Mont Bleu: Glassware

 Sent for Review

*waves lazily* Such a perfect weather for sleeping in today! The light drizzle, the cool breeze... zzzz..
So why am I up on a lazy Sunday? Well, a close friend of mine recently introduced me to World of Warcraft and gifted me with a copy of the game (yea she is awesome!!). Since I am going for a call break later this week, I figured I should start prep-ing by downloading the game and readying myself. This is my first MMORPG so I guess I need to do some homework as well heh. Hopefully I won't be a complete fumbling fool when I start playing. ;P

Anyway, while waiting for the download and installation to be done, I have some goodies from Mont Bleu to share with you today!

I stumbled upon Mont Bleu through various nail blogs that I frequent and fell in love with their beautifully decorated glass nail files. Yup! Mont Bleu Ltd Company is one of the world leading suppliers of glass nail files. Their glass nail files are made of high quality Czech glass; they are decorated by patterns, or by Swarovski crystals. Not only that, they also provide a whole range of products adorned with sparkly crystals! *turns into a magpie* Take a look!

Mont Bleu Glass Nail Files - regular and travel-sized.
I am not sure if I have ever talked about my manicure routine (it is definitely on my to-blog list but I don't think I've ever sat down to work on it >.< ) but one of my essential manicure tools is a glass nail file. They are generally of a medium-fine grit - enough to take down length without damaging your nails. I prefer glass files to the usual ones because they are built to last and don't have to be replaced - a thorough wash and quick dry makes it all ready to be used again. As such, the regular sized glass nail file is the only product that I requested to try when Mont Bleu first contacted me.

Prior to this, I had been using my trusty OPI glass file since.... way back in 2011. I was actually very happy with it until these Mont Bleu files came along and blew it out of the water. Not only are these files prettily adorned, they are surprisingly quick to take down length. That is a life-saver especially for impatient folks like me. <3

Mont Bleu Glass Foot File.
All reservations I had about my feet breaking the glass file melted away when I saw this file. It looks sturdy, feels sturdy and is sturdy. It has a coarse side and a smoother side. The coarse side is, well, coarser than the glass nail files but not too rough on the feet either. The finer side smooths everything thereafter. I love how smooth my feet feels after some filing. Definitely a keeper.

Mont Bleu Tweezer.
Tweezers are almost indispensable in my life. Apart from having one to shape my brows, I also have some tweezers lying around to pick up random things like studs/rhinestones for nail art or as a replacement for my fingers when my nails are still wet. As with most tweezers, this pair of tweezer from Mont Bleu is nicely slanted at the tips for easy shaping. It has a fairly good grip. Plus, I really like the brushed metal finish and the crystals - simple but very chic-looking.

Mont Bleu Metal Compact Mirror.
Another beautifully designed product from Mont Bleu. This is made from extremely reflective metal which I love but, unfortunately, unforgiving of the fingerprints too.

Mont Bleu Earrings.
It is not very obvious from my picture but these are quite sparkly in the sun. By now, you should know I have a soft spot for things like that - simple, elegant and sparkly. ;)

All in all, I am very impressed by these Mont Bleu products. In particular, I would highly recommend their glass files. You can take a look at the full range of Mont Bleu products here. Mont Bleu delivers its products internationally so happy shopping! ;)



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

How-to: Nail Whitening

Purchased By Me

Once in a while, I get a little crazy and I'll look at my nails and start thinking, "Hmm I feel like going naked today." But, of course, I never had the courage to do that because my nails are horribly stained from wearing polish almost everyday for more than a year! And that is the vicious cycle of polish: polish -> stained nails -> more polish to hide stains, etc.

So when I heard that Cuccio's nail whitening paste was available at a good deal at this year's BeautyAsia fair, I jumped at the chance to try it for myself. I didn't actually manage to go to the fair but the lovely Lauretta from A Lacquered Affair helped me grab a tube to try! Thank you, L!

The instructions are simple: (paraphrased below)

1. Wet a nail brush thoroughly.
2. Squeeze a generous amount of nail whitening paste on the brush.
3. Scrub like nobody's business. (Official instruction says to scrub for 1 min. Longer if your nails are very stained.)

