The Nail Polish Ninja

BNC #175 Silver Sparkle

2010-05-03T19:31:00.001+08:00

(Silver Sparkle is not the polish's actual name, which was nowhere to be found on the bottle.)

I was walking around Trinoma when I chanced upon a stall selling Korean BNC polishes for PhP80.00 (USD1.78) each. The salesperson was quite annoying - she kept using hard sell tactics to get me to buy more products, so I didn't stick around very long to look at other shades.

Silver Sparkle is a hexagonal glitter polish much like TFS Nail Pleasure YL702. It can be made opaque in three coats, although it helps to have some sort of polish underneath to fill in the gaps. Here, I used Skin Food PK203 as the base.

I've been looking for a polish to blind people with, and this fits the bill perfectly. :P

Elianto Cutie Pink

2010-05-02T15:32:00.000+08:00

This polish's name slightly annoys me, but I like the color nonetheless. It's a light pink similar to Etude House Dear Darling 05, only this has more pink in it (EHDD has a bit more purple).

Three coats.

I'm sorry I haven't been taking bottle shots against a black background lately. No time to set up.

Orly Tennis, Anyone?

2010-04-19T11:07:00.001+08:00

I'm currently interning for my professor and I noticed he was a bit distracted with my nails last week, so I decided to tone it down this week. This is an old polish from Orly's Spring 2009 Prepster collection.

For a sheer polish, this isn't much trouble to apply. I used three coats below.

Can you see the nail stickers? I put them on to make the mani a bit more interesting (so I won't get tempted to switch to a louder color LOL).

The Face Shop OR205

2010-04-18T11:50:00.001+08:00

This is last week's mani. Have I ever mentioned that orange is my favorite color?

OR205 is a bright neon creme that reaches full opacity in three coats.

Etude House Dear Darling Nails #05 (Pink)

2010-04-01T12:24:00.000+08:00

I'm alive! I haven't forgotten about this blog or Stockpiled!, it's just that I've been very busy with school and real life for the past few months. (And I still am. T_T)

I have a huge backlog of polishes to upload now, and that doesn't even include the new ones Caronia Philippines so very kindly sent me last week. (Thanks again, Caronia! I'll be sure to swatch them as soon as I can!)

This pretty pale pink is currently what I have on my hands. I'd swatch more but... TIME T_T

05 is a two-coater, but I put on three coats because I am nitpicky that way. :P

Polishes from Etude House's Dear Darling line cost (correct me if I'm wrong, I can't remember if it was 198 or 148) PhP198.00, which is roughly $3.00.

All my Etude House polishes

2010-01-05T09:56:00.002+08:00

Etude House opened its first store in the Philippines last December 20.With lots of people getting Christmas and New Year's money, their timing couldn't have been more perfect!

9 bottles so far! (I don't think I'll be getting a lot of colors from them, though. I already have several similar shades from other brands. They also have WAY TOO MANY PINKS! X_X)

Random FAIL trivia: If you check the other collective posts I've done for Elianto, TFS and SF, you'll notice that I used the wrong watermark for them. I used my Stockpiled! watermark by mistake!

The Smiley Mani

2010-01-03T13:25:00.001+08:00

Happy new year! Manigong bagong taon!

I've wanted to do one of these ever since I saw one of the blogs on my blogroll do this ages ago. (I'm sorry, I was pretty sure I saw it on The Princess of Polish but when I got there, I couldn't find it anymore. Please do let me know if you were the one who did the smiley mani!)

Instead of just happy yellow smileys, I did sad blue smileys (Saddies? Haha what do you call them?) on my middle fingers. Why are they inverted? This is a wholesome family blog, you figure it out. >:D

Aside from old faithful Wet n' Wild black creme, the polishes responsible for this were Etude House GR601 and YL802. I haven't been able to make proper swatch posts for them yet because I'm running low on my favorite nail polish remover. Must conserve!

This mani seems to bring up the most amusing coincidences:

When I looked at today's paper, the astrology section said 2010's lucky colors were yellow and light blue. My mani is yellow and blue green. Haha close enough!
One of my favorite nail blogs, The Daily Nail, did a smiley mani too! (Hers is infinitely better, though. :D)

All my Skin Food polishes

2009-12-25T08:56:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!

These are all my polishes from Skin Food.

17 in all!

All my Elianto polishes

2009-12-24T08:54:00.001+08:00

These are all my polishes from Elianto.

21 bottles in all!

All my Face Shop polishes

2009-12-23T08:53:00.000+08:00

These are all my polishes from The Face Shop.

17 bottles in all!

What a Classmate got me for Christmas

2009-12-20T08:27:00.000+08:00

The day before classes ended for the break, we had a little Christmas party complete with randomized gift exchanging. This is what Tin, the classmate who pulled out my name from the pool, got me:

A whole RAINBOW of polishes! <3 I was really touched, since she and I aren't very close and yet she still took the time and effort to get me something awesome.

This green is my favorite out of the ten. It actually has a bit of gold shimmer to it, although it's not noticeable in the bottle.

To show my appreciation for her super sweet gift, I did a mani using 9 out of the 10. (I substituted ColorTrends Platinum Special for the yellow creme so all the polishes would have frosted finishes.)

Megaskittles! (Or Ice Truck Killer bait, if you watch Dexter. :P)

All the polishes (except the light blue) reach bottle color in three coats and dry rather quickly. Thank you, Tin!

Elianto Sparkling Diva: Racing Green

2009-12-05T10:14:00.000+08:00

This pretty green comes from Elianto's new Sparkling Diva line. As its name suggests, the polishes in the new line have sparkly finishes.

