Illamasqua Nail Enamel in Stagnate

Posted on June 4, 2012 by tinnipoo

Hi peeps! Sorry it’s been a while… with only a couple more weeks to go until the big move, things are getting hectic, and I still have a lot to do eek! I’ve actually been super organised and took a whole bunch of pictures and swatches, but my brain is so pre-occupied that I can’t get the words out

Anyhoo onto beauty, today’s short and sweet post (you’ll probably see a few of them coming up) is on Illamasqua Nail Enamel in Stagnate.

This is a beautiful grey mauve nail polish. In a stylish rectangle bottle, which I love cos it’s easy to store and space efficient.

It contains a straight brush that is quite skinny so it’s easy to manoeuvre. It applies super smooth, as the formula is just so beautiful. It’s just the right consistency: creamy enough to get great streak-free coverage, but not too thick that it’s gluggy.

Drying time is quite fast, I can get 2 coats on and dried within 20 minutes. It also has great lasting power – even with my constant packing and moving, it lasted 4 days without chipping – that’s amazing!

The colour is a great neutral tone for work. It’s understated but still chic – in fact, I like it heaps better than OPI’s You Don’t Know Jacques (swatched here), which looks too dark and too brown on me.

Illamasqua Nail Enamel Stagnate retails AUD$34 and is available in selected Myer stores.

*This product was provided for consideration, for my disclosure policy see here.

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Lancôme Vernis In Love 407N Gris Angora

Posted on May 20, 2012 by tinnipoo

Along with the launch of Rouge In Love, Lancôme also launched Vernis In Love, a range of nail lacquers. I’ve never tried a Lancôme nail colour before, and was extremely please with the colour I was given at the launch event – 407N Gris Angora.

Vernis in Love is a cute 6ml rectangular bottle – quite small in volume, but the bottle is elegant and compact.

I LOVE the brush that comes with Vernis In Love – it’s so flat and the curved edge makes application so easy! I’ve always struggled with doing the edges along the nail beds, and this brush completely solves that problem. I wish all nail polish comes with this type of brush!

407N Gris Angora is a moody lilac ie. lilac with a little grey thrown in. I find this colour to be so sophisticated and flattering to the skin colour. It’s a good twist for a neutral, and can be worn to work and a night out.

As for the formula – it’s also fab. Smooth to apply, no streaks and just thick enough to fill in any ridges without being gluggy. It’s quite opaque but I still prefer 2 coats – Vernis In Love dries pretty quickly so it’s no hassles at all.

I love everything about Lancôme Vernis In Love, and would love to try some other shades! The only downside, and even though it’s just one thing, is enough of a deterrent for me, and that is the price. Lancôme Vernis In Love retails a whopping AUD$29! So I’m just going to hold back for now, and get them in Taiwan, where hopefully the price for them is closer to what they are in U.S. – USD$15.

Lancôme Vernis In Love is available in 22 shades at Lancôme counters nation-wide.

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Tsumiki Design Hair Salon – Part 2 – Clara H Nails

Posted on March 25, 2012 by tinnipoo

You may have noticed that I didn’t say much about the nail art I was treated to at the Tsumiki Design event. There is a good reason for it – I simply need to dedicate another post to it.

Clara H is the nail artist stationed at Tsumiki Design, and she is, a true ARTIST. Certified by the Japanese Nail Association, Clara has had years of experience in the bridal, fashion and salon industries. Of course, Clara does awesome manicures, pedicures and nail enhancements, but what sets her apart, are her mind-blowing nail art!

Utilising a variety of acrylics, embellishment and nail colours, Clara is able to transform your nails into works of art. And it’s customised to what you want/feel like. As there were so many of us to get through on the day of the Tsumiki event, Clara did some (what she considers) simple nail art for us.

As I was going to be a bridesmaid a week after the event, I asked for some purple roses (purple was the theme colour of my friend’s wedding) and ivory base. Turns out, my nail art matches the bouquets exactly! Two weeks later and my nail art is still going strong, I’ve changed the base colour to pastel pink and it looks so cute!

And check out the nail art she did on some of the other MBBEs:

Tsumiki Design Hair Salon – Part 2 – Clara H Nails

Bows & Diamantes

Bows & Glitter

Roses & Diamantes

Hand painted Roses & Polka Dots

My ready-to-be-bridesmaid nails

How gorgeous are they!??

And please do check out Clara’s gallery of work on http://clarahnails.com/ She is one freakishly talented lady!

Clara is stationed at Tsumiki Design every Friday & Saturday. For appointments and enquiries call 0401 528 289 or email ask@clarahnails.com

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Chinese New Year Mani (Fail Alert)

Posted on January 22, 2012 by tinnipoo

Tomorrow is the first day of Chinese New Year and it’s the year of the Dragon, which is both me & Mr Ronan’s birth year! (We have a very firey household)

So I did a quick mani to get into the festivity – word of warning as you are about to witness an epic fail. I was (still am) seriously debating whether or not to post this but thought what the hey. I don’t claim to be an expert on all things cosmetics so here goes.

