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

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!

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.

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.

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?

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

The post Girlstuff Urban Jungle Collection Swatches appeared first on The Nailinator.

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.

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.

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

The post CND Vinylux Starstruck Collection Swatches (Emerald Lights and Dark Diamonds) appeared first on The Nailinator.

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

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.

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!

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

The post TenTen Nail Color Roman Holiday Collection Swatches appeared first on The Nailinator.

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, 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

The post Fun and Funky Pink and Black Skittles appeared first on The Nailinator.

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. 

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.

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.

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

The post Girlstuff Holiday Collection 2016 Swatches and Review appeared first on The Nailinator.

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Any big plans this weekend? I’ve got a couple of things happening but more on that later. Today I’ve done some nails based on some details from a dress of mine. I don’t always match my nails to my clothes. But when I do it is awesome!

For this look I started with my go-to pigmented-but-a-pain-to-apply-white (Yeah, I need to find a white I actually love). Then I stamped using Girlstuff Blues an awesome design from the MJXXVI plate sent to me by My Online Shop. As I expected, this plate stamped beautifully. I love that we have high-quality plates available locally. Meann also sells the squishy white stamper that will make stamping a dream.

I bought a gorgeous party dress this week at a little boutique here in Cebu called Best Finds Thriftshop.  I plan on wearing this dress to a Valentine’s dinner tomorrow night. We have some games planned and a potluck dinner. There will be baby sitting, so no interruptions. Yay!

I’m also going to a blogger get together on Sunday night. The Cebu Bloggers Society is celebrating it’s 7th founding anniversary, and they have invited members to get together to celebrate. I just recently joined the Cebu Bloggers Society. I don’t get to go to many events because  what I actually blog about is very limited, but I’m still proud to be a member of a group of bloggers dedicated to making our city and our world a better place both from behind the computer or as we go about our daily lives. I love how bloggers across the board can, in their own ways, promote local companies and brands and especially come together and use social media to inspire people to be better and to help in times of crisis.  I look forward to meeting all the new faces. The Cebu City Marriot Hotel is graciously providing a venue for the bloggers of Cebu to come together and get to know one another better. I’m looking forward to it!

No matter what you are up to this weekend, I hope you have a lovely time doing it. Make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

The post #Mynailsandmydress and Cebu Bloggers Society Turns 7 appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello Ladies!

I’m thrilled that one of my favorite polish brands is now available here in Cebu City, Philippines.  Girlstuff Forever has just opened a kiosk at Ayala Center Cebu on the 2nd floor along Paseo Ciudad (near What A Girl Wants and Converse).

I was invited to attend the press event for the opening, and I wanted to share the nail art I wore for the event and to tell you more about Girlstuff and why I love it so much.

Aren’t these adorable? I started with Girlstuff Wild Berries as my base and used striping tape to tape off the triangles and filled them in with Girlstuff Enchantè. I added the rhinestones with a dab of nail glue and finished off with topcoat. For the accent nail, I used my biggest dotting tool with Wild Berries to make the big blob parts of the rose. Then I used a tiny dotting tool and some light pink for the swirly parts of the flower. I used a small nail art brush for the leaves and the tiny polka dots.

My little one wanted her nails done “like mommy’s”. It was fun to have matching nails.

About Girlstuff Forever

Girlstuff is the first 5-free nail polish brand in the Philippines. The polish is actually made in France but only sold here. I love this brand because, in addition to being safe for my little girl to wear (which she does quite often), there is a wide selection of colors and finishes to choose from.

The selection includes textured and magnetic polishes, cremes, jellies, metallics, shimmers, duochromes, glitters, and an awesome matte topcoat! They are also quick-dry, kid-safe, and affordable (100-150 per bottle). This is a cruelty-free brand which means that they don’t test their products on animals. Here is my personal collection so far.   (Check out my Girlstuff tag archive to see other blog posts I’ve made featuring Girlstuff polish.)

I’ve included a swatch shot of Red Velvet, which is part of their newest “Redilicious” fall collection. It’s so pretty and shimmery. I used 3 thin coats and no top coat for this shot. They will be releasing a Christmas collection soon so keep an eye out for that as well.

