Pink and Undecided: top coat

Nail Diary 06 : Etude House X Disney XOXO Minnie Collection (Minnie in the Nails #5 Minnie Silver Ribbon)+Anna Sui 411

Hellow hellow!!!

First review of 2014 is here! Probably one of the best things about new year, a fresh whole lotta "firsts" hahaha... Continuing from the last nail entry, second part of my four-parter Etude X Disney's Minnie in the Nails series, it's #5's turn Minnie Silver Ribbon!

And here's the final result on top of Anna Sui vibrant red nail polish that you might already seen in this post (because it was sometime before Christmas and of course i had to go with Christmas appropriate color, rite...)

Before i got that Anna Sui nail polish from Lola Box, i only had this lone Anna Sui polish in my collection, it was given to me by my sister (or she might gave it to our mom who in turn gave it to me? I can't remember anymore, it was so long ago) who got it for free from buying LOADS of stuffs there (i remember she used to spend millions every time she went to Anna Sui's counter, but i think she moved on to even more expensive stuffs now *LOL*), she doesn't use loud colored nail polishes (in fact, she's so boring that she only wear several very selected shades. It comes to a point that she has to bring her own bottle to nail salons because they don't always have the shade and she'd have to cancel the appointment if she forgot to bring them-that's how un-flexible she is FYI).

It was my very first high end (or even slightly expensive) nail polish, i used to wear strictly non-branded or cheaper drugstore brands (mostly Revlon and ones that you could find it Stroberi hahahah) only before this and didn't know that nail polishes can be so even, easy to apply and pretty *LOL* (my old ones always took forever to dry and i always, ALWAYS ruined them before they fully dried! So i stopped using any for a long period of time because they were such hassle and i couldn't be bothered :P. Those days were long gone of course, especially now that i've discovered cheap and high quality nail polishes like those Korean brands and Elianto!).

This nail polish was also the very first bright and bold color i've ever had (i used to stick to pearly, pastel colors only!), so this Anna Sui nail color holds a lot of nostalgic quality for me! It's one of my all time favorite nail polish (despite it having a few flaws that i will elaborate later)-and definitely one of that i've used the most *less than half the bottle's left now*! My OCD prevents me from using new nail polish that i've never used before under any glittery/flake top coats because i feel like every polish needs their moment to be the sole point of attractions at least once (freak alert, EEEE!), and since i wanted to wear bright red polish this time round under Minnie Silver Ribbon, this one's the first (and the only one actually) that popped into my mind.

Anna Sui Nail Color 411

1 Coat of Revlon Top Speed and 1 Coat of Anna Sui 411

Now, the let's count the great things about this polish : It's super easy to apply (but not neatly, oh no... I mean it glides on smoothly and effortlessly), only needs one coat to make it perfectly opaque (like the picture above), and it smells like roses! The good kind! I am obsessed with scented nail polishes, and Anna Sui not only have the best smelling one, but also lasts the longest (but i honestly only ever try Revlon's other than this hahaha).

The consistency was quite runny (definitely not gloopy or thick) so it's pretty amazing that it's so opaque with one layer, but i suspect the runny consistency was the culprit behind its poor staying power (it chips very fast, especially tip wears. As fast as two days after application! And that's after i put on top coat) which brings us to not so good points about it. Aside from its weak staying power, it's also real messy to apply! As you can see from the photos, i managed to paint my cuticles as well as my nails *LOL*. When it might come down to wearer's fault, i don't usually make THAT much mess with any other nail polishes. But every time i use this, i never NOT make a mess.

Now, let's meet the star of this post : Minnie Silver Ribbon :

Remember in that last post i said i think every variant in this series has Minnie heads? Errr... LOL. That's INCORRECT!

