China Glaze Lotus Begin - Spring 2014

Hello! Sorry for being away, everyone. I come slinking back to you all after a month of inactivity here. Job hunting and getting a mean cold left me in a serious blogging funk--I wasn't even doing my nails regularly, which is how you know things are bad!--and once you fall out of the habit of posting, it can be hard to get started again. Today I have the nail polish that helped me get my blogging mojo back: China Glaze Lotus Begin.

Brightened lavender creme Lotus Begin is one of 12 floral-themed polishes from the Spring 2014 City Flourish collection. I was initially worried I had brought home another dupe, but happily realized that the brightness in this polish set it apart from my other lavender shades. Lotus Begin lacks the greyish, muting tones in shades like Orly You're Blushing and Essie St Lucia Lilac, so it's much more vibrant and intense--perfect for the cheerful Spring weather we're having in Vancouver at the moment.

Although the first coat is somewhat streaky, the second coat does a good job of covering the nail. I did have a bit of trouble applying this colour evenly but to be fair, my time away from nail polish might have contributed to a less-than-steady hand. The application may not be perfect, but I do love this colour and suspect it would look especially gorgeous on tanned or deeper skin tones.

What nail polishes have you been loving this Spring?

Mineral Fusion Royal Rubble

Layla Pro Vertigo Sky N.18 (ring finger) / Mineral Fusion Royal Rubble

I wasn't quite sure what to think when I was first introduced to Mineral Fusion's nail polish. Considering that Mineral Fusion markets itself as a "natural cosmetic brand" with products infused with minerals, you can understand why I was kinda skeptical about this sort of brand offering up nail polish--a cosmetic product with ingredients that are far from what most people consider "natural" (it is a Household Hazardous Waste product in Canada and US, by the way.) Turns out I was worried for nothing, because Royal Rubble (and its mint sister) applied amazingly smooth and even!

With that out of the way, we're on to the shade itself. Mineral Fusion Royal Rubble is a heavily red-leaning purple packed with tiny glass flecks that shift fuchsia and green. In the bottle, this shade is absolutely stunning; it has so much dimension that I just want to keep turning the bottle around in my hands forever. On the nail, however, it's a different story: all that gorgeous mini-glass fleck just gets lost and isn't all that apparent. You can tell there's a bit of shimmer there, but it doesn't come alive like it does in the bottle.

Swatching Royal Rubble next to Layla Pro Vertigo Sky seems a little strange given how different the two shades look, but it made sense to me at the time. I received them both around the same time since both brands were coming to London Drugs (now available!), both were so pretty and shiny, and both still fell in the "purple" range, but they're completely different. Vertigo Sky is clearly blue-based, and the large flakies are a big contrast to the scattered, subtle shimmer in Royal Rubble.

I took a photo in full natural sunlight in hopes that it would bring out more of that magic I saw in the bottle, but it's still pretty scattered. You can really see its deep, almost-oxblood base here, which is actually very close to a slightly less opaque Layla Pro Purple Vamp. I feel kinda bad going on and on about how it doesn't look like the bottle colour since it really is still a lovely colour; I don't think I would have been disappointed at all if it wasn't for the bottle colour overselling me.

Have you ever been "oversold" by the bottle colour of a nail polish?


Available at London Drugs (in store and online), Mineral Fusion: ~$7.99 CAD / 0.33 fl oz 10mL

30 Random Things

I've been watching this "50 Random Things About Me" tag floating around and thinking there's no way I could manage 50 thing about myself. Then the always-lovely Liz tagged me with a much more manageable 30, so here we are now.

1. I really enjoy writing things by hand. I'd much rather plan my days with an agenda calendar than through my phone, although the latter is definitely more convenient.

2. I don't watch supernatural horror films. On the other hand, Texas Chainsaw Massacre-type gory stuff, while not my fave, won't keep me up at night.

3. I spend a lot of time reading manga/Japanese comics. I prefer it over anime because the artwork tends to be much more detailed and the story has better pacing. My taste is pretty varied but Full Metal Alchemist is one of my hands-down, all-time favourites.

4. I'm currently collecting the Kodansha re-release of Sailor Moon manga/eagerly anticipating the Sailor Moon anime reboot coming this summer.

5. I believe (almost) all food could benefit from being spicy or sour--in some cases, both!

6. Although the eczema around my mouth is by far my most stubborn, difficult-to-manage case, I've had eczema all my life in some way or another: on the inside of my arms, which went away when I got older, and behind my ears, which started in my childhood and pops up periodically even now.

