Choi's nails

For this manicure:

• Apply one coat of your preferred base coat (I used Essie's protein base coat.)
• Apply two coats of Nails Inc's Upper Cheyne row - a muted pink
• Drip the following polishes in water in the order you like:
  Nails Inc's Pont street mews - a cerise pink
  Nails Inc's Bruton street - a dusty pink nude
  Nails Inc's Upper cheyne row
• Wait until the polish dries on the surface on the water, carefull pick it up with tweezers and place on the middle finger nail. Using nail clippers or scissors cut off the excess. Do the same for the ring finger nail.
• Using Novello Street - a silver glitter, apply over the index and pinkie finger nail.
• Seal with a matte top coat and leave to dry. The one I used was China Glaze's matte magic.

Clearly messed up at the tips of my nails but my watermarbles are quite a hit and miss sometimes.

What other watermarble designs would you like to see?

Not a very frequent green wearer but this one is very suitable for fall. I just reread my old post to recall how I felt about this one before but this time round I was alright with it. It's more of a teal creme just that the colour came out a little different under my camera lens. 


This was supposed to be some sideways cloud mani with China Glaze's Refresh mint and Icicle but things just seemed a bit..weird? I guess it was partly because I weren't getting the bubble portions similar on each nail so I added some dots with hope that it'll prettify the whole thing up. 



Pink and turquoise is a pretty nice combination in my books so I added some pink. The corner could only fit two strokes which looked close to a heart so after brushing up on it, left it like so. The tips did feel a little thick at first though but after it dries it doesn't feel like that so much.



Even from the pictures above you can totally see that silver foil just reflecting the light back at you so I added a top coat to see if anything will change with that. Nothing much but I think this time I prefer the matte version.




So which one do you like more? The gloss? The matte?

The polish is fast drying but you may still need to patch up some parts after painting because it doesn't apply well on the sides of the nails. In the pictures are two coats of red excess with no top coat but I wish I captured my nails with at least one coat to see how it looked. I believe the glitters would have shined WAY better. It'll lose the whole textured finish but you might get to see the different shades of glitter better than when it was without. Unfortunately the manicure chipped the next day in the shower due to its matte finish and having no top coat but out of curiosity I patched things up added a layer of top coat. The shine and glitter looked amazing until the top coat slowly sank into it. Hmm, top coat eater here?

It is BM's Vanilla, a matte greyish purple which looked like it needed some colour to it. I started wondering whether stamping different colours on top of each other would work without it looking too tacky and overcrowded so using Color Club’s bright nights, an electric blue and Color Club’s In theory, a nice coral to stamp on the leave design from plate BM 208. 





I personally feel that CC’s bright nights stamped on alone looks good but then it also looks as if it’s lacking something. When both polishes are stamped over each other, it fits, but there’s also something a little odd about it. It might be the contrast between both colours with bright nights overpowering the coral which made me feel unsure at first. It grew on me eventually though.   

The whole design was left matte except the ring finger nail where I wanted to show the difference if I had decided to go all glossy. If bright nights was the only colour stamped I would’ve left it matte but for the overall design I’ll have to go with the glossy version.

Which do you prefer? The matte or glossy version? Single or double stamping?

When there's a clean matte base on your nails that calls for some nail art. I've seen some good matte glitter combinations here and there but I've not gone as far as trying it myself.

The base as I had talked about in my Barry M matte collection post is Expresso, a matte black and the red glitter is Deborah lippman's red ruby slippers (I think?!) It's the only DL polish I have but it's name is sort of a blur to me now.

For the spiky tips you'll need some sellotape or as some people call it, scotch tape and start snipping away until you're happy with the spiky edges.

It turned out a little different from what I expected. I guess if I had opted for something more shimmery I'd get that wow factor. The DL polish isn't bad but it just didn't shine well enough here.

Out of curiosity I painted over my ring finger nail with top coat for comparison purposes, it definitely made the glitter shine but it weren't as cool as the matte version for me.

Have you tried any matte polishes yet? Which ones are on your recommended list?

From L-R: Expresso, Crush. Caramel, Vanilla, Mocha

From L-R: Expresso, Crush. Caramel, Vanilla, Mocha

The first is Expresso, a matte black. The first coat was a little thin and streaky but it's good with two coats. No top coat.
Considering there was none of that fast dry top coat involved it dried quite fast, the top layer. Give it a bit more time and it'll dry fully without the dents on the pinkie nail.



Barry M's Crush, a berry wine. First coat went on thin and a little sheer; with the help of a thicker coat it became opaque on the second. Two coats here, no top coat.



Camarel, a nude beige. This one has normal consistency like the first two with the streaky first and good second coat to finish off. Unfortunately this shade was a close match to my skin tone so it just wasn't looking right.



Vanilla, greyish purple. Whether it's the formula, application or drying time it's very similar to the others and as mentioned before easily dented too.



The last is Barry M's Mocha, a brown. Mocha's first coat was close to being opaque so I'm guessing one thick coat would be good enough.

The base of this manicure is Barry M’s Crush which is a berry wine shade from their matte collection. The whole set came to my attention whilst shopping so I sweeped the 5 colours off the shelf only to realise later that a matte top coat might be better in the sense that it can transform all polishes into a matte shade.


After trying out this polish I felt the need to start experimenting. It’s what happens when you see too many girls with great matte designs that it felt like a must to do something with it. Anything. And so I finished it with crooked triangles drawn on with just a toothpick.


The pink foil shade used for the triangles is Color club’s foil me once. Had I done hearts instead of triangles it might’ve looked much better and I think I would’ve liked it more.

Eurgh. Quality just dropped a horrible amount

Barry M Majesty. Gold glitter that is about 90% opaque with the first coat and fully covered on the second. Or if preferred one thick coat could do the job but this one takes a little while to dry. Like princess it’s also a top coat eater so hide your top coats!



Barry M Duchess is full of rose pink glitters that’s formula isn’t so different from majesty. Two coats opaque. Matte finish. Top coat eater.



Barry M Lady is a white pearly shade which is sheerer and thinner than the others that were swatched. The second coat makes things better but it still doesn't stop it from showing some VNL. Even so this one still looked pretty to me. My second favourite after the next one I’ll be showing you.



Barry M Countess, glitters in a dark purple base. Two coats. Smooth application. Zooming in on the photo and I’m seeing a bit of green to it too but isn’t it gorgeous?! Looks awesome with the top coat.