Goodies from Ebay

heh... right, Ebay.
or EVILbay as some would call it.
well, I agree that there are some terrible sellers who mark up prices,
send stuff that's not as describe, simply disapper with your money, blah blah blah
Seriously, there were a couple of auctions that made me shake my head,
and I've been a victim of dishonest sellers a couple of times

yet, I continue to persist in stalking ebay,
because once in a while, you really do get some of the sweetest deal

I think I must have done something right the last week cos I managed to score these 2 babies on Ebay.
and these were local sellers too!
At approx SGD$8 each, I couldn't resist.
Revlon Streetwear in Grape
and a BRAND NEW L'oreal Star Magnet in Copper!

and I happened to drop by the Elianto kiosk again
so I grabbed this one that caught my eye
#31 Olive

heh... it was only $2.50
so that fit into my low-buy

and one last thing guys.
I really want to thank you all for reading my blog
I never expected to hit over 160 followers in such a short time!
Its really touching and humbling.
I promise, I'll try my best to bring you guys more good nail stuff!

L'Oreal #212 Cyclamen

So here's the other one that I'm putting back into the stash.
Loved it loads as a pedicure colour,
Its not neon, but its bright and cheerful =)

L'Oreal #212 Cyclamen
sigh... I sure as hell miss the L'Oreal polishes
I don't see them anymore in Sg
*is sad*

Indoors, natural daylight.
This is 2 coats plus topcoat.

and a picture with the camera flash

TINS The Saturn, TINS The Mars and China Glaze Cosmic

Warning!
This post is pic-heavy!

sigh... and there's another tale of nubbins as well

Anyway, I wanted to do a comparison with the 2 polishes shown:
China Glaze Cosmic
and TINS 025 The Saturn.

Then I thought an accent nail might perk things up a little,
so I also used TINS 026 The Mars.

Its fortunate that I took some pictures even though the sky was overcast.
My nails were still a-ok in this picture.
But well, within the next hour or so, I managed to slam the door on them
and the one on the index finger broke

So other than the one above,
all the other pictures are taken the next day (when the sun decided to take pity on me) with a broken nail.
The polish actually managed to help hang on to some bits of the nail,
but when I removed the glitters, the break was bad enough that I had to take them all the way down again =(

sigh... I've been wanting to do another french design
but the nails just seem really "fragile" recently
I've not been able to get them to grow past that length?!

Anyway, enough of the rant...

Taken in natural daylight,
the day before was rainy, so the sun still wasn't the best.

As you can see, there really isn't much difference between Cosmic and The Saturn.
If I didn't tell you, you would have thought they were the same!
Thumb, Middle and Pinky were done in China Glaze Cosmic
Index finger is the TINS one

The only real difference was in the texture.
Cosmic dried really bumpy and gritty even with 2 coats of Poshe topcoat.
The Saturn dried a lot smoother with only a layer of Poshe topcoat.

The above 2 pictures are taken in natural daylight, with camera flash.

Luckily I decided to try an accent nail.
Otherwise I think I would have been really bored with the black mani.
Somehow, the holo-glitters in both blacks just don't make the cut.

But oh, TINS 026 The Mars is one hot beauty!
A lovely shade of dark purple-pink

Taken indoors, natural daylight.

Indoors with camera flash.

Taken at night under artificial light, with camera flash.

and I did a blurred picture for the holo-glitter to show up.
Seriously, if only I had better sun to take the photos with.

Of cos, I had to also try/compare them matte.
so I dug out my under-utilised bottle of Nubar V for Men,
and mattified the index, middle and ring fingers

Taken in natural daylight

With the camera flash

Taken indoors, natural daylight

130 Followers Giveaway

wow... I know I said 150 seemed miles away
but suddenly I get an influx =)
THANK YOU so much dearies for following my blog, spreading the word, etc etc

I'm really humbled and honoured that you guys take the time to read and comment.
and I have made some really great nail friends from all around the world.
Love you guys loads.

So as a token of my appreciation, I have some nail stuff to give away to 1 lucky winner.
*I wish I could send all of you something*

Its actually more nail art stuff than polishes.
Remember the nail art store that I showed you guys?
I got most of the prizes there =)
Here's the prizes:

Etude House polish #WH004 (purple-blue glitter duochrome),
OPI Kreme de la Kremlin
(this one was an extra that I bought without realising, the bottle's been opened before but definitely otherwise brand new),
Qtica Half Time Polish Drying Accelerator,
a bottle of peach-toned tear drop spangles,
a bottle of gold star spangles,
a packet of purple 1mm hexagonal spangles,
a packet of copper-coloured metal beads,
2 packets of clear rhinestones,
2 pieces of nail art stickers,
1 box of acrylic nail art flowers,
1 packet of Etude House O2 White Facial Mask Sheet
and 2 mini Etude House samples
(they gave me these when I made the Etude House purchases, so I thought to include them)

I have only 1 rule:
Since this is about rewarding my readers,
you'll have to be a follower to join this giveaway =)

If you would like to enter the giveaway,
please leave your entry in the comments section by stating your email address.
That's all really!
No email address = No entry!

