POSTED ON: Sunday, June 30, 2013 @ 1:10 PM | 0 comments
Lacquer of the day - Jacqueline Burchell's It Takes Guts.
I think I've mentioned this beauty before, but here it is again anyway, a more detailed post. It Take Guts is a beautiful purplish blue polish with sliver glitters. Large diamond shaped glitters, small round glitters and tiny specks of glitter. One thick coat was enough for me(as seen in the second picture below), topped with a coat of Seche Vite.
The glitters came out even and application was pretty easy with the large brush (ignoring the fact that it's drying up and getting gooey).
For some reason, this bottle of polish dried up really quickly and the formula is pretty thick and sticky now. My other bottle of Jacqueline Burchell polish is still fine though.
Check out the pretty glitters in the sunlight. I love the purplish blue base too! (:
(Do click on the photos for a larger and clearer version...)
So much angst and disappointment on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. I was looking forward to having a nice afternoon tea and yummy dimsum dinner but now I am stuck at home with no tea and no dinner. Mehhhh ):
[Edit: Not everything works the way we want it to be, I am sorry for the rage today. It was nobody's fault. Grateful for such understanding friends too. ♥]
Hope your girls have a good Sunday anyway!
Love,
Lorraine
Couture de Minnie
POSTED ON: Friday, June 28, 2013 @ 9:25 AM | 0 comments
(Do click on the photos for a larger and clearer version!)
My OPI Couture de Minnie mini set has arrived! (:
Three creme lacquers and one liquid sand polish.
Here are the colours that came in the mini set:
- A Definite Moust-Have
- Magazine Cover Mouse
- Chic From Ears To Tail
- Innie Minnie Mighty Bow
The only one that was missing from the mini set was Minnie Style, a red and white polka dotted glitter.
The first one here is Magazine Cover Mouse, a pretty bright red liquid sand. Only one coat with Seche Vite topcoat. Really bright and sparkly, I'm starting to like Liquid Sand.
The second one is Innie Minnie Mighty Bow, a bright red polish with a little gold shimmer. Really pretty in the sunlight but a bit to red for my liking. Also one coat with Seche Vite topcoat. I love OPI lacquers. (:
Yes it's Friday! TGIF and happy weekend everyone!! Sending you girls some love from sunny Singapore!
Love,
Lorraine
Day 24: Simple
POSTED ON: Sunday, June 23, 2013 @ 5:22 PM | 0 comments
Here's Day 24: Simple of #NailArtJune by @californails. (Skipped the flipflop challenge, don't really know what to do with it anyway...) Do check out the other challenges by other nail enthusiasts on Instagram too! I used a baby pink base colour from beadstreet. Yes, that shop that sold me all my $1.25 polishes. Was a little streaky and uneven here and there but my trusty Seche Vite topcoat did the trick.
Stamped on the little ribbon on each nail using my MashNails stamping plates and the dark red is Revlon's Raisin Rage. The image couldn't be picked up with the stamper very well so I had to use a paintbrush to fill up the ribbon quite a bit in the end.
Pardon the ugly dead skin on the sides, been getting dry skin, dry eyes and dry lips due to the haze. The stamping was kind of messy so I don't really like the end product here. Definitely won't keep this on for long...
Yes, speaking of the haze, it's due to the smoke that got blown over to Singapore from Indonesia by the wind. And nope, haze isn't pollen, they're more like soot and dust particles you get from burning something. Indonesia burns down their rainforests there and clear the land for planting crops and such. So very unfortunate us in Singapore gets hazy skies due to the unfavourable wind direction. It got so bad midweek that everyone had to stay indoors and even my boss allowed us a day off from work. Pictured here is the view from my house at 8.30am in the morning. It's usually bright and clear by that time but look at the haze, I can't event see the buildings I usually would... ):
Oh oh and I just ordered a mini set of OPI's Couture De Minnie from NailDeck.com. I absolutely love the Mr Happy Nail Polish guy at that shop. Even though he's closed his shop at SMU after the lease expired, I'll still support his by purchasing my OPI and China Glaze polishes from his website. (There's PayPal on his site and I really love that mode of payment as it makes shopping so much more convenient and efficient!) Can't wait for my mini set to arrive so I can try on all those pretty colours! And my second liquid sand polish too!
