Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey

Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey

Valentine's Day Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, February 05, 2015

Featuring O.P.I. Romantically Involved and My Silk Tie from the Fifty Shades of Grey collection.

Random irrelevant fact: I hate the Fifty Shades books. I would rather read about the chemical composition of earwax and bogies.
Despite this, I really like O.P.I.'s Fifty Shades of Grey collection. There are some greys, a beautiful red, a silver and a teal blue. I will swatch the whole lot for you shortly. More on the polishes I used below.

Basic water marbling nail art attempt with OPI

Basic water marbling nail art attempt with OPI

Water marbling Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, January 26, 2015

Yet another attempt to master the nail art technique of watermarbling. 

Of all the nail art techniques, water marbling is the one I avoid the most. I did a first attempt here, in 2013, and gave up because of the air bubbles, the inability to make decent designs and the arduous clean-up process. One of my blogging resolutions is to do better at nail art, especially techniques where I'm not very good, so water marbling will feature regularly in this year's posts.
This is a very basic, tentative attempt at water marbling. I did not try to create a fancy design, but just made random swirls in the water. 

Ciate Colour Foil Manicure kit: Nail art fail

Ciate Colour Foil Manicure kit: Nail art fail

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, May 24, 2014

I did not want to buy the Ciate Very Colourfoil Manicure Kit in the first place, I wanted the Chalkboard nails kit. Unfortunately, the fiddly thing was unavailable at Sephora Dubai and they only had foil and caviar kits. As I already have enough caviar beads to cover an elephant twice over to see me through for a long time, I opted for the foil kit. Why was I against it? Because foil is way too blingy, shiny and "goldy" for my liking. Give me a plain black creme polish and I will cease nagging. It did not help that Sephora offered a deluxe gift from Benefit for accumulating 2,000 points and I wanted the points if I had to buy 20 boxes of Sephora wet wipes.
Anyway, the deed being done, I hemmed and hawed my way through almost half a year before deciding to try out the kit. The cover of the box proudly displaying multi-coloured bling, I made up my mind to go all out in imitation of the manicure pictured.

But before that, here are the contents of the Ciate Limited Edition Very Colourfoil Manicure kit.

Blingy glitter NOTD over O.P.I. Ink

Blingy glitter NOTD over O.P.I. Ink

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, May 21, 2014

First of all, this is a nail art fail.
The GOT Polish Challenge must include a polish you have owned for at least one year. So far, I have tried to include either a nail polish or nail art accessories I have owned for 12 months. This time, though, everything featured here has been in my stash for more than a year.
This week's theme is "bling". I have pretty much thrown every bit of shine and bling I could at my nails, literally plastering them in glitter. The result, which you will see below in a minute, is not very pretty. But aesthetic appeal was sacrificed in favour of going way too over the top. But I have made up my mind to share my nail art fails as well as the ones that look decent - and I get it wrong quite a lot.

My base colour for this manicure is the gorgeous O.P.I. Ink nail polish, which I have swatched by itself.

Tropical cocktail manicure with Ciate Ivory Queen

Tropical cocktail manicure with Ciate Ivory Queen

O.P.I. Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, April 26, 2014

For this week's GOT Polish Challenge, the theme was Something Tropical. I did not want coconuts, palm trees, beaches, fruits or flowers, the sun or anything yellow or orange. Picky, aren't I? I called for ideas on my blog's Facebook page and Dolon of Pout Pretty and Paulina Pawlowska-Stec suggested tropical drinks such as margheritas, and I loved the idea. Who does not enjoy sipping a cool cocktail in the height of summer?
The only problem with this was my shaky freehand skills, which I suspected would make glasses and crocodiles equally indistinguishable. But nothing ventured, nothing gained; I won't master freehand nail art by just sticking to stamping, striping, FIMO and other techniques. And here is my tropical drinks-themed manicure.

Flocking powder NOTD with O.P.I. It's All Greek To Me

Flocking powder NOTD with O.P.I. It's All Greek To Me

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, April 16, 2014

I have never used flocking powder before, despite having bought different colours sometime ago. I was on the verge of doing watermarbling for my birthday - since that is what I did for my birthday last year - and remembered my resolution to try new techniques. A long think and scramble in my stash later, I settled on and NOTD with two flocking powder shades for a sharp gradient effect and gems. A combination of elements there, but if you cannot go over the top on your birthday, when can you?
Flocking powder nail art proved to be the  most labour-intensive manicure I have done. In fact, this is clearly a nail art-fail. Here are the problems I faced.

