Dior Trianon Collection for Spring 2014 - Rouge Dior in 531 Rose Crinoline and Nail Vernis in 457 Bouquet

Spring is finally here and many collections have been launched by various brands. Our pocket is definitely screaming 'HELP' here but I simply cannot resist some of the items. Today's post is to share the 2 items that I purchased from Dior Trianon Collection for Spring 2014: Rouge Dior in 531 Rose Crinoline and Nail Vernis in 457 Bouquet.

Rouge Dior in 531 Rose Crinoline was a choice, courtesy of my man. He love the light nudish coral which is really quite pretty.

Rose Crinoline is almost non-existent on my natural pigmented lips, except for the tinge of light shade. Disappointingly, the beauty on the swatch disappears when I apply it on my lips. :(

Since it looks lighter than my natural lip colour, it is important for me to exfoliate my lips before application (which I clearly did not do it from the lip swatch below). The texture is smooth and non drying but for me with dry lips, it would definitely be better to apply some lip balm before application. The lasting power of Rouge Dior is around 4 hours, after a cup of coffee and sandwich for breakfast which is quite decent.

Next up in my purchase from Dior Trianon Collection is nail vernis in 457 Bouquet. This nail vernis is actually the main item that I wanted to purchase. I simply cannot resist the pink coral shade. Love it!

As you can see below, Dior's Rouge Dior in Rose Cironline and Nail Vernis in Bouquet are also 'Eden-approved'. My princess knows her stuffs too!!

I love weekends!!!

Yet another week has come and gone again and very soon March will be over soon. Hope you guys had a good weekend because I sure enjoyed mine!

I had my first try of making baked pasta and was surprised with my own skills, lol. It tasted pretty good and doesn't take up much time. Preparation time plus cooking only took around 30 minutes.

Not sure how many of you ever since a $1000 note because I sure haven't seen one. When my mum's friend showed me, I told her to loan me for 5 seconds to take this picture. Haha.

I used to hate nail polishes with glitters because it is a pain to remove polishes with glitters. But after putting on OPI Teenage Dream for the first time, I really like how it looks!

And how can I not feature my furbabies in this posting??? Check out the bed hoarders (Astro on the left and Simba on the right) and Titus looking blur as usual in the next picture. :)

OPI You're Such A Budapest

Today's post is another post of OPI Euro Collection. This polish is definitely my favourite in my humble collection from Euro Collection and it is: You're Such A Budapest (sound like scolding someone, isn't it? haha)

I am a purple lover when it comes to eyeshadows and nail polishes are no exception. You're Such a Budapest is a gorgeous lilac shade and has very very slight shimmers which you have to closely observe to see it. Unfortunately, the shimmers cannot be captured by my camera.

The peeve about the Euro collection which I complained about previously is the texture. It's thicker than some of the other polishes I have from OPI thus I had to be very careful when applying it. It's important to apply thin layers of the polish and slowly building up the intensity layer by layer. I applied 3 layers of the polishes in the picture above.

OPI...Eurso Euro

Has been a long while since I last post about a nail polish because I have been so lazy painting my own nails. Here is a good shade for me to get out and start painting my short nails again.

Please pardon my dry cuticles and lousy painting. It can be quite a challenge painting my short nails at times. So enough of the rambling and let's get back to business. :)

OPI...Eurso Euro is a creamy dark blue shade which I absolutely love. It reminds me so much of nautical design and for you ladies who does nail design, this can be a shade you can explore if you are considering nautical design.

Even though I love this shade, I seriously hate the texture. It is THICK and I achieve opaque-ness with just 1 coat. And precisely due to the thick texture, I find it hard to control the strokes such that I do not over paint onto the cuticles or achieve the smooth surface on the nails. Juju told me to go with thinner and more layers and I have yet to dry. For ladies who has this shade, do let me know your thoughts. 

OPI The World Is Not Enough

It has been a long while since I revert back to painitng my own nails and for a while I have also stop buying new polishes. However, OPI Skyfall Collection was just lovely and the names of the polishes are in line with all the James Bond movie titles. I picked up 4 shades from this collection and my favourite of them all is 'The World Is Not Enough'.