Singapore girls please wear your masks when outdoors in this haze and drink lots of water. Everyone else do take care too. Have a great week ahead! (:
Love,
Lorraine
Day 16 & Day 18
POSTED ON: Friday, June 21, 2013 @ 11:16 PM | 0 comments
Late in posting my June nail art challenges again. Been busy at work and too tired when I get home. So sorry girls.
So here's my overdue mani for Day 16: Match OOTD and Day 18: Sparkles of #NailArtJune by @californails.
The first one here is pretty similar to my previous one for #PolishTogether's Pearl theme. I was a little lazy and left the third and fourth finger the same. Cleaned off the first, second and last fingers to make way for pastel coloured studs to match my cream dress. Just like the previous mani, the cream coloured polish here is My Vampire Is Buff from OPI.
The next mani is for Day18: Sparkles. Without topcoat and the polish quality is obviously horrible. The glitter looked really pretty suspended in the pink polish in the bottle. But oh well, what more can I expect of a $1.25 bottle of polish from Beadstreet.
Will probably be skipping Day21: Flipflops and rest my nails for Day24: Simple. Sorry dears, haven't been feeling of sorts lately...
Take care everyone, and have a good weekend.
Love,
Lorraine.
#PolishTogether - Pearl
POSTED ON: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 @ 3:23 PM | 0 comments
A bit late on this post...I'm sorry my posts are getting overdue. Been a little busier ever since I started working.
Sunday was #PolishTogether and it's great now that everyone from all over the world can join in the fun too!
The theme was Pearl, and colour scheme was white, nude, iridescent or any related nail art. So here's a simple mani using OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, nail stickers and black studs.
Love,
Lorraine
Day 10: Seran Wrap
POSTED ON: Saturday, June 15, 2013 @ 8:22 PM | 0 comments
Oops I am 5 days late. But here's Day 10: Seran Wrap of the June Nail Art Challenge by @californails. #nailartjune
I think I'll be giving Day 13: Sea Critters a miss, or I'll be forever behind time (although I was looking forward to dolphins on my nails...).
The first photo you see here is the base colour I used before applying the seran wrap technique. It's a pretty lilac from Nature's Republic. I really love their polishes cos of their big soft brushes and smooth polish formula, but somehow their stores closed down here in Singapore and I never saw their polishes again.
And the next photo is the end product of my seran wrap mani. The dark purple is OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from the Skyfall collection.
This seran wrap technique is really easy. I just applied one coat of the base colour, wait for it to dry completely, apply one coat of the second colour and dab a scrunched up ball of seran wrap over the polish while it's still wet. Of course the more you dab your polish with the seran wrap, the more colour the seran wrap takes away with it. So depending on how much of the second colour you would like to see on your nail, that would determine how many times you dab your nail with the seran ball with. Can't further emphasize how easy this technique is. I might do a blue one someday, hoping that it'll turn out like a pretty robin egg!
Tomorrow is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day in advance to my daddy! Made a little card and a colourful envelope for my daddy this Father's Day. Also got him a shoebag as a present. May be daddy be forever young, healthy and free! (:
Happy Father's Day to all the awesome daddys out there too!
Love,
Lorraine
Polish Days - June
POSTED ON: Monday, June 10, 2013 @ 11:34 AM | 2 comments
It's time for #PolishDays again! Polish Days has become something for me to look forward to every month, where dear Hannah from Polly Polish comes up with a theme every month for us nail bloggers to participate in and share our manis with each other. It's really fun seeing what the other lovely ladies have to show each month, and I really like how the themes Hannah comes up with are a little more unusual, and less like those prosaic ones e.g. ombre, florals, monochrome (although I still stick to the ordinary manis each month since I'm not as creative...).
The theme for the month of June is TO BOLDY GO.
Details of the event: "Whether it's sci-fi or sci-real (yep, I'm going with that terrible wording), it fits the theme for June. Maybe you're a Trekkie, or perhaps a Star Wars fan, or maybe just a lover of all things sci-fi. Maybe you love space and dreamed of being an astronaut. Perhaps like me you just haven't gotten around to doing a galaxy manicure and this would be a good excuse to give it a whirl."