This Christmas-y color turns opaque in two coats,

and looks stunning in bright light!

Sparkling Diva polishes cost PHP199.00 (around USD4.00) - pretty close to the price range of The Face Shop's Nail Pleasure line.

Skin Food Nail Vita BL511 (Secret Blue)

2009-12-02T23:00:00.001+08:00

I found this polish's name through Jellynat's super helpful blog. It's a great resource for the names of Skin Food polishes!

I don't get why this shimmery bright blue is called Secret Blue, though.

This two-coater certainly isn't as blue as the deodorant...

although it is quite close to another Skin Food polish.

L: Secret Blue; R: Blue Sapphire

Secret Blue is shimmery, Blue Sapphire is solid creme

The Face Shop YL702

2009-11-30T12:14:00.001+08:00

(The nail swatches in this post are much older than last Friday's Glitter Shine Red. So no, my nails did not magically lengthen over the weekend.)

Yellow there, everybody!

Get it? Yellow... hello? Yeah, I'll stick to being a college student. :P

Anyhow, YL702 is a bright, sunny yellow three-coater.

It applies reasonably well for a yellow polish - the streakiness disappears quite easily once the first coat has dried and the second and third layers are applied. More experienced users will probably even get bottle color in two coats.

Strangely enough, this polish has the exact same color code as another polish from TFS' Nail Pleasure line.

Elianto Glitter Shine Red

2009-11-27T18:59:00.000+08:00

Sorry today's post is a little late, been pretty busy lately. O_O

Glitter Shine Red is a dead ringer for China Glaze Ruby Pumps and is also very similar to Essie Ruby Slippers.

I've always loved the look of bright red polish on short nails, and this smooth three-coater is no exception.

I happened to chance upon some really good sunlight when I was swatching this. Lucky!

I usually paint my nails at night since I have to get ready for class in the morning. The text you see under my hand is from my Statistics book. (Blech! XD)

Elianto Brown

2009-11-25T11:13:00.000+08:00

I swear this looked like a creme in the bottle! It's actually a brown jelly, how weird is that?

It's a four-coater, but it dries to an impossibly glossy shine that reminds me of chocolate glazed donuts.

Elianto Bisque + Rainbow Stripes

2009-11-23T12:40:00.003+08:00

After wearing this psychedelic number all throughout last week (to a good amount of graciously-received compliments, might I add ;D)...

This has got to be the best picture I've ever taken in NPN history so far. I think the lighting is just perfect!

...for this week, I decided to take things down a little with this creamy neutral!

Whoops, forgot to watermark before turning the pic right-side-up!

Neutral colors have usually been difficult to apply in my experience. Not so with two-coater Bisque!

Please excuse the drying skin at the sides of my nails. X_X The weather is getting colder and drier by tropical standards here, and being a sun-loving Southeast Asian unused to lower temperatures, I probably need to hydrate and/or moisturize more!

The formula glides veeeery smoothly - almost like a Skin Food polish - and dries to a highly professional-looking, glossy shine.

Skin Food Milk Creamy Prism Nail: Black Prism

2009-11-20T11:30:00.000+08:00

Yes, Skin Food has holos! They come in bottles similar to the Milk Creamy line, except with metallic silver caps.

The polish looks quite similar to OPI My Private Jet, although MPJ seems to have bigger particles.

Black Prism appears asphalt gray under fluorescent light,

but under sunlight is where it really shines!

Skin Food Juice Tox #7

2009-11-18T11:30:00.001+08:00

I've been singing praises to Skin Food's polishes ever since I started posting about them. Until NOW, that is.

Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ever buy anything from their Juice Tox line.

#7 looks adorable enough in the bottle,

and sets in with a silky smooth satiny finish that looks more purple under bright light,

BUT IT NEVER COMPLETELY DRIES.

I first tested the infernal polish two weeks ago, Sunday morning. Take note, MORNING. I went about my day, then settled off to sleep. (At night, obviously. :P) I didn't have to go out in public anyway, so I didn't clean up the mani in the shower. The next day, I awake to this mess:

bed sheet marks EVERYWHERE. Ugh.

Yesterday I tried salvaging what I could from this difficult product. Top coats didn't work on it either, so I painted it over a layer of last week's similarly-colored French Kiss. Doing that seems to have fixed the not-drying problem. Here's what it looks like today:

Eh, I guess that's alright. I won't be buying any more Juice Toxes in the future, though.

Skin Food Nail Vita BL509 (Hami Melon Milk)

2009-11-16T11:30:00.001+08:00

Thank you to Nathalie for tracking down this polish's name! Hami melons are a type of melon indigenous to China.

Three-coater BL509 looks like it could be Essie Mint Candy Apple's frosted cousin!

However, it does have more yellow in it than the Essie polish. Check out gildedangel's swatch to see the difference.

Skin Food Pedicure Vita: Mai Tai

2009-11-13T11:30:00.001+08:00

This one-coater is named after the red version of the cocktail drink. I think it captures the color nicely.

I don't think it photographs very well on me, though. It's a cute fruity red in person but it looks absolutely lurid in these shots. :|

Skin Food Pedicure Vita: French Kiss

2009-11-11T11:30:00.000+08:00

I fail to see why this blurple is called French Kiss, but it's a pretty color anyway.

One-coater!

Skin Food Pedicure Vita: Midori Shower

2009-11-09T11:30:00.001+08:00

Yes, this Skin Food polish has a name! (I finally found a website listing most of SF's polish names! It does a much better job than the official site LOL)

Midori is Japanese for green, so I guess that would make this polish a "green shower"? Take note that Skin Food is a Korean brand and not a Japanese one, however.

