Color Club Halo Hues stamped with BM323

Merry Christmas! I did this mani hurriedly before I went on holiday so no step by step shots, just this one which was taken in the middle of my hol :p This is Color Club Eternal Beauty sponged with Miss Bliss in the middle (though can't really be seen) and tips with Over the Moon. I then stamped with the snowflakes image in BM323, which is one of my favs, and topped with a holographic glitter from Daiso.

That's all for this post, have a great Christmas! :)

Catrice Wrapped around my Finger stamped with Sally Hansen Pink Satin

It's been a long time since I did any stamping, and I guess it shows (-_-)" Anyway, this is Catrice Wrapped around my Finger stamped with Sally Hansen Pink Satin with BM321. Btw, if you are wondering about my super short pinky, it's because I bent it and 2/3 of the nail turned white (>.<) so I had to keep cutting it short otherwise it would somewhat flare outwards at the tips.

Catrice Wrapped around my Finger is a magenta pink creme which is pretty opaque and I love the color. However, it stains a little so would be better to put an extra layer of base coat.

Click below for more pics.

Essence Date in the Moonlight & Winmax Nail Sparks 81 stamped with Color Club Eternal Beauty

I'm finding that Color Club Eternal Beauty really works well as a stamping polish :D Here it is stamped with plate BM203 over Essence Date in the Moonlight & Winmax Nail Sparks 81. I had previously stamped with Eternal Beauty here and here with little difficulty too.

Click read more for more pics.

OPI Live and Let Die stamped with Jessica Iridescent Eye BM323 & with studs

OPI Live and Let Die was from the Skyfall collection last year and part of the mini set which I got but I never got around to using it till now. It is a lovely dark, near black forest green with gold shimmer. The stamping was done using Jessica Iridescent Eye (Chanel Peridot dupe) and BM323, but with too much+uneven force I'm afraid :(

Since I wasn't too happy with the stamping, decided to freehand strips of Iridescent Eye and Live and Let Die with the polish brush itself (hence the crookness :p), and added some gold studs from Born Pretty Store, which I thought went well with the polishes :) [P.S. Use BNNMK31 for 10% off if you wanna make a purchase]

Click read more for pics of stamping and plain swatch.

Innisfree 104 stamped with Color Club Eternal Beauty and Over the Moon BM212

Innisfree 104 is a pretty indigo with plenty of shimmer, flashing blue and pink/purple. It is well pigmented and 2 coats were sufficient to cover my nail line. I left it plain for a day, then couldn't resist adding to it by stamping Color Club Eternal Beauty (top half) and Over the Moon (bottom half) with BM212. Still quite a klutz at stamping so the image is not too clear, but the dark base contrasts nicely with the holographic shades (just don't look at it too closely :p)

Update: Added some flowers to it using Over the Moon and Eternal Beauty the next day ;)

Click read more for plain swatches of Innisfree 104.

Cherry blossoms / sakura flowers on China Glaze Hello Gorgeous and Essence English Rose

When I discovered the cherry blossoms stamp on BM313 in my previous post, I decided I just had to do a proper cherry blossoms theme mani the next time, and China Glaze Hello Gorgeous and Essence English Rose were the perfect base for it ;) 

I first painted on the branches with acrylic paint, then stamped on the sakura flowers with Konad White. After that, I added OPI Pedal Faster Suzi to the centre of the flowers and dotted white paint around them. 

This is definitely one of my favourites, so I probably wouldn't be posting the next few days as I will keep them on as long as I can :p

A few more pics below cos I like them so much....haha

Thanks for viewing!

China Glaze Hello Gorgeous and Essence English Rose stamped with Color Club Miss Bliss

China Glaze Hello Gorgeous and Essence English Rose were applied alternately in this mani, along with stamping with Color Club Miss Bliss with BM203.

China Glaze Hello Gorgeous is well named as it is indeed gorgeous :p It is dense light pink and holographic glitter polish and above is 2 coats. It dries to a matte finish and even though I put a top coat, I can still feel the texture.

