Gemma with Sasatinnie & Essence Metal Battle

Yes I'm back! Am using my mobile internet to stay connected, Singapore mobile providers are generous to give 12GB.. my my, and way faster too!

Few days ago before starting work, I was digging into my mom's stash and found this sparkly little one, nameless, a shame it is but quite gorgeous on the bottle.

It's called 031. Mom bought from an offline bazaar and it seems to me like a franken polish. It's a silver base with tiny bright glitter. My eyes was fixated on the holographic bits and got right down to swatching it. Well the thing is, though they look dense in the bottle, it's sparse on the nails so you'll need more than 5 coats for decent coverage if used alone. Yea it's definitely a layering polish. However the holo glitter doesn't disappoint much!

Above shows three coats of Gemma (a name on a whim) without top coat. I'm a paranoid opaque freak so I applied thick coats on each layer. In the shade, natural light, florescent, night and yellow lighting, the holo blinks blinks blinks. Pity the glitter is small and scattered but at a price of S$1 it's a good dusty find!

Oh by the way, I used mom's Sasatinnie FCGR001 as base. Two coats. It's a murky tell-teal with green leanings.

Hoping to bring Gemma's talent out I used Essence Metal Battle as base. It's a black polish with super-minute red, green and blue flecks on it. Slightly obvious on the bottle and totally unseen on the nails unless you take a photo and zoom 150% in. At least it can be a one-coater ;)

Sadly Gemma's abilities remain the same throughout her performance, though it's warp-alicious on black!

Sometimes surprises come from within. Mine's from my mom's stash and it's oh-so-cheap that even an unemployed worm like me would grab it!

Thanks for reading!

Essence Choose Me!

Hey readers, how are you? :) My past week had been a rollercoaster ride and I'm still getting the tremors.

Despite the ups and downs, I took time to change my manicure.. Ha, you know colors do affect one's mood. I needed something bright and sparkling so I used this polish; apt for its name, right for my purpose too - Essence Choose Me!

Essence Choose Me! contains crazy zillions millions of green, gold micro glitters that if you stare at them long enough, either to pick up the glitter colors or simply in awe of it, your eyes will stay crossed for few seconds. What I'm trying to say is, the glitters are so small, really micro but superbly reflective. You just can't pick them out one by one :)

Look at them from the bottle -

Oh I forgot to mention, Choose Me! is teal base, a little on the jelly side yet appears foilish-metallic. Fast drying time (dried smooth too)! Application is great, brush is a-okay but sadly it isn't long-wearing. Mine chipped after a day.

It will reach opacity in just 2 coats but I kinda screwed up on my ring finger so I topped it up with a 3rd coat.

I was intrigued by the glitter so I placed my nails under the lamp to glorify the glitter -

What do you think? Mesmerizing? Dazzling? It's blinding isn't it?

I remember swatching a similar shade before... ahh yes, Sparitual Rhythm of Life. Yes, it's similar except RoL is a frosty metallic without glitters. Here's the pic -

Do you like it? I think my skin tone doesn't go well with teal and greens... hmmm.

Essence Metallics Magnetic Nail Polish

I have heard of magnetic nail polish and read the reviews before. It's intriguing - creating patterns on the nail polish by using a magnet. Knowing that it's only available in Europe which requires some scouting and online purchasing, I have made it as the polish-to-get in my Wish List.

Now...

   who would have thought Essence is available in Malaysia???

   can you imagine my expression when I saw it in Watsons?

   not only that, they have the whole collection of Essence magnetic nail polish!

There are other brands that carry magnetic nail polish, to name a few; LCN, Nails Inc, Alessandro... and Le Magnetique by Lancome (long time ago, should be discontinued now) and we can't find these in Malaysia. Nope, none, nil, zits.

BUT WE HAVE ESSENCE METALLICS MAGNETIC NAIL POLISH IN MALAYSIA NOW. 

Hello Essence, nice to meet you!

L-R: Steel Me, Metal Battle, Nothing Else Metals, Copper Rulez!
with guide booklet (magnet inside)

I grabbed each color except Iron Goddess, which is in light golden copper. My skin tone doesn't complement well with gold so I left it out in my purchase. The bottle is 8ml in size and costs RM9.90 each. The magnet and guide are sold separately, RM7.90. But the cashier forgot to key in the amount so I got it for FREE! Ha!

When I took the bottles from the shelf I couldn't find the magnet, not knowing it was embedded in the booklet. I also failed to find the booklet from the range so I sought help from a sales assistant. When she gave it to me, my face lit up and I couldn't stop smiling. She was puzzled how this whole magnet polish worked so I explained the process; how it's done, types of effects and etc. A customer came and listened as well, I guess this newbie is generating curiosity among Malaysians now!

This is the booklet that comes with magnet:

The magnet allows you to create 3 patterns: vertical, horizontal & diagonal

A simple magnet with holding end

I tested it the same night I bought them. I was impressed by the nail polish, they are very opaque in one coat. Yes one-coaters! And the colors are gorgeous; Steel Me is a silver metal, Nothing Else Metals is golden olive and Copper Rulez is a rich copper with golden orange glitters.

However I was dismayed by the weak magnet. It's a thin flat one that couldn't perform its task well. I failed to make vertical and horizontal stripes that night no matter how many times I tried. I gave up and went to sleep :P

The next day, with ample time and light, I was determined to make it work. After several attempts; using different angles, techniques, gauging the gap between polish and magnet... I nailed it!

The trick is to apply one thick coat on the nails (no wonder they're so pigmented) and hold the magnet very close to them. Like this:

Bear in mind that the magnet is strongest at the round end so place your nails at the correct position and wait for pattern to form. The instruction states 30 seconds waiting time. Blah, inaccurate. It took 1 whole minute to be effective. Another thing, Steel Me requires about 1.5 minutes for a full pattern. I still have difficulty in creating vertical & horizontal stripes, diagonal is the easiest and quickest to form. I suppose it's due to  my curvy nails.

There you go, swatch of the awesome metallics magnetic polish by Essence:

L-R: Metal Battle, Nothing Else Metals, Steel Me, Copper Rulez!

I wasn't aware till the swatch, that Metal Battle is not a magnetic nail polish. It's black with blue shimmer, nonetheless, it's very pretty.

Essence Metallics magnetic nail polish is gorgeous but tricky. Most of the time you'll end up tipping the magnet onto your nails, resulting in smudges and bald patches. One has to be very patient to make it work but the results will be very satisfying. Of course you can use other magnets to create the patterns but my fridge magnets couldn't so it's up to each individual.

I would love to strike this off from my Wish List since I have successfully acquired them but with the weak magnet, I am still lemming for better ones. If only they have LCN here!

For better pictures, effects, reviews and swatch, go to nailjunkie for more.

Last but not least, I promised to show a better swatch of Essence Where Is The Party (click here for bottle pics). Here it is, layered over Metal Battle:

Flashes green and purple in shade

Green and blue are evident when seen at an angle

Purple at its best when shot in flash

Hope you like the magnetic nail polish as much as I do. If you're intrigued, go get them in Watsons! Don't forget to buy the duochrome too :)

Weekend Haul!

Last weekend I went to Sunway Pyramid with the intention to visit Inglot, the new flagship store all the way from Poland. Read the online reviews, they have nice makeup and nail polish so I was eager to witness their wands of magic.

But I was distracted by other nail polish in Watsons, Daiso and Elianto... I went into an overdrive by buying them till I forgot about Inglot!

Below is my drugstore haul:

Haul from Watsons, Daiso and Elianto
Finger rest at RM3.50, bought from a pushcart store

Essence Metallics collection - 8ml, RM9.90 each
L-R: Steel Me, Metal Battle, Nothing Else Metals, Copper Rulez!

Essence nail polish - 5ml, RM6.90 each
L-R: Where Is The Party x 2, Choose Me, Wake Up!

Bloop nail polish - RM8.90 each
L-R: H124, H563, H565, H137

Elianto nail polish - RM9 and RM5 (sale price)
L-R: Lilac, Shine Opal, Twilight Zone, White

Daiso Color Makeup and Heart nail enamel - RM5 each
L-R: Color Makeup 04, Heart 2 (bought as backup)

If you notice, I bought 2 bottles of Essence Where Is The Party. There was only 2 left on the shelf and I grabbed all of them... because they are DUOCHROME! Omg, duochrome polish in Watsons which costs RM6.90... my heart was pounding and fluttering!

It's in dark dusty purple tone with flashes of green and blue. Reminds me of Zoya Ki, almost a dupe but Zoya Ki has a brighter shade of purple.

Next up is Elianto Lilac which costs RM9 at sale price. My bestie and I bought the same polish :)

It's duochrome in the bottle but appears as hologram on the nails. A lilac tone with flashes of gold.

Now on to my quick swatch of my haul!

Bloop H563 is a surprise, the olive glitter is awesome. Great color for Fall. Bloop H124 in neon pink is fresh and fun, it certainly didn't show in the bottle but wow-zers on the nails!

L-R: Bloop H563 (olive glitter), Bloop H565 (grey glitter),
Essence Wake Up! (neon orange), Essence Choose Me (blue glitter), Bloop H124 (neon pink)
All these are applied in 2 coats

As you can see below, my quick swatch wasn't able to capture Essence's duochrome. I took the photos under artificial light but I will do it again in my next post. For Elianto Lilac, it's sheer but buildable. Nice purplish shade that flashes gold in angles. 

The disappointment is Color Makeup 04 and Elianto Shine Opal. They didn't turn out as expected; the former didn't show the pink duochrome on the nails and Shine Opal's blue glitter is too sparse and small to be visible. Lamers!

L-R: Elianto Shine Opal (clear base with blue tiny glitter - a weak one),
Color Makeup 04 (beige with pink duochrome - another weak one),
Essence Where Is The Party, Elianto Lilac, Bloop H137
All applied in 2 coats

Bloop H137 (a very sheer jelly neon coral-pink)

If you're wondering why I didn't swatch Essence Metallics, it's because I'll put it in the next post. They deserve their own space for their awesome-ness :)