As with most polishes from this brand, Midori Shower applies veeery smoothly in two coats - not at all like the lumpy disaster that was Elianto Lemon Green.

The polish also has some shimmers in it, but they're hardly noticeable. Can you see them below?

Elianto Khaki Pearl

2009-11-06T11:30:00.001+08:00

MAJOR ERROR: You might remember from a while back that I posted another Elianto polish called Khaki Pearl. Well, that color was really Goldish Brown - much more appropriate for it. Since the colors are quite similar, I got the names mixed up!

This two-coater does remind me of khaki,

and it is kind of "pearly" (more of frosty IMO, but whatever floats Elianto's boat),

so maybe that's why they named it Khaki Pearl? Har har, way to state the obvious, Elianto.

Elianto Shimmer Violet

2009-11-04T11:30:00.000+08:00

Here we have a shimmery pink-violet that's great on its own and for layering.

The polish is layered over TFS BL605 on my ring finger. The bright blue from that polish makes Shimmer Violet closer to the blue side of the spectrum.

It's a three-coater alone and a two-coater when layered.

The Black Russian Dupe

2009-11-02T13:26:00.004+08:00

(aka My Halloween Mani)

RBL's Black Russian is at the top of my list of dream polishes. Red glitter on a blackish burgundy base is such an awesome combination! I'm not too keen on paying a whopping $18.00 plus shipping for just ONE measly bottle of polish though, so the real thing will have to stay a dream (for now LOL).

This is what I wore to a small Halloween gathering last Saturday:

Already pretty close to the original, yes? Wait til you see it with a layer of Elianto's Grape Wine:

So ladies, do we have a dupe or DO WE HAVE A DUPE? :D

If you're not convinced yet, have a look at the swatch of the real thing here.

This "dupery" was made possible with two coats of Orly Goth topped with a layer of Winmax Nail Enamel #11, and of course, finished off with Grape Wine.

Elianto Grape Wine

2009-11-02T11:30:00.001+08:00

Was studying for three big exams when I swatched this, so I only had time for one finger.

This is an awesome blood red jelly three-coater, though.

The way the color pools around the edges is really pretty and gives the polish more depth.

It's almost as if you dipped your nails in real blood. I should've worn this last Halloween!

Careline 6, aka Gray

2009-10-30T11:09:00.001+08:00

This polish doesn't have a name. Let's call it Gray for now because that's what its color is.

This polish was a breeze to apply! Although not a one-coat wonder, three coats of the polish glided onto my fingers easily.

While the previous picture makes it look like it dried lumpily, the close-up shot tells us otherwise:

Look at that smooth finish!

I've decided: I rather like gray polishes. I'll have to keep my eye out for more!

Bobbie Grass Skirt

2009-10-28T11:08:00.001+08:00

I swatched this while I was finishing up my final paper for majors. I didn't have much time to spare, so I only did one finger. I'll post a proper swatch in the future.

This is a yellow-based pale green similar to Skin Food's Melon Milk. Grass Skirt is a bit more muted than Melon Milk, though.

Application using this three-coater was rather lumpy, as you can see in the bottom part.

For all you local shoppers out there, I don't recommend getting this polish if you have access to the Skin Food one.

TFS BR801

2009-10-26T11:47:00.001+08:00

I'm baack! The typhoons didn't carry me away, but end-of-semester requirements certainly did! I have a rather large backlog of polish pictures now, and I need to finish posting them all!

Here's a pretty everyday color from The Face Shop.

I think this polish was meant for French manis, so it goes on quite sheer. It took me four coats to reach bottle color.

(Sorry about the dryness.)

I like how it makes my hands look super neat and clean.

Calm before the Storm

2009-09-28T16:27:00.003+08:00

There isn't anything really stormy about this manicure, but it was the last thing I did at home before getting stranded at school last Saturday thanks to typhoon Ondoy (aka Ketsana).

The school event I went to had red, blue, yellow, white and black as the color scheme, so I painted my nails to match.

I topped the polish off with TFS BK902, then added some tiny stars I got from the local Japanese dollar store.

(Don't worry, I cleaned up the messy spots before I went to school. XD)

I'm safely home now, but there are many others who are still stuck in the flood waters. I'll try to post swatches for this week if I can, but as of now, scheduled posting for Nail Polish Ninja is indefinitely suspended.

Caronia: Mint Frost

2009-09-25T11:30:00.001+08:00

I think this green has too much yellow in it to be minty.

I like that it's a two-coater, though.

And it doesn't leave as many noticeable streaks like its blue cousin.

Caronia: Blue Chill

2009-09-23T11:30:00.000+08:00

Like its name implies, this polish is an icy frosted blue.

It goes opaque in two coats,

although I don't like the slight streaks it leaves after drying. Must be something wrong with the formula.

Chic: Neon Green

2009-09-21T11:30:00.000+08:00

This is a local brand which seems to specialize in neon colors. (At least that's what I observed at the drugstore I visited.) I already had some close matches to most of its shades, except for this vivid green one:

This kind of green reminds me of highlighter ink!

The polish is a jelly, and takes four coats to reach opacity because of that.

What's nice about it is that it dries super quickly even without a quick-dry topcoat.

Elianto: Aqua

2009-09-18T11:30:00.000+08:00

Three-coater Aqua is in the same color family as Rescue Beauty Lounge's Bikini Bottom, except this polish has a creme finish and is more vibrant.

