apply them you might want to make them a bit smaller than your actual nail size, so that you don't accidentally glue down the wrap onto the skin around your nail (which was what I did).



Step 1:
First, swipe your entire nail plate with acetone or nail polish remover. This helps get rid of the oils on your nails and helps the wrap adhere to your nail more securely.

Step 2:
Seal the tear with a bit of nail glue. You don't have to do this if the tear is small, but for a huge tear where the torn bit doesn't stay in place and might move around, it's a good idea. I think I put a bit too much here. You only really need a little bit to seal the tear. Too much and it will cause a bulge on your nail, which will make it harder to apply the wrap on top. You want to keep the surface flat so the wrap goes on more easily:



I don't have pictures for the next couple of steps, because you have to work quickly, so there wasn't time to stop and take photos.

Step 3:
Apply nail glue over the entire nail. Leave a little gap at the sides and at the base of the nail, near the skin and cuticles and the sides and bottom of the nail. This is important because you don't want to glue your cuticles or skin to your nail wrap!

Step 4:
Then, working quickly, use a pair of tweezers and place the nail-shaped tea bag cutout over your nail. Use tweezers, and not your fingers, or you will glue your fingers to your nail. And that's painful. (Um, not like I would know....*looks away and whistles*)

Step 5:
After the wrap is on the nail, use an orange stick to press down and hold the wrap in place while the glue dries. Remember, use an orange stick and not your fingers, or you'll get your fingers glued to your nail. This step will take a few minutes or longer, depending on how fast your nail glue dries. The important thing in this step is to make sure that there are NO air bubbles under your wrap, between the tea bag material and your nail. If there are any air bubbles, moisture could collect in them, and lead to bacterial growth, on the nail. So if you do see air bubbles, it's better to redo your wrap at this point. Better safe than sorry!

This is what my nail looks like at this point:



As you can see, I am a DIY nail wrap noob, and I glued my cuticles and skin to my nail wrap, because I accidently put too much nail glue and cut the size of the nail wrap a little too big. I ended up using a bit of nail polish remover to un-stick my skin.

Step 6:
Next, put another layer of nail glue on top, and let it dry. The nail glue will saturate the wrap and make it turn clear (or at least, clear-ish). This way, the wrap will be secure, and it won't look as obvious.

Step 7:
You're all done. All that's left is to lightly file or buff down the surface of your wrap to smoothen it out. Don't overdo it, or you'll end up buffing through the wrap. Once you're done filing or buffing, and you can proceed to paint your nails with whatever colour you want.

Here's a photo of the finished wrap (pardon the lint and the remnants of previous polish, this was a photo of the wrap taken later in between manicure changes):



This wrap, noob-ish as it was, lasted me for around 2 weeks. Eventually I redid it because my nails were growing out, and for some strange reason a corner of the wrap chipped off. (Seriously, how does that happen?!)

Here's my fixed-up and pretty-fied nail. You can tell its the middle finger that broke, because the too-big wrap is sticking out from the sides of my nail. Oops.



I love China Glaze LOL, it's an awesome royal purple holo. The only thing is that I feel sad about is that the holo effect was a little bumpy and rough on my broken nail, because the surface of the wrap isn't totally smooth, even after filing. And here's a slightly more flattering photo of my nails:



I guess this means I'm not going to be able to wear holos for the next couple of months until my tear grows out and I don't need the wrap :( And yes, this does mean that you'll see my nail wrap sticking out of all the next few NOTDs, unfortunately. They get less obvious as the wrap grows out, but I hope you guys can pretend it's not there! :X

KOTD: Revlon Plum Attraction and China Glaze 2030

Today's KOTD is a little old, but I thought I'd post it up anyway. I love this combination of purple and gold together - something about it makes the combination seem so regal and royal.

This has a base of Revlon's Plum Attraction, which is a beautiful plummy purple, and China Glaze 2030, which is a fabulous gold chrome that's opaque in one coat, and thus perfect for konading. I also used Konad plate M76 for the design, but I had trouble with it. My konading skills just aren't up to par :X

Anyway, here it is:



Plum Attraction was nicely opaque, and a very pretty plum colour with pretty subtle shimmer. China Glaze 2030 is a straight up gold chrome, but what I like about it is that the gold isn't too orange warm-toned even for cool-toned girls. It's really quite neutral for a gold, which is great for anyone looking for a gold but who might find most options too warm for them.

