Arrrg, ye matey!

Haha, I loved the Pirates of the Carribean collex from OPI.  I liked it so much that I actually put the movies on my netflix (since I hadn't seen them yet) and have now watched the first 3!  I should have stopped after the first 1... but that's another issue.

This is 3 coats OPI Mermaid's Tears with dots of OPI Yodel Me on My Cell.  I absolutely love this dusty teal green.  I love teal already, but this shade is just to die for!  I love it!  So pretty.  And the application was fairly good too.  It was perfect, there's a bubble on the index finger, you can see.  But hey, it's worth it for this shade!

So pretty!  I love it!  Hahaha.  What do you guys think??

Barbie Party!

Pretty sure I already posted this... but we'll try again!
Sometimes you just need to take a break and slap on some barbie pink and sparkles!!  Yay!  Nothing beats a perk-me-up like pink sparkles!

Pretty!!!  This is 3 coats OPI Strawberry Margarita topped with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on top.  I love this combo and left it on for a whole week!  It's just a real feel-good combo.

Don't mind that oddly shaped index finger nail... it broke down too far to cut evenly.  Ouch!  Anyway...

Sparkle-icious!  I love it!  What do you think?

Glitter Cracked

I have to say I jumped on the crack bandwagon.  Crackle is like the crack of nail polish!  You wouldn't think so, but it's addicting!  It's so much fun to play with the different colors and there are seemingly endless combinations!

This is OPI Sparkle-iscious topped with China Glaze Broken Hearted.  I loved it but most people just thought I had glitter on top of pink.  That was disappointing, but oh well.  The OPI went on with fairly good coverage.  The glitter is really packed in there!  Taking it off is another story, lol.  It's hell, like most glitters.  The crackle goes on great.  You put it on and it dries fairly quickly and as it dries, it shrinks, so it pulls apart in these neat patterns.

I love it!  It caught the light and sparkled and it was just awesome.  I loved it the whole time I had it on.  I got tons of compliments, but like I said, they just thought it was glitter on pink.  Boo, lol.  Oh well.  What do you think?

Grey skies

I had to check out the new OPI collection, of course.  And everything is based on Texas.  The land of the bigger and better.  Well, I think a lot of the colors look too similar, lol.  There's an orange, 2 coral shades and like 4 pink/red/purple shades... which are all in the same family.  From looking at other blogger's swatches, they all pretty much look the same to me!  But this one is different.  This is like a mega grey!

This is 3 coats of OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It.  I added flowers with OPI A Grape Fit!  I cannot sing enough praises about this polish.  It's a lavender grey with PINK shimmer.  Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to capture on camera... but my first finger there shows some.

Here's a close up on my index finger.  See that pink shimmer in there?  It's SO pretty!  It's easier to see in person, but it's not something others are going to see.  I tend to like polish like this because it's pretty for everyone looking at it, but it's SUPER cool to me.  Haha.

This photo shows pretty much none of that pink shimmer.  But it's still a pretty silver grey color.

Another shot, somewhat shaded.  This shows how sheer it is.  Apparently sheer is the new thing for OPI, lol.  I like the jelly quality of the "sorbet" polish they have in the collection, which is pretty much all the colors I mentioned above, but for this?  I'd rather have opaque.  If I wore it again, I'd use a grey base coat first.

Nail Polish Jewelry!

I think it's pretty obvious that I LOVE nail polish.  The only downside?  When you have to take it off!  So how do we solve this dilemma?  By making nail polish into jewelry!  It's like the best invention ever.  And it's even more beautiful than you could imagine!

How beautiful are these?  The round one is a ring of GOSH Holographic with OPI Black Shatter on top.  The pendant is a water marble using China Glaze Octa-Gone Wild, OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise, OPI Ink and OPI Purple with a Purpose.  Tracey at GingerKitty Designs made these pieces.  I just picked the colors!

Look at that shimmer and holo!  LOVE!  Tracey is a genious!

Sooooooo pretty!  It's a weird angle, but it's kinda cool how it shows the colors.

Check out that holo greatness!  And it's a giant ring, I love big bold jewelry!

This is full sun.  To the naked eye, the entire ring was a giant rainbow.  But I couldn't capture it with the camera.  Weird how that happens.

I highly suggest checking out Tracey's Etsy shop and if you love nail polish, you won't be disappointed.  If you don't see something available in the shop, send her an email and she'll work with you to create something unique.  The quality is superb and the turn around time is decent.  I will admit I was a little afraid of the ring thinking it might turn my finger green, but it didn't!  I was also worried it might be flimsy since it's adjustable, but again, it's not.  The band is actually pretty thick and sturdy.  I will definitely go back in the future for more pieces.  She has an amazing selection and it's all beautiful.