The Polish Addict mentioned Color Club Blue Light as a possible relative in her Bikini Bottom review. I'm not very familiar with Color Club polishes, but Aqua certainly seems like a dupe for Blue Light.

The Face Shop: BK902

2009-09-16T11:59:00.001+08:00

BK902 really doesn't have any opacity to it - think of it as a super pearly silver topcoat with glitter.

Don't be hating its sheerness though, because it makes for some awesome results!

See how it turned a plain creme like the previously posted BL605 into something blingier:

Pretty, yes? :D

I wonder if it'll work just as well on other colors...

The Face Shop: BL605

2009-09-16T11:30:00.000+08:00

Someone up there must have "heard" when I "said" the last line in this entry, because I found a similar shade of much much much better quality!

Look at how smooth and glossy it is in two coats!

The Face Shop's version of this vibrant blue shade is infinitely better. <3

EB: Rhum Spice

2009-09-14T11:30:00.001+08:00

This three-coater looks much darker in the bottle than on the nails.

It appears silver at a distance,

but has a hint of lavender up close.

I'm not really feeling this shade. If only it were as dark as I thought it was...

Caronia: Butterscotch

2009-09-11T11:30:00.000+08:00

Allow me to begin with a cheesy pun...

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter(scotch)!

In the bottle it has a pale golden brown-orange color very close to the sugary treat, but it turns out more orange on nails:

Eh... it's not so butterscotch-y anymore, but it's still a very pretty three-coater.

Caronia: Orange Pop

2009-09-09T11:30:00.002+08:00

This orange looks very vivid in the bottle,

but it doesn't "pop" very much when applied. (Application was awesome in one coat, though.)

Like most orange polishes I own, the color reminds me of candy.

EB: Carrot Cake

2009-09-07T11:30:00.000+08:00

Here we have a muted, work-safe coral - at least I think it's coral.

I can't describe what color it is exactly, but I'm definitely sure that isn't what carrot cake looks like.

It's a pretty shade that goes opaque in two coats, though.

Elianto: Deep Sea Green

2009-09-04T11:30:00.000+08:00

With all the time I've spent staring at online swatches of the Espana collection, I was half hoping that Deep Sea Green would dupe Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow since it's not available locally. (That's the problem with OPI retailers here - most of the time they just carry reds, pinks and neutrals! :|)

Unfortunately, this polish is more dark blue green than just dark forest green, which HTAT is.

I guess that's more logical, since the polish's name is Deep SEA Green...

although even with the flash turned on, you can't really see much green in it.

Caress: Neon Blue

2009-09-02T11:30:00.000+08:00

Here's a local polish in a shade of blue I've never seen in the nail polish world before:

I feel like something's off with this polish, though, even if application was smooth in three coats. Could it be the lack of shine?

But then again, a top coat can always fix that.

Idk, I just feel like there's something wrong with it. I wonder if any other brands have this color?

OPI Conquistadorable Color

2009-08-31T11:15:00.008+08:00

We interrupt our regular schedule of Asian polishes for this awesome pink-red from OPI's Espana collection!

(OPI polishes retail for PHP395.00, which is roughtly USD7.00.)

The problem with red polishes in my corner of the globe is that they're either very very bright or very very dark. Conquistadorable Color balances the light-dark spectrum perfectly, and is quite unlike any Eastern polish I've seen so far.

(This application was two coats.)

What I like best about this polish is that you can never really tell if it's pinkish red or reddish pink when the light hits it. It's fun to keep people guessing!

Elianto: Red Violet

2009-08-28T10:50:00.000+08:00

I missed seeing my actual fingertips, so I cut my nails short. :P

Elianto comes up with some pretty strange (remember Ironic Pearl?) and uncreative names. Today's shimmery polish, which they call Red Violet, falls under the latter category. Still, it gets the job done describing the color - but only very slightly.

I can see hints of it, though I don't think there's very much violet in this red. Do you?

I was already happy with one coat, but I'm sure a richer color (with more shimmer) can be achieved with more.

Boring name aside, I'm definitely going to experiment with this color again.

The Face Shop: GL111

2009-08-26T11:30:00.002+08:00

This is a beautiful, pale shimmery/frosted yellow-gold similar to last week's BR803.

I love the sparkle distribution on this one!

Three-coater, btw.

Also, because I am a sucker for blogs that poke fun at things, I highly recommend visiting Stupid Nail Polish Names. Thanks to Deez Nails for mentioning this awesomely funny blog!

(Shame it hasn't updated in a while, though.)

Bobbie: Mistletoe Kiss

2009-08-24T11:23:00.002+08:00

My country doesn't practice kissing under the mistletoe during the Christmas season, but we know a lot about it thanks to mass media.

I think this is a lovely deep green perfect not only just during Christmasttime, but all the time.

This polish is a two-coater.

Color Theory in Flowers

2009-08-21T11:41:00.000+08:00

The Color Wheel was the main inspiration for today's experiment. I used blue and violet as the base colors then added flower stickers in orange and yellow, their respective color complements.

The blue polish is an unnamed, unnumbered Skin Food polish that I nicknamed Electric Blue, while the purple polish is Nail Fantasy No. 40.

While I was doing this, I noticed that most of my nail stickers were flower-themed. I need to get more variety!

The Face Shop: BR803

2009-08-19T11:16:00.000+08:00

I love how this super frosted polish makes my fingers glow!

I don't really know what color to call this four-coater, actually. Pale silver-gold with a tiny touch of beige-brown?

The Face Shop: OR202

2009-08-17T11:13:00.001+08:00

Here's a pretty nearly-peach orange with some subtle shimmers:

It reminds me of candy somehow.

