NOTD : Birthday Flowers on Red

Hey dearies!

Last Saturday was my birthday celebration at My Pretty Nails Salon. You can check out what happened during my special celebration here.

And in my party, my guests and I had manicures and pedicures with premium polishes or nail art! Of course I got the me some nail art!!! Rawr!

Here's the design I picked:

Pretty, huh??????

I soooooo love it! It reminds me of Japanese art for some reason. What do you think?

Below are the nail polishes used for this design:

The design was manually done! Super thanks to Marge who did my nails. :D

For the base, we used this very beautiful base color—China Glaze in High Maintenance! 

and then painted the design on top. It's actually easy to do. Just a fine brush and a dotter and you can do it! :D

And tadaaaaa... 

Super nice, don't you think so too?!

I super love it and my friends in the party liked it too!

I think it suits my personality a lot and the color is just the exact shade as my favorite lipstick—MAC Ruby Woo!

What do you think of the design?

Would you do something like this, if you will, do share them with me! :D

Cheers,

DAWN

NOTD : China Glaze in United

Hey everyone!

Just want to share this lovely nail polish that I've been loving for quite a few weeks now.

I immediately bought this nail polish bottle after trying it out at My Pretty Nails Salon for a great nail pampering experience.

And I guess, pretty much since then, it has been a favorite of mine. :)

It has all the qualities I like—it's peachy pink, glittery and fit for a princess!

My only problem with this is that it starts to chip off in a matter of days... probably in 3-4. So I suggest you use a good polish base to prolong the polish. And oh... this is also a pain to remove. Haha!

Do you like sparkly polishes on your nails too?

Cheers,

DAWN

NOTD : Polka Dots and Glitters on Pink

Hi Loves!

Just sharing this NOTD that I did last week. 

This is very easy to do and it can actually be done in a matter of minutes. :)

Below are the items I used to achieve this nail art:

China Glaze Nail Polish in United

GirlStuff in Nail Polish in Plink

Black Sharpee

Clear Top Coat

Silver stars

It's a fun and girly look for your nails!

If you will try this out as well, make sure the sharpee is dry before applying the top coat so that it won't mess up the look! :)

Cheers,

DAWN

NOTD: Gradient and Glittery

 Hey guys!

Like what I said in my former NOTD post, I'm currently in the mood for glittery nail polish.
So here's another one that I'm sporting this week:

Gradient and Glittery

As some of you may notice, I'm fond of purples (though not really my all time favorite color). I like it on my nails, as eyeshadows, on my clothes, accessories, etc.

The glitters and colors remind me of my Caboodles set when I was a kid. I wish I still have it so I could have shown you the similarities.

Here are the nail polishes I used for the NOTD:

Sorry if the polishes are messy. One of them leaked and made a mess in my nail polish kit. Huhuhu. T_T

 
I actually really like this NOTD. It's quite easy to do as long as you have a trusty sponge you can use to blend the colors with. I used an old makeup sponge for this one.
I like staring at my nails a lot nowadays because of the colors. They seem to blend so well and they just look so pretty and so girly! ♥

What do you think of my NOTD?
Any ideas you can share for another glittery post?


Cheers!

DAWN

NOTD: Lap of Luxury

I actually bought this shade last month from a seller in Girltalk.

I don't really buy expensive nail polishes. I usually stick to those worth less than Php100. Haha. 

But I really like this shade. It looks pretty and playful at the same time. :P

Plus, it makes my tiny fingers look longer! :P

Busy, busy week for me again! I soooo want to blog about some cool purchases and make reviews but school stuff won't let me. :(

Boooo.

But there's just a month away before my thesis defense! Wish me luck! :D

Cheers, 

DAWN

PPS is Back! Update on Polishes, the State of Affairs, Swap with Shobe

Apologies, dear readers, if we have not been able to update. Dawn is busy with school, while I've been working on the third chapter of my thesis due next week! We'll try our best to post, rave, and rant once we're back to regular programming. As of now, what I (Trace) can offer you are three updates for one loooong post!


