Greige polish is not dead!

I refuse to believe that greige polish is dead. I love muted "boring" coloured polish as much as bright sparkly polish. Greige is one of the colours my friends call "Jenny colours". (Jenny is my real name by the way) I tend not to buy nail polish colours that overlap, but when it comes to "Jenny colours" my rule doesn't apply.

So here is a long overdue revisited post of 3 greige polishes I own which are similar. You've Got Nail's post reminded me I've been meaning to correct my previous post. When I first started blogging I did a post here about two of them already, and back then I thought the colours were pretty much idential. Looking back on it, I realise I was mistaken.

The famous Chanel Particuliere in the middle, Australian brand Chi Chi High Heeled Housewife on the right and lesser known Korean brand Etude House BR303 on the left.

As you can tell from the bottles, Chi Chi is browner/warmer than the other two which are greyer. It translates like that on the nails too.

The index finger is Etude House, middle finger is Chanel, ring finger is Chi Chi and pinky is Chanel again. These were all one thick coat each, I believe.

In my previous post I said Etude House and Chanel are 95% similar. I would like to take that back. Etude House is clearly darker (though less opaque) and also leans more purple compared to Particuliere. And my beloved Chi Chi is browner and warmer than the other two.

Now that I've corrected my ignorance, I can rest easy.

Glitter. SQUEEEEEEE

Lately I've been attracted to glittery/foil nail polish. Normally, I don't like glitter too much because of the effort required to remove it (which is why I only did 1 nail on my left hand and 2 nails on my right hand with the foil). Ever since this fail, I've been wary of cheap foil nail polish. A friend recommended this one though, so I had high expectations.

BK Nail Polish Fashion Color in Dark Blue (the foil)
Only two coats for full coverage, but I did have to put on a thick coat of Seche Vite to smooth out the gritty surface. In real life the bottle pulls a little navy, but on the nail this picture is a good representation. It has large chunky silver/holo glitter, as well as small silver and blue glitter. It dried quickly which I approve of. As with all foils however, a pain in the butt to remove!


Etude House Petit Darling Nails HD Beam in BL504 Star Ultra Marine (seriously, who comes up with these names in Korea? such a mouthful!)
I got this polish a while ago, and have worn it before, but never posted it. The name of the shade fits it perfectly, it is a marine blue. In the bottle it has tiny purple and navy shimmers, but once on the nail I can hardly notice the purple. It comes across as a slight blue shimmer. Two coats for this photo as well, great consistency and fast drying.

That's all folks!

NYE EOTD

I don't take photos of my eyeballs usually, and all of these photos are thanks to SilhouetteScreams snapping away at the midnight fireworks.

This is for my own record really, since I know its horrendous. I'm still learning, so I need to keep track of what products I used!

MAC Brule inner lid
MAC Satin Taupe all over the lid and middle lashline
Etude House Petit Darling Eyes Matte Cocoa outer v and outer lower lashline
MAC Blackline Pearlglide Liner upper lashline
Inglot Eye Shadow 27 (yellow gold) inner lower lashline
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara

Long time no nail post

Thought I'd do a quick nail post! Here it is:

Products used:
Manicare Ridge Filler as a base coat - it doesn't actually fill any ridges, just kinda smooths out the surface

Inglot 319 - love the colour of this, but it is too streaky for me. Dries quickly though!

Revlon Lush Lime - wanted to have lime glitter, but the glitter in this polish is really sparse/transparent, so it just looks like random bubbles on my nails

Etude House Mini French 06 French Silver Glitter - got bored of plain lime green after a couple of hours, so added silver! I can't apply this very neatly, so it resulted in a messy blob of silver.

Seche Vite Top Coat- no further explanation required.

Don't you dare start chipping on me on the first day of wear!

Oh yes. These two started chipping on the first day of wear. Even with a base coat and top coat. *twitchy eye*

Etude House nail polishes are super cheap, so I suppose I shouldn't have had such high expectations. BUT the GR601 Pop Green Slush was great and lasted three days without chipping or peeling. So Etude House nail polishes are kinda a hit-and-miss I suppose. The two here are PK004 Pink Salmon, and BR301 Red Tea Milk. I was confused with their colour-coding, because PK should be pink and BR should be brown...these two may need swapping around.


