Orly Royal Velvet

I wanna see your peacock - let's not continue.

This colour reminds me of peacocks, the moment I unwrapped it in the mail! Born from Orly Precious collection '11, Royal Velvet is definitely the most stand-out colour of the lot. To me, it was so anomalous from the rest of the colours in the collection that it defined the collection for me. This was undoubtedly the star colour and I was not disappointed. Application was smooth, with no bumps that I can remember. This was two easy coats.

The colour is a tricky one to describe but I suppose it's easiest to call it a dark royal purple, which is what it will look like at most angles and in most lights. However, when you look at it straight on, it becomes this rather vibrant blue base that shimmers its way into your heart (oooh, cheesy). I think the shimmer is so fine in this one, you can safely classify it as a duochrome.

On a completely separate note, I love Orly's rubber-grip bottle caps. I'm getting a small friction line on my palm from opening the likes of OPI, China Glaze and so on while I was cataloging my entire nail polish collection on my nail wheel (yes, my exciting post-exa preoccupations). Take a hint from Orly, other brands!

that's how you know exams are over.

My exams ended today.

HELL YEAH.

zoya spree and haul!

Oh boy, oh boy! I'm so excited to get down to swatching and reviewing these babies. I recently conducted a private Zoya spree amongst my friends and there was a total of 48 polishes ordered. When I finally got them all today, what else was there to do but to arrange them in order of the rainbow, as is due to my obsession with colours?

TA-DAH! I present to you the fruits of my Zoya spree. Obviously not all are mine. I only bought 9 for myself, the rest are bought by my friends. Isn't it a lovely sight? Here are the names:

Top row: Ginessa, Gaia, Jules (x3), Dove, Kelly, Dovima

2nd row: Shivon, Isla, Tiffany, Reva, Faye (x2), Parker, Lulu, Cassi (x2), Tanzy (x2)

3rd row:
Irene, Apple (x2), Gemma, Charla (x3), Breezi (x2), Phoebe, Crystal, Jo, Caitlin (x3)

4th row:
Marley, Ibiza, Julieanne (x2), Valerie, Adina, Mira, Kieko (x3), Reece (x2)

And here are the spoils of my own haul which I am very excited to begin swatching and reviewing as soon as my exams are over (2 more days!)

L-R: Megan Miller Collection - Carribean, Zoya Jules, Charla, Apple, Breezi, Faye, Caitlin, Kieko, Reece, Marley

The Megan Miller one is a present from my friend from the US. I've never heard of this brand but the colour is lovely! (: Seriously, cannot. wait. to. swatch.

Stay tuned!

exam period.

Apologies for the lack of updates and photographs recently! I have been busy studying for exams, which will end in about 2 weeks. (:

I have acquired a bottle of Silver Shatter which I'm really excited to try. In my free holidays after the exams, I hope to showcase some Konad (which I bought like, 7 plates of, thanks to my complete lack of self-discipline), the Crackle Glaze (Lightning Bolt and Crushed Candy) from China Glaze as well as Silver Shatter from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection.

Till then, see you! (:

Looking at it now, you would think - what possessed me to even want to compare these two? They look so different. The truth is, when you only have Sea Spray on your nails, it looks pretty much like a baby blue, albeit a dusty one. I honestly thought they would've been more similar. Apparently I had forgotten the brightness of What's With The Cattitude? (seriously, that name is way too long, and 'Cattitude' takes me extra effort to remember how to spell).

Also, apologies for all the scratches and chips on Sea Spray. It's been worn for about 3 - 4 days, and it's gone through a few games of Ultimate Frisbee so I think the scratches and such are passable.

I'm quite a 'blue' person, so I love them both. I'd paint Sea Spray when I feel more neutral or muted, because it's refreshing but yet not too much in-your-face, whereas I'd paint Cattitude if I was feeling bouncy, happy, crazy, etc.

OPI DS Diamond

This is my first holographic polish and I have to say I'm loving it. Very much. This is Diamond from the OPI Designer Series, and it is a muted lavender scattered holo. Shown here is 2 coats. If you squint really minutely, you probably can see a bit of a VNL but because the scatter holo plus topcoat reflects light like mad and distracts your attention, the VNL is way not noticeable. This also helps to camouflage any little mistakes or smudges or dents you may make along the way, making it an ultra-convenient yet chic and exciting nail polish.

I like how in the shade, this transforms into its muted lavender base, making it work-appropriate and for those days when you're feeling a tad bit neutral like me now. But when you hit direct light, or worse, in the sun, the zest of this polish is really going to show through! Because it's a scattered and not linear holo, Diamond would not be so in-your-face bling as the legendary China Glaze OMG! collection, but for now, I like it as such! (: Formula is excellent, application was great, OPI brush rocks, so on and so forth.

Seriously, LOOK AT THE DEPTH OF THIS NAIL POLISH. It's amazing. And oh, how it goes crazy in the sun. All my friends love it.

China Glaze Sea Spray

Sea Spray is one of those colours where you just can't seem to pin point an exact colour down for it. The most appropriate one I could think of was dusty baby blue. In yellow light, the blue shines out more, but in white light, it could almost appear dove grey.

Application was great, as usual. This was 2 coats, though if you're really good with your technique, you could do it in one. I know there are some places that say this has a silver microshimmer and I do agree with this, but it took me a comparison photo with a true creme to see the shimmer. At any other angle, it looks like a dusty blue creme. So what's the point of the shimmer? I believe that it's for the purpose of creating more light reflection and therefore making it seem more glossy, which it does. I really love this. Mine chipped, however, within 3 days or less, with topcoat.

It kinda reminds me of a stormy sky. The colour is not too strong or bright, but it's still somehow refreshing. Love it, can foresee myself wearing this quite often.

From the Anchors Away Spring collection '11.