Instead this one has silver ribbons/bows, small-medium-big flakes (as in non-glittery and non-shiny) in white and baby pink (the baby pink was so pale so at some point i thought they were all white haha) and some little glitters (not much, i think, so sparse and even when i managed to catch a bit of them, they were not very noticeable at all. In some nails i got probably like, 5 microscopic dots of glitters *LOL*)

I got super lucky and managed to "catch" ribbons for every single fingers on my left hand. As usual i did my right hand first (i always tackle the harder things first so i can get it out of the way-you know, in general not just nail polish related haha) and i only managed to catch ONE single bow for the entire hand (i stupidly forgot to take pictures of my right fingers! It was not super sparse though because i caught quite a bit of the bigger flakes for my right hand!). It's always been the case with these Minnie in the Nails (i have used 3 out of 4 by now), first try's always the hardest so if you're super OCD this might drive you a bit insane. Thankfully this did not bother me somehow

So sorry for the super messy application, always struggle with messiness whenever i'm using this particular Anna Sui nail polish, i'm gonna give the new glittery green one a try soon and see if it's as messy as this one

I actually managed to catch two ribbons on my point finger, but i decided it's be nicer on my thumb so i scooped it back up immediately and plopped it into my thumb :p

Final result : after being sealed with Revlon Top Speed

The silver ribbons were so shiny and pretty, it was totally attention grabbing and stunning! I am extremely attracted to shiny, glittery things (yeah, like a cat. Or a magpie :p) so i kept on being mesmerized with my own nails when i was using this :p. The silver ribbons were stunning against bright red base, but the giltters were absolutely non-visible (i doubt they will be very visible on top of pale colors anyway).

The ribbons have sort of poky edges, so i was very worried of them peeling off or getting snagged on stuffs (it was more poky and sharp feeling compared to the Minnie head from the #6), but i really shouldn't have! I guess Etude House used a very good gelly-like base for this line and it managed to hold the ribbons firmly on its place for the LONGEST time. The ribbons actually stayed intact and perfect looking way longer than the Minnie heads, surprise surprise!

Not only that, the gelly like clear polish also works wonderfully as a top coat (again, same case with the #6), like i mentioned earlier-the red Anna Sui polish doesn't have the best staying power, but with Minnie Silver Ribbon on top of them, they lasts at least three times as long! It began to chip on the 6th (!!!) day, and even then the ribbons and the flakes (which were flat and quite smooth feeling) stayed perfect! It let them be until they became (the red base) really really ugly (it was more than 10 days!!!) and i couldn't stand them anymore! All of the ribbons and flakes were still there (perfect than ever) until i take them off. Furthermore, when i tried to remove them with nail varnish remover, they refused to budge -____- until i had to use a little force, so there's really no need to worry about the ribbons falling off/peeling off! Oh yeah, just like #6 (and #4 for that matter), it dried on a decent speed.

All and all, i love love love these Minnie in the Nails, the next was always better than the previous! I guess the color combination (with the base) also become a major part to determine the final result, but so far my favorite would be a toss between this one and my New Year nails (#4 Minnie Pink Ribbon) which i will be reviewing next! Highly recommended, even my not-so-girly cousin L asked me where i bought my Minnie Mouse nail polishes (she's obvi attracted to the #6)!

Do you have any of these Minnie in the Nails? Or if you don't, did i succeed in making you want one?

#Pink

4:30:00 PM
4 Comments

Wet N Wild!

affiliation

Hi guys!!!!

#Pink's here! Anybody missed me??? I hope you do, because i sure miss blogging like hell! I just got back from my two weeks long vacay with my family *18 people in total to JB and Singapore!*, vacay officially ended late last night when hunny and i finally reached home last night, almost exactly at midnight!

Had PLENTY of fun a the whole two weeks, but today we were yanked back to reality rudely! I know i shouldn't start my "comeback" to the blogging world by complaining, but i have to get this off my chest before i can start talking about anything else!

Guess what, hunny's passport got discolored *by drops of water, somehow* while we were in Europe. We just realized it when the immigration officer pointed it out to him in Frankfurt, when we were about to go back to Indonesia. Back then the officer only told him to be more careful in the future. No incidents even after we arrived in Jakarta, the immigration officer in Jakarta never even mentioned the discolored stamps.

So imagine my horror when hunny was stopped in Surabaya's immigration two weeks ago on the start of our trip and was told to get into the office to meet with the higher ranked officer that threatened not to let him pass because of the condition of the passport, but after a while *and more threats of the possibility of him being sent back to Indonesia if the immigration in JB won't let him in*, they let him go. You should already know by now how paranoid of a person i am, so i was worrying the whole 2 hours flight from Surabaya to JB.

