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Showing posts with label Foil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foil. Show all posts

Gold and Green Leopard Print Nails

Saturday, December 29, 2012

4 comments
Look at my nails! I don't konad often, but I was inspired by the colours of green and gold. And I have leopard print nails!


I used my favourite konad plate of all time, M57, for this KOTD (konad of the day). For the base, I used China Glaze Westside Warrior (which has made a brief appearance on my blog before, and for the gold, I used my favourite gold of all time, Orly Luxe (also featured on the blog before, not once, but twice).

green gold leopard nails 2


I rather like this, it has a very safari-like feel. I'm also actually thinking this colour combination would make a great eye look - in fact, I have done a gold and green eye look before.

green gold leopard nails 3


So there you have it, my nail look of the moment! What are your nails like right now?

Anti-Valentine's Day Nail Art: Shattered Hearts!

Friday, February 3, 2012

17 comments
Not everyone loves Valentine's Day. Some don't have a significant other, some don't like the crass commercialization, and some just aren't the type to make a big deal out of things. So, here's my Anti-Valentine's Day nails - shattered hearts!

I figured, since I already paid my dues by having Valentine's Day nails (not once but twice! C.f. my Valentine's Day nails with a touch of spring and my Neon pink and black Valentine's Day nails), why not do an Anti-Valentine's Day mani? I decided to work with the theme of being heartbroken, and decided to have a girly pink base with broken hearts.


The pink base was Orly Rage (I've previously compared Orly Rage and GOSH Frou Frou), a gorgeous opaque, non-streaky and non-brush-strokey pink foil. (Is non-brush-strokey even a word?) The black hearts were made with OPI's Black Shatter, although any black crackle polish would have done too.

anti valentines day nail art hearts 2


In my head, this seemed like a good mani, since shatter polishes naturally crackle, so they lend themselves well to the "shattered hearts" look I was trying to achieve. The hard part was getting them to take the shape of a heart! I tried everything - freehand, tape, self-made stencils using paper and scissors - and nothing worked really well. They just looked like random shapes, not hearts. In the end, I just filled out the heart shapes more fully using my Wet n' Wild Black nail polish.

anti valentines day nail art hearts 3


I don't know if these look anything like hearts to you, but that was probably the best I could do. I liked the concept and the "shattered hearts" idea, but I'm feeling a bit meh about my execution. But still, here's my Anti-Valentine's mani! What do you guys think? Shattered hearts, or just mere blobs?

My Favourite Christmas Nail Polishes!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

4 comments
Since Christmas is just round the corner, I thought I'd share a little more on what are the shades I keep reaching for every festive season. Of course, these are all going to be Christmassy colours!

Here's a shot of all of them together. Green, check. Red, check. Gold, check. Glitter bling, check. Yet more glitter bling, check.


Let's start with one of my perennial favourites, Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street. I know you're probably sick of seeing this shade now because I previously already did a Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street NOTD, but I love this shade. It's the perfect deep Christmas green, and a one-coater to boot!

nails inc fitzhardinge street bottle


The next favourite is Nails Inc Paddington Street, which has also been overexposed with a previous NOTD, and yet another previous NOTD. But I love this shade. Deep, smooth berry red, perfect not just for Christmas but also all year round - it's just such a classic shade.

nails inc paddington street bottle


Annnd, gold! Orly Luxe (yet another polish I featured before sometime back, and again more recently) is definitely hands-down my favourite gold polish ever. I have a few golds, and none comes close. For me, this is it. Perfect neutral gold that looks good on any skintone, vibrant foil finish, and opaque in one coat. And, it also works well as a konading polish too, so it's really all that and a bag of chips. I've liked it so much I've used it not once, but twice!

orly luxe foil fx bottle


Now onto glitter. Let's ease you in with the milder stuff first. Nubar Candy Apple may look kinda puke-green in the bottle, but when on, it really looks more like small gold glitter in a clear base. This makes it perfect for layering on top of a creme polish for that extra sparkle. It's wearable on its own too, but the more you layer it, the closer it looks to bottle colour, and thus the less Christmassy it becomes. It's still a nice colour, but just not Christmassy.

nubar candy apple bottle


Now, the real bling. Before Essie Set in Stones was ever conceived, Maybelline Silver Spells was out there being a big, bad girl. Maybelline Silver Spells may look similar to Essie Set in Stones, but it really predates it by awhile. With two sizes of glitter, and a clear base, this is perfect for layering. I've used it in a recent NOTD, and the glitter is really dense.

maybelline silver spells bottle


So there you have it - my favourite shades for the holidays! What are yours? Anything I missed out? Tell me!

Gold Christmas Nails: Orly Luxe and Starry Bling!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

12 comments
I'm always so excited for Christmas and the holiday season! Despite the none-too-subtle whiff of commercialization holidays have nowadays, it's always good to have a festive season to look forward too! And, Christmas is always a good excuse to bring out some nail bling! In this case, a starry starry party!


The base is Orly Luxe, from the Foil FX collection released sometime back. Over Luxe, I placed small red and green stars from the Color Club's Enchanted Holiday set. There was a packet of Holiday Gems released with the set, that had rhinestones and stars in all the festive shades. I chose the ring finger as the accent finger, so I loaded it up with a little more bling.

christmas nails gold orly luxe 1


Orly Luxe is probably my mostest favouritest gold polish ever, and I've totally raved about Luxe before. And the Color Club stars are so adorable! I also thought they were of pretty good quality. Some rhinestones and stars I've used before are kinda flimsy, and sometimes the colour bleeds onto the polish or gets smeared by the topcoat, but these don't. To place them on the nail, I used the wet toothpick trick - I basically dip the tip of a toothpick in water to dampen it, and the stars will stick to the wet tip of the toothpick until you place them on the nail. A very nifty and easy to use tip!

christmas nails gold orly luxe 2


Yep, I definitely love my nails - they're Christmassy, and, they're blingy! Perfect for the holidays! Sadly, I couldn't actually wear this for long - I took it off as soon as the weekend ended, because I had to go back to work, and I didn't think my bosses or clients would appreciate green and red stars on my nails, despite the season. :( Perhaps for Christmas, I could write to the North Pole and ask Santa to make my office more naill-bling-friendly, LOL! :P

Chanel Graphite Dupe Search: Comparisons with OPI and Face Shop

Sunday, October 9, 2011

13 comments
Chanel's Graphite nail polish, one of their Fall releases, has been making the waves, with its stunning shade and foil finish. I suspect part of the hype is just that it's Chanel - few brands just have that je ne sais quoi that cause such a frenzy everytime something new is released.

As usual, I ooh-ed and aah-ed over the new Chanels, but was less keen on the price point. So I swatched Chanel Graphite next to other existing polishes I already had, just to see whether I really needed it or not. *Sighs* Oh well, what's a girl on a limited budget to do?

The first polish is OPI Brand New Skates. Now this has been established by other bloggers to NOT be a dupe, but I thought I'd just swatch them side by side for anyone who was still curious about the differences between the two.

Chanel Graphite OPI Brand New Skates Comparison 1


L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Both OPI Brand New Skates and Chanel Graphite have the same greyish, slightly green leaning base, but the shimmer in both polishes is totally different, despite the same base colour. Chanel Graphite is obviously a lot more blingy - the foil finish is very strong, and the foil glitter is very dense, while Brand New Skates isn't a foil - it's more of a grey-green base with dispersed gold/bronze/silver glitter. Also very pretty, but not a dupe.

Another difference is that OPI Brand New Skates is really sheer. What you see applied is 3 coats of medium thickness. Graphite, on the other hand, is fully opaque in 2 coats.

