NOTD - No More Waity Katie

A quick NOTD featuring No More Waity Katie by Butter London.

No More Waity Katie is red-based purple glitter in blue-grey jelly base. I was surprised to learn it was a jelly fom the pics because it looked opaque in real life.

It was one of those grey-blue/grey-purple mix that was really popular 2-3 years ago, but somehow the glitters in it keep it fresh.

Here's a somewhat confusing thing about the glitter, it can look blue or pinkish purple depending on the light and angle but for the most part, it looks predominantly silver.

In real life the color looks less blue, closer to how it looks under flash (above). I personally think it's a gorgeous neutral color despite it's unusual hue and the glitters. The glitters never look that sparkly, they just add dimensions to the color to prevent it from looking flat. I think serious professionals such as lawyers can even use it without risking looking too much like a fashionista.

I used 2 coats for all the pics and I am perplexed as to how it looks very sheer in all of these pics because it really looks opaque in real life. I love the brush, right length and fluffiness, easy to get a clean manicure. The formula however, can get a little clumpy after it's been exposed to air for some time.

Overall, this is one of my favorite colors to wear to the office. In fact, I have another color from Butter which is All Hail the Queen, another spiked neutral (review to come soon) that's also my favorite to wear to work. Both colors are subtle enough for the office yet they are somehow 'spiked' to prevent them from looking boring. Love, love them!

Syrup Nails!

For you who doesn't know, syrup nails are when you layer one color on your nails but in varied depths across the nails (usually more intense towards the tips), resulting in an ombre / gradation effect that looks like syrup being poured, hence the name. The difference with ombre/gradation effect is that syrup nails are done using only one color, usually a jelly.

This is my first attempt in syrup nails and I'd say it's decent! I used Deborah Lippmann's Call Me Irresponsible for this post, it's a red-based violet jelly. Here's how it looks with flash:

As you can see, I haven't mastered it yet so the transition isn't that smooth but in my defense, you can't tell unless you're holding them next to your eyes.

Here's the step-by-step:

1. Prep the nails (for me it's OPI's Nail Envy + Natural Base Coat)
2. Paint 1 coat of polish over 2/3 of your NAIL from the tip
3. Now paint a second coat over 2/3 of  the PREVIOUS COAT from the tip
4. Repeat step 3 for the next 2 coats, each coat gradually gets shorter while working your way to the tip
5. Run 1 last coat, this time from the base all the way to the tip
6. Finish the look with a top coat

I love violet/purple gradation because it reminds me of midnight sky.

Lippmann's Call Me Irresponsible is perfect for syrup nails because you can see the hue changes from red to blue as the color deepens.

You can also play with syrup nails, for example you can play with the length of gradation, reverse the intensity by getting more intense to the base, or paint mattifying top coat over it for a more funky finish.

 Happy Syruping! ^_^

Breakfast at Han's

Today's post is gonna be short and sweet.

It's nice that restaurants serving breakfast food have been popping up lately because Lord knows how much I like eggs. They're fancy and all but sometimes, nothing beats a good old simple dish in a simple eatery.

Lo and behold, scrambled eggs with ham from Han's.

For just SGD5.50 you'll get a plate of juicy scrambled eggs, two slices of buttered toast, and a slice of ham. Or, if you come during breakfast hours (until 11.30am), you'll get a drink of your choice, too. Oh, and they're available all day. LOVE. IT.

Obsession Du Jour : Watermelon Nails

These past couple of months I've been craving watermelon shades like crazy. Coincidentally, watermelon is the featured color in this month's InStyle! What is watermelon shade, you ask? Well...it's a combination of pink and orange but it's got more pinks in it than coral, it's very bright but it's not neon. It is definitely very summer but for people with warm complexion such as yours truly, it's a year-round yummies! ^__^

So I was browsing the Dior counter the other day and came across this lovely polish called Lucky.

I believe this was released in the spring this year together with 3 other shades to color-coordinate a few shades of their lipsticks from the Addict Extreme line. I've been seeing them whenever I passed by any Dior counters but somehow it has never piqued my interest enough to actually check them out. Until recently.

The complete name of this shade is 659 Lucky.