I was sooo relieved when the officer only said "Oh, you spilt water on your passport? That's okay! Don't worry!" and even went on admiring his Schengen visa *LOL*. Same thing in Singapore's immigration and later in Jakarta when we got back. But then the worrying continues because as soon as we're back in Surabaya we should drop in our passports to apply for Taiwan visa! Now, if the Surabaya's immigration made such a big fuss the first time, surely they won't let him pass the second time with the same passport condition!

So, today he was busy going to a travel agency (Where my friend O worked) and then to the immigration's office, to ask around about what he should do with his passport. For non Indonesian reader, i must explain that it costs us IDR 550.000 to make a passport (brand new one) and IDR 450.000 to renew your nearing expiration passport (and that's already using the help of a calo, i cannot find the right translation in English but the closest i can find is a broker, someone who helps you to get something or do something for a fee). So imagine our shock when they informed us that exchanging the still applying passport would cost us IDR 3.500.000 (or USD 350)!!!

Apparently it's somewhat of a "crime", disfiguring your own passport (even though we clearly did it by accident, who would do that for fun???) and that's the fine you'd have to pay if you happen to do that. Of course, that's not the official price, but what is ever official in this country, anyway? You know i love my country, but i despise its officers and government to pieces, WTF! Yeah, like 10% of the "fine" would go to the country, the rest? No need to explain already, right?

So yeah, i'm in a bad bad mood the whole day. IDR 3.500.000 might not be much for us *although for some that would be more than three months' salary here...*, but it kills me to pay for something so stupid and preventable such this! And what's worse? That it's actually MY fault, because i kept our passports in my bag the whole trip! I never kept any water inside my bag so how the passport got wet remains a mystery zzzz. It might got rained when i opened my bag in Venice *because it was drizzling badly when we first got there*, or maybe there's some contacts solutions inside my contact lenses case i brought in my bag that got leaked out. WTF. STUPID #Pink!!!!

Yeah, it totally kills me not being able to blame hunny huahahahahahaha FHL, if he was the one holding the passport himself he'd have to face my wrath, i'd kick him around a bit i guess LOLOLOLOL and never let it go :p.

Anyway, i have to let this go. It's only money after all, and it's better to lose IDR 3.500.000 to make sure we'll have a smooth and trouble-free (not to mention, worry-free) trip to Taiwan *which we paid or around IDR 16.000.000 for air tickets and hotels, so it'll be worse if the trip's cancelled because hunny's not allowed to leave Indonesia!*. I kept on consoling myself the whole day *like, we got a promo tickets to Taiwan, even adding IDR 3.500.000 into the air tickets, it's still quite cheap, etc*, also asking others (mostly #Undecided) *or more like forcing...* to console me, seeing it as a "sacrifice" to get rid of any bad luck.

Yes, i use that excuse whenever i have to "throw away" money for a stupid reason *LOLOLOL*, which is like, every year FML*. My employee even said "It okayy, don't worry, get rid of some money to attract a lot more luck and wealth". Yes, how very Chinese and Javanese of us. LOL.

I also mentioned to #Undecided that something like this' bound to happen *and should happen* sometime because my life has been super smooth and happy the last couple of years, i think i needed to "pay back" to balance it out a bit, it's only fair that way. LOL. Yes, i'm the master of consolation. Silver lining in every cloud LOLOLOL.

A very hard lesson learnt, now the next time you (and i!!!) ever travel, make sure you keep your passport inside a waterproof ziplock, okay! DO NOT repeat the stupid mistake i made!

Phew! I always feel better after writing everything that's bothering me down! And even better because this is a blog, with hundreds of hits everyday, so lots of people would read this, and any extra consolation are welcome! LOL! MAKE ME FEEL BETTER, PEOPLE!

On a muchhhh happier note, have you guys notice the Wet n Wild banner on the right??? That's the first banner we ever *okay, #Undecided did it, i have no clue how to* put up! And yes, we're now err... I dunno, i guess somewhat collaborating with Wet N Wild cosmetics!

