Thursday 27 December 2012

Cult Nails Afterglow Swatch

I'm back after 2 weeks of being offline for my Christmas vacation. I wish it was more because for some reason, I am not feeling well-rested at all. Damn! Anyway, at least I got to do my nails a few times so I'm playing catch up now.

Here's Afterglow from Cult Nails. I thought it was going to be plain but it has a life of its own with the pink shimmer. It's a copper, or bronze tone and it seemed to go with anything. Most of the Behind Closed Doors collection goes well with anything. All-season, if you will. :)

Cult Nails Afterglow Swatch

Friday 14 December 2012

Cult Nails Bitten Swatch

Growing out my nails is always frustrating. I am finding this year has been really bad with breakage. I need to be more careful. Anyway, I was done with Disiplined and itching to get back into my vampy colours. Also, I figured this would be a nice send off into vacation! I am off for a whole week and a bit! I hope to be sleeping in, painting, wrapping gifts, doing my nails of course... I'm looking forward to just relaxing. I need it!

Here's three coats of Bitten. The formula was good - it's always good with Cult Nails. You can usually get away with 2 coats with most Cult Nails polish, but I like full coverage and 3 generally ensures that.

Cult Nails Bitten Swatch

It's a fairly nice raspberry colour with Cult Nails' signature shimmer. It's pretty, I dig it. I believe as of today, it's still available on Cult Nails Shop.

Monday 10 December 2012

Cult Nails Disciplined Swatch

Continuing to grow out my nails again. Skyfall lasted so long on my nails, I hardly had any tip wear. I wanted to try something new as my collection of untrieds just keeps growing and it's shameful. I picked up Cult Nails' Behind Closed Doors collection during the pre-sale - which I mostly got for Coveted. I tried it for a bit but unfortunately my nails are so short, I found the flakies getting caught at the edge.

I went with Disciplined as I wear a ton of dark colours. Dark nail polish is my jam. I thought I'd try something new.

As with any Cult Nails' formula, it was slick. I find that it's better if you work quickly, rather than getting meticulous about your strokes and going over multiple times. I used 3 coats as my first coat was rather thin. Seche Vite was used for top coat.

Cult Nails Disciplined Swatch

Now, I'm still figuring out how to capture all the shimmer in my swatches but I have an underexposed photo that brings out all the colours that come out when the light hits it right:

Cult Nails Disciplined Swatch

I like how playful the shimmer is, and how neutral this polish is otherwise.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

OPI Skyfall Swatch

I think I've managed to get a lighting set up that I like for now so onwards!.... Unfortunately I had my nail break so I am starting all over from the shortest point of my nails, which sucks. I saw the latest James Bond flick over the weekend, Skyfall, and I was blown away! It was so good! My tattoo artist told me that it's Daniel Craig's last but the Interwebs says otherwise.

In either case, I haven't been able to get the movie out of my head, and did a little retail therapy after that rough nail breakage... I picked up OPI's Skyfall. I initially skipped out on Skyfall when I first browsed the James Bond collection (I only picked up Goldeneye, The Living Daylights, Casino Royale, Tomorrow Never Dies and Moonraker) but it really stuck with me and I am glad I picked it up.

So here is OPI's Skyfall in two coats and topped with Seche Vite.

OPI Skyfall Swatch

Asides from the horrible short nails I'm sporting, I really love it. It's perfect for the fall and winter season, but a great option when you're feeling a little vampy. (Like me, since I have been crushing on Zachary Quinto in American Horror Story.)

Monday 3 December 2012

Blood Spatter Nail Art

I'm still toying around with how to photograph my nails better (albeit the better I get, the more flaws you see, eek!) but here's my blood spatter (proper name, not blood "splatter", hehe) nail art.

It was a lot of fun to do, even though the whole thing took almost 2 days to do. I used this tutorial from Specktor's Nails. I was really impressed at how long it lasted on my nails: a full week! This includes all the head scratching I seem to do at work when I'm stressed out. All I did was follow that tutorial and used Seche Vite as a top coat.

Blood Spatter Nail Art Done By DIY Decals

Blood Spatter Nail Art Done By DIY Decals

One thing I learned is the base coat doesn't need to be wet to apply the decal! It just has to be tacky enough to stick. I suppose that's why you can see there are some spots that look pressed in too much. Next time!

Friday 30 November 2012

Color Club Port-Folio Swatch

First post. I figured that first posts are supposed to be somewhat special but I've been dabbling back and forth with nail photos from my main blog that I should really just hop right to it!

I just ended up with Color Club's Winter Affair in my hands this week (found it for a great deal at Winners for $14.99) so before everything turns red and green for the holidays, I'll end November with an older polish from Color Club called "Port-Folio" from the In True Fashion collection earlier this Fall.

I've got a massive stash of 'untrieds' so I should try and alleviate that here!

Port-Folio is a purple/green duochrome that has a very strong shift and distinction between both purple and green. Formula was generous and I only needed to use 2 coats for the photos below:

Color Club Port-Folio Swatch

Color Club Port-Folio Swatch

I couldn't resist trying out Color Club's "Snow-Flakes", which is following the popular flakie trend this year. Very close to Essie's "Shine of the Times", which appears to have discontinued! Snow-Flakes isn't as densely packed as Shine of the Times, which I think is a good thing:

Color Club Port-Folio and Snow-Flakes Swatch

Color Club Port-Folio and Snow-Flakes Swatch

And just for funsies, here's the duochrome and flakie combination matte-ified with Gosh's "Matt Effect Top Coat" (their typo, not mine!). I love the look of this, particularly because of the flakies, but unfortunately I don't think this matte top coat is as effective as a matte nail polish would be, such as Knock Out's Flatte Black.

Color Club Port-Folio with Snow-Flakes with Gosh Matte Top Coat Swatch

Alright, so I guess that's it for the "first post". I'm going to have to work on improving the photos and lighting but hopefully with practise and tweaks, I'll get there.