Of course, I had to do it my own way. Since I didn't have a nail brush, I used a small toothbrush instead. I've tried putting the paste on the brush but I realized that it is quite wasteful as the paste gets smooshed deep into the bristles so I dabbed a bit of paste on each nail instead. I did follow step 3 to the T though. 

I was a little disappointed on my first try but I stuck to it and diligently scrubbed my nails everyday for 6 days and I am extremely happy to say: YES, it works! Take a look:

Before:

Yea... those orange tips make me cringe too. >.< Only the nails near the cuticles are "spared" because they are relatively new growths.

After:

Gosh, my nails grow pretty quickly, don't they? But, no more orange stains! I grabbed my sister's hands for a quick comparison and my nails still look slightly yellowish next to hers but she did comment that they look much healthier.

I paraded around with my nails naked and it sure felt good... for two days. I couldn't take it any longer and slapped on some color after that. :P
I did vow to scrub my nails at least once a week though to keep them looking healthy so I can go naked whenever I feel like it.

Do you have stained nails too? How do you whiten them?

xoxo,
mich

How-To: Clean Up Brush

I have received a few questions on how I paint my nails so neatly so I thought it would be appropriate to do a post on what brushes I use for clean-up.

For those who have not heard of clean-ups before, it is a very simple way to remove excess polish that got onto the cuticles or the sides of the nail. All you have to do is to dip a brush in your nail polish remover and run it along the sides of the nail a few times to get a clean line!

Now, I should probably put a HUGE disclaimer upfront by saying this: 

I know there had been some controversy on this topic because there are a few people who hold strong views on clean-up. For myself, I am neutral on this because I think it is just a matter of personal preference and that's all I am going to say on that matter. So let's not venture into muddy waters, shall we? Instead, this post will focus purely on the brushes that I've tried so far and the views I have on them. 

So these are the two brushes I've tried for clean up.

The battered-looking one on the left is an angled eyeliner brush that I've got from a random beauty store in the mall. It has been with me for almost a year now and suffered the ill-fate of being dropped into a bottle of nail-polish remover. Naturally I panicked and by the time I fished it out, the black paint on the brush handle is almost gone. Nevertheless, it has served me well for longer than I've expected.

Recently, I got another brush from Born Pretty Store because my eyeliner brush is a little worn out. This time I chose a round-tip brush that is probably meant for nail art but I've decided to use it for clean-up purposes anyway.

Here's a quick comparison between the brushes:

They are very different and I like them both for different reasons. I love the angled tip of the eyeliner brush because the tip rests nicely on the sides of my nail. However, I prefer the flatter end of the nail art brush because it gives a more precise clean-up and does not leave a huge gap between the polish and my cuticles.

What type of brush do you prefer?

Just in case you are wondering, you can find the nail art brush (Item ID: 219) at the Born Pretty Store here. They have a wide range of nail products and provide free worldwide shipping! Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

xoxo,

mich

**Products marked with an asterisk are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**

Nail Ideas: Baby Penguin!

I simply must apologize for not posting for the whole of the week again! I had some swatches done last weekend but didn't have the time to watermark them and blog.

To make up for it, I decided to do a quick nail art design for today's post!

A fuzzy baby penguin with some grey flocking powder from Born Pretty Store! Urgh I wish I could cuddle it properly!!

I was inspired to do some penguin nails after receiving this flocking powder set in my mail:

First, I painted my nails with two coats of Misa's Grey Matters. Then, using the pair of tweezers, I placed some flocking powder over my ring fingernail when the polish is still wet. I took care to make sure every inch of my nail is covered and patted it down gently with the flat side of the tweezer. I waited a short while before using the brush to carefully sweep away the excess powder from my nails. That should give you a nice fuzzy nail.

Then, I went on to paint the details with black and white acrylic paint using a small nail art brush. Of course, I regretted it almost immediately after that. I had a shower and, to my horror, my penguin was gone!! :c The flocking powder stayed flawless on my nail but the details done with acrylic paint were washed away. You can be sure I will be sure to use polish for the details next time!

