Nicole by OPI: Be Awesome

Hi everyone, happy Friday.  I'm going to keep the words pretty short today and let the mani speak for itself.  I was feeling really good for pulling off a miracle with my recent report until a co-worker came in and told me that he got the impression that I'm in the doghouse with all of the bosses.  I got a horrible score and now I'm in trouble at work.  I am just really down in the dumps and don't really want to go any more into it.  The perfect word is defeated.  I feel bad for sharing my personal problems here but it's just how I'm feeling right now. 

Anyways, today I have a mani that I thought was just stunning.  I saw early swatches of Nicole by OPI Be Awesome and knew that I had to have it.  I searched everywhere for it and finally ended up ordering it from Ulta.  

For this mani, I started with a base of OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around.  I was originally very meh about it when I swatched it, but when I wore it, I fell in love with the color.  For my accent nail I used one coat of Be Awesome, which needs to be dabbed on the nail and spread around, it won't apply like a regular polish.  For the other nails, I spread Zoya Lux on the nail before putting Be Awesome at the ends.  I really love the final outcome.

I really love this mani and I am head over heels for Nicole by OPI Be Awesome.  Let me know what you think in the comments.  I hope everyone has a great Friday.

China Glaze Sand Dolla Make You Holla: Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, welcome to Thursday.  Same old same old going on here.  Yesterday I was in a time crunch at work to get edits done.  Then after work, I went to my friend's gender reveal party.  Ever since I found out she was pregnant I was so excited to find out the gender of the baby.  I was convinced she was having a boy, but she is actually having a girl.  How cute!  

So yesterday I came across a video on youtube (which will remain anonymous), and this person said that she doesn't think people should wear shimmer polish or glitter polish after the age of 25.  I sat there and went....wait....what?  I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I wanted to know what everyone else thinks about this.  I also wanted to note that I turned 27 this year, and I am wearing glitter polish on all my nails today and am loving it.  I am pretty much in the school of thought that thinks that you should do whatever you want if it makes you happy and you aren't hurting anyone.  I was just wondering how others feel since I've been thinking about it since I watched the video yesterday.  

Anyways, today I have a review of a new polish from China Glaze, Sand Dolla Make You Holla.  I'm not a fan of textures, but I'll be honest, I bought this polish because I thought it would look like a cupcake.  I have a strange love for anything cupcake, and this really does look like it. 

This polish comes from the new China Glaze Sea Goddess collection that has six textured polishes based on a "sea" theme.  This polish was the only one I picked up from the collection and it is a white polish base, with a slightly pink hue.  The micro glitter inside the polish is pink, blue, green, and white.  This polish was on the sheer side and did need to be built up in three coats.

Below is one layer of topcoat over three coats.

Overall I think this polish is just okay.  I like it because it reminds me of cupcakes and frosting but I don't think I would wear it as a full mani.  I do think it would be fun for an accent nail though.  Did you pick up any polishes from this collection?

Zoya Magical PixieDust Collection

 *Press Sample

Hi everyone, happy Hump Day!  Sorry for the weird posting time.  I had really important edits to get done at work before I could type this up.  Thankfully I've just finished so that feels good.  Today I have a really cool collection called the Magical Pixiedusts, which is new from Zoya.  What makes this collection different is that they are chunkier than the regular textured Pixiedusts and they have large chunky glitter and holographic pixie particles.  While I don't necessarily care for textured polishes, I have to say that each of these polishes is stunning!  

Before I go into the swatches, I wanted to mention the formula.  Usually chunky glitters are a pain to apply, however, these applied like a dream.  For all of the swatches, I applied two coats of polish, letting the first coat dry slightly before the second, and did not use base or topcoat.   Not only did they apply really easily, they also dried pretty quickly as well. 

First up is Zoya Lux, which is a rose quartz sparkle.  This was my absolute favorite of the three.  I loved the rosy tones in this polish and I think the chunky glitter went so well with the color.  It is so sparkly and so pretty!

Next up is Zoya Cosmo, which is a silver crystal sparkle.  This polish is bling-tastic.  The silver is really pretty and really shiny. 

Last up is Zoya Vega, which is a blue opal sparkle.  This one is a light dusty aqua to me and the second picture is more color accurate than the first.  I liked the color on this one as well and just like the others, it's super sparkly.

Overall, I was really surprised with how much I liked these polishes.  I don't normally like textures, but these three polishes are just so sparkly that I can't not love them.  They do have a slightly rougher texture than a regular pixiedust, due to the chunky glitter.  I've used the pink in some nail art and I loved it so much.  My favorite from this set is definitely Lux.  These polishes retail for $10 each and are on sale now.  You can find them here.  Which one is your favorite?

