Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I'm about a week late, but you can forgive me right?

I'm sorry about the unscheduled hiatus on the blog. I had a health scare that took me out of work and the blogging mood for a few months. Things are under control now and I'm glad to be able to get back to the business of creating manis that make me swoon.

I'm restarting the Weekly Mani Challenge to get myself back into the swing of things. So here's my winter/snow themed Week 1 "Make It Sparkle" mani.

I started out with two coats of Nicole by OPI It's All About The Glam. Then I added one coat of Lynnderella Love, Lace and Lilacs. I sponged on Sally Hansen Whirlwind White on the tips to mimic snow. One coat of Gelous and two coats of Seche Vite top coat smoothed all that glitter and sponge work right on out!

 I'm a week behind, so I'm going to have to get back here and post the week 2 challenge "French Tip" mani on Friday.

Here's to wishing you guys a wonderful 2013!

 

Nicole by OPI Walmart Exclusives--Swatches and Thoughts

I was roaming around the beauty department in Walmart last weekend, though I truly had no business being there, when I came across three new Nicole by OPI shades.

Best Pink Ever, The Gold Shoulder, Fabulous is My Middle Name

I hadn't seen or heard of these, but I have no qualms about buying polishes swatches unseen, especially when glitter is involved. When I got home I did a google search and found that they are Walmart exclusives that came out this month.

Let's start with The Gold Shoulder.

It's rather sheer so I used three coats to reach bottle color. It does lean rather silver on me but it does have a good amount of gold shimmer in it. Mine just settled to the bottom. I'd say this is a gold that would work well with cooler skin tones. As you can see in the pic I'm holding the bottle upside down so that I can encourage the gold shimmer to mix in. I did a fourth coat after I left the bottle upside down for a while.

It reminded me of OPI Designer de Better from the Muppets collection, so I did a little comp.

L-R: The Gold Shoulder, Designer de Better, The Gold Shoulder, Designer de Better

The bases are similar but Designer de Better has larger coppery shimmer particles in it, whereas the golden shimmer in The Gold Shoulder is much finer. I'd say they're different enough to own both.

Next up Fabulous is My Middle Name. This is three coats on its own. It's a multicolored bar glitter with teeny tiny silver glitters mixed in! This shocked me because the glitter is so fine and dense I didn't even realize that it was a bar glitter until I got it home and started swatching. There's fuchsia, red, blue and gold bar glitters in this rounded out with the tiny silver glitters. This is indeed fabulous!

I freaking love this. I'm not the biggest fan of bar glitters, but the glitters are tiny and dense enough to get you full coverage and I love that in a glitter. Keep in mind you will have to use the edge of your brush to tap any stray glitters on the ends of your nails back in line, but that's no big deal to me.

Here's one coat of Fabulous is My Middle Name over The Gold Shoulder.

And one coat over black. I used American Apparel Hassid.  

Now we have what the people over at Nicole by OPI named Best Pink Ever. Seriously that's the name of the polish.

I can't say that I agree with them. The formula on this is super sheer. It took four coats to get a decent looking swatch out of this and in real life there was visible nail line all over the place--and I'm not a fan of that. And you see all that golden duo looking goodness at the bottom of the bottle? It's nowhere to be found on the nail.

It does have a nice blue shimmer running through it and I do like the fuchsia base. I just wish it weren't so sheer and I want that golden shift that I was so captivated by from the bottle. Maybe it'll do better layered on top of a similarly colored creme, but really if your name is going to be 'Best Pink Ever' you should be able to stand on your own.

I paid $7 a bottle for these. Have you guys seen them at your local Walmart? If you happen across them I'd say definitely pick up Fabulous is My Middle Name. The Gold Shoulder is nice to have as well. What do you guys think?

Adventures in Color Blocking

Well I'm off to a great start on this weekly challenge. *Insert self side-eye*

My apologies for not posting the Week 3 challenge mani on Monday like I promised, but I had some computer issues last weekend and couldn't manage a work around until now.

