The Polish Well: BANG!

Happy Sunday everyone!
I can't believe the long weekend (we had 2 days of public holidays on thursday and friday) passed by so quickly. I still don't feel adequately rested! T_T

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my new concoctions on the blog today. It has been quite a while but I've finally finalised a new collection that is based on one of my favourite korean bands - Big Bang! I was introduced to Big Bang by my sister earlier this year and have since been hooked onto quite a number of their songs. The idea of a collection came about way back in March when I had a sudden bout of inspiration and created Hallelujah. Since then, I have mulled over the rest of the colours and I am happy to say that I've finally made some headway. Take a look:

p.s. you can click on the lyrics to enjoy the lovely songs on youtube :)

Fantastic Baby.

Jump at the sound of your heartbeat till this comes to an end yeah

I can't baby don't stop this

Just go corrupt today (go crazy and rave) let's go

wow fantastic baby ~ Boom Shakalala

A berry red jelly filled with an assortment of glitters - holos, reds, purples, circles, squares, hexes and a sprinkling of shimmer. I had such hard time coming up with a colour for this song. Every ounce of my instinct told me to throw a bunch of silver holo glitters together for the dance number but I wasn't sure if I could come up with a mix that is better than what is already available in the market. In the end, I scoured through the lyrics and settled on "heartbeat" for my colour inspiration. Even then, it took me several tries before I came up with this. Quite happy with the squishy look. :P

Ego.

You’re so beautiful, I’ve been bewitched

I can’t fall asleep tonight at thoughts of you

You’re so wonderful, I have gone crazy

I can’t snap out of it, I’m getting dizzy 

She killed my ego

Red with gold and holo shimmer. Slightly darker than what it looks in this picture. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to capture much of the shimmer in the picture either - it is slightly more visible IRL :(

Love Dust.

When today passes, you will disappear like dust – what is love?

If I look sad, my tears are like smoke, like dancing smoke

Tomorrow, my day will start like nothing is wrong and I will forget you

I’ll just remain here, smiling, as I pray that you will be happy

A soft salmon pink with peach and gold shimmer. A colour that is very heavily inspired by the melody and what I think love dust looks like.

Haru Haru.

Don't look back and leave

Don't find me again and live (on)

Because I have no regrets from loving you, take only the good memories

I can bear it in some way

I can stand in some way

You should be happy if you are like this

I become dull day by day (eh eh eh eh)

Oh girl I cry, cry

You're my all, say goodbye...

A soft greyish-blue mint with subtle holo. This was partly born from my obsession with turquoises and mint and partly from Deborah's (lovevarnish) request for a soft mint holo. I took a look at the bottle after the shaking and mixing and "Haru Haru" immediately came to mind.

Monster.

I love you baby I’m not a monster

You know how I was in the past

When time passes, it’ll all disappear

Then you will know baby

A sage green with rose flecks and subtle green shimmer. This is not new to the blog and some of you might already know that this was from my feeble attempt at duping Butter London's Two Fingered Salute. I've since gotten my hands on the real deal and they are definitely not dupes. While the base colours are almost, if not exactly, identical, the shimmer and flecks are completely different. Nonetheless, I really like this lab creation and it seems to fit with the song so I've decided to keep it in this collection. :P

Lies.

A late night and rain falling down. 

I bring you back from my memories. 

I promised myself I would be fine without you, but I can’t help it.

A deep teal with a mix of aqua blue and green shimmer. Another song that gave me a difficult time but I am glad I finally had an eureka moment.

Bad Boy.

I was too harsh that night

I didn’t know you would really leave

The words, “I’m sorry”, is too difficult for us that we take it to the end

Because I’m ill-tempered

We fight over stupid things numerous times a day

You take off crying, I look around and think,

‘She’ll come back tomorrow. She’ll definitely call me first in the morning'

A deep blue with a mix of copper, blue and purple shimmer. This was another song that was very challenging to put in a bottle. In the end, I went with the colours of a beautiful sunrise that I happened to catch. I think this one needs a bit more shimmer for the colours to pop.

Tonight.

I look for you, oh-eh-oh (tonight), below that moonlight that illuminates me (such a beautiful night)

I look for you oh-eh-oh-oh-oh I don’t know where the end is but (good night)

A deep plum jelly with gold, royal blue and purple shimmer-flecks. This was an accidental mix that came about because I was curious what I would get if I mixed all my shimmers together. I didn't go further than these three colours when I fell in love and abandoned my initial quest. I will toy with that again in future - though I suspect it may not look fantastic.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, I'm falling, I'm falling, falling

Within those collapsed buildings (yeah)

Hallelujah (yes) I'm falling (yes), I'm falling, falling

A mix of holo silver, gunmetal and lavendar glitters and with a smattering of purple shimmer falling within the depths of the black jelly. My very first colour of the collection and one which I still love.

Blue.

The winter's gone

And the spring has come

We've withered away

And our hearts are torn from the yesterdays

(I'm singing the blue)

I'm used to the tears, the doubt and the fears that hold me back, oh

(I'm singing the blue)

I hope you can see, I'm losin' my grip on you, oh oh

A slate grey with blue, green and silver shimmer. Inspired by the very first Big Bang song that I fell for. My sister had been playing Big Bang songs for ages but this was the very first that caught my attention. Unlikely most other korean songs that my sister played, this was unusually mellow and emotional. Till now, it is still one of my favourite songs by Big Bang so there was no way I could leave this song out. 

Phew. That was quite a whole lot of polishes, wasn't it? 

Now that you've seen them, which one(s) caught your eye?

As you might have noticed, I have temporarily placed my shop on hiatus and I am no longer taking any orders at the moment. Although I've enjoyed creating these new colours, I have yet to firm up any plans for my store so these polishes (together with the other colours) are not available for sale at the moment. I will post an update once I have a plan. 

So why am I showing these new colours to you, you ask? 

Well... apart from the fact that I couldn't wait to show you my creations, I've also decided to throw a small giveaway to celebrate my birthday this week! ^_^

The prize? The entire unreleased BANG! collection (minis) for one lucky winner!

The giveaway is open on this blog (details in the rafflecopter widget) and on Instagram (details on my IG post). All entries will be collated for the draw so you need not enter twice - duplicate entries will be deleted before the draw.
The usual rules apply so fire away!
Giveaway closes in a week's time on 18 August 2013 at 12am, SGT. Good luck!

Giveaway has ended

China Glaze: Sunsational Jellies

Sent for Review

Finally, the second half of the China Glaze Sunsational Collection - the jellies!

As you may have already heard, some of the jellies are quite sheer so I chose to layer all the colours over white in my swatches below.

Isle See You Later. 4/5 coats over white.
A blue jelly. The sheerest of the whole collection. It is so sheer that I wouldn't advise you to try getting it to reach opacity on its own. Because it is so sheer, the blue does not come across as deep as it looks in the bottle. Nonetheless, it is a gorgeous bright baby blue on the nails when layered over white.

Keepin' it Teal. 4 coats over white.
A green-leaning teal jelly that is also on the sheer side but slightly better than Isle See You Later.

Shell-O. 4 coats over white.
A coral orange jelly that screams fluorescent. With my thing for corals at the moment, it is no surprise that I really like this one.

Heat Index. 3 coats over white.
Bright hot pink jelly. Very aptly named. Hmmm... I think the next time I will add another coat or two to get closer to the bottle colour. I am surprised that I quite like this one.

You Drive Me Coconuts. 3 coats over white.
A relatively more muted pink with blue undertones as compared to Heat Index. It is still very bright though. The formula is one of the better ones in this half of the collection - I suspect it can actually reach opacity on its own.

Are You Jelly? 3 coats over white.
Another bright purple! It is also more opaque but the formula is a little patchy.

Now that you've seen all the swatches of the China Glaze Sunsational collection, which ones are your favourite?
(psst! If you've missed out on my previous post, you can check out the first half of the Sunsational collection here.)

On the whole, formula aside, I must say I really enjoyed the colours that China Glaze has put out for this summer. I am especially in love with the cremes. Because of them, I am officially a neon convert now. No kidding, even as I type, I am wearing some of them as a gradient on my toes - no worries, I won't be posting pictures of that. ;)




**Products were provided for our honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information.**

12 Days of Round-Up: Favorite Color

I must confess, I don't usually have a particular color preference. Admittedly, I had my pink and blue moments back when I was young but I've since grown to love a wider range of colors. But of course, I still find myself having a soft spot for certain colors every now and then.

This year, the official Pantone color of 2012 is Tangerine Tango. Butttt... that color never really caught my eye. >.<
Instead, I've noticed that the newer members of my stash in 2012 are largely... blue-greens! :h

Let's take a look at some of the blue-greens that caught my heart this year:

China Glaze For Audrey. 2 thin coats.
This was the color that started it all off. A friend of mine asked about turquoise nail polishes and I stumbled upon For Audrey. It was not love at first sight because I wasn't sure how it would look on me but I am glad I bought it. It is such a pretty color that I don't really care whether it looks good on me or not. It is one of the colors that I reach for very often - so much so that I have only about half a bottle left now. :$

Zoya Bevin. 2 thin coats.
A soft dusty sage green that is incredibly elegant and beautiful. It wasn't love at first sight either but I fell hopelessly in love with it after seeing it on my friend. :L It is not easy to get Zoyas in Singapore and I nearly went crazy with need. I know that OPI Thanks A Windmillion is very similar but for some reason I really wanted Bevin. It took me months before I was able to satisfy my lemming but it is well worth the wait. It is surprisingly eye-catching for such a soft color and I received many compliments while wearing it. <3

Rescue Beauty Lounge Halcyon. 2 thin coats.
This is another beautiful dusty medium sage green from RBL's Fan Collection for Spring 2012. I know that Aqua Lily was the one that caught the hearts of many others but Halcyon was the first to call my name when I saw swatches of the collection. It took me a lot of willpower to close the browser tab but as fate would have it, a friend of mine accidentally bought an extra and asked if anyone wanted it. The rest was history. I didn't expect to love this as much as I do but, boy, those gold-copper-pink shimmer-flakes are simply stunning. They are subtle but very visible on the nail and catch the light so beautifully. I never knew pink would go so well with green, copper and gold!

China Glaze Exotic Encounters. 2 coats.
A dusty green-leaning teal. By the time the China Glaze On Safari collection came out, I was hopelessly in love with blue-greens so naturally this was a love at first sight for me. Even the holographic glitters in that collection did not distract me from this gorgeous creme.

a-england Galahad. 2 thin coats.
A bright yet slightly-dusty blue-leaning teal this time. Slightly more teal than what my camera picked up. Not a very common shade but I do love it. I also love how pigmented this is. I could get away with one coat if I had been more careful.

Cult Nails Living Water. 2 thin coats.
A dark teal jelly with tiny brillant blue and green glitters. I love my darks so there was no way I could leave out this beauty. Even after wearing it so many times, I still lose myself in this dark sparkly polish each time I put it on. :L

What is your favorite color this year?

xoxo,
mich

P.S. Don't forget to enter our year-end giveaway to win amazing polishes from both mainstream and indie brands! Ends 12 Jan 2013.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics: Winter Hyacinth & Hydraxia

Today, I have a new-to-me Aussie indie brand to share with you! Femme Fatale Cosmetics is a home-based business owned by the talented Sophie and specialize in hand-blended mineral based cosmetics. They have a stunning range of eyeshadows (I don't usually pay attention to makeup and such but the colors are really interesting!) and have recently started to offer an impressive range of nail polishes as well!

I first heard of this indie line through the Aussie nail girls on Instagram and couldn't stop drooling over the swatches! Unfortunately, FFC does not offer international shipping so when I heard that Shoppe Eclecticco started carrying their polishes, I quickly jumped on the bandwagon and grabbed these two pretties to try:

Winter Hyacinth. 2 coats over China Glaze For Audrey except for ring finger which has 4 coats on its own.
A beautiful medium turquoise filled with white, rose and fuchsia glitters. Apart from the usual hex glitters, it also contains white diamonds and pink dots that make it so unique. I didn't know that pink and turquoise would go so well together but the I'm hopelessly in love with the color combination. :L The base color is on the sheer side and took about 4 thin coats to be opaque. It is similar to China Glaze's For Audrey - just one or two shade darker and not as bright. Did I mention, I have a thing for teals and turquoises this year? :$

Hydraxia. 2 coats (dabbed on the second) over one coat of Cult Nails Living Water.

A sheer jelly base of deep sea green full of multiple teal, turquoise, ocean blue, bright blue and soft flecks of yellow in various shapes and sizes.

- Femme Fatale Cosmetics

Yup, a complex polish that I can't even begin to describe adequately. This was the polish that first got my eye on FFC. I saw this on Bec of Nail Gun XS on Instagram and it was love at first sight (she layered it over China Glaze Man Hunt (a beautiful dark blue) here.)! :L I was about to bust out my Cult Nails Time Traveler when I saw Living Water next to it and in that instant, I knew it was The One. The dark teal base and tiny glitters complemented Hydraxia so well as if they were meant for each other! Needless to say, I fell in love all over again. <3

The formula on these was very good. The consistency was just right and I did not have to fish around for the glitters. Just a note though: the larger glitters in Winter Hyacinth tend to stay at the bottom of the bottle so it helps to give it a few hard shakes before use.

I must say, having tried these, FFC is definitely on my indie radar now. I'm impressed with the range of colors they offer and their excellent formula. On top of that, they have also gone beyond my expectations by having a very professional packaging for their bottles and website. What more could I ask for?

So, what do you think of these polishes? What other FFC colors caught your eye?

FFC polishes are available for sale in Australia on their website.
If you are living outside Australia, you can grab these beauties from their international stockists such as Shoppe Eclecticco here. Shoppe Eclecticco is also having weekend sale for Aussie indie brands and polishes are at S$1.50 off per bottle! There are only a few FFC polishes available on the site at the time of writing so you better be quick! The next FFC re-stock is tentatively scheduled for mid-end Jan 2013 and will come with new colors - I simply can't wait!!
For more FFC updates, you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter!

xoxo,
mich