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

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

OPI Warm & Frozie Swatches and Review

Ohh, I have been neglecting my blog for quite some times. I have been really busy lately, busy wrapping up old projects and preparing the new projects at work. Phew, finally can take a break even though there are still more work to be done.


So... I am going to do a quick post today. A polish from the OPI Muppets collections in last Christmas - Warm & Frozie. It's a very interesting color with red, pink and gold shimmer (or glitter?) in copper brown metallic base. I know I sound crappy in my description, so let the picture do the talking.. :)

OPI Warm & Frozie

OPI Warm & Frozie

I really love this color and how it looks on my skin tone. The formula is great too with no application issue.


What do you think about this colour?


Til next time... Esther

Zoya Yara Swatch & Review

I have been reading post regarding Zoya polishes but never have a chance  to get my hands on it for long long time. I guess Zoya is not as famous as other brands such as OPI in Malaysia and that makes harder to get one here, unless we order online.

As I read more about Zoya, my interests on this brand expands. I knew I wanted to start collecting Zoya when they released the Smoke and Mirror collection last Fall. The colors were captivating and interesting. 

However, I did not manage to get any until my last trip to US in Jan. Since I was super broke shopping too much, I only managed to get 1 from the collection  during that trip and that was Zoya Dree. After I returned to Malaysia, I regretted not getting Zoya Yara! Whenever Yara swatch photos popped out in Google, I drooled so hard that I decided to place an order with Sharon from Nail Polish Spree in late Jan. 

I finally got the polish last Monday and I knew at once that I would definitely love this color by looking at the bottle alone. Opps, I have been telling too much of the grandmother story.. So here is the swatch photos...

Love the stunning gold shimmer!

This color does look good on my warm skin tone.

One thing I love about Zoya polish, other than the lovely color, is the superb formula. The polish flows easily and level itself effortlessly. Zoya is marketed as the longest wearing nail lacquer. Well, I do not wear a color for more than 3 days so I couldn't confirm the durability. I guess base coat and top coat do play a big part on this. It is my 2nd day on wearing this color with Essie First Base as base coat and Essie Good to Go as top, let's see when I would see the first chip.

Til next time... Esther