Sunday, February 28, 2010

Please vote for me!

Ladies, I need your help.

Lambchop Mobile is hosting the best contest ever - she asked for suggestions on a name and matching manicure for her bike. I am so not going to miss out the fun. I played around with several ideas and started working on the nails. Things were a bit out of hand - I ended up with not one but two designs!

Mighty Lampchop seems to like them - she picked both out! I was so lucky!


The girly manicure

This was inspired by the streamers on handle bars of trikes that little girls ride. I went for a colorful and childish look - so you can see a lot of different colors and tons of decals. Believe me, I know it is a busy look, I apologize if it make you feel dizzy!

On thumb: Misa Jasmine for base, Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money for the dots

Index: BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider with silver metallic decals in star shape

Middle: Models Own Pastel Pink for the base, CND Hyde in the Dark for the stripes, OPI Time-less is More for the dots and some gold metallic star-shaped decals

Ring: Misa Green with Envy and black rhinestones

Pinkie: Orly Cashmere Cardigan with decals in various shape


The grown-up manicure

It was intended to be a matching look with the bike. Metallics and shimmers were chosen naturally, purple is my favourite color so it got a place.

I did the half moon freehand, so it is cranky. I think I did the best with the middle finger.

Ring: Color Club Sex Symbol
Others: Models Own Champaign for the half moon, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark for the tips with silver and black rhinestones.

These are 2 of the 5 manis competing in the contest. If you like any of these, please go to Lambchop Mobile to vote for me. But if you don't, please go to vote against me - there are 3 even more awesome manis. No hard feeling, I will just stalk you and send you as many spam mail as I can - just kidding!

Voting runs through March 9. Get moving!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Take Me Home - Models Own

OK, this is another Twitter evil spawn.

I had never heard about Models Own until one day all people were tweeting and re-tweeting about their 50% sale. My curiosity got the best of me and I saw all these swatches - grey, dusty purple and nude. Oh, I saw my name on them!

There you go babies, welcome to the family.

They came in this cute little black box with purple tissue paper, classy!

I paid £31 for all these (shipping included), it was definitely a bargain. The only complain was that there should be a free buffer for first time order, but it was missing here.

Swatch coming soon.

Slap me in the face, please!

I am seriously considering moving to a cave. Making fire with woods, eating meat raw. Who needs internet? Internet is evil, full of evil sale news. I definitely don't need it, not after what I have done last night.



Sure you all heard about this. I read that most of you stayed real calm, obviously I was not. 9 beautiful polishes are on their way. Oh did I mention that my yet another massive transdesign order is sailing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean too? The BF is not going to be happy about it.

Friday, February 26, 2010

First Konad Haul and KONADomania 300+ giveaway

I hate myself. I'm so impulsive and I change my mind all the time, is there any cure for this?

Konad did not thrill me - it is too fancy, or so I thought. I preferred keeping my mani simple and chic.

I was so terribly wrong.

Before I realized, damage's done:

A basic kit, a double side stamp set and 9 image plates.

I read that the plastic scraper that comes with the basic kit is better than the metal one. But I wanted the double-sided stamp so I got both. I didn't checked at the shop. I was so shocked when I found out they both are metals! They don't sell the plastic scraper alone, I ended up using an old credit card.

I've been practicing for a couple of weeks but the result is still frustrating. I spent the whole first week trying to learn how to scrap and to pick up the patterns with the stamp. I think I kind of did it. But I still have problem putting the patterns on my nail at the precise position that I want them to be. People, how can you all do that so beautifully?

While I am still struggling with the konad basics, the guru KONADomania is celebrating her 300+ followers.

Congratulations!

You know what that means - giveaway time!

The prizes are fabulous

1.25 dollar gift coupon code from OC NAIL ART

2. 3 S-he and 3 Essence polishes of your own choice


3. 3 sets of nail art decals


4. Some nail care products


5. Some nail art stuff


6. 2 lipglosses

What are you waiting for? Enter here, it ends March 21.

BB Couture Haul and Swatch

This is an interesting haul. Very random indeed.

Here's the story: I've seen swatch of BB Couture Erotic Night a while ago, the blogger (sorry, I forgot who she is) said it was her favourite vampy jelly. A vampy jelly? She hit right on target.

So this has been added to my must-have list, I just not motivated to acquire it. But then one day I heard that it was discontinued, I hurried to Overall Beauty to get myself one before it's too late.

To make the full use of the shipping charges, I decided to get 2 more polishes when I had nothing specific in mind. I went over the whole list, and naturally I was attracted to the purple beauty Dragon's Breath. Oh, purple again? I realized I should try something different - that's why  I have 3 very different colors in different textures.


