Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

Nail Art Tutorial: Snow Bunny Nails

Flash Snow Bunny Rabbit Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Pictures Since I had so much fun wearing my Penguin Nails, I decided to try more animal nail art in the snow – Snow Bunny Nails!

Although this design doesn’t use many colours, it took much longer to complete than the penguins. So if you give this one a go, make sure you have a good chunk of time on your hands.

Like what we learned in Aesop’s Fables, slow and steady wins the race. Looks like in this manicure, the hare taught us that, though, not the tortoise.

This was my Christmas manicure. I wore it on the 23rd straight through to today even though I really wanted to wear China Glaze Party Hearty. (After spending over an hour on these ‘wascally wabbits’, as Elmer Fudd would say, I just couldn’t bring myself to remove them for a long time.)

With some minor tweaking (i.e. making the ears shorter), you can easily convert these rabbit nails into cat nails!

Also, I was extremely busy over the past few days, so I was only able to capture this manicure mainly with my flash. Although, a few are in the sunlight and some are in terrible dim artificial light. But from the mediocre photos I was able to take, you get the basic idea. Continue reading →

L’Oreal Owl’s Night Swatches & Review

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Sunlight L'Oreal Owl's Night Swatches & Review Lookie what I found on my computer: photos taken with my old camera several weeks ago!

This is the limited-edition L’Oreal Owl’s Night!

The first thing I noticed when I laid eyes on the bottle was that the gold shimmer caught the light like a supermodel who knows her best camera angles.

I probably would’ve never had this in my possession if it hadn’t been for Carmela’s generosity. She went to the States and brought me back this gorgeous bottle! It was a thoughtful surprise! (You can check out her blog here.)

When I wore this, I was in this phase where I was really feeling dark polishes, so this fit the bill well. Plus the sexy shimmer really made this lacquer special. Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Reindeer Nails (Rudolph Nails)

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Sunlight Reindeer Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches It seems like everyone’s doing Reindeer Nails (Rudolph Nails) lately, and since it’s a design I’ve never tried before, I thought there’s no time like the present!

Although I liked the way it turned out, I strongly suggest that if you replicate it, that you opt for a light-coloured background instead of a bronze shimmer like I did. (It’s better to have more contrast between the background and the antlers.)

Also, I used red heart sequins for the noses because I wanted to do something different than just dots. This proved to be both a good and bad choice. I’ll explain later on in my step-by-step tutorial featuring written instructions and photos. Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Penguin Nails

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Sunlight Penguin Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches My hands are usually cold during this time of year, so I thought it would be a great idea to do Penguin Nails! (Also, one of my followers on beautylish requested that I do penguins sometime. I was happy to oblige!)

This look is extremely easy to do, but the finished design appears more complicated.

Like I always say, it’s about patience more than it is about skill. Don’t be intimidated by nail art!

(Check out my tutorial where I walk you through it with step-by-step written instructions and photographs.)

I really hope that you’ll try this design. 🙂 And if you do, let me know how it goes! Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Candy Cane Nails

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Candy Cane Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches Today I bring you more festive nail art – Candy Cane Nails! I love the way candy canes look hanging on a tree. And, although I think all the fun-flavoured ones are delicious, my favourite is the simple, classic peppermint candy cane.

When my brother and I were kids, we weren’t supposed to eat any of the candy canes from the Christmas tree until December 25th. At least, that’s what my parents would always remind us of every year.

But kids don’t always do what they’re supposed to do. We conveniently ‘forgot’. And we were naughty.

When my brother and I thought nobody was looking, we’d snatch one off the tree, make a beeline to our bedrooms, and devour them in secrecy. The whole time, we thought ourselves to be very clever.

It was always a few days before Christmas when my parents would mention how there were fewer and fewer candy canes on the tree. Counting them proved that they were right.

(They knew all along that we had been snatching them off the boughs, but always had a soft spot and let it go. Unfortunately, their readiness to forgive made it easier for us to justify snatching the candy canes off the tree when the little angel and little devil would appear on either shoulder. ;))

These days, I have way more self-restraint when it comes to eating candy canes. I can wait until Christmas. Perhaps I have all those years as a candy-cane thief to thank for that…

Continue reading →

China Glaze Branding Iron Swatches & Review

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China Glaze Branding Iron Swatches & Review During the holidays, you may feel the strong urge to sport a red manicure, but a bright red nail polish might not be your thing.

You can still be festive and join the red bandwagon without sacrificing your love for vampy hues when you sport China Glaze Branding Iron!

This came out in the 2008 China Glaze Rodeo Diva Collection, which I consider to be one of the brand’s best releases. A lot of the colours were saturated and had a perfect formula. Branding Iron is no exception!

In fact, ever since I bought it when it first came out, this is the number-one red that I find myself always recommending. And everyone I know who has tried it loves it, too.

P.S. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post. I did simple Christmas nail art with Branding Iron. Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Santa Nails

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Sunlight Santa Nails Nail Art Tutorial, Swatches & Pictures China Glaze Phat Santa, a red jelly polish, inspired me so much that I knew I had to do some Christmas nail art with it. These Santa Nails are the result!

Here’s Santa’s red suit with fluffy white trimming and black belt with gold buckle. It just took a few steps, and as long as you don’t rush, yours will come out lovely. And the best part? You just need 4 colours.

You know how lots of children like to put out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus to enjoy when he visits?

Well, when I was a kid, I told my parents that I was thinking about leaving Santa Claus a bowl of salad and a glass of water. No, I’m not cruel – my intentions were good.

I was concerned about his health and if Santa felt the need to finish everything on all the plates. That’s a lot of cookies! So I thought I’d at least make sure that he got his vegetables in. Yeah, I was a strange kid.

My parents just burst out laughing at my suggestion. So I didn’t put out the salad that night, but I did consider leaving a little note telling Santa that if he couldn’t finish all the cookies, he could just leave some at my place. I’d help him out. 😉 Maybe I wasn’t that strange, after all.