St. Patty's Day

I didn't really get into St. Patty's Day this year.  I didn't feel like going all out with nail art and drawing things.  I figured a simple green mani would do.  But then it was boring, so I added a glitter gradient, hehe.  I like it!

This is 3 coats of Avon Jade with OPI Glow Up Already on the tips.  The Avon went on ok, good coverage but it was a little streaky.  I like the color because it's green, but it's on the blue side, which is my favorite.  I love teal, so the bluer greens are more my speed.  To do the glitter tips, I practically wiped it dry before putting it on so it would be more sparse.

It looks greener in this shot.  I wound up really loving this mani.  I like the glitter tips, it gives it a little pizazz without being obnoxious, lol.  And it's really easy to do, so that helps, lol.  Plus I always think glitter helps with wear.  So this mani lasted a good long time.

Just for fun, haha.  I had this duck on my desk, so I picked him up for a pic.  Isn't he cute?  Hehehe.  Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Valentine's Day

I did do a Vday mani this year despite my feeling against it, lol.  I know I'm late in posting it, but better late than never, right?  I pretty much had to use the new red from China Glaze Anchor's Away collection.  It's such a bright and amazing red!  AND it's a one-coater.  What's not to love??

Check that out!!  Hehe.  This is 2 coats OPI Princesses Rule! as a base and 1 coat China Glaze Hey Sailor on the tips.  I lined the tip with Stripe Rite silver glitter and added a red rhinestone.  How awesome is this look??

Take that!  HA!  I don't know why, but I just love these red tips!

More prettiness!  Ahhhhhh.....

Lol, I was playing with an app on my phone.  I thought it came out cool tho.  Everything is muted and then BAM there's the red in the center.  So cute!  :)

Snowflakes?

I wanted to do snowflakes, but I was in a bit of a rush, so I did dots with sparkles instead.  Haha.  It's sorta snow like.

This is 3 coats of Orly Snowcone.  I make dots with a dotting tool and Sally Hansen White On and topped them with OPI Simmer & Shimmer.  I think it came out cute and a little abstract, haha.

I love that blue, it's so clear and intense, yet light.  Does that make sense?  It's a great color.  You may recall I had a bit of trouble with it previously.  But I shook it up good for a couple days before I used it this time.  I shook it up, let it sit and then repeated, lol.  Seemed to take away that weird oily problem I had.  I try not to shake my polish and roll them instead, but I think this one needed a good shake and then time to settle the bubbles.  Whatever, it worked and I was much happier this time around!

Happy New Year!!

A little belated... but Happy 2011!!!  I hope this year is a lot better than last year.  I suffered a great loss in 2010, but I'm better for it now and I'm thankful that I was strong enough to keep going.

How cool is this?  I used 3 coats of Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora as a base.  It's an amazing black base with copper flakes and gold and iridescent small glitter.  I used Orly Luxe on the tips.  Then I added some Viva la Nails stars and hex glitter.  It was very fitting for the occasion.

So pretty!!!

Last shot, lol.  I loved this one.  I think it came out pretty and I got compliments as well!  :)

OPI: Just a Little Dangerous

When I saw this advertised in the Sephora magazine, it looked AMAZING!  In person, not so much.  I can't find their promo pic now, but they made it seem like this was purple with pink and blue glitter.  There is definitely a shimmer in here, but it's no where near as obvious as they made it out to be.

Sorry for the quick and dirty application.  I was in a rush to get a new color on and had to be somewhere, lol.  Never a good combination.  Anyway, this is 3 coats Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous.  It's definitely pretty, just not the WOW I was hoping for.  It went on fairly well, it was a bit streaky at first.  The pink shimmer is definitely more noticeable than the blue.  Especially in low light where the pink is barely visible at all.

Ewww, horrible cuticles, haha.  I'm messy.  And don't mind that tip wear.  I had to take pics after my day and yeah... it didn't turn out so great.  Oh well.  Really this was only worth something in the sun.  In the shade it was just another royal purple.

Funky Frenchy

For this mani I wanted something simple, but still pretty.  For some reason I just love the french mani look.  But it's kinda boring unless it's a "funky french" which is just using a color instead of white.  Anyway, I liked how it turned out and I got lots of compliments!  This is actually a bit of an oldie... but I love it!

