Nails of the Week : Essence Nude Glam

A few weeks ago I was in Priceline and saw the new Essence Nude Glam nail polish range. At $2 each, I couldn't help picking myself up a bottle! I chose the shade Peaches & Cream, a pale salmon pink creme. Excuse my horrible cuticles and sloppy painting. I'm out of practice!


Colour: Essence Nude Glam: Peaches & Cream. 3 coats.
Topcoat: Etude House Jelly Nails Pop.
Drying Agent: Essence Quick Dry Nail Art.I love this colour! While still very pale, the salmon is a little darker than in the bottle. Unfortunately it needed 3 coats just to get this opaque, and I still thought it was a little streaky. It also started to chip badly within 12 hours of application, which was quite disappointing. However, I've heard that using quick-dry drops can shrink the polish and make it crack and chip more quickly, so I might let it dry naturally next time and see if it fares any better.

There are 4 shades in the range. Check out this blog post from Will Paint Nails for Food for the full range. (Though my version of Peaches & Cream is a solid creme with no shimmer, it is the same colour.)

Glitzology Glitter Nails from Etsy

Update: Unfortunately this Etsy shop is now closed.

Before Christmas I decided to treat myself. After reading a blog pot on independent nail polish creators, I somehow got the idea into my head that I didn't have enough glitter nail polish in my life. After a lot of backing-and-forthing, I finally decided to make my purchase from Glitzology.

There's such a huge range of polishes available from Stacy's shop, that the only thing I could do was get the 6-bottle bundle. And then spend another half an hour deciding which colours to get! It was a lot of fun, though. These are the polishes I chose:

Normally I don't like cheesy names for things, but I found these variations quirky and fun. They are (left to right):
Nebula - a black jelly base with blue, purple and silver hologram pieces. Reminiscent of the night sky.
Cotton Candy - a subtle lavender base with pink, purple and silver pieces in a mixture of shiny and matte textures. A cute and girly look.
Blue Lagoon - a clear base with a mixture of different shades of blue. Like swimming through the ocean.
Sherwood Forest - a blend of green, yellow and brown pieces. This makes me think of looking up through the forest canopy on a sunny day.
Bad Things - a deep red base with silver, pink and black pieces, and red hearts. Inspired by the TV show True Blood.
The Island of Misfit Toys - red, yellow, blue and green pieces set in a clear base with silver micro glitter. It's like an explosion in a toy factory!

I love these polishes so much! The suspension of glitter is extremely generous. Making the purchase was easy, and my parcel came fast. The bottles were carefully packed, and included a page full of tips with a discount coupon for my next purchase. I've decided to showcase each glitter in a separate post. So here's the first:



Single coat; under daylight lamp.The Island of Misfit Toys is set in a clear base and features the primary colours - red, yellow, blue and green - in various shapes including large squares, medium-size hexagons and small dots. There are also a few pastel yellow squares thrown in. The whole is set on a background of silver micro glitter. As I said before, the inclusion of glitter is much more generous than other brands I've tried - I only used a single coat for this mani!
I have presented the polish here over a neutral-ish base: Adoree Brown Gaucho. The photo was taken indoors under my daylight lamp.

I'm not sure when I can show you the other glitters in detail. My nails are pretty weak at the moment and need a rest. I hope it will be in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, look out for more haul posts and perhaps a review!

Nails of the Week: a few dots

Here is my nail art that I did a few days ago. I didn't have time for anything elaborate, so I just did a few accent dots on my thumbs and ring fingers. I absolutely love polka dot art, but I don't think this one was entirely successful!

It was the combination of pale pink nails and brown dots. Whenever I caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of my eyes, I kept thinking the dots were freckles that had suddenly appeared on my fingers! Next time I'll try another colour scheme, I think.

Base Coat: VOV Color Song in Pink 1
Dots: Be Creation Polka Dot Set, Colour B
Top Coat: Etude House Jelly Pop Nail Topcoat
P.S. Excuse the ragged cuticles in this shot - I tend to pick at my cuticles and they always look embarrassing. I have some Eulactol Gold Cuticle Balm that I haven't started using yet. I vow to use it every day for a week and then compare the results (and try not to pick my cuticles for a week, either)!

Nails of the Week: Sally Hansen Sonic Bloom

I'm proud to present my very first Nails of the Week post! I've hesitated to do posts like this before, due to technical problems. i.e. all my photos come out looking like poop! Loving my new Sally Hansen nail polish, but being frustrated at not being able to get any good photos of it, Husband offered to take some using his camera. Here's the result:

Brand: Sally Hansen
Shade: Sonic Bloom, 1 coat
Topcoat: Ulta3 Base Coat (I was too lazy to go into the other room to get my topcoat - first world problems!)
From: My October 2012 Bella Box (but Sally Hansen is widely available)
Price: RRP $13.95 (but I got it as part of the beauty box subscription)

Comments: Isn't it gorgeous? So bright! It had an extra-wide brush that made application very quick, and was opaque enough with only one coat. I found it dried extremely fast as well, in half the time of some other polishes I have. It's a fantastic party look, for a summertime barbeque or on holidays.
It's two pink-tipped thumbs up from me for this polish!

Here's a nice, juicy close-up:

Now that's what photos are supposed to look like! Not all dark and blurry like mine. I realised after the photo session though, that my camera is 4 years old now. That's practically vintage in today's world! So there may be a new camera on the horizon for me (it's either that or bother Husband every time I paint my nails ... and I'm sure I know which he'd prefer!).