Back to nubs!

New year, new nails! Unfortunately my claws were getting stuck in the keyboard/mouse scroll wheel so I had to chop them off - one day they will grow clawlike again. On the flipside, I can finally stamp my full nail Konad designs again! 

I'm wearing OPI Yoga-ta get this Blue, my very first blue color (and my first 'crazy' polish color!) with mixed flakies on my ring finger as an accent.

Who else started new nails this year?

Nubar polka dot jelly sandwich

Finally got my hands on the Nubar Black and White polka dots! They are clear polishes with scattered fine black/white glitter and bigger hex glitters in their respective colors, as well. I decided to sandwich this in OPI My Pointe Exactly, a grey jelly. It definitely turned out interesting, I need to try polka dots over bright colors as well. It sort of reminds me of  cookies and cream, would be even better if I used a peachy/cream jelly instead!

OPI James Bond - Goldeneye

I am a bit late to the James Bond bandwagon, but I just had to show you this beauty. Goldeneye is a foil - but it is unique in its texture. It contains flakes of metal, which lay upon each other and give it a super shiny foil effect. It's very similar to OPI Simply Smashing from the Serena Williams collection - same texture, but SS is more of a tennis-ball green colour, where this is a very warm sunset gold. It's solid in 3 coats, the base is a whole lot more yellow than it seems on the nail - the metallic particles balance the color quite well. 

It did not look as nice as I wanted on my skin tone  but that not the fault of the polish. If it was a tiny bit less yellow, I might like it more. However, with impressive texture, application and a brilliant shiny finish, I would still wear it.

What was your favourite polish from the James Bond Collection?

OPI Fly and dotty nail art

I love OPI Fly... the colour itself is magnetic enough, but the formula really gets me! It's also notoriously hard to photograph. I've blogged about it three times, but I think these photos are the most colour-accurate so far.

I wanted to spice it up, so dots it was! I really like how a single line of white dots made my nails look so much longer. Simple, but nice!

OPI Bubble Bath and Milani sandwich

Oh yes, I have finally gotten my hands on some OPI Bubble Bath - a polish I have wanted but have never had a push to purchase. Finding this for 5$ in a beauty supply store is what really did it for me - I wanted a pink-nude jelly and this is just what I got. Rather sheer, looking cloudy in about 3-4 coats, it's a very nice, neutral color. My only gripe is the formula is a little thin. It looked a little light on my hands, but I get it would look great when I'm paler in the winter. In this experiment, I used Milani Gold FX glitter to create a jelly sandwich (again, huh?) and it came out very differently then I expected! The milkiness turned the glitter opaque and it looks like bubbles... Very interesting.

What's your favourite nude?

Innisfree Eco 81 and experiment

By itself

Innisfree Eco Nail Color 81 is a polish similar to Tony Moly Glitter GS polishes (check out the pink bottle). It's a Jellylike pink base with blue and pink hex glitters and tiny dark pink glitters mixed in. 

I'm going to be honest with you - I hated the formula on this polish. It smelled horrible (although I'm used to that), texture was like porridge and all the glitters stuck out! They never laid flat. It needed about 4 coats, never dried, felt and looked gross. Even with topcoat, you can see that the texture is terrible. So I decided to save it with a coat of OPI Heart Throb. Light pink jelly over this mess turned it into a nice and subtle jelly sandwich. It smoothed the glitters and tamed this polish, making it wearable.

With OPI Heart Throb

In conclusion, this was a disappointing purchase for me. It was very cheap, but it wasn't quite worth it. Frustrating texture, looks bad even when you're done all you can, needs a different polish to look nicer. This polish makes me sad.

Too Pink to Hold Em and Drizzle sandwich

Could you tell that OPI Too Pink to Hold Em is one of my favourite sandwiching jellies? It's seriously addictive. I think the best part is the lack of milkiness and intense color in a glasslike finish. This makes for great sandwiches because it shows the suspended glitter perfectly... the holographic glitter still sparkles instead of turning white! Drizzle is a little polish I hauled at the beauty supply from a brand I know nothing about. It's a pretty "misty" base with holographic hex glitter in it. One coat was enough, but it was a topcoat eater. TWO layers of jelly and TWO subsequent layers of topcoat, it still turned gritty. This is one of my only gripes about this manicure, but otherwise it was a nice juicy sandwich!

What are your favourite glitters to sandwich with?

OPI Fly again

A simple set of nails for the moving hassle - I am in transition right now and probably will be for a week or so. I did get to walk to work today though, which is a huge plus! I can't wait to get at the rest of my stash and show you my new pretties in a Korean haul I recently got from The Cutest Makeup <3

I do have a few pictures in the backlog, so don't worry - there will be updates! I will also be doing a 500 follower giveaway once I'm settled in, so look forward to that happening in a little while.

In regards to OPI fly, this photo is a lot more true to color than my other entry on Fly <- it's a lot bluer than it should be in the old picture. 

