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.

Night Sky

This mani is so dark and pretty.  I love the shimmer... you can get lost in it!

This is 2 coats of Models Own In the Navy topped with 1 coat of CND Sapphire Sparkle on top.  I added some stars and moons to finish it off.  Both polishes applied like a dream.  The Models Own has great coverage and smooth application.  CND effects pack a good amount of "effect" in each stroke of the brush, hah.  When I first used one, I thought it was going to be very subtle, but it's really not.  In some cases, the effect can change the whole color of the polish, but not so much here.  It was a little bit lighter, but pretty much the same shade.  I love this combo!

So pretty!!  What happened to the moon on my ring finger?  Who knows, lol.  Whatever, the rest of it looks awesome!  hahaha.

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.

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!

Orly: Galaxy Girl

OMG squeeee!  This is the most amazing color!  I had looked at people swatching Urban Decay Bruise and wanted it... but then this came out!  I love purple and this isn't just flat purple, it's awesome!  I love love love love love it.  Did I mention I love it?  HA!

Ok, so application wasn't that great for me.  However, I think this is pretty much user error.  I was sitting in front of a fan that day and that's my own darned fault.  So you can see some cuticle drag, but it's not horrid.  This is 3 coats Orly Galaxy Girl.  Good coverage, not too thick or too thin.  It wasn't easy peasy, but it was pretty good.

This is a good shot of the magenta-purple and the teal flash.  Every angle of this polish looked unique.  I love that kind of shade where you look and it's one color and then you look and it's another color.  And wait, did it change again?  It's mesmerizing, haha.

Another shot just because it's so pretty!  Wow, I can't sing enough praises on this.  LOVE!

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!!

China Glaze Vintage Vixen

I took a look at the fall China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection at my local Sally's.  I was tempted to buy them all, haha.  I tried to pick up something that I don't have much of.  I just so happened to pick Christmas colors, red and green, lol.  Oh well.  I actually picked these up a while ago, but they sat there for a bit.  And then I used them and took photos and the photos sat for bit.  Better late than never, right?

This is China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald.  2 coats!  Of course, Seche Vite on top.  I loved this application because it had great coverage.  The brushes from China Glaze are slim, but spread nicely on the nail.  No cuticle drag or other issues to note.

I love this color!  In these photos it's showing more teal.  In some light it was teal, in other light it was emerald green.  I have no idea why, but that really intrigued me.  I love that it's shimmery and not a true frost.  You can't really see the brush strokes, which is good for me since I suck at that, lol.

This is 2 coats Riveter Rouge with Seche.  Again, application was good, no real issues.  Good coverage and good opacity.

Since this was a deeper red with golden shimmer, I chose rhinestones to make the gold pop.  Check that giant orange one!  Love those over-sized rhinestones, lol.  This polish didn't change color in different light like the green did, but it's still nice and shimmery and pretty.

I loved both these colors and would recommend them!  And hey, if you're looking to do a christmas mani, this might be right up your alley in terms of shade, haha.

Models Own: Purple Grey

To Chanel or not to Chanel... lol.  This is the rip off of Chanel Paradoxal.  I lurve it.  This is 2 coats Models Own Purple Grey and one coat CND Amethyst Sparkle.  Models Own polish is gorgeous by itself, but add in the CND effect and WOW!  I love the application on both of these.  The Models Own Purple Grey is very pigmented and gave nice even coverage.  The effect is nice and saturated so you only need one coat for that shimmer to pop!  I love the fact that the shimmer barely changed the color of the Models Own as well.  It just made the whole thing come to life.

Here's a better shot of the shimmer.  Sooooo pretty!  Love, love, love.  I think I said this in a comment... but I kinda wish I had interchangeable hands and I could just change them as often as I like.  Haha.  It would be fun.  Anyway, I love this color.  I would definitely wear this again.  So simple, but so pleasing!

Orly: Royal Navy

This is one of the new Orly shades, Royal Navy.  It's definitely more royal blue than navy.  This is 3 coats Orly Royal Navy with 2 coats Seche Vite.  Application was fairly good.  It was a little gloppy, but that could also have been since I was working near a fan.  It's been darned hot here lately.  Look close and you will see the wonderful teal shimmer in this lovely blue.  I have to say, I could not stop looking at my hands with this color on.  It's bright, but not crazy.  I love love love the shimmer and it's jelly!  Who doesn't love a blue jelly with shimmer?  If you like blues, I would definitely recommend this shade.

After a day of plain, I decided to go nautical and painted on an anchor with Orly Luxe on my ring fingers.  I was going to do a red and white stripe, but I didn't want to cover up too much of the gorgeous blue!  Hehe.  You can see the shimmer better in this shot too.  Absolutely LOVE this color!

Midnight Shimmer

Ooooo... pretty!  My last mani started chipping like crazy, so I had to change it.  It was late at night and I didn't want to do anything too involved.  So I grabbed a couple new polishes that I bought from GoIndulge.  I did 2 coats of CND Asphalt and topped it off with one coat of CND Amethyst Sparkle.

I have to say, these are my first CND polishes.  I absolutely love Asphalt!  It applied like a dream and was nearly opaque with one coat.  If you do a thick coat, you can get away with just one.  It's a very nice grey creme.  I hate when dark grey looks too black, but this one is definitely grey.  And I love the Amethyst Sparkle as well.  It changed the whole look.  It looks almost like a blue mani in the above pic.  In real life, if you catch the shadow, it just looks grey, but when you catch the light it flashes with pink/purple.  It's not really a glitter and you can't feel it at all, but it's fairly dense shimmer-like.  I really like this mani.  And I got lots of compliments on it as well!