From Left - Zuma Wave Rider, Erotic Night, Blind Love

BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider


Zuma Wave Rider is an adventure to me. I've been trained to skip any blue polish instinctively - it just doesn't flatter my yellowish Asian skin tone. But this is just so cute - and its name reminded me of Gwen Stefani's baby Zuma - it is totally worth a try.

It left me suffer from my I-Can't-Describe-the-Color syndrome AGAIN! It is a very warm medium blue creme, also periwinkle-like, but not that purple. I'm sorry, this is the best I can do.

As you may see in the bottle and on the tip of pointer, there are some tiny reddish shimmers. It don't show under most light setting.



Olive tone under bright light


Gold in most light setting

Blind Love is said to be a substitute for the most sought-after Chanel Caleidoscope, or so I've heard. OK, I lived in a cave before I've got this polish-addition disease so I haven't heard of this famous Caleidoscope, I can't tell you how Blind Love is comparing to it.

It's weird though,  most of the reviews called it a greenish silver or silver like green - I can see the green side, but it is definitely gold to me. I swear the pictures here show quite accurately what I see in real life.

Anyway, silver or gold, it is very beautiful. It has a foil-like finish which is so shimmery under sunlight. Application is great too, it covers well, dries fast and leaves no brush stroke.



Finally, the reason for this order. (When I placed by order, they said there were only 4 left. I checked again today and there are 25!)

I have a lot of anticipations and it didn't let me down. A very deep dark red, but you can still tell it is a red in a darker environment. A true jelly which leaves a high gloss finish, you see how reflective the polish is in the pictures.

Like Zuma Wave Rider, there are also some tiny red shimmers which can be barely seen. I don't know why but it has this funny smell, kind of sweet, smells like cough syrup to me.



Speaking of vampy red jelly, how can I not showing my favourite Misa Love Bite.

They almost look identical. Love Bite is less a jelly, it is somewhere between jelly and creme. And with super close inspection, Love Bite is more brown and Erotic Night is leaning purple.
I don't regret for buying an "almost" exact dupes, it is so worth it just for Erotic Night's jelly texture.

The application of these polishes is really, they are highly pigmented, very easy to work with. They dry fast as well.

I am so satisfied with this shopping experience - I got great polishes, and excellent customer service.

Kim the owner of Overall Beauty is very nice, she email on updates and to remind me that I did not pay for a shipping method with tracking number. She is also kind enough to send me some gifts. Kim you rock!


Extras: A manicure set and a mineral sample in Grape Ape, a purple!

Shipping charges are ridiculous, in a good way. The actual postage as I found on the box is around $10 but they only charged me for $8!

Just in case you want to know, I bought this for $9 each and you can receive $2 off your first order over $25 with coupon code CB222. (Expires 12/31/2010)



Thursday, February 25, 2010

China Glaze Loves You Snow Much & Nail Blog Network contest

So, this is another very belated post.

A UPS man showed up at my door step one morning a few months ago with a HUGE box. A box even bigger than the USPS large flat rate box. I was confused - I didn't order anything that would be delivered by UPS. Anyway, they had my name right on the parcel and sure I signed for it without hesitation.

It was pretty light for a box that size. I ripped it open as fast as I could. All I could see were paper, enormous air-protector thing and more paper.



After throwing away all packing material, there it was - a set of 4 very festive glitters, China Glaze Loves You Snow Much collection that II won from one of their twitter giveaways.


4 perfect glitters for holidays
From the left - Emerald Sparkle, Tinsel, 5 Golden Rings, Ruby Pumps


Ruby Pumps is my favourite of the collection. It is a deep red jelly-like base with tiny red glitters.
The first coat was very sheer, but I've got the coverage that I wanted with second coat, excellent.

My photography sucks, I couldn't capture how stunning it is. Under bright light, it shines all glitterly  and sparkle-ly.


Emerald Sparkle is a green version Ruby Pumps - a deep green base with green glitters, a 2-coater. It's gorgeous and all, but I don't have much to say about, green is just not my thing


5 Golden Rings is a light gold, definitely leaning the yellow side. It looks a bit dull to me, not as shiny as I expected. The base is clear and quite sheer, it took 4 coats to be opaque. The tips are still visible though, I may do 5 next time around.


Tinsel seems to have the same formula - sheer, clear base with silver glitters but it does sparkle.  With the experience with 5 Golden Rings, I did 5 coats here.

Application is very nice, as most of the China Glazes are, and they all dried fast. They don't leave a smooth surface, you'll need a good thick coat of top coat to smooth it out.

