Happy Halloween!

October has finally come to an end, and it's finally Halloween! Not that I celebrate Halloween. Zero trick-or-treaters here. And I've never had candy corn before. Does it taste like corn? That would be gross!

You know how Halloween's supposed to be all spooky and scary and full of horror? And you're supposed to watch movies that make you scream because they're just so scary? Well. I'll tell you what you can "watch" to get your dose of scream. Right here. Right in this post. Yeah. Not only do I do nails, I also specialize in scaring the crap out of people. WITH MY NAILS. Because once you've seen my Halloween (so tempted to call this Horror-ween) nails, you'll be screaming. You'll be horrified. Curious?

Okay maybe you won't be screaming but it's pretty bad. This is why I almost never do nail art. It ends up.. well, bad. I don't have a steady hand like a lot of manicurists (also one of the reasons why becoming a surgeon is not ideal, in addition to my refusal to examine and repair people's insides for a living). And I can never draw right.

This mani took SO LONG. It's the longest time I've ever taken to do a mani, ever. EVER. And if that wasn't warning enough, the night before I was going to paint what was supposed to be cool/spooky/cute stuff on top of the base colors, I spilled half of what was left in my nail polish remover bottle. Thank God I had an Ikea desk protector, and I had maybe 1/3 of the bottle left and it was a small bottle of Cutex. But it was still a lot. And it was all wasted.

AND this was probably the... third or fourth time I spilled nail polish remover everywhere because I was doing clean-up and I didn't close the bottle. History repeats itself. Until you learn your lesson. And since then I've been screwing the cap on and unscrewing it when I need more remover. Which is a hassle, but I don't want a repeat.

Before painting, I planned everything out, imagined it all in my head, and wrote it down. Of course it didn't turn out exactly how I imagined it. My brain is too ambitious.

I have like 17 pictures. Yay?

(Edit: This post is very picture heavy, so read more after the jump!)

October Nails

Sorry for not posting for so long, there were a few complications, which of course, includes the weather. The weather now sucks. For taking photos anyway. The temperature is great, not too hot, not too cold. But it's cloudy. No rain, no sun, just cloudy. And it's so boring! Boring weather :/

Anyway since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month AND Depression Awareness month, I decided to do a pink and green mani! (as I am typing this, I am on the way to ruining my current nails ): ). 

I would have been able to post this sooner, actually, if I hadn't taken a picture of the wrong bottle. I accidentally took one of Skin Food's green instead of Barry M. And I really do like the Skin Food brushes. Sometimes I like them more than China Glaze's brushes. Take that, China Glaze. Take that, White on White!

I feel like I need to punish my camera somehow. It can't even get the color of China Glaze Four Leaf Clover right! It looks very turquoise-y here, but I assure you, this is the brightest a green like this can get before turning into a neon. It's SO GREEN. It's the definition of green. It's just a bright green. Like the one you would get in a box of poster paints. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's just plain green. And it also stains like a bitch.

Barry M's Mint Green gave me some problems last time I tried to use it, but it was okay this time. Skin Food's I-can't-find-a-name-anywhere-on-the-bottle pink. It's bordering on red. Everyone thought I was wearing red, when it was really pink.

The sun refused to show up, so I had to take some pictures in the shade. 

My left hand! (:

I think this was when the sun was playing hide-and-seek with me.

Pinky & middle finger: Four Leaf Clover

Ring finger & thumb: Skin Food

Index finger: Mint Green

Sun!

(I must've accidentally hit my ring fingernail on something)

Just... pretend that that color that's supposed to look like Four Leaf Clover actually does look like it.

October is coming to an end, and November begins (of course, what else is after October?)! Which also means that after the 10th day of November, I'll be free! My exams start on the 1st of November and end on the 10th. Can't you come any faster, 10th? I also have the worst exam day on the 10th, because I have two papers, Psychology and Chemistry (ew), and the first one starts at 7am! That's what happens when your exams come from a place in a different time zone. 

I forgot to mention, I am currently on study leave. One week of staying at home to study. Yay ):

Another piece of good news, I've finally finished cleaning my room! I like this neatness, I wonder how long it will last? My polishes now have a new home.. From being in a container on my messy desk to being in a drawer of my Swedish (i.e. Ikea) drawers! And it's white. I like white. Unfortunately, China Glaze's White on White is a NIGHTMARE! But more on that later. 

How is/was your October? Are you celebrating Halloween?

