Merry Christmas

Happy Boxing Day everyone! Hope your Christmas gatherings went well. As you can tell, mine were really hectic and busy so I didn't have much time to blog. I will remedy that soon though :) Anyway, I wanted to update about what was going on in my life recently.

Firstly, I have actually borrowed this book: Rescue Your Nails by Ji Baek which is basically all about the proper way to take care of your nails, give yourself a mani and pedi and how to paint your nails well. Despite painting my nails pretty regularly, reading this book made me realise there were still a lot of steps that were missing in my nail polish routine. And I'm not even done with the book yet! Some tips that I found really interesting/useful were:
 - that unused facial scrubs could be used to exfoliate hands and even feet as part of the hand care regimen
- the three ways to sterilise tools to prevent bacteria, fungus and viruses
- the proper way to use a buffing block (which actually prompted me to go out and get one)
- nail polish smudges on the nail itself can be easily remedied! Just use a clean nail polish brush to paint nail polish remover onto the smudge to even out the polish and once that dries, you can just go over with the same colour

I really liked these tips that I found in the book and when I finish the book (which is hopefully soon), I'll be sure to share more.

Secondly, I also have an Instagram account. Okay, well, I kinda always had an Instagram account. It's just that it started getting neglected when I got my blog. The account is currently called "nailcrush". I will change the name soon to be similar to my blog name but I will update again when that actually happens. Anyway, I'm going to start posting nail art more often soon and those, as well as my normal swatches will be posted on Instagram.

Lastly, I have a couple of Christmas manis to share.

Thanks for reading and happy holidays ♥

Nubar Calla Lily Caramel

Hey everyone! I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. Today I have Nubar Calla Lily Caramel on my nails. I'm not sure if this shade really suits my skin tone but it is a lovely brown colour with pink shimmer that's slightly visible in my photos. 

The formula was a little on the thin side and I'm guessing this might just be Nubar's normal formula because I bought another Nubar polish and I had to use about 3-4 coats. So this might not be a good brand to use if you don't have a lot of patience to wait between coats. But this is a pretty reasonably-priced polish so it's kinda hard to resist :P

What do you guys think of Nubar polishes? Do you have any favourites?

Color Club Antiquated Swatch

Hey girls, sorry for the week long break! I just got back from Krabi. Hope all of you are enjoying holidays and getaways too since it's December! Today I have Color Club Antiquated. I might not have mentioned this before but this is my first Color Club polish. The place where I normally get my nail polish from recently, or a few months ago maybe, started stocking Color Club so I decided to give it a go since they were quite affordable. I'm not loving this buy a lot though, you'll see why in a moment. 

The formula of this was decent, 2-3 coats for each nail. It's a silver, metallic shade, reminds me of aluminium foil. 

I had no problems with the polish itself. It's just that, the shade I expected wasn't what it looked like when I painted it on my nails. 

In the bottle, it looks slightly more bronze-ish and copper-y but it disappeared when I painted my nails with them :( So this was a slight disappointment. Nonetheless, the polish itself was great so no complaints there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Your Heart Out Award

Hey ladies! I was nominated for this award by the lovely Rachael over at http://rachosnaillove.blogspot.co.uk

So thankful :) 

Here are my nominations for the award:

1. Elissa from http://tenlittlenubs.blogspot.sg/

2. http://cocosnailss.blogspot.sg/

3. Emily from http://www.emalitsa.com/

4. Emma from http://globeandnail.blogspot.sg/

5. Marta from http://www.chitchatnails.com

And the questions to answer along with my answers!

1. Who/what encouraged you to start blogging? I'm not exactly sure who prompted me but long before I started blogging, I used to faithfully follow a couple of bloggers. I have long liked the idea of sharing nail polish and all related nail topics with people with similar interests and I used to have an Instagram account for it but I decided to move to blogging because I felt it was more personal.

2. How did you choose what topic(s) to blog about? Hmm, I blog about my nails and a little on what's going on in my life which usually explain the circumstances of my blogging activites, or lack thereof haha.

3. What is something that most people don't know about you? I love soccer! Both watching the game and playing the game.

4. What three words describe your style? Casual, independent and lazy.

5. What do you like to do when you are not blogging? I love to listen to music, especially covers. Somehow some songs that aren't that nice become so much nicer when someone else covers it. Oh, I'm currently following The Voice USA Season 5 :) You should definitely check that out if you're free, some of the singers are really talented! My favourites are Matthew Schuler, Jacquie Lee and Will Champlin.

Yay, I've come to the end of this. I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better :) Once again, thanks Rachael (I feel like I'm talking about myself HAHA) for the nomination :)

I would love to get to know you guys better if you haven't been nominated before! In case, you're not sure what to do, just nominate 5 other people, and answer the 5 questions!