7. I don't remember this but I hear that as a kid, I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid and always wanted to watch our VHS copy. The only part I remember is a deep fear of Ursula, the sea witch who I had nightmares about, that followed me well into my double-digit years. I finally got over it when I had to kill her playing Kingdom Hearts. Very cathartic.

8. As a kid, my dream career was to be a writer.

9. I've been working towards folding 1,000 cranes off and on for the past several years. I'm up to 433 right now.

10. I find being around unfamiliar people very difficult and I think people usually mistake my awkwardness for something else. Once I get to know someone, I'm talkative and crack a lot of jokes, but many people I'm friends with today tell me that they initially thought I was really standoffish. My boyfriend is a very approachable, friendly person; I truly believe being with him has made me a much less shy person.

11. I spend too much time playing video games. My favourite genre is RPGs, but I like turn-based strategy and side-scrollers too. After years of shunning them, I've also recently gained an appreciation for shooters like Dead Space and Borderlands. Games I've been playing recently are XCOM, Pandora's Tower, and Heroes VI, but my all-time favourites include Final Fantasy 4 and Final Fantasy Tactics. Real-time strategy games are stressful to me.

12. After high school, I spent a few years working on an entrance portfolio for a fashion design program/studying fashion marketing before I decided it wasn't right for me and I changed to something else. I know my way around a sewing machine and can put together a decent skirt.

13. I am chronically dehydrated and always was, even as a kid. One of my new year's resolutions is to be better at drinking water, so I've started sleeping with a water bottle next to my bed and taking a long drink when I wake up.

14. I don't like the dark. I still sleep with a night light, although normal people would call it a table lamp.

15. I'm a crafty/DIY type, and I guess it runs in my family on my mom's side. Aside from all the sewing, I've been knitting for about 7 years and recently have been working at getting better with crochet. I'd like to learn how to cross-stitch too.

16. I really enjoy the doge meme. Maybe too much.

17. I am definitely a night owl.

18. Caffeine has no effect on me. I'm very clueless to the concerns of friends who can't go out for a late-night bubble tea because they won't be able to fall asleep later. It's great because I can enjoy a big cup of Earl Grey before bedtime, but I also have no way of perking myself up if I'm having a groggy day.

19. I do love tea though. One of my favourite drinks is a London Fog (Earl Grey tea latte with vanilla syrup). My friends all know I'm a big DAVIDsTEA fan--my cabinets at home and at work are stocked full of their teas.

20. I am left-handed now but was ambidextrous when I was young. I still use my non-dominant hand probably more than most people do. (For the record, I knit and crochet like a righty.)

21. I have surprisingly good self-control when it comes to buying stuff like clothes and makeup. I usually buy makeup only after some thought/research; I almost never make impulse purchases for makeup.

22. On the flip side, I'm a really bad procrastinator. The spring cleaning I started last year still hasn't finished :x

23. I was born in year of the Rabbit--or in Vietnamese zodiac, year of the Cat. I've been receiving cat-themed stuff as gifts from family for a long time, and I collect small rabbit and cat things. I feel like I have a special soft spot for cats partly because of my birth year (and partly because they're so cuddly and lovely).

24. I had absolutely zero interest in nail polish until maybe three years ago, and now my blog and my room is full of nail polish stuff. Funny how some things work out.

25. I wasn't into the dark lip look on me until last year, when I was swatching the Annabelle TwistUp lip crayon range. Now I love themmmm. I want ALL the vampy lips.

26. I'm really diligent about moisturizing my face, but I'm awful when it comes to the rest of my body. I secretly sport alligator skin-legs most of the year. I only bother to slather some lotion on during summer when my legs will be publicly exposed.

27. I'm terrible at de-cluttering because I have a hard time throwing stuff away, either because of some perceived sentimental value, or a sense of "wait this could be useful in x years!" I've gotten a lot better though.

28. I know all the words to Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back.

29. I have a terrible sense of direction. In the couple years when I drove around without a smartphone or GPS, I would get lost all the time, but as a result I'm pretty good at reading maps.

30. I am a big over-thinker. About almost everything. It goes hand-in-hand with my perfectionism. This article summarizes it pretty well.


And that's 30! Hopefully that was somewhat interesting. I invite anybody interested to try in sharing 30 random things about themselves too!

