The Polish Well: Christmas Duo!

Happy weekends everyone!
Even though it is a gloomy rainy Saturday, I am still riding on a high from my most amazing nail mail week - you can catch a glimpse of the pretties that I've hauled on my Instagram page.

Since I can't do any swatching today, I looked through my pictures and I stumbled upon a prototype that I've made a while back during Halloween. I did not release it then because I've received a number of comments that it was more suited for Christmas! One thing led to another and before I knew it, I had mixed up another prototype to go with it as a Christmas duo.

Naughty or Nice.
A daring shade of deep berry-leaning red filled with holographic sparkles and a dash of holiday gold. Sparkly reds are Christmas classics so I simply had to try making one myself. More pictures below.

Bottle shot - macro

Shot under direct sunlight

Trim the Tree.
A forest green filled with yellow and hot orange / red glitters. I hardly do contrasting colours myself but this one grew on me the more I stared at it.

So what do you think of these two colours? What do you like to wear on your nails for Christmas?

Pre-order Information:

As before, I will be making these polishes available for pre-orders from Sunday, 17 November, 9am SGT until 21 November, 9am SGT.

If you wish to place an order for the older colours, you may also include them in your order list and I will see if I have any available stock for you.

All colours will be available in the following sizes:
12ml @ US$10 each
5ml @ US$4 each

All orders will be mailed via Registered Mail and shipping rates are as follows:
International: US$6 for the first 12ml / US$3 for the first 5ml + US$2 for each subsequent 12ml + US$1 for each subsequent 5ml
Singapore: flat rate of US$4
IF YOU HAVE PLACED AN EARLY PRE-ORDER FOR THE CATCHING FIRE COLLECTION THAT IS STILL BEING PROCESSED, PLEASE INDICATE IN THE "REMARKS" SECTION AND I WILL COMBINE YOUR ORDERS FOR YOU.

Please note that pre-orders will be filled as quickly as I can (but I cannot guarantee they will reach you before Christmas!) and they will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis according to the timestamp on the pre-order form.

The Polish Well: Halloween 2013 - Coraline and more!

Dear broadband, *clears throat to sing* how do I live without you~?
So our internet has been down for the past two days and it is driving us insane. But because I am flying off for a holiday this weekend (whooooohooo), I've decided to tether to my precious mobile broadband for a quickie post tonight to show you none other than... my mini halloween collection based on the movie - Coraline!

Oops! Missing a family shot because it slipped my mind so let's just jump to individual swatches shall we?

Coraline.
A deep blue jelly with a slight green tinge filled with turquoise sparkles and blue-green flecks for the spunky blue nails that Coraline sports. I love the depth of this but be warned - it is a stainer.

To the Other World.
A mysterious and inviting deep blue with blue and purple sparkles that give it a glow-from-within look. This was inspired by the tunnel to the other world - when the other mother was still playing nice of course. One of the more glowy blues that I have in my collection. I wore this as a full manicure once and received quite a few compliments - even my sister thought it looks good and she rarely compliments my frankens ;)

Let Me Go!
A mix of gold sparkles in various shades buried in a rich dark chocolate base inspired by the tunnel when Coraline tries to escape. I do love myself some dark browns especially during this time of the year <3

Evil Witch.
For the other mother of course. A deep green jelly with a mix of green glitters and delicate gold sprinkles. I have been meaning to mix a good green for ages but never really found the right colour mix until recently. Can you tell that dark greens are my weakness?


Hmm... perhaps these are not as halloween-y as I'd hoped it would be. Nonetheless, these colours are very wearable any time of the year and that's always a plus in my books ;)

Interested? Here's the release info:-

• I will be accepting pre-orders for this collection from Sunday, 13 October, 9am SGT to the following Sunday 20 October, 9am SGT. 
• Only available in 12ml sizes at US$10 each
• Limited edition - will not be restocked in the foreseeable future
• Shipping at US$6 + US$1 for each subsequent (SG - flat rate of US$4)
• Link to pre-order form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MZdJZ4_qmM7ywfNjGuU3OVdNH_Oze7TtiDQo9mVtJEQ/viewform (will only be activated during the dates and times stated above)
• If you have an outstanding pre-order with me, please add a note in the remarks field and I will combine your orders for you. 

Other colours that will be made available:

Wrath. (re-release)
Finally... after what seemed like ages, I am finally able to recreate this popular shade from my first collection. A vampy blood red jelly filled with red, gold and black glitters of various shapes and sizes. You likey? ;)

Rose.
A delicate white jelly filled with pink glitters in two shades and a sprinkling of tiny gold sparkles. Inspired by Lee Hi's song of the same name (you need to listen to it - it is hauntingly beautiful). A random bout of inspiration that turned into a shade that I really love.


Yup! That's all from me for now. I need to get myself some rest before my holiday!

What do you think of these colours? Did any catch your eye? :D

a-england: Rose Bower, Order of the Garter & Love is Enough

Sent for Review

Arggggh! I swear the heat is going to kill me one day. It would be a good day for swatching except that my block of flats is being painted at the moment and I don't exactly fancy doing my thang when the painters are hovering outside my window. *awkward*

Thankfully I have some swatches in my camera so I can still blog away!