Chanel Graphite OPI Brand New Skates Comparison 2


L - R: Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates, Chanel Graphite, OPI Brand New Skates

Brand New Skates is a gorgeous colour, to be sure, it isn't a dupe. Perhaps for someone who liked the base colour of Graphite but not the foil finish, Brand New Skates may be a better pick. For me, the best part of Brand New Skates is that I got it for a cool S$8 from my friend Luna in a blogsale, so to me, that's a total steal!

The next polish that I thought looked similar to Chanel Graphite in the bottle was a really random Face Shop polish I had purchased sometime back. This is The Face Shop's Face It! nail polish range, and the colour is GR502. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I'm ashamed to say I've only worn it once! Here's a comparison with Graphite:


L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

Since I wasn't really expecting the Face Shop one to be a dupe, I was surprised to see that it was actually quite similar to Graphite! Granted, they aren't exact dupes, but they are pretty close. Both Graphite and GR502 have the same green-grey base that looks a little olive in certain lights, and both have that intense gold foil.

The only difference is that Chanel has a more intense foil finish than Face Shop. This difference in foil finish is more obvious in some lights than in others - in stronger lights, GR502 looks quite convincingly similar to Graphite, but in low lights, it doesn't. The photo above shows the two in sunlight, where they look similar. The photo below shows a shot of both in lower lights, where you can see the difference in foil finish.

Chanel Graphite Dupe Face Shop GR502 (2)


L - R: Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502, Chanel Graphite, Face Shop GR502

So although Face Shop GR502 isn't a dupe for Chanel's Graphite, I do think they are close enough to kill my very expensive Chanel lemming. And for our ladies in Asia, this is so much cheaper, and more accessible too. If I remember correctly, in Singapore the Face Shop Face It! polishes are around S$8 or so, making them less than a third of the price of Graphite.

If all three of them were the same price, though, I'd spring for Graphite in a heartbeat, just because it's the bling-iest of the lot, and you know I love me some bling on my nails! But I guess since I'm not willing to pay exorbitant prices for bling, I'll have to settle for the lesser blinged out alternatives, and just wait until the drugstore brands put out their dupe versions. Are you a dupe-lover? Or would you prefer to spring for the original?

Sparitual Twinkle Collection Swatches

Saturday, September 17, 2011

7 comments
Sparitual's Twinkle Collection, consists of six shades meant to sparkle and shine. If I'm not wrong, this is meant as a seasonal collection for Christmas, and if this is indeed meant for Christmas, then Sparitual has done a good job of making some festive shades while eschewing the traditional all-red-green-gold-and-white colour schemes we see so often in Christmas collection. Sparitual's Twinkle Collection does have its fair share of usual colours (another red shimmer), but overall this collection does look pretty interesting.

Now without further ado, let's jump straight into swatches! First up, we have the swatches for the first three colours from the official Sparitual colour wheels.


Top - Bottom: Blue Moon, Illumination, Solstice

And here are the swatches for these three colours as they appear on my finger. Let's start with Blue Moon. Blue Moon, as the name suggests, is a blue colour - but this isn't quite the deep, almost-black type of blue you'd expect from a colour name like that. Instead, Blue Moon is always discernably blue, even in low lights, and looks to me to be a deepened colbalt blue, not quite dark enough to be called navy. It has small suspended glitter bits that give the shade a slight twinkle - just like a blue moon.

sparitual blue moon twinkle collection


Illumination, as the name suggests, is pure bling. This is actually a mix of holographic and non-holographic glitter bits suspended in a clear base. The glitter bits are rather large, and really add to the bling factor. My photo doesn't really capture how the holographic glitter bits dazzle when hit by the light, but I'm sure you know what I mean. What you see on my nail is two coats, and coverage is pertty decent, although you'll need three coats to ensure opacity.