So, a few days ago #Undecided BBM-ed me, asking me if i've read the e-mail Wet N Wild sent us. I was still in Jakarta with very limited *not to mention how my mobile phone's provider's signal really sucks in Jakarta!!!) access to internet, so she passed the good news, Wet N Wild Indonesia offered us an affiliation program with them!

We're extremely excited! A first sign that our blog is finally being noticed by any company at all (let alone a prestigious one like Wet N Wild)! LOL. And guess what, our e-mail's been bombarded by similar kind of e-mails but from suspicious companies so we wouldn't count them *hoax alert!!!*). Now that i think about it, this is not really the first affiliation we have in this blog, i (#Pink) also have an affiliation with Beauty Treats Indonesia but not formally like this one *everybody can start an affiliation program with BTI, with Wet N Wild only the ones selected can*. A total reason to celebrate!!!

Anyway, before Wet N Wild contacted us, i actually purchase a few items from the website (i only unwrap it just now, because i ordered them just before i left for the trip). I normally would line them up for a shopping haul post (which used to be weekly *sigh*, i think i will finally be able to resume the series in the next two months, so much other stuffs to blog about right now!!!) but that would take forever (yeah like, two or three months *LOL*, yes that's how long how hauls are lining up already FML), so in the spirit of celebration for this affiliation, i'm showing it to you, my mini haul!

It's super mini lah, only got myself two items, and i honestly only bought them because i wanted to use the voucher i got from May BTI LOL.

I'm not lying! See, such a tiny package LOL

Absolutely love the black with white Wet n Wild logo wrapping paper!

Yes, another layer of wrapping paper *LOL*, they really packed it securely!

And finally, what's inside :

Oh yeah, just some basic thingy, boring old #Pink can never get enough of lip balms and nail thingy *LOLOLOL*. I was actually really confused on what to buy because everything looks so tempting WTF, and like always, whenever i got confused, i went with the basics... Plus, i'm trying to avoid buying decorative make ups for a bit since i already got so much of them (not that i don't have an even bigger collection on lip balms and nail thingy, but somehow i feel less badly buying them, i know i don't make sense, when did i ever...).

Wild Shine Nail Color-Clear Nail Protector 401A IDR 59.000

Bought this because i'm running low on stocks of base/top coats (note the word stocks okay, it's not like i'm running out of anything ever.. i make sure i always have lots of back ups, this reminds me of an episode of Raising Hope when it was finally revealed that Jimmy girlfriend, Sabrina is someone who always have back ups for everything, including men. LOLOLOL, i sure saw myself in her, but i don't think i have backups for men WTF) and i figured it was time to try something else other than my HG Revlon Top Speed Base/Top Coat.

Juicy Lip Balm-Strawberry (283C) IDR 69.000

Yeah, whenever in doubt i reach for a lip balm. IDR 69.000 isn't exactly cheap for a lip balm but somehow i was madly attracted to this lip balm that i totally overlooked the price. Before this arrived, i read in some other blog that the lip balm's jumbo sized, i thought she was slightly exaggerating until i saw it for myself. You could already see from the picture up there where i put it side by side to the normal sized nail protector, it's quite a lot bigger!

This thing is humongous! Probably housed twice the size of normal lip balms

Please ignore my fugly nails, my nailist in Me-Nail made a mistake by drying the gels too briefly, the gel started to chip on the third day and completely fell apart on the 10th (my last gel polish lasted almost two months!), if you go there and that ever happened to you, don't worry! They actually have a guarantee, they'll fix it for you if it happens within a few days of the manicure. Since i only got back to Surabaya after two weeks *by now there's only four of my nails covered with gels LOL* so the lady boss (yeah yeah, my cousin) gave me a voucher instead, i will be using it for my next gel manicure *where i'll be getting it together with #Undecided, just before our Taiwan trip!).

Super attracted the the juicy pink color as well, totally befitting its name!

The total amount (plus shipping using JNE, which is IDR 17.000 to Surabaya) was IDR 145.000 but i used the voucher i already mentioned before from May BTI, worth IDR 20.000, so i only paid IDR 125.000 in the end. That's not too bad at all, i think!

Well, that's all! Would love to purchase more products, but maybe i should try to finish a few before adding more items to the already super over-populated make up drawer, LOL. If any of you are interested in getting anything from Wet N Wild just click on their banner on the right side of this blog and it'll send you right to their virtual door! LOL!

