Pond Manicure: My First Attempt at a Blue Pond Manicure

Recently, I saw a few pond manicures online, so I thought I'd give the pond manicure a try! For those who need an explanation, a pond manicure basically involves layers of a sheer polish, with designs (dots, flowers, or whatever you want) in between the layers. I'm not sure exactly how the pond manicure got its name, but to me, it's an apt name because the layering of sheer polish gives the designs on your nails the impression of being submerged in a pond. Kinda like they're underwater and you're viewing them from above the water.

My first ever attempt at a Pond Manicure!

For my first ever pond manicure, I decided to use Nicole by OPI Somebody Teal Love. OMG yes I have a Justin Bieber polish, and I bought it from TJMaxx when I was in California for a holiday! I bought it because it was cheap, but after I bought it, I didn't know what to do with it because it was so annoyingly sheer. The level of pigment in the polish was quite non-existent, kinda like Justin Bieber's musical talent, I guess. (Well, I guess since I'm above two decades old, I'm just too old and creaky to appreciate the wondrousness that is his singing.) But aging teen popstar jokes aside, this polish sat unused for a long, long time, because I couldn't bring myself to apply the 4-5 coats that was necessary for full opacity.


Using Nicole by OPI Somebody Teal Love (ugh, really bad name) as the "pond" colour.

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.

Fade to Black Gradient Manicure

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

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


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

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


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

BCA Manicure: Pink and White Freehand Nail Art

Breast cancer awareness month is every October, and so I thought I'd do my little bit by doing a couple of BCA manicures.

This manicure is pink and white. For the pink, I used Orly Rage, which is a very pretty BCA-ish metallic pink, even if the name of the polish isn't BCA-like at all. I mean, usually BCA polishes have very uplifting and inspiring names right? Like Courage, Hope, Strength, etc etc. I find it rather amusing that this is called Rage, nevermind that it isn't actually supposed to be a BCA polish. For the white, I used my trusty old Wet n' Wild White. Still the best white around, oh yes it is. Opaque in one coat, but I used two here to even out the surface.


All the art was done freehand with a skinny nail art brush (as you can probably tell). It was really quite easy to do. I just painted two coats of the base colours on the nails, then freehanded the ribbon and pink lines. Not much else to say, I guess!


So that's my BCA mani! 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!

My First Franken! (In Which I Sort Of Dupe a Lemming)

Remember the last time I whined about how I couldn't get my hands on the Lunasol Nail Polish I really wanted? Well, after months of lemming from afar, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and franken something similar!

I knew I probably wouldn't be able franken an exact dupe, but that was okay with me. I really was just after the concept of a sheer white base with variously-sized gold glitter. And I had my own requirements too - the polish had to cover in 2 coats, and I was open to having not just gold glitter only. And i didn't want my franken to be so glitter-heavy that you couldn't see the white base. So with that in mind, I took out my various polishes and started to franken!



For this franken I used my Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails in 04 Sequin Crystal Gold, Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails in 01 Glittering Bare White, and my trusty Wet n Wild White. I used about 1/3 Etude House 01 Glittering Bare White, 2/3 Etude House Sequin Crystal Gold, and about 10 drops of Wet n Wild White. And this was the outcome!



Okay, so it's not really a dupe or anything. But it's not too bad right? I tried frankening once before, and that one sucked. This is a lot better, trust me. Here's my proud first ever (successful) franken on my nails!



Although it's not exactly a stunning dupe or anything, I'm happy with what I made. And it met all my franken requirements (cover in 2 coats, white base with variously-sized glitter, including gold). Maybe one day I'll put more gold glitter in there, just for more bling, but for now this is good enough. And I'm just glad that I did this all without making a huge mess of my desk! Do you guys franken? Any fun frankening stories to share? I'd love to hear them!



A Side Note: Asian (or just Etude House, really) Nail Polish Naming Conventions

For Etude House nail polishes, the naming conventions for these are really complex. Basically Etude House has a few "product ranges" of polishes, usually with different price points (e.g. Lucidarling Fantastic Nail, Nail Decoration, Dear Darling Nails, etc - and no I'm not making any of the names up), and under those range of polishes, each shade will have a number (e.g. 01, 02, 03 etc) and a shade name (e.g. Rosy Pink, Bare White, Coral Jewel, Tender Mint, etc). So in order to make sure I'm describing the exact shade name, I use the brand name (Etude House) followed by the product range (Lucidarling Fantastic Nails) and colour name and number (01 Bare White). Sometimes, like in the case of the Lucidarling Fantastic Nail range, they have product "sub-ranges" (e.g. Sequin, Glittering, Shimmer etc), so this complicates things a little more - the real shade names should be Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nail Sequin 04 Crystal Gold (using the format of brand, product range, product sub-range, product name and number). But because it confuses some readers, and because some websites jumble up the sub-range and product name, I choose to lump the sub-range and product name together to form a super long product name (hence 04 Sequin Crystal Gold instead of Sequin 04 Crystal Gold). For Asian readers who buy your polish in person, it probably isn't a big deal, but I imagine it can cause a lot of confusion for someone in the West buying polish sight unseen, and online. Hope this helps my confused Western readers who may be buying nail polish online!