Application on both was good. This is two coats of Plum Attraction, which was opaque and went on smoothly. I think it could even be used for konading over lighter colours, because it's nicely pigmented. I didn't have any issues with wear either, this one lasted well on me.

NOTD: Nails Inc Diet Coke Paris: A Lovely Berry Creme

I'm sure you already know this, but for this month, whenever you buy 2 500ml bottles of Diet Coke, you get one bottle of Nails Inc polish free, out of a choice of four colours. The colours are all named after fashionable places - London, Paris, New York, and Milan. In one of my previous posts I featured Nails Inc London, with some comparison swatches HERE, and this post I'm featuring another colour - Nails Inc Paris!

Despite being a freebie, Nails Inc Paris, as with Nails Inc London, applied beautifully, was well pigmented, and totally opaque in 2 coats. It has a lovely creme finish, as does Nails Inc London. But while Nails Inc London is a greige-y nude, Nails Inc Paris is a bright but still muted berry-toned plum creme. I really love this colour, it's perfectly in between plum and purple. It looks really delicious, it reminds me of berries and jam. Yum. Berries.

Ooh, stubby fingers:



And here's a picture with the bottle. I know it's blatant product advertising, but I actually think the Diet Coke logo on the bottle is kinda cute:



This is actually similar to Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus (which I used in a very unfortunate and ugly KOTD HERE). Both of them are cremes and of similar colour and depth, but I think Paris is a lot more purple than Piccadilly Circus, which is a more straightforward berry pink.

Nail Bling: Nails Inc Dover Street Market and Nail Crystals NOTD

I like my bling and I cannot lie! You other fellas can't deny! OK, I'm going to stop channeling my inner Sir Mix-a-Lot right now. LOL. But you gotta love that song (and if you don't know it, go on youtube and search for Baby Got Back - it was like THE song of the 1990s at some point...Gee, I'm old). The bling in question is from today's NOTD, which is my first attempt at using little crystals on my nails.

I have to say, it does take a bit of practice. It isn't as hard as running regressions using Stata (haha!) but it requires a LOT of attention to detail and patience. I didn't use nail glue for these. I just used a pair of tweezers and popped the crystals onto my nail when they were still wet, then sealed them in with two coats of topcoat - I used a random slow-drying one under Seche Vite to prevent shrinking while still ensuring a fast dry time. For me, the really difficult part was positioning the crystals on your nail in the right spot, and nudging them to where you want them to be without messing up the still-wet polish on your nail.

The base is Nails Inc Dover Street Market, a much-vaunted medium-to-dark purple creme, and I can see why this is so popular among nail fanatics, and was all the rage like a year back. It's smooth, gorgeous, and applied well. The crystals were some random no-brand plastic ones my friend brought over from Asia because they're a lot cheaper in Asia than elsewhere for some reason - thanks Rachel! I just chose a simple pattern of three crystals down the nail, like coat buttons, because I didn't feel up to doing intricate flowers and hearts and shapes, since it was the first time I was trying them out. I really really want to try making shapes one day though.

Here's the NOTD pic. So, how'd I do? Fail, or yay?



As you can see from the picture, when I was moving the crystals around on my ring finger, I accidentally got some purple polish onto the crystal, which is why it doesn't look white like it should.

While I'm not really a nail art fanatic (the really intricate nail art is too impractical for my lifestyle, which involves lots of typing and cleaning my own toilet LOL!), I'm really liking these. In fact, I LOVE them, and for the past two days I've been shoving my nails in the face of all my friends. So far, I'm on my third day of wear, and the crystals are still holding up fine, even though I haven't refreshed my manicure by putting on an extra layer of top coat. I think the key is to seal them in with two layers of topcoat - one didn't seem quite enough to me.

I know this bling isn't quite everyone's cup of tea, but I'm really loving this one! Have you ever tried using nail crystals? Did you like how they turned out?

Chanel Particuliere Dupes: Do They Exist? Comparison Swatches

I never bought Chanel's famed nail polish, Particuliere. I just couldn't imagine spending 16GBP on a polish, especially when Orlys, Nubars, OPI, and China Glazes go for less. But I was curious to know if there was a dupe, and to see for myself if any of the other taupe-brown-purple polishes were close enough. So I borrowed my friend's bottle of Particuliere, and made a few swatches. Mind you, these are very messy swatches, because I wanted to return Particuliere to her immediately (I'd feel bad hogging a 16GBP bottle of polish!), so I didn't really have time to be as neat as I wanted to be, and we all know haste makes a mess of nails!

