Adorned Nails: Etos Effect Nails No. 24

I wasn’t feeling well the other day and I couldn’t sleep. I tried reading a book but it couldn’t hold my attention. So, for the first time in many weeks, I whipped out a bottle of nail polish and proceeded to paint my nails. With this, I managed to concentrate. Yeah...that’s weird.

I eventually fell asleep after putting on three coats (and didn’t do any cuticle clean-up). I didn’t take pictures of my nails till more than twelve hours later and these were the results.

Etos is a Dutch drugstore chain. I wrote a bit about Etos a while back, if you’re curious. Etos has its house-brand of makeup products, including nail polishes, offered at affordable prices. This little bottle of probably 7ml (it’s not stated on the bottle) cost €2.49, if I recall correctly.

Effect Nails No. 24 held so much promise in the bottle. It was lilac, dense with fine shimmer particles and I thought it was a duochrome as I noted hues of grey too.

Well, it was a rather different story on the nails. It looks pink. Granted, it does have an overload of fine shimmer particles, so much so that the finish looks gritty. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel gritty to the touch. But aaaiii, where’s the duochrome?!

The following photos were taken on the third day after I suddenly had the urge to do some stamping. I’ve used a simple obscure flowery design from the Essence Nail Art Stampy Design Plate 02: Style It Up! and KONAD’s black stamping polish. No top coat was used.

I like the stark contrast of black on li...I mean pink shimmer. At a glance, they look like black velvet flowers pasted on a bed of pink grainy metal.

Hmm, nope, I still can’t see the duochrome.

ELLIS FAAS: Eye Look With Light IV

Here’s another look that I’ve put together. This one took a bit longer than expected to complete, mainly because of the wing-ed eyelining on the bottom. This is my first ever attempt at mirrored wing-ed eyelining.

The products used were:

L-R:
Milky Eyes E203 (dark blue with a hint of shimmer)
Creamy Eyes E106 (matte taupe)
Light E301 (metallic light beige)
Creamy Eyes E103 (matte black)
Mascara E401 (black)

I love the beautiful blue of E203 (left). That bit of shimmer that it has helps to add more character to the blue.

Here’s what I did:

1. Applied Milky Eyes E203 on the upper lid with finger. First, applied a thin layer all across the lid, to just above the eyelid fold. Then, dabbed on a thicker layer of E203 close to the lash line (in my case, the area where the eyelid folds).

2. Used a small eyeshadow brush to apply Creamy Eyes E106 to the outer two-thirds of the bottom lid, extending it further on the outer corner. It’s almost like lining the bottom lid very thickly, but it won’t look OTT because of the neutral subdued colour of E106.

3. Applied Light E301 to the inner corner of the eye using an eyeliner brush. Continue by thinly lining the entire bottom lash line with E301, ie a thin lining of shimmery E301 on top of the thick matte E106. Note: This isn't waterlining.

4. Used an angled eyeliner brush to line the upper lash line with Creamy Eyes E103. Wing-ed the line.

5. Used the angled eyeliner brush to line the outer two-thirds of the lower lash line with the blue of E203. The line was drawn just below the thin shimmery line of E301. Wing-ed the line to (almost) mirror the eyelining of the upper lid. This blue lining is a bit fuzzy, as opposed to the sharp and distinct lining of the upper lid.

6. Curled lashes and applied Mascara E401.

I think this look can carry you from daytime to nighttime. Personally, I don’t think it’s too much for daytime. In these close-up photos, it may look rather intense but in person, much of the intensity is drowned out.

On another note, to all the ladies and gentlemen who participated in the recent ELLIS FAAS: ELLIS EYES Light Giveaway, your email addresses have already been passed on to ELLIS FAAS. Fret not if you haven’t received from them the email with the discount coupon code. The folks at ELLIS FAAS will send the emails out to all of you as soon as they are ready.