Sparkled Beauty

My very first OOTD post, blame the coloured denim trend! The weekend was sunny with bright sky, not as warm as it looked but Squirt and I had our "photo shoot" anyway.

This is the hot pink skinny jeans from Sirens. I have become a fan of this store when they feature latest fashion trends - coloured jeans and blazers, sheer chiffon blouses, colour-blocking fitted dresses, asymmetrical hemmed skirts, etc.


The jeans are surprisingly comfortable and stretchy enough to accommodate regular movements of my legs. I'm well... not tall (lol) so they are long on me. I have to fold them in a few inches for the flats.


The rest of the outfit:
- Black tank underneath a sheer top from Urban Behaviour
- H&M recycled wool blend cropped blazer
- Old Navy croc printed flats
- Nevada necklace from the Bay
- Earrings and rings from Claire's
- Chopard sun glasses.

What I used on the face:
- Cetaphil moisturizer SPF50
- Marcelle BB cream in Light to Medium
- Vichy Norma Teint foundation in Sand (review to come), no concealer
- Cover Fx Setting Fx translucent mineral powder in Light
- tarte Amazonian Clay blush in Charisma.

For the eyes:
- Maybelline Color Tattoo in Too Cool
- Annabelle 4Show eyeshadow quad in Pop-Eye (using the lime green and aqua shades)
- Annabelle Custom quad single eyeshadow in Helium as brow bone highlighter
- Annabelle Smoothie eyeshadow pencil in Licoriche, smudged out on lower lash line
- Gosh Velvet Touch eyeliner in Banana for inner corners
- Annabelle Le Big Show mascara in Black.

For the lips, stay tuned for the next post to find out :) It's exciting, I promise.

And as always, close-up on the eye makeup.

I have lots of respect for fashion bloggers to take OOTD every day. Squirt was my photographer and she didn't know the skill to angle up to make me look taller and all, but she's all I got lol. This was just our trip to the playground, I must be the trendiest mom there for the day.

I have recently done a swap with Karen at Frazzle and Aniploish for some awesome polishes that I have been lemming for since I saw her post.

These are the Mood Struck nail polishes that are only available from Meijer. Knowing the chance that I could walk in a Meijer store is very slim, I was very happy that Karen agreed to swap with me for them.

Here are the ones I got, from L-R: #4, #7, #9, #10 and #14. I adopted Karen's naming system (using the last 2 numbers in their barcodes), as there were no specific names for these babies.

The bottles are slim and long, only contain .25 fl oz/ 7ml, about half of the regular polish size.

And on top of that, I filled my Dollar Tree wish list with these shades from the LA Colors Craze collection (with hardeners, 2009).

If I found them in store myself, I'd sure come home with more than 4 bottles, but I restrained myself better with a swap, lol.

From L-R: Atomic, Live, Electrified and Transformer plus the 2 mini Claire's extras.

I appreciate the indivial packaging for the LA Colors bottles, as it keeps the polish inside untouched, plus the extra information about application and ingredients at the back, pretty in display too. However, when you remove the packaging for storage, the shade names go with it, and there're no name stickers on the bottles. It'd be hard to indentify the shades later on, if the collection grows. You know what I'm saying :)

And here's a NOTD for My very first... mood polish.

I picked #10 as it looks in the bottle as a pale beige colour with a hint of peach, almost like a duochrome, peaked my curiosity.

Here it is on my nails, with flash. Most of the nails would be in the beige colour, except for the free edge tips. As you knew before, I had a split nail on the middle finger and it's nubs at the moment after I tried to cut it off where it split. As a result, that nail doesn't show any peach colour, but the other four fingers in the picture has a very pretty peachy pink tips, very naturally looking. I love it!

Here are some more shots of the nails to show you the tips a little better. The sticker on the cap shows the 2 mood colours that the bottle delivers.













The gradient effect shows better in larger view, so feel free to click :) Application was easy, the colour is opague in 2 coats. The round narrow cap takes a bit of getting used to, but not too hard to maneuver. What do you think?

I love the Claire's chain stores, you ladies already know that. The thing is Claire's is in the mall right at the bus terminal that I frequent, and Icing is way out of the way that it'd take quite a while to get to. That's why you see more Claire's hauls than Icing's :)

In the weekend, the bf drove me to Icing to browse around as it's gonna be a trip for a long while. I was excited to see more than a shade or two of polishes at the sale corner (which is not always the case). I got:

From L-R: Blue Goose, Sandy Beach, Van Gogh, Lady Lucky (matte) and Blackout.

The first 4 shades were CAD2 each, as part of the 5 for $10 sale - I got a pair of earrings to make to 5 items. I like the diversity of this group, bright/ neutral, shimmer/ matte, and 1 black, all cool tone though :)

Blackout is a highly sought-after shade but somehow I never found it in store before (I might overlooked it). This time I saw it and grabbed it right away, paid CAD5 (full price) for it.