Enjoy~

Sally Hansen Royal Romance Swatch

Hey girls! It's Saturday! And I had an exam today. Haha, but I'm glad that's over so I can relax a little and blog before returning to my studying for next week's papers. I hope none of you are suffering with exams like me. The good thing about exams though, means that the hols are coming! 

Today, I have Sally Hansen Royal Romance. 

Ignore the random air bubble. Don't know how that got there haha. This is a really pretty purple. There was some visible brush strokes when I applied the first coat but I think it looks much better after another coat or two. I don't normally get Sally Hansen polish but I'm definitely not regretting getting this one. I might consider buying more if I see a shade that catches my eye.

What do you think of this polish? Do you frequently purchase Sally Hansen polish?

Catrice Mint Me Up Swatch

Quick post before I get back to work! 

Today, I have Catrice Mint Me Up. It's a beautiful minty green. Reminds me a lot of OPI Thanks A Windmillion, except that this polish has bronze-ish/copper shimmer. It's so pretty. I used 2 coats but I found the formula of the polish a little thick. I guess the small, fat brush and slightly thick polish made the polish a bit lumpy on my nail so I had to be careful when painting. But I think all Catrice polish seems to have similar formula so I don't think it's like an accidental problem? Oh well, just have to be more careful when I'm painting. 

Hope you girls are doing well :) My exams start next week so I'll try scheduling posts in sometime during the week so I don't have to get so stressed up nearer the dates. They'll be mostly my past swatches because I haven't had much time to get my creative juices flowing to do nail art :/ But I promise those will come in the holidays (DECEMBER YAY CHRISTMAS).

Polish Haul Saturday #16

Hey girls! This is the most rush Polish Haul post I've ever done. I actually only got these like this afternoon and I'm putting them into a post already. I'm just so excited to share them with you all. And I've also been deprived of shopping for nail polish for way too long. One of the downsides to being in university; I really have no time to go to town (there's what we call the major shopping area in Singapore although it's not actually a town) to patronise my usual shopping areas :( But today, I managed to rush down after a group project (YES, school on a Saturday sighhh) because I needed to exchange something from H&M and I decided I would also treat myself to new nail polish because I haven't done that in awhile :) Last week's Polish Haul stuff was actually bought at least a few weeks earlier so I haven't had the time to admire pretty colours in awhile. I think I'm more in love with choosing new polish than actually the whole process of painting my nails haha! But I do love the end product. Pretty, freshly-painted nails can really brighten up my day! 

So yeah, today I treated myself with 5 new shades :)

From left to right, Color Club Hot Like Lava, Orly Goth, OPI Suzi Sells Sushi By The Seashore, Color Club and Essie Using My Maiden Name.

Close-ups are more colour accurate.

Color Club Hot Like Lava. Okay, I was kinda judging the name since lava is red/orange in colour and this is pink. But whatever, the sparkly pink is gorgeous. I hope the sparkle appears on the nail too. I have high hopes for this polish.

Orly Goth. Again, judging the name. Goths don't sparkle.. I'd imagine they be all black? Hahaha. But anyway as you can see, I was in a pretty sparkly mood. 2 out of 5 polishes have obvious glitter bits.

OPI Suzi Sells Sushi By The Seashore. No complains here. I was too in love with the pearly pink. These pinks are absolutely perfect, I hope the formula turns out as lovely as it appears ♥♥♥ <-I have recently discovered how to make this symbol and I really love it haha. Please bear with me.

Color Club Warming Trend. This deep red is so royally lovely. Yeah, I think I just made up that phrase. It just looks so royal and elegant. It reminds me of OPI An Affair In Red Square but I think this one's a little deeper and darker.

Essie Using My Maiden Name. I was attracted to the lighter purple-ish shimmer in this one. I wasn't really able to capture it in the photo though. Maybe it'll turn out better in the swatches :)

Yay! I'm done. I really enjoyed doing this post! I love sharing new polish with you all. Do tell me in the comments if you have any of these shades and love/hate them or if you want to see a particular one swatched first!

Thanks for reading ♥

Sally Hansen Lavender Marquis Swatch

Hey ladies! Yay, it's Friday! And my dreaded Oral Presentation is over! I really dislike presentations because I'm horrible at them and the nerves get me every time. I didn't even dare to paint my nails the few days before! But thankfully, the presentation went well like I didn't fumble although my voice was a little shaky at parts. But it's over and that's all that matters! :) And I can paint my nails in peace again :P

Anyway, I have an old swatch for you today. This is Sally Hansen Lavender Marquis. A really pretty light pink (or purple). 