I used Face of Australia Molten Metallics in Flaming Lava as the base for all the nails, and only did 2 nail art: Dragon and Fortune.

Dragon:

Dragons are surprisingly hard to draw so I’m sorry for the way it’s turned out!!! When I practised on paper my dragon looked like reindeer with whiskers. Once on the nail it looked like Santa after I dotted on the eyes, and then ended up looking like Shrek when I added the eyebrows. WTF >.<

Face of Australia Molten Metallics Gold (metallic shimmer gold) - for face and ears
Face of Australia Barbados Orange You Glad You Came? (shimmer orange) - for the antlers and whiskers
Face of Australia Colour Pro Scream (black) – eyes
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Flaming Lava - for nose and brows

Fortune:

福 (pronounced Fú) is the Chinese character for fortunate and can be readily seen on Chinese New Year decorations. As long as you know how to write the character, it’s pretty easy to do this.

I used a foam tip eyeliner brush and wrote the character on with Face of Australia Molten Metallics Gold.

Now back to cleaning my place, and I’ll be having Chinese New Year Eve dinner with my parents, Mr Ronan and his parents

Happy New Year – wishing everyone prosperity and good health! 恭喜發財!!!

New Years Eve (NYE) Manicure

Posted on December 29, 2011 by tinnipoo

Following my Christmas Manicure, I was super inspired to do more nail art! So here’s what I’ve done for NYE – I’ve kept this a little simpler and just did 3 different patterns.

The base colour for all but one nail is the glorious OPI Russian Navy (reviewed and swatched here), which is the perfect colour for summer night’s sky. Like the Christmas mani I did the nail arts on fake stick-on nails so I can have pretty patterns on both hands.

The 3 patterns are: red fireworks, silver shooting-star fireworks, and masquerade mask.

Red Fireworks:

OPI Russian Navy (shimmer dark blue) – base coat
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Flaming Lava (metallic red) – drawn on with a fine brush in radiating star shapes
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Gold (metallic shimmer gold) - dotted over the red with fine brush
Face of Australia Barbados Orange You Glad You Came? (shimmer orange) – dotted over the gold as centre of firework
Rokk96 Bejewelled (clear with silver glitter of various sizes) – top coat

Silver (Shooting Star) Fireworks:

OPI Russian Navy - base coat
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Titanium (silver) - thin diverging lines drawn on with fine brush
Face of Australia Colour Pro Cool Cotton (white) - drawn over the silver with a bulb at the end
Rokk96 Bejewelled - several top coats with this

Masquerade Mask:

Face of Australia Molten Metallics Titanium - base coat
OPI Russian Navy - masquerade mask drawn on with a fine brush and the base of the nail
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Gold - for the feathers coming up from centre of the mask
Face of Australia Molten Metallics Flaming Lava - dotted onto the bottom of the feathers
Rokk96 Bejewelled - several top coats with this, applied from bottom of the nail upwards to blend out the navy colour

That’s it! This mani is quite quick to do and is so sparkly – great for NYE

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Christmas Manicure

Posted on December 24, 2011 by tinnipoo

Don’t you just love Christmas? I do! I love the whole festivity of it – the carols, santa & elves, food, lights… and I had the best memory of putting up a ginormous Christmas tree with my grandparents when I was a child

With the space restriction in our apartment and (a lot of) laziness – I don’t get into the Christmas decor at home. Well this year is no different – but I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon of Christmas themed manicure!

I cheated a little and did the mani on stick-on fake nails – which made it possible for me to have Christmas nails on both hands (no way would I be able to draw anything with my left hand), plus I am able to walk away and do other stuff whilst the nails are drying. Nevertheless the whole thing took me about 8 hours – as every nail is hand drawn.

For the colours I used a bunch of Face of Australia nail enamels, as I don’t actually have much of a nail collection at home. But I was really happy to find all the colours I needed with the exception of a couple of shades.

For tools, I used some clean liquid eyeliner brushes and the ends of paper clips, both of which are quite easy to handle.

Left Hand:

Thumb – Snowman: Barbados You Blue Me Away (shimmer blue); Colour Pro Scream (black), Cool Cotton (white), Lady In Red (red); Molten Metallics Gold.

Index Finger – Christmas Wreath: Colour Pro Cool Cotton, Lady In Red; Brights Flipside (green); Molten Metallics Gold.

Middle Finger – Santa: Colour Pro Lady In Red, Cool Cotton, Scream; Rokk96 Undercover (beige); Barbados Bright Lights Pink City.

Ring Finger – Reindeer: Colour Pro Cool Cotton, Scream; Luxe Foxy Roxy (brown); Molten Metallics Flaming Lava (shimmer red).