The World Is Not Enough is a lovely taupe shade with rosy shimmers. The pic I took above does not do the polish justice at all and please also pardon the lousy painting skills whereby polish ended up on my cuticles as well, lol. This shade seems pretty light and I took 3 coats to achieve the opaqueness as shown above.

Do you have the OPI Skyfall collection? Which shade is your favourite?

Dior Fall 2012 Golden Jungle collection - let's crackle!!

I have seen many beauty bloggers blogging about the croc crackle nails from Dior 2012 Golden Jungle collection for a while now it seriously look lovely on ladies who have long nail beds. Unfortunately for me, my nail beds are naturally small thus it didn't cross my mind to get this beautiful nail polish since it is not cheap. But lovely juju bought it and immediately watsapp me and offer to give me a manicure when we meet up for brunch, always nice to have such a wonderful friend. :)

While juju gave me a simple manicure, she was explaining to me the various techniques and areas to take note when trying to get the lovely crackles to look like crocodile skin.

1) You have to apply the golden base and the khaki crackle coat immediately. Need not wait for the gold base to dry before applying the khaki crackle coat
2) Skip any base coat. It doesn't crackle with base coat
3) You need an ample amount of khaki crackle coat in order to get nice crackle. But if you get greedy and apply too much khaki coat, the crackle becomes not obvious

We experimented with the different methods to prove that this is true and below shows the outcome.

Starting from the pinkie from the top:-

1) You can see the crackle is not as obvious as the coat applied is the thinnest
2) The khaki coat is applied thicker on the ring finger and thus the crackle does not look as nice as well
3) This is the PERFECT croc nails! Just enough khaki top coat and mind you, it wasn't even over the golden base. We experiment by applying a beige Essie nail polish instead and it works fine
4) With a base coat..... this is the worse sight as the crackle effect just doesn't comes out.

In the experiment above, no base coat is applied for the first 3 fingers and only the middle finger is applied with Essie beige polish instead of the golden base.

After the experiment, it is time for the manicure and I got crocodile nails!

Essie Bangle Jangle & China Glaze Luxe & Lush

Nursing an injured ankle and strain back means staying in and catching up on my Korean shows / music videos etc etc. It also is a good time to change my nail colour :)


Essie Bangle Jangle is the nail of the week. Did anyone mention that I love purple colour? This creamy lilac shade is just lovely. I tried to add some oomph by laying China Glaze Luxe & Lush on alternate fingers and I have to rant ..... Luxe & Lush is such a b*t@h to apply!!!! Hate it!

Nonetheless, Bangle Jangle is a shade that I foresee myself reaching for often for sure. :)

China Glaze Fast Track

After the massive rave of  Hunger Games movie, many (including yours truly) rushed to buy the novels. One of the items that spun out was nail polishes from China Glaze. China Glaze launched The Capitol Colours Collection, showcasing 12 polishes, representing the 12 Districts in the show. I picked up 2 polishes from this collection: Fast Track (District 6) and Luxe & Lush (District 1). The nails of this week is FAST TRACK!

Let me tell you what caught my attention when selecting the polishes to pick up from this collection:-
1) NEUTRAL
2) GOLD MICRO FLECKS

With these 2 points, I am totally sold and immediately adding Fast Track to my shopping list. The texture is smooth and watery, making it a breeze to apply and I usually apply 3 coats of China Glaze polish to achieve good coverage and this is no difference.

Honestly, the lousy picture above does not do Fast Track any justice. Under the lights, the gold micro flecks just give this beige nail polish that extra edge. I totally love it!

Orly You're Blushing

After resting my poor nails for a week, it's time to paint some colours back on them! Recently joined a spree with juju and I picked up ALOT of polishes (jitters running down my spine, lol) and one of the highly recommended shade by juju is Orly's You're Blushing from Orly Spring 2012 Cool Romance Collection.

I can't express how much I love this shade. In general, I like purple shades and this is a sweet dusty lilac colour. This shade reminds me of a lighter version of OPI Parlez-Vous OPI? (which is a darker and more intense purple shade). My nail bed is pretty small and there are shades which I cannot carry very well but I really like how this colour looks on my nails. I feel so feminine now! Lol.

The finish is creamy and application is quite a breeze for someone with retarded hands, so what else can I say except I absolutely love this shade!!