Throwback: China Glaze Techno Teal

Happy Thursday! I have a Throwback Thursday kinda post today. While digging around in my folders and folders of unposted photos, I came across a few impromptu snaps I took of my nails while walking around Iona Beach (yes, almost a year ago) on a super-sunny day. On that day, I happened to be wearing a particular holographic nail polish, and we all know what happens when holographic nail polish and bright light come together, right?

(Please excuse my dry hands)

GORGEOUSNESS. The answer is gorgeousness is what happens. Such shiny! So holo!

I can't believe that pretty much this time a year ago, I was wandering around outdoors, enjoying the sea breeze and clear blue skies. Do you know what the weather is like in Vancouver right now? There is snow on the ground. There is never snow in Vancouver. Of course, considering our temperatures are above-zero right now--which is more than I can say for literally the rest of Canada, including some parts of BC--I can't complain too much.

Here's hoping spring comes back soon so we can all have more shiny, shiny moments like this.

Sweet hearts

Hello! I intended for this nail look to go up on Valentine's Day, but due to work things and generally not feeling well, I'm a week late D:

Source: National Post Valentine's Day 2014 gift guide

You might know that I am a fan of DAVIDsTEA, both for the tea and the cute, modern designs on their product. Inspiration struck again when they released their Valentine's Day collection (no longer available, sorry!), including a box set of teas and Valentine's Day cards in a pretty repeating heart pattern on white. I really loved this design and just had to recreate it on my nails.

Here's the result: a sweet and playful "skittles mani" using five different nail polishes. Although Sinful Colors Snow Me White is fantastically opaque, I find it a bit thick and unforgiving, so I decided to have the heart design only on one nail. (Related: nail polish enthusiasts, please share your favourite white creme polish with me!) On the little finger is e.l.f. Bubblegum Pink, a dusty coral pink; middle finger is China Glaze Peachy Keen, a brightened pastel peach; index finger is Sinful Colors Folly, a gorgeous deep pink crelly. The ring finger has a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, topped with hearts drawn with China Glaze Peachy Keen, Sinful Colors Folly, and Orly Artificial Sweetener.

I used my second-smallest dotting tool to create the hearts: first by creating two dots side-by-side, then using the same dotter to connect them with a "v". In retrospect, I think I could have used the smallest dotting tool for finer "v"s with a more pronounced point. I prefer to make a very small "puddle" of nail polish on to an old membership card to dip the dotting tool in, rather than dipping it it in the bottle itself.

Are you into the "skittles mani" look?

#signoflove

In partnership with LGBTQ organization All Out, LUSH is calling attention to the anti-LGBTQ laws in Russia, currently hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The #signoflove campaign is inviting people to post selfies wearing a pink triangle symbol on their bodies or faces. (The pink triangle was used in Nazi concentration camps to identify homosexual men; this symbol has since been reclaimed by the gay rights movement.) LUSH will be compiling the selfies into petition photo books to send to the Russian government on February 14, Valentine's Day in a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ community.

Russia's ban on "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors" came into effect last year; it's been described as allowing for "vague definitions of propaganda". In my view, the ban is vague enough that just the discussion of non-traditional (read: non-heterosexual) relationships in a positive light could be "propaganda", punishable with fines, deportation, or imprisonment.

Although it's not quite a "selfie", I posted my pink triangle nails on Instagram over the weekend. I thought about how to interpret the design on to nails for a while before I decided that a simple look fit a simple message: love is a basic human right. The fact that not everybody is free to be themselves or love who the love is a sad and terrible truth. Anti-LGBTQ attitudes exist all over the world, even if they may not be passed into law as in the case in Russia.

To participate in showing support and raising awareness to end discrimination against the LGBT community, post of a photo of yourself wearing a pink triangle with the hashtag #signoflove.

For more information, see the LUSH campaign page. You can also donate towards the campaign here.

LUSH Prince Charming & Neon Love

As promised, I'm back to report on Prince Charming shower gel and Neon Love bar soap from this year's LUSH Valentine's Day collection.

Prince Charming shower gel is the first-ever LUSH product with fresh pomegranate juice, which put it at the top of my list for things to try from the collection. Fun fact #1: I love eating pomegranate seeds and will eat an entire fruit's worth in one sitting if left unsupervised. Fun fact #2: I used pomegranate juice as paint for my art project in senior year of high school; I even pressed the juice out of the seeds myself.

