Stuff I Actually Use Up! More Empties of Skincare, Makeup, and Nail Products!

Ooh, what do we have here? More empties! And boy, am I excited to show you these - since my last empties post some months back, I've been a good beauty blogger and have actually used up stuff in my stash! And of course this means I have to tell you guys all about it, and do a quick summary of how the products have worked for me! As you might be able to guess, though, chances are, if I used it up, it probably did a pretty good job. So here's what I've used up!

Look ma, so many empties! These include skincare, makeup, and nail products. Yay!

Yes, look at that - it's a whole bunch of products covering makeup, skincare, and nails! Without further ado, let's dive straight into them, shall we?

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing you all a very Happy Year of the Horse! 新年快乐! I don't have any exciting posts for today, so it's just me wishing you all the best! 恭喜发财, 万事如意, and 心想事成!

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐!

In case you're curious what products are in this post (I just randomly assembled a bunch of red nail polishes and lipsticks), the names are after the jump :)

My Blingly-est Chinese New Year Nails Yet!

Chinese New Year is coming (coincidentally this year it falls close to Valentine's Day), and over here, the celebrations get unabashedly loud and festive! You name it, we've got it - red clothes, red packets, blasts of festive Chinese music, stuffing yourself with food, cleaning out houses, buying new clothes, mad rushing to visit other people's houses - we do it all!

Anyway, I just had to join in the festivities via some nail art! Compared to my previous CNY (Chinese New Year - yes it's now acronym-ized!) nail art, this is definitely the most blinged out! The extent of my previous CNY manis involved freehand nail art and pearls, or konad stamping, or glitter gradients. But none have much glitter as this one!

For this, I used a base of Sally Hansen Diamonds and Rubies, and then I did two stripes of China Glaze Hi-Tek by hand, to "frame" the star rhinestones I'd be adding on later. Then, to bling it up, I added a coat of Models Own Disco Inferno. And then, to bling it up even more, I added on the orange stars in between the striped gold lines. I added three per nail, except for the last nail, where I could only cram two stars.


I really liked Sally Hansen Diamonds and Rubies as a base colour, since it was nicely pigmented - what you see was just one coat! Models Own Disco Inferno has gold, orange, and green glitter bits in various shapes and sizes, so all the colours were perfect for Chinese New Year! You know what the colours in this CNY NOTD remind me of? Yusheng (or lo hei)! (For those of you not reading from Asia, Wikipedia has an article on yusheng which will get you up to speed pronto!) I mean, yusheng has all of the colours in my mani, right? I mean, just look at yusheng:

Source: Wikipedia
And now look at my mani. I do think they match, colour-wise :)


This is by far the most glitter-infused CNY mani I've done to date, and I'm excited to show this off! Anyone else doing any manis for Chinese New Year?

Summer At The Pool Duochome Layering NOTD: Sally Hansen HD Duochromes

After using Sally Hansen HD Polish in DVD for my previous mani, I got inspired and felt like layering further. So this time, I added Sally Hansen Byte, and this is what I got.

For those who need a recap, I used Nails Inc Belgrave Street as the base, and then layered Sally Hansen DVD and Byte, in that order.


I loved the previous mani, and I love this one too! I'm not sure if you can really see the difference between this mani and my previous mani in these pics, but there is a difference that is visible in person. DVD (blue reflects with a pink tinge in a clear base) already has a slight pink flash, but I feel like layering Byte (pink reflects in a clear base) on top really makes the pink pop, and brings it from being a blue that flashes pink to an actual duochrome. Awesome.


Anyway, I wore this mani to work, and when my mani flashed and twinkled in the sunlight during lunch (the effect is less obvious indoors due to the lighting), my colleagues claimed that my nails were "distracting". I was secretly happy.

I also went to the pool, on the pretext of getting some exercise (I was really just cocered by my sister into accompanying her), and then I noticed that in the water, my nails were absolutely twinkling and blinging in the water. So here you go: poolside photos, not of me in a bikini ('cause a model I ain't) but of my nails all prettied up.


It was hard to take these photos, by the way. The majority of them kept coming out blur. These were the best of the bunch. It was a pity, it really was. The blue pool would've made such an awesome backdrop for the nail colour...


Anyway, this has gotta be one of my favourite manis, since I love duochromes. Anyone else rocking a duochrome for the summer?

Duochrome! Sally Hansen DVD and Nails Inc Belgrave Place

So you know the Sally Hansen HD Polishes I got awhile back? I finally gave those a whirl - seriously, it's horrible how much stuff I have, so much that I buy things when they are shiny and new and don't use them til a year later...But anyway, I'm finally showing you guys a mani I did with them, and it is awesomesauce, if I do say so myself!

For this mani, I used Nails Inc Belgrave Street as the base, and then layered Sally Hansen DVD. I won't go into how much trouble I had to go to in order to get the US-only Sally Hansens. Seriously, Sally, please release more interesting colours here too? I promise you'll have customers...Don't hate us because we happen to be living on the wrong side of the Atlantic. But anyway.



I absolutely love this combi. Belgrave Street is a blurple creme, which makes it the perfect base for DVD, which is blue reflects in a clear base. The net result is that my nails have this super cool blue-flashy glitter reflects thingy going on, and it even flashes pink at some angles. Super cool.



Anyway, shame on me for waiting so long to use these. I'm absolutely loving it though - it's like a super cool way to add some duochrome to a simple mani.

