Polish Days – Five: The Fifth Element

It’s time for Polish Days again! For the month of May, Hannah of Polly Polish came up with a very general theme – The Number 5. It seems kind of random but it’s my favourite number, so I’m not complaining.

I confess I was going to be lazy and just do a full mani with Emily the Molly The Fifth Element, the only polish I have with an indication of 5 in its name (as opposed to a generic numerical code). But inspiration sort of struck and I thought I would include the other four elements – fire, earth, water, air – too.

As I was painting my nails, it occurred to me that I could also have done the five elements based on Chinese philosophy. This would have included metal as the fifth element. It could still work, I suppose, given the metallic glitter in the shades I used.

To cut to the chase, these are the shades I used:

• China Glaze Fireside Glow
• Tony Moly GT02 Earth
• Cult Nails Living Water
• Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air
• Emily de Molly The Fifth Element

Polish Days – The Number 5 (daylight lamp)

Polish Days: 7 Deadly Sins

It’s time for the monthly Polish Days post again! I always wonder how Hannah of Polly Polish comes up with the themes, especially this month’s interesting “7 Deadly Sins”.

If you can’t recall the list, they are: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. Once you see the list of shades I used, it’ll not be hard to know which of the seven is my greatest sin!

I did a skittles mani with:

• Thumb: KBShimmer Candy Cane Crush over Barry M Gelly Blueberry
• Index: Pretty & Polished Bubble Tea
• Middle: Colores de Carol Cupcake Fantasy
• Ring: Pretty & Polished Tart
• Pinkie: Whimsical Ideas by Pam Peanut Butter & Jelly

Are you seeing the theme, yet? And look out for the italicised phrases in the post.

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SGSwatchFest: World Autism Awareness Day

April is Autism Awareness Month and 2 April is World Autism Awareness Day. It’s one of those causes I feel more for, hence I suggested it as an SGSwatchFest theme.

As enlightened by one of my Flakie Friday partners-in-crime, Kimberly of Kimber’s Lacquer Korner (her daughter has Asperger’s Syndrome), the basic colour for autism awareness is blue, along with a jigsaw puzzle in red, yellow, and blue. I’ve also seen the puzzle symbol in rainbow colours, and that was basically what I did. If you’ll like to join in, you may choose to do a blue mani or puzzle nail art. The main thing is the message and thought.

For my Singapore friends, you can visit the Autism Resource Centre for more information about the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

And on to my mani. I used the same Illamasqua creme shades (Cameo, Collide, Insanity, Jo’mina, Noble, Nomad, Wayward) as I did for my Easter mani because I really like how they look together. I used Cameo (blue) Collide (pink), Insanity (yellow), and Nomad (green) for the puzzle. I added the other ‘rainbow’ colours on the other nails: Jo’mina on the index, Wayward on the pinkie, and Noble on the thumb. The formula was easy to work with, and I used two coats of each shade.

I used a black nail art striper for the lines but I was struggling to get them right. It was only after I did this that I saw a tutorial that suggested a seemingly easier way. Instead of trying to outline the circular bits with a striper, I could have placed black dots on with a dotter, and then place a smaller coloured dot over the black, leaving the black outline. Well, at least I know what didn’t work well for me. I didn’t add a top coat for the photos for that always drags my nail art.

World Autism Awareness Day 2013 (flash)

SGSwatchFest: Easter

Happy Easter, everyone! I’m not Christian so, to me, Easter is about happy Spring colours and yummy Easter chocolate!

Although Easter is a religious holiday, there are so many cute (albeit commercial) icons associated with it, that we’ve of course included it as a SGSwatchFest theme.

I tried two new things for this Easter skittles – my first bunny and Easter egg designs. I based the Easter egg design on @lusterlacquer’s design. I realised I must have looked at her mani so many times that I unknowingly did a combo three-quarters like hers! Of course, my nail art skills are nowhere near hers, but at least I tried!

I used mainly Illamasqua creme shades (Cameo, Collide, Insanity, Jo’mina, Noble, Nomad, Wayward) for this mani, with Cult Nails Tempest for the white. I actually had difficulty finding a suitable pink among my stash for the bunny ears. What a shocker! I used OPI Heart Throb in the end.

Easter 2013. Pardon the trippy eyes of the bunny!

SGSwatchFest: St Patrick’s Day

It’s time for another SGSwatchFest, and the theme is St Patrick’s Day! Although we don’t exactly celebrate that here (except at some Irish pubs), I think it’s a perfect time to wear all the pretty green polish we have!

I have a soft spot for Ireland as the Emerald Isle is truly beautiful. I really hope to visit again someday. For now, I shall be contented with a mani featuring pretty green polish and a shamrock that I’ve in love with!

These are the shades that I used:

• Thumb: Pretty & Polished May Flowers (I love their colour changing creamy glitters!)
• Index: piCture pOlish Majesty with Kryptonite for the shamrock
• Middle: Wing Dust Crocodile Farm
• Ring: KBShimmer Get Clover It
• Pinkie: Pretty & Polished Irish Brawn (I won this in P&P’s giveaway!)

I added Nubar Diamont top coat over the mani. I’ll give more details on each polish before their respective macro shot. This first photo of the mani was taken in the sun.

St Patrick’s Day mani (sunlight)

#SGSwatchFest – Spring: KBShimmer Spring Training and Where My Peeps At; Darling Diva Good Luck Bear

We have our second round of #SGSwatchFest today! Again, this was an impromptu arrangement. I’m meeting some of my polish angels today and we decided to set a mani theme for our meet-up. Somebody suggested Spring colours, everyone else seemed agreeable to it, and I suggested expanding it to a #SGSwatchFest theme.

It’s a timely theme as many people have started receiving nail mail with Spring collections. For myself, I just received my orders of KBShimmer and Darling Diva Polish. Naturally, I wanted to wear as many as I could soon, so I finally decided on this skittles mani. I alternated KBShimmer Spring Training and Where My Peeps At on four nails, and painted Darling Diva Polish Good Luck Bear on my thumb.

I used about three coats of each polish, with a bit of additional dabbing here and there for the bigger glitters. I then added Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat.

All the photos were taken in natural light oudoors, mostly under sunlight.

Skittles with KBShimmer Spring Training and Where My Peeps At; and Darling Diva Good Luck Bear on the thumb (sunlight)