Oh, back to the shower gel: made with grapefruit, pomegranate, vanilla, marshmallow root, and almond oil, I was expecting Prince Charming to be fruity and refreshing, with a bit of sweetness. Although the scent has a slight sour edge from the fruits, it's much sweeter than I expected. I get mainly marshmallow and vanilla; no surprise considering that marshmallow root and vanilla pod infusions are the first two ingredients on the list, meaning they are the most predominant ingredients in the formula. If you found Snow Fairy overwhelmingly sweet, you might like Prince Charming, which is a step down from the cotton candy-scented holiday fave. As with other LUSH shower gels, this one lathers perfectly well and a little goes a long way. My skin feels clean but not stripped, and there's also an addition of almond oil, which helps hydrate skin.

PS: I absolutely love the dusty rose colour of this shower gel. Any lipstick or nail polish dupes come to mind? (Serious question. I want this colour in all forms possible.)

Ingredients: marshmallow root infusion (aqua, Althaea officinalis), vanilla pod infusion (aqua, Vanilla planifolia), water, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium cocoamphoacetate, propylene glycol, lactic acid, lauryl betaine, grapefruit oil (Citrus paradisi), fresh pomegranate juice (Punica granatum), sandalwood oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill and Fusanus spicatus), geranium oil (Pelargonium graveolens), almond oil (Prunus dulcis), titanium dioxide, citronellol, geraniol, linalool, limonene, fragrance, D&C Red No 33, D&C Red No 27, FD&C Red No 4, methylparaben, propylparaben

Neon Love soap is as Valentine's Day-themed as it gets: a bright reddish-pink bar soap with a white heart (if you're lucky to get a good cut like me) featuring bergamot, rosewood, and cinnamon leaf. On first sniff, I wasn't sure I liked the spicy, slightly woody scent from the cinnamon leaf and rosewood oils, but it grew on me pretty fast. Plus, after you wet the soap and start lathering up, I feel like the scent becomes more complex and the fruity notes come to the surface.

I generally prefer LUSH soaps over the shower gels, since the soaps tend to contain more oils that hydrate the skin (this one contains relatively high concentrations of rapeseed oil and coconut oil.) Surprisingly, I even prefer the smell of it over Prince Charming: Neon Love turned out to be less spicy and intense than I expected, and Prince Charming was sweeter and less fruity than I had hoped. My favourite LUSH soaps are refreshing and zesty, like Sea Vegetable and Sexy Peel, but Neon Love was a pleasant surprise and a nice change of pace.

Ingredients: water, propylene glycol, rapeseed oil, coconut oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera), fresh passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), cornflour (Zea mays), sodium stearate, fresh figs (Ficus carica), fragrance, cinnamon leaf oil (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), rosewood oil (Aniba rosaeodora), bergamot oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), titanium dioxide, glycerine, sodium chloride, EDTA, tetrasodium editronate, sodium hydroxide, citral, coumarin, eugenol, geraniol, linalool, limonene, FD&C Yellow No. 8, D&C Green No. 8, D&C Red No. 27

Sweet and marshmallow-y or spicy and woodsy--which do you prefer? Do you eat the tiny white bit inside the pomegranate seeds (Bf doesn't, it's a point of contention.)

Chinese New Year Nails

Happy Chinese New Year! I decided to celebrate with traditional lucky colours of red and gold in a half-moon mani considering it's a new year in the lunar calendar. Usually it's good to wear red clothes on Chinese New Year, but since I don't really have anything red I figured I could at least wear red on my nails :>

I used one coat of Orly Luxe as a base, and one coat e.l.f. Smokin' Hot on top. In terms of colour, Smokin' Hot is almost a dead-on dupe for butter London Pillar Box Red, but application is another thing entirely: not as smooth due to a strange brush that seems to be cut unevenly, and the coverage is not nearly as good. Luxe shows through the single coat of Smokin' Hot and changes it from bright, classic red to a darker brick red.

The half-moon look is super easy to do: all you need are the circular reinforcements used to fix torn holes in paper. The hardest part is making sure your base colour is completely dry before placing the reinforcements, otherwise the adhesive side will pull off the polish! Then simply paint your second colour from the reinforcement to the tip and pull the circle off immediately. It's best to use a not-too-thick polish with high coverage for the base colour. Even though Luxe fulfills both requirements, it still took forever to fully dry. I tested it by gently placing a reinforcement at the tip several times--and pulling off a little polish in the process each time--before it was finally good to go. The nice thing about testing at the tip of the nail is that Smokin' Hot later covered up all the missing bits.

My parents warned me that this year would be a bad year for Rabbits, but Chinese horoscopes online promise it's a good year career- and money-wise, so hopefully the latter is right!

Are you celebrating Chinese New Year? What's your astrological sign?