Posts Tagged ‘Dazzle Dry’
Nails: Spring Blossoms
Posted on: March 31, 2014
- In: Nails
- 4 Comments
After a very long while I finally was able to do nail art again! Here my inspiration is Erikajjang’s tutorial for sakura nail art. I wanted to do a similar art with some deviations. Here are the products I used.
I of course will have the Dazzle Dry Base and Top Coats. For my sky-color, I used Dazzle Dry Sno Cone. The branches are painted with OMG Sunny Tan, and the blossoms are painted with Dazzle Dry Strawberry Macaron and OMG Gold Digger. Here is the resulting nail art.
As you can see, I only did the sakura patterns on the middle fingers. On the outer three I painted birds also using Sunny Tan. The lines are still a bit thick, even using my thinnest dotting tool, so I may have to use a toothpick next time.
Nails: Sweet Valentines
Posted on: February 24, 2014
- In: Nails
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This is waaaaay late but let me show you what I wore on my nails over the Valentines weekend.
I used two coats of Dazzle Dry Strawberry Macaron for the base. On the ring finger I used Models Own Blizzard for a nice silver sparkle. On the other four I used Revlon Brilliant Strength Nail Polish in Seduce and Dazzle Dry Heart of Fire for the dots, which ended up totally indistinguishable from each other. The random swirls between the dots were actually the Revlon polish, and was inadvertently swiped across the nail when I applied top coat too early.
Hope you guys had a great valentines!
Nails: Inadvertent Brocade
Posted on: January 31, 2014
- In: Nails
- 8 Comments
Isn’t life interesting? I find that even when you don’t plan things, something good happens. I am quite the planning freak, so I do freak out when events cause sudden changes in my schedule. I’m trying to improve though, as this is not a really healthy reaction to life.
It’s kind of what happened to my most recent mani. I merely wanted to test drive my new Konad nail stamping set (won it from Geek Girl Manila!) and it turned out to be better than I expected! I’ll make a formal review of the stamping set soon, but I wanted to show you my first-ish attempt at nail stamping.
As base I used Dazzle Dry Morning Dew. Let me show you this color, which I just swatched recently.
For stamping, I used OMG Gold Digger. As I mentioned in my swatch post, this is one of the thickest formulas I encountered so far, which led me to decide on using this as the stamping polish. It took several tries, but I finally got the hang of the stamping process. Here’s how it turned out, after applying top coat.
Not that bad eh? I thought it looked very much like green brocade, like this.
Image credits: Everything Indian Etsy Shop
I love how things turn out for the best. My practice stamping created a brocade-like pattern and color that I didn’t really plan on. Here are some more shots of the nails.
Last December Dazzle Dry Philippines had a sale, and I immediately grabbed some items from my wishlist. Today I will show you the swatches from the shades I purchased: Arctic Sunset, Blueberry Sno Cone, Morning Dew, and Pixie Green with Envy.
First up is Arctic Sunset, one of the shades in their last collection of 2013, the Bloggers Mystery Collection. The moment I saw the swatches from the participating nail artists, I immediately zeroed in on this one. It’s a rather cloudier white compared to White Lightning. The feature of course is the embedded microglitters, white and silver. Unfortunately it’s very hard to capture on photo, but it’s very evident in person. I used two layers here.
Here are some outdoor shots of Arctic Sunset.
Next is Blueberry Sno Cone. It’s a really nice bright blue that pops out and can really complete an outfit. I’ve been running out of my samples of blue polish from the Afternoon Tea collection. I chose this one to be my mainstay blue, and I don’t regret that decision one bit! It is a little sheer and you can still see my nail line even after using two layers.
Here are some outdoor shots of Blueberry Sno Cone.
Lastly we have Morning Dew. This is from the limited edition Esnavi Live collection. I really would have wanted to get all three shades but due to limited funds I got only this one which is my favorite of the three. This is a really interesting shade of green; it reminds me of wet moss, which I guess is why it’s named Morning Dew. I’m very happy to add this to my collection of greens! I used three layers here to get a nice deep moss green. I didn’t take outdoor shots because I used this as base for a nail art, watch out for it! This is the only one here that has no top coat.
I also bought a glitter topper since it was actually the most sulit to buy during the sale (all polishes were at Php400!). I’ve been wanting to get this Pixie Green with Envy for the longest time, and now I can finally try it! This is part of the Faerie Fantasy summer collection last year, and I already have its partner green, Me d’Forest Queen. This has crazy amounts of glitter, large and small hexes in green and small rounds in either black or really dark green. I layered it over Arctic Sunset here, two coats.
And of course, the outdoor shot.
I am so in love with my Dazzle Dry haul! There is a reason why I have so much of it, and I still have a long wish list of shades! Which one did you like the best?
Dazzle Dry is available in the Philippines online, and is cruelty-free.
Recycling my Glamourboxes
Posted on: January 16, 2014
- In: Musings | Nails
- 9 Comments
I’m sure you are aware of the resting bitch face. Urban dictionary defines it as “a person, usually a girl, who naturally looks mean when her face is expressionless, without meaning to.” Fortunately, I don’t have that, but I do have what I would call resting sad face. Apparently I look sad or depressed when I am expressionless. I have more than one person per week come up to me asking if I’m okay, when I was actually feeling pretty upbeat! Maybe I need to smile more…
Anyway! I would like to share with you one of the ways I reuse my empty Glamourboxes. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but Glamourboxes are pretty large and sturdy and really quite reusable.
Since the boxes are nicely sturdy, I use them as trays/containers for my nail polishes. Here you see one and a half Glamourboxes holding my favorite polishes and nail art equipment. I also use another box as a tray where I put my selected supplies so I don’t need to bring an entire box of polishes every time.
Here’s a closer look at the individual trays. This box is where I put my (growing) collection of Dazzle Dry nail polishes. On the corner is my lone Rescue Beauty Lounge lacquer.
This one holds my “other” brands. I have here a surprising amount of OMG polishes and a bit of Girlstuff, Models Own, San San, Essence, and Etude House. There’s also lone representatives from Misa, BYS, and Bobbie.
Finally this one holds my nail art supplies. Most of it is actually from the Nailinator as I won one of her contests.
Writing this post makes me realize that I might have a bit too much nail polish (you don’t say?!). At the same time, I also feel like my boxes can hold a bit more bottles and there’s that really horrible nagging thought that I have maybe five more unused Glamourboxes hanging around. I…I’m addicted, aren’t I?
How do you recycle your subscription box boxes?
Haul: November-December
Posted on: January 10, 2014
- In: Haul
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Last month I was not able to put up a haul post, so I am doing a collective haul post for these past two months.
Celeteque Clarifying Shampoo
I’ve already posted an initial impression of this clarifying shampoo, and I can say that this is such a great product! It resets your scalp and rids it of product buildup. In addition it also somehow conditions the hair, making it soft and silky. Just a note of warning: this shouldn’t be used more than once a week. This retails for Php200 for a 250-ml bottle.
Fabulosa Rings and Necklaces
I received a simple necklace from Fabulosa in my Secret Santa Glamourbox. I loved it so much that I immediately purchased three ringsets. About a week later Fabulosa held an auction for more of those simple gold fashion necklaces, and I won it! I now have four new necklaces (the fifth will be included in a giveaway!). Fabulosa’s Amanda is so personable and easy to deal with, and I am looking forward to getting one or two of the statement necklaces. The ring sets are normally Php350 (set of 3 rings) but if you purchase two or more sets it goes down to Php300.
Paper Chic Studio Washi Tape Set
One of my purchases at the World Bazaar (same day that I visited Bloggers United 6) was this washi tape set from Paper Chic Studio. This is my first experience with washi tapes and so far my daughter is loving it. Myself, I’ve only tried it on a cannister of ear buds and my it looks fab. I got this set for only Php50.
Gift from Kira of Elegantly Wasted
Let me just gush like the fangirl I am. One of my goals when visiting Bloggers United 6 was to meet as many of my blog heroes as I can. Kira of Elegantly Wasted is one of them, and luckily enough I did get to meet her there! She is so sweet and charming, and she didn’t mind so much that I looked quite dorky in this photo (check out her rad necklace!). After a quick chat and the photo session I took my leave. It was therefore quite a shock when she sent me this gift, and wow I was flabbergasted when I opened it. The pack included a cute desk calendar, a bliv face mask, three samples of a VMV cream cleanser plus a voucher, Maybelline Color Sensational in Tinted Taupe, a sample of Benefit They’re Real Mascara, and three pots of Silk Naturals mineral eye color. Holy wow! Did I mention wow? Thanks so much Kira!
