China Glaze Ruby Pump

Hey, how have your December been? It's certainly hard to believe that only half a month to go before the end of 2012. December has not been entirely good for me. My room in my rented apartment was flooded since Thursday morning and all my stuff including my bed on the floor were all soaked with water that could come from the toilet of the above unit. Contacted the landlord and he will get someone over to fix. But at the mean time, I have to camp at my friend's room. That made me super bad mood and frustrated on Thursday and I seriously needed something to cheer me up.

Painting my nails is definitely a way to calm myself down. As I searched my stash, I found this classic China Glaze Ruby Pump which I had purchased about a year ago and had not put on yet. It's a loud, happy, fiery, sexy and hot red jelly based packed with red shimmer. Red is my favorite color and my mood has instantly changed since the first stroke of this color. 

This color really does scream CHRISTMAS to me. Think I might consider wearing this for the coming Christmas since I would have no way to get Zoya Blaze with reasonable price before Christmas. 

China Glaze Ruby Pump

It looks like my finger tips are on fire and I really love how it flatters my skin tone. 

China Glaze Ruby Pump

The shimmer is absolutely stunning under the sunlight, I really love how it radiate when the light strike on it.

China Glaze Ruby Pump

It's still beautiful even in the shade.

China Glaze Ruby Pump

This is an Macro shot that is not so successful, in my opinion, but I love how the crazy shimmers shining through.

What do you think of this color? I absolutely love this color and will definitely wear it more often in the future. I wonder why I have been keeping this color in the stash box without even trying it. 

Til next time... Esther

A England Jane Eyre

Hey, how is your weekend so far? Today is a very hot day in Malaysia with bright and piercing sun. I don't normally appreciate this kind of weather unless I have a pretty dark vampy shade with hidden beauty to capture under the sun. Well, my prayer is heard; I am wearing A England Jane Eyre which good amount of sunlight is needed to capture the beauty within :).

Jane Eyre is 1 of the 5 from Gothic Beauties collection that A England released in August. As the collection name implies, there are 4 dark and vampy shades with different colored hidden subtly shimmers. Jane Eyre is the one with red/brownish shimmers. A England website describes this color as "intensely smouldering crimson embers, imprisoned in a veil of sombre black".

Most of the A England shade is a portrait of a literature character. I am not a English Literature student in my school days and therefore I have no idea about the story behind each shade. If you are interested to know more about the literature character, descriptions can be found in the A England website.

Under most lighting, this color looks black. But when light hits it at the correct angle, the hidden shimmer would pierce through and that's when the polish becomes really pretty. I had a fun time tilting my fingers observing and admiring the shimmers under different lighting when wearing this shade. Below are some pictures I have taken under the sun and warm light.

Jane Eyre under bright sunlight

The subtle shimmer (opps Susan, nothing better to describe the shimmers except your blog name. hope you don't mind  *wink* ) in the polish look brownish red under the bright sun light. 

Jane Eyre under normal warm light

While under normal light / warm light, the shimmers look reddish purple. You can also tell from this photo that the base is really dark and looks almost black.

Jane Eyre bottle shot 

Here with a bottle shot. The shimmers are more noticeable in bottle. I have a weakness on dark polish so I absolutely love this color. The formula is great as usual, full coverage in 1 or 2 coats.

I purchased this color during the 10 days Gothic Times sales in A England website in November when selected shades are priced at £5 or £6 (np at £9). I was so overwhelmed that I had purchased twice from them in 10 days. 

Where to buy:
A England shades can be purchased at their official website. Shipment is usually very fast,  takes about 7 calendar days, from the shipment notice, to reach Malaysia from London and the best part was shipment is FREE WORLDWIDE. Other shops like US based Llarowe and Ninja Polish, Singapore based Mei Mei's Signatures also carries A England. Worldwide shipment is available from all these shops and they offer great variety and service. I have personally purchased from all the listed stores above and love them.

Til next time... Esther

piCture pOlish Monroe (original & new)

I have recently developed a fondness towards piCture pOlish  an Australian brand that produces great variety of colors. This brand is considered pretty pricey compared to most of the other brands I own, price for one bottle range from USD12.50 to USD14.50. I think Picture Polish is the sister company to Ozotic, another Australian brand that produces great shades that I have not own any yet.

Monroe and Mask-a-rade are my first two from this brands. I had seen Scrangie's swatches on these two shades when they were first released and was so tempted to get them but the price really put me off. When piCture pOlish announced that they were going to discontinued Monroe, Mask-a-rade and some other Ozotic shades, I was in a dilemma whether to get them or not. 

I am glad that I have made the right choice of getting the original Monroe and Mask-a-rade before they are totally gone. I am really hooked to this brand after these two shades. However, I did not manage to get any Ozotic due to my budget. 

Notice I have mentioned "original" Monroe? piCture pOlish actually released a new/revamp version of Monroe not too long ago. I am going to show you both the original and the new versions.

Monroe has a vampy wine red base with some holographic shimmer. The original version is more subtle and the new one have more obvious shimmer. If I were to describe them as person, original Monroe is an introvert with shier personality while the new Monroe is an extrovert who is more outgoing and fun loving.

Original Monroe on the ring finger; New Monroe on the other 3

My ring finger is wearing 2 coats of the original Monroe with top coat and the other 3 are wearing 2 coats of the new one with top coat. The shimmer is more noticeable in the new version compared to the original one.

Marco shot: Top - New Monroe, Bottom - Original Monroe

The finish of the original one is more jelly-ish than the new version, possibly due to the amount of holographic particles. I also notice that the multi-colored shimmer particles are more noticeable in the original version and the new one looks silverish. 

I realize I need to do a better clean up job.. :p

Left: New Monroe, Right: Original Monroe

This photo may not show the differences between the 2 in bottles. In real life, the new one looks lighter and pinker while the original one is darker and more vampy-like.

Left: New Monroe, Right: Original Monroe

From the bottle shot above, you can tell that the original one has more noticeable multi-colored holo shimmer while the new one looks silverish.

I like both versions individually but I would prefer the original one if I were to choose between the two. I think the main reason is the more noticeable holographic shimmer in the original one. Before I end the post, here is a photo of the original Monroe with flash. Absolutely look the holographic shimmer.

Original Monroe with flash

Where to buy:

piCture pOlish shades can be purchased in Picture Polish website and they network partners. I have purchased from there 3 great shops that offer superb range and service. US based Llarowe by Leah Ann, Canada based Harlow and Co. by Katie, and Singapore based Star Trinkets by Susan. They all ship internationally.

Til next time... Esther