Elianto Glitter Silver

What a weird name. Why didn't they call it Silver Glitter instead of Glitter Silver? Maybe they're trying to describe the nature of this silver, which would be glitter (as opposed to shimmer, foil, etc.). OR they just thought that Glitter Silver meant Silver Glitter when there is obviously a difference. What am I saying :S

Okay sorry for not blogging in the last... 4 days? This week has been real busy! First I had to change my nail polish from Secret Peri-wink-le to this, which was on Monday. Then on Tuesday I went for Paramore's concert (it was AWESOME! In fact, it was way more than awesome. No words can describe how good the concert was!), yesterday, I had a prom committee meeting (makes me sound important!) and by the time I got home, the sun was hiding from me. Plus Real Madrid vs. AC Milan was on last night.

So, to make up for it, I have a HUGE post for you. 14 photos (YAY!). I actually had more, but there is a line between "Yay, loads of photos!" and "Wtf when does this post end?".

This was a good glitter. I bought this VERY long ago, but I hardly used it. I guess my love for glitters remained latent until OPI's Mad As A Hatter (which reminds me, I've not showed you that yet!) came into my life.

Which also reminds me, OPI is really starting to piss me off. I still love OPI, don't get me wrong, but I break my back hunting down a bottle of MAAH, which was limited edition, and now OPI is churning out glitters at a rate equivalent to the reproductive ability of rabbits. And we all know, rabbits multiply like crazy.

First, there was the Burlesque collection.

Image source: http://www.mimifroufrou.com

And we all know that this collection had SIX glitters. Which is half the entire collection. (these are the six)

Then there's the Katy Perry collection to be released in January 2011.

Image source: http://www.alllacqueredup.com/

Again, half the polishes in this collection are glitters. The Black Shatter doesn't count because it's also being released in the Serena Williams collection. 

What the bucket, OPI? I know the glitters are different from MAAH, but they're essentially the same thing! And you know I can't resist a good glitter. No, I can't. You cannot tell me that I made all that effort to get the best damn bottle of glitter polish I had ever seen only to have its brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews make their appearance shortly after.

That's like climbing to the top of Mount Everest, thinking you were the first person to conquer that, only to find that some other *bleep* (trying not to curse) had planted his flag there already. Imagine if Neil Armstrong was all "Awesome! I'm the first man to walk on the moon!" and then he saw some moondust angels all over (assuming the ground on the moon is covered in moondust and you could make moondust angels just like snow angels). That would NOT be cool.

Damn you OPI and your irresistible glitters. >:(

Okay on to the REAL post. Sorry for rambling. This was good. Have I said that before? I think I have. Anyway it was quite dense, I only did 2 coats, although I should've done 3. But the little bit of nail peeking through the glitter didn't bother me. It's a very shiny, sparkly glitter, even without top coat, which I think some of these pictures might be, I'm not completely sure. It wasn't very gritty, and grittiness doesn't really bug me anyway.

I just love the color silver, and on me too. I've always preferred silver over gold. Now white gold, that's a different story ;)

I swear the weather was out to get me. It was sunny and bright throughout the day, but when I got home, the sun decided to hide behind the clouds. So no sun for these pictures, but who needs the sun for decent pictures?

(Edit: This post is very picture-heavy. Click Read more!)

Week END.

Hello! The week is ending. Damn ):  One last week of classes, then a study leave, then my final exams! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone past. Seems like just yesterday it was my first day of college. And that was like... 9 months ago? Someone could've had a baby in the time that I've been at college!

This has been a very eventful weekend. On Saturday morning I went to the tailor, then had lunch (noodles), and went to the supermarket for grocery shopping. Adam Lambert was our checkout cashier! Or rather, a guy who looked much like an Adam wannabe. But he had the eyeliner thing going on!

Did a little bit more cleaning on my room when I got home, still have a long way to go. My polishes will have a new home! (:  We went to a Spanish restaurant for my mom's birthday dinner (pictures soon!), and I went to bed feeling like a giant balloon. 

Today we went shopping (did I mention I LOVE shopping?), and I saw Asha Gill! Google her if you don't know who she is. I was so tempted to get her autograph, but my mom said she wanted privacy, and I respected that. 

It's late, and I can't really think of what else happened, but sorry to have rambled on about my weekend. The part about the polish is coming..... in the bottle. I don't have a decent swatch of this, but it's a pretty color. Dark blue with lighter blue shimmer and pink microglitter! Some of Skin Food's shades are seriously amazing, wish I could get them all!

I really feel like putting this on, but I've already planned for the colors I'm going to wear for the rest of this month. I'm such a control freak. :S  

This is so weird, I swear the photo quality was a lot better when I took it/watermarked it. :S

Blurred to show the shimmer.

Pretty! (:

Hope your weekend was as good as mine! (:

Barcelona 2-1 Valencia

Click 'Read more' for the football goodness!

China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le

Due to my failed attempt at applying For Audrey, I decided to go with something I'd worn before. Secret Peri-wink-le from the Operation Color collection! This was so gorgeous in pictures and made my list immediately (as did a gazillion others). 

Once again, my camera decided it didn't want to show everyone what this really looks like. It has more grey in real life, not so blue like this. When I look at this, the word 'dusty' comes to mind. Maybe because dust is grey. And this looks like a blue + grey. Whatever it is, my camera didn't get it right (again), but it is pretty (:

Embarrassingly, this is 4 coats. I actually intended only to do 3, but I was careless during application and ended up doing 4. I did do 3 on the first day then another one on the next day, so I didn't have to wait excruciatingly long for it to dry. This dries glossy but I added top coat anyway, to make it look better.

This was sheer on the first coat, but with 2-3 coats it should be good to go. Formula was good, not crazy hard to manage like For Audrey, but not as good as Light As Air, but still good. 

Natural light, in the shade.

Sunlight!

The sun has graced us with its presence. But... it's so damn hot. I can never get a break from the weather ):

Image source: http://www.bio-carpat.eu/plants/periwinkle/

Periwinkle flowers! It doesn't look as bright as this on my nails, maybe because of the 4 coats.

Oh Olympus camera, why do you hate me so? I love you so much. You take good pictures (minus the color thing), I charge you before your battery can die, I put you in a cozy grey pouch, I never abuse you. Why do you do this to me? ):

Just yesterday, I was eating this delicious moist fudge brownie, and I wondered what the formula for the brownie was.

If you didn't see what was wrong with that, I think we need to become friends ;)

(I realized it was supposed to be recipe for the brownie, not formula. Either I'm studying too much Chemistry, or all this polish is getting to my head!)

McCris - I'm Lovin' It

(I do like McDonald's. Sometimes)

I tried to paint China Glaze's For Audrey today, but it refused to work with me! ):  So I put Secret Peri-wink-le on instead. Love this color. I couldn't get it done before the sun disappeared on me (yes, the sun has made appearances in the last few days!) so I'll just do that tomorrow.

I feel like blogging, so I'll show you something that I like. Football (or soccer)!! Did I mention I watch football? Once in a while. Only my favourite teams, or if someone else is watching and I feel like it. I don't watch the EPL, but I do try to keep up to date on the Spanish league. Barcelona & Real Madrid! Blame it on Spain winning the World Cup this year and Messi being in Barcelona. 

Have you watched Cristiano Ronaldo's Armani ad? I had to put a bucket under my mouth after watching it, if you get what I mean ;)  People shouldn't be allowed to look as good as that! He should seriously just throw all his clothes away (minus the underwear, he looks good in that). 

A long time ago, I liked him. Then for some reason I stopped. And after seeing this Armani ad, there was no question about it. I was hooked.

Photo from http://laligaforladies.wordpress.com/

He looks like he's having a seriously gigantic sneeze. 

Photo from http://unamadridista.wordpress.com

Anybody watch Glee? Remember the song "Push It"? Doesn't this look like Cris is saying the "ssss" part, whereas Sergio (the one at the back) is saying "Push it!"?

Photo from http://unamadridista.wordpress.com

Okay maybe his sneeze is a gazillion times more graceful than the picture above. I've never been able to just sneeze once. I always have to sneeze about 2-3 times or more. And of course he returns to being picture perfect a moment after the sneeze. 

Come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing him in a short-sleeved jersey on the field since I've started watching this year (which was during the WC). Or I have bad memory. Maybe he gets cold easily? I get cold easily too. We should share body warmth!

China Glaze Light As Air

As a compensation for not blogging over the weekend (especially for missing 10/10/10 on my dates), I have a lot of photos today :D  Also because I couldn't get the color right on my camera. My camera hates lilac, green, what else?

China Glaze continues to impress me with their formula. This is hands down the best I've tried so far (not that I've tried THAT many). As I was painting, I could hear myself going "wow". This was so smooth and pigmented. Two coats should've been enough, but you know me and my crappy painting skills. So I did 3. Drying time wasn't that long so it was okay. 

But seriously, this was perfect. Love at first sight. I wish I had a million bottles of this so I would never run out. 

Again, there was no sun. The color here of course isn't accurate, but you can see how good it is (:  I attribute any flaws in the photos to my lack of painting skills, and not to the brush/polish.

Natural light, no top coat. It has a satin-like finish, but that could have had something to do with my base coat.

Natural light, no top coat.

Sorry for the weird peels on my nails. Waiting for them to grow >:(

The rest of these pictures are with top coat.