Some pointers on using the flocking powder...

• Try to get the flocking powder to cover the entire nail. It will be hard to cover up the bald patches after that. 
• Choose a base color that is close to the color of the flocking powder so bald patches will not be so obvious.
• It is easier to use the powder over a regular polish rather than a quick-dry topcoat - the coverage is better and more even because you have more time to pat the powder down onto your nail.
• Yup, it is ok to get the nails wet. The flocking powder will be damp but it dries fairly quickly and your nails will be back to their fuzzy self in no time at all.

You can find the grey flocking powder (Item ID: 4480) at the Born Pretty Store here. They have a wide range of nail products and provide free worldwide shipping! Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

xoxo,

mich

**Products marked with an asterisk are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**

How-To: Swatch Sticks

Towards the end of 2012, I embarked on a mission to organize my stash after I realized I no longer know what colors I have. With some 200+ polishes randomly stashed in the depths of my drawers, I must admit to being guilty of neglecting a lot of colors and not giving them the love they deserve. Not only that, it is also difficult to find matching undies for the glitter toppers I have.

My solution? Swatch sticks.
Take a look:

The model: Max Fantasy Fire (5 coats on its own)

First, I swatched the polishes on the underside of the swatch sticks. I'd tried painting the swatch sticks the way I paint my nails but I realized the top coat turns the polish matte on the swatch sticks. Thankfully, a fellow IG-er suggested painting on the underside. This way, the plastic acts as the de facto top coat on one side and I can see how the polish looks sans top coat on the underside as well. Genius!

As I swatch the polishes, I took down the names of the polishes in the order I swatch them and the corresponding number of coats it took to reach opacity. While waiting for them to dry, I create labels for my swatch sticks.
Because I know my handwriting probably can't fit onto the sticks, I decided to type them out instead. I measured the sides of the sticks and created a table in Microsoft Word, specifying the width and height of the cells (in my case I used: 0.8cm x 6cm). Then I typed the brand name (in bold and caps); the name of the polish; and the number of coats applied in brackets. In case you are wondering, I used Helvetica, 8pt to make sure the words fit comfortably in the table cells. You can see how it looks in the picture below. After printing the table, I proceeded to cut the labels one-by-one.
Of course, you can save a lot of trouble if you have those label-machines and other fancy gadgets but I didn't have those so I did everything the tedious way.

Wearing OPI Steady As She Rose on the nails...

The next step? Sticking the labels on! I used 3M's matte finish tape because I love how it looks. And the width is just enough to wrap over the edges of the swatch sticks. To make sure the tape doesn't come off any time soon, I wiped the stick clean before taping.

After labeling, all you have to do is to arrange them however you like!
I organized them by color for ease of comparison and because they look so pretty like that:

The pinks and reds...

The beiges, browns, orange, yellow and greens

The blues and purples...

The whites, greys and blacks...

The duochromes and toppers

It took me a few days to finish the swatch sticks but it is definitely worth it:

• Everything is organized neatly
• It is easy to compare colors
• You can rearrange them however and whenever you like
• You can admire the colors in your stash all at once without needing 200++ fingernails 
• It is easier to find undies for toppers too 

The only drawback is that you will have to find a place to store these sticks but I can live with that. :P

Just in case you are wondering, I organize my polish bottles by brand and name (alphabetical order) because bottles from the same brand fit better together. I will pick the color from the sticks and look for it in the drawers with the brand and name.

How do you organize your stash? :$

xoxo,

mich

Born Pretty Stamp Plate: M60 & How I Re-Learnt Stamping

I've always thought that nail stamping is like cycling - once you've picked it up, you will never forget how to do it. So, when I was asking to pick an item from Born Pretty Store for review, I happily opted for a plate with full-nail designs, thinking that I am able to stamp easily like a pro. WRONG. My first few tries after a long hiatus were complete disasters and almost left me in tears. :c Thankfully, I managed to re-master the skill to try the beautiful designs on this stamp plate:

The Born Pretty stamp plate M60* is a dupe plate for the Konad M60. I was drawn to this plate immediately because I love almost all of the designs on it.