Girlstuff also carries a variety of nail art tools and accessories like rhinestones, dotting tools, brushes, stickers, and the like.  They even have washable polishes which can be removed with soap and water. I will be getting my little girl some of those when she is a bit older and wants to do her own nails.

The owner and founder of the company, Janina, is a chemist-turned-SAHM. She started off making colognes and other products for little girls that are free of harmful chemicals. Eventually she started making nail polishes. Janina told me that each product is tested multiple times during production to ensure that the finished products are safe for us and especially for our little ones. Here’s a shot of me at the opening (on the right) with Janina (middle) and Ging, (on the left) who is the operator of the Cebu branch.

If you want to get your hands on some of this lovely polish for you or for the little girls in your life, you can find them here in Cebu on the 2nd level of Ayala. The other branches are located at SM Mall Of Asia, SM North Edsa, SM Megamall and SM San Lazaro. You can also contact them directly and they can ship to you.

You can keep up with Girlstuff through Facebook, Instagram, or their brand new website.

I hope you have a great day!
Hugs,
Rachael

The post Girlstuff Forever is in Cebu! appeared first on The Nailinator.

Hello from my new site!

I have been wanting to update my blog look for a long while now, and Mr. Nailinator—good-looking, tech-savvy man that he is—said he would do it for me if I could just tell him what I had in mind. So he has been working hard in his spare time making my vague dreams a reality. Thanks again, honey!

Goodbye old, cramped spaces! Hello clean, fresh look. I need feedback people! Do you like it?

Also check out my web address! I waited for over a year for thenailinator (dot) com to be available because someone had just bought it when I went to buy it last July. We saw that the owner renewed it a couple of months ago, so Mr. Nailinator got me the .xyz which (according to him) is the new .com. We’ll see about that. Anyhooo…the people with the .com refused to give it up despite them not even using it at all for over a year now. They said they had future plans for it. Well, good luck with that because I already have all the social media accounts for The Nailinator.

Speaking of social media, would you just look at those adorable nail polish bottle buttons my man made for me!?!?! Just look at them! Aren’t they adorable? Click on them and check out my social media accounts and please do sign up for email notifications if you haven’t already.

I hope you love the new look as much as I do. Have a great week!
Hugs,
Rach

The post The Nailinator Gets a Makeover! appeared first on The Nailinator.

You may not realize it, but it was one year ago today that I decided to take the plunge and start my blog. Happy Blogiversary to me! You can check out my very first post here. I’m amazed at the feedback I have received. Thank you all for your support for me and my blog this past year. I am so glad to have such great gals (plus the handful of guys out there, yeah, I know you are watching, too) interested and inspired by my nail art. I have to thank my husband for being ridiculously supportive and willing to teach his tech-challenged wife about HTML and how to use different social medias. I also have to thank my mom and the Shutterbug for encouraging me to start this blog in the first place and not letting my self-consciousness and insecurity stand in the way of sharing my passion with the world. I have had so much fun getting to know you and making friends with many of you via email and FB. Your likes, shares, and comments mean so much to me. Here’s to more fun and fabulous nails in 2014!

Hoping our year is filled with joy, the polish I’m sharing with you today is Girl Stuff “Joy”. Joy is a gorgeous purple with loads of shimmery gold. I’ve used two thickish coats as the formula is a bit on the jelly side. I LOVE this polish! The purple is a beautiful shade, but the gold shimmer just makes me flip over this polish. It is so interesting and sparkly. Application was easy, and cleanup was a breeze too. As you can see, I also added some studs I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu. My nephew asked me why I had seeds on my nails. Ha!

Aren’t they pretty?
Here it is on its own.

I acquired Joy when I won my very first giveaway a while back. I won Natalie Brookes’ Instagram giveaway and I love the prizes! I won 4 girl stuff polishes, 1 full sized Seche Polish (not pictured because I’m a goof and spaced out) and a Seche travel French manicure kit. I also won an XL Stamper and 3 special stamping polishes and four XL stamping plates. Lots of awesome goodies! Thanks again to Natalie for the giveway!

The post Girlstuff Joy and My Blogiversary! appeared first on The Nailinator.

GOLD SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

DONOR SPONSORS

OFFICIAL ONLINE MEDIA PARTNERS

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND AVP ARTIST

The post Best Cebu Blogs Awards 2013 appeared first on The Nailinator.