So here's my take on color blocking. I did some google and youtube searching on what a color blocking mani was *supposed* to look like, but I wanted something different. My first thought to was to do something based on those tri-tone gold bracelets but I ended up going with a burgundy tone for the third color instead of a white gold shade.

I started with a coat of China Glaze Love Letters (my favorite "my nails but better" color). The gold is Nicole by OPI The Next CEO, the rose gold is Nicole by OPI It Starts With Me, and the burgandy-ish color is Nicole by OPI Sounds Grape to Me.

I probably spent a good hour and a half on this mani. I used tape to create the lines and sooooooo much Seche Vite. Seriously I think this mani added about a quarter of an inch thickness to my nails. LOL. I wasn't completely enamored with it at first but it grew on me the longer I wore it. I got lots of compliments over the week. Yes! I wore it for an entire week.

Tomorrow I'll have a plaid mani to share with you guys!

Bring on the Tinsel

Hey guys!

Tonight I'm going to my company holiday party so I decided to do some serious holiday glitter.  

This is one coat of Nicole by OPI Bring on the Tinsel over one coat of American Apparel Hassid. 

 There's so much going on in this polish. It's a mix of silver, gold, green, red, blue, and green glitter in a clear base. Other than China Glaze Party Hearty and China Glaze Twinkle Lights I can't think of any other polish that comes this close to being "Christmas in a bottle." It's friggin' awesome.

Then for good measure (and to match the earrings I'm wearing) I stamped on some snowflakes on my ring finger using Sally Hansen Quick Color in Silver Chrome.

I love it. I hope you guys do too!

31 Days of Manis: Day 16 Tribal Print

It's day 16 and I have tribal nails and I hate them. I knew this day was going to give me trouble--and I used a stamp! Oy!

Not feeling these at all :(

The best part about this mani was the base color: Nicole by OPI Kim-pletely in Love.

All that aqua shimmer you see in the bottle really does show up on the nail. That's at three coats. 

Yes I still have visible nail line.

But then I ruined it using Khloe Had A Little Lam Lam to stamp the image from Bundle Monster's plate BM-221. Don't get me wrong the color is banging and the formula was really smooth, but using it for the design completely overpowered the pink base. 

And in my effort to camouflage my poor stamping job I filled in some of the corners of my nails with the NOPI color. Uh, I'm not even sure if this counts as tribal. Oh well. There's always tomorrow---GLITTER nails day!!

Now let's head on over to see what L , Kisten and  Katherine came up with for their tribal print nails.

31 Days of Manis: Day 15: Delicate Print

It's Day 15--so that means I'm halfway through this challenge! Wooo hoo! I went way shimmery for today's delicate nails mani.

It reminds me of the trim on this set of china my mom has and only pulls out for during the holidays.

I started out with three coats of Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam from the Kardashian Kolors collection over one coat of Nail Life "Hide Ridges" Ridge Filling Base Coat. It's All About The Glam is really sheer, but builds up nicely and it has just the right amount of white, pink and blue shimmer to keep it really soft and neutral.

  I bought it at Wal-mart over the weekend and I'm glad I caved into my lemming. Initially when I found the Kardashian Kolors collection I left this beauty behind. I couldn't get it out of my mind, and then when I started seeing all the swatches of it I knew I had to go back and grab it. I'm such a sucker for white nail polishes that don't make me look like I've been playing in White-Out. 

I stamped the image from plate 21 of the original Bundle Monster set 

using Orly's Glitz and Glamour from their 2010 Tis The Season Holiday 2010 Collection. I love this gold on me. It's a very warm yellow-toned gold and it has this foily/shimmery finish that sparkles like crazy! 

Join me as I hop on over to see what L , Kisten and  Katherine did for their delicate pattern manis. Tomorrow we venture into tribal prints.