China Glaze is at the top 3 of my favourite polish brands, it makes up a large part of my stash. Maybe I should make good use of them for a chance to win some additions to my collection?

Nail Blog Network is hosting a contest sponsored by China Glaze and Seche, the winners (yes, there will be 2 winners) will get 5 (2nd prize) or 10 (1st prize) products of their choices from BOTH China Glaze and Seche.

Here' the deal: You have to create a mani using only China Glaze and Seche products. There's no specific theme, just be creative.

I'm so regretted not having my nails to grow long enough, it seems more can be done with long nails, at least the canvas are bigger! If you are interested, just go to check out the details.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I'm back in the game

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!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Giveaway Rundown

I love giveaways.

Not only because of the freebies, but also to share the joy for whatever the host is celebrating. It's fun! It makes me think maybe someday it would be my turn to celebrate having like 50 followers or 100th post.

So I decided to have all current giveaways or contests summarized regularly so that more readers can join.

Here we go this week's fabulous giveaways:

R3Daily is celebrating 50 followers by giving away her favorite set of manicure products. To enter, check out her blog before Feb 24. (Ended)


4 lucky winner get to take home some great prizes from Lacquered Lizard as she is celebrating 50 followers! Congrats Elizabeth! Check out the giveaway details HERE. It is open till Feb 26


You've Got Nail is giving away a bottle of Obsess from Illamasqua and some cute little The Face Shop polishes. I really don't want to miss this! Go here for more details and enter before Feb 27.


PerryPie's Nail Polish Adventures is giving away 17 polishes and some konad stuff in celebration of 100+ followers! Half are these are Sally Hansen which I can't get here in Hong Kong. I want these badly!!
Please visit PerryPie's blog for details, it is open till Feb 28.


You can win some Sally Hansens and NYC Color from Kolour Me Krazy. Check out her blog, it opens until Feb 28.



Neglelakkmani is having a not that "little" giveaway. The Claire's look hot! Winner will be drawn on March 1, click to enter before it ends!



Nathalie from Jellynat is having her first giveaway. She is a very sweet girl who works very hard on her blog. Unlike me, she is a very good photographer. I really love her pictures. Go check out her blog and enter the giveaway here before March 1.



Lady Gray from Lady of the Lane is celebrating 50 followers, congratulations! You may get this if you win her giveaway. It ends March 2.



Evil Angel from Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss is having a giveaway to celebrate 300+ followers. She is a very kind person who extends her love to homeless animals - you can have FIVE extra entries if you donate a bag of dog/cat food or equivalent cash to your local animal shelter.
Enter HERE before March 3. Have a peek at the prizes:




In celebration of 400+ follwers, Makeup by Celly is giving away these fabulous prizes:

For details, please check out Celly's blog. The giveaway ends March 4.


Tiffani from Yardsticks 4 Lunatic is having her giveaway for celebration of 100 followers. It ends March 5, Make sure to check it out.



I'm so frustrated every time when I have difficult time getting my hand on some US / Europe-exclusive polishes. If you have got the same problem,  be sure to check out Rock 'n' Nails. They are hosting a some sorta swap there, and you may get your European polish lemmings fulfilled! It is open till March 5.


April and Ashley from Concrete and Nail Polish is having their first Follower Appreciation giveaway. The lucky winner get to take home a whole bunch of prizes from polishes to cosmetics to a purse! Check out the details HERE. It ends March 7.


Painted Lady Fingers is hosting the "For the Love of Manglaze" giveaway. Enter Here for a chance to win. Runs through March 8



Michèle from Lacquerized is celebrating 250 followers and she is giving away 2 sets of H&M polishes. It ends March 10. Check it out here.




MAC is one of my favourite makeup brands. I was thrilled finding Nooberella from Nooberellas Secret Beauty Blog is giving away MAC eyeshadow, fluidline eyeliner and a set of false eyelashes in celebration of 100 followers. Even better, they are all at  your own choices! Isn't it awesome? Go check it out before it ends! (Runs through March 14)


Karin from Romika's Nails is also celebrating 100 followers by hosting her first giveaway! It is open till March 14. Enter HERE and the prizes are:





I have been wanting to try out Ciate forever, and here's a chance! Lina from Make Up to Make Out is having a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers. One of the prizes is Ciatè Paint Pot in Sugared Almonds! Check out the details and enter before March 16.



The Chain Nail is celebrating 50+ followers by giving away some nail art products! More prizes will be added, be sure to check it out and enter. It ends March 31.


(Photo credits: All photos are from the blogs hosting the respective giveaway/contest)
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