Halloween skittles manicure
This week at work has been one of the worst I've ever had. Constant fights, tantrums, a lack of doctors, crazy workload.. It's full moon so everyone is going bat crazy! I needed to relax so I decided to take some time out and do a Halloween skittles mani. I'm loving doing different designs on each nail, it's a lot of fun plus I get to try some of my many untrieds!
My WAH nail pic =p
I wish I could spare more time so I could do more full manicures with the designs. I got inspiration for these designs from some of the great blogs I follow! I think my left hand turned out really well but my right hand was pretty much a fail because nothing I wanted actually turned out properly. My middle finger was supposed to be candy corn but my polishes would not cooperate! So I gave up and just used trusty Grape Pop and flakies instead.
Left hand:
Thumb: 2 coats of Color Club Wild at Heart with freehanded spider web using Kiss nail art striper in white.
Index: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Mint Apple as base, BYS Black Satin for the hair, CM nail art pen and striper in white and black for eyes and Kiss nail art striper in black for the mouth.
Middle finger: 2 coats of Essence Undead with Pa witch nail sticker.
Ring finger: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Cloud 9 with pumpkin design from Konad plate m13 using Konad special polish in black.
Pinky: Rimmel I love lasting finish in Double Decker Red with spider design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using Konad Princess polish in Black pearl.
Right hand:
Pinky: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Big Daddy and 1 coat of BYS Cracked polish in black.
Ring finger: 2 coats of of The Face Shop OR202 with bat design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using Konad Special polish in black.
Middle finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Grape Pop and 2 coats of Nubar 2010.
Index finger: 1 coat of BYS Black Satin with skull design from Konad plate m13 using China Glaze Devotion.
Thumb: 2 coats of Essence Undead, Kiss nail art striper in black for vertical stripes and spider design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using China Glaze Devotion.
WHEW! I'm knackered now. Which design do you like the best? I'll be MIA for the next few days as my exam for my final subject is being released tomorrow so I'll be attempting to steer clear of browsing blogs and the net until it's due on Wednesday. Here's hoping x) Thanks for looking!
My Polished Pink for October giveaway ends in 2 days so don't forget to enter here!
I wish I could spare more time so I could do more full manicures with the designs. I got inspiration for these designs from some of the great blogs I follow! I think my left hand turned out really well but my right hand was pretty much a fail because nothing I wanted actually turned out properly. My middle finger was supposed to be candy corn but my polishes would not cooperate! So I gave up and just used trusty Grape Pop and flakies instead.
Left hand:
Thumb: 2 coats of Color Club Wild at Heart with freehanded spider web using Kiss nail art striper in white.
Index: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Mint Apple as base, BYS Black Satin for the hair, CM nail art pen and striper in white and black for eyes and Kiss nail art striper in black for the mouth.
Middle finger: 2 coats of Essence Undead with Pa witch nail sticker.
Ring finger: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Cloud 9 with pumpkin design from Konad plate m13 using Konad special polish in black.
Pinky: Rimmel I love lasting finish in Double Decker Red with spider design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using Konad Princess polish in Black pearl.
Right hand:
Pinky: 2 coats of Sinful Colors Big Daddy and 1 coat of BYS Cracked polish in black.
Ring finger: 2 coats of of The Face Shop OR202 with bat design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using Konad Special polish in black.
Middle finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Grape Pop and 2 coats of Nubar 2010.
Index finger: 1 coat of BYS Black Satin with skull design from Konad plate m13 using China Glaze Devotion.
Thumb: 2 coats of Essence Undead, Kiss nail art striper in black for vertical stripes and spider design from Bundle Monster plate BM13 using China Glaze Devotion.
WHEW! I'm knackered now. Which design do you like the best? I'll be MIA for the next few days as my exam for my final subject is being released tomorrow so I'll be attempting to steer clear of browsing blogs and the net until it's due on Wednesday. Here's hoping x) Thanks for looking!
My Polished Pink for October giveaway ends in 2 days so don't forget to enter here!
Swap with Jess from polish insomniac
I completed another awesome swap this week! Swapping is so much fun – I love meeting fellow polish lovers and the process of shopping and choosing polishes is very enjoyable =) This time I swapped with the lovely Jess from polish insomniac. She answered my call for swap buddies a few months back but I couldn’t swap til a few weeks ago. She managed to cross a few things off my wishlist which I am SO grateful for! Here are the goodies she sent my way:
The colours are just so pretty and include some brands I haven't tried before!
