deborah lippmann, you bloody genius

Deborah Lippman - Across The Universe

Before I start, I'd like to apologize for the serious backlog... I swear I'll update more!

So on Friday I had a shoot, and I returned home with black nails. And I felt really sad, because black nails are so cliched and so boring. So I had the biggest inspiration ever to try out the ever-anticipated Across The Universe!

I've on 4 coats of Across The Universe. It has a midnight blue jelly base, filled with Bleu de France glitter and Carolina blue as well as Sea green medium-sized hexagonal glitter.

As you can tell I have tried to get creative in describing the colours within the polish ;-) (Wikipedia helped a lot)

Anyways I just want to point out how amazing this polish looks as it's layered coat after coat. JUST LOOK AT THE DAMN PICTURES. The dark hue of the jelly base doesn't eat up the glitters and in fact, gives it a very embedded and suspended look, like how seaweed and salty (haha) things float in the ocean. Or rather, with respect to the name of the polish, how perhaps stars and extraterrestrial things float aimlessly in the galaxy.

Honestly I was quite disappointed after painting the first few coats... But come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that the final look of the polish on nails doesn't really have much to do with the name of the polish. It looks so (too much so) mermaid-ish and beautiful and the jelly base reminds me so much of deep waters. It's so mysterious. Deborah Lippmann named this after the Beatle's song, and I suppose she just wanted to reflect the mysterious and somewhat haunting, lingering feel of the song and yet also its somewhat cheery tune. Not so much trying to create a galaxy-looking polish.

I'm actually listening to this song right now, for the very first time. And I... (haha I sound mad, but) I feel a sense of wholeness. Yet a hole. I don't know why I feel this way; perhaps this song just lingers and lingers and lingers till it fades out. Like it's not ended, it's just passed. So, so mysterious. Here's the song for your listening pleasure:

Amazing, huh. I'm not exactly listening closely, but I'm quite sure that the boys were high when this song was written. And hence like there's nothing very specific about the universe and the galaxy.

Again, looking at my nails... most people wouldn't think about this but how the heck does this polish allow the glitters to shine through the dark jelly base! As in... it's still sparkling!!!!! How is that even possible!?!?! It's a freaking paradox! Like how the song is like, for me.

Perhaps I'm just reading too much into things, but this is how I interpret and appreciate this polish and the whole sensory experience of listening, applying, experimenting and admiring the finished product after that. And I really think all girls should get their hands on this polish if they have a chance to, because I would love for you to experience something similar to my experience.

However, I feel too much for this polish to share my own bottle, so sorry girls... I am not lending this baby to anyone. Hehehe. Then again I believe experiences as such (or in general) are very personal, because everyone connects to things and ideas differently.

Well. This is officially my favourite nail polish of all time :-)

x, Ish

Ps, This is the worst review ever!!! I do feel that this polish has some flaws but I just don't want to burst my happy bubble right now. And for even allowing me to feel so happy, this polish is tops in my list of favourites :-)

Pss, 4 coats may be excessive but I always apply very thin coats. Perhaps 3 or even 2 will do fine.

Psss, I will do an edit for this review because I really think I do need to raise a few issues. Well goodbye, for now!

still on backlog

Nubar - Nubar 2010

I wore this look for New Years! (During which I had a smashing time, might I add.) (Literally, smashing. Think broken doors.) (In the plural.)

The image is blurred to fully capture the various colours in this polish.

Here I've layered 1 coat of Nubar 2010 over a coat of black creme. (Some brandless one my mom purchased from the States; I'm sure I've mentioned this before.)

The resultant look is, as described by my mom's friend, a beetle's back. The multi-coloured flakies reflect mostly green, yellow, orange and red from various angles. In dull lighting they appear mostly fiery orange. This differs from the ones in Clairvoyant; Clairvoyant contains blue-coloured flakies as well.

