The Long Wait

Seems like it's also a long awaited update. Sorry I've been pretty tied up at work these days. What with CNY just around the corner, multiple nails to paint all while juggling work.

So I've more or less caught up with the latest manicure designs (although I do have about three more backdated ones) but let me share with you another one of my hauls. This one took a very long time to arrive and it contained most of the things I've been waiting for so it was really unbearable to have to wait so long for them.

I guess that's what happens when you use a third party to ship everything over. Thing is, the shipping alone for one of the products were more expensive than the actual product itself so that's why I decided to use a third party to consolidate everything and send it since I was getting a few items from four different merchants.

Well, I ordered and paid for my goods online to the merchant and proceed to inform the third party company I was enlisting. I'm still pondering if I should drop names as I wasn't too happy with the service. Well, we'll see.

I bought four items from Amazon on the 10 Oct and since they were having super saver for two of the items so I decided to group them. No idea why Amazon didn't consolidate it into one shipping as specified and this particular item held up my entire shipping.

At the same time, I purchased seven items from eBay on the 14 Oct. On 18 Oct, Amazon's tracking shows that item delivery was completed but I still did not receive news from the vendor. I sent them an email on the 27 Oct to inquire on the packages marked as delivered by the merchant but I didn't receive any news after that.

I sent them a second reminder on 01 Nov and I still didn't receive any reply by the 6th so I called them as I was in Singapore for work at the time. They F-I-N-A-L-L-Y revert back to me on 10th telling me they are unable to locate one other package that's why they did not update the system status. By that time, I was livid with anger as it took them almost two weeks to get back to me after numerous emails from my side and I was also pretty tied up at work and my one month free storage was up.

I told them this and informed them that it wasn't my fault so I will not bear any additional cost for storage as they did not properly keep track of my item and I will only ship the complete set once they find that ONE missing item since merchant already stated it was delivered on 18th Oct.

They finally managed to locate my missing item on the 17th Nov (one month after merchant has delivered and signed receipt by their warehouse personal!) and they finally bill me the invoice for the shipping on the 18th (ask them to track parcel take so long, ask me for payment so fast...).

Apart from that, I received my items on the 29th Nov. Took my babies almost one and a half month to reach me. Having said that, I guess they are quite alright but they still have loads more to learn when it comes to shipping and tracking on customer's behalf. After all, we DO send them the items list... why is it so hard for them to check?

Rantings aside, here are my lovelies that I waited ages for...

As I gleefully look at the package...

Oops... Now you know who effed up my shipment...

 Four packages of lovelies...

 First package contained two polishes from Nubar

Both is Nubar 2010 a close dupe of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasures but at a much lower cost that's why I bought one additional spare

 Second package contains seven polishes all from claire's mood polish collection...

Took me damn long to find these ok... and had to wait to bid for them also... =.=
L-R: fabulous/funky, awesome/silly, excited/bored, calm/wild, flirty/shy, peaceful/confident & happy/earthy. I think I'm missing a few more other colours...

My third package was totally unrelated to nail polish but since it was shipped together I might as well share these lovelies with you too...

Tokio Hotel Fever by Beatrice Nouveau photo book to curb my craving for these deletable German band. Was selling in Malaysia for a whooping RM75 but Kinokuniya was the only book shop that carried it and they were OOS (Out of Stock) so I decided to get it together. This was THE item that went missing...

My fourth package contained Tokio Hotel Humanoid City Live CD and DVD!!! Stupid Rock Records in Malaysia sold them seperately at around RM50 each! I got these for emmm... I think it was around USD13+ excluding shipping but this was supersaver item so shipping was very cheap or even free... too long ago so I can't remember anymore... =.=

So that wraps up this haul. Will have more post coming up. I have so much catching up to do... *sighs*

New Year 2011 Marble

Ok. Time for my latest manicure. After this it'll mostly be posts of me trying to catch up on my earlier manicures. I'll even throw in a few newer manicures for good measure.

I decided to use the colors I got from my latest spree and I was undecided about the colour. I wanted to use both the colours from the Cheers to You Holiday Set but as both colours were too similar I worried they might not show up well on the marble.

In the end, I decided (with the help of Hunts) to go with Little Drummer Boy (blue) and Cheers to You (silver).

For the base, I used one coat of Cheers to You as I wanted the silver to pop out since the blue is the more domination colour of the two.