From L – R:
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure Hidden Treasure, Lagoon, Kook-A-Mango and Thinking of Blue. HIDDEN TREASURE!!! Need I say more? *dance* Lagoon is so so pretty, it reminds me of Gosh Ocean actually. I've very much wanted to try the Complete Manicure range however the prices down under are just ridiculous.
From L – R:
Wet n Wild Lust, Saved By The Blue and Orly Lollipop. My 1st Wet n Wild polishes and an Orly polish crossed off my wishlist - thanks Jess!
From L - R:
Jordana Mint Candy, Sinful Colors Mint Apple and China Glaze Metallic Muse. Some wonderful greens that I'm so excited to add to my collection! I've had Metallic Muse on my wishlist for aaaages now for konading so yay!
As soon as my exam is over next week I am going to have to polish my nails daily or at least 2nd daily! I have so many gorgeous polishes to try it's not funny. Thank you for these wonderful polishes Jess!
My Polished Pink for October giveaway ends in 3 days so don't forget to enter here.
The colours are just so pretty and include some brands I haven't tried before!
From L – R:
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure Hidden Treasure, Lagoon, Kook-A-Mango and Thinking of Blue. HIDDEN TREASURE!!! Need I say more? *dance* Lagoon is so so pretty, it reminds me of Gosh Ocean actually. I've very much wanted to try the Complete Manicure range however the prices down under are just ridiculous.
From L – R:
Wet n Wild Lust, Saved By The Blue and Orly Lollipop. My 1st Wet n Wild polishes and an Orly polish crossed off my wishlist - thanks Jess!
From L - R:
Jordana Mint Candy, Sinful Colors Mint Apple and China Glaze Metallic Muse. Some wonderful greens that I'm so excited to add to my collection! I've had Metallic Muse on my wishlist for aaaages now for konading so yay!
As soon as my exam is over next week I am going to have to polish my nails daily or at least 2nd daily! I have so many gorgeous polishes to try it's not funny. Thank you for these wonderful polishes Jess!
My Polished Pink for October giveaway ends in 3 days so don't forget to enter here.
Pinktacular manicure!
It is fast approaching the end of October and I came to the realisation that I still have so many pinks I want to feature for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, especially the China Glaze Fight Like a Woman polishes I hauled! I have a busy week coming up (exam time!! *cries*) so there was going to be no way I could feature all the polishes individually by Sunday. Then I saw this lovely “super pink” mani by Katrina from Katrina's blog and I just knew I had to try it. It is so pretty and kawaii! I got my 1st Nail Up! mag the other week and have been meaning to try out a look like this but never got around to it. I took some inspiration also from WAH nails as they are the experts of this style and they are just so so cool. Here’s my "pinktacular manicure"!
My attempt at a WAH nails pose! =p
It took longer than I expected because I didn’t know what I wanted to do! I should have been preparing for my exam instead but oh well =p
The main polishes I used for this mani:
From L - R:
China Glaze Endurance - a gorgeous pinky/red jelly with glass flecks through it.
China Glaze Encouragement - a baby pink with silver shimmer through it. Very subtle, classy and oh so pretty!
China Glaze Empowerment - candy pink creme which is a little streaky to apply so I’d recommend thin coats.
BYS Pink with a Punch - a super bright pink that is so pigmented that only 1 coat is needed – awesome.
Ulta 3 Party Shoes - which is a gorgeous hot pink from Ulta 3’s latest range I believe. I absolutely love pinks like this!
Visee RO 602 - a pretty red and silver glitter!
Left hand:
Thumb: 2 coats of China Glaze Endurance with silver and pink rhinestones and heart dazzlings.
Index finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Encouragement with Visee RO 602 red glitter applied on the top half of the nail. I kept stuffing this nail up and in the end I went with a lazy persons gradient haha. I’ll definitely be trying out a proper gradient mani soon! Even though this nail gave me the most trouble I ended up liking it the most.
Middle finger: 1 coat of BYS Pink with a Punch with pink rhinestones. My 1st attempt at half moons! It wasn’t actually as difficult as I thought it would be which is nice. Plus the rhinestones helped cover up the dodgy edge!
Ring finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Empowerment and Kiss nail art striper in white to apply diagonal stripes.
Pinky: Ulta 3 Party Shoes applied on the tip and Kiss nail art striper in silver glitter applied on the smile line.
Right hand:
Pinky: 2 coats of Ulta 3 Party Shoes with Kiss nail art striper in black for the vertical stripes.