I love Nubar 2010 because it keeps me staring at my nails so much haha I just can't take my eyes off of it! I can't say I love this as much as I love Clairvoyant... but it does come a close second.

Everything was great, actually. Dry time was excellent. I love that it has a clear base! However it doesn't dry very glossy. I always need to fall back on Seche Vite for that...

The flakies aren't as concentrated as those in Clairvoyant but they do provide sufficient coverage. I've tried layering two coats of Nubar 2010 and it's honestly too much. The scattered flakies allow some of the black base to show up around the individual flakes, which creates a very random (artsy, really) and unique look - you can't ''mess up'' the look. Not really.

I'd wanted to mention how it was difficult to get an even coverage of the flakies all over the nail, but I do realise that it's difficult to do that and it kills the whole spirit of random patterning. Guess free-spiritedness is something that a lot of people need to learn. Especially for Singaporeans, we're all so uptight and stressed. In general, I suppose.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a good 2012! Speaking of which, makes it clearly ironic that I've used Nubar 2010... (I need to stop living in the past.)

x, Ish

totally joining the cult

Cult Nails - Clairvoyant

OPI - OPI Ink

This has got to be my favourite polish, ever!!! (Possibly until I finally wear Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe... I do love my glitters. Especially Deborah Lippmann's signature style of glitters suspended in jelly bases.) Okay anyhoos...

Clairvoyant (aka Unicorn Puke) consists of rainbow-coloured flakies suspended in a very sheer purple jelly base, designed to be used as a layering polish. I saw Swatchandlearn's swatch which featured Clairvoyant layered over OPI Ink, and was immediately head over heels in love with the combination of the flakies and the deep and shimmering purple. I think that the shimmer peeks out so nicely from between the varying sizes of flakies and are sort of ''muses'' to ''back up'' the real stars of the show - the multi-coloured flakies!!! Do you get what I mean!?? Like the muses singing back-up vocals in the Disney version of Hercules:



Hehe I love the muses!!!

Anyways back to Clairvoyant. The coverage on the OPI Ink base was excellent. As comparisons from various renowned nail bloggers have revealed, Clairvoyant is the most jammed packed with rainbow-coloured flakes out of all the ones offered by other various brands, namely Picture Polish's Festival, Finger Paints' Twisted, etc. (Oh I'm not sure about Ludurana though... I've not tried them but they have a wonderful collection of flakies which btw is going to be discontinued, as reminded by the sweet girls over at Inky Polisholicious; do proceed to their blog to find out how you may purchase Ludurana polishes!)

However, I am a little bothered by the purple-tinted base of Clairvoyant, because this limits the kind of base colour shades to be paired with the flakies. For instance any hopes of pairing it with a light colour would be tarnished (not destroyed, at least) by the altered look of the base after the application of Clairvoyant. In their defence, though, flakies are best shown off on a dark base as a dark shade can create a sharp contrast between flakes and base and hence, draw one's eye's immediately to the shiny flakes! The tinted Clairvoyant wouldn't cause any (or much, if there is) any changes to the colour of the base polish.

On a side note, the flakies in Clairvoyant look like fish food:



Oh my gosh, isn't that hilarious!?

Okay anyways to wrap up this review: dry time was excellent (it is a little fast though, considering we have to even out the flakies), OPI Ink was of course gorgeous even on its own, and the look is amazing. However, because the flakies aren't evenly shaped and sized, some flakies are thicker and hence do not permit a perfectly smooth surface to the touch after drying - unlike what I had expected. This did not bother me much though, Seche Vite always saves the day. ;-)

If you are interested in purchasing Clairvoyant, it can be purchased directly from Cult Nails' website, but only after it's been re-stocked!!! It sold out in an instant (despite being produced in larger quantities unlike its debut as Unicorn Puke where only something like 285 bottles were produced?) so I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for that coveted polish!!! ;-)

Oh Clairvoyant, thou art beautiful :'')

x, Ish