sparitual illumination twinkle collection


Solstice was marketed to us as a gold shade that would suit Asian skintones, and I can't say I really agree with that. For one, Solstice is a gold that I see as bordering on the warm side, so it probably would end up looking a little "off" on cool-toned girls, Asian or not. No doubt, the colour is certainly stunning, being a true yellow gold that is reminiscent of gold jewellery. However on me I felt it looked a tad weird. I felt that personally, for myself, a cooler shade of gold, like Orly's Luxe (which I've blogged about before), would have been more flattering. But to each his own right? And a great gold foil is always a good addition to any collection.

sparitual solstice twinkle collection


Now for the second half of the Twinkle Collection. These consist of the darker, deeper shades, as well as more traditional reds, purples, and vampy shades.

sparitual twinkle collection 2


Top - Bottom: Break of Dawn, Shooting Star, Twilight

Break of Dawn is a red with shimmer, some of which is holographic. To me, this was the least interesting of the collection (oh yeah, another shimmery red for the holiday season), but this is pretty if you are looking for a red shade. The shimmer is generously added to the red base, so the shade sparkles even in low lights. And as you can see, in the photo below, I accidentally nicked the swatch, and flooded my cuticles. Oops.

sparitual break of dawn twinkle collection


Shooting Star is a deep royal purple loaded with glitter bits of medium size. This one has that "lit from within" (in Scrangie's terms) quality to it - you see the shimmer really bursting and sparkling where the light hits it. This is visibly purple, and visibly shimmery even in low lights, and is very pretty, although it does remind me of something in my collection...I'd have to go look it up.

sparitual shooting star twinkle collection


Twilight (oh man, those movies and Stephenie Meyer have ruined any polish called that for me now) is a deep, vampy purple with slight shimmer., It's one of those almost-black colours, but to be honest, in low lights (e.g. dim indoors lighting), it looks mostly black. It does look purple where the light hits it, so you'll probably need stronger lighting to showcase this shade at its best.

sparitual twilight twinkle collection


To me, Solstice is the clear standout of the collection, even though it makes my hands look jaundiced. I also quite liked Shooting Star and Blue Moon, although neither is all that unique. Generally, application on these polishes was also pretty good - nice, even application that was pretty streak-free, and a nail polish texture that was neither too thin or thick. Overall, I'd say Sparitual's Twinkle Collection is a very pretty collection that is festive without being too cliched.

Lastly, my Singaporean girls can all get 10% off on their Sparitual purchases with the code sparitual_musicalhouses - all you have to do is email squovalicious (at) hotmail (dot) com to place your order (she's the Sparitual ambassador in Singapore), and put the code sparitual_musicalhouses in the subject line of your email. And ta-da, instant discount code! Hope the swatches help you make your purchasing decisions!

(Some information supplied by PR at an event. Photos and content are my own. Post is my honest and complete opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Gold Foil Dupes? Orly Luxe, Etude House Lucidarling Sparkling Royal Gold, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold

Friday, December 17, 2010

10 comments
With Christmas coming up, you absolutely know you have to have a gold foil in your nail colour arsenal. After all, gold is one of the colours of Christmas, and the foil finish, with its metallic-like surface, is so festive. Even if it isn't Christmas, a gold foil is a gorgeous colour to have anyway. And the good thing about gold foils is that there's a shade of gold foil to flatter every skintone, from cool to warm, from dark to light.

So here are a couple of gold foil comparisons. Up for swatching are Orly Luxe, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold, and Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails 01 Sparkling Royal Gold. As always, it's a source of slight amusement that the product names of Asian brand cosmetics are always so much longer than Western brands - it can't just be nail polish, it has to be Lucidarling (whatever that means) Fantastic Nails :P

Orly Luxe, Etude House Lucidarling, Collection 2000

L-R: Orly Luxe, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold, Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails 01 Sparkling Royal Gold

Well, I guess they're not dupes. And they may not all be gold foils. But let's see how they hold up to swatching, shall we?

Here are the 3 polishes swatched on my nails:

orly luxe etude house lucidarling collection 2000 swatch

L-R (Index to pinky): Orly Luxe, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold, Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails 01 Sparkling Royal Gold, Orly Luxe

As you can see, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold isn't really a foil. But it's a pretty gold polish, nonetheless. It does have a metallic finish, but not the fine-grained finish of a foil. It's a good option for those who don't like foils, but want something gold and metallic.