Ring finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Endurance with CM Nail Art gold glitter striper applied for the (rather dodgy) half moon.
Middle finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Encouragement with a thick stripe of BYS Pink with a Punch down the middle and silver rhinestones.
Index finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Empowerment with Pink Fin floral nail sticker.
Thumb: 1 coat of BYS Pink with a Punch applied to the tip with Kiss nail art striper in white and silver glitter applied to the smile line.
Which is your favourite design? Thanks for looking! Don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here.
It took longer than I expected because I didn’t know what I wanted to do! I should have been preparing for my exam instead but oh well =p
The main polishes I used for this mani:
From L - R:
China Glaze Endurance - a gorgeous pinky/red jelly with glass flecks through it.
China Glaze Encouragement - a baby pink with silver shimmer through it. Very subtle, classy and oh so pretty!
China Glaze Empowerment - candy pink creme which is a little streaky to apply so I’d recommend thin coats.
BYS Pink with a Punch - a super bright pink that is so pigmented that only 1 coat is needed – awesome.
Ulta 3 Party Shoes - which is a gorgeous hot pink from Ulta 3’s latest range I believe. I absolutely love pinks like this!
Visee RO 602 - a pretty red and silver glitter!
Left hand:
Thumb: 2 coats of China Glaze Endurance with silver and pink rhinestones and heart dazzlings.
Index finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Encouragement with Visee RO 602 red glitter applied on the top half of the nail. I kept stuffing this nail up and in the end I went with a lazy persons gradient haha. I’ll definitely be trying out a proper gradient mani soon! Even though this nail gave me the most trouble I ended up liking it the most.
Middle finger: 1 coat of BYS Pink with a Punch with pink rhinestones. My 1st attempt at half moons! It wasn’t actually as difficult as I thought it would be which is nice. Plus the rhinestones helped cover up the dodgy edge!
Ring finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Empowerment and Kiss nail art striper in white to apply diagonal stripes.
Pinky: Ulta 3 Party Shoes applied on the tip and Kiss nail art striper in silver glitter applied on the smile line.
Right hand:
Pinky: 2 coats of Ulta 3 Party Shoes with Kiss nail art striper in black for the vertical stripes.
Ring finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Endurance with CM Nail Art gold glitter striper applied for the (rather dodgy) half moon.
Middle finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Encouragement with a thick stripe of BYS Pink with a Punch down the middle and silver rhinestones.
Index finger: 2 coats of China Glaze Empowerment with Pink Fin floral nail sticker.
Thumb: 1 coat of BYS Pink with a Punch applied to the tip with Kiss nail art striper in white and silver glitter applied to the smile line.
Which is your favourite design? Thanks for looking! Don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here.
My nail polish storage - updated
I've moved back home into my new room so I thought it called for new nail polish storage. I still absolutely love the clear storage boxes that I used (see my previous nail polish storage post) however my polish collection has expanded to the point that boxes are stored here and there in my room which was annoying the crap out of me. Like I've said, I am way OCD about organising stuff. I couldn't organise the boxes the way I wanted them so I finally caved and bought myself an Ikea Helmer!
I picked white because it matches the rest of the furniture in my room. Besides going halves with me for the Helmer (I was still ummmming and ahhhing in the store which the boy HATES so he said he'd help out just to get me out of the store I think!) the boy was also very kind and assembled it for me =D After assembling it he said that he doubted I could have assembled it myself what with the folding of metal etc.. I couldn't agree with him more after seeing the instruction booklet!
While I was at Ikea purchasing my Helmer, I picked up a roll of Rationell Variera drawer mat which you can use to line drawers for pots and pans etc. I bought it so that my polishes wouldn't slip and slide when I pull the drawers out but according to the Ikea website it's main purpose is to protect drawers against scratching and also to dampen sound.
It's clear and comes in a roll which you then cut to size yourself. I placed one of the empty drawers on top of the mat, marked the size and then cut out accordingly. The 1st piece was trial and error to get the exact size so cut out more than you need and then trim to fit is my suggestion.
I almost gave up using it. The curl is SO strong that even after 2 nights of being flattened by 4 of my 5kg nursing textbooks it was still curling up. I was ready to throw them out in frustration and for having wasted $3.99 (special price with the Ikea Family card!) but my sis suggested I Google a solution. Lucky I did! One of the tips I looked up suggested soaking cut out sheets into hot water to flatten it. I did this for about 3-5minutes per sheet which flattened them mostly. For extra measure I stuck them under my textbooks overnight again. Worked like a charm! Then I lined the bottom of each drawer with them.