*Products in this post were received for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Twinsie Tuesday: Favorite Nail Polish Brand

Hi everyone, welcome to Tuesday.  I hope the week is going well for everyone.  In case you were wondering from my post yesterday, Ellen Degeneres tweeted for everyone to show up on the quad at the U of I campus dressed up like their favorite celebrity.  Thousands of people showed up dressed up and Ellen talked to them through a video conference.  The person with the best costume won a trip to the show.  I heard all this through the radio....I was too busy at work to play hookey.  I think it would have been really fun to see all those people dressed up though.

Today for Twinsie Tuesday, the theme was "favorite nail polish brand".  If you saw my post on my polish collection, you'll know my favorite brand is OPI.  I also took some creative license with this one and wanted to include my favorite indie brand as well, which is Candy Lacquer.  

To create this mani, I started with a base of OPI Russian Navy.  I then created a glitter gradient from the cuticle with Candy Lacquer Zombielicious.  For the accent nail, I used striping tape and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, OPI Hey Baby, and OPI Stand in Lime For Days.

I would love to know....what's your favorite polish brand?

Check out the other Twinsies below!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

 

Farewell Olympics Mani

Hi everyone, welcome to Monday.  Let's all hope for a good week.  I didn't get around to doing an Olympics mani until yesterday, which was the very last day of the Olympics.  I really enjoy watching the Olympics and I'm sad to see them go.  The last two Olympics especially, my husband and I have been really into watching ever single night.  This year we were really into bobsled, luge, and skeleton, downhill skiing, speed skating, and ski and snowboard cross.  Today I am wrapping up the Olympics with a gold, silver, and bronze mani.

Also, our town is buzzing this morning because there was a tweet by Ellen Degeneres yesterday saying that she had a big surprise for the University of Illinois, which is where I'm located and is also my alma mater.  No one knows what is planned but she just gave a time and location today.  I'm a huge fan of Ellen and my husband is trying to convince me to play hookey haha!  

So today I have a mani that incorporates gold, silver, and bronze, all in a suede/satin finish.  I included so many of the same swatch photos below because I wanted to include all three bottles of polish :) 

I first started with a base of OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede, which has a bronzy feel to it.  I taped off a diagonal and layered on OPI This Gown Needs a crown, and finished off with OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby.  For my accent nail, I used the same base and added one coat of Julep Paris, which is a gold, silver, and rose gold glitter topper.  To finish, I used a layer of OPI Matte topcoat on everything.

Have a great day everyone!

Comparison Post: Essie Spring 2014 Collection

Hi everyone, happy Sunday.  Hopefully your weekend is going well.  Today is a relaxing day for me and I'm just fine with that.  Today I have some comparisons with the four polishes I showed yesterday from the Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection.  If you missed the swatches, you can find them here.  

First up is the pinks.  It's easier to distinguish the differences in real life but I tried to include a few extra pictures.  I only included opaque pinks and left out the sheers.  For the pinks I compared Essie Romper Room, Essie Fiji, and OPI Mod About You.

Essie Romper Room-The lightest of the three, it's basically one shade lighter than Essie Fiji.

Essie Fiji-Pale pink

OPI Mod About You-Has a slight purple tone compared to the other two.

Next up are the blues.  I had nothing even close to Essie Hide & Go Chic.  Essie Go Overboard is a much deeper teal and China Glaze Sunday Funday is much brighter.

Next up, the mints.  

Essie Fashion Playground-Has a dusty quality to it, very squishy looking,

Essie Mint Candy Apple-The brightest of the four mints, very clean and bright.

China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On-Has the most visible shimmer of the four (barely), more cool toned that Essie Fashion Playground

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape-Looks blue compared to the others.

Last up are the reds.  Zoya Yana is much lighter and pinker than the other two.  Essie Style Hunter and OPI Dutch Tulips are dupes.

Hopefully this was helpful in some way ;)  These are the colors that came to mind as I was swatching.  I was quite surprised to find a dupe in my collection...mission accomplished!

Essie Spring 2014 Hide & Go Chic Collection-4 polishes

Hi everyone, happy Saturday.  I had a fantastic start to the day because my husband let me sleep in and then made me waffles.  How awesome is that?  He really is the best.  The plan for today is to do some shopping, both fun and grocery shopping, and then later we will be going out with our friends for dinner and then hanging out.  It sounds like a good day to me.  

Today I have the majority of the Essie Spring 2014 collection.  I showed the Resort Collection two days ago, here, and if you read that post, you'll know I was extremely disappointed.  Thankfully that was not the case here.  This collection is called Hide & Go Chic and it is made up of six polishes.  I have four to show you today.  All swatches are shown without topcoat.