31 Days of Manis: Day 10: Blued Out

It's day 10, gradient nails day. It's also the last in the color segment of this challenge. Patterns are up next.

I went with a blue theme because although I keep buying blue nail polishes I rarely reach for them and this challenge is about getting me out of my box.

I used the sponging technique and I should also mention that this was my first time doing a gradient mani.

Not too shabby eh?

Here's the "Blue Crew"

China Glaze Snow Globe, OPI What's With the Cattitude, OPI Ogre-The-Top-Blue, OPI Ski Teal We Drop.

And a close up:

Tomorrow I'll have a polka dot mani for ya, but while you wait go visit my buds  L , Kisten and  Katherine

 to see their gradient nails. 

31 Days of Manis: Day 9: Taste the Rainbow

Hey guys! It's Day 9, Rainbow nails day. I'm no good with freehand nail art, so I opted for a rainbow skittles mani using tape!

Oh look it's my rarely seen thumb!

I started with a base of one of my favorite glitters of all time OPI, Spark de Triomphe. It was a part of one of the Glam Slam! France duos OPI released with Serena Williams in May. It has a mix of large silver and gold hex glitter and smaller silver and gold square glitter. This glitter right here...this glitter right here....y'all. I even bought a backup. And I'm seriously considering getting a third.

I did two coats here and topped it off with one coat of Gelous base coat (it helps it to not "eat" my top coat and give you a smooth surface to work with) and then I added one coat of Seche Vite to speed the drying process.

I pulled out a bunch of jelly/sheer polishes and some tape and got to work!

L-R: Wet n Wild Everybody Loves Redmond, OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?, Milani Lemongello, Sinful Colors Irish Green Revlon Royal, Milani Rad Purple

Index: Wet n Wild Everybody Loves Redmond & OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear? Middle: Milani Lemongello & Sinful Colors Irish Green. Ring: Revlon Royal & Milani Rad Purple.

I love how you still get to see the glitter underneath the colors. I painted in ROYGBIV order, using tape to get a straight line down the middle. I put the tape down the center of my nail leaving one half exposed. Then I paint with my color of choice.

I pull the tape off as soon as I'm satisfied with the color payoff, rather than waiting for it to dry. This usually gives me a cleaner line.Once that half of the nail was dry, I carefully painted the other half making sure not to overlap the straight edge from the tape.

Tip: stick the tape on your hand and lift it up a few times to take off some of the stickiness before you stick it on your nail. This will help with removal and prevent the tape from pulling up the polish underneath.

For my thumb and pinky nails I used Milani Gems and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

I love how you can see some of the gold shine through even on the Liquid Leather part of the nails.

L, Kisten and  Katherine have been knocking this challenge out of the park, so I know their Rainbow nails are fierce. Tomorrow we take on Gradient Nails.

31 Days of Manis: Day 5, Blue Nails

It's Saturday! Wooo Hooo! I love the weekend! And I was ready to get on with Day 5. Yesterday's mani started to grow on me, but eh...I don't think I'll be reaching for it all that often.

I was all set with my blue nails choice, Barielle Slate of Affairs, but then I was at Wal-mart this morning and saw the Nicole by OPI "Kardashian Kolor" collection and picked up Kendall on the Katwalk and decided that they must be worn together. So here's how that turned out.

Barielle is actually one of my favorite brands. I did two coats of Slate of Affairs and topped it off with Seche Vite. I absolutely love the "secret shimmer" in Slate of Affairs. 

Here's a bottle shot so you can see it a little better:

I did one coat of Kendall on the Katwalk on the accent nail. It adds so much blue, green and purple glittery goodness! Love!

I'm really excited about tomorrow's challenge: Violet nails. My favorite color!

Be sure to check out what my challenge buddies: L, Kisten, and Katherine

used for their blue manis! 

See ya tomorrow!

Mani Spam!

Nothing new on my nails today, so I thought I'd just share some of my favorite manicures!