Nope, apparently I am not over the Essence Duo Polishes just yet and have only managed to swatch 1 thus far. With that, here is another feature entry on these lovely duos that Iris (rougedeluxe) had gifted me!

Due to a random series of breaking and chipping nails, I am currently sporting (relatively, to me) short nails and I always take this opportunity to wear much darker shades.

I find black or near black colors look tend to look better on me when I have shorter nails, or perhaps because it's less... 'engulfing-ly' dark. I am not making sense.

The 'base-color' (Ticket to the Show) is a dark dark brown, near-black, with a sprinkle of very fine glimmer bits within. In pictures here though, it pretty much shows up black.

The 'topping' shade (Front Row or Backstage) appears to be dense mix of copper-gold shimmery bits suspended in, what I think is, a clear base.

Upon swatching the 'base-color' (Ticket to the show), I was quite taken with it and thought it was a beautiful shade on it's own, even without layering 'Part 2' over.

It looks black in pictures yet in person it has a brown-ish glint to it. Intriguing base color aside, I can't even start on how lovely the little shimmer bits are. They are considerably sparse, adding a subtle glimmer of color as opposed to a shimmer-load of it.

Sadly the flash-photos aren't capturing it as lovely and sun is a rare occurence for my photos these days but trust me, it's beautiful! I almost didn't want to layer the topping shade over and enjoy the brown-black as it is.

Now, topped with Front Row or Backstage, the color morphs to an antique-d copper-gold-black. It's got more going on because of the dense gold shimmer ladened over the already glimmering brown-black base.

(with a Daylight lamp but this lamp always leans too 'green' in pictures)

These swatches were done without a topcoat because Seche Vite disappeared on me. Again.

They look pretty enough to skip the topcoat but I would have preferred using one to amplify the bling with some glossiness.

❧

So, that's all for a quick check on what's on my nails right now! While I don't have many like this, I'm quite liking antiqued bronzey tones after this!

These days I feel like I am conducting nail polish longevity tests because I could wear one polish for waaaay long, like 2 weeks plus. I do get sick of it but, like masking, I just can't find the time to just sit down, paint and wait for it to dry.

Cardinal sin? Oh well, regardless I hope this busy cloud at work blows over soon but forecasts say that will only happen in August!

Hope everyone else is doing fab, thanks for reading and TGIF! Not so much for me because I will be working the weekend but... C'est La Vie!

What do you have on your nails now?

What happened to testing out that zesty looking teal and purple?

Well... I honestly don't know and I can only say that the nude-loving part of me won when I settled down to paint my nails.

While nudes are nudes, I do really like how this particular nude worked out on me. I don't have a whole lot of nude nail polish (surprise, surprise) and what I have doesn't look like this either so in a way it still stands unique in my stash.

Here's the cream side of the duo polish.

It's a nude that carries just enough brown that it doesn't make me look like I have mannequin hands (though I do love mannequin hands in its own way). It also flashes a little mauvey at certain angles, great for those who like nudes that aren't too 'dead'.

The swatches above were taken 3 days after I had the manicure on because I didn't managed to grab any daylight in the first 2. My Seche Vite decided to go MIA on me so they are without a topcoat either. No tipwear even with the vigorous exfoliation at Lush, seems good to me!

But that's just the cream side.

After 3 days, I refreshed the nail color (because nude nails can only hold my attention for this long) by layering the sheer shimmery side over and voila~

By simply layering 1 coat of the opposite end, the color is instantly refreshed and transformed to a sparkly almost princess-y shade.

While I am a cream finish lover, I can't deny that layering the polish makes it that much prettier.

Now I am feeling a little mean about showcasing this because I know it is not readily available in Singapore but if anything we should raise our voices about it a little and hope Essence catches on (wishful thinking!).

Thanks for reading!

I have had this little package in my posession for awhile now and finally got to photographing it.

What's a lovepack? Well it's a bit cheesy but I typically term Goodies as something that companies or e-tailers provide so a package from a friend has a name that's a little bit more personal - love pack!

Cheesy? Maybe?

Well, now I'm going to share with you what the very generous and lovely Iris (Rougedeluxe) had shared with me! Thank you Iris!

