Past few months was a nightmare - nothing consequential, just that everything was falling into pieces. I have no idea how I could survive all these but here I am, safe and sound! Life seems to be back on track, it's time for me to catch up with all the blogging.
Enough whining, back to business. So where should I start? Maybe where I left off, which means Secret Santa! I know I know, it has been months, but I have been wanting to show the world my wonderful Christmas presents from my secret santa, the very sweet girl Tuli from
Tuli's Nail Polishes & Stuff.
I've got this carton box with very cute butterfly stickers on when I wasn't expecting any package.
Once I've opened it, I found 4 lovely polishes and that's when I knew they were from my secret santa.
From the left: NYC Skin Tight Denim Creme, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, OPI We'll Always Have Paris, Jade 261
The 2 OPIs are from my wishlist while the other 2 are picked by Tuli. The colors are just gorgeous and I really like them! I'll show you more pictures of these babies below.
Obviously, MY santa wouldn't leave it at that! There are tons of extra goodies inside the package including some nail art decals.
Some rose-scented bath stuff - they smell really good but too bad I don't have a bath tub at home, I have to wait until my next hotel stay.
The coconut lime verbena shower gel and body lotion from Bath & Body Works. I must say Tuli you've got great tastes, you picked the perfect polishes and you introduced me to the best B & BW scent.
At first I doubted the "coconut" part - I love lime, verbena is good but coconut? It's too sweet for my taste. But once I have put it on, I regretted what I had said. It is fresh, a little bit sweet but not over the top and most importantly, the scent lasts!
I haven't bought from B & BW for years, but I've already bought several body creams in the last couple months. Of all the scents I bought, coconut lime verbena is still my favourite.
A bunch of treats for the sweet tooth. They were gone within 2 days!
My favourite from the bunch - Kinder Joy. Of the countless kinder egg I ate ever since I was a child, that was the first time I was surprised! It was completely different from what we have her e in Hong Kong and it was so yummy. It's so not fair, why couldn't we have this here? I hate you Tuli! How could you send me such good food which I cannot get my hand on?
Ok, I remember this is a nail blog not a food blog, so here's the polishes:
According to the bottle, it is made in France and not Big3 free.
They don't have names, just numbers. And this is 261, a dark burgundy shimmer. The shimmers are very subtle, you have to get very close to see them. It applies smoothly, it was quite sheer on the first coat, but became completely opaque in the second. Drying time is average.
I really love this color. Red is safe, when I don't know what to wear, I will definitely go for a red. It is not unique, but still very gorgeous.
Ever since I acquired some CND effects, I love to try them out on some dark polish.
After adding 1 layer of Crimson Sparkle, the "safe" factor is totally out.
NYC is another brand that I haven't tried out.
I think the name is so misleading - first, it is a royal blue, it doesn't look denim blue to me, I don't have skinny jeans of this blue anyway. Second, it is so not a creme, it's a shimmer. The pictures here are crappy, they still shows some of the shimmers.
Other than the name, I have nothing to complain about. It is very pigmented, almost opaque in 1 coat. I did use 2 coats here for full coverage. Application was perfect.
It's a blue, so I matched it with Sapphire Sparkle. It indeed turned into sapphire with the sparkle, I couldn't stop starring at my fingers, just love it!
After adding the CND effects, it reminded me of some suspected dupes, so I did a comparison.
Orly Witch's Blue is lighter than the NYC, with slightest hint of green to it.
LA Girls Punk is completely different, it is almost turquoise-ish to me.
By now, I have added several suedes to my collection but this one is still my favourite. An eggplant with silver base is simply beyond gorgeous.
It is opaque in 1 coat, but I feel safer with 2 coats.
Another vampy creme. I wanted to describe it as a wine color, but I am not sure. It is definitely red, it is also something between purple and brown. I suck at describing the colors, not only I can't distinguish the blues or reds into their more detailed classifications, I can't even tell whether it is brown or purple! Should I go back to kindergarten?
It was a great swap and I have a lot of fun. I didn't expect to have received so many goodies and I am really glad to have met you Tuli. You are such a sweet girl, thank you so much!
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