I started with 2 coats CND Putty which is pretty sheer beige.  It basically just evens out your nails so they look perfect.  Application on that was amazing, as usual.  I love CND polish.  Then I added 2 coats of OPI Yodel Me on My Cell for the tips.  I put a stripe with Stripe Rite White on the bottom edge of the teal to cover up my not-so-great edge, lol.  I also put some Stripe Rite Silver Glitter on that edge.  Then I added some stickers from Viva la Nails and topped it all with 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, a very small holo glitter.

Pretty!  Now to me, this looks like straight up teal.  However, I had a few people ask if I had on "Eagles green."  I guess they're close, but not really the same to me.  Not to mention I could really care less about sporting football colors on my nails.  I happened to wear this mani on the weekend, so I guess that's why people assumed.  Oh well, lol.

OPI: The Color to Watch

This is another color that surprised me.  I saw some swatches and didn't really like it.  But I had already bought it.  So it sat there for a bit before I actually tried it.  I heard a few people mention it was sheer, so I didn't bother trying it naked, I started with a base.

This is 1 coat OPI A Grape Fit! which is a nice bright purple.  Then 2 coats of OPI The Color toWatch on top.  This is a really amazing color.  It's like an icy purple color with magenta and blue flecks of sparkle.  It's shimmery and gorgeous!  It's most pretty in full sun, but you can see the flecks indoors too, just not as well.

Check those flecks of color!  How beautiful!  I loved this color.  It really is very neat.  It had good application and went on nice and smooth.  And so pretty.

I also used a new top coat for this mani.  China Glaze Fast Forward.  I have to say, it freakin smells!  BUT it worked like a charm.  These photos are after 3 days of wear.  Wear is the tip wear?  Not there!  What?!  Seriously, 3 days and zero tip wear, with OPI.  I couldn't believe it.  I will keep using it and do a review after a bit.  But so far, I'm impressed!

OPI: Go Goth!

I talked about Halloween a little bit in an earlier post.  I really like the fall.  For some reason this time of year is just my favorite.  The air gets cooler, crisper... the colors of the leaves, the apples, the harvest.  I don't know, I just love it.  Anyway, Halloween is all a part of it too!  I love horror movies, blood and gore are awesome (just don't show someone up-chucking, I can't stand that).  OPI's new mini set is really cute.  They did a good array of colors and styles.  I will warn, my sun started going away and my outdoor shots started sucking, so only half the post is really any good, LOL!

This is 2 coats of OPI Unripened alone.  This went on nice and smooth, good coverage, no trouble getting it on.  In the bottle you can see a hint of purple in the blue shimmer, but I couldn't capture it on my camera and honestly I didn't really see it on my nails IRL either.

This is 2 coats of OPI Nevermore.  If you have OPI Ink, you do NOT need this color.  I actually have Ink on one of the four fingers shown here (honest!)  Can you tell which one?  Application was good, again, nice and smooth, good coverage, no real issues.  I love Ink, it's purple which blue and magenta and awesomeness!  If you don't have Ink, get it... at least you'll get a full size amount of this beauty.

This is 2 coats of OPI Obscurity.  A nice flat matte black.  Application was great.  It does dry fast, but not too fast to be able to apply it evenly.  It gave good coverage, I can't complain.

This is the most suck-tastic pic of the bunch.  I could not capture this color indoors or outdoors with the lack of sun.  Anyway, this is 3 coats OPI Sanguine.  It's a really nice deep merlot type wine-like red.  It gets really dark in shadow and has a good shimmer in the light.  Sorry my pic sucks so bad, lol.

So overall, not a bad group of colors.  I am disappointed that one is a dupe for a fave of mine.  Oh well.  I think it's cute that they included a little stretch lacey bracelet too, lol.  What they should have done is included black eyeliner!  Then I could get some too-light compact powder and brownish lipstick and relive my highschool days.  Hahahaha.  Just kidding... I won't subject you all to that, don't worry.  Happy Fall!!

Viva la Nails Review

So pretty and funky and cool!  How did I do it?  With the help of some goodies from Viva la Nails!!

I heard about a sample package you can get if you blog, so I ordered one!  It's coming from overseas (I'm in the USA), so it took a while to get here, but it was worth the wait!  So much stuff and everything looked awesome.  Here's the haul...

Such a great variety!  Something for everyone really.  I like it all.  I will say, I got a lot of yellow, but that's ok, it's a pretty good color to work with as far as accenting goes.  Gold and silver go with everything, lol.

I immediately picked out the star shaped dazzlings.  For this mani I started with 3 coats of OPI Rumple's Wiggin on all but the ring fingers.  On the ring fingers I used 3 coats of Avon Jade.  I used the Hollow Stars in Mauve on the ring fingers putting one outline and 2 centers on each ring finger.  I put a random number of Punched Stars in Azure on the remaining fingers.  Then I figured it needed some extra bling to make it nice and fancy so I threw on some of the Glitter in Green.