Essence English Rose is a medium rose pink creme and I was a little worried it will look oldish, but I ended up liking it quite a lot :) It is pretty opaque, one coat could almost conceal the nail line and 2 coats were definitely enough.

Although Miss Bliss was a little thin, the stamp came out quite clearly and I thought that it helped English Rose to match Hello Gorgeous a bit better. My left hand is not shown here as the polish was not quite dry and my stamping created creases :( 

Update: You can see it with nail art here :p

Below is without stamping and top coat.

Thanks for viewing!

BYS Magenta stamped with Sally Hansen Pink Satin & China Glaze Passion

This is BYS Magenta (one of the color changing series), topped with Essie As Gold As It Gets (which is sadly not apparent here), stamped with Sally Hansen Pink Satin + BM206 and China Glaze Passion + BM313 and mattified with Rimmel.

I tried this polish out as I figured my nails were long enough to possibly see some gradient as the tips would be cooler in temperature. Please click read more if you want to see more pics of Magenta and my review.

Essence Iced Latte stamped with China Glaze Awaken BM315 and mattified with Rimmel

I previously did Essence Iced Latte stamped with China Glaze Awaken here and thought they went well together so tried it again. Actually I chose a floral image from BM215 but it turned out quite badly as the flowers were positioned at the sides and got cut off so I ended up with random looking bits of grey everywhere. Didn't take a pic but below was what was roughly what I saw on my nails :(

Anyway, I had to clean it off (luckily I had top coated before that so I didn't have to redo the base coat) and I chose a simpler image in BM315. Simpler in terms of design but not in terms of stamping (>.<) As you can see, I had difficulty in aligning it straight and getting the lines imprinted clearly. But generally if you don't look closely, it is fine :p

At the end, I added Rimmel Mattifying Top Coat to get a soft look.

Click read more for plain swatches of Essence Ice Latte

Essence Nude Glam polishes stamped with China Glaze Awaken and BM315

I had meant to do the swatches of the Essence Nude Glam polishes and remove them for a new mani but ended up too lazy hence the skittles :p

China Glaze Awaken is dark metallic grey and is good for stamping but pretty thick on its own, had difficulty painting the tips because of its consistency.

Anyway, found that Awaken looks great with Essence Iced Latte (index and pinky), think I shall do another stamping with this color combi another time :)

Thanks for viewing!

Color Club Eternal Beauty and Wild at Heart stamped with BM322

4th color from Color Club Halo Hues haul - Eternal Beauty on index and pinky, with Wild at Heart on middle and ring, stamped with Eternal Beauty and houndstooth print from BM322.

Eternal Beauty is a lavender purple and has a strong holo like Miss Bliss and Cosmic Fate. It applies well in 2 coats, found it to be very slightly thicker than Miss Bliss and Cosmic Fate but Beyond is still the thickest.

Also, previously had some bottle shots of Eternal Beauty vs Wild at Heart in this post but finally put them on my nails :) More pictures after the jump.

Essence Too Blue to be True stamped with China Glaze Harmony and BM307

Essence Too Blue to be True is from the A New League collection. It is an inky blue with violet undertones. It is a little sheer but I did 2 medium/thick coats above. I do not like the brush though, as it is skinny and doesn't fan out too well. Don't get why they use different brushes in their seasonal collections, when their standard brush is excellent. Somehow I have problems with Sally Hansen and Golden Rose maxi/wide brushes but Essence's work great for me.

Anyway, I wanted to do freehand painting inspired by a Tsumori Chisato pouch at first but it didn't turn out too well - looked kiddish and my moons looked like bananas (-_-)"

So I ended up redoing the 2 fingers and stamping using China Glaze Harmony and BM307 instead. Liked it much better and Harmony matched the polish pretty well :)

Thanks for viewing!

