China Glaze Treasure Chest

1 coat, natural light

2 coats, natural light

Tresure Chest is a clear base filled with hexagonal-shaped gold glitter chunks. It’s clearly not meant to be used on its own, so I tried to layer it over other polishes.

Okay, so I tried it over (from thumb to pinkie): red, black, vampy red, green and yellow. It’s so garish over red, but I guess it would be very appropriate during Chinese New Year (red and gold being auspicious colours). I think it looks the best over yellow, which is China Glaze Lemon Fizz, and green, OPI Jade Is The New Black.

Amanda’s nails, OPI Passion, China Glaze Treasure Chest

Treasure Chest is also excellent for French tips as it’s quite dense. And the great thing about glitter is that you don’t need to be super neat with the lines. Amanda thinks that OPI Passion makes her nails look like they have undergone a gel manicure.

China Glaze Branding Iron

Cynthia’s nails: two coats, sunlight

Branding Iron is a brown red with glowy red shimmer from the China Glaze Fall 2008 Rodeo Diva collection. This was really easy to apply, like most shimmers. Not a personal favourite because of the shimmer (I think I’m beginning to realise I’m more a glitter person), but I can appreciate how well made this colour is. There is a very lit-from-within quality about Branding Iron.

Rosiva’s nails: two coats, indoor flash

Photographing it under flash really brings out the glowiness. On a side note, Rosiva wore this colour to attend her friend’s wedding.

OPI Jade Is The New Black

Barbara’s nails – two coats of Jade Is The New Black

Amanda’s nails – also two coats

Source: http://www.buddhistmala.com

Jade Is The New Black is another winner from OPI Spring 2010 Hong Kong collection. It is a dusty creme green that really looks like the colour of jade. And between the different shades of jade (white, light green, purple, brown etc), dark green has always been my favourite because it just oozes sophistication and seems more modern.

Please excuse the slight tipwear on their nails because it was a couple of days from painting to photography.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Lemon Fizz is one of the many colours I bought from China Glaze’s Up and Away collection that features pastels. This is a pale buttery banana colour that looks surprisingly pretty on my nails (despite it being yellow!). However, flouroscent lights bring out a touch of neon in Lemon Fizz, which I dislike. This was two coats. I think I finally figured out the trick to all these difficult pastels. First, apply a thin streaky first coat. It doesn’t matter how ugly. A thicker second coat will fix the flaws.

Paired with MAC Originality to mix things up a little.

Weifen’s nails, 2 coats, indoor light

The colour looks somewhat more flourescent under artifical light.

With Orly Green Apple, indoor light

I love this combination! Just a note that the yellow is not so bright; it’s the artificial light that is making it seem so.

Singapore National Day nail art

The US has the 4th of July Independence Day. Singapore has its 9th August National Day. In view of the nationalistic fevour (cough, cough) that will soon sweep the nation, here is Alicia’s National Day-inspired nail art.

Two coats of OPI Comet Loves Cupid, some white nail art pen and her own jewels, taken with flash in artificial light

The Singapore flag is red and white with a cresent and white stars. There are a gazillion rules regarding its usage. According to Wikipedia,  “no person may treat the national flag with disrespect,such as allowing the flag to touch the ground. The flag must not be displayed below any other flag, emblem or object;dipped in salute to any person or thing; or displayed or carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.”

And also, “the Government may ask for the flag to be lowered to half-mast in the event of the death of an important person or for national mourning.No person is permitted to use the flag at any private funeral ceremony.However, the national flag can be draped on a coffin during a military or state funeral.No person may display any flag that is damaged or dirty.Any worn out or damaged flag should be packed into a sealed black trash bag before being disposed and not left visible in dustbins.”

Here is the link to the nail art we did for National Day 2011.

China Glaze Dorothy Who

China Glaze Dorothy Who is from the re-released Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection in 2009. The first picture shows the accurate colour, while the second picture was taken in direct sunlight, so the colour is a bit washed out. The polish is packed with silver and blue glitter in a semi-sheer blue jelly base. I used two coats on some nails and three on others, so you can vaguely see my nail line in several nails.

I’m in two minds about this colour. While I like this shade of blue, the silver glitter makes it look rather… cheap? I would prefer if it were a blue Ruby Pumps, ie a blue base with blue glitter. I kept staring at my nails the whole day because they were so flashy and I love the way the light bounced off the glitter… gah… but the silver…!