If you've caught my last post, you would know that I've received some pretties from Dazzled, a new etailer based in Hong Kong. So today, I will be sharing with you some from one of my favourite brands: a-england!

Rose Bower. 2 coats (it is a one-coater but I did 2 anyway)
A gorgeous glowy red base with very subtle holo. Rose Bower is one of the new colours in Adina's latest collection, Burne-Jones Dream, inspired by Burne-Jones' paintings depicting scenes from Sleeping Beauty. Whilst the holo effect is the weakest in Rose Bower, the base colour more than makes up for everything. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the holo sparkles compliment the base perfectly.

Order of the Garter. (3 thin coats)
A sheer deep blue base filled with electric blue glass flecks that shimmer impossibly when they catch the light. I can truly lose myself in the depths within.

Love is Enough. (3 thin coats)
A sheer blackened base filled with shimmery metallic flecks giving it an overall olive hue with gold accents. Extremely glowy, sophisticated and edgy.







As with all the a-englands, the formula and application on these are perfect so no complaints there. In fact, it is one of the reason why I love a-england so much - painting is not just a process to getting pretty nails, it is an enjoyment by itself.

At the moment, a-england only ships within the UK but you can get your hands on these beauties through various distributors including Dazzled. Starting from yesterday, Dazzled is officially offering worldwide shipping (including countries outside Asia) so all you international ladies can satisfy your needs and lemmings too. On top of that, to celebrate 2,500 likes on Facebook, Dazzled is having a storewide discount of 10% with the code "2500FB". The code is valid until 6 September so don't wait! ;)



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

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

Femme Fatale Cosmetics: Gilded Rose, Scorchling, Incendius and Chocoholic

Sent for Review

By now, you should know that I am utterly obsessed with Femme Fatale Cosmetics. For the uninitiated, FFC is an Australian indie brand that is known for its unique and gorgeous glitter mixes. From right at the start, Sophie, the creative genius behind FFC, never failed to impress me with her eye for colour and her sense of depth - two important factors that make a polish look complete. In fact, her polishes were a part of the reason why I got started on Wow (yup, she takes some of her inspirations from the game too!).

Still not convinced? Just take a look:

Gilded Rose. 1 coat sandwiched between OPI Barre My Soul.
Gilded Rose is a glitter bomb filled with gold, pink and even sprinkles of purple glitters of different shapes (including stars!) and sizes. As it has a clear base, it is very versatile and can be used as a topper over different colours - in the first picture, I layered it over OPI My Very First Knockwurst on a swatch stick; Bec of Nail Gun XS also has a gorgeous swatch of it over a metallic pink. For this swatch, I chose to do a squishy jelly sandwich with OPI Barre My Soul for a more delicate look. <3

Scorchling. 1 coat dabbed over Illamasqua Vice.
A sheer berry-red jelly filled with red, burgundy and black glitters and pops of red and blue shimmer. One of my favourites and a prime example of why I love FFC polishes - the colour and glitter mix are just so perfectly balanced for a bold fierce look.

Incendius. 1 coat dabbed over Michelle R3.
Another clear-based glitter topper. This is filled with red, orange, gold and black glitters of various shapes and sizes. I had layered it over a dark shimmery red for a fiery look but the glitters really pop if you layer it over a black - in the swatch stick above, I layered it over a near black, Wet n Wild Under Your Spell.

Chocoholic. 2 coats over Essence Wanna Say Hello.
This is a sheer dark plum base filled with tiny brown glitters and larger brown hexes accented with sprinkles of royal purple and some pink and blue dots. So deliciously dark and rich, I had to stop myself from taking a bite. Love it so hard!


So, what do you think of these FFC polishes?

FFC is available on their website at http://femmefatalecosmetics.com.au/.
At the moment, FFC does not ship polishes outside of Australia but, thankfully, us international girls can satisfy our lemmings at one of their stockists. You may also wish to try your luck at their clearance section - these polishes are available for shipping internationally subject to a limit of 6 bottles.

You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates!




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

The Polish Well: New Releases + Restock!

Hello everyone!! *waves excitedly*

Today, I will be officially unveiling the new colors that I have been working on! *happy dance* I have not just one but two collections this time.

Before we move on to the colors, I must apologize for not having my usual hand swatches. I had been too busy for the past few days and not to mention busy pampering my sadly ravaged cuticles from all the mixing and testing in my "lab".

First up, we have the summer collection:

This is loosely inspired by good ol' retro days and contains two subtle linear holos, two shimmers and two glitter polishes - something for everyone!

Blue Bell Bottoms.
A dusty dark blue with a subtle linear holo effect. Unfortunately, the swatch stick dulled the holo so you can't really see it in this picture. I really ought to have taken a picture of this on my nails in the sun but I couldn't find the time. ><

Tea Party.
A dusty mauve lilac with subtle linear holo effect. Again, the swatch stick dulled the holo so you can't really see it in this picture. I don't know about you but this color makes me want to have a high tea with my girlfriends ;)

Skinny Dipping.
A green-toned turquoise jelly with gold and copper shimmer. You know how obsessed I am about turquoises and gold so I simply had to try my hand at making this. To be honest, I am pretty happy with how it turned out ^_^

Pompadour.
A dusty rose pink with copper and taupe shimmer. Girly vintage.