I haven't gotten around to doing the galaxy manicure so here's a good chance for me to try it!
I love the colour combi here but the white dots / 'stars' wasn't really to my liking.
Here are the colors used:
- OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark (as the base colour)
- OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies
- Barielle's Falling Star
- A dark pink from Sasa
- Some white from Mosaic
And of course OPI's Nail Envy as my basecoat and a Seche Vite topcoat to give it a smooth finish.
Do I like this mani? Oh yes I do! I had fun blotting on the colours and I love staring at my nails now since it gives a a space-like feel, taking me away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Do check out what the other lovely ladies have created for this month's theme below!
Happy Monday everyone and I'll leave you with a quote from my Twitter friend...
"Monday reminds me of how important it is to choose a job you love. Life is for living, not for being miserable at work!"
- Kean Kwok Jin
Love,
Lorraine
World Oceans Day
POSTED ON: Saturday, June 8, 2013 @ 4:55 PM | 0 comments
Today is the 8th of June.
Also World Oceans Day (which is the theme for this week's #PolishTogether) and also Day 8: Ocean of the "The totally doable I have a life" June nail art challenge by @californails.
World Oceans Day is where people around the world honour and celebrate the body of water which links us all, for what it provides humans and for what it represents. To me, the ocean is limitless, is mystical and is full of life (millions of species of sea creatures in the ocean!). It also gives us life since all living things need water to survive and helps to regulate our climate. So I guess today would be a good day to stop and think about how much our oceans have done for us, what we can learn from it and how we can protect it, conserving it for our future generations.
So here's my mermaid mani for both themes. Have been wanting to try doing 'fish scales' for some time so this was a good chance to do so. My scales were not aligned properly so the end product didn't look anything like fish scales or mermaid scales. Nevertheless, I love the colour combination. (:
Colours used:
- OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies
- OPI's Silver Shatter
- OPI's No Room For The Blues
- Barielle's Falling Star
And of course one coat my trusty OPI Nail Envy as a basecoat and one coat of Seche Vite topcoat.
On a sidenote, remember my last post with the floral nails as Day 4 of the nail art challenge? Yes, I would like to thank all of you wonderful girls who have been supporting me by reading this blog or liking my photos on Instagram. The previous photo of the floral + polka dot nails gained quite a number of likes on my Instagram (@strangerslovers). So here's a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for showing so much love! Do continue to show your support! (:
Have a great weekend ahead everyone!
Love,
Lorraine
Day 4: Flowers
POSTED ON: Monday, June 3, 2013 @ 9:27 AM | 0 comments
Saw this on Instagram over the weekends. I haven't done nail art challenges for some time so I thought why not give this "Totally Doable I have A Life Challenge" by @californails! (Oh yes I love the name of her challenges hehehe (: )
I already missed the first day of the challenge when I saw this on Instagram so I decided to skip it and start with Day 4: Flowers. Even though I'm early by one day, I suppose it's better to be early than late? I don't really buy the idea of being late than never though...
Pictured here are the two base colours before I start on the nail art. I used two coats of each. The bright pink is OPI's Suzi's Hungry Again from the Euro Centrale collection and the nude colour is OPI's Glints of Glinda from the Oz collection. And of course my trusty OPI Nail Envy as my basecoat.
Pinkish white dots using a dotting tool and flowers using a normal paintbrush. I haven't gotten my hands on nail art brushes yet and I'm still contemplating if they are worth spending on. Any advice?
I started the flowers by blotting random patches on my nail with a dotting tool, using a light pink from Etude House. Then using my paintbrush, I painted on a few lines to define each flower with OPI's Suzi's Hungry Again. The green leaves were also painted on using the same paintbrush with CG's For Audrey. For Audrey is probably my most used polish for nail art, and of course one of my favourite nail lacquers too!
Alright it's time to start work. Have a good Monday everyone! (:
Layout: The grey bunny hops away ★ Ever since: 2011
I have a fetish for unicorns and whales, I live in Narnia. Do not fret, dear friends, for I have candy for all of you. Okay, you get the point. About you, wish list, your gallery, Tagboard here.
