Nails of the past ♥

I love painting my nails ♥ but lately I've been too lazy to come up with new ideas to paint them with ^^ I always only use my real nails, never fakes or acrylics, this is the length I keep them when I don't have uni. Otherwise the white part will be half as long. I mostly photograph my left hand because A) I'm right handed, therefore B) the design on the left hand comes out better, and C) I use my right hand to use the camera too. So just thought I'd do a post on some of the things I've done to my nails over the past few months. Most are rather messy because I usually take the picture right after painting, so all the excess polish at the edges hasn't been wiped off yet^^

So here are my bare nails. They're rather stained cos I hardly keep them bare; they're always coated with something ehehe. But I suppose from all the milk I drank when I was a child, they've turned out to be quite strong, so they don't break very easily and they're a bit thicker than average. But...when they do break it's usually the right index or left index nails. Or middle nails.

Just having a single color makes them look freakishly long, and a tad scary haha. So I added a layer of glitter to these pearly turquoise nails! Visee Juicy Doll Up Nails in BL962 and GR720 (glitter).

Tricolor pink with floral stickers! Now that I think about it the stickers are not very matching, but I though that just the tricolor would be boring ^^

Jill Stuart Nail Color N in #27 pink with 3d flowers ♥ As you can see my middle nail broke T_T hence it's sooo much shorter than the rest of my nails! Thumb nail also broke a little, so it's a tad shorter too. Ring finger nail is super long! I think it's the longest I've grown them ever! Though it's a tad too long I reckon.

White+purple with crystals in the middle. Ooh the thumb has started chipping :( White from Etude House, purple from The Face Shop in PP405. Swarovski crystals in Jet, size 6?

Gold + stripey pink and white french! Drew the hearts on and added crystals. The pink and white reminds me of candy ♥ :D I liked these a lot. And I like the length of my nails here.

This is actually a black with dark green shimmer/glitter (Etude House Dear Darling Nails Bling Bling WH004), but you can't really see it cos of the lighting. The white bits are a mixture of stickers and Konad stamping. And green heart-shaped stones on the thumb.

My Minnie Mouse-inspired nails! Bright red (Etude House Petit Darling Nails RD103) + white dots, drew on black bows and white hearts ♥

Pink leopard prints. This is my uni length nails, freshly cut so they're rather short (for me)!

Another time when my nails were longer I did the pink leopard, then added flower flakes and flower stickers and drew on white/red bows and added a heart stone in the middle of the bow...so these nails look kinda thick and messy haha!

I used a sponge for this, mixed a bunch of blues/turquoises/greens, so the texture's a bit splotchy/dotty :D Then drew bows at the top and put crystals in the middle ♥

Happy nails! The mix of bright colors makes me feel happy :D Light pink base then I just randomly dotted the top with different colors from my mini H&M Summer Nails ♥♥

Black/pink/white nails. Quite messy, picture was taken right after I finished painting so all the edges hadn't been smoothed off nicely ^^

Oooh these were long! Pink base + chocolate swipes and Konad stamped ribbons and snowflakes. These were to test out the Konads, I wasn't feeling inspired for the base :(

Shorter nails T_T Plain multi-colored french. For lazy times when I'm not inspired and don't want to sport a plain single color hand.

Boring pink/red french with black line. All Etude House polishes, the pink (Petit Darling Nails PK006 Satin Pink) has a smooth pearly finish.

JYJ! ♥ The triangle thing's their logo ^^ First attempt and yeah my nails were short here. Etude House Lucid Darling Fantastic Nails (long name!) in Shimmering 05 Garnet Red, perfect TVXQ red ♥

Polishes! Err I don't really have a fixed storage for them, at first it was the pink basket, which soon got filled up, then I just started piling more on top ehehehe. I even used an old cotton box to store more polishes ^^ Or the ones that come in boxes I leave them in their boxes and pile it on top ^^

The original pink basket. First compartment: The Face Shop polishes. Well, they're cheap and have many colors. Good if you wanna use for short term. But...not so good for using as an all over single color nail color. Most of them bubble like mad after application or over 1 layer :( Second compartment: Etude House polishes! I love the Dear Darling series, they're so bling. But, the price is super jacked up in Singapore compared to Korea. But still not as expensive as half an OPI. Third compartment's miscellaneous: Visee, Jill Stuart, Anna Sui, Paul & Joe, newer Etude House Lucid Darling buys.

