Ice Cream Sundae Mani Tutorial

I finally have my pictures edited for my Ice Cream Sundae/ Spring/ Easter inspired nail art tutorial!



For this nail art design, I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Re-Fresh Mint, Something Sweet (all from the Up and Away Collection), and Art Deco Silver Glitter. ^-^


1. I used three coats of white polish as a base so that the colours would show up more opaque. This way, you would not have to go back and repaint every stripe if they were still sheer after the first coat. You can also use ridge fillers as an alternative. (The white polish was actually not necessary for this manicure as the three shades that I used were opaque enough already.)

2. After the white polish dries, paint on diagonal stripes in alternating colours. For a more unique look, always start with a different shade on every nail.

3. Next, line the stripes with silver glitter. The Art Deco one that I used has a striping brush made for nail art; it definitely made the process a lot easier. =)

4. Finally, finish the design with your favourite nail art deco, stickers, or rhinestones!

As you can see, this nail art design is fairly simple to do. This is the perfect mani to wear for Spring and Easter! I hope you'll all try it out when you get a chance to! Love you all and thank you for reading! ^-^

Ice Cream Sundae Mani

I mentioned that I worked on some nail art with a few of the polishes from China Glaze's Up and Away Collection..and here it is finally! This manicure has nothing to do with ice cream sundaes or whatsoever; however, the feeling that it emits simply reminds me of one. You know, like a banana split kinda thing? XD

Hahaha, is it just me or does my pinky look significantly shorter than the rest of my fingers?
I think this is the first photo that I ever posted which shows more of my hand. Actually, my left hand to be exact. Have you ever noticed that I only swatch or take pictures with my left hand? If you ever wondered why, it's because I use a DSLR for my swatches. This means it makes it almost impossible for me to hold the camera if I wanted to take pictures of my other hand. Therefore, it's always just my left hand that has to endure all the harsh aftermaths of nail polish remover. No wonder my cuticles look so terrible! >.<

Sometimes...I guess there are just some things you have to sacrifice for prettier pictures? (At least...that's how I try to comfort myself. LOL!)

I used Re-Fresh Mint, Something Sweet, and Lemon Fizz for this design. I will post the tutorial to this mani as soon as I have the pictures edited, perhaps later on today or tomorrow?

I picked up some limited edition Japanese Kit Kats the other day and really wanted to share these with you guys!

Royal Milk Tea is without doubt my all-time favourite drink, I can't wait to try this out! By the way, does anyone know what kind of tea they use for this? I have always wondered about it...

Mmm...Sparkling Strawberry Soda! ^-^

And lastly Ginger Ale! =D

Have any of you tried these yet? They look absolutely delicious!!!

Claire's Dream Catcher

Yippee! A green for St. Patty's Day!

Dupe for Chanel Jade. Well actually, it's not really a dead on dupe since this has more yellow in it compared to Jade. However, I read on MUA that a fellow nail polish fanatic has found *the* recipe to franken Dream Catcher into an exact dupe. I think it was something along the lines of adding 18 drops of white creme and 1/8 bottle of clear polish. (I looked it up again it's actually Missnono @Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss! Please check out her blog if you haven't already! She's got amazingly gorgeous nails!) I have yet to try this, but I don't own Jade so I wouldn't be able to compare anyways. And OH MY! I just wanna slap myself for passing on Jade! I totally had the opportunity to get it when it first came out but I didn't! Why Wan?! WHY?!?>:(

Anyway, I don't really like the formula on Dream Catcher as it is rather streaky and hard to get even. I think I used four coats for the swatches if I remember correctly. Despite its mediocre application, I still bought another two bottles for back-up the other day...you know, just in case right? Lol!

Lastly, here is an excellent comparison post on Chanel Jade, Dream Catcher, and another polish by Charlotte Russe (also named Jade) by Meganchair @Little Music Boxes! Looveeee her blog!!! She has the prettiest cuticles and the best clean-up technique! I think she has a tutorial on it too so please go check it out! =)

China Glaze Up and Away for Spring 2010: Part III

Re-fresh Mint- A pastel mint green creme. I'm planning to thin this one down a bit since the formula is a lil on the thick side. Three coats. = )

Four Leaf Clover- Vibrant green creme. This one is so bright it's almost neon! The polish is very pigmented and is opaque in two coats. Four Leaf Clover is incredibly difficult to capture on camera; it took me quite a long time and also many different camera settings to get it as colour accurate as possible. Due to different monitor settings and the lighting this was photograph in, the swatch you see may still vary from the polish's true colour.

Flyin' High- Medium turquoise creme. The formula on this one is very smooth and not as thick compared to some of the pastels in this collection. I used two coats for this also.

Last but not least,
Grape Pop- Gorgeous purple creme. This one requires two thin coats for bottle colour.

Want to see the rest of the collection?
Part I of the collection can be found here and Part II can be found here.

These were sent to be for review.


P.S. I also worked on some nail art using a few polishes from this collection. Please stay tuned as I will have them uploaded very soon! Thanks for reading! =D

Nail Up March 2010 Issue

My very lovely sis just got me the March issue of Nail Up! Here are a few scans from the magazine! Enjoy!

P.S. Please click on the pictures to enlarge them! ^-^

OPI Got a Date To-Knight NL R46

Originally from the Princess Charming Collection, Got a Date To-Knight is a sheer barbie pink polish that can be built up to a jelly-like quality with 3 to 4 coats coverage. It's definitely a very fun colour to wear! Hahaha, my grandma actually picked this for her recent manicure too! She loved it  a lot which shows that you can never be too old to wear nail polish! ^-^

Essie Jazz

This is Essie Jazz, my favourite nude creme after Orly Country Club Khaki. Considering I still have more than 250 untried polishes set aside waiting for me in my Helmer, another polish may soon take its place. *gasps* Some of my untried nudes include: OPI Let Them Eat Rice Cake, OPI Have a Tempura Tantrum, OPI Tickle My France-y, RBL Opaque Nude, and RBL Grunge. Oh my GOODNESS! Can you believe I still haven't tried Grunge yet? I guess it's time for more swatching! =D

Anyway, Jazz is a great work appropriate shade and beautifully opaque in three thin coats.