Etude House PK004 Pink Salmon:
I don't know where they got "salmon" out of this colour. I don't have any other colours like this one so I can't give a comparison. The photo is pretty close to what it looks like in real life. I think its a nice sophisticated pinky-brown, a little like a typical MLBB lipstick shade. Here I applied three coats, because I had missed some patches (Note to self: don't apply nail polish in the dark while watching TV). One coat was a sheer natural colour, but it was a little streaky. Applies pretty well, not too runny but not gluggy. Oh but the CHIPPING. The next morning I found a chip. How did I chip it while sleeping I am unsure, but it did.

Etude House BR301 Red Tea Milk:

The name of this shade is perfect. Red tea milk. I love this colour, in real life it is more a mute milky browny-pink. Applies brighter than the bottle and is a similar consistency to the PK004 above - not too runny, not too gluggy. Two coats in this picture, but one coat seemed pretty good too. Sheerer than this obviously but still a nice colour without streaks. This one peeled/chipped the next afternoon, I applied it at night so within 24 hours of application.

Do dry hands cause chipping?

Trying out new products

Woo, I couldn't help but want to use new products to do something new! This is the first time I've tried doing polka dots and using the mini french brush so it is rather atrocious.


Products used:

Maybelline Express Finish 50 second Nail Color 10 Base and Top Coat (for base coat) - Dries super fast so is really useful as a base coat.

Etude House Nail Polish PP903 Lilac milk - Two coats for opacity, so-so consistency. Applies better than PK010 but not as well as GR601.

Etude House Nail Art Pen 01 White - Thick enough so one application is opaque. Sets too fast but dries SUPER slowly. It's shaped like a Wite-Out pen so easy to handle for polka dotting purposes.

Etude House Mini French 06 French Silver Glitter - The brush looks like a ridiculously long liquid eyeliner brush. Difficult to handle because the brush is long and not stiff enough. Dries fast though, and is packed with glitter. Actually its pretty much glitter in a bottle with evaporant.

Etude House Quick Dry - Can't tell if it works or not, because I didn't touch my nails to check. But I can definitely feel it evaporating. The bottle is TINY though so it better work.

Jordana French Manicure 144 Barely Pink (as top coat) - Got this in a closing down sale a year ago, wish I bought all of their French Manicure colours. Dries fast and doesn't streak at all. It is thin enough to not disrupt whatever is already on the nail so I like to use it as a top coat sometimes :)


I swear I AM improving. I'm restricting myself from buying Konading materials until I master polka-dotting and drawing lines.

Chanel Particulière Dupe - Etude House BR303

Okay, I know the craze over Chanel Particulière has subsided already. But I still adore this colour to bits. When I came across the Etude House BR303 on their website, I thought it might possibly be a dupe for Particulière so I purchased it.


When I received the bottle, I was rather disappointed because it does not look the same. In the bottle, BR303 has more of a grey tinge to it in comparison to Particulière. After trying it out however I was pleasantly surprised.

Middle finger: Chanel Particulière, Ring finger: Etude House BR303. I applied one coat of each (though a thicker coat for BR303).


They look pretty darn similar to me! There is a HUGE difference in opacity and viscosity, but the colour is the most important in my opinion (when it comes to Particuliere). As most reviews/swatches have pointed out, Chanel Particulière is opaque with one coat if applied well although I think two coats gives the true colour of the bottle. Particulière applies like a dream as well as drying pretty fast. Etude House BR303 on the other hand, is quite runny and so is hard to get a even spread with just one coat. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the BR303 kind of ran and clumped a little on the side (so in the pictures the BR303 looks warmer on the nail because there is still some pink showing through). Also BR303 is less opaque than Particulière if the same amount is applied.

With two coats of BR303, I think it would definitely be a dupe for Particulière (in terms of colour). I'd say roughly 95% similarity, a closer match than the swatches I've seen for OPI You Don’t Know Jacques.