OMG!  It's righty!  Haha.  I don't often show my right hand... usually because it looks ugly... but this time it came out cute!

Right hand closer

Left hand closer

I think these nail art items were super easy to work with.  The dazzlings are thicker, so I put on a good thick coat of regular clear and then 2 coats of Seche Vite on top.  I did still have some corners that were pointy, but I kept the mani on for 4 days and nothing ripped off!

All the nail art items featured in this post can be purchased at Viva la Nails website for under £2!!!

[All nail polish in this post is my own and was purchased by me.]
[All Viva la Nails products were provided to me for review.]

Haul and Nail Mail!

I got some nail mail yesterday and then today I went on a bit of a shopping spree in Ulta.  Couldn't help myself.  I got one of those certificates for spending a certain amount of money during the quarter, so I could get some free polish.  I knew the new OPI Swiss collection was there, so I had to go check it out!  I also got a couple mini-packs that I'm putting aside for giveaways.

First, my nail mail.  I ordered some stuff on Trans Design.  I needed more OPI Expert Touch Remover, it's my fave.  It does a pretty quick job taking off my polish and has a good smell afterwards.  Kinda citrusy, but not overly so.  Anyway, I ordered a jackpot of CND while I was at it.

Hmmm, maybe I over-did it.  I got 3 colors (left to right), Rasberry Parfait, Fireberry, and Dark Ruby.  And 6 effects (not necessarily in this order, I'm too lazy to match them up, haha) Lavender Pearl, Copper Shimmer, Crimson Sparkle, Rasberry Sparkle, Sapphire Sparkle, and Ice Blue Shimmer.  That's a lot!!  I love the effects, they're really pretty and can be dramatic or subtle depending on what you put it on.

Ok, so then I went to Ulta and I found the Orly Cosmic FX collection... SO amazing!  I only picked up 3...

Left to right is Out of This World, Space Cadet and Galaxy Girl (you can also buy these on Transdesign).  A lot of bloggers out there are saying there are dupes for almost all the colors in this collection.  For me, these are all unique.  I love the look of them in the swatches I've seen and I can't wait to try them out!

I also got some OPI... some new, some old.

Left to right is Significant Other Color, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Color to Watch, Yodel Me on My Cell, and My Private Jet.  Yes, you read that right, MPJ.  BUT... it's the chocolate shimmer version, no holo to be seen.  I've never even seen this color in person but I know from all you lovely ladies that there are several versions out there.  This is one... and there were several bottles exactly like it... yes, I checked them all just to be sure.  I really liked a lot of the Swiss Collection, but so much red!  I'm not a huge red fan.  And some of them looked similar to the new China Glaze colors.

Who cares, I have a giant new stash of un-trieds.  I will have to swatch these soon for you guys.  :)

Party Nails!!

I actually wore this mani for my birthday (July 13th).  It's easier to see in shadow than in bright sun because of all that glitter, haha.  This is 2 thick coats of OPI Mad As a Hatter.  Then I used BM05 with Color Club Wild at Heart to add the star on top.  I knew I was going to lose all the holo from the CC polish, but it's the most opaque purple I have and I wanted it to show up.  This mani got a lot of compliments, hehe.  It's like a disco ball on your nails!

Close up of the nails.  Talk about messy application!  Haha.  It was hard to get the glitter to go where I wanted without getting everywhere else too.  I wound up with a huge gap near the cuticle... oh well.  But for the most part, this polish is so wonderfully dense that coverage was pretty easy.  And how cute are the stars?  I like them.  I wore this mani out on the town with my girls.  Woohoo!!

OPI: Under My Trench Coat

I purchased this color a while ago in Sephora.  I loved it in the store because it's one of those taupy grey shades.  But then it sat in my bin and I kinda forgot about it.  I recently went away to NC for a few days and had to change my mani when I got back.  I didn't feel like doing anything really, and when I sat there staring at my colors, this one jumped out!  This is 3 coats of Sephora by OPI Under My Trench Coat with 2 coats Seche Vite.

Application was pretty good, but it was a bit sheer.  After 3 coats, I couldn't see VNL in normal light, but in the car one day I saw all the streaks and yuckiness.  Oh well.  I love the taupy color and the subtle gold shimmer as well.  It's a really pretty color.  It's looking more green on here than it is in real life.  And it wore well, I left it on for a good 4 days and only had slight chipping.

BTW, I linked the polishes to where they can be purchased online.  I think I'll do that from now on.