Orly Luxe is a cult favourite among foil finish fans, and I absolutely see why. It's a bright gold that isn't so warm-toned that it's unwearable for cooler-toned people. There's just something about it that catches your eye.

Etude House Sparkling Royal Gold (I'm not going to type out the entire name) is also a foil, but it's a bit more muted, and slightly warmer than Orly Luxe. I also like it a lot, and I think this would be a great substitue for anyone who felt Luxe was too OTT with the bling, and wanted a more subdued version of Luxe.

Here's what Luxe looks like in the context of my fingers, just so you can see the contrast of nail polish against skin:

orly luxe collection 2000 etude house swatch2


L-R (Pinky to Index): Orly Luxe, Etude House Lucidarling Fantastic Nails 01 Sparkling Royal Gold, Collection 2000 Aztec Gold, Orly Luxe

In terms of application, all were good. I had no trouble with any of the three. But Orly Luxe and Aztec Gold were a lot more pigmented than the Etude House version. Both Luxe and Aztec Gold were opaque in one coat, but you'll need 2-3 coats with Sparkling Royal Gold before you don't see any VNL (visible nail line).

I'm glad they're all different - it totally justifies having them all :P But for anyone who wants just one, my personal favourite would be Orly Luxe. However if you can't get your hands on it (since Orly is one of those hard-to-find-outside-the-US brands), then it's great to know that Collection 2000 in the UK has a viable replacement, and that Etude House also has something similar for us Asians.

KOTD: Orly Foil Luxe and Wet n Wild Black

Monday, July 26, 2010

16 comments
A few weeks back, my programme had a boat party for the postgraduates, and of course I had to go - it was free for students, and they provided dinner, and you know I'm all up for a free meal :P The dress code was formal, but in rebellion of the utter impracticality of wearing tuxedos and gowns in summer, our class chose to go informal anyway.

Anyway, the whole point of me telling you this is because it actually has something to do with today's NOTD. I started building my outfit around my nails, as I am increasingly wont to do lately, and I decided that I wanted to wear blingy gold nails with some konad. (Note to everyone: only weirdos like me start thinking about their nails before thinking about their clothes.)

Naturally, I picked out Orly Luxe, from the Foil FX Collection, and I stamped it over with Wet n Wild Black. I used Konad plate M81 for the design. And tada:

Orly Luxe Wet n Wild Black Konad

This is two coats of Orly Luxe, under natural light, konaded over with Wet n Wild Black, which is a really opaque black creme. I just LOVE Orly Luxe. It's probably the best gold foil ever, and definitely the standout of the entire Orly Foil FX Collection. I mean, good gold foils are hard to come by, and this one is smooth, easy to apply, and opaque in one coat (ooh, gold foil konad coming up!). And not to mention I love the colour - it's a shade of gold that isn't too brassy or too warm, and would be perfect on almost anybody.

After I had done my nails, I realized that my nails matched a skirt I had just bought a few days ago (on sale from H&M, yay for 50% off summer sales!). So I ended up wearing the skirt, just because they matched my nails! And yes I know I'm a freak for matching my clothes to my nails, and not the other way around. What can I say - I probably have more nail polishes than I have clothes.

Here's a photo of my nails against the skirt. See, see? They match!

Orly Luxe Foil FX

And of course, since it was a boat party for postgrads, I managed to find something else that matched my nails:

Orly Luxe Wet n Wild Black

That was my friend's bottle, LOL. I don't drink very much, primarily because alcohol is full of empty calories, and I've never thought it was worth putting on weight for, with the possible sole exception of pear cider, LOL. I know, I'm a weirdo, but that's a pretty convincing argument to me, LOL.

Anyway, that was my KOTD, and I promise the next post won't feature any alcohol :P

Orly Foil FX Rage and GOSH FrouFrou: Are They Dupes?

