Insa x Sophy Robson Nail Art Competition Entry

Hi everyone!

I have some pics to show of my entry into Insa x Sophy Robson's Nail Art Competition. For those unfamiliar with both of them, Insa does graphic designs and Sophy Ronson is a nail artist who does/is part of 'Nail Porn'. Not sure which, but I know that's a part of it.

I spent quite a long time getting these done! Most of the time was dedicated towards precision and such, like all the nail art I do. I did these on false nails, so that I had more nail space to work with and so I can keep them for myself! I emailed them to Nail Porn to upload on their FB. Hope I am lucky & win the goodies, though there are some really good entries too! Good luck to me :)

Don't really have much to say at this point, so enjoy the pics!

What do you think? I'll keep you all posted when the results come out :)



//Linda

OPI Ballet Collection Swatches

Hello fellow readers!

A bit late on the swatches, but better late than never right? I'm sure there are plenty of fantastic swatches out there - I got caught with terrible weather mood swings! It was sunny and then cloudy and then became super sunny for a bit then went cloudy and really windy shortly after. Bugger. So now I am left with one super bright photo and the rest are overcast, hope you don't mind.

At first I didn't want this collection, I thought meh, they all look the same and it's sheer, but when I saw swatch after swatch, I wanted a few and then eventually ended up getting the whole thing haha. My bf bought this for me because he's sweet like that :)

Just thought I'd go through all the boring stuff and say that each swatch was 4 coats (except Pirouette My Whistle which is just one coat over all the colours) and the polishes are pretty sheer. First coat looks like a regular base coat haha! I applied a medium layer rather than thin coats because I thought it'd take forever to get some colour on! Application was smooth, streak-free and they all dried with a glossy, jelly-like finish.
P.s. Since PMW was layered over all the colours, I just want to say that it's so feminine, pretty and delicate! Great top coat I reckon :) PMW is a loosely packed small silver glitter with pearly, matte medium hex glitters. I'm not a fan of glitter top coats, but this one's nifty and not completely in your face, which I like!

Let's have a look at the swatches!

Barre My Soul

Barre My Soul is a nude/beige polish, that at first I thought would look like the other colours in the collection. I'm glad it didn't because I hate having the same colour polishes! This was actually the colour I didn't want from the collection, but I ended up liking it, especially with PMW over it.

Care to Danse?

I think this is my favourite of the bunch! Care to Danse? is a pastel lilac which I think looks pretty flattering on. PMW over it makes it look even more awesome. Nuff said!

Don't Touch My Tutu!

Don't Touch My Tutu! is a classic sheer white - a favourite of mine. What I mean by that is I have China Glaze Moonlight and it's one of my favourite polishes - quite similar to this but not as opaque, though I'm sure with time and usage, these polishes will get thicker and more opaque than they currently are.

My Pointe Exactly

 My Pointe Exactly is an interesting polish - a grey jelly. As interesting as it is, it isn't very flattering on my skin tone, so I'm not a super fan of this colour. Shame shame, I know. Looks great on all the swatches I've seen though, probably fairer skin tones suit this better!

You Callin' Me a Lyre?

Last, but not least, You Callin' Me a Lyre? is a pastel pink (a tad peach) polish. It's kinda fleshy looking, more so than Barre My Soul, which is why I think it'd be perfect for french manicures. Heck you can use all these for a french and just stop at 2-3 coats! I like pinks and they look great on my skin, so this is no exception.


That's the OPI Ballet Collection for you! Have you purchased any for yourself? What's your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!



//Linda

Supanails Zulu Pop Inspired Mani

OKAY, so I have gone into sloth mode and I'm so lazy to do anything, so I'm sorry about writing this post now when I should've written it like 2 days ago! Now that we have established that I am a lazy bugger, let's get to the nails :)

I came across this design from Supanails a few days ago (few days before I did the mani, that is) here and I loved it so much that I wanted to recreate it. It's a simple tribal design in bright colours and it really pops! Heck, I think Supanails has the most awesome tribal nails ever. If I could do nail art inspired by one nail artist it'd probably be Supanails! They have such cool style and edgy designs. I like.

Let's get onto the pictures shall we?

I fixed the chip on my index finger here on Photoshop haha 

Sorry for the crappy picture, I took this by myself on timer and I couldn't be bothered (so much effort to get the picture right!) to take another so settled for this bad angled one. Hope you are all cool with that.

Nice and bright right? Great look for summer! What do you think of this mani? Let me me know below :)



//Linda

Barbie-like Nails & Part 2 Product Review from KKCenterHK

Hi everyone!

I have the other set of water decals to review (from the last post) and I suppose it's gonna be exactly the same as the previous review on the zipper ones! So for those who haven't read the previous post, I said that the decals were really easy to use. All you have to do is dunk them in water for a bit, slide the decal off and position where you like on your nail and to finish off, you apply topcoat. Nice and easy. I also mentioned that you can peel them off if you stick them in the wrong place, which is also a bonus!

I decided to make some nails that kinda look like Barbie. Pink, diamonds, pearls and a golden necklace? Sounds kinda like Barbie to me! I used the butterfly decal as the pendant of the necklace.

Sorry for the terrible photos! Took these at night =/ Also, I had a fatality with my index finger - it got caught inside the clasp of my bag and just broke right off as soon as I took my hand out :( Sad days.

Anyways, the only drawback about these decals in particular is that they're quite large. If you want to put them on your pinky, they might not even fit. The one I have on in the photo was the smallest of that butterfly shape. There are smaller ones, but If you want to use that one, well, it might not fit if you have small nails. Other than that, all is smiles :)

What do you think of these decals and the mani? You can purchase these decals at the KKCentreHK store here for $6.39.



