Crazy is probably an understated word to describe what the weekend had been. Have you ever came out of a weekend feeling more tired than ever as opposed to feeling recharged?

Well that's what this was though amidst all that, it was fun times and somehow I managed to squeeze in some time to have some fun with my nails!

I wanted to try my hand at a fun-colored french manicure and here's what I ended up with!

I dug out China Glaze's For Audrey (love this color on my toes) and applied that after using a coat for OPI's Fair Dinkum Pinkum.

I initially left it as that but felt the manicure wasn't 'defined' enough and so I added that black trim with Etude House's Nail Art Pen.

For the fun of, I drew a simple bow on my thumb!

The lines definitely aren't perfect and I wish I was able to do a sleeker line but it was fun doing this up! It's interesting having nude-ish nails yet with a bright rim of color and a contrasting black line.

To 'live out' the effort, I would have wanted to wear this manicure for a longer period of time but I broke a nail on my right hand so... I shall see how long I can go tolerating that nick till I have to remove it all and trim everything short.

Thanks for reading!

What are some fun little manicures you like to do?

p.s. in other news.... I passed my Driving Practical today! Holla if you see me on the road, or maybe not...

Can I just quickly say one word: disappointment.

Okay, maybe that is a very harsh introduction but this isn't entirely all that bad. Let's just say that I had my hopes up pretty high for these and they didn't perform as imagined.

So awhile back, I picked up these gel sticker nails because they looked so darn adorable. I liked how the stickers had a slight density to them, giving your nails a more 'gel-like' look to them, instead of a flat design.

Though I think it is also that minor thickness that caused (part of) their downfall.

The stickers peel off from the plastic backing without much of a fuss though some picking at it might be necessary to get one end loose to 'peel' from. Though I suggest not prodding too much as that area may become less potent if damaged.

It was only when I was peeling and sticking it on that I realized that they had provided 6 stickers per hand, incase you may want to swap some sizes around. At the end of it I skipped out on using the littlest sticker as it was even too small for my pinkie.

Unlike other nail stickers, I do not recommend trimming these to fit your nails since it is made in a way that the gel thickness tapers down towards the sides. So if you trim it, it would be an odd cut-off thickness but that's my speculation. Has anyone tried this and trimmed it?

I did the very ambiguous thing of simply holding the sticker over my nail and guessing how it would wrap around the curvature of my nail.

Pushing aside that initial and rather negative statement aside, I must say that these do look very pretty on the nails.

I like the glossy gel effect that it lends and of course I love the design.

Though it's a little tricky such that you will have to ensure that your nails are somewhat of the sticker length. I had trimmed my nails prior to it, estimating the rough length I would need them to be but alas I had trimmed my nails a little too short.

You could trim the base of the nail sticker and fit that to whichever length your nail is but as mentioned earlier you may have to deal with a cut-off edge and whatnot.

Now the reality check.

These are good only if you need a quick nail refreshment just before a party or a photoshoot. Sadly they do not last through daily activities, not even a simple one like washing your hands. I find it could be the thickness of it that causes the sticker to recoil slightly at the ends from time to time. If your hands are wet, it doesn't stick again. You'll have to dry your hands / nails and re-work the sticker on.

Well basically I can see some worth in this, like I said, for a quick 'express manicure' on your way to a party but not anything along the lines of Sally Hansen's nail stickers.

It is still fun nonetheless, in all it's temporary ways. The upside for me at least is the little trinkets and decorators which I would most likely use in my 'normal' manicures in future!

Thanks for reading and hoped this helped!

Somewhat a continuation post from the earlier haul, here are the other 2 random items I had picked up along with my Essence loot.

See what I mean by I am obsessed with nail stuff right now!

The Decorative sticker was about S$12-ish if I'm not wrong and it's basically gel stickers that you stick on and it comes with cute little jewels and designs to further decorate it.

I haven't removed it from it's pack to properly inspect how it works but the gel portion has a soft rubbery curve to it, instead of being a clear flat piece of film.

There are a lot of other designs but I thought this looked really cute.

The next item was something I picked up at the counter. You know, those displays that are placed to deliberately distract you as you wait in the queue? Well, that worked for me this time.

I didn't spot Nail Inc at the Watsons I went to and I wasn't thinking to get magnetic polish so this random purchase just happened.

The magnet is a sole piece without any extra knubs to prop it up etc. There are also instructions on how you can use the magnet to get various designs.

This was my first try at using magnetic polishes so I did a terrible job with it and failed the first time around. The swatch below was just 1 coat of the polish, fairly opaque!

I only painted the ring finger and have A-England's Saint George on the rest of them.

The reason for failure was that the polish had somewhat dried before I could hold the magnet over. You can see very faint black lines above, almost indistinguishable.

The second time, I tried it on my right hand and did it a lot quicker, holding the magnet over straight away without screwing the polish cap back on.

It worked! Well... in a partially fail fashion because the effect was more concentrated on one side but slowly and surely I'll get the hang of it. Don't judge from my swatches but the Golden Rose magnetic shades are quite lovely.

Here is a better shot of this particular polish on muxe.net.

My main gripe, it's so much more expensive here! Well it's not that expensive in polish terms but it is going for about S$15 locally when it retails for, I believe, about 3 Euros or so in Turkey. Tsk...

After this trial experiment, I found a Magnetic polish 101 entry on Scrangie which is very helpful for those new to this.

I think I will have a go at them again, soon... and I don't envision myself using the gel packs just yet. Perhaps nearing the end of April where I may have a reason to head out with flashy nails.

Till then, what are your thoughts on magnetic polishes. Any brands to recommend?

Thanks for reading!

Whenever I am bordering on being sick of my current manicure, the first thought that comes to mind is.... experiment!

I'm not very well-versed in the art of nail, as I had expressed, so in any case that the experimentation goes wrong... I was intending to change my nail color anyway! Another 'good' thing about this is there being no need to wait for the base to dry since it's already on so manicures involving taping will be a whole lot easier!

I don't always experiment but today I messed around with the China Glaze's It's Alive manicure I've had on for awhile, dreading the glitter removal.

Since it's a halloween-ish manicure anyway, why not go all out and make it goo-ey and gloopy! I got this nail design idea from Kimberly (LadeeKim) who had posted an instagram tutorial about it here.

It's certainly far from the clean job that Kimberly does! I did it from memory and I'm not sure which part of me loves 3D effects so much that I remembered glooping it on though Kim's tutorial spreads it on so it's not as thick a layer over.

Whats done is done and I'm liking the gloopy factor in its own way though that spells a longer drying period. Hurhur... witch, spells?

I'm most satisfied with the middle and ring finger because the drips are more defined.

The green I used on the tips is B42 from Mosaic Cosmetics, which I talked about way back. It's best to use something pigmented because a second coat is something you want to avoid.

Since this is drippy, I feel an image in this composition is necessary! It's like it's dripping down... somewhat? No?

Probably not, heh.

Since it's not perfect, I presume it would have a life span of 2 days before I think to remove it. I'm already pondering my next color so if something fun comes to mind, this may not live as long.

Thanks for reading!