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

4 comments
So the Orly Foil FX Collection, launched a couple of months back, has met with general aplomb from bloggers and nail polish lovers alike, being right on trend with its metallic take on golds, silvers and pinks. But of course, for us who aren't in the US, Orlys (is it me, or is it just that everytime I see the brand Orly I think - O RLY?!) are hard to come by, and when they are, they aren't cheap either. I know, doesn't it just make you want to cry? But I was lucky. One of my friends agreed to buy it for me and mail it here, so I have both Rage and Shine (I'm still trying to get my hands on Luxe). But not every girl could be so lucky, so I thought maybe I'd see if there isn't a dupe for it yet.

And sure enough, I found something I thought was dupey - GOSH FrouFrou! Actually, I had already done an NOTD with that colour! (Come to think of it - is it a NOTD? Or an NOTD? I know grammar rules say that if the first letter is a vowel, or has a wel sound, then it should be 'an'. So I guess since N sounds like a vowel, it should be an NOTD. But I always feel like typing 'a' because I'm seeing it in print, not hearing it in my head when I type...) Anyway, that NOTD was done waaay back when the only reader of my blog was my imaginary pet dog, but you can see it HERE. Wow, I never knew I was so ahead of the curve! Weird, I know.

Anyway the big question all my UK ladies want to know: are they indeed dupes?

Here are bottle comparison pictures:

Orly Rage Foil FX GOSH FrouFrou

L-R: Orly Rage, GOSH FrouFrou

They look pretty similar, don't they? They could be dupes!

Here are the comparison swatches:

GOSH Froufrou Orly Foil FX Rage

My index and ring fingers are Orly Rage, while middle and last fingers are GOSH FrouFrou. That means L-R: Orly Rage, GOSH FrouFrou, Orly Rage, GOSH FrouFrou

Ooh, so close, sooo close. They're not total dupes though. Although both colours are metallic foil pinks, Orly Rage is a more beige, making it a beigey-pink, while GOSH FrouFrou is pinker. But otherwise, they're entirely alike - the way they apply is similar, the finish is similar, and both are just good metallic foil-y goodness that can be worn to work despite the bling, because the colour is so innocuous.

So which one should you pick, if you somehow have access to both but only wanted one? (I think this is purely a hypothetical scenario though, since Orly is available in the US only for most part, and GOSH is only available in Europe for the most part.) Well if somehow you could buy both but only wanted one, then it would depend on your undertone, and how beige or pink you wanted your colour to be. I think the beige tinge in Orly Rage would suit warmer girls better, especially if they find GOSH FrouFrou too pink and unwearable, while the pink might work better on cooler-toned girls. I don't think it really makes that much of a difference though; both colours are neutral enough either way.

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm and Orly Foil FX Shine KOTD

Sunday, April 18, 2010

6 comments
There are times when I really hate my photo-taking skills, my camera, and my crappy looking nails, because on the rare times when I really like a KOTD, my photos never ever seem to do it justice. Today's KOTD, using a holographic polish (OOOHHHH HOLOS!) and an Orly Foil FX, is one case in point.

For the base I used Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, also known in some circles as Chacha (you know, CHAinmail CHArm?). It's a beautiful black holo, and the holographic shimmer really shines through. Unfortunately, my camera didn't seem to like the holographic goodness as much as I did:

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

Please excuse the messiness, because that was a pre-cleanup picture (because I was going to konad over it). But the point is, that is a gorgeous holo which my camera didn't capture. I really like it, it's cool, and I love holos. Something about the colour-changing shimmer just captures me.

I could look at Chainmail Charm, but in one of my rare moments of brilliance, I thought I would konad over it, with one of the newfangled Orly Foil FXs, Shine (I've been trying to get Luxe - the gold one), using a full nail design from the Konad M78 plate.

