NOTW: Bling It On!

Do you dig chunky, blingy accessories? If your answer is YES, then allow me to dare you to put some bling onto your nails with Etude House's Dear Darling Nail Polish in #34. Its got loads of chunky glitter enough to dazzle [and blind] you and your peepers with or without the spotlight hitting your nails! But the thing that I like most about this glitter-bomb is the fact that it's not all glitter-madness. The polish itself is pigmented, so much that bottle color can be achieved with one [thick] coat. But you wouldn't want to do it that way for sure, so two coats is still the way to go.

(excuse the mess around the nails. wasn't able to clean them up well.)

Dare to shine and dazzle in some glittery goodness!

NOTW: Etude House in BL009

Etude House is slowly climbing up the list of my favorite brands for the quality and affordability of their products. So far, I haven't really been disappointed with the ones that I've tried. Their eye primer (bye bye UDPP!), nude lip concealer, lip glosses, and highlighter are slowly becoming staples in my makeup stash. Their nailpolishes, which are priced at Php48 and Php198, make quite a good deal especially if you'd consider the prices at which most imported nail polishes are sold in the country (think Essie, Orly, The Face Shop, Skinfood, etc).

Below is a picture of my left hand dressed in a beautiful teal hue (it looks blue in the photo but it's appears to be a darker teal hue in person) courtesy of Etude House. This particular nail polish shade in BL009 achieves bottle color in just one coat. It's neither streaky nor goopy. It dries very quickly and is very long lasting. I've had this color on my nails for a good 9days and it hasn't chipped one bit. No signs of wearing off, either.


Edit: This nail polish is from Etude House's Dear Darling Nails line and is priced at Php198.

This nail polish is definitely a winner. The pigmentation, longevity, smoothness and undeniably gorgeous packaging of this nail polish will surely blow you away. I know I was and I still am. My eyes are forever glued on my hands.

Needless to say, I'll be heading back to Etude House to sample more of their nail polishes.

Have you tried their nail polishes? What's your favorite nail polish brand? Let me know!

NOTW: Sparkly Green Apples

Here's what I've had on my nails for the past 6days. It's The Face Shop GR503 topped with BL601. GR503 is a very pretty mint green that reminds me of green apples. It dries to a cream finish, which is why I topped it off with BL601, a very glittery nail polish with an aqua base. It doesn't any pigmentation to it on its own, so a base is really needed. What I like about it is that it hasn't chipped off even one bit after all the torture I've put my nails through in the last 6days. Normally, my manicure starts chipping of on the fourth day, but this one surprisingly hasn't shown any signs of wearing off.

Pretty, eh?

Love this combination.

NOTW: I think I'm FALL-ing

We may not have fall in the Philippines (heck we have only summer down here), but my nails feel like joining the rest of the world in gearing up for the chilly fall season. No, I'm not buying myself coats and boots (I'd love to, though), but my color selection for my nails and daily outfits will have a touch of fall.

What exactly are the colors of fall anyway? Purples, deep reds, and some reddish brown hues are the ones that come to mind. Those are the colors that you will be seeing in this post. Well, minus the reds.

I first painted my nails with a good two coats of Caronia's African Plum and thought I could stop at that. However, seeing how dull this color looks on my nails made me decide to top it off with a sparkly purple polish from The Face Shop. I think it made a huge difference in the way my tips and toes look right now. They're so much prettier with sparkles. I just wish my nails were longer (I broke a nail a couple of weeks ago so I had no choice but to trim my nails lest I want to look stupid with an odd looking one).

See how different my pinky is from the rest of my nails?

Trust me, that's plum, not black.

See how blah African Plum looks on my right hand? (my right hand is the one on the left)

And here are my nails for the week. Sparkly, and very much perfect for fall.

Oh, and here's what I had on my nails last week. The nail polish that I had on my nails was Bobbie's Sparklers, a pretty sparkly golden brown hue.

NOTW + FOTD

Storm's almost out of the country, thank God. The sun smiled on the metro this morning but was soon after overcast by cloudy skies and rain showers an hour past noon. I'm just glad the rain wasn't that heavy.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of my nails which I have worn for four days. I'll be changing my nail polish tomorrow or the day after that.

I love French Manicures, especially when the tips are painted with white nail polish. It's a classic do that just makes one's hands look so dainty. But of course, you can always use a different color for French Manicures. It doesn't have to be always white. For my nails this week, I used products from the Face Shop --- from my base coat, to the Pussy Red nail varnish that I used for my tips, to the sticker and to my top coat. It's simple and very easy to do, but I think it's very pretty.