 It's a creme finish and doesn't look that watermelon-y to me on the bottle. Here's a couple of shots with flash:

So GORGE! Here it is under white fluorescent light at night, no flash. I have no idea why it looks like it has some kind of shimmer in it:

My big problem with Dior Vernis is the brush applicator which is ironic because it's supposed to be one of their selling points. It is a flat brush with rounded edges in the same manner as the brush from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure polishes. It's supposed to assist better in getting the application done in a single stroke but the thing is, Dior's is thicker and too stiff. I always have a hard time filling up the edges of my nails because I worry the polish might smear onto the cuticles. And because the brush is too stiff, it doesn't flex enough when you run the brush vertically over your nails. It's uncomfortable and causes the polish to apply uneven sometimes. I still find OPI's Pro Wide brush to be the best type of applicators there is.

The formula on these is rather thick but workable. It is a one coater but I painted 2 coats on some of the nails because I have yet to master the application in one single stroke, so some of them came out uneven. It's not as shiny as Zoya on its own but it's decent. I'll top it off with a top coat anyway so this is not really an issue.

Here's a few more shots taken inside a room with natural sunlight:

 This showcases the watermelon shade best. Can you see how squishy and yummy this sorbet-like color is? As usual, I use OPI Original Nail Envy, Natural Base Coat, and Poshe Top Coat in all of the pictures, no clean ups. Oh, forgot to mention, this is a one day-old manicure.

I went to Dior again the other day to try the matching lipstick since I really love the polish. Here how it looks on its own, no liner or balm or gloss used. Pardon the poor quality as it was hastily swatched and photographed.

As you can see, the color is not as vivid as the nail polish but it is very pretty, and much louder in real life but it's got the gleaming sheen that makes it so yummy looking and wearable.

So to cap it all off, why watermelon? Because it's more youthful than red but just as intense, and the shade is still fresh, as in it is not yet overplayed like corals or shocking pink (NARS Schiap, anyone?)

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

New Yumbers.....Eggs & Berries at Changi City Point

Lemme tell ya something about myself: I LOVE breakfast food. And I sure as hell am not the only one because there are a lot of restaurants dedicated to breakfast foods all around the world (How I wish IHOP were here!) and I notice they are cropping up everywhere in Singapore these lately.

Today's post will be about one of those restaurants.

Presenting: Eggs & Berries at Changi City Point.

Changi City Point mall is a relatively new mall in the East. It's located next to Expo MRT station and quite sizeable with rooftop park and sprawling building design similar to Vivo City. I'll blog about the mall some other time but do check it out if you have some spare time. It's nice to just walk about the development.

From what I gathered, Eggs & Berries specializes in eggs and waffles but I must admit I came only for the eggs so I don't really remember about their other offerings. Basically you choose which dish you like and tell them how you like your eggs. It is served with a whole lotta other stuff, so you really don't need to order so much.

Let's begin with some appetizer.

I ordered the pumpkin soup which portion I find quite generous for 1 person (I shared this with a friend). It contains a lot of cream so naturally it tastes delicious but after a while it will make you feel nauseous (this is not an insult, it's just one of those things that happens when you eat creamy stuff). The garlic bread that accompanies the soup is also drenched with garlic butter so it doesn't help to tone down the nausea.

Here's what my friend ordered, Veal Sausage with Scrambled Eggs:

It came with some beans in tomato sauce, green salad, half a tomato, and what looked like rosti (but i understand it was supposed to be hash browns?) and 3 pieces of pancake (not pictured).

And here's what I ordered, Spicy Lamb Sausage with Poached Egg:

Here's a close up of the sausage.

I must say they really ace their eggs. The scrambled eggs were moist and fluffy while the poached egg was firm on the outside, soft on the inside with silky yolk oozing out when you slice it open.

The Veal Sausage was good, can't say the same about my Spicy Lamb Sausage. I don't like the aroma of the spices >.<

They do serve iced water so naturally I ordered that (not a big fan of drinks), while my friend ordered Iced Lemon Tea.

Notice the shape of the glass? It's oval, not round.