HAUL- Two days in a row

My internet orders arrived two days in a row! YAY. Ordered on Monday, arrived Friday. Only took 5 days from Korea, so super fast shipping. I love Gmarket. Etude House nail polishes were half price, so I couldn't resist!


Top Row: Etude House Nail Polish BR301, PP903, GR604, BL504, BR303, PK004, Etude House Mini French 06 French Silver Glitter
Middle Row: Prorance Finish Water Glow M13 Highlighter, Gift from Etude House (Mirror), Etude House Quick Dry, Etude House Nail Art Pen 01 White
Last Row: Etude House Petit Darling Eyes (Matte) Cocoa, Cafe Latte, Etude House Drawing Eyebrow 01 Black-brown


I will be doing separate reviews for individual products.

Etude House GR601 Pop Green Slush

SECOND REVIEW WOOT. I originally wanted to do all my Chi Chi nail polishes first, but I felt like wearing this colour last night.

For this swatch, it was close to midnight and I painted my nails while I was printing double sided lecture notes. So please excuse the poor application (empty patches AND polish on the skin)...

Thumb: one thick coat, Fingers: two thin coats

Etude House GR601 Product Page Picture

The camera doesn't seem to be able to pick up the green of the polish. I got a picture of the product page of Etude House, because the actual colour is closest to that but with a pop of green. It is a very bright teal which I absolutely love. This one is a lot thinner/watery than the PK010. Even though it is so watery, one coat can actually give an opaque payoff (for the thumb I only applied one coat). In saying that though, I prefer watery because its less likely to become streaky.

No top coat for this one too, because I didn't have time (wanted to sleep). I applied it last night and had uni all day 9am-5pm, and it hasn't chipped or peeled yet!

That's all for now, please comment on how to improve on my reviewing skills ^__^

Chi Chi Hollywood Heiress, Etude House PK010

Very first review/swatch post ever! My camera is rather crappy so sorry about the quality of the photos...But I think the photos are a pretty good match to the actual colours!

I love Chi Chi nail polishes since they were the first nail polishes other than $2 chemists nail polishes for me. They are not gluggy but not too thin, and apply smoothly to the colour in the bottle in two coats! They come in a range of colours, and I end up buying another one if they are on sale at Myer. Chi Chi cosmetics is an Australian brand and proudly Australian Made.

Etude House nail polishes are great since they're so cheap and come in small bottles so you can buy heaps of colours without worrying they'll dry up before you get to use them ^__^ They apply pretty well for the price (1000-2000 Korean won which equates to like $1.50-$3 AUD depending on exchange rates), with much better opacity than $2 chemists nail polishes.

Left: Chi Chi Hollywood Heiress, Right: Etude House PK010
(Note- Chi Chi nail polish bottle tops have 4 silver lines around the top, I accidentally wiped this one with nail polish remover)

Chi Chi Hollywood Heiress is my all time favourite nail polish. I'm on my second bottle because the first one got gluggy after a while so I put nail polish remover in it (idiotic I know) and the colour changed :S I don't think there are any swatches available for Hollywood Heiress (well I can't find it on Google anyway) even though it's so pretty! It is a very pinky coral, two coats for opacity with no streaks. I didn't apply a top coat to show how shiny it is! I absolutely love this colour, and I think it suits all skin tones. I have light yellowish hands (typical Asian) and my mum has darker browner hands - it suits us both.

Etude House PK010: Index and pinky finger, Chi Chi Hollywood Heiress: the other three >_>


As for the Etude House PK010, it is a Barbie pink. Not hot pink but the pink Barbie cars and houses are made of. I wouldn't call this shade a baby pink or strawberry milk pink because they have more white in them... I applied two coats, with no top coat again. I don't wear pink nail polish often, but this one is okay - as long as I don't JUST wear this one on its own. I had to file my nails short because I can't wear pink on long nails (frightens me a little).




There you have it, first review ever! Please comment on how I can improve *^_^*