Primadonna.
A peachy beige jelly filled with red and black glitters and subtle orange shimmer. Inspired by the song by Marina and the Diamonds - hence the heart glitter. I was sorely tempted to make a dark red color for the pin-up girls that were so popular in those days but I figured this is more appropriate for summer.

Polkie Dottie.
Grey with brown, turquoise and white glitters and subtle holo shimmer. I saw a phone cover in these colors somewhere and I fell in love. It isn't very summer-ish but the glitters remind me of polka dots so in it goes to this collection!

And now, we move on to The Jewels!
Disclaimer: I do not proclaim to be an expert in jewels and the colors are loosely named after the gems for the color and are in no way meant to resemble the real deals (or fictitious ones for that matter)!

I realized I forgot to take a family portrait for these so we will have to make do with individual swatches:

Dresden Green.
An emerald green subtle linear holo. Again, you can't really see the subtle linear holo in this picture. It is probably similar to Glitter Gal's Lizard Belly in terms of its holo. A note of caution: this color stains so do take note before you buy it!

Heart of the Ocean.
A sheer dark blue base with gold shimmer and duochrome flecks that shift from blue to green. Blue and green and gold? Yup, one of my personal favorites.

Moussaieff Red.
A sheer blackened red base filled with lots of red glitters and shimmers with sprinkles of gold. Can look lighter or darker depending on the lighting. I personally prefer it under very low lighting - dark with mysterious sparkles of red and gold *swoon*

And finally a random color that did not fit into any collection:

Concrete Jungle.
A dark grey with black and white shreds and generous sprinkles of holo shimmer. A random color with an equally random inspiration - a floor that I saw somewhere. ;p Odd as the inspiration may be, I love this combination.

PHEW! That was quite a lot of polishes!
Which ones caught your eye? :D

Before I end off this post, I have another piece of happy news to share: I am finally restocking my Etsy store and will be releasing these new colors this Saturday, 6 April at 9am Singapore Time! Details of the restock are as follows:

• All new and old colors will be available except Wrath, Envy (these are discontinued until further notice due to lack of supplies). 
• Prices are as follows: 
• US$8 for 10ml and US$4 for 5ml; 
• additional US$1/0.50 each for holos
• Sales will be on a made-to-order basis and it should take about 1-2 weeks for your package to be mailed. 
• All shipping will be via registered mail and shipping costs are tentatively as follows: 
• International: US$6 for the first 10ml / US$3 for the first 5ml (whichever is higher) + US$1 for each subsequent. 
• Singapore: Shipping to local addresses are at a flat rate of US$3.
• Any updates will be posted at the Etsy store so do keep a lookout for that.

Hope to see you there! :D

HARE Polish: The First Collection (Reformulated)

Ok... it is no secret that I am a huge HARE polish fan right? Right. :e
And so it should not come as a surprise that I did a mega haul of shame during her last few Etsy restocks, right?

In my defense, my brain was malfunctioning during that period (revision for exams!) and I badly needed some retail therapy... Oh, scrap that. Who am I kidding?? There is no way I could miss HARE polish's restock! :brow

So let's start off with some swatches of the reformulated First Collection, shall we?

A Positive. 2 coats over 2 coats of OPI Houston, We Have A Purple.
A super squishy bright magenta red jelly filled with a mix of silver hexes of three different sizes. The base color was a little sheer so I decided to layer this over HWHAP lest the silver hexes cover up the entire base color if I try to build it up to opacity on its own. I had contemplated skipping this but I'm really glad I didn't. :L If you love jelly glitters, this will be right up your alley too.

Pegasus. 2 coats over China Glaze Light As Air on the first three fingers & 2 coats on its own on the pinkie.
Another silver hex glitter mix but in a soft lilac base this time. The silver hexes are colored white by the base color, giving it an unexpectedly delicate and feminine look. :angel I'm so glad I managed to snag this one after lemming for it for so long!

Bisbee. 3 coats on its own.
And finally, the star of the collection - this little bunny was wiped out within seconds in each of the restocks and I was really lucky to get it before it was gone. It was literally the fastest shopping I had ever done - I was in and checking out in under a minute. The adrenaline was still coursing through my body long after the damage was done.... Oops, I digressed.
Bisbee is a bright green-leaning turquoise filled with a mix of gold hexes of different sizes. I had some problems with the larger glitters clumping and curling a wee bit but nothing a little prodding and manipulating can't solve. In any case, how could I hold it against a pretty polish like Bisbee? You know you want it too. ;)

There is one other polish from the First Collection, Archipelago, but it is not ready to be included in this reformulated collection. :( I am hoping that Nikole will be able to find the right materials to make it once again! It's a stunning beauty and I would hate to miss it.

So, what do you think of HARE polish's First Collection?
Stay tuned for more swatches soon!

xoxo,
mich