Katy Perry Nails - the Pinks

Got myself a mini set of OPI's Katy Perry polishes... these are the pink.. and I just did them today. Frankly, I'm sooooooo not a pink nail person. And am already tempted to slap some other crackle color over to hid the pinkness... arrrgghhhh....

well, without further ado...

in the sunshine... 

in the shade

index finger - the one that got away (2 coats) topped with teenage dream (1 coat)
middle and little fingers - the one that got away (2 coats)
ring finger - teenage dream (2 coats)
* no top coat used

My current nail lurve....

Let me just say this first... last year, my heart was given to glitters. OPI's Mad as a Hatter made me smile every time I saw it on my nails. Sad to say, I can't find it anymore... and just can't find a reasonable dupe of it... *cries*

This year, I've found myself drawn increasingly to duochromes... multichromes. A friend just asked me exactly what a duochrome is... so I did some looking around... you know what? there isn't a definition found the dictionary. So here's my definition after some thinking. You know how when you look at an oil spill in sunlight, it shimmers with all sorts of colors depending on the angle you're looking at? that's a quality of duochromes. Every angle you look at them, you see different colors. Some have only two or three shades. For example, blue and greens and teals... or magenta, purples and pinks... while others have so many colors that they are like opening a jewel case never knowing what gemstone you'd get.

I haunt a few nail polish blogs and when I saw this particular shade... well, I fell in love with it. What first really sold me on this color was AllLacqueredUp's blog post... it looked like something from outer space literally. Mysterious and other worldly.

Then I headed to google images (one of my favourite places to find swatches) to see what other pics there were... here's just a snapshot of what I found.

I used this shade this year for Chinese New Year and I think it just added a little bit of fun to my otherwise "sane" outfits.

These pictures were posted before but here they are again... ORLY's SPACE CADET...

I wonder what my next nail polish love will be... it sure isn't crackle nail polishes... although they're lots of fun! *grin*

Crackle polishes... love them or hate them?

the newest "IN" in the nail polish arena is crackle polish. I remember when I was a little girl, there was a nail polish that was launched I think by covergirl. It stuck in my mind cos one of my teachers used it on her nails and I thought it was so cool.

fast forward to today... OPI released a black crackle called Shatter in their Katy Perry collection late last 2010 and China Glaze is releasing a collection of 6 crackle colors too. Needless to say, both of those two companies sell polishes that are big 3 free...

and everyone in the nail polish world seems to be jumping happily onto the crackle train... dang.. that sounds like a crack train or something huh?

there's this store that I've been looking at at Toa Payoh central for ages now. They have crackle polish they say is from USA. They had them even before OPI even had Shatter out. Prices are SGD12 per bottle or SGD20 for two.

CRACKLE COLORS ~ TOP ROW ONLY

~ their color wheel with swatches ~

I spent some time there... finally... Wan Ting was a sweetheart. She answered all my questions and let me try the colors out. My nails were bare when I went and she cheerfully painted base color coats and crackle coats. Here's the result.

yellow crackle on top of light blue

dark purple (blue toned), medium purple (red toned), bright pink and peach

white crackle on the index finger,
the other two nails... experimenting with dotting pens and dotting tools

Note the names of the crackle polishes are my own *grin*

I've done some online research and found that the brand X&D isn't from USA but from China... and so probably not Big 3 free... ah well...

I bought the two purples... hardly surprising right? here's what I came up with...

medium purple... kinda like this look

dark purple

Looks really similar now that I'm looking at them again. Am wondering if I made a mistake buying such similar colors. If you look at the earlier swatches, the dark purple was a lot darker. Turned out rather differently at home. Sigh. Crackle polish dries matte... its the top coat that makes it shiny.

I bought a couple of other polishes while I was there... and qualified for their VIP card. That gives a 10%  discount on regular prices. I'll post pics as and when I use them.

If you're wondering where to find these polishes, the stall I went to is at Toa Payoh HDB Hub, just outside Lee Hwa Jewellery. This is a permanent stall. They have pushcarts at Northpoint (Yishun) and Jurong Point (Boon Lay).

One last thing...  I have 10 different looks on my nails now and I don't have time to take them off. My church friends are either gonna think I'm nuts or I'm super groovy tonight. What do you think?

NOTD... or maybe not...

well its not really a NOTD cos I'll probably have this til next week... but whatever...

spent some girly time with my daughter yesterday. She wanted... count them... four colors on her toes. We can only do toes now cos she's in primary school already. She has made me promise that I'd do her fingers next Saturday and then take the polish off on Sunday. Poor darling.

so here's hers...



and a closer look



indoors with daylight electric lights


near the window

Colors used were:

China Glaze Grape Juice - purple
Elianto blue

Revlon Blackberry
Unknown brand sparkly pink

and now to my choices...


near the window

indoors with daylight electric lights

Orly's Space Cadet

When I first saw pictures of this polish... I just *had* to have it. Its a multichrome (I think that's the term) that flashes green, purple, pink, gold and maroon depending on the angle. Pictures really don't do enough to show you how lovely this color is. One of my favourites!



Revlon Blackberry

Now I've used this shade before a long long time ago... and I remember it being distinctly darker... cos I just don't go for such red shades... kinda vampy don't you think? Still it does help to get me into the Chinese New Year (CNY) mood...

headed out tonite to try get something to wear for CNY. I've got a new blouse and a new pair of pants but neither match each other!! *bang head* wish me luck?

An old familar favourite…

Thought I’d just post up a quick NOTD… this was an old favourite shade from Revlon. I remember sitting in the back of the class and painting my nails this color. :D yeah, I wasn’t the best student in the world. The amazing thing is that my lecturers didn’t seem to mind the nail salon that regularly appeared at the back of tutorial rooms.   

This is Revlon’s Copper Glaze Platinium. From what I’ve read, it debuted in 1976. Now that’s a long time for a nail color to be around.

I’d call it a champagne colored nude. Very suitable for offices and work. All I know is that this color is one of my all time favourites and I was glad to see it on sale in ParksonGrand (JB) last December.

Here’s another look found on flickr…

What are some of your favourite nail colors?

TheFaceShop nail polish in PP408

I’ve been on a little nail spree lately… bought three new colors from TheFaceShop at sgd2.90 each. Much as I like OPI colors… this is soooo much more affordable, don’t you think?

Anyways, to get things started, here’s a color that I’ve been wanting to get for the longest time… a light cream lilac shade. Gorgeousness… just looking at my fingers makes me happy :D

My camera just doesn’t catch the color correctly… :( so I’ve ‘borrowed a pic from mymakeupmania… it shows the color tonnes more accurately! Its just the bottle that’s different.

 

Tried taking the picture again under different lighting… along with a drink that has been a favourite since childhood… F&N Groovy Grape.

There’s a story behind this drink…

 

when I was 4, I was a really vain little girl. I wanted pierced ears. I begged and I begged and I begged and finally my mom brought me to an old chinese goldsmith shop. Now, in those days, they didn’t have the nifty ear gun that they do now. It was a sterilised needle, a piece of ginger and sheer man power! Honestly, I shudder just thinking of it now. But beauty comes with a price right?

So the needle went in and I yelled… hardly surprising huh? the answer was a nice bottle of F&N Grape (it wasn’t groovy then *giggle*). I drank it all down and was ready for the next ear.

2 ears pieced + two bottles of F&N Grape drunk = a very happy little 4 year old girl

my kids drink this now while I’m finding it too sweet… for the pic above I ‘borrowed’ my little girl’s can.

Til the next post… stay groovy!