Models Own Nail Polishes
As part of my holiday order from Glamourbox Boutique (I gave away gift sets to my girlaloos), I got myself a couple of polishes I’ve been lemming for a while now. These are Fuzzy Peach (a nice bright pink-leaning peach) and Blizzard (a color-fest silver gliter topper), Php365 each.
Glamourbox Tote
This very useful canvas tote from Glamourbox is a bonus item when you purchase more than Php2000 worth from the Boutique. I easily went over the minimum when I went christmas shopping and got this wonderful tote.
OMG Nail Polishes
A chance trip to Landmark Makati brought me to the OMG display shelf, and I was excited to see some new shades. I bought three for myself that day: Jive (a deep blue), Happy Hour (a shimmery dark purple), and Gold Digger (a bright metallic gold). I’ve already swatched the first with great results. Each bottle of polish costs Php19.75.
Nail Glue
That same trip to Landmark got me a bottle of nail glue. I need this to try out my new nail studs which I won from The Nailinator‘s giveaway. I think this costs Php40 or thereabouts.
Solemate Flats
I am typically not a flats person, as I prefer going around in socks-and-shoes/boots combo. My office christmas party required a filipiniana attire and I needed appropriate shoes for it. Luckily I saw these black Solemate flats with some sort of woven texture and can readily pass for filipiniana. Solemate at SM Makati was having a sale, buy-1-take-1 of selected flats for Php399, so I got this nice cream pair with bow detail as well. I think I am now a convert! These feel so nice and comfy on the feet!
Sample Room Haul
On the 11th day of christmas I grabbed a Colour Collection Age Defying BB Cream CoQ10 & Green Tea Extract SPF45 and a Sappe Beauti Drink (Fiber 8,000 mg with L-carnitine), all for 140 points. I enjoyed my first CC BB cream (reviewed here) and I expect I would enjoy this one as well. And since I had extra points, I grabbed that beauty drink as well just to try it out.
Dazzle Dry Essentials and Nail Polish
Dazzle Dry had a holiday sale where all items in their store got a major discount! I grabbed myself some essentials, two bottles of Nail Prep (Php100 each) and a top coat (Php400), as well as four bottles of nail polish at Php360 each. I was able to score the following shades: Arctic Sunset, Morning Dew, Pixie Green with Envy, and Blueberry Sno Cone. Can’t wait to show you my swatches!
Review: Nail Polish Removers from The Face Shop, Dazzle Dry, and Flormar
Posted on: December 9, 2013
- In: Nails | Reviews
- 5 Comments
Welcome to part 2 of my ambitious nail polish remover review project! To refresh your memory, I plan to review as many nail polish remover brands as I can. Here is the photo of all the polish removers I have.
I started with three drugstore brands two weeks ago. For this installment I will review the nail polish removers from The Face Shop, Dazzle Dry, and Flormar.
The Face Shop Lovely Me:Ex Nail Remover
This is the first of my three pink nail polish removers. I got this from one of The Face Shop stores (Trinoma, I believe), for about Php95 if I am not mistaken. This Lovely Me:Ex Nail Remover in 01 Pink bottle has 100ml of product in it, and has a child-proof safety cap. It has a nice floral scent that is not at all offensive to the nose. As you can see from the fluid level, I haven’t used this a lot. It is not that efficient in removing nail polish which is why I don’t use it very often. Contrary to what the name says, it doesn’t remove your nails, but it does remove nail polish. The Face Shop is not cruelty-free.
