19 Apr

Girlstuff Urban Jungle Collection Swatches

Hello again!!!

It’s officially summer time in the Philippines and it sure feels like it! Whew! I’m melting over here, y’all! One of the best things about summer and nail polish is the flood of bright, fun colors and eye-catching nail art. Today, I’m sharing swatches of the new Urban Jungle 2017 Summer Collection from Girlstuff Forever. This collection is bold, fresh, and fun to wear. The formula on these is the perfect consistency so they are very easy to apply. These shades are all cremes that dry quickly, are long-lasting, and are also easy to remove. Win! Lets get to the pictures, shall we?

Urban Jungle Collection

Girlstuff Found Myself Swatch

Found Myself – This teal creme is perfection in two easy coats. This bold polish is not for the faint of heart. But for those of us that love a pop of color on our nails, this shade is a winner!

Girlstuff Away From It All Swatch

Away From It All – This is a pastel yellow creme that isn’t exactly a pale yellow, but also is not overly bright. It is clean and fresh. Take extra care when applying this one because, if you drag your brush, you will end up with bald spots and will need three coats instead of two.

Girlstuff Bare Necessities Swatch

Bare Necessities – This is a pastel mint green creme that is so refreshing! This one also needs a little extra care with application to prevent bald spots. You can get away with two coats if you are careful. I really want to recreate my Cherry Blossom nail art from years ago using this as my base.

Girlstuff No Compromises Swatch

No Compromises – Wowzers! This is a bold blue creme that will not go unnoticed! All you needs is two easy coats for this look. Isn’t it pretty?

Girlstuff Dreams Do Come True Swatch

Dreams Do Come True – When I first saw shots of the Urban Jungle Collection, Dreams Do Come True caught my eye and I was excited to try it. It did not disappoint!  This two-coater is a lovely purple creme which leans just a little bit towards blue. Just lovely! It’s my favorite of the bunch.

 

Each of these Girlstuff Urban Jungle polishes retail for Php 120 and can be purchased at any of the Girlstuff kiosks or directly from Girlstuff Forever. Check out Girlstuff on their website or Facebook to purchase your own Girlstuff polishes.

Which one is your favorite of the bunch? Please comment below.

I hope you have a happy and colorful summer ahead of you. Don’t forget to make someone smile today!

Hugs,
Rach

06 Mar

CND Vinylux Starstruck Collection Swatches (Emerald Lights and Dark Diamonds)

Hello again!

Another swatch post coming up! I’ve got a couple of glittering beauties to show you today. These are from the CND Vinylux Starstruck Collection. The full Shellac Starstruck Collection has several other stunning glitter bombs but, from what I can find out online, the Vinylux line is only composed of these two I’m swatching today. I’ve done two coats for each of these and topped them with the Vinylux Weekly Top Coat.

CND Vinylux Emerald Lights Swatch

Emerald Lights – This emerald green jelly is gorgeous. It is loaded with green glitter and it is so sparkly.  I don’t have a lot of green polishes and I’m so happy to have this one in my collection now.

CND Vinylux Dark Diamonds Swatch

Dark Diamonds – I would describe this one as a black crelly loaded with lots of silver glitter. Very sparkly and fun to wear.

 

As you can expect with any glitter polish, these take a bit of extra effort to remove. Also, I did not experience any staining, even with the green, which made me very happy.

CND Vinylux Weekly Polishes feature  CND’s “ProLight technology” which is designed to increase the durability of the top coat with exposure to natural light. These polishes are awesome. If you haven’t already seen it, I hope you will check out my thorough review and wear-test of the Vinylux line. You can also check out my nebula nails using Midnight Swim. You will find that these polishes have great wear-time and they dry quickly too!

If you are interested in investing in your own CND Vinylux Weekly Polish or trying them out on your next mani/pedi  spa day, you can get in touch with CND Philippines @cnd_ph on Instagram and Twitter or at CDNPhilippines on Facebook to order or to find a salon near you.

Which is your favorite of the two? I love them both!

Have a great week and don’t forget to keep on smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

22 Feb

TenTen Nail Color Roman Holiday Collection Swatches

Hello lovely people!

New brand alert! TenTen Nail Color by Nippon Cosmetics Philippines has been popping up everywhere. They have a lovely selection of polishes. There are bold and neutral shades, shimmers, cremes and glitter toppers. They have something to fit everyone’s taste. These polishes are also 5-free, which means they are extra safe for a pregnant lady like me! They are quick drying and long-lasting which is always a plus with any busy lady.

TenTen Nail Color polishes are available for purchase individually (100-130 pesos per bottle) and are sold in three-piece collections (275 per collection). I was checking out the collections available on their website and I notice that most sets include a bold pop of color, a metallic, and a neutral (or more “work safe”) shade. Sometimes the bold color is also the metallic shade and sometimes the neutral shade is metallic. If you purchase only one collection, you have some options to suit different occasions. They have several collections to choose from including a couple of three-piece neutral sets.