I would describe this as... a blueberry yogurt kinda color. It just reminded me a of a creamy yummy yogurt. It's just so creamy. I kept staring at my hands from different angles, and all I could think of to describe it is creamy yogurt.

If you go to Wikipedia's list of colors, I would say this is something like Mauve/Thistle. On my laptop anyway. It could be closer to Lilac/Wisteria, depending on your display settings. Oh, this is a pastel creme.

So I was cleaning my room and that was why I didn't post. But.. I did find something interesting...

Artificial lighting, no flash.

A picture I drew of ants playing football! Ant game, Reds 0-1 Blacks. I don't know why the Black ants are winning, they're not even my favourite color. Maybe they were back then. I think ants would have too many legs to play football. Either the legs would be a problem or they would be like weapons. Imagine all the tricks they could do with those legs. And imagine when they tackle each other. 

Picture with flash. Now you can see the color a little.

After I cleaned my room, it seemed like the topcoat's shiny effect wore off. Wtf? It went back to being more of a satin finish, like I had just put China Glaze Man on it. That's what you get when you use a cheap top coat I guess.

Still have some cleaning to do, but I'm proud of what I've done so far. :D

I also dreamed over the weekend that my nail polish had chipped. For two nights in a row. Am I going crazy?

Pink & Turquoise Sponge Gradient

I am so sleepy :S

BUT I will finish this post first. As you know (or not), I'm right-handed, so my left hand always gets the fancy nail art (if any) whereas the right hand stays plain. Since I was on holidays awhile ago (too long ago ): ), I decided to do something with my right hand. I actually planned to do different nail art daily, but that plan failed.

In case this didn't work out, I would probably have done something else the next day.

I can't remember the weather for this one, but it was natural light, probably sunny but I wasn't in the sun. I think it was outside my window (there's a tree that goes up to my window, so I think the neighbours haven't spotted me in the midst of crazy yet). Please excuse the crappy cuticles and the poor clean-up. What was I thinking?

I should really take bottle pictures huh :/  Okay. Let me find some Internet pictures. 

For the pink I used Skin Food.. Where the hell is the name on this bottle?! There doesn't seem to be a name, but there's a code: PK213. The bottle looks like this (obviously not this colour, this is orange):

Image credit: www.aprilcherrie.com

And for the turquoise, I used Elianto's Turquoise. This is the same brand as the Dark Sea Green in the previous post. Here's the bottle (same colour): Just saw a notice on the site NOT to take photos without permission (despite the obvious website address in black across the photo), and I can't be arsed to ask for permission, so you will see my own photo of the bottle another time. 

That blob on my middle finger is a piece of the sponge that came off and stuck to my nail :S

Proper tutorial soon! (:  

Hello!

I had no idea what to write, so my friend suggested I write about the purpose of this blog. Pretty obvious, no? I like nail polish (understatement) and I like blogging (all these thoughts in my head have to go SOMEWHERE). 

I live in Asia, I hate the weather because it's always too hot, too humid or too rainy. It's October, so I'm having rainy season. I like sleeping, eating, watching tv, eating, hibernating and did I mention eating? 

It took me awhile to get this blog up, partly because of the names I couldn't decide on. First it was Nailgasms, but I thought that could be a bit.. awkward? Offensive? I don't know the word. Then it was Criminail, but a definition on Urban Dictionary changed my mind on that one. So I Googled around and finally got this name. And no, I don't listen to All Time Low.

You know the saying "Nothing personal, just business"? No? Well, you do now! I love wordplay (:

I hope you have JavaScript enabled, or you won't be able to fully enjoy the design of the blog. 

For my first post, I'll show you something recent but not current (does that make sense?). I don't know if it's just me, but for some reason these pictures looked a lot better/brighter on my camera and desktop computer. Maybe it's the display settings on my laptop. 

This is a red shimmer (Callas Blood Spy) which my friend gave me for my birthday over a dark sea green (Elianto). I don't know if you can tell (you probably can), but I'm not that good at painting. And I'm showing you my right hand (eventhough I'm a righty) because I can never file my nails on my left hand straight. You can see that the red is uneven,  but I like it (:  My nails were peeling btw. So it was kinda uneven on my index and middle finger.

This photo was taken when the sun decided to show up briefly. I like this picture best (:

Natural light, no sun.

Natural light, no sun.

Natural light, no sun (are you getting sick of reading this line?). 

Maybe my hopefulness makes me see this as duochrome, but I'm not sure if it can be classified as that. It does look a bit like it in the first picture. I think. 

Can you guess what my favourite colour is? ;)