The Face Shop: Deep Blue Pearl

2009-08-14T10:58:00.000+08:00

The last of the six VFS polishes is a lovely deep metallic blue that reminds me of sapphires.

Application was very smooth, and it reached a luxurious opacity in three coats.

I felt like making it more blingy, so I added stickers. :P

BL604 should be the closest match to this in the current line, but the website's photo doesn't do it much justice.

The Face Shop: Red Sparkle

2009-08-12T11:46:00.001+08:00

The second polish in Vintage Face Shop II is a super cute red jelly glitter. Jelly polishes and glitter polishes are already awesome enough on their own, but I think they're even more amazing when combined.

It's quite sheer, unlike Skin Food's one-coat-wonder glitterbombs,

but it builds up very nicely in three coats.

In their current line, the closest polish to this would have to be OR204.

The Face Shop: Pale Yellow

2009-08-10T11:14:00.000+08:00

The first polish in part II of the Vintage Face Shop series is a pale, shimmery yellow:

It's very sheer, so I layered it over Orly Spark.

After three coats, it ended up looking like Bobbie Pinacolada.

Now I'm wondering why I even bought Pinacolada in the first place if I could already replicate it with polishes already in my stash. LOL, it's a classic case of impulse buying!

Turquoise Melon

2009-07-30T18:32:00.003+08:00

~~I'm a little late today because I've run out of scheduled posts.~~

(LOL forget I said that, I totally forgot it was just Thursday today!)

But really, I have run out of buffer posts. Blame schoolwork for the past few days. I'm happily free now, though. Usually, I swatch polishes every weekend, then schedule them to autopost during the week (mostly Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays if you've noticed). Because I was busy, however, I wasn't able to make new swatches and take pictures. So today, I'm posting a fresh manicure, one that I just did a couple hours ago:

(Yes, the dot on my ring finger is deliberately done.)

I call it Turquoise Melon because of the polishes I used for it:

That's Elianto Turquoise to the left, and Skin Food Melon Milk to the right. I also used TFS' French Tip liners to make the color divisions.

The Nail Polish Ninja will be on hiatus next week so I can swatch more polishes for the future, including the second half of the Vintage Face Shop series.

Caronia: Pink Passion

2009-07-29T11:08:00.001+08:00

I now stand corrected when I said Caronia had only ONE funky color, because here's another one!

It's a one-coater people! The color actually reminds me of Shimmer Pink without the shimmer.

I decided to play around with it and brought out good old YL702 for a bit of bling.

Now it's frosted AND sparkly. XD

The Face Shop: PK103

2009-07-27T11:47:00.000+08:00

Pink isn't my favorite color, but for some reason I'm drawn to pink nail polish.

Here we have a bubblegummy, pearly pink with very slight shimmers:

This is a three coater.

I thought of painting it with little black dots and modded French tips, but then it didn't seem like such a good idea anymore after I finished my pinky.

Heh, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Face Shop: Pure Green

2009-07-24T23:25:00.001+08:00

I used to wear this turquoise blue-green a lot two years ago. Like yesterday's Hot Pink, it's also very similar to an Elianto polish I previously posted about.

The years have not been kind to this polish. Application was terribly lumpy, which is sad because Fluorescent Orange and Hot Pink weren't.

Still, it looked pretty okay in the end. Hard to put on, though.

In the current line, the closest color to this would be GR502, although that one is shimmery.

Part II of Vintage Face Shop will be posted the week after next. I think I need to grow my nails out a bit more for those colors!

The Face Shop: Hot Pink

2009-07-22T12:14:00.000+08:00

Like Elianto, The Face Shop also has a Hot Pink. (Or should that be the other way around, since The Face Shop is much older? XD)

Unlike Elianto's blue-toned creme version, however, theirs is a warm-toned jelly:

Like Fluorescent Orange (and most other TFS polishes), this one reaches "Pretty!" in 3 coats.

In their current line, I suppose this polish's equivalent would be PK106.

The Face Shop: Fluorescent Orange

2009-07-20T12:04:00.001+08:00

Welcome to the first half of the Nail Polish Ninja's third polish series! Vintage Face Shop will feature discontinued polishes from The Face Shop's line. These TFS veterans actually have names unlike their newer counterparts!

You know how they say warm colors increase your appetite? Well, this pretty orange jelly makes me want to eat my nails.

Yum. Shiny (and totally edible looking) in three coats.

OR203 is this polish's closest approximate in the current line.

Sneak Peek: Vintage Face Shop I

2009-07-19T11:59:00.000+08:00

This two-part series focuses on my very first Face Shop polishes, which I bought at their pioneer branch at Bonifacio High Street way back in 2006.

Their old packaging is very similar to Elianto's, isn't it?

Elianto: Turquoise

2009-07-17T11:54:00.002+08:00

The color name pretty much speaks for the polish itself.

Three coater. Kinda streaky initially, but evens out in the end.

Caronia: Desire

2009-07-15T12:00:00.003+08:00

Wakey wakey, everyone! Today we have a LOUD Caronia color!

Desire makes me want to eat shiny caramel-coated candy apples, even if they are more brownish in real life.

This, by far, is the most pigmented Caronia polish I've ever swatched. One coater, baby!

Now please excuse me while I pay a visit to the local candy apple confectionery. :3

The Primaries

2009-07-13T12:00:00.002+08:00

Red, yellow, blue: the building blocks of all other colors.

Without them, there would be nothing - only black.