//Linda

Denim Zipper Nails + Product Review from KKCenterHK

Hi lovelies!

It's been a while since I've posted, because of final assignments and stuff before our mid-sem break, so now it is mid-sem break and I have nails and a product review to show you all :)

I received some foil water decals from KKCenterHK for review and I was excited to try them out cause they're foil! Here's a pic of what they look like:

I received a silver and a gold design to review and they were packaged nicely in a zip-lock bag. These were really easy to use! All you have to do is dunk them in some water for a bit, and then slide the decal off and using a pair or tweezers or your fingers, place them anywhere on your nail. If they are still wet, gently pat it dry with a tissue and apply topcoat to protect them. I also found that if I had stuck them down in the wrong spot, I could lift it up and reposition it. All you have to do is dunk it back into the water so you can easily reposition it and get it to stick on your nail. Neat huh? They're a really simple and funky way to add some shine to your nails. Now that we've established how easy it was to use them, let me show you what I did with them!

I added some texture using a piece of fabric on my nails first, and then I placed the water decal over it. No topcoat in this mani, you want to retain the texture (except for the tiny bit of topcoat over the zipper) :)

These water decals retail for $6.39USD and can be purchased from KKCentreHK's website here. A big thanks to KKCenterHK for providing these for me to review!



//Linda

The Unused: Blue Glitter Gradient with 3D Leopard Heart!

Hello lovely readers!

I have tonight an unused mani - for those who aren't familiar with this 'series', I take polishes that I've never used and make a mani out of it. It just forces me to make use of the polishes I never touch :) I decided to use Gone Gonzo! from the OPI Muppet Collection and Beyond the Mistletoe from Colour Club's Beyond the Mistletoe Collection. I thought they would look great together and the holo glitter from BTM would add some great dimension to GG.

I did a glitter gradient with these and added an acrylic 3D heart and painted some blue leopard spots on them (I've always wanted to try them!!). To finish off, I lined the heart with silver bullion beads. They're so Japanese-like to me, but they would've been more so had I added rhinestones to the remaining fingers - I just wanted to keep this one simple. Without further ado, the pics :)

Sorry for the different lighting in the pics - all except the first were taken at night. Apart form that, what do you think of this mani? Let me know below :) I think I will be doing a product review in the next post, so till then, takecare!

**Btw, remember those black milk legging designs I did a while back? My cousin just informed me of them sharing my link on their FB page! :D



//Linda

Super Cool CMYK 3D Cube Nail Art!

I say 'super cool' cause they really are! I love them so much I just want to wear them for a really long time... Every time I look at them, they remind me of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects things, but I assure you they are not. SO what are these nails I speak of? 3D cubes in CMYK (cause these colours looked so good together and conveniently, I say this from the designer in me hehe) colours, I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

I LOVE geometric stuff, so I absolutely love these! I'm pretty surprised how well these came out and they really remind me of something that supanails would do. Cause I've been staring at these so much, I kinda see a 6 pointed star, but meh, they still look good to me whatever I see. Excuse my narcissistic comment haha!

Let me know what you think of this mani below :)



//Linda

Something fun to try :)

Hi there!

I have something very simple and fun to show you using just a slice of butterfly fimo :) I was thinking about this idea a couple days ago and did a mock up on a nail wheel and I like how it looks - not very practical though! I'll let you decide what you think of it!

Just thought I'd share this before I posted about my cube nails. Enjoy!


//Linda

Easter Nails!

Hello readers!

Today I have some cute easter nails to show you all! I did a very simple type of design and since I have never really done easter nails before, I decided to just go for the bunnies and easter eggs. I did however, use reference pics for this design since I had no idea what I wanted to do haha. I did 2 bunnies and the remaining fingers as easter eggs.

Here are the pics

These were based on the following pictures:

I think one of my bunnies look kinda weird, but they turned out well anyway haha. Let me know what you think of this mani, since its my first easter nails :) In the next post, I will show you some awesome geometric nails I was working on! Till then, takecare :)



//Linda

The Remaining Memes!

Hi everyone!

Today I have the remaining memes to show and all the good ones are in this lot! Forever alone, Y U NO?, me gusta & the iconic troll face were done :) Well, nothing much to say except these pics show no topcoat and enjoy!!

 Here are the remaining few,

 Here they are altogether close up,

And here they are all on the wheel. Click on the images to view them larger!

Hope you enjoyed these little memes! Next post will be my easter nails :) TIll then, takecare!

//Linda

Sugarcoated... Without the sugar!

Hello lovely readers!

After my post about the caviar nails, I've been looking for textured things to stick on my nails... haha. I didn't go crazy, just came across some clear white glitter that I had in my drawer and though it'd be a great sugarcoat mani :)

I really liked how they turned out, but let me tell you, they are a pain the the bum! For all you girls who hate non-functional nail art, this is not for you! I could deal with the caviar ones, but these... they stuck to EVERYTHING! They got caught on my hair, it hurt to scrape them against my skin, picked up on cotton, wool - heck all the fabrics!

Lot's of complaining, but I liked them for as long as I had them, which was something like, a day haha! I hadn't added top coat on (then it would've completely dulled the glitter) so a lot of it came off after having a shower... Nevertheless, perfect for A day out :)

They look best is dim or low light - they sparkle more!

Such a pretty, subtle and sparkly mani. If you have hectic lifestyles, or touch things all day, perhaps this isn't the mani for you, but great to try at least once! Now time to decide what to paint on my fingers next hehe. Hope you enjoyed this mani & see you soon in the next post!



//Linda