Choi's nails

It's a little late but hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and a very happy new year.

I fell into the lazy trap for a month or so that's why I haven't been keeping up with my blog posts, that doesn't mean I've slacked on the photography part though. I've managed to capture most of the manicures I've done, just the post writing part puts me into a deep sleep. I'll try and include a brief description of what I can remember from each.

I  kind of hate to bring my old manicures into the new year but since I never managed to post them when I was supposed to I decided on a nail spam post. It feels incomplete to not show these anywhere. If you haven't realised from my posts, I like to upload quite a few shots of the same manicure with little difference between some or all of them so don't be surprised to see the same thing happening here.

Most of these are mainly fall polishes, I didn't get a chance to purchase any winter ones. This is by far the longest polish no buy I've been on. It's been months already which makes me think I'm doing quite well. 

China Glaze's Exotic encounter Taken in indoors, natural light with a bit of sun :)

Exotic encounters is from China Glaze’s On safari collection, it looks like a teal crème that leans more green but I eventually ended up calling it green. The consistency of this one is a little thick but you could still work with it. If I remembered right I think I used two coats with this one, it couldn’t pass off as a one coater in my opinion.

I received a compliment at work; it didn’t convince me to keep it on for much longer though.  My feelings towards exotic encounters didn’t beat the excitement I had for doing another water marble design so I ended up removing it after two days.

Water marble with China Glaze's First mate, Stella and Swing baby All photos taken outdoors in natural light

This water marble didn’t come out as good as the others. I messed up on every finger even with the nail on my ring finger just that the mistakes aren't as obvious. I managed to tear away a small part of polish whilst removing the tape around my cuticles and that's not the first time I’ve done so. I didn’t cover every part of the other nails when I dipped in my finger so I double dipped my middle finger and pinkie, not a good idea.

Looking at these photos makes me slightly sad because it was the manicure I done the night before my last day at work. It's remembered as my leaving work manicure but on the brighter side it’s the first time trying an orange polish. It is quite a bright orange but it didn’t scare me off which I’m quite happy about. Now I can include more oranges on my to buy list.

China Glaze's Prey tell First two photos taken outdoors and last two taken indoors. Natural light.

Feels ever so long since I had such a dark colour on my nails and I’m quite surprised with this one in fact. Prey tell is a very deep blood red that's close to black. Application didn’t go as smooth this time though, not because of the formula but the amount of time I was working with. I hardly ever let myself polish my nails in a hurry but I felt it was impossible to attend the social gathering I had with bare nails. I happened to smudge the same finger 3 times and it had to be that middle finger. It only needs two coats though. One if you're willing to apply it a little thick and evenly.

China Glaze's Man hunt All photos taken outdoors in natural light. Man hunt looking more colour accurate in the last two

Here's China Glaze's Man hunt, a slightly dark, rich blue with a sort of thick formula but you could still paint two coats with little problem. This shade was nothing too special for me so I pulled out my stamps and plates on it. Using Essie's Blanc I stamped a design on the Bundle monster plate BM10 on my index, middle and pinkie. With a flower design from the same plate I decorated my accent nail and finished off with some dots using Orly's Flare.

This design reminded me a little of Christmas. Maybe because the colours brought my memories back to Primary school days where we used to participate in the Christmas plays. The words Frankincense and Myrrh comes to mind with this manicure though I Googled some images and they don't seem to relate. 

I would say the photos with the design is a little more accurate. It isn't as light as you see it in the first two.

Water marble design with Orly's Rapture and Flare All photos taken outdoors in natural light.

Another water marble design. I love them just not so great at them. I still haven't managed to solve the air bubble mystery as you can see on the nail on my ring finger. Accidentally ripped a part from my pinkie too otherwise this manicure would have been acceptable.

The dark shade is Orly's Rapture which I paired with Orly's Flare on two coats of Essie's Blanc as the base. I was aiming to do the light and dark contrast design but the outcome was a little surprising. Turned out looking more like an animal print to me.

China Glaze's Elephant walk All photos taken indoors with natural light.

This one is China Glaze's Elephant walk, a grey with small silver shimmers that I quite liked though the shimmers were pretty subtle to me. Formula is a little thicker than normal but I didn't come across any problems with it. Two coats is what I'm wearing in the photos.

China Glaze's I herd that All photos taken indoors.

Only after looking closely at these photos on a computer screen did I think 'What a bad paint job in some places' but let me introduce you to China Glaze's I herd that. It's a mixture of yellow-y gold and orange glitter in a clear base and it really isn't that orange like the last three photos. The first two I would say is a little more accurate.

The polish is pretty dense but I applied around two to three coats just so my nails were jam packed with glitter. It does dry to a matte finish though so bring out the topcoat if you prefer the glossy look.

Orly's Ignite First photo taken indoors with a bit of sun. Second and third taken outdoors, natural light.

This one I quite like and it's Orly's Ignite which is a deep red jelly. I thought it'd be some sort of blood red but it dried a little brighter than that. It's also a little sheer so if you look closely you could see some VNL and that's just with two coats. I preferred to keep it at that rather than adding to it since I'm not so bothered about the sheer look. Application was great as with the others I've tried. Really liking this brand and the fact that it provides 18ml of product I'd happily go and purchase more.

China Glaze's Kalahari kiss Photo taken indoors, natural light.

This one I don't have much to say about except I wasn't too fond of it. Didn't turn out too bad in the end because for a moment I thought it looked al right. China Glaze's Kalahari Kiss is like a rusty creamy camel yellow. It is a little thick though but yet again it does fine with just two coats. The formula does take a bit to get used to.



Here's Orly's Rapture which is a deep chocolate brown. Start flashing it under some light and you'll see the brown side of it much clearer. I went ahead with just two coats with this one and the formula was as smooth as butter. 

I decided to do some nail stamping just so they didn't look so plain. I pulled out my Bundle monster plate BM14 and used the snowflake design on every nail apart from the one on my ring finger which I layered with OPI's Divine swine. Using a dotting tool I added some glitter to the middle of each snowflake. It looked better in person in my opinion. This ended up being my only Christmas manicure I did.

Orly's Rapture with Divine Swine and design from plate BM14 All photos taken indoors apart from this one.

Left hand design :D