Here's the look that I wore to work the day my beloved left for LA. Using my 96palette, I did a smoldering olive green eye makeup with a touch of brown or bronze (can't remember what I used) on my outer v and crease. For my lips, I believe I had on Clinique's Color Surge Lipstick in Dreamy Pink. I contoured my cheeks using ELF's Contouring Blush and Bronzer Duo, but of course, my phone's camera wasn't able to capture that. I think I also used ELF's Blush in Peachy
Keen that day.


My beloved will be boarding the plane in a few hours and will be back in my arms soon. Please keep my beloved safe, oh Lord.

A Hodge-Podge of Sorts

After two very gloomy posts, here's something on the lighter side.

Take a look at this very sparkly, frosty and Christmas-y nail varnish from Bobbie. This one's called Blue Sleigh and it's a very pretty sky blue hue. It's a shade I don't normally wear; I was just being adventurous when I painted my nails with this.

Unlike Mistletoe Kiss, Blue Sleigh dries relatively faster. The coats were likewise more even. Though the color on the bottle can be achieved with only two coats, I decided to do three for no reason.


It's a pain to take off, but not as much as Bobbie's Mistletoe Kiss.

By the way, I now have 12 Bobbie nail varnishes and I want more! They're the only brand that has come up with very fun hues every girl would love to play with.

Next off, yesterday's FOTD. Since I've been sporting neutral looks since the beloved left, I decided to play with colors for my look yesterday. Hey, it's a Friday anyway. Thank God for Fridays!

I wore my contact lenses for this close up shot coz they make my eyes look bigger. haha!

For this look, I used my Bare Naturals' pigments in Cosmo and Stiletto, a pastel pink and a pale pink from my 96palette, NYX trio eyeshadow in Ceramic and Milani Powder Eyeshadow in Silver Bullet.

Too bad this one's blurry.

I did a French manicure the other day (Thursday) using products from The Face Shop. I'll post more decent photos of my nails in my next post.

The flash may have washed out the color on my cheeks, but I was wearing a very pretty blush from ELF's studio line. The shade is called Tickled Pink and it's one of the prettiest pink blushes I have seen. Though it's not as pigmented as I wish it was, I love the luminous finish of this blush and the effect gives.

I love how my puckers look in this photo. They look very healthy, pretty and kissable! Haha!

I won't promise to catch up with my blogging for the meantime coz I'm currently still swamped with loads of work to do. I apologize for keeping your hopes high. I will still be posting every now and then, but perhaps not as much as I did the previous month. I know I owe a lot of you guys the reviews and swatches of products which I've promised to do ages ago. I will get to them as soon as I can breathe. For now, here's all that I can do.

Stay safe everyone!

NOTW: Weng Weng + Latest Haul

I did my nails again. I got a little bored with my Christmas nails so I decided to change it to something prettier two nights ago.

I was choosing between this shade called Weng Weng (ridiculous, I know) and a pretty sparkly sky blue one called Sleigh (both from Bobbie), until I decided to paint Weng Weng on my nails.


As you can see, Weng Weng is a gorgeous but very complex hue. It looks somewhat like a hologram to me, with touches of purple, blue, green, gray and silver. The micro glitters/sparklers are another complex thing. Oh, and there's some kind of a purplish pearly iridescence to it, too. Really, I can't describe this shade. It's such a gorgeous shade that gives a somewhat sophisticated appeal.

This shade is so one of a kind. I've seen nothing quite like this shade here in the Philippines. I'm not sure if this is part of Bobbie's holiday collection, so I suggest you grab yourself a bottle of it and their other nail polishes. I will surely get myself a back up of this as I see myself wearing this color on both my tips and toes for quite a long time. I guess the complex but beautiful tones of this nail polish make up for the silly name, eh?

I am in love with it. The photo just doesn't do it justice.

Before I end this quick post and go back to sleep since I'm still feverish, I'll post a photo of my latest haul for the week. I have about three packages coming next week, though I'm not sure if I'll be posting those. I just thought I'd add this one.