This was one coat of Cheers to You. It covered well with one coat. You can see a bit of VNL (visible nail line) but I'm sure the second coat would've taken care of it.

I was trying for a different design but it kinda failed in the sense the end result wasn't exactly the same but it still looked nice in it's own way. I had to retry a few times to make sure the blue wasn't dominating the whole design.

As you can see the marble on my left hand for the thumb and middle finger, blue was the most dominating colour. You can barely see the silver streaks but it's still there.

For my right hand, silver dominated my thumb and pinky. Overall I personally didn't quite like this marble but I received a lot of compliments for it. One man's meat is another's poison I guess. Or probably the fact that I know it was not the end result I was going for and the fact I was rushing (I did this exactly on the eve of New Year's) so I had to make do with it.

I have since removed this manicure. I'm still not sure what I want to do as my next manicure. Should I do a marble or a Konad?

Christmas Came a Wee Bit Later for Me

I didn't get much presents for Christmas this year. Mostly the ones I got were from the gift exchange we organised with Secondary schoolmates and my ex-colleagues. I got one other surprise present from a friend who is currently working in Australia. She had her boyfriend pass it to me since she's not around. It was very sweet as I wasn't expecting any presents as I have already informed friends not to get me any as I can't afford to get them one as I was at that point, jobless so every penny I have had to be saved.

I did a spree a few months back from this girl in Lowyat forum but since she has decided to stop spreeing, I see no point in adding a link to her forum lest you all get disappointed. I might start my own polish spree but that will be in the future when work settles down a bit and I get used to the momentum.

I figured since it was her last spree I went all out. Shelled out around RM400++ as it was going to be her last spree (kiasism is strong within me). I thought I'd have to wait til 2011 to get my hands on my final haul from her and was pleasantly surprised when she informed me a day after Christmas that the goods had arrived. I quickly made my final payment (400 at one go is a lot and this sweetheart let me pay in installments as it was my 3rd spree with her) and informed her so she could sent out the goods.

At that point, I figured I'd definitely only receive my stocks after New Year's and had to start planning my new year manicure. Since I was not working then, everyday I'd wait for the postman to come and hopefully carry a huge parcel with him. I didn't have to wait long. I got my parcel on the 30th, a day before the prime minister declared 31st a holiday and I was so relived... See, I wanted to use at least two of the colours for my New Year's Eve marble.

WARNING: Loadsa pictures up ahead!!!

Hugeeeee box containing my spoils...

All bundled up so it doesn't break... Oh... Why so many wrappers??? I want to see the goodies inside... >.<

Another round of protection... (will I ever get to the stuff inside???)

and another... to keep the boxes from shifting around too much

We're on to the last lap now...

First box contained one of the China Glaze Cheers to you 2010 Christmas holiday set. It comes with a free holiday shot glass. Colours from L-R is Midnight Kiss (a gold foil) and Cheers to You (a silver foil). The spree-er? told me there might be a chance that the shot glass might get broken in transit but since the price is the same either way so I decided to take the risk. So worth it.

Second box. Also from China Glaze 'Tis the Season to be Naughty and Nice (2010 Christmas) is Frosty (white shimmer). The other two is Seche Prep (nail cleanser & antiseptic) and Seche Soft (cuticle softner).

Third box held my very first essie (both from Essie's 2010 Winter collection) & Orly polish to date. I'm so excited, can't wait to try em out. L-R: Hot Coco, Cashmere Cardigan (Orly's Spring 2009 Prepster collection) & Going Incognito (all cremes).

Fourth box. More China Glaze Polishes. L-R: Rated Holographic (a holo from their Kaleidoscope collection), Little Drummer Boy (a blue shimmer also from their 2010 Christmas collection) and Ruby Pumps (a red glitter from their Love You Snow Much, 2009 Christmas collection & also Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection).

The fifth box mostly contained all my Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. The topcoat to use if you're in a rush and need your manicure to dry like pronto! In between was Color Club's Revvvolution (a black holo from their femme Fatale collection. Somehow the colour in the bottle looked nothing like holo. I'll have to swatch it to be sure) and High Society (a brownish-grey creme from their Rebel Debutante collection).

The sixth and final box also contained China Glaze Polishes. L-R: He's Going in Circles (green holo also from Kaleidoscope collection) and TMI (red holo from their OMG collection).

So that wraps up my belated Christmas present to myself cum haul. I have more hauls to post up (this is my latest so I'll be working my way back from now) and more nailart to come so stay tuned!