Paper Towns | Get Lost To Get Found

Hi all! 

About a week ago, I entered an insta contest hosted by Warner Music Malaysia and won two tickets to the premiere of Paper Towns. I have not watched The Fault In Our Stars yet but I've heard good things. So, coming from the same author it was expected to be a good movie. 

I was a tad bit disappointed with how Warner Music managed the competition especially when winners wanted to collect their tickets. We got our tickets 10 minutes before the movie started and I admit that I was worried that we would be late but we weren't. All's good that ends well. 

Anyway, with my tendency to paint designs based on events - here's a Paper Towns inspired one. 

Colours used:

Base coat - Essence Ultra Strong Nail Hardener
White - OPI Alpine Snow & Acrylic Paint
Black - Laval & Acrylic Paint
Top Coat - Miss Ashleigh Matte Hatter

As for my review on the movie, it didn't turn out to be a regular romcom but I liked how the story flowed. There was laughing and crying involved but John Green paints a pretty realistic view on knowing oneself and unrequited love as well as friendship. I would give it a 6/10. Thanks Warner Music Malaysia for the tickets! 

That's it for this post!
Cheers!

A New Phase in Life

Hey guys,

Good news! I got a new job! :)

I am now currently a Social Media Executive - which was my goal all the while so double whoopie!! 

I did not plan this mani but it fit in the sense that it was finally time to spread my wings. 

Thanks to @yagala on instagram, I had a sudden urge to paint butterfly wings and so I did! Her tutorials are awesome so do check her out! 

Colours Used:

Base Coat | Essence Ultra Strong Nail Hardener
Teal | Pa A72
Glitter | Etude House
Gold - China Glaze Passion
Black - Acrylic Paint / Laval
Top Coat - Glisten & Glow HK Girl

That's it for this post!
Cheers!

MY Burgerlab Turns 3!

Hey guys! 

As per usual, if you guys are following me on instagram @chronosz then you would know what's in store! :)

It's MY Burgerlabs 3rd birthday!! 

For those not in Malaysia or KL even - Burgerlab is a burger joint famed for their charcoal buns and local flavours like the RAKSASA!! which literally means monster. It is their third birthday and every year, they have a surprise for all of us.

This year, it is a joint effort with The BIG Group to create the Mac & Cheese Burger! Have a look at the post on my food blog for the deets on the burger! 

As you guys know that I love painting event inspired manis...so here's the MY Burgerlab birthday edition!

I painted this with the logos for Burgerlab and The BIG group in mind plus the birthday poster. It's supposed to be a light bulb burger! Just in case you can't see the burger...

Hahaha! Oh! And here's a close up on the BiG Group logo. 

There's supposed to be a 'B' in the middle of the bulb but the yellow was too striking thus unable to make out clearly...but I'm quite proud of thr light bulb since I used reverse stamping to make it. Here's a look at how I did it. 

Finally what you guys have been waiting for! The polishes I used for the mani! 

Base Coat - Essie Nail Hardener 

Top Coat - Glisten & Glow HK Girl

Black - Laval 

White - OPI Alpine Snow & Acrylic Paint 

Yellow - iScream nails Juicy Juicy & China Glaze 

Stamping black - Mundodeunas

Light bulb - Bundle Monster BM409

That's it for this post! 

Cheers!

Baby Showers

Hi all! 

I actually did not plan this mani but it ended up painting a baby shower-ish mani. I was going for a neat, basic, elegant and pastel mani in the beginning. 

So, I grabbed some @teismom stripe nail vinyls and my Laval pink polish. It looked pretty good then as I was going for my right hand, I decided to use a different colour. Who wants to be same as the others? =P

I haven't gotten the chance to swatch the new iScream polishes I got from my friend Junlynn as an early birtbirthday present but I just had to try it!

This is iScream nails Blue Heaven on OPI Alpine Snow. It came out better than I realised! 

Also, not sure if you guys actually noticed that the composition of my photo is different now but I'm trying out something new. Here's the story, I was out yum cha-ing (literally translated as drinking tea) or having supper with my friend at Alexis Telawi and this guy selling lights comes up to our table. The table light he was selling was foldable and extremely bright! I was sold! 

Thus how I ended up using the light to take photos of manis at night instead of in the morning. I seldom take morning photoa because I wake up early for work and I'm indoors during the morning. I'm still working out the angle and stuff but so far so good. 

Another surprise! The blue mani got more than 100 likes on Instagram! This is a first for me! For those on instagram reading this, thanks a bunch! 

In the meantime, here's a really short picture tutorial for you guys. 