Essence Little Miss Sunrise stamped with BM302

Colors used:
Base - Essence Little Miss Sunrise
Stamping polish - Konad White
Plate - BM302

Yellow isn't really my color but when I saw Little Miss Sunrise from the revamped Essence collection, I couldn't resist getting it as it looked so cheery and more suited to my skin tone unlike the other yellow, Be your sunshine that I have from Essence. This is a warmer, more egg yolk kind of yellow and applied okay in 2 coats.

I was itching to use this stamping image as it is so cute (chicks and snails) but unfortunately my stamping skills are not up to par so they did not appear clearly, sigh...I still don't do well with thin lines....

But in any case, still liked it cos of the colour :)

Thanks for viewing!

Orly Cotton Candy stamped with China Glaze Passion and BM223

Colors used:
Base - Orly Cotton Candy
Stamping polish - China Glaze Passion
Plate - BM223

Was kinda dreading Cotton Candy's application before this as I had previously used it on a pedi and it was very streaky but luckily this time it turned out better....It is a lovely peachy pink but is rather thick and hard to apply. This was 2 thicker coats and it was still little patchy but I guess the gold strips helped to camouflage things? :p

Thanks for viewing!

Essence Absolutely Blue stamped with BM306

Colors used:
Base - Essence Absolutely Blue
Stamping polish - Konad white
Plate - BM306

Absolutely Blue is from the revamped Essence range and I love this cornflower blue, which is a bit lighter in real life. It applies smoothly and is pretty opaque as well (above 2 coats). The brush is wider than the old range but is still easy to handle....so happy to have found this in the shops :D

Love this stamping image as well, but found it hard to get the tiny details out properly (-_-)" And again, I didn't wait long enough and was too heavy handed with top coat, hence the streaking...sigh...but still love it cos of the color! Heh...

Thanks for viewing!

Revlon Classy stamped with BM224 and mattified

Colors used:
Base - Revlon Classy
Stamping polish - China Glaze Joy
Plate - BM224
Mattifying topcoat by Rimmel

Classy is a pinkish nude shade and this is 2 coats. Think I should have left it plain but wanted to practice my stamping :p

Thanks for viewing!

Snowy blue white gradient with Essence Hard to resist and stamped with BM323

Colors used:
Blue - Essence Hard to Resist
White - Golden Rose white
Glitter - Essence Prince Charming
Stamping polish - Konad White
Plate - BM323, BM318, BM213 and BM319

After using plate BM323, which stamped well in previous mani, I wanted to do a snowy look with it and I was really happy with the result :) Think I wore it for 5 days which is a record :p

This was near Christmas last year, so I guess I should be catching up to my current manis soon! haha...

Thanks for looking!

OPI The Spy who Loved Me and China Glaze Glittering Garland stamped with BM323

Colors used:
Red - OPI The Spy who Loved Me
Green - China Glaze Glittering Garland
Glitter - China Glaze Snow Globe
Stamping polish - China Glaze Passion
Plate - BM323

One of my Christmas mani last year, with more traditional colors...thanks for looking!

OPI The World Is Not Enough stamped with BM202

Colours used:
Base - OPI The World Is Not Enough
Stamping polish - Konad black
Plate BM202

The World is Not Enough is very shimmery and reminds me of Jessica's Smoky Feather, except that the former has tiny pink glitter while latter has green ones. I didn't want to leave it plain so did some stamping but it turned out kinda weird, so I freehand the tips as well. 

And here is an awkward shot with the mini bottle, haha

Thanks for looking!

Essence Enchanted Fairy and You Belong to Me gradient stamped with BM308

Colours used:
Pink - Essence Enchanted Fairy
Blue - Essence You belong to me
Glitter - Essence Space Queen
Stamping polish - Konad white
Plate - BM308

Enchanted Fairy is a cool pink creme while You belong to me is a light aqua, though it looks a little darker here. Can't really see Space Queen in this pic but it is a fine multi colored glitter. The color combi ended up reminding me a little of Little Twin Stars, haha...

Thanks for looking!