Lots of beauty boxes to cover next, not to mention trying to finally finish my European trip series and start on the JB-Singapore-Jakarta-Bandung trip! Wahhh, so much to do!

Toodles!

#Pink

8:49:00 PM
2 Comments

Review : Revlon Top Speed Nail Polish in Pink Lingerie 110

base coat

Hi mah dahlings!

So, I thought you can only join Indonesia Beauty Blogger after blogging for at least three months like how it’s written here but apparently that rule applies if you want to be listed. I tweeted IBB last night wondering if I can actually join their make up challenge (I think I joined the January one for nothing because apparently it’s only for IBB members? LOL) because I am not a member yet (only been blogging for two months, you know) and they replied that you need to only send a request to join IBB group to be a member! OMG, stupid me. Could've joined like, last month zzz. Anyway, I’ve sent the request and it’s been approved *yay!!!* and since I want to post my link there *wink wink, kiasu* I decided to push my review entry today :D.

I don’t know if you noticed but I am quite crazy about nail polishes. I owned… er… I don’t know how many nail polishes I own nor have any intention to ever count them, but I filled more than two drawers full of nail polishes so far, half of them still brand new and not tested yet. I know, I know, I also have the same problems with lippies, eye shadows and clothes (scratch that, clothes is out of the group. For this matter I no longer have a problem, not a normal one at least. I really need a therapy for this) but nail polishes are actually one of the things that I still buy without feeling guilty about it, I guess because they don’t go bad as fast as other make up items? I dunno… So today I am going to review one of my nail polish collection for y’all.

The brand : Revlon. The line : Top Speed. The shade : 110 Pink Lingerie.

Official pic, taken from google because i don't think my pic does justice to the bottled colour, see below

Pretty name, ya? Pretty color too on the bottle. Here’s a picture of the nail polish together with my Holy Grail Base/Top Coat : Revlon Super Top Speed.

Okay, I said Holy Grail and I mean it, i’ve gone through more than five bottles already and whenever I only have one or two bottles left I will feel a very strong urge to buy some more *yes yes, a hoarder. A horrible one*. Not that I’ve tried too many other types or brands for Top/Base Coat, for basic things like this I tend to be less adventurous (I am curious to try Seche Vite though) and stick to one type that I know works best (okay lah so far I only have HG mascara and Nail Top/Base Coat, for other things I am much less fussy). Seriously, I am strongly recommending this, it helps to dry you nail polishes very fast as well.

I also tend to stick to a ritual. You know, put on a base first and seal them with a top coat? I don’t understand why so many people like to skip this part. Base and top coats helps you to protect your nails and keep them healthy, and they make your nail polishes lasts. I don’t understand people like #Undecided or G who tend to scrimp and refuse to buy them, they are only IDR 35.000 you know and they gave you so many benefits I think they’re totally worth the price *confused face*. Or maybe I am just being my usual OCD self and isn’t able to skip any rituals *sigh*.

Anyway, the color is the bottle is a pale baby pink color that’s super sweet and cute, it reminds me of a ballerina’s tutu *obsessed with tutu*. One coat will stay true to the bottled color, however the consistency is quite runny and made it a bit hard to apply evenly. I don’t know if you can see it in the picture but it was really streaky and uneven.

One coat after base coat

I was hoping a second coat will take care of the streaking problem but it was still very uneven :(.

Two coats

I usually apply two coats of the nail polish before sealing it with a top coat but I was really unhappy with the unevenness I had to apply one more coat.

Three coats without top coat

Three coats plus top coat

I know it’s not very neat because you can see I over applied the top coat to my cuticles, but I have a tip that would only work if, like me, you do your nails a day before. I don’t clean them because after you take a shower the leftover paints on your cuticle would peel off by themselves *oh, you can help by removing them with your other nails, they took off very easily after a shower* without disturbing the colors on your nails. Works everytime.

I don’t know why my camera couldn’t capture the true color on nails, it looked slightly violet-ish in the pictures above and it really looks nothing like that IRL, somehow in the pictures (taken during day time with sun rays coming in from my room’s windows) the final look is similar to the bottled color, so I took one more picture *as I’m typing this* using my Blackberry camera without any flash, hoping it would show you the true color that is in my fingers right now and it kinda works.