This shade was a bit sheer so I think I used 3-4 coats for each nail. I really love how soft this colour is though. The formula wasn't too bad though despite me having to use a minimum of 3 coats.

Thanks for reading!

Updates!!!

Hey girls!

I've done some tiny changes to the blog so do check them out.

1. I've gotten a proper email for this blog as you can see on the right --> So do feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions or even just to say hi! I would love to get to know my readers!

2. I did up my nail polish stash. Above ^^^^^ Phew! It was loads of fun, finding out what I had (and all the neglected, hidden, stashed in a corner polishes) so do check that out. Feel free to request any swatches if you want to see a particular polish that I haven't already featured :)

3. I've decided that I need to start doing more nail art (and challenging myself) so I'm going to start allocating a day every month to do something new! As you've probably realised, I like to simply paint my nails and leave it like that but I realise it's quite unexciting sometimes :P So I am going to learn something new every month! This will probably start after my exams in December only but do look forward to that ^^

Alright! Thanks for reading and I'll see you girls in my new email inbox ;)

Butterflies~

Hey girls!

This mani was done awhile ago but I really loved it. The main feature is the nail sticker on my thumb. Which my lousy phone camera could not really focus on up close. I was organising my polishes a few weeks ago and taking down all that I own (do look out for my whole nail polish stash that I'll be getting up soon, yay! ) as well as digging through my nail stuff and I realised that I own a lot of nail stickers! So yes, I'm gonna start making good use of them since I figure they're a really easy way to spice up any mani. They're just a little tough to remove. Like my acetone ended up breaking it into little pieces and a chore to pick off my nail. 

Anyway, the gorgeous red/bright coral that I used as a base colour is OPI Lunch At The Delhi. 

Polish Haul Saturday #15

Hey girls! It's polish haul time~ And it's still Saturday (as I'm typing this) so the title is still valid. I was surprised that I don't have more polish to show you all. I thought I bought more over the past few weeks but I must have overestimated myself haha. Or I might have forgotten what I bought.. 

First, I have 2 Sally Hansen polish.

Sally Hansen Royal Romance. This is a royal purple, I can see how it got its name!

Sally Hansen Lavender Marquis. A very subdued, light pink.

I got these two shades at a sale. It was a buy one, get one free. Normally I do not buy Sally Hansen polish since they're even more pricey than OPI but I couldn't resist nail polish sales.

Next up, I have Nubar polishes. I have not tried this brand before but it was reasonably priced and I'm always willing to try new nail polish brands :)

Nubar Calla Lily Caramel. I couldn't resist this polish, the shimmer was super pretty. I'm not really able to capture the shimmer in the photo but it's a pink shimmer.

Nubar Rockin' the Garden. This one also had a slight shimmer. Hopefully, the swatches will be more obvious when I get them done!

And, lastly, my first Color Club! Haha, this is a Polish Haul of firsts. The place where I normally get my nail polish from started selling both Nubar and Color Club so since it's so much more accessible than it has ever been, I decided to try them. Can't wait to earn some bucks so I can go back and purchase more!

Color Club Antiquated. This looked like a rather unique metallic shade that I didn't own so I decided to get it.

Okay, I've come to the end of my Polish Haul. I hope you enjoyed this post :)

Teal glitter sandwich

Hey girls! I'm so sorry for the 'hiatus'. I hope you all aren't too mad at me and will continue reading my blog. It was totally unplanned because university suddenly just served me up a pile of work and I usually do my nail blogging on my computer and not my laptop so there was no time for me to use my computer to transfer the photos and all. I do apologize for that. Anyway, I've actually realised the pace of university is probably just gonna be like that for the rest of the semester and that I probably should just dedicate some time in a week to update this space. I actually went through a period of time, in my absence, and considered putting blogging on hold but I really can't imagine not having anyone to share my new nail polish and nails with! Like my RL friends can only appreciate so much > < So I've decided to somehow deal with it and maybe even learn better time management :)

Okay! So I have Butter London Slapper. This was a gift from a friend and it's a really beautiful polish but I don't think it really suits my skin tone :( But I would still wear it on my toes though. I wear any colour polish on my toes haha, especially the colours I would never dare to wear on my fingers. Slapper  is a turquoise and is a bit more green than what my photos show. The formula was awesome. If I remember correctly, I only used 2 coats. 

Then, I added Nicole by OPI Honey Dew You Love Me. When I bought this glitter, I knew it would look super pretty over a colour similar to it! And I was right!! The contrast is not as obvious as in real life but I think it really softens the look a little.

