Bottle Porn?

Sorry guys.
Today I don't have any nail art or swatches.
But can I show you guys some babies that turned up recently?

Remember me sharing about my awesome colleague who hauled back 3 bottles of shatter for me?
Here they are: 2012 Cherimoya
erm.... unfortunately I left them in the office,
and forgot to note their names!

But this is the first time I've heard of this brand =)

The rest are new babies that I bought.
erm... I think some of you may have known that I'm on a low-buy.
I have a polish budget that I have been able to stick to pretty religiously
EXCEPT this time round.
I blew the budget, not much but still blown =(

From a blog sale:
Orly Lemonade,
Hard Candy Sky,
Revlon Royal,
and Nicole I've got Bieber Fever

The Nicole I bought it as a gift for a colleague,
who for reasons that elude us ADORES Justin Bieber

Bought online:
Orly Here Comes Trouble,
OPI Meet Me on the Star Ferry

From Ebay:
Gosh HOLOGRAPHIC!!!
mineeeeeeee!!!!

ahem... pls excuse the hysterics
this was the one that really tipped the polish budget.

From Beautyjoint.com:
NYX Carnival,
NYX Emerald Forest

Also from Beautyjoint:
Kleancolors Chunky Holo Purple,
Chunky Holo Black,
Chunky Holo Fuchsia,
and Chunky Holo Teal

I have to rave a little about Beautyjoint.com
I placed the order on 23 June,
chose the cheapest international shipping option,
and the parcel landed on my table today! 29 June!

This is the fastest I have ever received an international package!
And they were really well bubble-wrapped too!

And I just did the Maths too.
Including the shipping, with the promo they were having,
each bottle was only about SGD$5!

Awesome!
Just Awesome!

Chiangmai Day 1

Ok, I better get down to posting this.
It's already been a month since I came back from Chiangmai.
It was a short trip, but really fun filled.

Day 1,
we arrived pretty late in the evening,
so all we had time was to check into the hotel
and then head for the night market.

Here's the main lobby of the hotel we stayed in,
the Lotus Hotel Pang Suan Kaew

and the rooms we were allocated.
Looks pretty in the pics right?

But a word of advice if you're thinking of heading to Chiangmai,
don't ever book this hotel.

The aircon was leaking,
so was the toilet.
The sofa was badly stained and I didn't dare sit on it.
The staff didn't understand English,
and didn't really bother much about the repairs or anything.
There was only one channel on TV that showed bad and/or old English movies that repeated itself every day.
I finished watching the Prince of Persia in broken up portions over the days I was there!
Plus the food sucks.

Thank goodness the beds were at least clean.

The Sunday Walking Street night market,
which is located in old town Chiangmai.

Some pics of the goodies that can be bought.
My friends and I bought quite a bit of stuff,
and they were really good offers.
I got like 3 pairs of bedroom slippers for about 20 baht each.
That's like less than a dollar in SGD!

Pretty lanterns that I really considered lugging home with me.

Don't these look the cutest?!

And the typical colourful candles and incense available almost everywhere.

You could choose from these cute little leather pieces to be hand made into personalised keychains with either names or short little messages.
We bought like a whole bag of them for friends and colleagues who adored them!
In fact, we were so caught up selecting fave cartoon characters for them,
I forgot to get one for myself!

Now, let me introduce you to some of the people we met:

The first friends that we make in Chaingmai! LOL!
My friends and I were pretty amused by the slogan!

This uber trendy uncle all decked out in the latest fashion!
Imagine sunnies at night?!
He sure attracted quite a lot of attention!

There were also plenty of street performers there,

The violin player

and these two girls who I thought looked really sweet in their traditional performing costumes.
Love their smiles!

The night market also had food stalls.
So if you're of the adventurous sort,
you could really sit down to have a meal there.

I didn't know there were snow shrimps until I got to Chiangmai!

Meat on sticks!
My friend went ahead and bought a couple of these.
The smell of the meat was too strong for me though,
and I chickened outta tasting.

Of cos, we didn't just stop eating there.
We went to a nearby Black Canyon Coffee Cafe.
Well, they had free wi-fi =)
and really really good and cheap Thai food too!

Must try:
The phat thai (stir-fried rice noodles with eggs and seafood)
and the lemongrass drink! One of the best I've ever had!
Totally refreshing!

damn. Now I'm getting thirsty thinking of that drink!

Misa Hot Butterscotch

I'm pretty busy lately,
trying to clear up work stuff before I head out for another break.

Misa Hot Butterscotch

2 coats + 1 coat Poshe TC

Colour reminds me of leaves in autumn

Anyway, this reminds me,
I haven't posted my Chiangmai pics yet.

And as for the June purge,
I'm going to be postponing it.
So will be combining it together with July's instead.

Cult Nails Living Water

I think by this time,
most of you wouldn't need introduction to the new brand Cult Nails.
Started by blogger Maria of the blog Cult Nails,
or previously known as R3Daily.

I bought 3 bottles when the brand first popped up.
Featured here today is Living Water

2 coats + 1 coat Poshe TC

Right. So I know a lot of the other nail blogger/fanatics have been raving about Cult Nails.
I don't really like the formulae on this one though.
Perhaps its a chemistry thing or its the basecoat (Nailtek Foundation II) I use,
but I just couldn't get this one to apply smoothly.
I had bald spots and uneven application,
and needed to touch up quite a bit.

Also, if I hadn't been lazy,
I would have put on another coat of TC.
The mani felt a little gritty to me
and I'm a sucker for smooth finishes.

Having said that,
I freaking LOVE the colour.
Its almost like the polish is alive and can't make up its mind whether to be blackened blue or blackened green.
In the sun, it's super sparkly too!
And, it made my hands look super duper fair.
I got a lot of compliments on this one =)

My main grouse:
With the international shipping, its pricey for me.
I'll be saving buying the newer colours till they have another promo,
or if I get a windfall.

NYC Wing It Wine Creme

Have fallen ill again.
Quick post cos I'm drowsy with meds.

NYC Wing It Wine Creme

3 coats + 1 coat Poshe TC

Rose-Mauve and gold duochrome

Pretty but doesn't suit me

This is the only bottle I have from this brand.
*I think*

Melt in your mouth, not in your hands

Or more like not on your nails in this instance.

My nails today are inspired by the m&ms that one of my bosses has sitting on her table
And when we talked about doing it on my nails,
she got so excited, she refused to let anyone touch the m&ms
until I got my nails and the photo shoot done.

Check this out!
m&ms kindly sponsored by my boss/friend.
erm.... and many more were eaten during the course of the photo shoot!

Polishes used were:

Orly Lollipop (mini bottle)

Orly Snowcone

I did 2 coats of each polish.
The 'm' was painted on using white acrylic paint.
Topped everything off with a coat of Poshe TC

I know how some of you have work environments that frown upon nail polish.
I have to say that I am super blessed and very thankful.
I work in the government sector,
and yet I'm allowed free reign of polish colours to wear.
No one has ever blinked an eye at neon green
and everyone was amazed at the glow-in-the-dark

Though on my own accord,
I do avoid super bright/sparkly/non-traditional tones if I have major meetings or presentations

Not only does no one frown on the colours that I wear,
my colleagues and bosses are also very supportive of my polish hobby!
Ok, most of them don't really paint their nails,
and they're mostly clueless about polish stuff
but they pay attention to my nails and what I share with them.

They've accepted that I have tons of polishes,
and yet would still alert me whenever they come across interesting polish displays!
My boss sent me a pic of the OPI pirates collex and asked if I already have them.
Another colleague brought back 3 bottles of shatter from a brand not available in Singapore after her holiday to USA,
cos she knows how much I adore them and how difficult it is to get stuff here.
And yet another one knows that she needs to alert me asap if she sees the Muppets collex in store.

They let me stop and take nail pics in the strangest of spots
because they know that there's sun and I blog.
They think its just a quirk of mine,
and yet they'll help explain what I'm doing to someone who's wondering.

Even the guys have accepted it.
One of them even told me he has remover in his car,
cos it's really great in removing some car stains.

Anyway, they all got excited at the m&m nails.
And the pics with the m&ms?
I didn't take them.
My colleagues did.
I love ya guys.

Nubar Cherry Cordial

Been a while since I put on a Nubar too.
This one's Cherry Cordial,
from 2009 Chocolate Truffles collex.
That's how long it has been in the untrieds...

2 coats + 1 coat Poshe TC

Brown base with pink and gold shimmer.
I was tempted to call it a duochrome,
but the effect is really subtle.
Not enough to be called a duochrome.

Pretty otherwise,
and spices up an otherwise boring brown base.

Too bad it didn't wear as well though.
I had some tiny tipwear within 24 hours.

Misa Pour Me Something Tall and Strong

Its been a while since I put on a Misa
This one is Pour Me Something Tall and Strong

4 coats here + 1 coat Poshe TC

Needed 4 coats because the polish refused to even out properly.

In the end, I ended up having to use a thick coat of TC

A pity.
Cos I really think this one is a pretty smurf blue jelly

Plus it didn't stain on removal,
which is a huge plus for me.
I have had some really bad smurf fingers with these sorta blue shades.