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterham

1 of the polishes I picked up from the Holland Collection from OPI is I Don't Give a Rotterham! Honestly, the name is soooo catchy that it certainly describes my mood at times when I just feel like screaming 'I don't give a d**m!!'.

Anyway, sorry for digressing but I Don't Give A Rotterham is a dusty blue shade with shimmers. The shimmers look like a mixture of silver and gold and I love how subtle the shimmers are. My personal preference has always been to opt for polished that has shimmers or frosted look as creamy polishes tend to look flat. But doesn't mean I avoid all cream polishes at all. Always nice to have a variety of finishes to play around. :)

When I started applying the polish on my nails, I noticed the texture of this polish is quite watery and light, which makes it easy to apply. 2 coats of I Don't Give a Rotterham as shown in the pic above is still considered pretty sheer, in my opinion. An additional coat will make it look more opaque and stronger in colour.

This is another polish that I will always reach for since it's so work safe with a subtle twist of colour, don't you think? And maybe the next time someone piss me off in office, I will just show them my nails as an indication 'I don't give a d**m', lol.

Essie Brandie Alexander

I used to dislike strong nail colours on my fingers because my nail beds are short and my fingers are stubby. Having strong colours on my finger nails will only bring unnecessary attention to my existing ugly fingers. But lately, I have been having the wth feeling about this. If I feel like painting strong colours, I jolly well would, as long as I am happy!!!

One of the colour that I recently painted that I would not have touched years ago is Essie's Brandie Alexander. It is a bright pink coral with subtle silver shimmers which look extremely vibrant and happy. Such a beautiful cheerful colour! :)

I hope you guys had a good weekend to recuperate and rest after a week of work. The new week is starting again and I am sick of it already...... :(

Nails in China Glaze Thistle

Yes to nails changing colour again, lol! After the last painting in China Glaze's Sweet Hook, I am back with new nails in China Glaze's Thistle.

I cannot remember how I actually acquired this polish. Haul or swap, I truly do not know. In fact, I did not even know I had this colour until juju came over my place one day and was looking through my polishes trying to think of idea to do nails art for me.

China Glaze's Thistle is a silvery frosted light pink in a bottle. Honestly, it looks truly plain in the bottle in my opinion but when I started painting on my nails, I started to appreciate its subtle-ness and contrast to my usual matte nail polishes.

Like I mentioned before, China Glaze has thinner and runnier consistency thus we usually need more coats to achieve the opaque effect. It is especially true for this shade since it is pretty light. I painted 3 - 4 coats to arrive at the desired opaque look and it lasts pretty long for 5 days (which is quite an achievement based on my track record, haha) on my nails.

Throughout the week, I realised that Thistle is the same shade as my makeup pouch from Daiso!

China Glaze Sweet Hook & Prism

I love the flexibility of changing my nail colour!! Much as I love the forever glossy look and lasting power of Gelish, the trouble of having to go to a nail saloon to remove Gelish is really a pain. Since normal polishes can't last long on my nails, I should take this chance to change colour, right?This time round, I'm giving China Glaze polishes a try after Juju's recommendation and I have Sweet Hook and Prism on my nails!

China Glaze Sweet Hook is literally a sweet colour as it is a pastel lilac shade. Prism on the other hand, is a purplish glitter polish. I layered Prism on Sweet Hook on my ring finger nails but you do not need to do so. Prism is good to use on its own as it's not hard to apply and it's interestingly smooth given that it's glitters.

China Glaze has a thinner consistency as compared to OPI which will need more layers to achieve an opaque look. But removing China Glaze is much easier than OPI, which is clearly a breeze. :)

What are your favorite nail polished? Do share with me.

OPI Mermaid Tears

Since the removal of my last gelish, I have been resting my nails since. Once again, I am enjoying the flexibility of being able to remove the nail polish and paint another colour as and when I want. Ok fine, I admit my nail painting skills sucks but still acceptable lah! Haha.

This time round, the colour on my nails is OPI Mermaid Tears from Pirates of the Caribean Collection.

Recently, I have actually taken a liking to green colour like green clothings, green eyeshadows and now green nails! Mermaid Tears is a mint dusty green which I find it adventurous and still work-safe. Love it!