Dazzle Dry Lemongrass Nail Polish Remover
Ah, now we come to my favorite nail polish remover. As an avid Dazzle Dry user, it makes sense for me to be using the Dazzle Dry Lemongrass Nail Polish Remover. It does remove DD polishes efficiently; usually it takes only one (and a half, sometimes) cotton rounds to remove polish from all ten fingernails. It also removes other brand nail polishes with only slightly less effectiveness. This 240ml bottle costs Php375, which may seem a bit steep. However as it is very efficient in removing polish, it lasts for quite some time. As you can see I’m just halfway through the bottle, and believe me I use this quite a lot! The scent of lemongrass is admittedly a bit strong, but it doesn’t bother me too much. The product is very gentle and doesn’t dry out the nails and the skin around them. The only disadvantage I see with this is that it can only be ordered online (or maybe from select salons), and sometimes they run out of stock. Dazzle Dry is cruelty-free.
Flormar Nail Polish Remover in Orchid Complex
Lastly for this installment, I have my second pink nail remover. Flormar Nail Polish Remover in Orchid Complex has 125ml of product, and costs Php149, which is one of my more expensive ones on a per milliliter basis. I think it smells the best of all removers that I have, as the orchid scent smells so good. However it has approximately the same level of removal efficiency as The Face Shop’s. Flormar is available in many SM Malls as well as Watsons branches. I believe Flormar does not test their final products on animals.
Nail Polish Remover Review Series
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One of the booths I visited during the Blogapalooza 2013 was BYS. BYS is an Australian cosmetics brand that recently landed in the Philippines. They carry a wide range of makeup products as well as nail polish. Signing up at their booth bagged me a sample of their nail polish. When I got home and investigated the sample, I experienced a happy shock. It was in fact a full-sized bottle of BYS Nail Art Lacquer, of the shade 009 Fuschia Pink!
This 10-ml bottle has a big black plastic cap that holds a thin striper brush. The shade name is found at the bottom and the ingredient list and other information at the back.
I immediately tried this out in a nail art. I used Dazzle Dry Strawberry Macaron as base color, and used BYS Nail Art Lacquer to paint straight and even stripes on all my nails. Here is the final look:
The black handle made it very easy to create stripes. It lent to good control, even for my non-dominant hand. Check out my right hand:
I have to say that this nail art lacquer makes my stripes look a lot more professional, for both hands! The drying time is fairly fast, and it works well with my favorite base and top coats (Dazzle Dry). Here are some outdoor shots of my nails.
BYS is cruelty-free. Check out more shades of their Nail Art Lacquers here. BYS is available in SM Beauty and Watsons branches. I don’t know how much the nail art lacquers cost; I will update this post once I find out the price.
Pros: works great as striper; dries fairly fast; works well with Dazzle Dry system; cruelty-free
Cons: none so far
Wishlist: Nail Polish
Posted on: November 20, 2013
- In: Wishlist
- 2 Comments
For the second edition of Wishlist, I present to you my Nail Polish wishlist. I am listing this by brand, although some brands have several items listed in them. My primary consideration in including anything on this list is that it has to be cruelty-free.
1. Dazzle Dry Esnavi Collection, and Dazzle Dry Bloggers Mystery Collection
Image credits: http://sereinemagazine.com/
Image credits: http://wackylaki.blogspot.com/
Why I Want It: Dazzle Dry is my favorite brand primarily because it dries rock-hard in literally five minutes. This is tried and tested, and the Philippine distributor is so nice! The first collection is limited edition and is a collaboration with the singer Esnavi. It has only three shades (green, purple, and peach) and I want all of them! The Bloggers Mystery is a collaboration with five prominent nail bloggers (the sixth shade being a DD-made one), and is released as the 2013 winter collection. I would like to get all six shades but realistically I would probably only get my top three (white, blue, and green). All three of the Esnavi shades are available at Dazzle Dry PH while the Bloggers Mystery will be available at the end of the month.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: Nothing, really. Probably the price, but that isn’t how wishlists are supposed to work, right? 😀
2. OPI Couture de Minnie Runway Minnies
Image credits: http://www.glambunctious.com/
Why I Want It: I’ve always liked Minnie Mouse, as she presents as a strong female character without being over the top. This OPI set (includes four of the five shades of this collection, in mini bottles) seems to capture that idea quite well. In addition I love pinks and starting to lean on reds as well, so this is the perfect set to get started on OPI.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: OPI may be cruelty-free, but it is owned by a parent company that tests on animals (Coty). I’m not yet sure how I feel about that, but I figure if a parent company profits from a cruelty-free daughter company then that ultimately supports the animal testing of the parent company.