First up of course, are bottle pictures.



L-R: Asos Paints by Ciate Sienna, Rimmel Steel Grey, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Chanel Particuliere, Essie Mink Muffs.

Nothing seems to be an outright dupe for Particuliere. Essie Mink Muffs does look similar, although deeper, in the bottle.

And here's how they fared in swatches. Once again, please excuse the terrible state of cuticles and my messy swatches. Like I said, they were done in a hurry because I wanted to return Particuliere ASAP. The swatches show two coats of each:



L-R (Thumb to Pinky): Essie Mink Muffs, Chanel Particuliere, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Rimmel Steel Grey, Asos Paints by Ciate Sienna

Application-wise, I had no complaints about any of the colours. They all applied like butter, although the Nails Inc, Essie, and Chanel were better than the other two. And as you can see, nothing is quite a dupe for anything else.

I know Essie Mink Muffs and Chanel Particuliere look like dupes for each other in this photo, but in reality they aren't that close. The Essie is a little darker, and a little more brown than the Chanel. I don't think most people would notice, but if you're a nail fanatic like me, if it's not an exact dupe, it isn't a dupe! :P

Here's a photo that exaggerates the differences between the two. Essie Mink Muffs is on my thumb, while Chanel Particuliere is on my pointer finger. The differences aren't as massive as they are in this photo (stupid camera), but you get the idea:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, Essie Mink Muffs

And I remembered reading somewhere that Essie Mink Muffs is a dupe for Chanel Particuliere, if you lighten it by wearing it over white. So of course I HAD to try that. So I applied Essie Mink Muffs over GOSH Snow (a sheer white), and here are the results:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, 1 Coat Essie Mink Muffs over 1 Coat GOSH Snow, Essie Mink Muffs

Similar, but no dice. It's a tad lighter than Particuliere. The purple in Mink Muffs really shows up when you layer it over white. It's really cool.

So, I added on another thin coat of Mink Muffs on top of GOSH Snow, and the results were better:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, 2 Coats Essie Mink Muffs over 1 Coat GOSH Snow, Essie Mink Muffs

As you can see, it's close, but not identical. Mink Muffs is now the same depth of colour, but just a tad browner than Chanel Particuliere, while Particuliere is a hair more grey than it's Essie counterpart. I think someone might be able to franken a dupe of Particuliere using Mink Muffs, white, and something to make it more grey.

So, which of these should you choose, if you only had to go for one of them? All the colours applied well, so your choice would depend on your colour preferences, and your skin undertones. Although all these colours are pretty neutral, in general, colours with a stronger purple/grey tinge to them look better on cooler skintones, while colours with more brown tend to look better on warmer skintones. And it also depends on your preference - do you want more grey, brown or purple in your colour? If you want more brown, Essie Mink Muffs or Chanel Particuliere are good choices. If you want something that's more grey, Rimmel Steel Grey is a good choice. And if you want something that leans more purple, Nails Inc Jermyn Street and Asos by Ciate Sienna are your best bets.

Haul Post: Illamasqua Beg, Models Own and Why I Didn't Buy Chanel Particuliere

I know we're in the middle of swatching our Barry M Dazzle Dusts, but I just had to take out a bit of time to show off my haul - we'll be back to the Dazzle Dusts in my next post, promise!

ASOS had a sale and I bought makeup and nail polish, and only makeup and nail polish. I don't know why I have that problem. I never buy clothes, rarely buy shoes, occasionally buy bags (my other weakness), but give me a sale and throw in some makeup and I'll be all over it.

Anyway, this means I get to show off my haul, and because I love you guys (aww!), I included a couple of bottle comparison pictures. I know they're bottle comparison pictures and not swatches, but I promise I'll get around to the swatching soon!

But first, the haul.

I got my first Illamasqua blush ever, and it's in the colour Beg. It's a pretty, slightly deep dusty rose colour, that is more neutral than anything else. At some point in the future I will do swatches and possibly an FOTD and a full review, but you'll have to go on this for now:



I know, it's a beautiful thing right?!

