Saturday, November 29, 2014

Snowflakes

I was going through my stock of polish bottles to decide on what winter appropriate colors to use this week... I picked up Essie Parka Perfect, which is one of my favorite dusty blue to use in colder season. To compliment that, I paired it with Essie Mind Your Mittens!


For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Parka Perfect (light dusty blue) and Essie Mind Your Mittens (dark navy blue). I stamped a design from Lily Anna plate 08, using Color Club Harp On It as stamping polish. 


Color Club Harp On It is such a great holographic color on dark base. I can never capture the true beauty of it in pictures... But definitely a must-have polish!

On my right hand, I changed things up a bit and left one dark nail unstamped. 

I love these two winterly blue combination! Do you have favorite blue to wear this season?

Love,

Little Dot


Saturday, November 22, 2014

Monochromatic

Now we are in the cold winter weather, my choice of nail polish colors are changing. Good bye to the bright colourful summery shades and welcome to darker deeper muted winterly tones. Just like many of my clothing pieces, I'm getting into a mood for monochromatic shades. Yes, my winter clothing consists of black and a whole lot of grey... I should buy some colourful items to add a little pop of color though...


I loved this shimmery dark grey color of Essie Cashmere Bathrobe last winter. And I still loooove it this season. It is not as dark as the picture shows. It is definitely grey (not black!) and therefore, it gives a little softer look to the overall manicure. It is hard to capture in pictures but it has shimmery silver specs in it and it is very lovely in real life. 



For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Cashmere Bathrobe (dark grey) and Essie Urban Jungle (creamy white). I stamped the flower and the writing designs from MoYou London Pro collection 04, using Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. 


I really love this look. It looks like someone drew the flowers and scribbled something on my nails! 


                        Day 5 and still loving it!

Do you want to know how much I love this look? It's day 5 of this manicure now and even though I have slight chips (and filed down some length), I don't want to take it off!!!



By the way, I have been using Essie Urban Jungle for a while and I love it as an alternative to OPI My Vampire Is Buff. It gives pretty good coverage with 2 coats for me and it is slightly more pinkish than My Vampire Is Buff. Very lovely on itsown but perfect as background for nail art. 



What is your favourite color to wear in colder season? 

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Movemer!

Movember is here! This is a twin post with my beloved daughter!


Here is my look. We have decided to use the same main color polish and the moustache pattern. 


For this look, I first painted my nails with Essie Shearling Darling (oxblood) and OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (gold). I stamped the moustache design from Bundle Monster plate BM-402, using OPI L. A. M. B. as stamping polish. 

My nails are not very wide so I have decided to stamp the moustache side ways. 

Here is my beloved daughter's look!


Hello! I am the "beloved daughter", Cat. My mom has been trying to get me hooked on nail art for a while. I think her plan is working... Just a bit. 

After Halloween, I suggested we do Movember manicures. And thus, the twinning (with slight variation) begins!


For this look I painted by base colour as Essie's Shearling Darling, stamped with Konad's white stamping polish and used Hk girl topcoat. 

I have been loving shearling darling for this season and keep coming back to it in my nail rotation. Do you have any go-to  Fall/winter colours? Or inspiration?


Happy Movember! Spread the awareness!!

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Revlon Parfumerie Review - Pink Paisley!

Finally, I got to try Revlon Parfumerie scented nail polish! I bought a couple of bottles a few months ago but didn't get a chance to come around to it. Too many polish, not enough fingers... I used chocolate Truffle one for this look. 


First of all, I want to talk about this polish. I was a bit worried about the scent being too strong because I read some people talking about it. By the way, you don't smell any scent until the polish dries. So if you open the bottle to check the scent or when you first apply it to your nails, you just smell regular nail polish. Chocolate Truffle smells like chocolate (obviously...) If you are very sensitive to smell and don't like to smell sweet all day, this polish is not for you. But I didn't mind it at all. I didn't find it to be too strong. If I bring my hand to my nose, I get to smell the scent but otherwise not that noticeable. And it applied like melted chocolate (yum!), nice and smooth. One coat was probably enough but I did two coats just to even things out. In the picture, it looks almost black but it is definitely dark chocolate brown. (Caution! You might get constant cravings for chocolate while wearing this polish!) 


For this look, I first painted my nails with Revlon Parfumerie Chocolate Truffle. I stamped paisley design from Bundle Monster plate BM-315 with Mundo de Unas 55 stamping polish. I used a dotting tool to add gold dots around the design with OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Finish off with a coat of HK Girl Fast Drying Top Coat. 


The other scent I got is Wintermint. Hopefully I will have a chance to use it soon. 


Have you tried Revlon Parfumerie polish? What is your opinion on them?

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Jolie Clean Up Brush and Stamping Tool Reviews!

I have been using Jolie clean up brushes for the last few weeks! 


Before Jolie Brush, I was using Elf concealer brush for cuticle clean up and even though they worked decent, it started to bother me because they didn't  last long. Sometimes, after just a single use, the pure acetone melted the Elf brush!

See the half melted and deformed Elf brushes on left compared to Jolie brushes on right. 

I researched for alternatives and found out about Jolie brushes! These brushes withstand the pure acetone! 

Initially, I bought 2 blue brushes, which are quite a bit larger than the size I was used to.

See the size compared to my pointer nail?

And then, I found out there were smaller brushes available! So I got a few of those smaller pink spiral brushes and also xl stamper and the stamper head refills!


These brushes I purchased have dotting tools on the other ends. You can also get ones with cuticle pusher on the other ends as well if you prefer. There are various color and size brushes available!

Size comparison between pink spiral brush and blue brush. 

To be honest, I was a little skeptical about the larger blue brush because I have pretty small nails. But it was fairly easy to use this big brush thanks to the tapered tip. From the side, you can see how skinny it is at the tip and it makes a huge difference. 

Side view. Very thin at the tip!

I have been using both blue and pink brushes alternatively depends on how much clean up is needed. If you have lot to clean, blue one does the job quickly with only a few swipes. If you only need a fine detailed cleaning around cuticle area, pink one would give you very precise control. Both are great tools!


And! And!! The stamper heads!!! These replacement heads work so well!! The white head that came with the xl stamper was pretty good after priming it. (Priming means you go over lightly and carefully with fine files so that the stamper picks up the images better.) But the head refills worked great without any priming! It picked up images so well and the squishness is just perfect. (They are a little softer and squishier than the original white head.) I am using the pink one for a few weeks now and it replaced my MoYou London stamper, which was a little finicky!

I bought pink and plum color replacement stamper heads

You can purchase Jolie Polish products from here (US) and here (international). If you live outside of US, I suggest checking out the US site first to see what is available. The US site shows a lot more products than the international (Etsy) site. And if you don't see the items you want in the Etsy site, you can contact the owner, Bory, by email or through Contact Shop Owner on Etsy. She can actually make you a package specially for you so that you can place a customized order.  

Her products sell out very quickly but she restocks often, so keep checking!

Have you tried Jolie clean up brushes yet?

Love,

Little Dot