The Nail it Good

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I almost refuse to say Happy Birthday Singapore because of reasons, so therefore I wish you a Happy National Day! I'm really only mildly patriotic; I love my country but I'm not one to go all out. Although, I'm in the bus to work right now wearing red and white (it's the work attire today, alright?!).

Since I'm on an iPhone 5 right now, I thought I'd check to see how good the pictures look on my blog. Since this manicure is a real simple one, I wanted to put up just a few pictures.

I think it's the first time that all my nails have mismatched designs... It's also the first time I've used nail polish for my entire design in a long time (I usually use poster colour for the design part). The white is OPI's Alpine Snow, the international standard for white that's actually white. The red was a gift from my colleague who bought one of those huge Ciaté sets from Sephora after Christmas, and it made me fall in love with Ciaté all over again.

Don't think I've mentioned this before, but Ciaté has a tendency to create semi-transparent jelly colours. Just like how Essie is synonymous with pastel shades, Ciaté does the jelly polish really well. To get the true colour of a jelly polish, most will run a white base colour under it. My shade of red is Boudoir, and even with 2 coats, you can see the white of the tips of my nails on my ring finger. Also, their brush is to die for. I didn't need cuticle cleanup on my ring and pinky finger.

I have to admit, you'll only see pictures of my right hand because my left isn't painted yet (I didn't have enough time to do them both...hehe..?)

I've wanted to try drawing those peppermint swirl candy patterns on my nails since 2 Christmases ago, and I think I did a good job with my thumb. Then my middle finger screwed up... It's off centre, but I figured I'd leave it there. Somehow I like the way it turned out.

Like I said, I really am wearing red and white today. I've also been on the lookout for new brushes to use for cleanup. I am currently using a concealer brush from Sasa, and it's bristles are getting a little too soft to clean the excess polish around my cuticles. Been hearing good things about Elf's counterpart, so I'll prolly get one of those and tell you guys what I think. It's bristles are slightly stiffer so it makes for a more accurate clean up.

And that's it for now! I've got 2 exams next week, so I don't even know if I'll finish painting my other hand properly or leave it bare. The week after that is the semester break, so I'll have more time to talk polish. Till then!

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Mind Your Mittens

6:24 AM

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Back for a little while

9:58 AM

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Assortedness

3:11 AM

I couldn't find my camera for the past 3 days, and I was getting ready for the worst when I realized my sis is on a project which requires her to take pictures - so the camera was with her this whole time. Silly me. I thought I'd lost it in the mountain of mess that is my work table. Seriously, it's embarrassing how messy it is.

If you saw my instagram, you would've seen my picture of the NCLA wraps that I got (Reflect Yourself). Here's a shot of how they look on me:

Bear in mind that I've had these on for a week now, and I am EXTREMELY IMPRESSED. I mean, I work 5 days a week at Lush, which includes numerous product demos, washing of hands, handling of the cashier, and look at the state of the nail wraps. And did I meantion, I'm not even wearing any top coat on them? The only tears are really small ones at the tip of my nails, and a slight fade as well.. But I'm really impressed.

To me, NCLA beats Nail Rock, Sally Hansen, and Loreal's nail wraps by a league. Nail Rock and Sally Hansen only lasted a week on my nails -- although Sally Hansen's wraps are the easiest to apply because they're the thinnest (you don't even need to file off the excess sticker, just a tug and it tears off). I really, really didn't like Loreal's. They were crazy thick, and I couldn't file them off at all. They're also extremely sticky, so readjusting them was near impossible. Just a huge no no for me. But NCLA, well done man.

My only issue with NCLA was that the patterns on the wraps aren't that sharp. It just irked me that it looks low-rez from up close -- however, it's something only the wearer will notice, most of my friends tell me they look really good, which they do. Other than that, I'm definitely making a second purchase. Maybe I'll put on the Madeline Poole selection next. I adore her. When I grow up, I want to be Madeline Poole. Yes.

And I owe you guys pictures of the manicures I did in the week before CNY! This isn't everyone though.. I missed out Felicia and Rayna's nails. Forgot to take pictures of them )':

The first set is Janice's -- you may remember her as the lady behind these nails (the lace ones, not the egg ones). We went mismatch this time, there's literally no one look we went for. She showed me a few pictures for inspiration, we picked the colours, and off we went. Truly unique.

Mel wanted pineapples on her nails, and I thought that'd be the cutest thing ever. Simple white base with cute little pineapples - reminded me of a pineapple skirt she got from H&M. I'm want them on my nails now.

Yes, we literally stood against a wall to take these pictures hahaha. These are Cheryl's nails, and she wanted the same design as the one I had previously with the stripes and roses. Super elegant, and I was pretty surprised to find that I did them in about an hour - quicker than when I did them on my own nails.

Both Felicia and Yi Jun wanted the daisy manicure, and these are Yi Jun's hands. Seriously they never go wrong no matter how short you keep your nails.

These are Astrid's adorbz manicure. I completely forgot what the characters stand for, but they go along the lines of 'Whatever it is in your heart, may it come true' -- correct me if I'm wrong, sorry if I messed it up! I thought it was the loveliest phrase and tried my best to not screw up the characters, and I think they turned out pretty neatly. We added cherry blossoms, gold coins, oranges, and even a horse to the mix (it's on her thumb).

And these were for my good friend Jeremy's sister, Valerie. She wanted something that wasn't too eyecathing as she works in the healthcare sector, so they were florals on a nude base. For some reason my camera made the white look beige and I have no idea how to edit it so it looks like it does in real life. Noob me.

And that's all the pictures I have for now! I bought a new Essie colour lately, and I'll prolly do my nails with them tonight.. But for now I'm going to get off my com because Wrath of the Titans is on TV.

Ttyl <3