Again, lovely formula and just blue enough for me to love this teal. I might even buy a full size I love it that much! I don't have anything like this in my collection and I'm surprised by how much I love this. Yay for Fly!

Holographic and Duochrome mish-mash experiment

*drool* Rainbows!

I saw the Ozotic mish-mash polished swatched at Nailderella and I was inspired to try something similar on my own. For the base, I used OPI Just Spotted the Lizard from the Spiderman collection and HITS Hefesto holographic topcoat.It didn't turn out as holographic as I hoped, but I could have always done more coats of Hefesto. I want to keep experimenting with this and different duochromes to see which will have the strongest effect! 

Duochromes are probably my favourite finish of them all... I love them more than any polishes. What is your favourite duochrome polish of all time?

Cute and Simple - hearts and jelly nail art

A palate cleanser is something needed every once in a while for me, but I was not satisfied with just the jelly, so I decided to sandwich some glitter! I applied 1 coat of OPI Heart Throb and then stuck the glitters on the tacky polish. Waited for it to dry and applied 2 more coats and a fast dry topcoat (Seche Vite in this case) This allows the squishy jelly underneath to dry in a reasonable time. I think this turned out pretty good! I wish I had pink hearts, but blue seems to work well enough. It reminds me of spring and sunny skies!

What do you thin of glitter in the jelly like that? Would you have liked it better on top of the jelly, rather than inside?

OPI Absolutely Alice

A dusty hunt success!

I have't gone hunting for a while and have slowed down buying polish overall, but this is a nice find I would like to share with you. Unfortunately, the bottle is only a 3rd full, but it's more than enough glitter for me. Absolutely Alice was a part of the Alice in Wonderland movie tie-in OPI collection in 2009, I believe. 

It's a bit sheer in the first 2 coats and builds nicer after the 3rd coat. It dries fast with a slightly gritty finish. However, it's a lot less gritty than other glitters I wore. With a topcoat, it's even and shines like a mirror!

Glitter applied smoothly, it felt like it was a bit more finely milled than other glitter, which made the texture so easy to work with. And for the look... it's fantastic. Such an interesting and deep blue - I did not expect to love Absolutely Alice as much as I did!

If you like blue glitter and can get your hands on AA, don't hesitate - it's got an awesome formula and looks fantastic.

Pinstripe roses - girly nail art

Spring is here and so is my need for pink!

Today I decided a on pretty popular type of manicure - pink with white stripes and roses. For the base, I used OPI Pink Friday and white nail art brush for the lines. The roses were ELF Bubblegum Pink and the leaves were ORLY Green Apple. I also used some glitter and tried to make a big heart... but it didn't come out as nice as I would have liked. I'm hoping practice will make perfect! I want to to try this manicure again with a bit of variation, I felt very fancy and feminine while wearing it... with a tshirt and jeans. The vertical lines do make the nails look dramatically longer, so that's also a big plus.

Sun has been a precious commodity recently, so I'm happy to have been able to snap a few pictures in sunlight... it looks so crisp and clear! 

What do you think of this type of nail art? Would you try it?

OPI Ballet 2012 - Don't Touch my Tutu Jelly sandwich

This is from the OPI NY Ballet Spring 2012 collection - a white jelly, very transparent and a little milky.

Here I'm wearing 4 coats and OPI Servin Up Sparkle between layers 1 and 2, as well as on the tips on top.

It's very clean and definitely a palate cleanser... it felt a little boring to me, but I like having a white jelly in the collection nonetheless. The milkiness dulled the holo glitter inside, making it look like plain white glitter - this is not always a bad thing. It looks like snowflakes!

The formula was a little too sheer. It builds up in 4 coats, but even with 5, it's still too sheer. I thought this would compare to Essie Marshmallow, but it never goes solid, no matter what. Otherwise, it's glossy and dries okay (not as fast as I'd like though).

What are your thoughts on pale jellies? Love them or bored of them?

400 follower giveaway - OPI Just Spotted the Lizard!

Whoa I had to skip ahead to 400 followers just to keep up! I'm finally done taking care of my last 2 giveaways, so time to start it all again.Today for grabs we have this duochrome beauty: OPI Just Spotted the Lizard!

From the Spiderman collection, this beautiful polish is green, which shines gold, teal and blue at some angles and is apparently a dead-on dupe of Chanel Peridot. Check out the pictures and the full review over here.

Here's a small preview...

This is a BRAND NEW bottle! This giveaway is open internationally, so don't hesitate to enter!

Open until: 03/06/2012 July 3rd

Ready...set.. go!

OPI - Just Spotted the Lizard! Spiderman 2012 Collection

Check dat color shift!

**I am giving away a brand new bottle of this polish for my 400 follower giveaway!**

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard is a lovely green-gold duochrome with flashes of teal and blue. I'd say this is the crown jewel of the Spiderman 2012 collection, as other fail to impress me (maybe except Number One Nemesis). I'm so happy OPI is doing more duochromes and I hope they keep at it.