Contest will be open from now till 5th March, 2359 hrs Singapore time.
I'll do the draw on 6th March,
and will announce the winner on 7th March.
The winner has 1 week to reply to my email.
If there is no response after the 1 week, I will draw another winner.

Good Luck folks!

Revlon #711 Wine with Everything

sigh... I did say something about ruthless de-stashing right?!
but here I am with 2 polishes that I'm going to be putting right back into my stash cos I totally love how they look on my toes...

Revlon #711 Wine with Everything

Indoors, natural daylight.

and with camera flash.

ok, be honest with me.
Tell me if this one sucks and I need to get rid of it too...

U&A 24K Gold Foil over Essie Love, Beverly Hills xx

This one's a layering combination that is so appropriate for the Lunar New Year =)

Bottle of U&A 24K Gold Foil
*that's the literal translation from the Chinese characters printed*
and Essie Love, Beverly Hills.

The U&A one is simply particles of gold foil that is suspended in clear polish
(kinda like a novelty topcoat)

I totally adore this combination
and most of the pictures turned out great too! =)

I did 2 coats of the U&A over 2 coats of the Essie
All taken in natural daylight.

Indoors.

I kinda thought the mani just needed a little bit more
so I added gold stripping tape and on the middle nail,
there's a very subtle konad in Maybelline Bronze Beam
*yeah, you can barely tell that it's there...*

Actually I was hoping for a gold konad and went diving into my stash,
only to realise that I have gold glitters, rose-gold, bronze-gold, peachy-gold but not a single yellow-gold polish!
*Needs to rectify this!*

Essie Love, Beverly Hills xx

I love red.
But my stash of red polishes is the smallest among all the other colours.
Somehow I seem to avoid red on my nails
Maybe its just seeing too much red OPIs that look about the same that puts me off other reds

Essie Love, Beverly Hills xx is one of the rare red polish that I had a desperate lemming for after seeing swatches of other bloggers and NBers
and it was a long while before a lovely MUAer agreed to a swap for it =)

I've been hanging onto it waiting for a special occasion since.
heh... I figure the Lunar New Year a good enough excuse to wear this "opulent red infused with pure 24K gold"
*that's the desciption on the box*

Natural daylight.
2 coats, no topcoat.

Indoors, natural daylight.

This one's a lovely orange-red with a flash of gold.
well, I don't know if the "24K pure gold" makes any difference
but I sure as hell don't mind the lovely subtle gold shimmer =)

Purge Round 1

Here's the first of the series of purges that are upcoming

I've kinda decided that I'm not putting a price on them anymore,
but if you want to make an offer, I'll be fine with that too.
And since the aim here is really to cut down,
I'm even open to swapping 2 of my polishes for one of yours, even 3 bottles
and there is a really extensive list of polishes that I don't own and wouldn't mind trying
so if you have something that's not on my wishlist, you can still try me

Just be reasonable k
Seriously, I had someone offer me fifty cents for a polish that's dear to my heart
and when I said no, she had the audacity to roll her eyes!

Most of my polishes are used 1X by myself,
although I did receive some in swaps or from other purges.
I'll indicate which are the ones that are from swaps, purges or have been used more than 1X k =)

Please indicate in the comments section the polishes you are interested in.
Alternatively, you can also email me.

Onto the goodies then

OPI Light my Sapphire (PEND for Liz),
Illamasqua Phallic (SENT),
Orly Star of Bombay (PEND for Liz),
Zoya Indigo (SENT)
Isadora Diamond Blue

Rimmel #819 Green with Envy,
Wet n Wild Craze Collection Jade (SENT),
Zoya Midori (SENT)

Wet n Wild Rock Solid Collection Beautiful in Bronze (received in a swap),
Colour Club Tangerine Scream (received in a swap),
Fake Nfu-Oh Gold Glitter

L.A. Girl Metallic Purple,
L.A. Girl Amethyst,
Essie Lacy not Racy (PEND for Liz)

Please ignore the 1st OPI bottle,
that one's meant for the upcoming giveaway actually.
*this one must be a camera-whore*

Orly French Manicure JeT'aime (PEND for Liz),
Orly French Manicure White Tips (PEND for Liz),
Sally Hansen Fly Away (SENT)

and lastly, these are freebies.
Just let me know if you would like to have them if we're doing a swap/sale.
But to be fair to everyone, 1 polish per person k
*no worries, there'll definitely be more of such freebies in future purges*

#1 darker pink,
#2 lighter pink
and a Depend blue polish

all right, that's it for now
more coming your way though =)