Boy, has this been one heck of a week! One main cheery factor amidst this work-laden period and feeling mildly under the weather would be my nails for it's bubbly, fun color. Not even kidding here.

I've received this jovial looking bottle from Mei Mei Signatures before Chinese New Year and had to put off swatching it due to my nail stickers. Now that those are off (they didn't look bad but were just starting to catch my hair when I am shampoo-ing), I can finally swatch away!

Megan Miller is not a nail polish brand I am familiar to and when I first saw images of it the very first thing that came to mind was that I loved the packaging. The typical 'plastic' top has been replaced with natural cork and a little raffia string knot to give it that woody, au naturale, feel. Though a simple change in design, it's still adorable and embodies what the brand wants to promote: a very rustic, natural elegance.

For those conscious about polish ingredients, you would like to know that Megan Miller refrains from using Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene and Formaldehyde. If you wish to find out more about this 3 FREE initiative, do read the detailed break down from Megan Miller's Production Information page.

Upon receiving the bottle in person, it is all that much cuter!

Overly cheesy, maybe, but The Police's Message in A Bottle started looping in my mind as I sat taking photos of this adorable bottle.

Megan Miller's logo, the peacock feather, sits atop the light (weight-wise) cork cap.

Enough of me gushing about the exterior, how does this polish apply?

The first coat left me feeling a little bummed probably because I have become accustomed to 'straight-out pigmented' cream and shimmer finishes that this initial coat seemed a little lacking.

Though I can't entirely fault this because Caribbean, the shade I have here, is more of a jelly-finish polish instead of a solid cream. Thus I would have to give it it's fair chance of doing well in its own genre instead of trying to compare it to something else.

2 coats give it a good finish with the nail bed still mildly visible but I found myself satisfied only after 3 coats.

No in-picture caption but 3 coats:

Random note: Those little itty black bits you see are from the nail stickers, resilient little things... but I'd rather them to glitter polishes any day.

While I wasn't feeling it initially, I've grown to like that jelly-base appeal of the polish, it reminds me of that one time when I had a french tip done at a nail store and my nails looked super 3D, as if I had a gel coat over.

The jelly finish of it also prevents that light teal from being too stark on, giving the color it's own opaque yet translucent flare.

Kicking myself for not taking comparison photos but bottle-wise it looks similar to China Glaze's For Audrey however because of it's jelly finish nature, the color has a softer tone when applied, compared to For Audrey. No swatch comparisons but I can say this because I have For Audrey on my toes and no, my toes will not make their appearance on here.

The polish itself has a very glossy finish and probably wouldn't call for a topcoat. However, in these swatch pictures (save for 1 coat & 2 coats) I did slick on a thin layer of Seche Vite Fast Dry over, purely for the 'fast dry' effect. Gloss-wise it looks the same before and after Seche Vite.

I wouldn't say it takes eons to dry but perhaps I have been spoilt by much quicker drying nail formulas and the fact that I wanted to get to bed probably attributed to my impatience.

In all, I love this particular color though if teals and bright shades aren't for you the collection has some lovely reds and earthy shades too.

They are going for S$18 a bottle on Mei Mei Signatures, shop here.

Alternatively if you are outside of Singapore you can purchase them from the
Megan Miller website at USD12 per bottle.

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

I may have very well gotten withdrawal symptoms from not having painted my nails in awhile. I don't change my nail colors too often but somehow when I have something like the Sally Hansen nail stickers on, I have a hundred and one ideas of what I could paint my nails next.

It's also kinda crazy how the nail stickers are still staying on well despite lasting a week already! To think I was afraid it wouldn't even last the first 3 days of chinese new year, laughing at that mentality of mine right now.

So anyway, I got bored and wanted to experiment with some cool nail ideas I've seen and as the title goes, I failed.

PHAILED.

It's not all bad but I'm not citing what I wanted to do because I'll do a proper entry when I try again and hopefully don't fail as much. That aside, my thumb and little finger look quite tolerable so, here they are:

Purple shade is Color Club's Pucci-licious.

I doubt this manicure will last long on me, in fact I might just remove it tomorrow or the day after. For two reasons,
1) I can feel that the nail sticker's time is almost up
2) I cannot stand the fail.

I have some polishes I want to swatch and feature real soon so that will be done once I get these resilient bad boys off. I've read that these nail stickers normally last slightly under a week or so (depending on your 'usage') so now I firmly believe that loading Seche Vite over was probably a good call for making them last, though a little longer then I wanted them to.

Thanks for reading!

Oh lookey here....