The formula starts a bit thin but builds nicely in 3 coats. The finish is metallic, but it's very forgiving with brushstrokes. It dries relatively well, doesn't feel chunky or runny and wear great! I wore this for 3 days before removing it, it was still good as new!

As always, the bottle looks so much more amazing due to the thick glass, but I still love this polish. I saw a few comparisons before and it looks like an exact dupe for Chanel Peridot! That makes me feel even better.

What's your favorite duochrome? 

OPI Pink Friday holographic dotticure

This is my take on Pink Friday...

When the Nicki Minaj collection was first announced, Pink Friday looked like this in the promo shots:

A PINK HOLOGRAPHIC. I was sorely disappointed when it was just a creme. In any case, armed with HITS Hefesto, a sexy holographic topcoat, I have created a holographic Pink Friday to satiate my holo hunger. 3 coats of OPI Pink Friday, 1 coat of Hefesto (Spectraflair topcoat), a few accent dots to make this baby shine:

I wish I could somehow make it MORE holo but that might make the color grainier, as it tends to become with too much spectraflair particles in a creme. Either way, it's holo, it's pink, experiment is successful! I'm only regretting the grainy look, but that will come with any holo. Maybe, if I could find VERY fine grade Spectraflair I can try making a linear holo topcoat at some point.

Illamasqua Jo'mina leopard gradient

I'm not usually big on animal print, but my favorite Konad plate (m57) contains a GREAT Leopard print stamp which always works and I wanted to try a Leopard print gradient, but with better colors this time. My last attempt was all over the place and I picked terrible colours to gradient.

Learning from my mistakes, I faded 2 cool toned colors (in this case Illamasqua Jo'Mina and OPI Pink Friday) which creates a nicer gradient, since the colors don't blow each other out. 

Pink Friday is a very cool light pink and it fades perfectly from a bright lilac like Jo'Mina.

The leopard print looks a LOT better over this and I really loved the way it came out. I was even considering redoing the same mani but with all fingers jazzed up instead of just accents. Expect to see more Leopard print in the future, now that I've finally found my favorite Konad plate M57.

What do you think about animal print on nails? Cute or kitsch?

OPI Ballet spring 2012- My Pointe Exactly and Experiments

MAD SCIENCE TIME! 
Experiment 1:
Thesis: it should work nicely, should come out looking like a rainy day.
I wanted to do a jelly sandwich with Whimsical again, so I used my newly acquired OPI My Pointe Exactly to sandwich the glitter. MPE is a grey jelly, one of the "sorbet" finishes with a grey tint. It tends to mute glitter a little bit, but with Whimsical, it worked perfectly. The light blue and pink glitters showed up well and stood out, but the little 'secret' blue glitter unfortunately got lost in the jelly. Otherwise, it turned out perfectly light and airy, a subtle jelly sandwich! It's a bit hard to work with grey polishes since they wash out the color, but I still love the way this particular manicure came out.
Results: success! It's showing the color of the glitter, while still giving it a subtle murkiness of a raincloud.

Experiment 2:

Thesis: glitter should shine through the grey jelly, like a good glitter sandwich should.

Here is my attempt at using nail art glitter within the jelly, I have applied 1 layer of MPE, then stuck on glitter, then another layer. I ended up removing this mani due to the way it looked, I did not like how the glitter became too muted in just a single coat. I'd say MPE is decent at sandwiching very light colored glitter, because it tends to wash out the bright and colorful glitter.
Result: failure! Glitter becomes dulled due to milkiness of the polish.

bonus fail:

Ewww. This porridge looking thing is OPI MPE with China Glaze - Some Like it Haute underneath. This monster ate 3 layers of topcoat, so I gave up. Also it scares me... what have I created!!

So the final verdict on My Point Exactly is that it's a little bit milky, which makes it exceedingly hard to sandwich with. Other OPI Sorbets are completely transparent, there is no trace of milkiness, which makes for perfect sandwiching polishes. Muted glitter should work best with My Pointe Exactly.

Starry Jelly Sandwich

Here's a few examples of how the glitter shines through the jelly.

For this experiment, I decided to try one of the glitters I got, as a jelly sandwich!

I used OPI Too Pink to Hold Em and little glitter stars I found.

First, I started with one layer of TPTHE and then stuck on the stars using tweezers on the wet polish. I pushed them down a little bit and waited for the coats to try. Then, I proceeded to put 2 more coats over the nails and 1 extra coat of polish over the stars, since they were sticking out a little bit. I ended up using two coats of topcoat as well, but I still was a little bit of edge stick out. The good thing is that the glitter looked GREAT! Suspended in pink/red jelly, still shining through it like glass. I think this one was a success! I'm going to need to try more of those glitters and get really creative.

In regards to the giveaway:

I want to prepare a new giveaway again, since I'm very behind... but before I do, I'm going to try and get everything packaged and mailed out this weekend hopefully.

This is so exciting!