Thanks for reading :)

Btw, I've accumulated so much new polish over the past 2 months that I've probably neglected sharing with you all so do look for to the upcoming Polish Hauls! :)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder ;)

Hey everyone!

I know I haven't been blogging for at least 2 weeks now and I'm so sorry for that! My life is basically revolving around school right now. As some of you know, I just started university about a month and a half ago and well, all the work's been coming in recently and I have a couple of deadlines and tests coming up. Totally not used to uni life yet. I usually do my nail photos and watermarking on my computer but nowadays I've just been using my laptop for school work so I haven't had much time on my computer. I assure you that I'm still painting my nails a couple of times a week so I definitely have plenty of stuff to show you (new nail polish too!!!!). Anyway, just wanted to explain my absence and to say that I'll be back soon!! Another thing, shoutout to Rachael from http://rachosnaillove.blogspot.co.uk/ for nominating me for my second award! Thanks so much girl!! :) Really appreciate it. I'll get to it asap too!!

Thanks for reading!

Butter London Thames Swatch

Hey ladies! I'm so happy that being in university means there are no nail rules so.. painted nails every day yay!! So anyway, today I have Butter London Thames. Thames is a gorgeous green. It reminds me of the colour of emerald! I'm so in love with the colour that it's even on my toes right now haha! Formula of this one was good. I used two coats.

Really love how majestic this shade is. Would love to hear what you guys think in the comments :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Butter London Poole Swatch

Hey ladies! Quick post before I head to bed. I'm so tired, can barely keep my eyes open! University life is getting tiring :( Today, I have Butter London Poole. This is a gorgeous blue, I think this blue is called Tiffany blue too, and it really reminds me of the colour of a swimming pool! Such an apt name huh? The formula on this one was quite good but then I wouldn't expect anything less from a pricey Butter London polish! I used two coats and sealed with top coat.

I probably own at least 3 of these kind of similar-looking blue shades! I'm a sucker for them unfortunately. I definitely do not regret buying this one though! 

Polish Haul Saturday #14

Polish Haul time!!!!! I love sharing my new polish of the week :) I hope you guys enjoy reading about them too. I think I buy way more polish than I can use though in a week though. Like nowadays, I only paint my fingernails once or twice a week! They're currently bare while I pick a colour for next week! Today, I have two Face Shop polishes to share! :)

They are Face Shop Face It Wide Nails GR503 and Face Shop Face It BL601

A close-up of the glitter. It's sort of a mix of blue, purple and green bar glitter in a transparent polish. IT'S SO PRETTY!!

I'm obsessed with glitter but I'm always too lazy to wear them because the removal process is tedious. I'm a fan of the glue base coat method but I don't like how it chips/peels off really fast! Like before I'm ready to remove it. So I rarely use that.

Anyway, thanks for reading! :)

Butter London Queen Vic Swatch

Hello ladies! Quick mid-week post! Today, I have Butter London Queen Vic! This one's a really royal-looking colour and the name is so apt!

Love how classy this polish is! What do you think? :)

Polish Haul Saturday #13

Yay!! I'm gonna be able to finish this post up while it's still Saturday here. It seems like such a challenge to get posts up on time nowadays. Maybe I should start doing a couple at one shot when I'm free and then schedule them for certain dates? But it's hard to find a long period of free time where I can be on the computer. I've got so much research to do lately! And it's only coming to the third week of school yikes! At least I do find some interest in what I'm studying so that's a good thing :) Okay, on to my new polish!

No, group photo today because... the photo was ugly and I didn't realise till I started this post.

First up, Ciate Twinset and Pearls. My first Ciate polish yay! Isn't she pretty? The polish isn't really white, it's more of a sheer.. I'm not even sure what colour it is. It's quite transparent but there's a purple-ish shimmer inside!

Butter London Poole. I have a new love for Butter London polish! They're a little pricey here in Singapore. Slightly more than double of what I can get an OPI for :/ But the colours are so pretty that I can't resist haha!

Butter London Fruit Machine. A pretty pastel pink! Not sure how this would look with my skin tone though.

Butter London Thames. I LOVE THIS ONE. It's so unique in my collection! And the green is so beautiful!

Catrice Karl Says Tres Chic Swatch

Hey ladies! Quick post before I'm off to do some school stuff. Today I have Catrice Karl Says Tres Chic! It's such a gorgeous feminine light pink. I could wear this shade forever! I think it really suits my skin tone too :) Hehe, fan of muted pinks. 

In natural light, 

Artificial light,

The polish doesn't dry as shiny as it appears here. It's the Seche Vite top coat I used. I really love how it makes my mani look really good! And smooths out all the funny bumps that somehow appear because of wonky polish or uneven coats! Anyway, thanks for reading :)