It's not New Year without the dots.

Spoiler alert: it didn't make the cut.

Merry Christmas! May you all be filled with happiness, peace, and love. And may you receive the gifts you've been wishing for all year and eat the food you have to burn big time in the next few days. Love and kisses to all! Cheers! <3

A lipgloss in a matte formula? Now wait a minute...

Let's paint the town red.

The season is in full swing so I thought it's time to share a classic polish color that everyone's probably wearing this time of year: red. Red is always associated with Christmas so you can bet that most people will be wearing something red- a dress, a shirt, a pair of shoes, lipstick, and of course, nail polish. Red pretty much goes with every outfit possible so I can't say I blame them for choosing the color.

Several months ago, I saw an OMG stand in my nearby mall. I thought it was quite interesting but I never picked up anything because I still had a handful of new polishes at home. What made me go back and actually pick one up is when I saw my cousin's ex-girlfriend paint my aunt's nails with an OMG polish. I thought the polish was really good and solid, the total opposite of the local polishes I tried before. So I went back, purchased three shades, and now I'll be talking about the red one.

Exactly Red is their standard red shade. It's a common red, one that isn't too light or too dark. Basically, it's their basic creme red. (That's why too much red in three sentences, Shaunne.) I'm fairly positive this isn't a blue-based red because I get a warm undertone from it. That or maybe I'm going blind? :))

Formula-wise, it's on the thin side. Not thin where it's sheer but it's thinner than the formulas I'm used to. It's thinner and a bit runnier than the NARS polishes as the latter are creamier than this. On the first coat, Exactly Red, not gonna lie, looks like a tacky shade of red. But the second coat makes everything better because it makes the color look more solid and richer. The second coat brings out the true red shade of this polish.

I have to mention that this polish gets darker in every coat. I rarely see the transition in other polishes but with this one, it's pretty obvious. Look at the swatches above. You can see that the color on my ring finger is darker than the rest. That's mainly because of a booboo I was trying to fix and in the process, I applied an extra coat and boom! Darker shade. It's not obvious from a distance but it's pretty noticeable up close. So I guess the moral of the story is be extra careful when painting and drying you're nails? :))

You can jazz the polish up a million different ways or even use it for stamping, I think. A 10ml bottle costs 25php, pretty cheap for something that works pretty well. Drying time is average, as well as the longevity. I experience chipping after three days, not bad considering the hits it took within those days!

Current products I use at night.

Bling up!

I died and went to Benefit heaven, you guys.

Last Saturday was pretty exciting.

Warning: photo heavy. But hey, if you're a makeup geek, it's nothing! :P

Haven't used makeup wipes in a long time so this'll be interesting.

Who's up for some skincare? 

My first TB polish.

Not really sure how many polish hauls are currently in this blog...I guess I buy way too much polish, I lost count. But hey, here's another one for everyone's entertainment!

A new product has been added to my nightly skincare routine and it's the bomb.

Whipping out the black polish because it's a classic.

I know I don't wear black polish that often anymore and that I prefer my dark hues but a good black polish is still a staple in anyone's stash. You can do a lot of things with black polish, ie., wear it as it is, glam it up, mattify it, use it as a stamping polish, etcetera, etcetera. Bottom line is, everyone needs at least one good black in their polish collection, whether you use it or not.

Here I have a good one. It's essence Colour & Go in #59 Black is Back, part of essence's quick drying polish range. I really can't tell you much about the color as it's pretty straightforward: a good, solid, non-matte, non-shimmery black. It's pretty opaque so you can get away with one coat, but of course a second coat never hurt nobody. Formula-wise, it's good. It's neither thick or thin, although it thickened up a bit at some point but rolling the bottle in between coats thins it out pronto. 

As like other essence quick drying polishes, it comes with a square-tipped brush. I had a little issue with the brush because the brush wasn't exactly cut cleanly. There were a few bristles that stick out at the tip which made application a bit trickier and messier, but thankfully it was manageable. 

A bit of an update, after the polish dried, I felt it was too basic, too boring. (#basicbitch) So I went ahead and jazzed it up by applying Anna Sui in 003, a lovely glittery sheer black. TBH, I'm loving this combo right now as I feel like I have starry skies on my nails. Minimalist galaxy nails, anyone?

I used to be obsessed with black polish. It was a staple during my teen years and I loved wearing it because it gave me a badass/punk-rock kind of vibe. As I got into nail polishes more and as I grew older, my love for black polish decreased. There was a time when I wore black polish and I got quite sad as it looked so flat, boring, and ordinary. That's basically how I got into loving (and hoarding) polishes with dark hues as they're dark enough to be cool but not too dark that they're flat and boring.

This month's just the perfect time to sport dark lippies, no?

Ending the week with my second empties post.

 Currently wearing this polish I'm obsessed with as it's dark, glittery, and textured.

The polish is actually the sister (or brother?) of a polish I reviewed way back, only that polish screams bright and happy. This polish, on the other hand, screams mystical and wicked which makes this very appropriate this Halloween month. #165 Here's My Number is a gorgeous dark gray color, you can easily mistake it as black. But once you wear it, you'll see that it's quite light to be a true black. It has tons of tiny glitters that give this polish its sand texture. The glitters on this one are silver and a few colored ones, unlike its sister with gold flecks.

What I like about it is that it's really easy to work with despite how glittery it is. I didn't experience any flooding on the cuticles but I think that's partly because I applied each coat thinly. I did two coats on each nail as one coat was sheer and uneven. It took some time drying as it's not part of essence's quick dry formula line but once it does, it feels so gritty you can't stop touching it.

Honestly, I feel like I'm wearing a starry sky on my nails. It looks really lovely on the nails and feels like it won't chip easily. I feel like this would go well with an Evil Queen or Witch costume as its dark enough to scream evil but glittery enough to show that you're a fabulous evil queen or witch. Ha. I think I found the polish for the season. ;)

Small things I got yesterday.

Back to the dark and metallic end of polish land. I feel like myself again.

So I tried something new several days ago, something that worked very well I  thought it deserved its own post. If you like a good face exfoliator, better read on.

My current concealer is somewhat new but it already won me over.

Hola! Today's post is nail art-related, something I've learned through countless nail art tutorials in YouTube. And it's pretty freaking cool.

Let's talk about my current default lippie, shall we?

New in my stash: a taupe kajal pencil. 

I usually stay away from kajal pencils because I like my liners smudge-proof and waterproof but how could I say no to a taupe pencil? When I saw this, my neutral-loving self just told me to go for it. It was also on sale so really, I had no choice. :)) I was able to use it for a couple of times and here's my review.

It has been exactly one week since I've used this product and here's my feedback.

Not a really big fan of chunky glitter on my nails but today I'm gonna make an exception.