Little Finger – Santa Hat: Molten Metallics Titanium (silver); Colour Pro Cool Cotton, Lady In Red.

Right Hand:

Thumb – Christmas Tree: Colour Pro Cool Cotton; Brights Flipside; Luxe Foxy Roxy; Molten Metallics Gold, Flaming Lava, Titanium.

Index Finger – Pressie: Colour Pro Lady In Red, Cool Cotton; Molten Metallics Titanium, Gold.

Middle Finger – Snowflake: Barbados You Blue Me Away; Colour Pro Cool Cotton; Molten Metallics Titanium.

Ring Finger – Christmas Bauble: Colour Pro Cool Cotton, Molten Metallics Flaming Lava, Gold; Rokk96 Bon Bon (glitter).

Little Finger – Candy Cane: Molten Metallics Titanium; Colour Pro Cool Cotton, Lady In Red; Brights Flipside.

I topped some off with clear nail enamel – be careful when doing this as red runs easily.

Hope you like my first ever mani! I had so much fun doing this – stay tuned for my NYE mani!

P.S. Merry Christmas

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Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection – Part 2

Posted on November 15, 2011 by tinnipoo

Part 2 of the OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection features some great neutrals and a couple of brights: Alpine Snow, Bubble Bath, Tickle My France-y, Strawberry Margarita, and Cajun Shrimp.

1. Alpine Snow

Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection – Part 2

OPI Alpine Snow

An opaque white that is good for DIY French Manicures or wear as stand alone nail colour (another great thing about mini size – how much easier would doing French tip be with the tiny brush heh?).

2. Bubble Bath

OPI Bubble Bath

A really pretty, semi-opaque pink, also great for DIY French Manicure. The only negative, and it could just be me, but try as I might I just could not stop it from bubbling

3. Tickle My France-y

OPI Tickle My France-y

A really sophisticated neutral that’s great for ‘dressing up’ the nails without going OTT.

4. Strawberry Margarita

OPI Strawberry Margarita

This is such a fun girlie pink! Wearing this colour makes me wanna don a tank top and roller blade along the beach

5. Cajun Shrimp

OPI Cajun Shrimp

Cajun shrimp is err, Cajun shrimp! This aptly named shade is a hot coral that I think would look good against any skin tone. The formula is smooth and dries quickly.

OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection retails for $49.95 and is available in all OPI stockists. For Part 1 of swatches see here.

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Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection – Part 1

Posted on November 11, 2011 by tinnipoo

Just in time for Christmas, OPI has launched a Best of the Best giftset featuring their 10 best sellers of all time!

If you are a noob to OPI like me, this is a great way to sample the brand. In my opinion, the miniature size of 3.75ml is just perfect – with the plethora of nail colours out now, I want QUANTITY and my tiny apartment is already bursting at the seams with beauty products (greedy much?)

The collection shown above can be split into 2 little sets of 5, and I’m swatching the bottom one. This includes the top 5 sellers within the OPI range: Big Apple Red, I’m Not Really a Waitress, You Don’t Know Jacques, Russian Navy, and Lincoln Park After Dark.

1. Big Apple Red

Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection Part 1

OPI Big Apple Red

A juicy vibrant red. I imagine this is the colour of the poison apple that lured Snow White into taking a bite.

2. I’m Not Really a Waitress

OPI Im Not Really A Waitress

A shimmery rich red. This colour applies well and makes me feel like a femme fatale.

3. You Don’t Know Jacques

OPI You Dont Know Jacques

A creamy deep mushroom colour with a touch of plum. I believe this is actually the best seller within the OPI range, but unfortunately I’m not a fan. It’s a little too dark for me and in most lights lose the touch of plum and just look flat brown

4. Russian Navy

OPI Russian Navy

This is quite a magical colour – in white light it’s a deep royal blue (see the colour on my pinky), but in yellow/indoor light it shows up a multitude of shimmery particles in different colours. Definitely LOVE!

5. Lincoln Park After Dark

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

Now this! Oh this!!! Lincoln Park After Dark is without a doubt my favourite out of this lot. It’s such an amazing black plum creme colour that would work with any outfit or occasion. Even Mr Ronan (husband) took notice and proclaimed it the best nail polish colour he’s ever seen.

OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection retails for $49.95 and is available in all OPI stockists. For part 2 of swatches see here.

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Chasing Elixir

Staying 25… forever

Category Archives: Nails

Illamasqua Nail Enamel in Stagnate

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Lancôme Vernis In Love 407N Gris Angora

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Tsumiki Design Hair Salon – Part 2 – Clara H Nails

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Chinese New Year Mani (Fail Alert)

New Years Eve (NYE) Manicure

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Christmas Manicure

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Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection – Part 2

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Swatches: OPI Best of the Best Mini Collection – Part 1

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