I had enough with bare nails in the last few days, so I picked out Van Gogh to paint. I had bought a few colours from Icing before but they are still in the untry bunch, so this is My very first... Icing mani.

Van Gogh is an interesting colour to photograph.

With the flash, it appears a little more blue than IRL. On my nails, it looks like a greyish shade with a hint of blue, and in the bottle, it looks a bit more beige. I can't say I know what to call it.

The finish is a beautiful and smooth chrome, reminds me of the China Glaze chrome collection a while back. Opacity is great too, would have been ok with 1 coat if not because of the brush. More on that later, but for now, let's just say I love Van Gogh for what it is - an awesome nail polish. I don't even care if it doesn't go well with my skin tone, lol.

And, about the brush. I unfortunately picked up the bottle with a crappy brush. Looks like someone took the brush and smashed it on the ground, as it all flared out all 4 directions. It is wide and thick at the same time.

However, somehow the brush did not stop me from having an even application. After the first coat, a few spots at the corners of the nails were a bit sloppy but 1 more coat and it was beautiful all over. I can't imagine how much better it would get if the brush is in great shape.

All in all, my first experience with Icing polish is an A (A+ if with a good brush). If you live near an Icing store, check out their sale and get a few of their nail polish. That is all :)

My very first... LA Girl.

The weather forecast said it was going to be sunny this long weekend, so I pulled out the Milani Hi-Tech holo. As I already showed a swatch of this colour on the blog, I would instead post a colour I had on my nails a while back.

This is LA Girl Matte Alpine Green. It certainly appears on the nails matte, but not the same kind of matte finish I got used to (Orly, as a popular example).

It turned matte quite quickly after I painted it on my nails, but dried into a satin as time went by. Are all matte polish supposed to be like this now?

The first pic was taken at night with flash, showed the colour a bit more blue than IRL. This second pic was with natural light, so it is more accurate. I do try to take pics during day time for this reason, but can't always do. Hope the swatches are helpful somehow, lol.

Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend so far. I'm exhausted since yesterday running around, would probably take it easy today. My Gosh giveaway ended on Friday, so I'll post the winner as soon as I could go through entries. Stay tuned for that :)

My very first... Maybelline. I don't haul their nail polish at all, don't know why. Recently I bought a loot of polishes off Kijiji where most of the shades I haven't seen before. Just started to test them out now.

This is Maybelline Express Finish Baha Blue, a gorgeous turquoise/ teal colour. I couldn't capture the correct colour on camera, as it appeared blue on all pictures.

The formula was ok, and the brush was easy to work with. I did make a boo boo on the middle finger and too lazy to redo it, so it's still there, hope not too visible, lol.

I added a NYC top coat, then a coat of Revlon Glimmer Gloss in Blueberry Burst (which has micro fine blue glitters in blue base) but it didn't do anything extra.

This second picture is without flash, in indirect natural light (by the window). It looks a bit more teal, less blue but still not the accurate colour. I'll leave it to your imagination, I guess, lol.

Yesterday was a lazy day for me, as we didn't leave the house until after 3pm. It was chilly out, but sunny. We got Squirt picture taken with the Easter Bunny at the mall, then a quick meal at McDonald. Could have gone for a McFlurry but I restrained myself :-)

How has your weekend been?

Happy International Women's Day, ladies :-) Perfect reason to celebrate us, don't you think? Today I have My very first... L'Oreal Resist & Shine Titanium Blacks collection.

This is the bottle shot of Black Gold, with all the glory of it :-) It's pretty unique, rectangular in shape, thin on the side, quite cute.

When the lid comes off, however, inside is a not-too-pretty cap that looks like it belongs to a medicine bottle. Why ruined my admiration of a sleek design by this? The flat shape also made it a little uncomfortable wiping the brush on the bottle neck before painting. I was afraid it would fall over.

It's small too (only 9ml). It'd suck paying full price, as it is around CAD10 (if I remember corrrectly). I got it on clearance for CAD4, so I shouldn't complain :-)

I chose Black Gold to try for the weekend, as I love the antique gold shimmers that I see in the bottle. Unfortunately, the shimmers didn't transfer well to the nails, as the shade appeared pure black when applied.

In the picture, with flash, you could see a bit shimmers reflecting the light. But with naked eyes, I can't see it.

I don't have problems with black, but the fact that the bottle promised shimmers and didn't deliver disappointed me.

Didn't want to wear a pure black on the nails, so I zinged it up. 1 layer of Wet 'n Wild Sparked down about 3/4 of the nails toward the free edge, and another layer of Claire's Sparkle down to half the nails. Was trying the gradient effect but didn't show very well :-)

On the thumbs, I added a layer of China Glaze Atlantis down half way. I was just playing around,

A black like this would be a perfect base for a coloured flakie which I don't think I own any yet. For now, I would suggest L'Oreal to call this polish just "Black", lol.