First, paint a layer of white - I used OPI Alpine Snow. Top it off with your favourite top coat - I used Glisten & Glow HK Girl. Then used some striping tape or nail vinyl and place it in the middle - I used @teismom nail vinyls. Once placed properly, paint your chosen colour until opaque and carefully remove the tape before the polish dries - I used Laval Pink & iScream Nails Blue Heaven. Finally, top it off with top coat and you're done! 

Simple rite! 

That's it for this post!
Cheers!

Happy Valentines Day! 💖

Happy Valentines Day everyone!
(Although it's already the day after Valentines in Malaysia) 

I did a simple mani this Valentines and stuck to pastel hearts. 

Love Love Kyuuuunnn! 

Colours used :

Base | OPI Alpine Snow
Pinks | Picture Polish Watermelon, Laval Pink, Essie Off The Shoulder, Essie Tart Deco
Red | OPI Big Apple Red

That's it for this post! 
Cheers!

Sakura Season

Konbanwa minna-san! 

I haven't been painting my nails lately since I've been kind of busy this past week and I noticed that I haven't posted this mani yet. 

I have also loved sakura or cherry blossoms since they look so pretty and they remind me of Japan! 日本大好き! I actually can't read or write Japanese much but I can speak a little thanks to watching so much anime. =D

I've attempted sakura nail art a few Chinese New Year's ago but it didn't come out all that nice but this year...I don't know how it happened but I love what came out of it! 

The base is Laval pink and the design is painted on with acrylic paint. I really love this mani! If you're wondering about the pointer finger well...I had just watched 'The Book Of Life' at the time and had fallen in love with La Muerte....she's so pretty....

Yup! So I actually saved that nail for her but I couldn't paint her nicely and opted it out in the end. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner so look forward to more CNY themed manis! 

Cheers!  

Normal Stamping Vs Reverse Stamping

Hey guys! 

I posted this mani on instagram (@chronosz) last night and wanted to discuss the pros and cons of 'Normal stamping Vs Reverse Stamping'.

The photos are not very clear but hopefully it will suffice for this brief explanation. 

I used reverse stamping on the pointer finger whereas the others were done using the normal stamping method. From my observation, the design is clearer and neater using the reverse stamping method. On the other hand, the normal stamping allows for missing pieces of the pattern and the design can sometimes come out crooked. 

This can be explain by the following:

1. You did not stamp the design properly
2. Part of the polish dried 
3. The polish you are using is not suitable

For me, I am still looking for a good stamping polish. my favourite black polish from The Faceshop is too sheer for stamping. So far, I have purchased black polishes from Laval and Rica. Truth be told, I was incredibly excited when I got my Rica polishes. I had seen so many beautiful manis using her polish but to my dismay it was not meant to be. The Rica polish was impossible to stamp with, even with the reverse stamping method. I'm not saying that it's not good but there were other factors preventing me from using it properly. I'll comment more on this in a different post. 

Getting back to the topic at hand, reverse stamping is done by top coating the design when it is on the stamper, wait for it to dry, peel it off, top coat your nail and paste it on like a nail wrap. Basically, it's a DIY nail wrap. The reason why the design comes out neater is because reasons 1 & 2 do not apply here. The downside is that it could come out uneven when you're putting it on your nail. I still have difficulties with it and most of the time, the side of the 'nail wrap' doesn't stick on the nail and it leaves air pockets. 

It is best to press it down onto your nail and make sure it's stuck on hard first before cutting off the excess and applying another layer of top coat. Here's a video tutorial from the amazing Sveta Sanders. Check here instagram out for more amazing manis!!

http://youtu.be/9n4nGUIRNqI?list=UURPFF7dilXyhmtp_TP8qT1A 

In my opinion, normal stamping is all good if you've got a good polish while reverse stamping is good when you have some of the problems above like I do or if you want to add a little colour to the design. 

That's all for this post! 

Cheers!

Laval meets Nail Vinyls

Hi all!

I just downloaded the Blogger app on my phone is hopes that I blog more often. Especially since all the photoa are on my phone.

Today's post is a swatch of a UK brand - Laval. My parents recently returned from holiday and got me a few souvenirs! Among the colours, I found this shade really pretty! (Using the blogger app, all photos will be at the bottom of the post, sorry for the inconvenience)

Laval's Blue Lightning is a really sheer blue shimmer polish and when I say sheer I mean really sheer. Even with 3 - 4 coats, I could still see the base of my nails. Never the less, a beautiful colour it is.

After realising it's name, I took it upon myself to have a little fun with some of Teismom's nail vinyls.

Using the lightning vinyl and topping it off with a coat of Faceshop's black polish...blue lightning it became!

Oh the pun...ba dum tsst (do ignore my lame ness)

That's it for this post! Hopefully I get used to this app so I can blog better.

Cheers!