Then, because it was also really cheap, I bought a duo set of nail polishes, consisting of two Asos by Ciate colours. This particular set has Sienna, a purply-taupe-grey-brown creme which is the type of nail colour that is right up my alley, and Alexa, a navy blue creme. Obviously you can tell I bought the set just for Sienna:



And I also bought a Models Own It set, because it was just 2.50GBP. How could I resist? It had a nail buffer (which I doubt I'll use), a lipgloss and a nail polish:



Ok, Ok, so on to the comparison pics. I do intend to swatch and review these and make them more extensive, but here is why I didn't buy Chanel Particuliere, although purply-brown-grey nail colours are just my thing. *clears throat* I already have too many taupey-purply-brown-grey nail colours. I know Particuliere may not be a dupe for any of them, but I feel like I may have too many shades in the same colour family, as it is.



L-R: Essie Mink Muffs, ASOS by Ciate Sienna, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Rimmel Steel Grey

I know, that's not a lot by nail fanatic standards, but by civilian standards, that's way too many! :X And what's more, these are just the ones I have here. There are a couple that I don't have on me right now, like $OPI Metro Chic.

To make the comparisons easier to see, I've turned the bottles on their sides as well, so you can look at them:



L-R: Essie Mink Muffs, ASOS by Ciate Sienna, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Rimmel Steel Grey

See, I tell you, I can own all of them because they're NOT identical, not even in the bottle, even if they're all close. Honestly, this makes me vacilliate a lot on Chanel Particuliere, because chances are, I know Particuliere won't be an exact dupe for any of these, but it'll probably be pretty close. And while I abide by the if-it-isn't-an-exact-dupe-it's-a-justified-buy rule of nail fanatics, I also know that 99.99% of people aren't going to be able to tell the difference. Add that to the fact that Chanels here retail for 16GBP (and yes, I do know they're more expensive elsewhere), and you get a very indecisive girl.

That said, I am happy with what I have, and here's how they're different. ASOS by Ciate Sienna is the most purple, while Essie Mink Muffs is the most brown, and Rimmel Steel Grey has strong hints of purple and grey, while Nails Inc Jermyn Street is an equal mix of all three. If you're just going for one, I guess which colour you'd be picking is a matter of preference, and skin undertone. I think they're all neutral enough to be worn by most people, but if you really want to split hairs, in general, some purples and greys can look a little odd on girls who are really warmtoned, so if you're really warm, you might want to try Essie Mink Muffs and Nails Inc Jermyn Street, which are more brown. If you're cooltoned and you love your purples, Asos by Ciate Sienna is a good pick, while if you want something a tad more grey, Rimmel Steel Grey (which is only partly grey) is perhaps best.

Alright, showing-off time over! We'll be back to the Barry M Dazzle Dusts in my next post. Thanks for humouring me guys!

Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz: NOTD

By now, if you've been reading my blog long enough, you'll know I love purples. And that I also love jellies (although I know of plenty of nail fanatics who don't, because they don't love the lack of coverage), and in particular, I love glitter suspended in a good jelly. There's something about the transluscence of a jelly that just lends itself to tons of glitter being embedded in the jelly finish. It's like looking at stars in a night sky...you know, glitter bits suspended in a jelly polish.

And which is why I LOVE today's NOTD, which is Sally Hansen's Purple Pizzazz. Not only is it purple (well it's bluple, a cross between purple and blue, but I think it leans more purple), and not only is it a jelly, but it also has glitter in it! Ooh purple jelly with glitter...Mmmm.

Anyway I was totally unable to capture the beauty of this in photographs. The next time I wear it I so need to try harder. As you can see, this was 2 not-so-thin coats, and you can still see some VNL (Visible Nail Line). I'm personally okay with a little bit of VNL, but if you're not one of them, you might want to layer this over black, or another colour, or just pile on more coats. Personally, I really like this.



Appliction on this one was pretty good, and wear time was the average of 3-4 days. I didn't have any problems with the brush, the formula, or the wear time, so you can bet I'll be keeping this around in my stash. I actually had to beg a friend of mine to send it to me from faraway USA, because Sally Hansen in the UK has a pitably limited range of colours, and this was totally worth it. Of course, if VNL, glitter and jellies aren't your thing, this probably isn't a colour you should be looking at. But if you like any of the above, this one won't disappoint.