Polishes used were:

(FROM LEFT) Orly Spark, Orly Haute Red, Skin Food Pedicure Vita, Wet n Wild Black Creme

Caronia: Princess

2009-07-10T11:59:00.000+08:00

If I were my own kind of princess, I would probably wear rainbow-colored manicures every day. If I were a regular, real-life princess, I guess probably would wear this pale, frosted peach.

The last member of the Workplace Wearable series is a sheer, frosted polish with just the slightest hint of shimmer. It's probably best worn over more opaque polishes, but it's alright as a standalone color too. Since it's sheer, however, it takes four coats to make it solid.

This concludes the Workplace Wearable series. I hope you didn't fall asleep from all the neutralness. XD

Louder colors coming in the next posts!

Caronia: Joy

2009-07-09T11:59:00.001+08:00

Oh Joy. No, really. /sarcasm.

The fourth Workplace Wearable just isn't doing it for me. Sure, it's nice, unobtrusive, and perfectly safe to wave around in front of your boss' face, but what about the dermatologists, baking ingredients, and soap operas?

Perhaps this is why I'm not so entertained by this ever-so-slightly-pink three-coater fleshtone: I can't really think of anything to relate it with. It's just so... safe. :|

Caronia: Touch of Ivory

2009-07-08T12:00:00.001+08:00

What is with Caronia and "Touch of ____" names? Weird.

Third in the Workplace Wearable series, Touch of Ivory is the love child of Apricot Beige and an off-white polish who does not wish to be named.

Like its stepfather who refuses to acknowledge its existence, it starts off thick and streaky but smoothens out on the third coat.

Why am I channeling soap opera plots? Maybe I'm OD-ing on nail polish fumes? XD

Award!

2009-07-08T07:00:00.000+08:00

Thanks for this award, Olivia!

I'd like to pass this award on to:

Caronia: Apricot Beige

2009-07-07T11:59:00.000+08:00

Apricots are rarely sold in the Philippines, but from what I know, they're more orange-y than beige. Google Image Search says so too (unless my monitor is colorblind :P).

The second Workplace Wearable isn't orangey, but it's a pretty skintone creme with orange-yellow undertones.

Application is veeeeery smooth on this one, as if you were spreading three coats of butter on your nails - caramel-colored butter, that is.

Apricot Beige and Touch of Beige look very similar in the bottle, but as you can see below, AB is much darker than ToB.

Caronia: Touch of Beige

2009-07-06T12:00:00.001+08:00

Welcome to Nail Polish Ninja's second polish series! Workplace Wearables will feature... workplace wearables! These are all neutral colors perfect for the working environment, and they're all local polishes too.

To start off, we have Touch of Beige from Caronia, a lovely skintone creme that reminds me of concealer, foundation, and trips to the dermatologist. (Here we go again with my strange analogies! XD)

The polish goes on slightly thickly. It also goes on streakily on the first layer, but smoothens out on the third.

Sneak Peek: Workplace Wearables

2009-07-05T11:59:00.002+08:00

Elianto: Dark Purple

2009-07-03T11:59:00.006+08:00

This really is a DARK purple!

It's so dark that in just one coat, it looks almost black!

The "purpleness" only shows up in super bright lighting, like so:

but even then I still think it's too dark!

So to fix that, I covered Dark Purple with a layer of Nail Fantasy in No. 40:

I got this sheer warm purple during a family trip to Macau in 2006. At that time, it retailed for 7.00 patacas, which was around PHP45.00. This applies very smoothly, and the only complaint I have is its really strong smell.

There we go, all fixed:

No. 40 made it exactly the kind of dark purple I wanted!

Much, much better. Mmm, eggplant-y. :)

This was also the polish I was wearing in one of my older posts on Stockpiled!

The Face Shop Nail Pleasure: YL702

2009-07-01T11:59:00.002+08:00

The Face Shop has recently released a new nail polish line called Nail Pleasure. Polishes in this line retail for almost double the price of their regular polishes (P185.00 = around $4.00) and come in different bottles:

I suppose the price increase comes from the new packaging. Personally, I like the regular bottles better. They're much sleeker looking.

YL702 is a yellow glittery polish that can probably turn opaque after several coats, but for this swatching, I chose to layer it over a really old Covergirl polish I've had since high school:

It's a frosted red called Cabernet. For a 6 year-old polish, it still applies really well.

I was trying to do something like this stock photo I found on deviantART,

but it didn't turn out quite the way I expected. I do like the amount of glitter YL702 has in just one coat, though.

Maybe I'll try this experiment again some other time.

Elianto: Lime Green

2009-06-29T12:55:00.000+08:00

First it was Lemon Green, now we have Lime Green!

I think this is a very fun shade, although maybe it would be better suited for the toes.

This turns opaque in 2 coats.

On Bottle Shots

2009-06-29T11:40:00.007+08:00

Since the matter was raised, I think it's redundant for me to post bottle shots of the three brands I often blog about. I already have pictures of what their bottles look like on their Brand Info pages, and their official websites already have good pictures too. Thus, I am only going to post bottle shots IF :

the polish brand is NOT Elianto, TFS, or Skin Food
the polish bottle is unique
the polish looks different on the nails and in the bottle
the polish is part of a series

Now that that's been explained, back to the nail polish!

The Face Shop: PP405

2009-06-26T11:59:00.003+08:00

Shimmery fuschia pink!

Three coats gets you bottle color.

I think my issues with Blogger are fixed at last. Posting and commenting run smoothly now.

Elianto: Ironic Pearl

2009-06-25T17:42:00.002+08:00

If robots wore nail polish, they'd probably go with this one.

Three coats gets you this uber-techy silvery blue-gray color.