Make-shift storage made from an old box of facial cotton. OPI, Color Club and Nature Republic.

The Face Shop stash. They were on sale for S$2.20 each so I spammed...bad decision :/

Etude House stash. Bottom row is my bunch of Dear Darling Nails polishes.

H&M Summer Nails sets! 2.95euros each! They're mini and such a bright cheery bunch. Used these for dotting my happy nails above ♥

OPI Shrek Minis.

My 6 bottles of Nature Republic polishes. They were S$1.90 each, they're metallic and have a good finish. I actually use these for single color nails. Yes there are fuzzy gray bits around the bottles. They have actually collected dust as I don't do single color nails very often.

So that's it for my bunch of nails! I'm just lacking a bunch of pastel colors which I will soon order a bunch of from Gmarket mwahahaha! ♥ Hopefully they'll turn out well. I've been searching high and low for decent pastel shades that aren't too costly because I know I'll need to grab a whole bunch of colors ehehehe ♥ And ones that don't come in too huge of a bottle because I won't use much of every color anyway! Mmm Dollywink polishes are super duper cute! but they're so tiny and the price mark up in Singapore is a tad expensive. They're not of the lighter pastel shades I'm looking for, but they have the darker pastel shades! ♥ Texture/finish isn't bad either! ♥

Korean masks so far

Masking, masking, masking, oh how I love doing it ♥ Fun to do and moisture session for skin :D I regularly use masks, both sheet and washoff! For regular sheetmasking, I guess I'm not very particular about the mask, as long as it softens, brightens and doesn't cause any skin irritations. (none so far thankfully). And most also as long as the essence isn't so runny that I can't sit and use the laptop without the essence dripping down my neck. If it doesn't meet these criteria I probably won't purchase again. Of course, nice scents are an added bonus! :D

I love Korean sheet masks (: Not only are they easy on the pocket, they're also of top notch quality and you can be sure that (well, most of the time) they don't compromise on it! So these were some masks hauled from Gmarket a few weeks ago. After using them nearly everyday, it's time to do a review! Most of these are Purederm masks, from the seller purederm on Gmarket. The VOV washoff masks are from the seller Blue Ocean.

Clockwise from top left: Aloe, Cucumber, Strawberry, Rose, Tomato.

First up, these were the five kinds of "regular" line sheet masks I picked, received 10 of each. (You can pick out of their many different varieties, but they give you 10 of each. So you can order max 10 varieties, you can order just 5 types but 2x10=20 of each, but you can't pick 20 types and ask for 5 of each! )

Generally I love cucumber and aloe masks because at least from all the brands I've tried before they seem to hydrate and soothe/fix my skin when I have the occasional zit/dehydration lines/pick zits too much haha. So for normal days I don't really use them, more so for when I need "fixing".

The tomato has a unique smell. It's not sweet or fruity or citrussy, and I guess some would hate it. It's not pungent or smelly or chemical-reeking in any way, but it's different from anything I've ever smelt before and I like kind of it though! In general they moisturize and make my skin softer so no complaints. No irritations or breakouts experienced either! These have a generous amount of essence in them, 23ml, but it doesn't drip off your face like some lousy brand ones do, so kudos to them.

These are the 3 washoff gel masks I got: Tomato Yogurt, Aloe, Strawberry Yogurt. The strawberry one is exceptionally yummy smelling! They come in a box of 15. Directions: Spread pack evenly on face while avoiding eyes and mouth areas. Leave on for 5~10mins then rinse off with warm water.

Best of Purederm! Clockwise from top left: Raspberry Collagen, Chamomile Collagen, Lavender Collagen, Illuminating Arbutin, Jung-an Korean Herb. These five are from the "premium" line, meaning that the sheet for this is alot thinner than that of the regular line. What this means is that less essence is absorbed by/stuck to the sheet and more can be absorbed by your skin instead (: It also means the feeling of wearing the masks is now really really lightweight, truly like a second skin!