I was going through my pictures and chanced upon these bottles of polishes I acquired towards the end of 2011. I haven't been overly secretive about them because I did mention and swatch one, but amidst the other posts I suppose I had overlooked posting this up.

Be it subconsciously trying to minimize the haul factor on here or if I had really forgotten, I'm not too sure... heh.

I was eyeing a few colors from the China Glaze Halloween collection when it first came out and contemplated to spree for them or get it off an online nail beauty store but in the end none of that happened, though it didn't mean that I had forgotten about them. While browsing Mei Mei Signatures after hearing about them for the first time, I saw these in stock and immediately snatched them up.

I picked up Haunting (black with silver shimmer flecks) and It's Alive (undescribable glittery olive green).

It's Alive was the color that drew me towards the Halloween collection with it's glittery murkiness. It's seems to have this mysterious witch potion allure, or is it just me? I was also tempted to pick up Near Dark to pair it with but settled simply for 2 colors.

Haunting is sort of what I wanted OPI's Baby it's "Coal" Outside to be, with the slightly more obvious silver shimmer flecks against a black base. I still like OPI's Baby... for being a black that isn't too flat-black but it's not particularly special like I thought it would be.

I had done swatches of Haunting, which I wore over Christmas, see them here.

I haven't swatched It's Alive just yet, which is quite odd considering it's the color that drew me to this collection but I find that always happens, saving the best for last? Well with the festivities I find it a bit off to have on an olive (mildly murky) green though there's really no code for what to have on but still.... you get what I mean!

Lastly, I picked up this pretty interesting Nail Art sticker that you apply via the help of water.

I haven't tried it out just yet and as with new things and experiences I'm pretty sure I'll screw up along the way but fingers crossed alright! Will share when I try my hands (literally) at this.

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Since we're on the topic of nails, here's an update on my Sally Hansen Salon Effect's Nail Stickers. I've only had it on for 3 days but so far so good!  I don't spy any signs of wear and tear on them, just yet.

I haven't done any vigorous chores but I did wrestle some crabs along the way (albeit as mildly as I could) and... no battle scars!

Some shots I just snapped with my iphone cam.

I guess these nail stickers are a lot sturdier than I give them credit for and I'd like to think having a Top Coat over helps too!

Thanks for reading!

It's funny how every festive season I tell myself I want to do something special or 'in theme' but in the end always reach for whatever I feel like and it's often not festive or special at all!

This time I was really trying to come up with a pretty combination for Chinese New Year and was settled on Kas's recommendation of Orly's Wild Wisteria and Inglot's flakies over. However, there was a sudden change of plans...

I chanced across this particular design in Sally Hansen's Salon Effects range while I was at Watsons and wanted it for a CNY manicure. I've always been interested to try these nail stickers out but didn't fancy their other designs, until I saw this!

It was my first attempt at sticker nails and I had just finished it, like just. So if anything went wrong or I messed up, I'll probably be up all night doing a backup manicure.

Thankfully, all went as planned and honestly these weren't as hard as I had imagined. I was honestly quite afraid of a screw up but the nail stickers are maneuverable and easy to shift around till you get perfection.

Each pack comes with 2 packs of nail stickers (4 pairs in each pack), emery board/nail buffer, cuticle stick and instructions.

Here's the 'work station' I set up for myself after clearing the dining table of the sinful dinner.

China Glaze's For Audrey is there because I used it on my toes.

I opened up one pack and mid-way through realized that it was only 4 pairs. Somehow I missed out the '16 nail stickers' on the front of the box. Not wanting to open up the other pack just for 2 nails (because once unsealed you have to use them pretty soon) I decided to improvise.

The random 'block' color is OPI's Baby it's "Coal" Outside.

I'm actually still marveling at how the nail stickers look on, they feel very thin and almost as if someone had painted a design like that thinly over my nails.

I opted to spam a little Seche Vite's Fast Dry Topcoat over it, mainly around the edges in hopes of prolonging it's wear. I'm not the most careful with protecting fancy nail designs so if these can last me past the first 3 days of CNY, I'm glad.

I'm not doubting the nail sticker, more of myself.

I like the balance of OPI's Baby it's "Coal" Outside against the nail stickers, at least it prevents everything from being too 'busy' looking.

Enough of me sharing, what do you have on your nails for Chinese New Year?

Thanks for reading!

I'm not one for red polishes and I know I'm a little early for Chinese New Year. You and I both know this nail manicure isn't going to last me for the next 2 weeks purely because I would switch it out due to boredom.

Despite being 'early in schedule', I decided to swatch this Blaze polish that I had received from Mei Mei Signatures over the rare sunny period window that we had. It's quite a pity the rain is back again now.