1. Nail Polish Haul


Thanks to Zai from Girltalk, I have been able to snag three department-store nail polish colors. This is something new to my sister and I because we've never been particular with polish (I, for instance, don't even wear them at all till recently) and have never tried anything worth more than 50 pesos, seriously.


Luckily, I've gotten my hands on three ready-to-wear, always appropriate neutrals from three brands:

China Glaze in Innocence

Zoya in Uli

Essie in Vanity Fairest

On Dawn's skin

The difference with these polishes compared to local products is that they're easier to apply and they don't chip easily. I've always coveted gel-like and solid colors but they are hard to find and put on (using Elianto is a mess for a messy girl like me!) so I am happy that these items can solve my problem.


I'm sporting CG Innocence on my fingernails and Zoya Uli on my toes. They are quite pretty, but I am not confident enough to show pictures of my hands because I am still growing my nails out. See, I have been a fingernail biter for more than 16 years. Sometimes I don't even notice I'm munching on the "horn-like envelopes covering the dorsal aspect of the terminal phalanges of fingers and toes," especially when I am nervous. And when I'm conscious of doing so, sometimes I don't stop - there's this weird pleasure of getting rid of the top part. Gross, I know. I'm part of the 29% of adults addicted to nailbiting!


I was successful at keeping the habit away for a month last July, but failed at the fourth week! I figure if I buy expensive polishes, I might cure this yucky habit. =) Wish me luck. For now, I will just leave you with two swatches from super nail bloggers who convinced me to purchase the shades:

CG Innocence - E-Polish Blog

Essie Vanity Fairest - Parokeets

2. State of Affairs

So yes, the Philippines is on top of the world right now. 

It's unbelievable how our public consciousness and emotional variation has been stretched to the limit in just two days: first, because of the Hostage Incident involving a livid former police officer and HK nationals (resulting to 8 deaths and a 12-hour ordeal, highlighted by the incompetence of the PNP and media) and the next, with Maria Venus Raj bagging the 5th place at the 2010 Miss Universe pageant with her major, major sass and 22-inch waistline. 


I am amazed at how flexible/bipolar we can really be - being horrified and despondent one day, and then being competitive and euphoric the next.


In spite being in the middle of this conflicted spot, I am just happy that people, including beauty bloggers, are very much concerned and socially aware.


3. Swap with Shobe!

I was able to meet Camille Santos/Shobe of LittleBeautyBag and we chatted and swapped! She's one of my favorite bloggers, and she's the girl-recently-turned-MUA responsible for looks like these:

In exchange of my Shu Uemura Nobara Foundation in #754, Guerlain Kiss Kiss Stick Gloss in Berry Pink, Guerlain Meteorites in Mythic (mini) and Elianto 10-piece blush palette, I was able to get Shu Uemura Pro Spot Liquid Concealer (discontinued), L'oreal Blush Delicieux in Sandalwood Veil (not in pic), Meow Cosmetics Flawless Feline MMU in Frisky Chartreux, MAC Paint Pot in Delft, MAC Brow Pencil in Lingering and Lancome Juicy Tubes in Simmer (mini)!


No pictures of us together, though. Boo. After braving the sweltering heat of Metro Manila and being strategically placed in the dingy corner of Wendy's Dapitan, I don't think we'll be able to capture a nice shot, even if it's composed by pretty bloggers like us hahaha! So we had to make do with our cups of Wendy's Frosty and some chismis here and there - about makeup, of course! I even had to apologize to her hubby though for taking Shobe away for a while, because we talked and talked.


Thanks Shobe, and till next time! And yes, I hope you do become a professional makeup artist someday!

Cheers,

Trace

P.S. I recently won a super contest sponsored by a very generous blogger! I'll dedicate a future entry to the loot. Stay tuned!