Polka Dot Mani Fail with Essie Foot Loose

Edited to add: Get 10% off your Born Pretty Store purchase with coupon code MH10K31 - expires Oct 31, so you can purchase happily til then! (Note: I don't profit in anyway from the code. I'm just sharing it with interested readers.)

After seeing all those awesome cool manicures featuring dotting tools, I decided that despite my lack of hand-eye coordination and general clumsiness, I just HAD to try one out. That, and I wanted to bring on a summer colour on my nails. That's how I ended up with this monster of a manicure. I have to admit, while there wasn't anything wrong with the tools I used, my dotting skillz are teh suckz. Seriously.



I got my dotting tools from Born Pretty Store, which has been popular lately among bloggers and nail polish lovers for its ready availability of cheap and cheery nail art suppliers, including crackle polish, stickers, rhinestones, etc. The dotting tools I got were just under US$5 for a set, and are available here.

These dotting tools are of good quality, and quite handy to use. You get a set of 5 dual-ended dotting tools. All five have two ends.



One end is all the same size, a standard size that would be handy for most designs:



The other end of the tools is more interesting for girls who really want to dot in all sizes. The ends of the tools range from really big to positively tiny, and would definitely satisfiy any dotter's needs.



For the dot manicure below, I used Essie Foot Loose because it was such a lovely summer colour - girly, bright, and still a little spunky. And since it's in the colour family of pinks (in this case bright purply-pink), it's wearable to the office! And unlike other Essies which tend to be sheer and streaky, this is a one-to-two coater, depending on thickness of application.



For the dots, I used the dotting tools and Wet n Wild White. One of the best white konading polishes ever, now used for dotting. FOr the variously sized dots on my nails, I used the large end of the green dotting tool, and the large end of the pink dotting tool. I also, for smaller dots, used the white dotting tool.

I know the dots don't looks as nice as they could be, but that's realy due more to my lousy application than anything else. After all, all dotting tools are the same right? But looking at these photos makes me feel like from far, they aren't THAT bad, right, right? *Crickets chirp*



Anyway, I love the colour of my mani, even if my dotting skills suck. It kind of reminds me of summer - bright, and polka dotted, and just generally cheery!

(Dotting tools were sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

ManGlaze Mayo: A Matte White Christmas!

Okay, so it's not Christmas yet, but somehow, that was what I thought of when I was wearing ManGlaze's Mayo. Mayo is one of ManGlaze's latest colours, and an addition to their immensely popular matte nail polish range. And this one, unlike Manglaze's usual range of dark colours, is white! From what I know, the white has been requested for a while, but it took awhile to get the formula right. And on the ManGlaze website, they even tell you that "this stuff takes a skilled hand" to apply.



ManGlaze, despite its relative newcomer status, has already been rapidly garnering a fan following, because of its grungy, edgy image. In a world where most polish brands produce masses of pinks and reds, and tack on everything from flowers to bows to annoyingly girly paraphernalia to boost sales, ManGlaze stands out, like that devil-may-care rocker chick wearing studs in a sea full of pink princess-y girls toting Hello Kitty bags.



Anyway, enough about Hello Kitty and goth girls, let's get to the nail polish. Yes, this colour is hard to apply, and yes, you do need a skilled hand and a good base coat. Mayo, when compared to ManGlaze's other colours, is trickier to apply. Unlike Fuggen Ugly, it doesn't go on nicely in smooth, thin and even coats. Mayo goes on thicker, and more unevenly. My personal experience was that it's better to apply this in as thin and even coats as possibe, and do two coats, rather than attempt to apply one single thick but even coat, because this doesn't even out that nicely.



Now that I've gotten the negatives out of the way, let's talk about the positives. Have I told you how cool this colour is? It's not jet-matte-white, like OPI's Alphine Snow Matte (which honestly I think is a little boring). But this one has some very fine flecks of glitter dotted throughout the polish. Once applied however, this glitter is invisible to the eye (I myself can only see it in the bottle), but I feel like it adds a little something to what would otherwise be just another matte white.

So, do you need this? Sure, if you don't have a matte white, and you want ManGlaze's punk-rock take on it, and you can deal with the application issues. You gotta admit, there is just something attractively cool about ManGlaze's aesthetic. But if you think you might have trouble with application, I suggest you go for Fuggen Ugly, or another colour.

(This product was sent to me for review. I am not affiliated/compensated for my review.)