Better on my toes, I think!

Orly Pixie Dust

Liwen’s nails (two coats, sunlight)

Lydia’s nails (two coats, with flash)

Pixie Dust is a pale blue-grey with silver pieces of glitter. It dries kind of matte and even a top coat doesn’t make it glossy at all. This received good reviews too. Liwen mentioned that she liked the colour the more she looked at it. It was unique without being too loud.

Pixie Dust is from Orly’s Once Upon A Time Collection for Fall 2009. Pixie dust shouldn’t be grey, don’t you think? This is like dust from an evil fairy. It’s also the first time my cousin Lydia is modelling for me, so that’s awesome. Unfortunately, her polish chipped within a day because she was very careless.

Pop Beauty O Boy + Pop Beauty Grass

Melissa’s nails, 2 coats, sunlight

Pop Beauty is a UK-based brand that can be found in Sephora. They have quite a large range of nail polish and the colours tend toward neon and bright. Surprisingly though, their nude nail polish called O Boy was what stood out for me. It is a beige-pink colour with micro silver shimmer. You definitely don’t see the shimmer unless you’re standing under the bright sun. You can see faint silver speckles on Melissa’s second finger. This is also the only nude I own. I think that you only need one nude lacquer because well… how much can they vary, right? This is my perfect nude; just enough pink and beige to achieve that classy look. This was two coats.

Serena’s nails, artificial light

Sorry for the poor quality photograph. This was taken with my iPhone camera. Here’s some nail art with O Boy as the base, followed by China Glaze Lemon Fizz and China Glaze Peachykeen. And a pink-coloured gem right in the middle for good measure.

Felicia’s nails, Essie Hi Maintenance, Pop Beauty O Boy, artificial light

Here O Boy is layered over Essie Hi Maintenance, a sheer pink colour. The white polka dots are dotted on with one of those metal tools. As with all young girls who fidget, Felicia destroyed several of her nails within 10 minutes.

Grass is the second one I own from this brand. My picture makes it look blue, but in reality, there isn’t any. It’s a medium grass green shade that applied smoothly but was not opaque enough for my liking. This was three coats.

A comparison with OPI Jade is the New Black (two coats) on my second and third fingers. What can I say? JITNB is love.

China Glaze Wagon Trail

Wagon Trail, from China Glaze Fall 2008 Rodeo Diva collection, is a glossy brown-black base with olive and gold shimmer. Under certain lighting, there is even multi-coloured micro glitter. It was one of the polishes I was most excited to have after seeing swatches online; a glowing blackened olive sounded perfect and EVERYONE seemed to be raving about it. But I don’t like it on me because there is just too much black and too little olive. Sure, the olive glows from certain angles, but 80% of the time, my nails just look dull. Look! Even the bottle shows more green than my nails.

Application, however, is perfect. I am not thrilled about the colour, but the smooth, buttery application dries to a very glossy, polished car finish.

Let’s try it on Amanda’s toes. Nope, still way more black than green. But you can see how glossy it is here, even without topcoat.

Maybe some gold glitter a la China Glaze Treasure Chest will help to bring out the olive tones? Nope, still as black as ever.

But thanks be to the wonderful world of Makeupalley, I found a new home for this polish and will be receiving China Glaze Flying Dragon (purple with glitter) in return. Cross my fingers for that!

China Glaze For Audrey

For Audrey is another one of China Glaze’s famous polishes because the colour is supposed to a Tiffany blue. It is not exact; adding a smidgen of green would make the colour more accurate. Nonetheless, it is a very lovely teal creme that is slightly easier to apply than the pastel lacquers of the Up and Away collection. I really like the third photograph. Amanda shows us her nails against an overcast sky.

Cheryl has on For Audrey as well. This gradient effect can be achieved by layering China Glaze Dorothy Who (a blue jelly with silver glitter) and Zoya Charla with a makeup sponge. There are water droplets on her nails because it started drizzling as Alicia was painting. This is so awesome if you love watery mermaid looks.

Weifen’s nails, 2 coats, indoor light

Sherinz’s nails, 2 coats, indoor lighting, iPhone picture

Cammy’s nails, with Orly Pointe Blanche

White polka dots make Cammy’s nails look like a blue dalmation.