3. Models Own Nail Polishes
Image credits: http://nitrolicious.com/
Why I Want It: My experience with my first Models Own made me want to get more shades. It applies well and dries relatively fast.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: The local reseller, Glamourbox, only has limited shades available. And among those shades, I probably only want one or two. It’s not “sulit” to order only a couple since I’d have to pay extra for shipping anyway. I’d rather order a bunch for efficient ordering.
4. Deborah Lippman Wicked Collection
Image credits: http://www.polishpolice.com/
Why I Want It: I like fairy tales, and the Wizard of Oz is one of my favorites. While admittedly I have neither read the book nor watched the play, I like the swatches of the Wicked collection I’ve found online. That green polish would fit quite well into my greens collection.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: Deborah Lippman is a brand I’ve never tried before. I have no idea if it will work well with my go-to base and top coats (Dazzle Dry) so it will be a gamble if I buy this set.
5. Rescue Beauty Lounge Fan 2.0 Collection Coquette
Image credits: http://www.peachypolish.com
Why I Want It: Emboldened by my positive experience with Liberty, I want to try more shades from RBL. From the latest colaboration with RBL fans I chose the shade Coquette as the best.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: Unlike Liberty, the Fan 2.0 collection was not picked up by any reseller so it is very difficult to acquire this. I’ve never had the experience of importing an item directly. In addition, getting this will only make me more addicted to RBL, which is by far the most expensive polish I own (and is probably not that sustainable, hehe).
6. Picture Polish
Image credits: http://polishplease.ph/
Why I Want It: Picture Polish is an Australian brand of nail polishes that produce really interesting shades. Thankfully it is being distributed locally by Polish Please, and has a pretty good selection of shades. I love most of the greens and blues (hence the shade selection above) and would love to try at least a couple of these. I can combine this with OPI Couture de Minnie above to save on shipping fees.
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: Just like Deborah Lippman, this is a brand I’ve never tried before and may not work well with my go-to base and top coats (Dazzle Dry) so it will be a gamble if I buy this set.
Bonus Item: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Image credits: http://seche.com/
Why I Want It: My go-to top coat does not work well with some brands, and I need an alternative. I’ve seen many praises for this top coat which have convinced me that this should be on my wish list even if it’s not a nail polish per se. As a bonus, I can combine this with the OPI Couture de Minnie set to save on shipping (from Polish Please).
Why I Shouldn’t Buy It: Seche is mostly cruelty-free, but they do not guarantee the same for their ingredient vendors. This is not such a big deal for me at the moment, but it’s a point of contention.
Verdict: Dazzle Dry it is, to be honest. Nothing can beat a tried and tested brand, and it already works with my base and top coat of choice (of the same brand, hehe!). I might get the Seche top coat anyway since I do have other brands of polish that I regularly use too.
Have you tried/owned any of these brands? Which would you recommend/not recommend and why, or would you rather recommend something else?
Nails: Eyes on you
Posted on: October 28, 2013
- In: Nails
- 3 Comments
This is my Halloween special! My inspiration for these eyeballs come from this great tutorial from The Bubbly Brunette. I did nothing new really, I just followed her instructions to the letter.
I used the following for this nail art: Dazzle Dry Base and Top Coats, Dazzle Dry Electrifying, White Lightning, and Forget Me Not, Girlstuff Twilight, BK Nail Dotting Tools and Striper Brush.
The steps are the following:
- Prep the nails with DD Base Coat.
- Paint two coats of White Lightning on the nails.
- Using the striper brush, paint short red stripes in a radiating pattern using Electrifying. This is going to be the blood vessels.
- Using the biggest of the dotting tools, put a big blue circle in the middle of each nail using Forget Me Not.
- Using a slightly smaller dotting tool, put a slightly smaller black circle in the middle of the blue circle to denote the pupil, using Girlstuff Twilight.
- FInally, using the smallest of the dotting heads, put a small white circle slightly off-center using White Lightning, to denote the reflection.
- Apply DD Top Coat.
Here’s the final look!
Not bad isn’t it? It looks much better in sunlight of course.
Check out the right hand. The blood vessels are thicker and straighter, because that’s all my nondominant left can handle!
Happy Halloween!
Becoming Sleek 