1. ELF Contouring Blush and Bronzer Duo
2. NYX Runway Collection 10pc Eyeshadow Palette in Champagne and Caviar
3. ELF Mineral Blush in Tickled Pink
4. ELF Mineral Blush in Peachy Keen
5. NYX Long Lip Pencil in Pinky
6. NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean
7. NYX Round Lipstick in Fig (Finally!)

a. The Face Shop Mask
b. Sample of UDPP
c. Wine Elixir sample (anti-wrinkle and firming night cream)
d. Aqua Vita sample (24hour moisturizing cream for normal/dry skin)

Will do reviews and swatches of these in the coming weeks! So keep an eye on them!

*Sorry for the crappy picture quality. I took all pictures with my phone since I'm still sick.

NOTW: Silver Sand

Time flies so incredibly fast! It's already the start of the supposedly chilly -ber months here in the Philippine Islands, but surprisingly, the sun has been shining ever so brightly on our 7000+ islands. September is supposed to be a rainy/stormy month (not that I'm looking for it), but it seems as though it's summer all year 'round down here. While the rain does pour every now and then, the storms that have hit our country are not as disastrous as those in the past. There have been a few storms since the rainy season started in May, but none of them has caused much damage to the country except for flooded streets which are quite a usual scenario to Filipinos (except to me, though).

Time for subject change now.

I know I told you guys that I won't be able to post as much as I will be busier this month, but my conscience just won't let me let a day/week pass without posting at least one entry on my blog. So here I am, blogging whilst struggling to keep my eyes open at my desk in the office. I should be home right now resting, or out with my beloved shopping, but no, I'm stuck on my seat on a holiday. I'll try to make this post quick though, coz I have another one to write for you guys (that's to compensate for those days when I won't be found). For the meantime, I'd like to show you my NOTW. I paint my nails every week coz I can't stand looking at bare nails while I endlessly slam on my keyboard every single day.

Since my nails were getting a little too long, I decided to trim them a bit. I love growing my nails long, but sometimes, having long nails makes it hard for me to perform certain tasks. Plus, I end up scratching myself, especially when I'm in a rush. As for my nail varnish, I chose the shade called Silver Sand, which is a metallic taupe with a little more gray. This particular nail polish is from Caronia, a local brand of nail polishes, I believe.

I've had Silver Sand in my collection for quite some time, but never bothered to use it on my nails after swatching it the first time and being disappointed with the color. When I tried Silver Sand on one finger after purchasing, I wanted to hit my head on the wall for picking up such an unflattering hue. It didn't look pretty at first, but after a couple of months, I decided to shop in my stash and picked up Silver Sand the second time. It's not what I would usually wear on my tips and toes, since I'm more of a red and purple nail polish user; but Silver Sand is another classy and sophisticated hue that's perfect for one's tips.

*the shade looks more brown in the photos*

NOTW: Pink Lilac

I frequently paint my nails but I have never posted an NOTD/NOTW or however other beauty bloggers call posts that are all about our nails and nail polishes. I've taken some photos of my nails for NOTW posts but never bothered to post them. This is going to be my first post on nails, and I'll try to follow this up with future posts. I don't do nail arts although I could. I did once, but because I don't have the luxury of time to keep doing it regularly, I haven't done another design since my first try. As much as I love nail art, it requires a much longer time compared to just painting your nails with one solid color. Ah... Sad.

I have tons of nail polishes but most of them are reds, purples, browns and bronzes. I bought a few neon shades recently but I haven't gotten around to playing with them yet. I stick to darker hues coz they make my skin tone much fairer. Pastels are okay, but they bore me. I also don't spend much on nail polishes coz I always use a base coat prior to painting my nails. Inexpensive local polishes are okay, although it's usually a hit and miss with them.


Here's the shade that I'm sporting this week. It's called Pink Licac and it closely resembles my NYX round lipsticks in Thalia and Perfect and even B52, although a little bit more muted than that. It's a rare occasion for me to be wearing pastels and pinks on my tips and toes since I wear reds and dark purples almost all the time; however, since I was getting a little bored with reds, I decided to try a different hue, and this is what I picked. I was choosing between this and another pink one that's more of a fuschia shade, but because I wasn't feeling very adventurous that day, I opted for a paler hue.

I don't regret painting my nails with this shade coz I think that it has made my tips and toes look more sophiscated which is very different from the sultry and vampy nails that I often wear. In my opinion, it looks quite creamy (in the second picture) and would probably be more suited for ladies with fair to light medium skin tones.

The consistency of the nail polish is okay. It's not runny and doesn't look streaky when applied on the nails. It does, however, take ages to dry. Another thing to note is that it hasn't chipped or faded on me since I put it on on Sunday. Not bad for a local nail polish, eh?



Thanks for reading everyone!