I was kindly sent the Roman Holiday Collection to swatch and that is what I will be sharing today.

The Roman Holiday Collection

Tenten s57 Swatch

S57 – First up is this bold, wine-colored creme. Two pigmented coats provide full coverage. It was a bit hard for me to photograph, but the color is really deep and pretty. I love dark colors so this one ended up being my favorite of the bunch.

Tenten t75 Swatch

T75 – Next in the collection is a silver metallic polish that has great coverage in two coats as well. As you can see, no streaking here! This is a great silver polish and gives great shine!

Tenten S49 Swatch

S49 – This is a sandy nude creme that took two careful coats for full coverage. This one is definitely work appropriate and I can see it being a great base for some floral nail art or for another Zentangle job!

 

All of these polishes applied easily and were also easy to remove. I enjoyed wearing them and would definitely be interested to pick up more of them in the near future (Hello, Bangkok Nights Collection!).

You can purchase this collection or any of their products by visiting their website or one of their stores. You can also follow Nippon Esthetic on Facebook to keep up with their new products like the matte polishes they just released.

Have you tried TenTen polishes yet? Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments.

I hope you have a great day! Don’t forget to smile today!

Hugs,
Rach

20 Feb

Fun and Funky Pink and Black Skittles

Hello ladies!

I hope everyone is doing fine. I am just now entering my third trimester and the baby is doing great. I can complain of aches and pains but that sounds rather boring. Don’t you think? Instead, I just wanted to pop in with a quick post to share a quick skittle mani I came up with. I was in the mood for something a bit bold and funky and this is what I came up with. I have some swatch posts coming up but I wanted to share this fun nail art first.

Fun and Funky pink and black skittles

Fun and funky, right? I’ve used several different polishes including Medusa from Nails To Go on my ring finger and Decadent by Sinful Colors on my middle finger.  I also tried out the craft scissors and ziplock bag technique for the first time. I painted a couple of coats of black nail polish onto a clean ziplock bag. After the polish dried, I peeled it off the plastic and used some zigzag craft scissors and cut some strips. I polished my pinky nail with two coats of Rendezvous by Seche and, while it was still a little bit tacky, I carefully placed the black zigzags and applied topcoat to bring it all together.  The glitter bits on my pointer and middle fingers were added using a tiny dot of nail glue to keep them in place. I recommend using an orange wood stick to apply the glue in the exact place you want it. Then seal with top coat.

Well, that’s all for now. Like i said, I’ve got some swatches coming up next. I hope you enjoyed seeing these fun nails and that perhaps it inspires you to think out of the box a bit and have some fun with your next mani. I hope you have a wonderful week and that you get to make someone smile today.

Hugs,
Rach

15 Dec

Girlstuff Holiday Collection 2016 Swatches and Review

Hello lovely people! 

I’ve been away from the blog for a while, I know. I was in the US for 3 months and we traveled a lot so that wasn’t very conducive to doing nail art or blogging. But boy, we had a great time visiting with our family and friends in Texas!

I’ve got some swatches for you of a lovely holiday collection by one of my favorite polish brands. Girlstuff Forever’s Holiday Collection 2016 is inspired by some popular holiday indulgences. All three shades in this collection are lovely and I think they would all be considered work appropriate. All swatches are two coats with top coat too. 

Girlstuff Creme De La Creme Swatch

First up is Creme De La Creme! This is a creme polish with a bit of a shimmer that adds a lovely luster to your nails. It takes two coats for this lovely neutral color which I imagine would be flattering on most skin tones and is a great base color for any nail art.

Girlstuff You Had Me at Merlot! swatch

Next up is You Had Me at Merlot! This deep burgundy shade is also a creme that looks great in two coats. If you could see at my nail polish collection you would be able to tell I have a thing for dark polishes so you may guess that is my favorite of the lot. Your guess would be correct and, yes, I’m wearing it right now. 🙂

Girlstuff Death By Chocolate swatch

Finally, let’s finish off with Death By Chocolate. I love the name of this brown creme polish that actually looks like melted chocolate! Yum! This is also an two easy coats and it is such a nice shade of brown!

Overall, I like the Girlstuff Holiday Collection 2016 as it has bold and neutral colors that are inspired by food! Haha! You can expect the same great quality from these polishes as with other Girlstuff collections. I am always impressed by how well the polish holds up over time. Each of these retails for php 130 and can be purchased from one of the Girlstuff kiosks or directly from Girlstuff Forever. Check out Girlstuff on their website or Facebook to purchase your own Girlstuff polishes.

If you are planning on grabbing any or all of these for gifts for family or friends (or for yourself) this holiday, I would definitely recommend you also grab a bottle (or TEN) of their Fast Dry Top Coat. It’s like liquid magic, y’all!

Which one of these if your favorite? Now I feel like I need to hunt down some chocolate to nibble on. Ha! I hope you are having a great week. Make someone smile today!

Hugs,
Rach

%d bloggers like this: