Kleancolor Blood

I attended an event last night for FADAL (Fashion Designers Alliance) MANILA at Seventh High with my friends from school. The dress code said to wear something red, which I rarely do, so I thought that I should just paint my nails red. Oddly enough, I only own one red nail polish. And not for very long as I've only bought it last weekend.

This is Kleancolor Blood

indirect sunlight

And I think I'm in love.

indoor lighting

Application was flawless, I used three thin coats for this. I'm not such a big fan of the color red, but this shade is just glorious. And such an appropriate name too, don't you think?

Kleancolor Blood, three coats

I can't stop looking at my nails!

This post also marks my attempt to do the 31-day nail challenge. I won't do it every day because I don't change my manis that often. But I'll try to update as much as I can.

Wish me luck!

xo Nicia

Weekend Haul!

I went to a bazaar this weekend and blew off my money on nail polish. Now I'm broke but that's okay, at least I have new colors to swatch!

Got some OPI,

OPI Serena Glam Slam

hoarded on Kleancolor,

Top L-R: Midnight Queen, Disco Purple, Iridescent Fuchsia, Blood, Neon Orange, Funky Yellow, Neon Yellow
Bottom L-R: Metallic Black, Neon Aqua, Chunky Holo Teal, Chunky Holo Purple, Chunky Holo Bluebell, Madly Matte

and new Orly!

L-R: Space cadet, Galaxy Girl, Witch's Blue, Midnight Star, Blushing Bud, Chica Boom, Green With Envy, Gumdrop

My cat Lucille who's always curious.

Anyway, I have Orly Blushing Bud on my nails right now. I still hate the brush that comes with most Orly bottles, but I really love the color of this one. Application was not easy as the formula was a bit on the thick side but this gets A for opaqueness. One coat was opaque enough but needed a second one to even it out. I used Orly Top 2 Bottom as my top coat.

indoor lighting, no flash

So I'm looking forward to swatching the rest! Til my next post.

xo Nicia

OPI Glitzerland + China Glaze Crushed Candy

I have a love-hate relationship with crackle nail polish. Some combinations are really cute especially when the colors are subtle, but oftentimes crackle manis just look.. dirty on the nails.

This is one of my favorite crackle combinations. I start with three coats of OPI Glitzerland.

Fine glitter goodness

Yep, it's pretty awesome by itself. But since I first swatched this around the same time I got the entire Crackle Glaze collection, I decided to try out China Glaze Crushed Candy with it.

one coat of Crushed Candy

I took so many pictures but not one accurately showed how pretty it is on the nails. It's pretty matte, too. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures of it with a matte coat.

Here is the mani again.

with flash

indoor lighting

xo Nicia

The (Mis)Adventures of Orly Green Apple

I've been eyeing Orly Green Apple for a long time because it's a color I don't see very often. I just got it yesterday (along with Cashmere Cardigan) and couldn't wait to swatch it. Boy was I disappointed.

First, the brush is thin. Application was not easy at all. It doesn't help that second, the formula is also thin and streaky. See for yourself.

One coat

Two coats

Three coats

At three coats there were still bald spots and I really didn't want to add another one because it was hard to even everything out with that thin brush. So I looked at my case for something that I can layer and saw an old polish from The Face Shop in GR501 which alone would take about 28 coats to be opaque but is ace at layering.

+ one coat of GR501 indoors

with flash

I was still not satisfied, it was too bright to my liking. So I took out Kleancolor Madly Matte which is not the best matte topcoat in the market but is good enough for saturating down the colors a bit. One coat of that (and the brush in this one is perfect, just one stroke for each of my nail) and I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

+ one coat of Madly Matte

Yep, satisfied at last.

Let me know what you think.

xo Nicia

Etude House - PP007

I've only discovered the Korean brand Etude House a week ago while I was strolling around the mall. I was instantly drawn to the colorful nail polish selection that they have. What I'm wearing right now is PP007.

with flash

indoor

PP007 is a purple polish with scattered holo glitter with a smooth and glossy finish. I put on three coats but could have gotten away with just two. Would you believe that I took these pictures FIVE days after I painted my nails, with no top coat! Pretty impressive, right? You can see very minimal tipwear, but that could have been avoided with a good top coat (which I am still yet to find, suggestions at the comment box please). This color is really hard to photograph as it looks really blue in some pictures. It's a muted mauve purple, not that bright and looks pink in under some lights.

Don't you just love how cute that bottle is? I have a few more nail polish from that brand to swatch when I get tired of this mani. I doubt that would be anytime soon, though. It is gorgeous!

xo Nicia

A confession.

Hi I'm Nicia, and I am consistent at being inconsistent.

Over the period of 20 years which is my life I've had about a dozen blogs. Of those twelve I have kept one, which I don't even update that often. So why do I insist yet again to start another one?

After spending countless of hours that would have been more productively used to study looking at other people's nail blogs, an idea of starting my own one entered my mind. And why not, right? Maybe this would be that one thing that would stick.

I don't claim to have the most impressive nail polish collection, I am no expert at everything about nail polish. I just want to document my manicures, and maybe a little bit of everything else, too.

xo Nicia