I'd say the decor is quite feminine. They have indoor as well as outdoor seatings. Pictured above is their outdoor seating area, no air conditioning, just some ceiling fans.


I must say there's nothing much to write home about the accompanying stuff. I couldn't care less about the beans and the tomato, and the rosti/hash brown is too loose to my liking, not to mention the pancakes, which after working your way through the main dish, seem more like an afterthought. We were too full and the pancakes have become cold by the time we were ready to enjoy it. Even the Iced Lemon Tea tasted slightly weird. Good thing is, turns out you can order a la carte. Here's hoping they can improve their dishes but until then, next time I'm there I'll just order myself some eggs, with nothing else.

NOTD - Backstage + Celebrate by L.A. Girl

Today's NOTD features two polishes from L.A. Girl, a brand I really like for their color offerings and price. Here's Celebrate from their Glitter Addict collection layered over Backstage from their Rock Star collection.

Festive and pretty, isn't it? Here's Backstage on its own, 2 coats, no top coat:

Backstage is yellow and violet micro glitters in shimmery pale pink base. It's pretty sheer just like any other L.A. Girl's polishes. I picked it up because I thought it'd be a pretty unique pink but in real life you can hardly see the yellow and violet glitters twinkling about. Also, the pink doesn't show up enough and it kinda makes my nails disappear into my skin tone.

You can click on the pictures above to see the beautiful yellow and violet twinkles. I purposely blurred the pics so it shows up better.

The first pic above is with flash. This polish is so bright and glowing under strong lights yet still subtle because it disappears into the skin.The color is very pretty, demure, and appropriate, I'd imagine girls wearing this to their cotillion. There is nothing rock star-y about the color, if anything it's more of a princess-y color.

In the next pic I layered a coat of Celebrate over Backstage.

You may think Backstage is yet another 'Happy Birthday'-inspired polish. Perhaps. Yet I prefer Celebrate to Happy Birthday. I've always felt Happy Birthday lacks direction (as if a polish can ever have one), whilst Celebrate has a sort of theme in it. Red-blue/fuchsia-blue glitters are the most prominent with some teal/aqua, silver, and orange glitters thrown in the mix. It also contains hexagon as well as small glitters.

1st pic above shows how it looks with the flash on. 2nd pic is blurred to better show off how festive it looks. Look at those twinkles, so beautiful!

Here's how it looks with two coats on, you can also see the red-blue color theme in the bottle. Below is how it looks with the flash on:

A couple of blurred pics, see how beautiful those twinkles are!

Application for Backstage was smooth and even, whilst with Celebrate you have to do some maneuvering as with any other polish with chunks of glitters out there. For all the pics I used OPI Nail Envy and Natural Base Coat (I have to do this, my nails are severely brittle and laden with vertical ridges), no top coats.

Here is NOTD making appearance for one last time:

Wish you all a festive day!

NOTD - Indian Ocean + Happy Birthday

My second post of the day....of nail polish....yay! This is my NOTD, it started off with plain Indian Ocean by Models Own from their Beetlejuice Spring/Summer 2012 collection.

 A sheer pale blue with violet-pink glitter. The glitter is in the same manner as Essie's Kisses and Bisses, although Essie's version is much more fine and subtle.

 Very pretty and has an ethereal quality to it. It feels more spring than summer to me. It is quite sheer so you have to do a few coats for the color to show through. What you see here is 3 coats. Here it is with a flash:

  This is my 1st and probably the last Models Own polish I will own though. Why, you ask? Well, when I was applying it, I sniffed a familiar fume that I usually smell when I use Seche Vite, and I was right. I did a little googling and found out Models Own is not Big 3 free. Bummer.

So, towards the end of the day I was excited to try out a newly acquired Happy Birthday by Deborah Lippmann. It's a very famous polish for you who doesn't know, quipped as 'Party In A Bottle' for all the glitters. Here's how it looks layered over Indian Ocean:

With flash:

What you see is 2 lazily-applied coats. It was fun but I think it's better layered over something darker or heavily painted on its own. Application for Indian Ocean was smooth and easy. Lippmann's Happy Birthday needed a little maneuvering to evenly spread the glitter across the nail.

NOTD: Models Own's Indian Ocean + Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday