Swatch - OPI Got Myself into a Jam-balaya

Instant like for the color on my first coat! Almost neon quality to this color, very vibrant.

Got Myself into a Jam-balaya:
Neon-ish/vibrant salmon, coral cream. Pictures look more orange and less pink/less salmon than in real life. Part of New Orleans collection released in Feb 2016.

Pictures show two coats with Seche Vite top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - Thin for a cream but not a crelly
Pigmentation - Expected more pigmentation for a cream
Prone to - Patches, streaking (covered by second to third coat)
Bottle vs. Mani Color - Less milky/white cast than the bottle. Darker than bottle color.
Dry Time - Average for creams
Shine - Some shine that I would pump up with Seche Vite for sure!
Removal - Easy
Staining - None
Wear Time - Average for cream, still going strong on day 3

Application - First coat was patchy, polish is on the thinner end for a cream. Second coat still leaves slight patchiness that can be seen at certain angles. Depending on how lazy I feel I may or may not let it slide since it's only noticeable at certain angles. The patches are so tough to see that they don't bother me, so two coats is all it took! It's not hard to work with like neons, but you can't work the polish too much otherwise you would get major patches.

Overall, I like this polish a lot! It has been awhile since coral has been on my nails, so this is very refreshing. Upon the first coat, the formula was a little concerning but a thick second coat made the mani acceptable. The faint patches/streaks did not both me since seeing them was so difficult. When it comes to my mani's, nowadays, I am trying to not sweat the small stuff that use to bother me. Just live and enjoy your mani~

OPI New Orleans collection:
Crawfishin' for a Compliment, Got Myself into a Jam-balaya, Humidi-Tea, I Manicure For Beads, I'm Sooo Swamped!, Let Me Bayou a Drink, Rich Girls & Po-Boys, She's a Bad Muffuletta!, Show Us Your Tips, Spare Me a French Quarter?, Suzi Nails New Orleans, Take a Right on Bourbon,

Nail Art - *~Canada Day~*

Happy Canada Day! Hope all my fellow Canadians are having a fun time celebrating our national holiday. I tried to be as patriotic as I could with red and white tops, red lipstick and (of course) patriotic nails~ No one at work commented on my look today, other than give me strange looks due to my red lipstick (normally I wear zero makeup and VERY casual clothes at work). Guess people in America do not know today is Canada Day. Enough jabber, onto the nails!

This is a picture heavy post since I really liked how my nails turned out!

 And the right hand, which has better dotticure maple leaves because I am left handed.

 Here is a closer look at the maple leaf dotticure:

Mani Composition:
Thumb & Index - OPI Alpine Snow, Nicole by OPI It's All About The Glam, OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI)
Middle to Pinky - OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI), Formula X For Sephora Wham!


The abstract dot maple leaf design just kind of sprung into my mind as I grabbed my dotting tools. I'm super happy with how it looks, it's cute and pretty. Definitely gaining better control with dotting tools; practice does make perfect! This is motivation to do more nail art~

Swatch - OPI Vesper

A textured polish today~ I find it quite interesting that the textured trend seems to still go going relatively strong. Companies are still cranking out textured polishes....I am assuming this is because consumers keep buying them? Everyone in the polish world was saying texture is a phase that will phase out just as fast as "shatters". I suppose only time will tell, personally I really like them and hope they stay around for awhile longer.

Vesper:
Dark purple jelly with black specks (glitter?) liquid sand. From the Bond Girls collection released May 2013. Due to the base being a jelly this dark polish requires at least two coats for full coverage. I suppose the intent of the jelly base was to allow the black glitter particles to be visible. However, you will find this isn't necessarily the case (depending on the number of coats you apply).
One very important note: the polish colour in the bottle suggests a brownish/reddish purple, but as a manicure this is a true purple without the brown undertone.

This is what one coat looks like, where you can clearly see a purple base with black particles.

The final manicure under the sun shows two coats without top coat. Here you can also tell this polish is purple with black pieces, but not as obvious.

Specifications:

Formula - Ok, easy to apply but a bit sheer

Pigmentation - Sheer, for such a dark colour I expected this to be a one-coater, needs 2 coats

Bottle colour similarity - Very different, there is no brownish undertones (bottle) when worn on the nails

Shine - None (liquid sand)

Removal - Average for textured polishes

Staining - None

Definitely a unique polish! Not my favorite, but it is strange enough to make me want to bust this out and pain my nails with it.

Are you still on the textured polish bandwagon? Or has the trend past for you?

Swatch - OPI Sleigh Ride For Two

Another one from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday collection to be shown today.

Sleigh Ride For Two:
Shimmery chocolate plum. This is like a hybrid of Every Month Is Oktoberfest with I Knead Sour-Dough. Since I like both those polishes this is an automatic like! Depending on the lighting, this polish changes in colour.

Pictures show two coats with top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - Great, applied like butter, self-leveling
Pigmentation - Good, two thin coats needed
Dry time - Faster than average creams
Shine - Little, top coat recommended
Prone to - Brush strokes slightly, apply with light touch
Removal - Easy
Staining - None

To make this short and sweet: sophisticated and classy is how I would describe this colour.

How do you guys like colours in this family? Which Mariah Carey Holiday polishes were your favourite?

Swatch - OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI)

It was time to wear something classic and clean. I was in the mood for a good red cream, no shimmer or lit from within glow, just a straight cream. A craving for red nails is far and in between nowadays, so this was a great palette cleanser and way to try on this red cream from the new-ish OPI Mariah Carey Holiday collection!

All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI):
Deepened classic cherry red cream. Depending on whether a light or dark hue is desired, you may apply one or two coats (respectively).

Two coats without top coat is shown in pictures.

Specifications:
Formula - Great, applied like a dream
Pigmentation - 1 or 2 coats (depending on shade desired)
Dry Time - Average
Shine - Shiny
Removal - Easy
Staining - Stainer!

As this polish was being applied (a few months ago), Mariah Carey's new single that released on the same day was playing in the background. I felt it was all very fitting!

Do you ever use red as a palette cleanser?

Swatch - OPI Pussy Galore

Pink polish anyone? Is it weird that pink is often times not people's favourite polish colour? Maybe it is just too average compared to the array of colours and finishes that now exists after nail polish's popularity exploded? Admittedly, I cannot say it is my favourite polish colour either. However, I do like it as a palette cleanser, which brings us to this post!

OPI Pussy Galore:
Cotton candy pink frost with pink glitter liquid sand. This was a little sheer. On the first coat there was VNL and depending on the thickness of your second coat you may or may not see VNL. I did a thicker second coat to get rid of the VNL. This guy is not glitter-tastic like what we have seen previously from OPI. It just shimmers delicately in the sun (no shimmering indoors, sadly).

Pictures show two coats without top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - Okay, easy application but on sheer side
Pigmentation - Below average, VNL on first coat but thick second coat fixes that problem
Dry time - Average for liquid sands (personal experience: slower than regular polish)
Shine - None, this is a liquid sand
Wear - Tip wear on second day
Removal - Average for textured polishes (harder than creams, easier than glitters)
Staining - None

Well I must say I didn't like this polish as much as I thought I would. I went into this knowing it wasn't going to be sparkle-licious, but maybe this was a little too boring for me. However, this polish is great for work! It's a soft, subtle colour; yet the texture makes it more interesting than a regular pink cream. Plus, seeing people's reaction to the polish name is pretty amusing ;)

What are your thoughts of this polish? Is it too boring or does the texture make up for it?

NOTD - SF Blues

Another Nail of The Day look to be shown. As anyone who owns a large stash of polishes would know, you always have a stash of "untrieds" as well. Overwhelmed by acquiring so many new polishes, naturally there was a desire to wear everything at once. If only humans had ten sets of hands instead of just one, huh? Since I am not a mutant, a compromise in the form of a skittle mani was created. The mani is mostly made up of polishes from the OPI San Francisco collection, hence the post name.

Excuse the tip wear, but I waited a couple of days before taking these photo's. Now you guys know which polishes didn't wear as well~

All fingers had two coats of polish with top coat, except the pinky (1 coat polish and top coat).
Thumb - OPI Haven't The Foggiest
Index - OPI Peace & Love & OPI
Middle - OPI Dining Al Frisco
Ring - Zoya Natty
Pinky - Zoya Hazel

I should adorn skittles more often, they are quite fun and allow maximum number of polishes to be worn. Right off the bat, Hazel is drawing me in becoming a favorite!

Which of these five are your favorite? Do you wear skittle mani's often?

NOTD - Dark But Glittertastic

A dark and beautiful mani to be shown today. This is one of the most beautiful mani's I have worn, where I am fully mesmorized everytime I look at my nails. I am very much in love with this manicure and hope you will like it just as much!

Just look at the holo goodness on the middle finger - AMAZING. It is on the sheer side but a base of colour will fix that easily. As for the other glitter, I have nothing like it in my collection nor have I come across anything similar - a truly unique polish. The OPI's black shimmer came as a surprise, since I didn't expect the shimmer to be so strong - a very pleasant and welcomed surprise. Unfortunately, this polish is old and HTF. I found it while at a polish warehouse doing some dusty hunting.

Mani Composition:
Thumb & Index - 2 coats OPI Baby It's "Coal" Outside!
Middle - 3 coats Essie On A Silver Platter
Ring & Pinky - 3 coats Morgan Taylor All The Right Moves


The two glitter polishes that make up this manicure are definitely part of my all time favorite glitter polishes. They are that amazing and you should definitely hunt those polishes down because you will regret not having them!

NOTD - Surreal Monet Layering

An awesome layering combo will be shown today. What was initially a quick pick of two polishes for a fast mani turned into something divine and unexpected. The colors were soft and reminded me of Monet's Water Lilly painting (my favorite painting). I got a lot of compliments on this mani and also comments on its similarity to an OPI polish. Let's hop to it!

(Picture heavy to show all angles and the crazy duochrome of this combo!)

Mani Composition:
Base - China Glaze Queen B (one coat)
Topper - Orly Angel Rain (one coat)
Seche Vite top coat (one coat)

The duochrome of this mani is incredible! Mostly it shines purple but the green is strong at certain angles. Brush strokes were not noticeable as long as application of Angel Rain is even with a light touch. Having a dark blurple like Queen B really gave this mani it's personality making it dark and blurple. Angel Rain doesn't really lighten the shade of Queen B, instead AR adds duochrome to the dark blurple.

I was getting comments that this layering combo looks similar to OPI Peace, Love & OPI. I, also, thought the same thing while wearing the mani, so here's a quick breakdown in words:

OPI is a duochrome also of purple and green. However, OPI shine mainly a different shade of green (nicer green in my opinion) and flashes purple at certain angles. Also, OPI has a charcoal/pewter base colour as oppose to blurple. All in all, the two mani's are very different.

I looooved this mani! If you guys have these polishes, you must give this layering combo a try, you won't be disappointed.

Do you like to layer duochromes on creams or wear them on their own?

Swatch - OPI Solitaire

Today, I will be reviewing a liquid sand from the OPI Bond Girls liquid sand collection that came out in May last year. I am having a dilemma with whether or not to get the final polish from the collection: Honey Ryder. Many reviewers seem to really like it, but I'm not sure if it's sparkly enough... only time will tell (because seven months of time hasn't been enough :P). Few months ago I made a tutorial on how to convert any of your regular polishes into a liquid sand/textured manicure using OPI Solitaire. Click here to check out that tutorial!

OPI Solitaire:
A pearl white with silver glitter. This liquid sand twinkles in the sun, and is not as sparkle-tastic as some of the Mariah Carey liquid sands. It's a nice soft white that doesn't look chalky or like white-out.

Shown below is a comparison of what the polish looks like with a few coats of top coat to create a glossy surface. Personally, I prefer Solitaire without the top coat because with it the texture is emphasized instead of the sparkle (which is the case for some textured polishes).

Index and ring have top coat, whereas middle and pinky do not.

Specifications:
Formula - Great, easy application
Pigmentation - Great, slightly sheer on first coat and second coat gives full coverage (no VNL)
Dry time - Faster than other liquid sands I have tried, but not fast drying by any means
Shine - none, textured and matte finish that is supposed to be worn without top coat
Wear - Good, did not chip after 2 days of wear
Removal - Same as other liquid sands

After wearing this polish for a couple of days, I must say I am growing quite fond of it. I think this is a good palette cleanser making it a great alternative if you do not feel like wearing a nude.

What are your thoughts on OPI Solitaire or liquid sands in general? Do you own any polishes from the Bond Girls collection?

NOTD - Sparkling Black Elegance

Lame title but the mani is far from lame! Came up with this mani when I decided to see what Zoya Tomoko looks like glossified by top coat. The look was so breath taking that a mani must be made out of it! At the time I really wanted to wear something gothy and dark = black. Tada! This mani was born.

 Some blurry pictures to show just how sparkly Tomoko is with top coat. Gorgeous is far from exaggeration!

Mani Composition:
Thumb, Middle & Pinky - OPI Black Onyx
Index & Tomoko - Zoya Tomoko (2 coats with 3 coats of top coat)

There is a beautiful balance between hard and pretty in this mani, which is what I love about it. Hope you like it as much as I do and will try it out~

What are your favorite textured polishes turned glossy?

NOTD - Halloween Nails!

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! Hope you guys got to have a festive and exciting way to celebrate the day. I did not get up to anything whatsoever; didn't even dress up for work. I realized, since my teens, I have only dressed up and done something festive two or three times. Perhaps next year I should force myself to do something even if Halloween falls on a weekday. Enough rambling, on to the manicure!

Short blurb on the manicure: me and my fellow polish loving co-worker went to work on Halloween with very similar nail art. We went around the office showing other girls our mani's and everyone thought we had done our nails together! Guess great minds think alike ;)

So much blood! Middle finger has blood dripping and pinky blood splatter. My Frankenstein ended up having very creepy, soul-less eyes that I thought was very fitting. Originally, the index fingers were supposed to be stamped with skulls but it was bed time (I need my sleep!). The thumb was an excuse to use one of my "fuzzy" polishes and I also ran out of nail art ideas. In case you are wondering my right hand had an identical mani.

Mani Composition:
Thumb - OPI My Vampire Is Buff (MVIB) topped with China Glaze You're A Hoot
Index - Zoya Arizona (base) topped with Zoya Rica
Middle - OPI MVIB with dripping OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI)
Ring - Nicole by OPI Sweet On Pete, OPI Black Onyx, OPI MVIB
Pinky - OPI MVIB (base) spattered with OPI AIWFC

This was a fun mani to do. I got to try out a lot of nail art techniques that I have been wanting to do, such as the dripping and splatter techniques. The dripping turned out nicely, but the splatter needs more work (I think I need a thinner straw).

Did you guys do Halloween themed nails for Halloween?

Swatch - OPI Can't Find My Czechbook

How about a nice change up while we are getting into fall. Yes, browns, plums, reds are fitting for this season but a nice shock of colour never hurt anyone. Actually, I have been finding it rather difficult to judge just what season it is over here. On weekends it is warm but during the weekdays it seems to be cold. Very odd. Then again this probably has something to do with the fact that I hardly see daylight during the work week...that sounds kind of depressing so let's get on to polish!

Pst! You can find a comparison post on this polish here.

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook:
Robin egg blue cream. The polish was released this past spring as part of the Euro Centrale collection. There is a slight dusty quality to the colour making it slightly darker than the bottle colour. (The dustiness also does not show up in the bottle colour). This quality makes this shade more muted and wearable, in my opinion. Pictures show two coats without top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - Great, easy application, self-leveling
Pigmentation - Good, 2 coats
Shine - Yes
Prone to - Nothing
Staining - None
Removal - Easy

I usually do not go for blues, but lately have been crazy about them. This polish is no exception and is more flattering against my skintone than expected. CFMC isn't a unique colour but a great addition to any collection if you do not own something similar.

How do you feel about blue nail polish? Do you tend to gravitate more to a certain shade of blue?

Dupe? - Fly Czechbook Room For Blues

A comparison of blue and torquoise polishes is what's in store today. This is a comparison I was really curious about while trying to decide whether or not to buy OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. So in case some of you out there are still contemplating (since the collection seems to still be widely available) this is for you guys!

Fly: dark turqoise cream. Looks green compared to the other two, much darker and much more green than CFMC. Originally, I was hesitant on buying CFMC because comparisons I saw made them out to be the same colour just very slightly different in shade. Turns out they are completely different colours.

Can't Find My Czechbook (CFMC): Robin egg blue creme, dusty/less vibrant, maybe has a barely-there green influence in colour but really I do not see any green at all for this colour. More milky (white) than NRFB. Looks muted next to NRFB.

No Room For The Blues (NRFB): more vibrant (not dusty at all) than CFMC, even though darker colour. Very different colour from CFMC. It is a mix of cornflower and cobalt blue.

Formula-wise they are all great, dry with a high shine and require two coats.


These three polishes are completely different. Once again the choice comes down to what type of colour you like. I am a total sucker for teals/turqoise so naturally my favorite is Fly. However, now that I see how muted CFMC really is, I find this blue much more wearable. Mid-toned blues have never got my heart racing because I don't like the way they look against my yellow-toned skin. NRFB is a beautiful colour that I wish matched my skintone better.

Which polish out of these three do you like? Do you own any of these polishes?

Nail Art - Minion Nails!

Today is a great day! Finally my lamp arrived for my newly made lightbox. This lightbox is larger than the one I have at home and has a cool feature...changing backgrounds! My boyfriend was able to cut a slit to allow the exchange of coloured paper, so I could have different coloured backgrounds for my pictures. How exciting right?! There is no greater way to debut this new lightbox than with Minion Nails!

I am a beginner in terms of nail art, so things never turn out as perfectly as I want. But once the minions' cute mouths were drawn on I couldn't be disappointed at my nail art. They were just too adorable!

Mani Composition:
Goggles - Color Club Revvvolution
Goggle band & Mouth - OPI Black Onyx
Eyes - OPI Alphine Snow, OPI Black Onyx
Overalls - Color Club Bright Night
Minion Skin - Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights





These were super cute! Their cute little faces made me real happy and melted my heart. I hope these little minions also made you guys smile~

NOTD - Blue Jewels

Another Nail-Of-The-Day post for you guys~ I have been doing a lot of these skittlette mani's because I have been wearing regular mani's mostly for quite a few months now. This mani was truly spectacular and I didn't want to remove it, so I ended up wearing it for a whole week!

Most colour accurate for CC Bright Night 

Mani Composition:

Thumb & Ring - Color Club Bright Night (2 coats with top coat)

Index & Middle - OPI Tiffany Case (2 coats without top coat)

Pinky - Orly Sparkling Garbage (3 coats with top coat)

Each finger reminded me of a jewel. Holo and sparkling texture...of course...but the vibrant blue of Bright Night reminded me of a sapphire. Gorgeous! The colours of the polishes went really well together as well. There is a very good chance I will wear this exact same mani again because I love it so much!

How do you like this skittlette? Have you fallen in love with a mani of your own recently?