I am so happy to have discovered another indie brand: Candy Lacquer! Sandra’s creations are truly stunning — I bought three bottles and all arrived in superb time. This is one thick coat of ‘Balloons In The Air’ over OPI’s ‘Skyfall’. The coincidence of the names of the nail polishes is truly wonderful. ‘Balloons’ consists of matte and white hex glitter of different sizes, holo pastel coloured circles (pink, sky blue and lavender) of large and small sizes, metallic light green circles and fine silver holo glitter (which refused to show up in photographs). As you can see, it is completely befitting of its name. 

A beautiful spring varnish! Please keep an eye out for when Sandra’s store is open again.

Main Colours: Candy Lacquer’s ‘Balloons In The Air’ and OPI’s ‘Skyfall’
Top: Superchic Lacquer’s ‘Slippery When Wet’

A macro of yesterday’s manicure today, with a layer of Sweet Tips Nails’ ‘Macaron’ as an accent. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there!

Life goes on. This manicure I’ve called ‘Otherworldly Wisteria’. The contrast of A England’s ‘She Walks in Beauty’ and The Lady Varnishes’ ‘Always Dreaming’ is an ethereal and opulent one. The latter deserves an honourable mention for its understated, work-friendly prettiness: it has a lavender crelly base with white, light purple and baby blue glitter of different sizes, completely befitting of the name ‘Always Dreaming’. Kirsten of The Lady Varnishes is a wonderful seller to boot. Please support her — she has been working hard to make some truly imaginative collections. 

Main Colours:  A England’s ‘She Walks in Beauty’ and The Lady Varnishes’ ‘Always Dreaming’
Top: Superchic Lacquer ‘Slippery When Wet’

This is the best manicure ever: a left index finger slathered with indelible ink to indicate that you have voted. My country Malaysia, on Sunday May 5th 2013, held its 13th General Elections to determine the state and federal governments. It was a close race and plenty happened. Yet either way, I am optimistic of the future and have decided that until the next General Election, I would become more active in contributing to my country to change things that need to be changed for the better. Let truth, justice and equality, the cornerstones of democracy, prevail.

Main Colour: Controversial indelible ink

Another new indie brand which I am excited to share: A Girl Obsessed by Samantha, which is gaining popularity, and deservedly so. Isn’t this polish stunning? ‘Draculaura’ was love at first sight for me.

Maybe it is Samantha’s jet engine mechanic background, but formulas are terribly important in glitter nail varnishes and she has nailed it to perfection. Every time I dipped my brush into the bottle, I received a beautiful variety of glitters in a shimmering cream-jelly base that was not unworkably thick, unlike most glitter varnishes I have encountered.

A great formula and fun combination of holo, matte and metallic glitters in pink, purple, iridescent and black makes ‘Draculaura’ a seriously winning polish. The combination is so funky and certain to put a smile on your face. Another must-have in anyone’s collection.

Stay tuned for more colours from the ingenieur that is Samantha!

Main Colour: A Girl Obsessed ‘Draculaura’

Happy Labour Day! I love a well-established indie brand, too. Featured here is Crows Toes’ ‘Shoot The Butterfly’ from their spring collection. Stunning in real life with eye-catching amounts of metallic orange and copper hexes. The cherry on top is the amazing formula which was easy to use, especially in light of the fact that the bottle is packed with glitters. Shown here is two normal coats; I barely had to clean up my cuticles — I can’t say the same for any OPI cream! I am very pleased to have this colour in my collection.

Main Colour: Crows Toes ‘Shoot The Butterfly’

Here is one of the Sweet Tips Nails polishes that I ordered, ‘Macaron’. All I can say is wow. ‘Macaron’ consists of an array of medium metallic and matte pink squares and hexes, small light green metallic hexes, large gold hexes and fine glitter in all the aforementioned colours. They look innocent in the bottle until they are topped onto any colour in your collection — the end result is decadent and glimmering goodness.

Beyond the colour scheme, the end result of ‘Macaron’ is everything macarons are: sweet but not cloyingly so, delicate, and delicious. It’s a must-have that is not overly feminine, yet is terribly flattering and interesting. As you can see from my multi-candy coloured bases above, ‘Macaron’ is incredibly versatile as well on any colour (especially silver, blue and green glitter bases). 

I applaud Jen for such a beautiful creation. To top it all off, my first nail mail from Canada took a while to arrive but Jen assuaged my fears in the best and most generous manner. I wish all nail varnish sellers were like her!

Lend your support to Sweet Tips Nails today!

Base: Butter London Horse Power Nail Fertilizer
Main Colours: Various candy colours from China Glaze, OPI and Picture Polish, with Sweet Tips Nails’ ‘Macaron’ 
Top: None

Nail mail! This is from Sweet Tips Nails from the very sweet Jen in Canada. There were more candy but they were gone or snatched away by the time I took this picture. I am excited with these polishes, the way I can only be when I discover superb creations by indie brands I have never heard of, or new indie brands.

It’s stumbling upon what can only be emerging successes at their conception is what the adventure is really about. 

My hands in a habitat. At a darling fusion café in Kuala Lumpur. Featuring Hare Polish’s ‘Atolla’ with several glitter topcoats. I love café culture, but I tend only to reward myself with brunches, drinks or cakes after a hectic week at work, so I have something to work hard for and look forward to during the weekends. It’s a win-win situation.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram!

More nail mail, lucky me! This supernatural manicure features a metallic blue Colour Club ‘Art Club’ nail art polish, with the accents of Hare Polish’s ‘Bury The Hatchetfish’ as base and ‘Atolla’ as spots. I was going for a veiny, glowy, moth-wing look. Nikole was a pleasure to work with and her polishes have a consistently easy base to work with — her shop had completely sold out but she was kind enough to make a large special order for me. Nail varnish sellers like her make the whole experience brilliant.

And it’s another weekend! I’m featuring the gorgeously complicated ‘Moira’ from Terrestrial Nails — as a refresher to my work manicure of the week, which lasted so well for so many days. ‘Moira’ is definitely one of my favourites. It has a variety of glitters that are too many to name, but are generally matte, metallic and holo in the positively edgy black, white, silver, red and maroon in so many shapes. Just look at the preview of the bottle in my last post! Completely befitting of what is a nail varnish from the American Horror Story collection. 

Another wonderful indie nail polish line. I love how it has put a bloody spin on my innocent strawberries and cream manicure. Please check out the line!

Base: Butter London Horse Power Nail Fertilizer
Main Colours: Three coats of OPI ‘Bubble Bath’ and two coats of Bubbles and Balms ‘Paramour’ plus two thin coats of Terrestrial Nails’ ‘Moira’
Top: Superchic Lacquer ‘Slippery When Wet’

Saturday nail mail, as seen on Instagram. Swatch and manicures coming soon! This one’s gorgeous and full of possibilities.

Please follow me if you are on Instagram.

It’s back to work and therefore, a new manicure was required — unfortunately my work life is such that the crazy polishes I so often love cannot be worn. I love this manicure so much. There’s something about this that reminds me of a strawberry milkshake or a French pastry with berries. The effect of it is surprisingly calming. I feel as if this manicure could beat the inevitable Monday blues.

The accent nails are another nail varnish by Renee of Bubbles and Balms (now PolishNV) called ‘Paramour’. It was a Valentine’s Day 2013 creation with hearts aplenty and red, metallic dark pink and iridescent glitters (and white bars!) floating in the a pearlescent pink base, which formula is super impressive with no glitter sticking to the sides and which applies so well. I used a light hand and ended up with no hearts, which is fine by me as I wanted things to be subtle.

I am not usually a pink person, but this has swept me off my feet. I will be returning to this manicure from time to time. 

Base: Butter London Horse Power Nail Fertilizer
Main Colours: Three coats of OPI ‘Bubble Bath’ and two coats of Bubbles and Balms ‘Paramour’
Top: Superchic Lacquer ‘Slippery When Wet’

As it’s the weekend, I thought I’d play with Superchic Lacquer’s ’Free Spirit’. It’s a tattoo-inspired nail varnish that is expertly translated by Jen into tattoo-ink colour large hexes and glimmering green, blue and gold undertones. With the nude base, everything is accurately reminiscent of tattoo on skin. Simply poetic.

This mad manicure I have concocted is called ‘Good Girls Gone Bad’. You can see why! It incorporates a special mustard colour from Brazil’s Hits. I have been thinking a lot about mustard (Mad Men, anyone? What a premiere, eh?). This is also my first attempt at using striping tape and I love it.

To me, ‘Free Spirit’ is the indie nail varnish of the year to me, so far. It is a must have for any indie nail varnish aficionado. Jen is a sweetheart, too and buying polishes from her has been a stellar experience. 

Base:Butter London Nail Foundation
Main Colours: Superchic Lacquer ’Free Spirit’, China Glaze ‘For Audrey’, Hits Speciallitta ‘701’
Top: Superchic Lacquer ‘Slippery When Wet’

Thank God it’s Friday! Just for the weekend, I layered Bubbles and Balms’ ‘Serendipity’ over ‘Coco Madness’. Here, you can see better the lilac and shimmer of ‘Coco Madness’. My nails are reminiscent of a garden blooming under a cloudy grey sky.

‘Serendipity’ is a must-have in my books, as the colours of the glitter in it is wonderfully versatile and will surprise you when combined with any colour base. Its small cheerful yellow glitter glints with larger dark purple and teal holo shreds, as well as pastel pink and blue squares and hexes of varying sizes, to make a charming combination.

Base: Butter London Nail Foundation
Main Colours: Bubbles & Balms or PolishNV ‘Coco Madness’ and ‘Serendipity’