NOTD: Happy National Day Singapore - Sorry I Ruined Your Present

Part of the reason why I don't do Youtube videos is because I don't think many people would understand my English accent easily. I'm not American, and thus widely understandable (thank you MTV and Hollywood), and I'm not British, and thus slightly less comprehensible but still forgivable on account of having a cute and adorable accent. (Yes, I've come across many a non-Brit who think the Brit accent is cute. Believe it! :P ) Instead, I'm from a tiny country in Asia, called Singapore. And though English is the default language I use (I study, think, work, curse, and converse with just about everyone I know in English), I seriously doubt anyone outside of Southeast Asia would be able to understand my accent with ease, despite my fluency in the language. And although three years of living in Chicago have given me the ability to quite passably imitate an American accent, well...I don't wanna, even if it's just on Youtube. I'd feel like I was selling out, somehow. I mean, after all, how you talk is a part of who you are, right?

Anyway, I'm telling you this because my NOTD (Nail of the Day) has something to do with my native Singapore! This is because it's a Singapore-themed mani! You see, 9th of August is Singapore's National Day - the Singaporean equivalent of America's 4th of July, so it's a meaningful date in Singapore's history. And, it's a public holiday, which makes it awesome! :P

So, to display my love for my country (and for public holidays, LOL), I thought I'd base my NOTD on the Singapore flag, step out of my comfort zone, and try some freehand nail painting for the first time.

This is what the Singapore flag looks like:



You'd think it would be easy, right? I mean, the Singaporean flag doesn't have 50 stars and 13 stripes, and it doesn't have a red-on-white-on-blue Union Jack. It consists of two colours, and a handful of geometric shapes. So, I thought, it should be easy! This would be the perfect way to try out freehand nail art for the first time!

Well, turns out I suck at freehand nail art. That, and also, one should not begin a mani at 12.30am in the morning. This is the proof:



Yeah, well, I know it sucks. Sorry Singapore, but I tried my best. I mean, the moon looks like a 5-year-old drew it on for me, and those squidges of nail polish are supposed to be stars, and I blurred whatever design was there because I didn't wait long enough before putting on a topcoat (hey, I did say I started my mani at 12.30am!). Still, happy birthday, I guess. It's the thought that counts, right? Right? *Crickets chirp*

For the base I used Eyeko Saucy Polish. That polish is really pigmented and thick. It's opaque in 1 coat, and I think I should konad with it next time. For the really horribly drawn on crescent moon and pseudo-stars, I used LA Colors Art Deco white art polish, which I'm ambivalent about. While I have no problems itself with the polish formula, which is thick, viscous, and dries quickly, thus making it ideal for nail art, I don't really like the brush. The bristles are a bit too long and thus hard to control. And I'm saying that because I actually mean it, and not because I'm trying to make up excuses for my sorry NOTD. :P



Well, what can I say, except maybe please don't laugh at me? I know it's bad. Oh well, at least I got the colours right.

Revlon Snow Violet and GOSH Purple Haze KOTD

Today's KOTD is using my newly-arrived M57 plate, the coolest Konad Plate ever! Look Ma, Zebra stripes! Anyway, as my KOTD photo shows, I'm still struggling with the full-nail plates. Excuse the smudgi-ness, the blurry-ness, and the tipwear - I swear Sally Hansen InstaDri causes major shrinkage on me, but well, it's cheap and readily available, and it dries fast.

Revlon Snow Violet is the base of my KOTD, and I really LOVE this colour to bits. It looks like a pale pale white-lilac, but it's not (stupid camera). It's a pale cooltoned off-white with a violet flash. Yes it HAS a violet flash, I swear, I just can't get it to show up in photographs. (stupid me, and stupid camera) Also I think once I konaded over it, it lost its purple flash a tad. But it's really cool. This was one of their limited edition colours, that I bought maybe 7 or 8 years back, waaaay before I was into nail polish, and it's kept well since then. It was also one of my first 'proper' nail polishes (i.e. realy polish from a store, not kiddy-play-polish), so it has emotional value to me. Awwwww. But, this thing is a bit sheer and streaky, and what you're seeing is 3 coats. I'm imagining the possibilities over other colours...Mmmmm, purple flash.

GOSH Purple Haze is the design on the KOTD. Mmmm I know I've used it before in another KOTD here in this post, but I said that Purple Haze is a chamelon because it looks green in some konads and purple in others. Well, the last time I showed you that, it looked green, but now, it looks purple! I LOVE this colour. Unfortunately, I just use it for konading because when I do my entire nail with it, it just looks black :X

Once again, excuse the crappiness, tipwear, smudging, etc etc. I was just so excited that I finally got hold of the fabled M57 plate.