Do not remove credit, for I have a dragon that can eat you up. Thank you!
POSTED ON: Sunday, June 30, 2013 @ 1:10 PM | 0 comments
Lacquer of the day - Jacqueline Burchell's It Takes Guts.
I think I've mentioned this beauty before, but here it is again anyway, a more detailed post. It Take Guts is a beautiful purplish blue polish with sliver glitters. Large diamond shaped glitters, small round glitters and tiny specks of glitter. One thick coat was enough for me(as seen in the second picture below), topped with a coat of Seche Vite.
The glitters came out even and application was pretty easy with the large brush (ignoring the fact that it's drying up and getting gooey).
For some reason, this bottle of polish dried up really quickly and the formula is pretty thick and sticky now. My other bottle of Jacqueline Burchell polish is still fine though.
Check out the pretty glitters in the sunlight. I love the purplish blue base too! (:
(Do click on the photos for a larger and clearer version...)
So much angst and disappointment on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. I was looking forward to having a nice afternoon tea and yummy dimsum dinner but now I am stuck at home with no tea and no dinner. Mehhhh ):
[Edit: Not everything works the way we want it to be, I am sorry for the rage today. It was nobody's fault. Grateful for such understanding friends too. ♥]
Hope your girls have a good Sunday anyway!
Love,
Lorraine
Couture de Minnie
POSTED ON: Friday, June 28, 2013 @ 9:25 AM | 0 comments
(Do click on the photos for a larger and clearer version!)
My OPI Couture de Minnie mini set has arrived! (:
Three creme lacquers and one liquid sand polish.
Here are the colours that came in the mini set:
- A Definite Moust-Have
- Magazine Cover Mouse
- Chic From Ears To Tail
- Innie Minnie Mighty Bow
The only one that was missing from the mini set was Minnie Style, a red and white polka dotted glitter.
The first one here is Magazine Cover Mouse, a pretty bright red liquid sand. Only one coat with Seche Vite topcoat. Really bright and sparkly, I'm starting to like Liquid Sand.
The second one is Innie Minnie Mighty Bow, a bright red polish with a little gold shimmer. Really pretty in the sunlight but a bit to red for my liking. Also one coat with Seche Vite topcoat. I love OPI lacquers. (:
Yes it's Friday! TGIF and happy weekend everyone!! Sending you girls some love from sunny Singapore!
Love,
Lorraine
Day 24: Simple
POSTED ON: Sunday, June 23, 2013 @ 5:22 PM | 0 comments
Here's Day 24: Simple of #NailArtJune by @californails. (Skipped the flipflop challenge, don't really know what to do with it anyway...) Do check out the other challenges by other nail enthusiasts on Instagram too! I used a baby pink base colour from beadstreet. Yes, that shop that sold me all my $1.25 polishes. Was a little streaky and uneven here and there but my trusty Seche Vite topcoat did the trick.
Stamped on the little ribbon on each nail using my MashNails stamping plates and the dark red is Revlon's Raisin Rage. The image couldn't be picked up with the stamper very well so I had to use a paintbrush to fill up the ribbon quite a bit in the end.
Pardon the ugly dead skin on the sides, been getting dry skin, dry eyes and dry lips due to the haze. The stamping was kind of messy so I don't really like the end product here. Definitely won't keep this on for long...
Yes, speaking of the haze, it's due to the smoke that got blown over to Singapore from Indonesia by the wind. And nope, haze isn't pollen, they're more like soot and dust particles you get from burning something. Indonesia burns down their rainforests there and clear the land for planting crops and such. So very unfortunate us in Singapore gets hazy skies due to the unfavourable wind direction. It got so bad midweek that everyone had to stay indoors and even my boss allowed us a day off from work. Pictured here is the view from my house at 8.30am in the morning. It's usually bright and clear by that time but look at the haze, I can't event see the buildings I usually would... ):
Oh oh and I just ordered a mini set of OPI's Couture De Minnie from NailDeck.com. I absolutely love the Mr Happy Nail Polish guy at that shop. Even though he's closed his shop at SMU after the lease expired, I'll still support his by purchasing my OPI and China Glaze polishes from his website. (There's PayPal on his site and I really love that mode of payment as it makes shopping so much more convenient and efficient!) Can't wait for my mini set to arrive so I can try on all those pretty colours! And my second liquid sand polish too!
Singapore girls please wear your masks when outdoors in this haze and drink lots of water. Everyone else do take care too. Have a great week ahead! (:
Love,
Lorraine
Day 16 & Day 18
POSTED ON: Friday, June 21, 2013 @ 11:16 PM | 0 comments
Late in posting my June nail art challenges again. Been busy at work and too tired when I get home. So sorry girls.
So here's my overdue mani for Day 16: Match OOTD and Day 18: Sparkles of #NailArtJune by @californails.
The first one here is pretty similar to my previous one for #PolishTogether's Pearl theme. I was a little lazy and left the third and fourth finger the same. Cleaned off the first, second and last fingers to make way for pastel coloured studs to match my cream dress. Just like the previous mani, the cream coloured polish here is My Vampire Is Buff from OPI.
The next mani is for Day18: Sparkles. Without topcoat and the polish quality is obviously horrible. The glitter looked really pretty suspended in the pink polish in the bottle. But oh well, what more can I expect of a $1.25 bottle of polish from Beadstreet.
Will probably be skipping Day21: Flipflops and rest my nails for Day24: Simple. Sorry dears, haven't been feeling of sorts lately...
Take care everyone, and have a good weekend.
Love,
Lorraine.
#PolishTogether - Pearl
POSTED ON: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 @ 3:23 PM | 0 comments
A bit late on this post...I'm sorry my posts are getting overdue. Been a little busier ever since I started working.
Sunday was #PolishTogether and it's great now that everyone from all over the world can join in the fun too!
The theme was Pearl, and colour scheme was white, nude, iridescent or any related nail art. So here's a simple mani using OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, nail stickers and black studs.
Love,
Lorraine
Day 10: Seran Wrap
POSTED ON: Saturday, June 15, 2013 @ 8:22 PM | 0 comments
Oops I am 5 days late. But here's Day 10: Seran Wrap of the June Nail Art Challenge by @californails. #nailartjune
I think I'll be giving Day 13: Sea Critters a miss, or I'll be forever behind time (although I was looking forward to dolphins on my nails...).
The first photo you see here is the base colour I used before applying the seran wrap technique. It's a pretty lilac from Nature's Republic. I really love their polishes cos of their big soft brushes and smooth polish formula, but somehow their stores closed down here in Singapore and I never saw their polishes again.
And the next photo is the end product of my seran wrap mani. The dark purple is OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from the Skyfall collection.
This seran wrap technique is really easy. I just applied one coat of the base colour, wait for it to dry completely, apply one coat of the second colour and dab a scrunched up ball of seran wrap over the polish while it's still wet. Of course the more you dab your polish with the seran wrap, the more colour the seran wrap takes away with it. So depending on how much of the second colour you would like to see on your nail, that would determine how many times you dab your nail with the seran ball with. Can't further emphasize how easy this technique is. I might do a blue one someday, hoping that it'll turn out like a pretty robin egg!
Tomorrow is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day in advance to my daddy! Made a little card and a colourful envelope for my daddy this Father's Day. Also got him a shoebag as a present. May be daddy be forever young, healthy and free! (:
Happy Father's Day to all the awesome daddys out there too!
Love,
Lorraine
Polish Days - June
POSTED ON: Monday, June 10, 2013 @ 11:34 AM | 2 comments
It's time for #PolishDays again! Polish Days has become something for me to look forward to every month, where dear Hannah from Polly Polish comes up with a theme every month for us nail bloggers to participate in and share our manis with each other. It's really fun seeing what the other lovely ladies have to show each month, and I really like how the themes Hannah comes up with are a little more unusual, and less like those prosaic ones e.g. ombre, florals, monochrome (although I still stick to the ordinary manis each month since I'm not as creative...).
The theme for the month of June is TO BOLDY GO.
Details of the event: "Whether it's sci-fi or sci-real (yep, I'm going with that terrible wording), it fits the theme for June. Maybe you're a Trekkie, or perhaps a Star Wars fan, or maybe just a lover of all things sci-fi. Maybe you love space and dreamed of being an astronaut. Perhaps like me you just haven't gotten around to doing a galaxy manicure and this would be a good excuse to give it a whirl."
I haven't gotten around to doing the galaxy manicure so here's a good chance for me to try it!
I love the colour combi here but the white dots / 'stars' wasn't really to my liking.
Here are the colors used:
- OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark (as the base colour)
- OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies
- Barielle's Falling Star
- A dark pink from Sasa
- Some white from Mosaic
And of course OPI's Nail Envy as my basecoat and a Seche Vite topcoat to give it a smooth finish.
Do I like this mani? Oh yes I do! I had fun blotting on the colours and I love staring at my nails now since it gives a a space-like feel, taking me away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Do check out what the other lovely ladies have created for this month's theme below!
Happy Monday everyone and I'll leave you with a quote from my Twitter friend...
"Monday reminds me of how important it is to choose a job you love. Life is for living, not for being miserable at work!"
- Kean Kwok Jin
Love,
Lorraine
World Oceans Day
POSTED ON: Saturday, June 8, 2013 @ 4:55 PM | 0 comments
Today is the 8th of June.
Also World Oceans Day (which is the theme for this week's #PolishTogether) and also Day 8: Ocean of the "The totally doable I have a life" June nail art challenge by @californails.
World Oceans Day is where people around the world honour and celebrate the body of water which links us all, for what it provides humans and for what it represents. To me, the ocean is limitless, is mystical and is full of life (millions of species of sea creatures in the ocean!). It also gives us life since all living things need water to survive and helps to regulate our climate. So I guess today would be a good day to stop and think about how much our oceans have done for us, what we can learn from it and how we can protect it, conserving it for our future generations.
So here's my mermaid mani for both themes. Have been wanting to try doing 'fish scales' for some time so this was a good chance to do so. My scales were not aligned properly so the end product didn't look anything like fish scales or mermaid scales. Nevertheless, I love the colour combination. (:
Colours used:
- OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies
- OPI's Silver Shatter
- OPI's No Room For The Blues
- Barielle's Falling Star
And of course one coat my trusty OPI Nail Envy as a basecoat and one coat of Seche Vite topcoat.
On a sidenote, remember my last post with the floral nails as Day 4 of the nail art challenge? Yes, I would like to thank all of you wonderful girls who have been supporting me by reading this blog or liking my photos on Instagram. The previous photo of the floral + polka dot nails gained quite a number of likes on my Instagram (@strangerslovers). So here's a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for showing so much love! Do continue to show your support! (:
Have a great weekend ahead everyone!
Love,
Lorraine
Day 4: Flowers
POSTED ON: Monday, June 3, 2013 @ 9:27 AM | 0 comments
Saw this on Instagram over the weekends. I haven't done nail art challenges for some time so I thought why not give this "Totally Doable I have A Life Challenge" by @californails! (Oh yes I love the name of her challenges hehehe (: )
I already missed the first day of the challenge when I saw this on Instagram so I decided to skip it and start with Day 4: Flowers. Even though I'm early by one day, I suppose it's better to be early than late? I don't really buy the idea of being late than never though...
Pictured here are the two base colours before I start on the nail art. I used two coats of each. The bright pink is OPI's Suzi's Hungry Again from the Euro Centrale collection and the nude colour is OPI's Glints of Glinda from the Oz collection. And of course my trusty OPI Nail Envy as my basecoat.
Pinkish white dots using a dotting tool and flowers using a normal paintbrush. I haven't gotten my hands on nail art brushes yet and I'm still contemplating if they are worth spending on. Any advice?
I started the flowers by blotting random patches on my nail with a dotting tool, using a light pink from Etude House. Then using my paintbrush, I painted on a few lines to define each flower with OPI's Suzi's Hungry Again. The green leaves were also painted on using the same paintbrush with CG's For Audrey. For Audrey is probably my most used polish for nail art, and of course one of my favourite nail lacquers too!
Alright it's time to start work. Have a good Monday everyone! (: