a hoarder's blog

So today is the last Monday of October and this is the last BCA-related post and mani. It has given me the chance to finally use some new polishes from my pile of untrieds as well as rediscover some old shades, and of course, it has been a great way to find out more about breast cancer. 

I've been meaning to use two newly acquired Orly polishes that have been staring at me for a while and what better way than to incorporate both in a single mani. I used OPI Pink Of Hearts as base and the new Orly polishes, Preamp and Miss Conduct.

I believe OPI started releasing their signature BCA collection, Pink Of Hearts, since 2007 and I think that the Pink Of Hearts that I used is from the 2007 release.

OPI Pink of Hearts - sheer, needed three coats

Orly Preamp (Fall 2012 Electronica collection) - gorgeous colour that has this lit from within look from the gold-pink glass flecks

Orly Miss Conduct (Holiday 2012 Naughty Or Nice collection) - magenta with scattered holo effect

Many brands release BCA-related products every year to raise awareness and raise funds for breast cancer research. OPI is one of them. Here's a quick rundown of the OPI Pink Of Hearts yearly release:

• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2007
• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2 2008
• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2009
• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2010
• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2011 (pink shatter)
• OPI Pink Of Hearts 2012

Hope you liked my pink PolishUsPink Mondays. It's been fun!

For this week's BCA mani, I thought I'd give stamping a try. As you probably can tell, I am far from being good at this art, but I thought this attempt wasn't too bad. My skill level is still that of a newbie, but it looked decent enough to post up. 

The colours I'm using here are OPI Strawberry Margarita and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and the image plate is BM-321 from Bundle Monster. 

Did you know that the original breast cancer ribbon was peach? Read more about the origins of the Pink Ribbon here.

Today I have a combined PolishUsPink and Holothon post. It is also a comparison post between two pink Enchanted Polish shades that look quite similar in the bottle, namely Hot Glam Girl and Jitterbug.

Let's get the comparison out of the way. Here I have swatched one coat of Hot Glam Girl (index, middle) and one coat of Jitterbug (ring, pinkie). Hot Glam Girl is opaque in just one coat while Jitterbug looks sheer. You can also tell the difference in colour right here.

On the second coat, Hot Glam Girl is not that much different, but Jitterbug is now fully opaque and the holo-ness is intensified.

Moving on to full hand swatches, these are two coats.

Hot Glam Girl

Jitterbug 

In case the colour difference isn't that obvious in the pictures above (I admit it was a bit hard to capture), here are two shots taken with my iPhone and posted on Instagram with no filter. Two shades of pink, one rose and one magenta, and based on the number of likes I've gotten for these pictures, it seems that Hot Glam Girl is a clear favourite over Jitterbug.

BCA Awareness: remember to do a breast self-examination from time to time. If you don't know how to, here are five steps to help you.

Personally, I've had a lump removed from my breast when I was in my teens. When I first discovered it and told my parents about it, they were worried sick, fearing the worst. Luckily, it turned out to be benign, but it was safer to have it completely taken out. The scar might have faded but it is still there to remind me to take care of myself in the present and future. I hope you do too.

I have a pink glitter sandwich for this week's BCA mani. 

I started off with two coats of Megan Miller Pink Lily. It doesn't look too bad on the pictures below, but I wasn't too thrilled about the formula on this one as it was a bit streaky. Maybe it would have looked more even with a third coat, but I wasn't patient enough to do another one. I do love this shade of pink though, very soft and feminine and it doesn't make my fingers look weird.

Next I layered one coat of Orly You Are Not Alone from the Pretty In Pink collection, which is their Breast Cancer Awareness collection for 2012. 20% of the profits will be donated to Cancer Schmancer Movement founded by actress Fran Drescher (best known for her role in The Nanny). While You Are Not Alone is exclusive to this collection, the other two polishes (Be Brave and Embrace) are part of the Flash Glam FX line. 

You Are Not Alone is a mix of pink glitter in a clear base and I used one coat over Megan Miller Pink Lily.

How cute is that pink ribbon charm that comes with the bottle?

I didn't stop there and went on to do my glitter sandwich. For this I applied a thin coat of Megan Miller Giada Pink over the glitter. It is a sheer polish, so it didn't completely submerge the glitter to the point of it not showing through. It's not my first time using Giada Pink and I must say that I really love it because it looks so delicate. 

So here you have my final mani. I think they all look good at every step. I could have worn Pink Lily alone, or stopped after putting on the glitter. But you know, gotta make more use of my polishes. Haha. I hope you liked the end result as much as I did. 

Megan Miller can be bought from Meimeisignatures and Orly is available from Tammy.

Do visit Cancer Schmancer Movement. It contains tons of info on all kinds of cancer, not just breast cancer. Trash cancer through education!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and after reading this post on thesubtleshimmer, I wanted to show my support by painting my nails pink on every Monday in the month of October.

Today I have Illamasqua Loella on my nails. It is a bright candy pink with a purple shimmer which looks beautiful from the bottle but does not translate well on the nails. This took 3 coats as it was still a bit streaky on the second coat. 

For more information about breast cancer, please head to http://www.bcf.org.sg. Remember that early detection can save your life.