"Why wait for the sunny period?" You might think. Well.... it's because these are color-changing polishes!

Color-changing polishes?
The idea behind these Blaze polishes is that they are UV Color Changing, which means they tend to morph into a different shade when exposed to the sun. In short, it's like having 2 nail polish shades on under different circumstances when you really only have one!

The shade I received is Daring Red to Caviar Dream and I thought it would sit well in my stash since I don't have many reds. I received the polish around New Years or just before, so I figured it would go on well with the whole festive mood.

The polish is as you see it, a bright, vibrant red. It doesn't seem to lean too warm or cool which I feel would make it suitable for a good number of skintones, especially those who might fear the red!

From what I know, Blaze has different polish finishes from pearlescent to matte and also glitter. The one I have here happens to be from the glitter finish family. As you can see in the next photo, the glitter bits are pretty minute but defined and quite compact amidst a clear base.

The combined effect is a gorgeous intense red yet this is still a glitter polish so I expected there to be some layering involved to build it up.

True to what I thought, the first coat will leave you with a clear base and some glitter bits. Coverage-wise this makes it good for layering over a 'base color' but if you're looking to wear this alone you'll have to go over it a couple more times.

Here's one coat:

For one coat I'd say that's decent! I settled for 4 coats in the end because I was trying to hide the nail bed as best as I could. 4 sounds a bit much but I didn't notice any gloopy-ness after that many coats and the dry down time was fairly quick.

Four coats and Seche Vite Fast Dry over, taken with camera flash:

I can't help but feel that this polish, despite the extreme red-ness and Chinese New Year around the corner, actually has a Christmas-sy feel to it. It might be the glitter flecks and how sparkly it is but I wish I had swatched this over Christmas instead!

❧

Now that I have given you the rough idea of the polish, this is where the fun begins, the color-changing!

Now the irony is that the following pictures are taken with natural lighting, yet not all display the color-changed effect. I have noticed that the polish changes fairly quick under exposure to the sun yet if you are indoors where the sun still can reach you but isn't shining directly on, the color remains as-is.

Am I making sense?

If anyone is wondering about the efficiency of the color-change, it is most noticeable under a decently sunny day. In my office I do get some weak rays of morning/afternoon sun on certain parts of my desk and I enjoy watching my polish change slightly as I type on the keyboard. In short, the stronger the sun, the quicker the change!

I have labelled the images 'With' and 'Without' sun exposure so you can look to those for reference. I'll let pictures do the talking now!

While the above shot is still considered 'Without Sun Exposure' you can see it darkening slightly around the edges, compared to the previous shots. That's because I had my hands close by the window for quite some time to get these shots.

And now for the transformation!

I'm actually in love with how gorgeous the After Sun color is and if you are wondering about the 'girly-science' of it, you will notice that the base that was clear before has actually darkened to a black jelly color.

While there was the initial hassle of layering the polish to build it up, I think it pays of well because there would more layers of clear base to 'darken' which will result in a more obvious color shift.

I tried coating 1 layer of Daring Red to Caviar Dreams over a Canmake polish (Canmake No. 48) and under the sun it only darkened a little.

If I were to wear this polish again I think I would actually prefer going through the process of layering it since it provides the best results.

Overall I think the idea of UV color-changing polishes is pretty fun. They don't cost all that much more then some of the nail polishes out there and they have proven to work. The base colors (vibrant red) are quite pretty themselves so just imagine them shifting shades under the sun, oh what fun! It could be an interesting conversation starter too.

Blaze nail polishes are available at Mei Mei Signatures for S$15.90 per bottle. They carry all the ranges and items currently available on Blaze's website so you can check it out here.

You can also visit Blaze Nail Polish's website or Facebook page for more information about the brand. It does cost more to purchase from the site if you are from Singapore (~S$17).

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

While blog surfing, I chanced across this interesting nail combination on Belle Du Jour.

The result is a matte nail color with glossy tips and ever since I saw that it's been ingrained in my mind and I am so tempted to do something like it. I could not do it over the festive periods because I needed my nail colors to last the celebrations (and matte nails don't always last) so....

finally, here they are!

What I used: MAC's Black enough? matte polish and Seche Vite Fast Dry on the tips.

I'd give myself a 'could do better' with this because the glossy tips seem to be slightly 'goopy' in my point of view. Nonetheless I enjoyed having these nails on for a couple of days before the matte bit edging off got to me.

The idea of this reminds of packaging design whereby you have that sleek black surface and then laminated (Spot UV) strips here and there. Not quite sure why but that just comes to mind and I really like that 'look'.