I decided to organise my collection by brand, collection and where the polishes are from. I like to have polishes in their neat little families ok =p
On the top of my helmer I've got my manicure essentials box, removers, nail stamping plates and cotton pads and tips. My nail dryer isn't shown in the pic but I keep it on top as well:
1st drawer holds treatments (base and top coats, hardeners, cuticle softeners etc.), konad polishes, nail art stripers and nail wheels:
2nd drawer is China Glaze polishes:
3rd drawer is OPI, Color Club, Essie, Orly and misc. higher end polishes:
4th drawer is for my lovely European polishes - Catrice, Essence, Barry M, Hema, Art Deco, S-he etc.:
5th drawer is for my awesome American and Asian polishes - Sinful Colors, Claire's, Sally Hansen, Rimmel, Pa, Elianto etc.:
And the lucky bottom drawer is for my Aussie polishes! Ulta 3, BYS, Glitter Gal etc. I actually have about double the amount shown here but I've lent them to girls at work. It crossed my mind to ask for them back for a night just for this post but I couldn't very well do that haha =p
I am so happy I got my Helmer! It is a great solution for nail storage and it is so sleek and compact. At the rate I'm going buying nail polish I will probably need another one next year which is definitely not good! o_O
I want to mention that I've updated my blog with some pages at the top including a "where to buy" guide on my best kept places to buy nail polish - both international and local brands. The guide is mainly geared towards Sydney ladies but includes my favourite online sellers too.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here!
I picked white because it matches the rest of the furniture in my room. Besides going halves with me for the Helmer (I was still ummmming and ahhhing in the store which the boy HATES so he said he'd help out just to get me out of the store I think!) the boy was also very kind and assembled it for me =D After assembling it he said that he doubted I could have assembled it myself what with the folding of metal etc.. I couldn't agree with him more after seeing the instruction booklet!
While I was at Ikea purchasing my Helmer, I picked up a roll of Rationell Variera drawer mat which you can use to line drawers for pots and pans etc. I bought it so that my polishes wouldn't slip and slide when I pull the drawers out but according to the Ikea website it's main purpose is to protect drawers against scratching and also to dampen sound.
It's clear and comes in a roll which you then cut to size yourself. I placed one of the empty drawers on top of the mat, marked the size and then cut out accordingly. The 1st piece was trial and error to get the exact size so cut out more than you need and then trim to fit is my suggestion.
I almost gave up using it. The curl is SO strong that even after 2 nights of being flattened by 4 of my 5kg nursing textbooks it was still curling up. I was ready to throw them out in frustration and for having wasted $3.99 (special price with the Ikea Family card!) but my sis suggested I Google a solution. Lucky I did! One of the tips I looked up suggested soaking cut out sheets into hot water to flatten it. I did this for about 3-5minutes per sheet which flattened them mostly. For extra measure I stuck them under my textbooks overnight again. Worked like a charm! Then I lined the bottom of each drawer with them.
I decided to organise my collection by brand, collection and where the polishes are from. I like to have polishes in their neat little families ok =p
On the top of my helmer I've got my manicure essentials box, removers, nail stamping plates and cotton pads and tips. My nail dryer isn't shown in the pic but I keep it on top as well:
1st drawer holds treatments (base and top coats, hardeners, cuticle softeners etc.), konad polishes, nail art stripers and nail wheels:
2nd drawer is China Glaze polishes:
3rd drawer is OPI, Color Club, Essie, Orly and misc. higher end polishes:
4th drawer is for my lovely European polishes - Catrice, Essence, Barry M, Hema, Art Deco, S-he etc.:
5th drawer is for my awesome American and Asian polishes - Sinful Colors, Claire's, Sally Hansen, Rimmel, Pa, Elianto etc.:
And the lucky bottom drawer is for my Aussie polishes! Ulta 3, BYS, Glitter Gal etc. I actually have about double the amount shown here but I've lent them to girls at work. It crossed my mind to ask for them back for a night just for this post but I couldn't very well do that haha =p
I am so happy I got my Helmer! It is a great solution for nail storage and it is so sleek and compact. At the rate I'm going buying nail polish I will probably need another one next year which is definitely not good! o_O
I want to mention that I've updated my blog with some pages at the top including a "where to buy" guide on my best kept places to buy nail polish - both international and local brands. The guide is mainly geared towards Sydney ladies but includes my favourite online sellers too.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here!
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