As much as I love the designs, I nearly gave up on the stamping because I couldn't get enough polish in the grooves to stamp with. I tried polishes from different brands and ran into the same trouble each time. After googling around a bit, I found out that I was scraping off too much polish because I was holding the scraper at too low an angle. After I reposition the scraper at approximately 45 degrees, I finally managed to get enough polish in the grooves for stamping:

Polishes used:

Megan Miller Roja* - base color

Black from Essence's My Sparkling Acrobat duo - stamping color

Hmmm, I definitely need to work on my positioning - the design is slanted on some of the nails.

Having learnt a huge lesson in stamping, I've decided to include it in my tips for nail stamping. Here's the revised list:

• It helps to paint a (fast-drying) top coat over the base color before stamping.
• If the stamping goes wrong, just lightly wipe it off the nail immediately with some nail polish remover and you can stamp away without repainting the whole nail again.
• As a follow on from the previous tip, you need not be worried that the french tips designs on the plates are too big for you - just clean up with a little remover to keep the design on the tips only.
• Experiment with different polishes for stamping - but any pigmented one-coater should get the job done.
• Try to avoid quick-dry polishes if you are new to stamping and can't work that quickly.
• Work fast to scrape excess polish and pick up the design with the stamper before the polish dries.
• It helps to leave the polish bottle uncapped when you're doing your stamping.
• If you are scraping off too much polish from the design
• Make sure that the plate is dry (no acetone, etc) before you paint on the plate
• Make sure that you position the scraper at approximately 45 degrees - you are likely to remove too much polish if your scraper is angled lower than that. 
• If you are not picking up the design,
• Clean the plates with some remover to get rid of the dried polishes in the grooves,
• OR check if there is a thin plastic film covering the plate - peel that off first! Don't worry, you're not the only one who didn't know that (speaking from personal experience o"o).
• You can take some time to position the image over your nail before stamping. The image will still transfer onto your nail even though the polish has sort of dried. (I am not too sure how long you can wait but I sure took a few seconds to position the stamper before I stamped)
• I rest the edge of the design against the side of the nail before stamping the whole nail in a rolling motion - this helps to get the stamping straight.

You can find this stamp plate at the Born Pretty Store here. They provide free worldwide shipping! Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

On a random note, my sister seems to like nail stamping a lot - each time I take out my stamping kit, she will ask me to stamp her nails for her. Hmmm, I wonder if I can persuade her to get me some stamp plates for Christmas. ;)

Do you have any stamping tips to share? Let me know in the comments below! :$

xoxo,

mich

**Products marked with an asterisk are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**

Peel-Off Base Coat aka. Time to Bust Out the Glitters!

I love glitter polishes. There are sparkly ones, colorful ones, whimsical ones... yea, you get the idea. Unfortunately, they are a universally-acknowledged PITA to remove. :|| Even with the foil removal method, I still shy away from wearing them. I don't stop buying them though - I take them out to admire them in the bottles but mostly they just sit around in my drawers collecting dust. o"o

Thankfully, some creative genius came up with a revolutionary peel-off base coat that changed the sad fate of my glitter polishes for the better. With the peel-off base coat, glitter removal is easy as picking at the polish and peeling/popping them off the nail like this:

No more scrubbing or soaking the nails in foul smelling acetone - just pick and pop! I don't know about you but that's almost as fun and therapeutic as popping bubble wraps for me. :L

This magical concoction can be found in your regular beauty supply craft or stationery stores - goes by the name of... 'PVA glue'.
Yup, that's right! It's our good ol' craft glue! How did anyone even think of using glue? *impressed*
I bought the Innisfree peel-off base coat before I knew about its true identity but you can always buy the cheaper alternative and pour it into empty polish bottles for easy application. Don't believe me? You can check out this neat post on Lab Muffin.

It feels a little strange knowing that you are deliberately smearing glue over your nails but other than that, it applies smoothly like our regular base coats. If you find your glue a little too thick, you can always thin it with water.

