Choi's nails

OPI's Russian navy

I have a quick OPI to show you today but it's nothing new. It's a beautiful shade that is definitely underused in my collection. I just never find myself reaching for it too often. It's OPI's Russian navy which is a deep navy purple with pink and blue shimmers.

OPI's RN has a lovely formula. Each layer goes on nice and thin but I'd say two coats is ideal. The first coat is almost close to opaque. Close but not quite there yet unless you do more of a thicker coat. OPI is known for their wide brushes and the brush on this one is no joke. For my average sized nails they worked alright without being too troublesome.

Other than the lightbox photo I also included one taken indoors with the sun shining on it just to bring out the sparkly side for you to see and two outdoors on the balcony. Lovely isn't it? Shame the shimmers go into hiding as soon as they're out of the light.

Even though RN is full of pink shimmers they just weren't enough for me so I added Barry M's Amethyst glitter on top which matches great against the base. I applied one coat to every nail except the one on the ring finger which has two. The next day I realised a minor chip on my index finger though, I'm guessing maybe some of the glitters I left hanging off the edge clung onto somewhere. That's okay, it just gives me an excuse to redo my nails :)

What do you think of OPI's RN? Do you prefer it with or without the Barry M glitter?

Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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Essie's bold and beautiful

Barry M

Here's another one of the oldies sitting in my stash, Essie's Bold and beautiful which is a deep blood red jelly. Back then this used to be one of those 'wow' polishes especially when I was going through the phase of really liking reds. It's not entirely unique but I still think it's a nice one to have.

This polish had a nice consistency and as expected with jellies the first coat was sheer and patchy. It looked like a raspberry red at first but adding a second coat made it look more like the blood red in the bottle so I stopped there. I'd recommend at least 2-3 coats with B&B. Even though it has normal consistency it's best to be careful with the application otherwise it'll come out more patchy than you want it to look.

It also leaves behind a bit of staining during cleanup giving your fingers that sore look but in the end it's all good. Everything dried pretty quick considering I didn't finish it off with a fast dry top coat; I had other plans with it. *Points to the photo below*

All photos brightened except the second one.

I ended up layering one coat of Barry M's Yellow topaz on top which I felt I shouldn't have right after. The red and gold reminds me of Chinese new year so I weren't really feeling this combo since it's not the right mood or the right time.

Which look do you prefer? With or without the glitter?

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Strawberry swirl water marble

China Glaze

Woo. It's time to blog about a water marble design again. This was done two months ago in April but they weren't kept on for long. It was my birthday soon after so I redid them quickly just for the day. nothing special was added to it though since I didn't have much time. In the end it was just a plain manicure and I didn't even manage to snap a photo.

For the nail shape on my index finger, my nails ALWAYS chip at the corners and this is what you're left with when you can't be bothered to file them all down to the same size and shape.

I've had this water marble design at the back of my head for quite a while now. It's easy and sort of reminds me of the strawberry Cornetto ice cream. I couldn't get the right amount of each colour on the nail because I think I added too many layers and the red took more space than the pink.

As usual the base is Essie's Blanc, the pink is China Glaze's Something sweet and the red is Misa's So HOT in sunglasses which I've used as a manicure on it's own HERE before.
Both polishes really suit the water marble method because they spread nice and fast but I kept realising something sweet having holes once it's in the water. Lucky it didn't really show up on the nails.

There's one thing that never fails to make things harder for me later and that's my laziness! I really couldn't bother to line my cuticles with sellotape so here's how my nails looked before the cleanup. It took me a good while to make things look neat after that but my fingers felt good once all the unwanted stuff was gone.

Bottle shot L-R: Something sweet, So HOT in sunglasses.

I think I want to do another water marble nail design but it's always hard trying to choose which colours I should pair with which, there's so many options in my stash! What colour combo water marble should I do next? Any suggestions?