❧

That aside, I also want to share what I had on my nails over the New Year period! I didn't get proper shots of it but I did instagram it, so here it is for those who missed it!

I had a black base on and 3 coats of OPI's Zombody to Love over.

Zombody to Love is a glow in the dark polish which applies very sheer on it's own, hence the 3 coats and the black base. I wore it over the New Year period partly because I wanted glowy nails during the Siloso Beach Party but that didn't happen.

The glow-in-the-dark effect of this polish is on the weaker side and only shows when it's close to pitch black. Think, your room at night without nightlights or anything.

That aside it's a little 'lighter' then what is picture in the instagramed pic. Here's another from Siloso, the only one with my nails in it.

Cropping the boyfriend off for his own good... not the most flattering picture, oops.

I have very few shots of this particular 'manicure' so this is all I have to showcase it. It turns out to be a pretty murky jade-green and it's quite fun to see your nails glowing as you're tucking yourself into bed so.... really a novelty thing but I'm not going to spend all day layering 3 coats all the time.

That aside, back to the matte nails and glossy tips,

I am contemplating trying it out with other colors, though that means I'll have to take a pretty long route about this. First, painting my nails, then mattifying them with Chanel's Mat Topcoat and finally glossing the tips up with Seche Vite Fast Dry.

Sounds like a plan!

Thanks for reading!

The Christmas weekend is now over and it's back to work and life. Though I like to tell myself that there are 12 days to Christmas, much like the 15 days of Chinese New Year.

I was quite lucky that my office was closed starting Friday so I managed to be out till Monday. I'm not going to be in tomorrow (Tuesday) either but work is still work and I've started getting my emails sorted out.

Anyway, I wanted to share what I had on my nails this long festive weekend!

This shade is China Glaze's Haunting, from their Halloween collection.

This polish is quite new to my stash such that I haven't done a proper haul entry for it yet. I couldn't wait and thought it would be appropriate for Christmas with it's lovely sparkles though ironically this is from the Halloween collection... a Christmas Haunting?

This is 2 coats of polish with trusty Seche Vite Fast Dry Topcoat over.

I would say A-England's Lady of the Lake still takes the top spot for shimmer bits within polishes, probably due to it's holographic quality. I do love Haunting for the silvery glitter against the dark base, very much like a night sky littered with stars. From afar the polish is generally a black with hints of silver as they catch the light. It's a color that looks a lot prettier under the sun as opposed to camera flash.

On Christmas day itself I wanted even MORE bling so I got out my SueSa polish in Silver and did some quick french tips. I would have done the tips a little thinner but with the rush going on that day, I'm glad these came out somewhat decent.

So...

What did you have on your nails over this Christmas weekend?

Thanks for reading!

Along with the SueSa polish package from Mei Mei Signatures, I had also received an
A-England one to try out.

When asked to pick my color I searched up a little about the brand and there were so many gorgeous shades (Merlin, Tristam, Guinevere, Galahad) but in the end I settled for Lady of the Lake. Taking it one at a time ;)

One thing particularly interesting about A-England is how the brand has both a gothic (or rather medieval goth) and regal charm to it. It's main/first collection, The Mythicals, was centered around a King Arthur theme, hence the very olden-inspired names. I almost feel like I need to use a Sans Serif font to match the mood.

As described on A-England, Lady of the Lake is a...

Dusky purple with rainbow glimmer and glow.

If I could add my thoughts to the description I would probably lengthen it by saying the holographic (rainbow) glitter bits are strewn in the polish and seem suspended within the purple shade, adding amazing depth to the color. When swatched it doesn't look like the glitter is just 'sitting on the surface' and appears to have a gloss coat over.

This is how 1 coat of the product would apply. It's generally quite even and good but the nail bed is still visible.

1 coat of Lady of the Lake

2 coats would get you an opaque finish and the best part is the polish is glossy enough on it's own that I didn't need to use a topcoat for that extra shine.

The following swatch images were taken without my trusty Seche Vite Topcoat over.

Dusky purple is probably a good way to describe it but it seems like a 'Royal Purple' as well.

In dim lighting or if you aren't focusing on looking at the glitter up-close, it appears as a purple with silver-ish sparkles (somewhat like the above shots).

It tends to glow a pinkish-gold tone when it hits the sun along with some blue thrown in. The green, red and other tones aren't too obvious unless you use flash.

With flash, it's quite a different story as the shimmer particles burst to life with color.

Like the whole brand idea, this polish looks perfectly regal with it's shimmer and royal purple. I'm still hooked on how glossy it is on it's own without Seche Vite's topcoat.

You can find A-England polishes on the local online nail store, Mei Mei Signatures (click here), at S$18.00. It retails on A-England's official site for £9.00 and with the exchange rate now, that works out to be about ~S$18.30 (free international shipping).

Since the price is about there, it's a good option to order from Mei Mei Signatures if you are located within Singapore. It also means a quicker time to get your hands on them.

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

Speaking of holidays in my earlier entry, here's more bling to get the festive mood going!

I received a package from Mei Mei Signatures a day ago and aside from a very thoughtful Christmas card (and some cute rhinestones), I had also received a bottle of polish by the brand SueSa.

Turns out, SueSa is actually Mei Mei Signature's house brand and has been available on Mei Mei Signatures since the launch of the website.

The range itself consists of a bunch of glittery suede/matte finished polishes available in different shades, the one I had received is in (blingin') Silver.

Digressing a little, I want to comment on how there's always a fear when shipping polishes because they are fragile things and every now and then SingPost feels a little tough love is the way to get things along. When I received these polishes they were extremely well cushioned that it even took me awhile getting through the bubble wrap.

The following is the amount of bubble wrap for just one bottle!

Back from the break and on to the polish!

The polish seemed to feel quite liquid as I tilted the bottle around so I didn't foresee a very dense glitter application. I expected them to be rather spaced out on one coat, however, I was so wrong!

While photographing the bottle, I decided to do a quck swatch over my Bad Romance manicure and was totally surprised at the glitter pay-off with just one coat.

You can still see a hint of the Bad Romance amidst one coat but I would say it's pretty solid over a colored base!

❧

Eager to get obnoxiously blinding nails, I removed Bad Romance and got my bling on.

Here is one coat on it's own without a base beneath.

The glitter applies very well and very prominently yet with one coat it still leaves little gaps and spaces between which makes it possible to layer over base colors. I think I want to try a black base beneath and perhaps try to ease this thinly over, that would be quite interesting!

To get an even glitter coat all over the nail, 2 coats will do the trick. I want to say it's more like 1 and a half because my second was just a thin layer to fill in the gaps. The polish also dries very quickly which makes it easy to apply if you're in a hurry and don't have all day to fan your nails down.

On it's own the polish has a matte/seude quality to it which is pretty if you like that. I personally prefer my nails glossy so I topped it off with Seche Vite Fast Dry over (found out it's also available on Mei Mei Signatures).

I didn't manage to focus on this in earlier shots but the bottle's wand handle has a Etude House esque design, so cutesy!

And since we're talking about glitter.... *cue mildly autofocus shots*

So much bling!

I'm really in love with this polish even though I'm not one for bling but perhaps the whole festive mood is getting to me.

If you're one for nailart and artsy nail stuff you might want to check out this extremely cool Galaxy Nail Art that Mei Mei had done using some of her SueSa colors. I know I'll stick to what I know, one color all over or french tips. heh.

Retailing at S$12, these polishes come in more glittery goodness with shades like Gold, Strawberry Pink, Ash Brown, Light Purple Grey, Green, Navy and more...

Check it out here!

Thanks for reading!

Disclosure:
Products were provided to me for review consideration.
I am not affiliated to them and all opinions expressed are my own.

Bad Romance was actually the color from Deborah Lippmann that caught my eye and had me finding out more about the brand. When Luxola opened their online store, I rushed over hoping to get my hands on this color, and I did!

I swatched and went through my other Deborah Lippmann polishes first before finally making it to this because I fancied it the most!

The polish has an almost black jelly like base color with bits of purple/magenta glitter within it. I say almost black because one coat will give you a translucent black finish where you can still see the nail through. The swatches in this post were done with 3 coats on.

The glitter flecks vary from small bits to larger hexagonal shapes which I felt were a little sparse within the polish, at least compared to Marquee Moon. The good thing is that the smaller flecks do make up for it and you don't have to fish too hard for the hexagonal bits but it might skip some nails.

It is a gorgeous shade and I love how it looks black but when it hits any sort of light the magenta flecks just show up and gives the polish a very dimensional look.

I find that I must wear this with a top coat (used Seche Vite's Fast Dry Topcoat) for that extra glossy shine over and also to even out the surface texture.

The only thing I didn't like about this is how present the glitter flecks are. With a top coat I can still feel the flecks along the surface though that might be quite inevitable. Some flecks that cut off near the edge of my nails took some filing to shape down so I don't end up scratching myself with those.

It takes a little work with getting it on and a little more after so I don't see this as something I reach to when I'm bored and just changing it up but as a special gorgeous color for occasions, that sounds pretty good!

Thanks for reading!