Tag Archives: mani

Nails Of The Day: Essie Dive Bar & Essie Shine Of The Times manicure

essie shine of the times

Over the festive period, I was lucky enough to be invited to quite a few Christmas parties – so I felt it only right to put slightly more effort into my look than my usual pyjamas accessorised with cookie crumbs down the front… so hello new mani!

For Christmas party number one, I went with Essie Dive Bar, an inky blackened teal – very cool, very rock n’ roll, but darkly sophisticated with it. It’s one of those intriguing polish colours that looks black from far away, but reveals glittering depths on closer inspection. It’s super easy to use; like most Essie polishes, it flows onto the nail beautifully and is pretty much opaque in one coat (although I always seem to do two out of habit). I did find it dried a little dull for my tastes though, so I added a slick of top coat to give it a glossier finish. Amazingly enough for a polish this dark, it doesn’t stain either so well done Essie.

essie dive bar

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Models Own Slate Green nail polish review

models own slate green

I can’t remember what I heard about first: the existence of British nail polish brand Models Own… or the fact that they regularly have amazing 50% off sales on their website!

They recently had another such sale and of course, I immediately began to get itchy buying fingers. But for once, I managed to exercise some cosmetics control and instead decided to shop from my substantial stash instead – resulting in a quick mani using Models Own Slate Green.

The results? I really need to start shopping my stash more often! How on earth did I let this colour go undiscovered in the murky depths of my drawers for so long?

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Zoya Aurora nail polish review

zoya aurora

Hail to the Princess Aurora! All of her subjects adore her! Hail to the King, hail to the Queen, hail to the Princess Aurora!

Given that Sleeping Beauty was always my favourite Disney princess, it was always likely I’d feel the urge to buy Zoya’s Aurora nail polish – and yes, I totally buy cosmetics based on the product names. Thankfully, the colour turned out to be pretty stellar.

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Christian Louboutin nail polish launches in Hong Kong – head over heels for designer lacquer

louboutin nail polish hong kong

Would you pay HK$450 for a nail polish? (International readers – that’s approximately US$58 or GBP£36!) Well, now’s the time to find out as Christian Louboutin’s nail polish line has just launched in Hong Kong.

First things first, these are no average nail polishes. The bottles – with long pointed caps reminiscent of a sharp stiletto heel, and chunky geometric cut-glass bottles – are practically works of art in themselves. The signature polish in the collection is the Rouge Louboutin, which is of course based on those all-iconic red soles and boasts a longer black cap (designed to be the same height as Louboutin’s tallest ever heel, the Ballerina Ultima) with a beautiful ombre tinted glass bottle.

louboutin nail polish hong kong rouge louboutin

Fashion legend has it that Louboutin’s very first red soles were created by him painting red nail polish directly onto the shoes… so it’s kind of cool that things have now come full circle and the brand is actually producing the lacquer itself!

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LAKA Manicure Express review: the fastest mani in Hong Kong!

UPDATE: LAKA Manicure Express has now closed in Hong Kong

I think you all know how much I love my nail polish by now… but you may have noticed the sweet stuff hasn’t been appearing much on Through The Looking Glass lately. Fact is, I just haven’t had that much time to devote to painting my nails recently – which is where LAKA Manicure Express comes in!

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Faster than a harassed commuter dashing across the platform at Admiralty MTR, LAKA express manicures clock in at an impressive 20 minutes – the quickest I’ve found in Hong Kong so far. And far from being speedy but slapdash, their therapists are veritable varnish whizz kids, leaving you with a pristine and near-perfect mani that looks just as good as the ones that take waaaaay longer.

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