Some application tips for best results:

• You don't have to paint a thick coat of glue. It pops nicely even when you use a thin layer of glue.
• Ensure that you cover every inch of the nail that you intend to polish on.
• Wrap your tips (i.e. paint the free-edge of the nail) with the glue - especially if you have a habit of wrapping your tips with the polish.
  This will ensure that any polish at the tips will come off easily too when you peel off the polish.
• Let the glue dry completely until it doesn't even feel sticky when you touch it.
  Depending on how much glue you use, it can actually turn transparent fairly quickly. But I will advise you to wait for a little while more until it is no longer tacky to touch. I've made the mistake of applying my polish immediately when it turned transparent and the polish refused to budge when I picked, scratched and cursed at it the next day.
• Do not wash your hands when you don't have polish over the glue - even when the glue has dried completely.
  Because it is water-based, it will turn wet and sticky again upon contact with water.
• I'm not too sure about this but I haven't been able to get the polish to pop off in one perfect piece when I paint a base color before topping it with glitters. Yes, it peels off fairly easily too but it tends to crack or break into little pieces (see the difference in the picture above). Not a huge issue but I like it when the glitters come off nicely in one piece - looks like one of those fake nails. I'm weird, I know.

Someone once asked me: foil removal or PVA glue? After trying it out a few times, I have to say I prefer using PVA glue. 

Even though I have to wait approximately 10 minutes for it to dry before I can paint my nails, time passes quickly when I check my mail or scroll through the blog posts on my google reader. It is not much longer than the time I take for foil removal - cutting aluminium foils, cutting cotton pads, wetting each pad with acetone, wrapping my nails one by one and soaking my nails in harsh acetone for another 5 minutes or so (I stare into space because I can't work the trackpad on my com or phone with my fingers all wrapped up). 

And, because I'm weird, I like picking at the polish and popping them off my nails! :$ There is not as much satisfaction when I just pull the foil off my nails if you know what I mean. 

There are some downsides to using PVA though.
Amanda from Pretty Girl Science has pointed out that it does not prevent staining! So I will definitely recommend the usual base coat + foil if you suspect the glitter polish might stain your nails.
[edit: Michelle from Lab Muffin and Susan from The Subtle Shimmer have suggested painting your base coat over the PVA glue to prevent staining. I will be trying that out soon! Having tried that myself, it didn't appear to affect the ease of peeling. yay!]
Of course, another disadvantage is that I simply can't resist picking my polish off my nails before the end of the day! o"o

What do you think of PVA glue? Have you tried it before?

xoxo,

mich

Nail Ideas: Saran Wrap Nails!

Hello everyone!
So sorry for disappearing for a week! I had a brief health scare earlier and wasn't in the mood to do my nails. :~ Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing as serious as I had thought! Phew! I'm already taking some medicine for it and feeling a lot better. :$

I've decided to resume my regular blog postings with a simple nail art with one of my favorite colors - purple!

Here's my maiden attempt at saran-wrap, cling-wrap or, in my case, glad-wrap nails! It is a really simple nail art technique that gives a really beautiful marbled look.

First, you paint a base color and let it dry completely (I used Seche Vite to quicken the process).
Then you paint a second color and blot some of it off using a scrunched up piece of cling-wrap.
And you're done!

Here's a tip: the marbled effect looks best when you do the blotting immediately after painting the second color. During my first try, I took some time to screw the cap on the polish bottle before blotting and the polish became too tacky to be blotted. It ended up looking really strange and did not have the marbled look at all. :f

For this mani, I used a-england's Guinevere, a light mauve purple, as my base color and Elaine for the dark purple. The smoky dark purple was perfect in adding a mysterious and magical touch to the cling-wrap mani. I couldn't resist adding a thin coat of China Glaze's fairy dust to complete the look. But it looked really good without the holographic glitters too:

Don't the colors look perfect? :L I really really love how they look together. Of course, they are gorgeous on their own too! I believe I haven't worn anything else but Guinevere and/or Elaine in the last two weeks. Lol! :$ Will get around to posting swatches soon!

What do you think of this mani? Have you tried the saran/cling-wrap technique before?

xoxo,
mich