Gradient NOTD with Estee Lauder Hot Coral and OPI Chopsticking To My Story

Gradient NOTD with Estee Lauder Hot Coral and OPI Chopsticking To My Story

O.P.I. Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, April 09, 2014

I received a bottle of Estee Lauder nail polish in Hot Coral for my birthday last year, and had swatched it here. With my birthday coming up on Monday, I thought it would be nice to pull out Hot Coral again and do something different with it.
This time, I went in for ombre or gradient or sponge nail art. Call it what you will, I have found it difficult to get the different shades of polish to blend seamlessly. This is my best effort till date, and is far from perfect. I used O.P.I. Chopsticking To My Story along with Hot Coral, because the latter was a little too tomato red and I wanted to "orange" out the coral a little. The above photograph is indoors, with flash.

St Patrick's Day green shamrock nail art with China Glaze OMG It's A UFO polish and O.P.I. Greenwich Village

St Patrick's Day green shamrock nail art with China Glaze OMG It's A UFO polish and O.P.I. Greenwich Village

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, March 16, 2014

Happy St Patrick's Day! I hope your weekend was as relaxed as mine. Here is my manicure for St Paddy's Day - shamrocks, obviously. I know, I know, I suck at freehand nail art and it was the easiest thing in the world to want to reach for my stamper and a plate but I have vowed to step outside my comfort zone this year, so you can expect to see more freehand doodles and horrific experiments on my nails.
A St Patrick's Day manicure would obviously be green for most part. I get that. But I didn't want my base colour to be green-green, if you get what I am trying to say. So I picked China Glaze OMG It's A UFO from the Hologram Collection Spring/Summer 2013.

Read on to find out how I did this St Patrick's Day green shamrock nail art.

Manicure: O.P.I. Polka.com glitter nail polish swatched over I Don't Give A Rotterdam

Manicure: O.P.I. Polka.com glitter nail polish swatched over I Don't Give A Rotterdam

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, March 09, 2014

Of late, I love wearing glitter nail polish over similar base shades, rather than creating a contrast. I like the way some glitter polishes fit so well over some regular polishes.
Now that it is spring, I thought I would reach for some older spring polishes - I hate the way we get new O.P.I. and China Glaze polishes in Asia only four to six months after they launch elsewhere, so it's not like I have a choice here. In December 2013, they were celebrating the launch of the Euro Centrale Collection in the Middle East! And that was O.P.I.'s Spring 2013 collection!
For this manicure, I picked two polishes from O.P.I.'s Spring collections for 2012 and 2013. I love how nicely they fit together. First up: O.P.I.'s I Don't Give A Rotterdam from Spring 2012's Holland Collection.

Nail polish haul and swatches: O.P.I., Ciate, Models Own, Barry M. and Lancome

Nail polish haul and swatches: O.P.I., Ciate, Models Own, Barry M. and Lancome

Videos Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, January 08, 2014

I wanted this to be a nail polish and nail art blog. But somewhere along the line, my love of other products seeped in. If I had to choose between a polish and a palette, I'd go for the nails each time.
Twenty-six. That's the number of nail polishes I hauled on my December holiday. Across brands. And I'm not counting nail art pens, nail wheels, buffs and other tools. I picked some beauties from O.P.I., Ciate, Models Own, Barry M. and Lancôme. 

Here are the nail polishes and the swatches.

Christmas tree manicure: Freehand nail art with O.P.I. and China Glaze polishes

Christmas tree manicure: Freehand nail art with O.P.I. and China Glaze polishes

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, December 23, 2013

Two days to go! I thought I would try my hand at a freehand manicure in the hope that the spirits of Christmases past, present and future would steady my shaky nail art brushes. I chose a very basic design of Christmas trees with the odd bit of tinsel and ornaments. I used O.P.I. Green-wich Village as the base colour. This is a parrot-green crème nail polish from the Mod About Brights collection.

Burberry plaid nail art design: Striping tape manicure tutorial for beginners

Burberry plaid nail art design: Striping tape manicure tutorial for beginners

Tutorials Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, December 09, 2013

I've been meaning to do a Burberry nail art design ever since I swatched the Burberry Lip Mist lipsticks. The Burberry tartan is striking and there are too many knock-offs of the famous plaid, which was first spotted in the 1920s, as the lining to the trademark Burberry trench coat before featuring on outfits, shoes, bags and scarves.

You can easily replicate the check-pattern on your nails with a nail art pen or long brush, and pair the manicure with a black outfit or with your favourite Burberry dress. I decided to use some of the striping tape I got from eBay for $2.50 including postage (for 12 colours). This is equally easy and leaves no room for errors, even for those with unsteady hands or those who came last in drawing classes *me*. Striping nail art involves just three steps - Cut, Place and Trim!

Here's how you can do a Burberry manicure with striping tape.

