a hoarder's blog

So the recent theme for #PolishTogether (formerly known as #SGSwatchFest on Instagram) was Pearl, the birthstone for June. 

This is what I wore. OPI Sand In My Suit. I don't recall having any pearl finish polishes, and this is the closest thing that I found that looked like pearls to me. Yep, my interpretation is pretty simple and very literal.

It's not a colour that I usually wear, but I like it all the same. A neutral shade that would go with any outfit. That shiny, pearly look makes it very chic too.

Two coats, no streaking. Perfect mannequin hands.

My nail polish posts are getting sparse and I have such a backlog of swatches to post. I don't even know if I should cos they feel so old. Laziness and procrastination coupled with life getting in the way...you know the usual reasons. Well, it'd be a waste of photos if I don't, so I will slowly get them up, even if it's just to show swatches. I'm not much of a story teller anyway.

I wore this a while back. I believe this is two coats. It looks a bit sheer, maybe three coats would have been better. I didn't like it much on me at first. I think it's got to do with that greenish flash that I sort of see in the glass flecks.

But then it also turned pink and that looked rather pretty.

I love it best looking like this. Golden and blingtastic!

It is a very complex shade is all I can say and if you like gold, you might wanna look into this one.

Vivid Lacquer Theoretical Rockstar is a medium grey jelly packed with black, white, and silver micro glitter. It applied sheer on its own and so I decided to layer it over Zoya Carey. I think it's a pretty good match.

Thermal polishes seem to be all the rage right now. This is the second one I've used from Pretty & Polished (the first one is here) and I'm still so fascinated with them. This one is called Day Trippin' and it changes from a dark purple when cold to a bright pink when warm. This is a very picture heavy post cos I couldn't stop myself from snapping pics every time. 

Application was good. I think this is two coats. As you can see, it has a semi-matte finish. 

So I applied top coat to make it all glossy. 

The funny thing I noticed about this polish is that it's always purple in the bottle even though our Singapore weather is warm. I would have expected it to be more on the pink side since this is the warm colour. You can also see that it applies dark purple first before turning pink. It's unlike Mirror Mirror where the polish is light blue in the bottle and applies light blue too (light blue being the warm colour). Anyway, random observation there, let's move on to the pictures.

Cold mode:

Warming up with the tips still cold:

Slowly fading:

Warm mode:

Dunking in cold water:

Completely warm:

And yes, I couldn't help myself from playing just to see the changes happen.

Other miscellaneous pics:
This was taken with flash and you can see some purple/pink flecks shining through.

This is a random shot from work after washing my hands. Somehow my middle and ring fingers stayed cold while the rest were thawing.

And this shot was taken when I was leaving the office, coming out of the air-conditioned temperature to the warm outdoors. 

I loved this polish so much that I used it for my pedicure too. I usually have cold feet at the office due to the air conditioning, so my toes will be dark purple then and they will change to pink once I'm out. Or if I come in from the warm weather outside to an air-conditioned place and I start feeling cold, my toes will have this gradient look as it adjusts to the temperature. You get the picture. Really fun stuff!

The Nails Inc Feathers effect polishes are made up of short bar glitters in a clear base. There are a few colour combinations available and the one that I bought from Sephora recently is called York and it has peach and white bar glitters. I admit a large part of me was attracted to the bottle design first (the bird and the peacock feathers made it so hard to resist!), then to the colour. 

I didn't want to attempt covering my nails with just this polish. Although the glitter is very dense, I don't know how many coats that would have taken me (maybe 3 or 4?) for full coverage. So I used it as a topper over Nails Inc Porchester Square and Essie Absolutely Shore on the accent. Porchester Square is a classic mushroom/taupe cream and Absolutely Shore is a pale sea foam green. I thought the colours looked so good together. Very soft and contrasting at the same time.

Application-wise, York was a bit tricky. It started well for the first two fingers or so, then it got a bit gloopy. I had to shake the bottle to make it good again. If you like to go over your nails a few times with the brush, it will get all thick especially at the tips and the glitter will lump together. Best to apply in thin layers and let dry in between, otherwise you might get bald spots or experience dragging of the glitter. I had to redo one of my nails a couple of times cos it got clumpy, and I know how frustrating that is.

Despite all that, I loved the outcome. I think it's a very unique quirky look, which you will either love or hate.

How do you like it?

Butter London Fiver is from their latest collection for Spring 2013. It is a creamy mint green with a definite blue undertone. It looks like a pastel blue in certain lightings and I certainly mistook it for a blue when I decided to paint some clouds on my nails. 

Application was not a problem, a little bit streaky on the first coat but it evened out well on the second coat. 

In the shade:

Facing the light:

Nevermind that I probably have a few other polishes that look more or less like this, I just can't resist shades like this.

This is piCture pOlish Monroe, the reformulated version with added holographic glitter. Loved this one more than I had imagined. The colour made me think of raspberry wine, which I've not had before, mind you, but yeah, it's this deep berry shade that looks very sexy. Two perfect coats.

Twitterpated is the other holo polish from the "P.S I Love You" collection Girly Bits has released for Valentine's Day. It is a light purple foil/holographic with pink shimmer.

I tried it on its own at first (see my pinky) and thought that it was too sheer (I usually paint my nails at night under yellow light, so the lighting is not always the best for me to judge colours). And so, I decided to use it as a layering polish instead. I painted the rest of my nails with China Glaze Fade Into Hue and coated that with a layer of Twitterpated.

In the morning light, the rainbows showed themselves. The pink shimmer was also visible but I couldn't get them on the same picture as the holo. You can kinda see it on the pinky though.

This is a picture taken in the shade and here the pink shimmer is clearly visible.

I decided to use Twitterpated again, but on its own this time. This is about 3-4 coats. It looks sheer, but it's actually not. I think it's the pink shimmer that gives it this very light, fairy-like ethereal look.

And here's how it looks like in the bright daylight. It looks different in different lighting, it can be worn alone or as a topper. I love how it's so versatile.

P.S I think Mei Mei still has this in stock.

P.P.S And because I wasn't sure what twitterpated meant, I looked for the definition on dictionary.com.

twit·ter·pat·ed [twit-er-pey-tid]
adjective Informal. excited or overcome by romantic feelings; smitten.

I must say I am undeniably smitten by Twitterpated.

Girly Bits Hot Shot  is a hot pink holographic polish and it is one of the polishes in the "P.S I Love You" collection released for Valentine's Day.

This was love at first swatch. I seriously could not get over how perfect this applied and looked. Sorry for the spam of pictures. It's just too pretty!

Was also told that this is black light reactive and will glow orange! Sounds exciting! Unfortunately no place with black light around here, so will have to try that out when the chance comes.

And over here, I've layered Darling Diva Menage A Trois over. Holo pink glitter over hot pink holo!

According to the official description on the Alanna Renee website, Reptar has orange and lavender hex glitter and smaller black, white and neon green hex glitter in a light blue base. Reptar dries gritty, giving it the texture of a real T-Rex (It is inspired from the dino from the Rugrats).

I did two coats here. It did feel a bit rough after top coat, but it wasn't too bothersome. So I didn't try to layer more top coat to hide the grittiness. The bigger glitters were not too hard to get out.

It is an interesting polish to say the least. I don't have anything quite like this in my stash.

Alanna Renee is available at Shoppe Eclecticco!