Still not exactly the same color as IRL but closer, it has peachy undertone to it

The real color’s kinda neon-ish, it’s still very pretty but I was not thrilled because I own another nail polish that looks a lot like this (I think it was Etude House’s). I’d love it to be closer to the bottled color, maybe I should’ve stopped at the second layer *LOL*. Oh, I have to mention this : three days prior putting on this nail polish I just buffed off my old (almost a month old!!!) gel polishes so my nail surface’s a little bit rough, this might contribute on making the color harder to apply? I will see the next time I’m putting it on (on a normal nail condition) if the same problem occurs. In the end it is still a very pretty color (I actually LOVE neon colors too, just wasn’t what I expected from this nail polish) and G actually asked me what I had on my nails because she thought it was very pretty :p.

I think the price for Revlon Top Speed nail polish’s around IDR 55.000 in Indonesia, I am not sure since I bought this using a shopping voucher in Centro (i got points whenever my parents or sister shopped there because they’d give the points to me and I’d wait until there’s a half points needed to exchange with vouchers so I always ended up with LOTS of vouchers. Last time I got IDR 650.000 worth of vouchers, and I bought this nail polish using them so technically I didn’t pay a dime for it LOL).

Is it really fast drying (like its name)? Yes, I think so, for 1 or 2 coats. But 3 coats… you’d need a pretty long time to dry them (5 if you count the base and top coat!), i waited an hour for it to dry before heading to shower but when I accidentally bump them in a clothes peg it ruined the middle finger of my left hand >.<, normal problem with nail polishes, they seemed dry on the surface but actually still a bit wet inside so it’s destroyed easily. I managed to half-salvaged them by rubbing them gently, since it apparently wasn’t dry enough yet, the polish was still able to move around and cover the hole. It still sticks like a sore thumb to my eyes *perfectionist* but nobody else can really see it so I guess it’s okay LOL.

The color has a slightly strange effect, it made my hands *which are really fair and pale* look darker. I thought I was seeing things but I just googled it and apparently some other people who used this agrees *LOL*, it doesn’t bother me but those of you who hates looking darker *a very common thing for Asians* might want to skip this particular shade.

To be completely honest, I love Revlon’s base and top coat (obvi, I just told you the Super Top Speed is my Holy Grail top/base coat, didn’t i?) to death, but I don’t seem to love their nail polishes as much. I have quite a few of them and I must say they are all not as easy to apply as, say… Etude House’s one even though their price’s actually slightly higher than Etude’s (if you buy Etude’s at online shops ya, the counter’s very over priced!) and they definitely chips much faster (the Pink Lingerie’s slightly chipped on my left thumb and it’s only the third day! Etude House’s usually lasts 5-6 days without chipping) and they also took longer to dry (the other lines even more so, the Top Speed one’s okay if you apply one or two coats as I said) but I don’t know, I kept on buying them anyway -__-, especially their scented lines, OMG I’m such a sucker for gimmicky products, I can’t help myself!!!

So, even though I prefer Etude House’s nail polishes (and OPI, China Glaze ones, for obvious reasons. Oh I also love Face Shop’s. And a lot more -___-, you’ll see in the future) I cannot promise I won’t buy any more of Revlon’s, especially whenever I got a voucher or I see SALE splayed across the Revlon counter, I would go crazy again I am sure *sigh*.

Oh, speaking of Etude House… really… I hate them! No, I actually LOVE them but I hate them for keep on producing super cute stuffs *I am still waiting in vain for my Princess Etoinette stuffs, I’ve been ordering them Pre-Order twice already, the first one came back with only the lipstick while the powder and blusher was Out Of Stock and right now I am still waiting for the second attempt’s result but I am very pessimistic, probably would be Out Of Stock again zzzz and I heard it’s going to be discontinued soon so I guess I should say bye bye, or try to find seller who stocks them*, the latest one super yummeh looking, The Secret Recipe! OMG… I already know I want to purchase at least three types out of the whole range, lemme spread some poison and show you the four types that caught my eyes.