Manicure: O.P.I. Dating A Royal blue polish with simple freehand ombre nail art

Manicure: O.P.I. Dating A Royal blue polish with simple freehand ombre nail art

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, November 21, 2013

Some nail polishes make your nails and fingers look better. O.P.I'.'s Dating A Royal is a rich cobalt-royal blue polish that makes my nails - and fingers - do just that. I've done some basic freehand ombre nail art that even a beginner can pull off, but first, here are swatches of Dating A Royal, from O.P.I.'s Mod About Brights Collection.
O.P.I. cremes and blue polishes are always special, but Dating A Royal is something else. The formula is crelly, which means it is somewhere between a creme and a jelly (incidentally this is my first crelly polish). I had opacity in two coats, though the first coat was watery and streaked on some of the nails.

Stamping nail art tutorial II - with Konad image plate and O.P.I. Don't Pretzel My Buttons

Stamping nail art tutorial II - with Konad image plate and O.P.I. Don't Pretzel My Buttons

Tutorials Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, November 10, 2013

Did you get all the stamping nail art gear I had suggested (see here)? Good, now find your flat surface and let's get started with the stamping process.

Hallowe'en mani 5: Pumpkin patch in the sky and on the nails

Hallowe'en mani 5: Pumpkin patch in the sky and on the nails

Zoya Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, November 02, 2013

I wanted to do something like the Great Pumpkin Patch In The Sky for my final Hallowe'en manicure (Free For All) of 2013. But I wanted a brighter contrast to the orange of the pumpkins, so I picked Zoya Jo polish for the blue. I have done a recent mani with Zoya Jo - you can view it here.

Hallowe'en mani 4: Spiders and webs on my nails

Hallowe'en mani 4: Spiders and webs on my nails

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, November 01, 2013

Happy Hallowe'en, everyone! It's time to bring in the traditional orange and black Hallowe'en nail art. The first idea that struck me was cobwebs. And, with my unsteady freehand, I knew I'd make a mess. I had invested in nail tape from eBay recently, so here is my first tape manicure.

Hallowe'en mani 3: Skulls and skeletons on my nails

Hallowe'en mani 3: Skulls and skeletons on my nails

Tags Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, October 31, 2013

Here's my input for Crumpet's Nail Art Challenge for Hallowe'en 2013, themed "Skulls and Skeletons".
I used: O.P.I. French Quarter For Your Thoughts, Konad Special Black and Konad stamping plate m28. I ended up smudging the stamping on the pinky as I tried to open my camera's lens cover. Welcome to My Klutz Junction.

Hallowe'en mani 2: Trick or treat nail art (or, messy freehand nails)

Hallowe'en mani 2: Trick or treat nail art (or, messy freehand nails)

Tags Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Here is why I should not do freehand manis - just look at how I've ruined this one with my incredibly unsteady paws! I'm not even going to try to explain this mani or give you a how-to. If you can identify those rather indecipherable squiggles, you need to go join Mensa. The base I used is O.P.I. Thanks a Windmillion, following up with nail art pens. I also fished out a heart glitter on to each nail from O.P.I.'s Heart To Resist.
Unable to put up with the almighty mess of my own creation, I decided that the problem was overkill - I would re-do the mani, this time with fewer elements:

Manicure: O.P.I. Yoga-ta Get This Blue nail polish swatch

Manicure: O.P.I. Yoga-ta Get This Blue nail polish swatch

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, October 22, 2013

If you love blue polish, you need this in your collection. O.P.I. Yoga-ta Get This Blue is my favourite polish at the moment and goodness knows it was on my wishlist for years. It kept getting sold out every time, on every website I tried to buy from.

Yoga-ta Get This Blue is from O.P.I.'s India Collection. For some reason, polishes from that collection are hard to come by. I've been running after Royal Rajah Ruby, Mon-Sooner Or Later, Charmed By A Snake and I'm Indi-a Mood For Love as well, to no avail - all I can find are Moon Over Mumbai and Elephantastic Pink, both of which I don't want.

Manicure: Mint nails for Talia with China Glaze Tranzitions in Duplicity

Manicure: Mint nails for Talia with China Glaze Tranzitions in Duplicity

Tribute Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, July 19, 2013

The beauty/makeup world has been united in grief over the news of Talia Joy on Tuesday. The lovely Nicole of Nail Polish Wars had the great idea of beauty bloggers paying tribute to Talia by doing a mint mani. Why mint? Because it was the shade Talia wore in her last Instagram update. 
Those of you who have been following my blog for a while must be aware of the recent cancer diagnosis my beloved Gramps has received. He is at stage I and fully curable, but this news and the treatment process aren't pleasant at all. I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been for Talia and her family to hear the bad news each time after a while in remission and of the metastasis and to go through the aggressive treatment over years. I have been following Talia's videos for a while now and am incredibly touched by her bravery and optimism. Here is my tribute to Talia.