I would have named it something like Android, though. What in the world is an "ironic pearl"?

(Something is seriously wrong with Blogger right now. It took me 3 tries to get this entry posted. X_X)

Elianto: Lemon Green (repost)

2009-06-24T06:39:00.002+08:00

Sorry, had to repost because Blogger was screwing with yesterday's post. Comments for this ended up in earlier blog posts. X_X

This reminds me more of Granny Smith apples than it reminds me of unripe lemons, actually.

This color is more sheer (sheerer?) than the rest of the Elianto polishes I have, so I used three thick coats to get it solid. Luckily, it still dried evenly despite the thickness.

Skin Food Pedicure Sparkle: #09 Sparkle Red

2009-06-18T16:39:00.005+08:00

This polish is more sparkly PINK than it is sparkly red, actually, BUT...

so far, it's the blingiest, sparkliest polish I've ever had the pleasure of owning! Look at that SHINE! And it's a one-coater too. (Besides, I think I'd go blind if I put on another coat!)

I can even see my blurred reflection on these when I wiggle my fingers around! (Sadly, I couldn't capture that on camera properly, so you'll have to take my word for it. Dun worreh, ninjas never lie! XD)

BLING BLING BABY!

Skin Food's Pedicure Sparkle line retails for PHP375.00, which is close to USD8.00.

Caronia: Dare

2009-06-17T18:57:00.003+08:00

So far, this is the only Caronia color that DAREs to be funkier than the rest of its red-pink-neutral brothers and sisters. (Forgive the horrible humor - I couldn't resist! XD)

This was still pretty sheer at 2 coats, so I peg this one as a 3-coater.

The color reminds me of sea mysteries, like the city of Atlantis and Krakens. Blame my overactive imagination. :P

Careline Classics Paris: Pink Lilac

2009-06-16T10:54:00.004+08:00

This polish comes in a larger size, but I chose to buy the smaller version because it was cuter. :P It looks medium pink in the bottle but is actually darker in person.

All I needed to get this color was two coats.

I like how this color straddles the fence between formal and funky.

Also, apologies for any inconveniences comment moderation may cause. Some spam got into the last post so I turned it on.

Elianto: Goldish Brown

2009-06-15T18:24:00.005+08:00

ETA 10/21/09: Seems I called this polish the wrong name! This isn't Khaki Pearl, it's Goldish Brown.

This lovely lovely brass-copper shade reminds me of steampunk, my favorite alternative culture. Bring on the goggles and airships and steam-powered robots!

Two coats.

Also, Girl Genius is an awesome steampunk webcomic.

Ever Bilena: Strawberry

2009-06-14T15:05:00.000+08:00

Rounding off the Pastel Rainbow is local brand Ever Bilena's Strawberry, a baby pink that reminds me of... well, babies.

Like Elianto's Thistle, I had to paint four coats of this to keep up with the Skin Food polishes' pigmentation. Two is the magic bottle color number, though.

This concludes the Pastel Rainbow series. I hope you enjoyed it!

Skin Food Milk Creamy Nail: OR004

2009-06-13T16:55:00.000+08:00

Meet the fourth member of the Pastel Rainbow: OR004, also known as Corn Soup Milk. Pretty strange name for nail polish, huh? I think something like Banana Milk would've been better, but that's just me. :P

You guessed it - this is a corn-colored pastel yellow. Honestly, it reminds me of bananas, not corn. And yes, it's also a three-coater like its brother and sister.

Skin Food Milk Creamy Nail: BL002

2009-06-12T18:45:00.002+08:00

I like this polish's other alias: Melon Milk. Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

This green - third in the Pastel Rainbow- reminds me of the LGMs from Toy Story. Oooooh...

As with Ice, 3 coats were needed for bottle color.

In other Asian polish news, I recently emailed Etude House regarding the opening of branches in my country. They replied that they were already planning for a Manila store later this year. Hopefully they set up shop very soon! <3

Skin Food Milk Creamy Nail: BL001

2009-06-11T13:41:00.007+08:00

Today we have the second polish in the Pastel Rainbow series: a very pale blue called Ice from Skin Food. (Yes, it actually has an official name!) It comes from the brand's Milk Creamy Nail line, which offers pastel shades and comes in very adorable packaging:

Isn't the bottle cute? :D Of course, with a different formula and container, polish from the Milk Creamy Nail line is more expensive than the regular Nail/Pedicure Vita lines. One bottle costs PHP325.00, which is about $7.00.

Polishes from this line also take longer to apply than their plain-bottled cousins. It took me three coats to reach bottle color.

Elianto: Thistle

2009-06-10T14:02:00.004+08:00

This is the first polish from yesterday's Pastel Rainbow. It's a very pale lavender that somehow reminds me of unicorns. Go figure.

As with most of Elianto's colors, three coats was enough to reach bottle color, but I used four because it looked washed out next to the other polishes.

Sneak Peek: Pastel Rainbow

2009-06-09T14:02:00.003+08:00

A preview of the polishes to come:

Skin Food Nail Vita: BR611

2009-06-05T19:54:00.002+08:00

Here we have another one-coat wonder, this time in chocolate brown:

I used two coats for this swatch, though, because I wanted to make the brown look richer. Mmm, chocolate...

Skin Food Nail Vita: PK203

2009-06-04T14:48:00.008+08:00

I have two words for this lovely frosted princessy pink polish,

and those words are...

ONE COAT.

Elianto: Hot Pink

2009-06-03T18:01:00.003+08:00

Today was the first day of enrollment for this year's first semester at my university. Sooooo, I decided to show off some school spirit by sporting a manicure using the school color:

hot pink!