Oh, joy!

Back in my Essence haul post, I remarked (or rather whined) about how I had seen these pretty nail polish duos on Iris's blog but yet we don't have them locally. With that, Iris offered to send me a couple and I think she sent me more than just a couple!

I wouldn't know which shade to start using but here's a closer look at them.

I received 3 shades Colour3s and 2 from the Season of Extremes.

First up, the colour3! I'll just list the general name of it, though both ends have their own individual names.

Left to Right: Midnight Date, Ticket to the Show, Kiss on Top of the Rock

A closer look at the shimmer side of the duo, the supposed 'part 2' if you are looking to overlay the polishes and wear them that way.

How gorgeous!

And City That Never Sleeps (Midnight Date), the blue polish, looks so much more amazing in person. In pictures it's pretty and stunning already but in person you can really see the flakies and sheen.

Next, the 2 from Season of Extremes.

Left to Right: My Best Nude Friends and Me, We Are All Bright

I am really intrigued to see how We Are All Bright will layer, with that shimmery light purple shade over that green. Maybe that could be the first shade I try!

With this range, the 'overlay' shade carries a lighter airy-er feel to it.

I probably can't stop saying 'gorgeous' enough but I really am still gushing over it from the minute I received the package till now, that I'm writing this.

If somehow, somewhere out there the distributor of Essence Singapore sees this... Please, can we have the nail polish duos and the zillion collections that Essence puts out?

All in all, a huuuuge thank you again to Iris for being so kind and sharing the Essence polish love! I loved all the shades chosen and am really glad to be able to hold these polish duos.

I don't have swatches for you guys right now and I could have done one on every nail but I think I will slowly make my way through them, painting them on all 10 nails each time!

Thanks for reading!

A wee haul, welcoming the work week all over again.

Finally, after an incredibly long time since it's entrance, I decided to give the Essence shelf at Watsons a look. Of course it's almost impossible to walk into Watsons and not be distracted by anything else so here's the overview of what I left the store with.

I'll leave the rest to another entry but a quick rundown of what little I picked up from Essence.

I didn't give the makeup range a good look, probably a scan but nothing really caught my eye. Perhaps I was scanning way too quick but these days my vision hones in to polishes and the only time I really browse makeup is if it catches my eye online, which leads me to checking it out in person.

Like that one time when I got really obsessed with perfumes? This time it's polishes.

At S$2.50 (if I'm not wrong), they are really well priced. It's really no harm in picking up more but I restricted myself to one. Just one (first).

I haven't tried this on my nails just yet but it seems to swatch quite opaque with one coat (on tape). I can't recall the name of this now and don't have it by me but I will update when I have it!

The shade is Sure Azure!

They still had the Ballerina Backstage collection up for display though of course everything was very well rummaged through.

I was interested in the cheek soufflé but alas the Watsons I went by didn't have stock of it anymore. I chanced upon it at others but the whim to purchase yet another unnecessary cheek product had passed.

I went ahead and picked up an eye soufflé though, just cause.

Oddly there weren't any testers in the aisle so I had to do some on-the-spot googling for swatches since I can't recall how they looked and from the vials (when lidded), you honestly can't see a thing!

In the end I picked up Pas De Copper, a shade that I would seem to use. Though I was quite disappointed that the texture isn't as soufflé as the cheek product.

This is straight out cream... like Benefit's Creaseless Shadows but not as 'slick'.

Nonetheless it's still a nice cream shadow product which I could throw all over my lid any day and make do. I think this was about S$3-ish? Or was it S$4... I could be way off but it wasn't a bad price.

Left: Blended / Right: Heavy Swatch

That's it for my simple and little trip to check out Essence. It seems we don't have the whole arsenal of Essence here and in particular I am eyeing a bunch of the gorgeous polish duos. I didn't see them on the shelves, or perhaps I was scanning too quick.

Iris (rougedeluxe) had featured a couple of these lovely duos but this post showcases one of my fav shades she had swatched.

Any recommendations on what are you using and loving from Essence? Foundation? Liners?

Thanks for reading!