I spent almost all day yesterday documenting my nail polishes. It was quite a chore, lol. I took a lot of pictures, so it might be too much for one post. As a few of you requested to see my "collection", does that make sense to you to follow through different posts or you prefer everything in 1 post? I certainly don't want to over do it. Let me know, please!

My very first... Borghese.

This is Gusto Gold Dust from Borghese 2009 holiday collection.

The colour: A gorgeous, pure metallic gold goodness kinda colour, I am so impressed. Note that somehow my camera made the colour a little darker (a bronze gold) than IRL (a rose gold).

The finish: It almost looks like foil on my nails which I didn't expect, as in the bottle it seemed to be more of a shimmery shade.

The bottle: Very different from any other polish brands I own. Vintage and luxurious looking. The non-slip long handle is a plus too.

The brush: It's huge, only takes 2 strokes to cover each nail (one for the pinkies). Talk about convenience. It is also short and stiff enough for a stable application, not the flimpsy/ floppy one for sure. I had a really great time applying this polish, quite a treat I must say.

Oh Borghese, why do you have to be so expensive that I can't own a lot of you? I think they are around CAD12.49 a piece at Shoppers. Good thing I grabbed a few on clearance. Love it! Can't wait to try more from this brand.

My very first... Sally Hansen Salon "Project Runway" collection - Canada exclusive.

I got a few bottles from this collection a while back but didn't get around to swatching them.

I originally didn't think I'd like Burnt Sienna as much as the rest of the collection, but I actually do. It looks a little darker IRL, just what I need at the moment. I wanted something dark and toned down. Application is smooth and easy, though the brush is a little small. Took 3 coats for the bottle colour.

I did paint my toe nails with China Glaze Ruby Pumps, so I took care of the "wearing red for new year" business. Maybe Ruby Pumps could help me with some good luck this Tiger year :-)

I managed to get to work with my left leg and a tiny support of my right leg. I fell bad being off work for too long. I might have to persuade myself to see my doctor. Hope things are all well with you guys.

My Very First... OPI, and it's a holo!

This is OPI DS Vintage from my blog sale haul a while back. Love at first sight, I have to say :-)

Considering how expensive OPI nail polishes are around here (I only saw them at a salon around CAD10 a piece), and the DS line would be a few extra bucks, I told myself to forget about them. The moment I saw Vintage on the blog sale, I emailed the blogger and crossed my fingers that nobody else had bought it, lol.

Application was smooth and easy. The holo effect in the picture is mainly from the flash at night. Imagine how intense it could be under the sun. I hardly have any time during the day for a sunlight post :-(

How was your weekend? It was a busy one for me, didn't have much time to sit down. It warmed up outside, which made it a little easier to get out. Still I long for a relaxing weekend for a change. Next weekend would be Lunar New Year, and my friend has a pot luck party. Gotta bring out my "kitchen" skills soon, lol. I'm fine cooking regular meals in the house, but when it comes to party food, I have no idea what to cook. Does anyone else celebrate?

"My very first..." Orly, and it's matte. Yay!

This is Orly Glam Rock, from the Metal Chic collection. I am missing one colour from this collection but very happy about the 2 I got with the Boxing Week haul II.

My first experience with a matte polish, I kinda like it. First, the colour does have a lot to do with that. Second, it applies easily and dries up so quickly (which means no smudging/ denting). 2 coats give you perfect opacity. And third, no top coat needed, so it is a quick application, just great when you are in a rush.

Thursday night, the bf commented that the matte finish made the polish look a little boring, lol. Didn't want to change this colour for the weekend yet, so I added a bit of China Glaze Cleopatra to the tips - like I normally do. All the lovely bright colours have to wait until next weekend :-)

It was freezing yesterday around here (I'm talking -26 with windchill), and it's probably the same for the weekend. Hate going outside but I'll have to. Stay warm you guys!

This is the first entry in "My Very First..." series, featuring polish shades from the brands I haven't tried before.

Meet this gorgeous mint colour from Collection 2000 Hot Looks collection called Button Moon, as part of my UK Goodies haul a while back. My very first shade from this brand, and it didn't disappoint. I kept looking at my nails during the day, sometimes laughed at myself for doing that :-) What do you think? Quite close to China Glaze For Audrey, if you ask me.

I know this colour isn't really safe for work, but seeing the mint green trend on lots of nail blogs lately, I was itching to pull out mine to wear. My co-worker did comment on my bright nail colour today, but one time affair with Button Moon in the office wouldn't kill me, lol.

The bottle is small (8ml) but the brush is surprisingly wide which covered most of my nails in one swipe. This shade is a cream, so I was actually surprised that I didn't have much problem with it. Opaque after 2 coats, and dries quick, loved it!