While regular sheet masks look white on your face (the cotton sheet), this one is made of pulp so fine it's a bit transparent on your face! Really love using these as they make the experience of masking feel greater! With normal masks sometimes I feel like I can't smile or move my face due to the thickness of the mask sheet, but with these I don't have that problem anymore! ♥

IMO, these are better than the regular line, they really really make skin feel softer after use. The lavender has an awesomely soothing lavender smell, perfect for wearing the mask to sleep as the scent is absolutely heavenly! The arbutin one really brightens and softens skin after usage, you can always see the difference after you take off the mask, go try it! The camomile has a somewhat calming effect on my skin, noticed reduced/disappearance of redness (if any) after use.


Instructions and ingredients list in English on the back of the Illuminating Arbutin and Jung-an masks. Purederm masks can be kept up to 3 years from the date of manufacturing, and as you can see the seller gives quite recently produced ones so no worries of old stock!

Collagen eyezone patches, says to be "enriched with collagen, green tea extract and tropical fruits to provide intensive hydration and diminish signs of aging, reduce eye puffiness and dark circles". These are under-eye masks in the shape of kidney beans? They come in packs of 30 (15 pairs) in a resealable blue ziplock bag. I use these while studying late at night or days after I've stayed up late, they really do seem to reduce the appearance of my fatigued eyes and even brighten them. They're actually quite huge in size, so they stretch from near the bridge of my nose to the ends of my cheekbone!

The package says to leave on for 15~20min but I usually just leave them on till they dry up and fall off or till I remember to remove them haha. Good eco-friendly packaging rather than having individual packaging for each pair, but sometimes they're so stuck together that they're hard to separate when I want to take out one piece ^^

VOV washoff mask pack in Volcanic Powder, I absolutely love this! It really clears up my skin after use, and makes my skin brighter and even gives a glow! ♥ It has a slight scent, not really chemical and not unpleasant. Something like salad? I don't know, but I kind of like it!

VOV washoff mask pack in 17 Cereals. Effects are similar to that of Volcanic Powder but to a lesser extent for me. However it does makes my skin softer than the Volcanic Powder one does. Has a scent too, different from the Volcanic Powder one but not unpleasant either. If I had to choose between the two I'd pick the Volcanic Powder!


Etude House masks! First of all I have to say I really love the packaging! Clockwise from top left: Moistfull, Green Tea, O2 White, Pomegrenate. Okay, I used to quite love the moistfull ones. You can't purchase these individually, they're only given as freebies sadly. They really moisturize skin deeply. So I use these for "fixing" skin only too, when I have really dry skin or when dehydration lines start to show. Or after staying up multiple nights cramming for exams. And cos I've got a limited number of them and they can't be purchased, I use them sparingly too ^^ Why I say used to is because the essence does leave a rather sticky feeling after use, so that's something I can't really stand anymore. So now I use the Neutrogena Deep Hydrating Masks if I really need deeper moisturizing. The O2 White ones really do not really whiten, more like brighten. Like the moistfull, these are also freebies only. I somewhat enjoy using these too, but sparingly as well. The Pomegrenate and Green Tea are so-so, they smell quite nice too, so they're alright for everyday/non-special need usage. However at $2 a pop I'd rather use Purederm or Chungjungmiin!

So that's it for my masks post so far :D Yes I have a ton of them, Chungjungmiin, My Beauty Diary, Purederm, Etude, The Face Shop, Lioele, Hermius, Dermal and Skin Food for sheet masks, VOV, Purederm and The Body Shop for washoffs. For washoffs my absolute favorites are The Body Shop Honey Oat and Seaweed Clay ones! Yummy and effective! ♥ What about you, do you mask often? Which ones are your favorites?~

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HOW TO ORDER

Since I frequently get emails asking how to order from purederm, figured I'd just add it here:
On the page itself, it doesn't really matter what you put in that blank box in the options. It most likely cannot fit all your choices anyway. What you have to do is just add the item to the cart, and when you check out, there'll be a "note to seller" section. Search for the box for purederm. In that box, write down which masks you want and how many of each (: