a hoarder's blog

I bought these when I was in Hong Kong last month (from this haul post) and I'm glad I finally got to wear them this week. I was starting to miss wearing nail polish! What happened was that my nails have just been really weak recently - peeling, breaking, peeling and ...breaking, especially the ring finger on my left hand (long story, but I think I caused it by filing it wrongly, yeah like so dumb). My nail would crack upwards into my nail bed and it was such a horrible sight for a long time, not to mention the pain I experienced at times. But well, there was nothing to do but to patiently wait for it to grow back. I also applied Nicole By OPI Vitamin Plus and Sally Hansen Growth Miracle to help strengthen my nails in the meantime. With that said, you'll notice that my ring finger is shorter in the pics below.

Onto the swatches...

My Lifesaver

It looks like a pastel blue here, but it's actually a mint green. Rich creme formula, opaque in two coats.

The brush that came with this was a bit stiff. Since it was my first time using Nicole by OPI nail polish, I thought it was normal. The brush, which is called the perfect stroke brush, is wide and coats my whole nail in almost one stroke. It felt a bit short and stumpy, but the sort of rounded brush made it easy to apply around the cuticles. Because it was stiff, I had a streaky application at first, but covered that up with a second coat. The brush in the next polish below (I've Got Bieber Fever) was much softer and and more flexible and was easier to use.

I've Got Bieber Fever

It might look like any other purple in the bottle, but on the nails, it's a very pretty deep plum colour with shimmer. I quite like this one actually.

Make U Smile

Mini silver glitter and big hexagonal bits of glitter in this one. I applied one coat over My Lifesaver. It is pretty bling. The bigger pieces shine like mirrors in the light.

Bring On The Tinsel

Multi-coloured glitter in red, blue, yelow, green. I applied one coat over I've Got Bieber Fever. Pretty dense for a one coater, two coats should fill up the whole nail. This is not part of the Justin Bieber collection.

Comparison swatches

China Glaze For Audrey vs Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

Might look the same side by side, but For Audrey is definitely greener than My Lifesaver when applied. Again, the colours in the pictures here are not accurate. They lean more towards green than pale blue.

Essie Turquoise & Caicos vs Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

At least here, you do see the difference in colour here. Though they are both cremes, T&C looks more jelly-like compared to My Lifesaver, maybe because it took around 4 coats to get the colour to look opaque (it is very sheer), while My Lifesaver just took two coats. The latter also looks more "milky" in comparison.

I recently collected a whole bunch of nail polishes from Gwen which I had ordered from her TD spree. I'm featuring some of my new Misa polishes in this post. They are essentially the non-pink polishes featured in this picture.

High Waist Hue and Fashionista were the first Misa polishes I bought and they were "second-hand". That explains the amount that has been used. The rest are the new additions to my stash. And now for swatches and some random comparison swatches. Enjoy!

Misa High Waist Hue, Misa Fashionista and Misa When U Say My Name

Misa High Waist Hue

Misa Fashionista

Misa When U Say My Name

Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money and Misa Toxic Seduction

Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money

Misa Toxic Seduction

Misa It's you! and Misa Wishing On A Star

Misa It's You!

Misa Wishing On A Star

I thought this combination looked a bit weird after I applied it last night. But today it looked kinda cute in bright light. This is China Glaze Re-fresh Mint and For Audrey on alternate fingers. My thumb was actually coated with Re-fresh Mint and I layered For Audrey over to see if the colour would change. But it didn't. It's the other way on my right hand and I applied Re-fresh Mint over For Audrey, but there was no noticeable change in the colour either. Oh wells.