Just kidding. My real school colors are maroon and green - rather Christmas-y colors, aren't they? I really would love to know about an actual school that uses pink as its official color, though. :P

2 coats gets you bottle color. Shiiiiiinyyyyy.

Skin Food Nail Vita: OR308

2009-06-02T11:29:00.005+08:00

Hello yellow!

This yellow is slightly more on the orange side than it is on the green, unlike the Pinacolada I swatched in the past. Two coats gets it to bottle color, although application is rather goopy. Bleh. I need to buy polish thinner for this.

Skin Food Nail Vita: OR307

2009-06-01T17:46:00.005+08:00

Shimmery orange coming through!

Only two coats necessary for bottle color.

Colortrends: Platinum Special

2009-05-28T14:28:00.004+08:00

Just some quick pedi pics of a polish I got on a whim at the grocery.

Application was smooth in two coats. I didn't think frosted white would actually look good on my toes, but I really like how it turned out.

Taking pictures of my foot is much harder than my hand, I have to admit.

Elianto: Navy

2009-05-28T14:16:00.004+08:00

I never really noticed how much Elianto makes up the bulk of my stash until today. Must be because there's a store near the MRT station I take coming home from school. (Note: The Metro Rail Transit is one of our train systems here in Metro Manila.)

This is an almost-black blue that reaches bottle color in 2 quick coats. I like it for when I'm in the mood for dark nails that aren't black.

The blue is very noticeable in strong light, as you can see here:

The Face Shop: PP406

2009-05-27T08:51:00.004+08:00

Shimmery purple! This polish reminds me of outer space.

It took 3 coats to achieve bottle color.

Bobbie Pinacolada

2009-05-25T14:12:00.004+08:00

This is a frosted, buttery yellow. (I must have been channeling Brooke's ebay post when I bought this!)

Application (3 coats) was smooth, but drying was pretty weird. There were bumps all over when the polish had finally finished drying. Maybe I didn't wait enough for the polish to set in between coats?

Such a pretty color, though.

Brand Info: Others

2009-05-24T19:38:00.008+08:00

Here you'll find details on other Asian polish brands that aren't as established and specialized as Elianto, TFS, and Skinfood. This list will be updated as I encounter them.

Bobbie - PHP20.00, found in most grocery stores and drugstores. Comes only in frosted finishes. Limited color spectrum that neither focuses on funky shades nor neutrals.

Caronia - PHP25.00, found in grocery stores, drugstores, department stores - everywhere. This is a very common, relatively old Philippine brand. (It was already around when my mother was in her teens in the late 70s!) Comes in frosted and creme finishes, but the color spectrum tends to focus on pinks, reds, and neutrals.

Colortrends - PHP23.00, found in some grocery stores and drugstores. Comes in frosted and creme finishes. Extent of color spectrum unknown, because I've been to stores that stock certain colors, and other stores that stock other certain colors.

Ever Bilena - PHP38.00, found in drugstores. Comes in frosted and creme finishes. Color spectrum focuses on pinks, reds, and neutrals, with the occasional pastels thrown in.

Careline - PHP10.00 for the small bottle, PHP32.00 for the big bottle, found in grocery stores, drugstores, department stores. This brand is owned by the same company that makes Ever Bilena polishes. Focuses mostly on creme reds, pinks, and neutrals, with some funky purples thrown in.

Caress - PHP12.00, found in some drugstores. This brand has a small color selection composed of some work-safe colors and some other funky neon colors. Finishes are mostly creme.

Chic - PHP30.95, found in some drugstores. This brand seems to offer only neon colors. Finishes all appear to be jelly.

Skin Food Pedicure Vita: Blue Sapphire

2009-05-22T10:36:00.006+08:00

ETA 10/02/09: A big thank you to MigukHanguk for telling me this polish's official name!

Okay, slightly gross story:

Yesterday I dropped my brick of a laptop charger on my big toe. So I go OMGWTFSUPEROUCH! and curl up on the floor in a fetal position. Well, not really, but it sure hurt. Anyway the pain eventually goes away, and I go about my business. The next day - which is today - I find that my victimized toenail has died. Dead toenail = not pretty.

I needed something to cover it up quickly, so I used one of my Skin Food polishes. Skin Food has amazing ORLY-level pigmentation, more so with the Pedicure Vita variants. I don't know why they call it "Pedicure Vita", or why they only intend it for pedicures, because it works surprisingly well on my hands too. Maybe the formula turns fingers into toes somehow? Har har.

Anyway, TADAA!

No more ugly dead toe, in just ONE quick coat!

Elianto: Shimmer Pink

2009-05-20T13:47:00.006+08:00

Like its name implies, this is a shimmery pink. It's slightly darker than Candy Pink from the previous post, but still needs 3 coats to achieve bottle color.

I think I like how this looks on my hands better than Candy Pink, actually. Excuse the messy painting. XD

Brand Info: Skin Food

2009-05-20T11:05:00.007+08:00

Skin Food is another Korean cosmetics brand. It is considerably older than Elianto and The Face Shop, having been established in 1957. Products from Skin Food are inspired from and include real food ingredients. Very few malls in the Philippines have Skin Food outlets, and even fewer department stores carry it. Despite this, Skin Food stores are almost always well-stocked.

Most nail polish from Skin Food is worth PHP185.00 (about $4.00), although some variants can reach as high as PHP425.00 (about $9.00). The brand offers plenty of colors not only in the usual creme, frosted, and shimmery finishes but also in milky and holographic ones.