After painting my nails at the stroke of midnight yesterday, I realised it is the same colour as my iPhone case! :) The case looks more minty though.

Essie Topless & Barefoot

After a few months of having Gelish on my nails, I have finally decided to give my nails some rest and revert to normal polishes until the nails get stronger.

However, for the purpose of CNY tomorrow, I had to have something on my nails to cover the 'scarred' look on the surface so it's time to bring our Essie's Topless & Barefoot!

It's a nice milky nude shade which is universally safe for all occasion. But applying it in my nails is really a pain as I find it so difficult to achieve the smooth consistency. So far I do not have this issue with OPI polishes though. It could be just be issues with my application skills though. Nonetheless, it's still a lovely shade that I would reach out to. :)

Black bow nails from The Nail Status

After signing up as a TNS member, I have been enjoying 15% off  normal services and honestly, I have been very happy with them. The manicurists there are lovely and friendly ladies and I always leave the shop with pretty nails. As December is my birthday month, I am entitled to 50% discount on all services and needless to say, I am back to beautify my nails and grab this once a year offer!

I am not a fan of super loud and long nails as it's just not me and it makes removing my contact lens a pain in the ass. Thus I try to keep my nails at a reasonable length that is not too long and also to keep to subtle but nice design. After browsing through their designs, I opted for this design which consist of french tips and small black bow. Love love love it!

You know what? While making a payment at ESPRIT yesterday, the cashier commented that she love my nails! She just made my day, lol.

Xmas is here @ The Nail Status

Xmas is just coming next month!!! And this time I went The Nail Status to get a soak off and a new set of nails. I only knew I wanted a set in green (no idea why I kept thinking of green nails) and decided to get a set in mint green. I opted for pink and slight silver glitters to get a mild subtle artsy effect and the first thing that Pearllin (the manicurist attending to me then) said was "Wah, you are ready for Xmas!".

I hope all you guys are all looking forward to Xmas because I truly am!!

The Nail Status again! :)

Went up to The Nail Status with L to remove my previous set of Gelish nails and to redo a new set! Yes, I know, I am damn vain right? Hahaha. Gelish nails is seriously addictive lah! While choosing the design for the nail art, I fell in love with some polka dots design and told Faye (the manicurist) how I want it simple. And this is the end result!

The Nail Status is having some gelish promotion this month and instead of gelish manicure at $65, it is now $50! On top of that, if you are a member, you are still entitled to 15% off this promo price! Some places will say since this is a promotion, no further discount but not the case for The Nail Status!

L initially decided on getting a set of French Gelish and seeing my polka dots, she decided to do it too! Mine was a dark purple as base with white dots and hers is white base with pink dots!

2nd week of Gelish nails @ The Nail Status

Remember how I mentioned that my 1st set of Gelish nails did not last me 2 weeks and in fact after the 1st week, the edges started to chip? Well, I am now in my 2nd week of Gelish and I am glad to say it is still doing fine! Hahaha. Super happy lah!

If you take a closer look at the edges near the nail bed, you can see that nails are growing out thus there is this puny gap there. But other than that, the design still look as good as new and glossy! Yuppie!!! I am waiting to see if it can pass the 3 weeks mark now. :)

My second Gelish experience @ The Nail Status

After my 1st Gelish nails experience 2 weeks plus ago (which was absolutely horrible), I was actually pretty disappointed and had given up hope on doing Gelish again. But I still had to go to any nails place to do a soak off to remove the horrible, non lasting Gelish on me so thought of trying Gelish again. At the beginning, I thought that given I am doing housework on and off, thus it doesn't last. But friends like E and V were telling me that it's highly unlikely since it is supposedly to last and most probably the nail saloon that I went at Holland V is not doing a good job. After reading Zoe Raymond's blog that highly recommend The Nail Status at Far East Plaza, I decided to do my soak off and second try of Gelish there then.

This time round, I had longer nails since I had been keeping them since the last time I had Gelish, thus it might be a good idea to do nails art hor? Hahahaha, damn vain! This is the final result, I really like it!

Now the next test is how long will it last this time. I asked the manicurist what could be the reason that my previous Gelish did not last well on me. She said could be the previous manicurist did not apply the gel properly thus 'sealing' everything. So let's see........ The minimum expectation I have is to at least 3 weeks.