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...

My $1 Version of Revlon Runway Pearl: Sally Hansen Platinum

Recently, there's been a lot of hype over Revlon Runway Pearl, as it's one of the newer Revlon polishes to be released. When I saw it in Walgreens while I was on holiday, I was intrigued by it, but in the end I didn't bother, since it seemed like just another frosty ol' white, although with an interesting pink flash in the colour.

Next thing you know, I'm walking past the Dollar Tree, and lo and behold, I see this little baby. And although it, too, also looks like just another frosty ol' white with a pink flash, hey, I guess for a dollar, I could just buy it first, and rationalize later, right?



So here you go. Picture spam! I suppose it's what I expected to be, nothing more, nothing less. That is, sheer frosty-ish white with a pink flash. And as such, it's just an okay-ish kind of manicure. This here is three coats, and it's pretty opaque at three.



I suppose I wouldn't have bought this if I hadn't caught sight of Revlon Runway Pearl first. I don't know how the psychology goes, but I suppose it's the equivalent of seeing a more branded product (say, Jergens Hand Lotion), feeling like maybe you want it, and then seeing right next to it is the Walgreens own brand version of the same hand lotion. I don't know about you, but I end up going for the Walgreens sometimes. Human psychology, I guess...



Anyway, this isn't a bad colour. It looks very light, clean and pearly on my nails. And I think the pink reflects make it a tad more interesting, too. I tried getting more photos of the colour to show you the tinge of pink reflect, but I couldn't really get it on my camera.



Although this isn't really a colour I'd wear typically, I don't mind, it's a good palate cleanser once in awhile. And for a dollar, I can't complain. And although it required three coats, it applied well and wasn't streaky or anything weird.



For me, this is good, it helped me to squash my half-hearted lemming for Revlon Runway Pearl. What about you? Do you like these types of pale, pearly shades, or are they just not your cup of tea?

Dupes or Not: Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal vs China Glaze SomeLikeIt Haute

One of my recent buys was Sally Hansen's Gem Crush nail polish in Glitz Gal. It was a gorgeous sheer black polish with awesome holographic glitter! Exactly my kind of polish! I thought it was a dead ringer for China Glaze's Some Like It Haute, which I already bought previously, so I thought I would do a little compare and contrast for you guys. And no, I don't know why I felt compelled to get two of the same thing. It must be the holo glitter, I tell ya. Holo glitter is evil.

Anyway, up for the comparison. In the bottle, both polishes look pretty much identical. Same sheer black base, same awesome glitter.



On the nail, they're also pretty much alike. I think they're pretty much dupes, although I feel like Some Like It Haute is a tad blacker(?). It looks a little darker somehow, by a teensy bit, but to be honest I probably wouldn't notice the difference if I wasn't splitting hairs.

L-R: Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal, Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal

Otherwise, both polishes are pretty much identical. Other than the colour, the brushes are different - China Glaze has the typical nail polish brush with straight ends, while Sally Hansen's Gem Crushes have a brush edge that's more curved and more flat. I personally prefer the Sally Hansen brush, but both work well either way. Perhaps if you have a strong preference for one brush over another, this could sway your decision.



L-R: Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal, Some Like It Haute, Glitz Gal

So, do you need both? Nope. Which should you choose? Well that would depend on the price and availability of each polish in your area (e.g. if you are not in the USA the Sally Hansen one will be hard to get), as well as your brush preference. If all else fails, toss a coin. Either one is great and won't disappoint. As for me, I am keeping both, because I, uh, "need backups". (I swear it's not my glitter-hoarding tendencies kicking in!)

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.

Sally Hansen Opulent Cloud: Why only in the USA?!

Sally is such a ho! She just has to make one of her most beautiful polishes ever hard to find, AND she had to make it available in the US only as well, so people like me who aren't in the US have to beg, borrow or steal - or rather, CP, ebay, or OA. But anyway, this is an awesome polish.

WARNING: TERRIBLE MUCKY PRE CLEAN UP PICS AHEAD!

Anyway, I know the whole of the blogosphere is already on it, bu did I say how much I love this thing? It has the most interesting duochrome ever:



That's two coats of Opulent Cloud, and that is what it looks like most of the time under indoor lighting - a greyed blue, or is it a blued grey? With some sort of taupey-greeny sheen? Interesting! The taupey-greeny sheen becomes much more prominent when outdoors, when the sunlight hits it directly. Then you get very little blue and the entire nail looks almost taupe.

Here's a picture showing the gradiation change of colour:




I know, I know. That is BAD. Polish overflow, frazzled cuticles, etc. That's why I put that warning at the top of the post. But it's there because unfortunately, this is the only picture I could take that fully showed the change in colours. Sadly, all my attempts at repeating the picture post-cleanup failed miserably. Sometimes some things only happen once, I guess.

But anyway, the gradiation in colours for this is so stunning. This is all 2 coats of Opulent Cloud, but each nail looks so different from the next! The last two fingers look grey-gold-green, while the index and middle finger look blue-grey-purple! I really love that duochrome, it really is very stunning! I really love the complexity of the colour, I can never quite decide if it's blue, grey, purple, gold, green, grey, or something else entirely!

Formula-wise, this is a little on the runny side - not annoyingly runny though. And it takes 2 coats to cover completely, and wear time is pretty alright. The colour is what makes it a real winner though! This is the first polish I might ever want a backup for!