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm Orly Foil FX Luxe

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm Orly Shine Foil FX

I know it doesn't look like much in the photo, but can I pinky promise you that it looks soooo much better in real life? Orly Shine (and the other Foil FXs I'm told) make for good konading polishes, so I wasn't disappointed to konad with this. Shine is a Foil with plenty of bling to draw attention to any dull manicure! The Orly Foil FXs have not been disappointing so far - I've got Rage and Shine, and I've been trying to go after Luxe. I love the combination of black and silver, holo and foil, and bling and more bling! I just wish my camera and my skills were better at capturing this blingy goodness.

Nails Inc Half Moon Street and $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart: My Nails are Nubbins!

Monday, January 25, 2010

12 comments
The main reason why I hate travelling is because it ruins my nails. (I know, I have a problem.) This is what happened after a 12-14 hour flight:

Nails Inc Half Moon Street

Just to compare, this is how they were before the flight (they were longer, but I was waiting for them to grow out a lil more before I filed them into the right shape, hence the uneveness in length and shape):

Sephora by OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart

That NOTD was $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart. That one I love. I don't normally like greens, because I'm a colour wimp, but I LOVE this one. It's a greyish green - or a greenish grey - with super cool foil effect, and a good amount of glitter. I really love how it looks, and I think it would look cool with a matte topcoat over it too. Somehow, my skintone seems to draw out the extreme colour possibilities in it - on me, sometimes it even looks positively emerald green, while other times it looks like a metallic gunmetal grey. I really like this one. It's like, deep, jewelled green with tons of grey. Cool. It applied a little sheer, so this is 3 coats. 2 would have covered most areas, but I wanted to cover everything.

Anyway, back to the sad state of my travel-worn nubbins. They're all short and uneven now. I'm hoping they'll grow out soon. It just makes me want to cry, because that was 3.5 weeks of growing out my nails down the drain (yes, my nails grow slower than snails move, and they break and peel, so that was my record length so far). If only there was a way to travel that wouldn't ruin my nails...I'd love travelling so much more.

But since I'm all stuck with short nails for however long they take to grow out, I'm going to wear all the bold and vampy colours I can while the nubbins last. So, you know, the next few NOTDs are going to be bold and dark! No more nudes!

So for now, my mani is Nails Inc Half Moon Street. This is an exclusive I believe, but I cant remember what exactly it was exclusive to. I believe it was one of those "Wow-you've-spent-so-much-money-on-our-stuff-so-here's-a-little-something-for-you" free gifts they give you if you place a big order on their website, which would absolutely explain how and why I have it. Its also very beautiful. It's a glowy magenta-pinky-red type of colour, with a lit-from within look, and a finish that defies description. I'd call it a shimmer with a metallic leaning. It has superfine silver shimmer that shows up as a sort of metallic glow. Very lovely. I don't really like bright pinks in general, but this one really has me staring at it all day long.

Application, as is usual for Nails Inc, was a dream. This one was very pigmented and smooth. I did two coats, although if I had better skills I could have gotten away with one coat. Love this one.

Here it is in artificial light, and you can see the shimmer in greater detail here:

Nails Inc Half Moon Street

And because I do so love this colour, here is a close-up shot of my nails. Take a look at the glowy goodness emanating from this thing!

Nails Inc Half Moon Street

I'm really starting to like Nails Inc a lot. With the exception of Elizabeth Street which was a dud (and I'm thinking it may be a dud because it was the free polish that came with Glamour Mag, and maybe they cut corners for the freebie), every Nails Inc polish I've tried has been nothing short of fabulous. The only thing is, most of their interesting colours tend to be exclusives, leaving the permanent line of colours a little dull. They've only just started coming out with mattes, months after all the big players have made their moves, and they've yet to come out with a duochrome, a flakie, or a holo. Awww come on, Nails Inc, I'm tired of waiting already!

And since we're hurrying the world along, while we're at it, let's tell my nubbins to hurry up and grow out! I'm waiting! And my polish stash is waiting!

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