Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

China Glaze Liquid Leather Swatches & Review

Flash China Glaze Black Nail Polish Swatches & Review China Glaze Liquid Leather is the black polish I often turn to when I make pupils for nail art.

Although I don’t typically wear an all-black manicure, when I do, I really enjoy it. And since October 31st isn’t far away, maybe some of you will also sport it to compliment your gothic costume.

Liquid Leather is not for the faint of heart. It’s moody times a googolplex. What I love about it is that it’s exceptionally glossy. I mean, just look at my swatches of it – so shiny…and guess what? I’m not wearing a top coat in any of these photos!

Although it’s very dramatic, I actually prefer an intense black over a near-black hue. Sometimes those near-black polishes look pretty much like black on me that it’s annoying. Go big or go home!

Yes, I understand that some people prefer near-blacks because it’s less harsh. But I’m all for polish that’s bold, so I have no problem with wearing black polish even when it’s not Hallowe’en. 🙂
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Nail Art Tutorial: Skull Nails

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Skull Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches The next Hallowe’en nail art: Skull Nails! They’re really easy and fast to do. Plus you’ll only need two colours, so hopefully more of you will decide to replicate this!

Yes, the teeth are super long, but you can tweak this design as you see fit. You could make your skulls smile, you could add some stitches, or you can go the lazy route like me and just draw vertical lines.

Even though it’s not perfect, I think that this is a fun design you can do in a snap.

Also, with just a few easy modifications, I can see how you could turn this into ghost nail art. (I’ll probably try this out later, too!)

P.S. Later on, I may try to do skull nail art that looks more menacing like The Punisher. We’ll see! Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Candy Corn Nails

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Halloween Candy Nail Art Tutorial & Swatch Hurray! It’s October! Why am I so excited? Hallowe’en is right around the corner, and it’s one of my favourite holidays in the entire year.

I’ve actually been prepping a few posts for this month to make sure that I get in some Hallowe’en nail art. And I still have plenty more ideas that I need to work on.

To start off the first festive nail art extravaganza, I bring you Candy Corn Nails! Who doesn’t love this yummy seasonal candy?

Funny thing: I’ve always been self-conscious about the shape of my ring-finger’s nail – it’s narrower at the top near the cuticle and then flares out. But, for candy corn nail art, the shape actually makes it look more like the candy! 😀 Woo hoo! Continue reading →

Chanel Peridot Swatches & Review

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Sunlight Chanel Peridot Swatches, Review & Photos This is my first Chanel product ever! *Squeals can be heard all the way up to the highest mountain tops*

I never thought I’d be lucky enough to own anything from that luxury brand, but now I’m so excited to say that Chanel Peridot has made its way into my heart and my Helmer.

It was a little rough introducing Peridot to the rest of my polish children.

My usually well-behaved China Glazes and OPIs were a little snotty and said, “Chanel isn’t everything!” and “More expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better!” Some others made cheap shots about the French.

The Nubars tried to stay out of the confrontation, but I could tell from their fond glances at Peridot that they were both impressed yet intimidated by its multichromatic brilliance.

Clarins 230 was nice enough to befriend Chanel Peridot right from the get-go.

“I know it’s not easy being the new one.” It tried to comfort Peridot, who had begun crying. “Listen, when I first arrived, the same thing happened to me. In fact, people often call me Unicorn Pee! Sticks and stones may break my bottle cap, but names will never hurt me. At least you’re named after a beautiful gemstone. I’m quite fond of Peridot.”

From that moment, the two have been inseparable.

Yes, sometimes poor Peridot still gets picked on even by the mini OPIs (who are still young and need to be taught lessons of politeness and common courtesy). But in general, I think that Peridot is making great progress in letting mean-spirited remarks roll off its bottle.

(Warning: This post contains tons of photos of this polish. I tried to capture its personality the best I could.)
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OPI Teenage Dream Swatches & Review

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Sunlight OPI Teenage Dream Swatches & Review Many months ago, I had a strong fascination with Katy Perry (aka Katheryn Hudson). Her music and pictures were everywhere! If you didn’t like her, you probably found it akin to hell.

Her music is like candy floss – syrupy sweet and superficial. When I’m in a carefree mood, I do enjoy some of her songs. It seems like she doesn’t take herself too seriously. At least that’s what her image is marketed as.

When the OPI Katy Perry Collection came out, I knew that I had to have all the colours.

While most people went gaga over OPI Teenage Dream, I actually fell more in love with OPI Last Friday Night, the blue holo glitter I previously swatched and reviewed.

In a weird way, Teenage Dream looked very neutral on me even though it was jam-packed with glitter.

This didn’t move me, and I can’t see myself wearing this shade solo again. If I do wear it in the future, I’ll have to stamp on top of it or add a crackle polish to cover it up.

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Essie Bangle Jangle Swatches & Review

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Essie Bangle Jangle Review & Swatch Hope it doesn’t bother you too much that I was holding this bottle upside down for one photo. I was playing around. 🙂

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen my tweet about how Essie polishes are now on sale at two etailers for just $4 USD! Looks like it’s only valid until the end of this month.

Essie nail polish in Canada is pretty pricey. At Shoppers, I’ve seen it for $11.99 CAD! I can never justify that…unless it’s a flakie or holo.

Needless to say, I haven’t purchased a new bottle of Essie for quite some time. But when I happened to stumble across this incredible sale, I finally bought all the colours I had my eye on for the longest time.

Essie has really stepped up their game over the past couple of years! 🙂 I’m impressed!

The new Essie Winter Collection 2011 was available already, so I picked up Essie Bangle Jangle, a moody grayish purple that I’ve been really enjoying!
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Nail Art Tutorial: Rainbow & Cloud Nails

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Rainbow & Cloud Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches Do you remember the last time you were on Cloud 9?

I was on Cloud 10 with these Rainbow & Cloud Nails. Did them many weeks ago, but I’m only posting it now. It’s been a few days since my last nail post, so it’s about time!

You may remember me sharing my Dotty Nails that I did when I was just playing around with my new dotting tools. This manicure was done perhaps a few days after that one.

I always wanted to try my hand at rainbow nails, but i thought my hands would be too shaky to draw smooth arcs for each colour.

Using a dotting tool is very easy and the way the dots come out in various sizes depending on the tip and how much pressure you apply makes the end result more interesting to me than perfect arcs anyway.

Plus using a dotting tool is as much fun as popping bubble wrap! (I swear there must be some sort of gaseous substance in each bubble that makes the popping act seem so addictive! :P)

Hope you try this and share with me any of your dotty manicures! It’s cool when you can design a picture using just dots. I’d love to see what you can come up with!