First up, the namesake of the collection, Hide & Go Chic.  This polish is a medium azure blue cream.  The color of this polish is absolutely beautiful and the formula was really good.  I used two easy coats for my swatches below.

Next up, Style Hunter.  This polish is described by Essie as a bright hot pure crimson.  When I wore this polish I thought it looked like a cranberry red.  It's bright and vibrant and although I'm not a red lover, I really enjoyed this one.  I had no problems with the formula and I used two easy coats below.

Third is Romper Room, which is described as a pale tea rose pink.  It's a very pale pink.  I've already been asked how this compares to Essie Fiji and I will have a post tomorrow that compares this to Essie Fiji as well as OPI Mod About You.  This polish is very beautiful on the nail.  It's pale, nearly white, and gorgeous.  It did take three coats to even out completely.
 

I saved my favorite for last.  Fashion Playground is supposed to be pistachio green with subtle shimmer.  I don't think that's what it is though.  First, the shimmer disappears on the nail.  Second, I think the color is a pale milky mint.  I see this color as wearing minty colored seaglass on the nails.  Despite the disappearing shimmer, I absolutely adore this color.  It's more subtle than Essie Mint Candy Apple and it looks so delicate on the nail.  I am seriously debating a full bottle of this.  I used three coats for the swatches below.

Overall I was really happy with the four colors I chose from this collection.  I would be happy with a full size bottle of each, but I'm really thinking I want one of Fashion Playground.  Stay tuned tomorrow for some comparisons.  Will you be picking up any of these colors?

Recent "Nail of the Days": Part 2

Hi everyone, happy Friday!  Yay, I am so excited that it's going to be the weekend since I had to work all last weekend and then the one before, I was working in the field.  I definitely need it!  So far there are no plans but that's okay with me.  Anyone have anything fun on their schedule for this weekend?

Today I have another edition of my recent "nail of the days".  I had mentioned the first time around that what I wear day to day doesn't really make it to the blog.  I got positive feedback that people liked this kind of post so I decided to make it a regular thing.  Some of these photos are taken with my phone, but I'll be sure to start taking pictures in the lightbox.  You'll find two very similar themes here...polka dots and glitter.  I love those two things right now.  Also, if you follow me on instagram, you will have seen some of these before, hopefully that's okay.

First up is a mani that I wore on Monday of this week.  I don't normally wear taupes because they are too plain, but I really liked the grey tones in OPI Taupe-less Beach from the new Brazil collection.  I used OPI Matte Topcoat to get the matte effect and then finished off with some simple white dots with China Glaze White on White and another matte coat over the white.

Next up, the mani I wore to work yesterday.  I wouldn't normally pair these two polishes together but I was already wearing Essie Style Hunter, from the new Spring 2014 collection, and saw some swatches of Rainbow Honey Magic Cake on a fellow blogger's site, The Happy Sloths.  So I reached for it on a whim and really loved the outcome.  I thought my nails looked like candy :)  I like anything candy or cupcake themed so obviously I enjoyed that!

Next up, another favorite of mine.  I don't really like red polish but for some reason I love it when it gets paired with black.  For this look I started with a base of OPI 4 in the Morning and did my dots in Zoya Pepper.   My accent nail is Essie Licorice, a plain black cream, and one coat of Maybelline Color Show Clearly Spotted.  I believe this was a weekend look.

Here I have another mani that I wore to work last week.  I was excited because I wore a shirt in the same deep green-y teal color and a matching scarf.  This look is OPI Amazon....Amazoff and a glitter polish that my sister made me called Mermaid.

Next up is a look that I wore to work again.  It was a base of Julep Lola, which looks black here but is a matte deep blue.  My accent nail is OPI Sweet Heart and dots in Julep Lola.

Last up....another dotticure.  I wore this mani when I did fieldwork at the end of last week.  The base is OPI Miami Beet, which is not even close to true color here.  The dots are OPI Peace & Love & OPI with the accent nail of OPI Save Me and dots in Essie Licorice.

Thanks for reading and here' hoping that everyone's Friday goes by quickly!

Essie 2014 Resort Collection: Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, happy Thursday.  Hopefully the week has been treating you well.  I am feeling better today and am back at work.  I was in some sort of weird fever delirium yesterday so I'm glad that is over.  Today I have another collection to share with you, the Essie 2014 Resort Collection.  Every year Essie comes out with their Spring and Resort collections at about the same time.  This years Resort collection really let me down.  Read on for more details.

First up is Resort Fling, which is a dusty melon coral color.  I really liked the color of this one but it is a jelly formula so it takes three thick coats to be opaque.  The formula was very sheer.

Next up, Cocktails & Coconuts.  I love the name of this one.  The polish is a yellow based tan nude with silver shimmer.  The shimmer looked really good with one coat but once the second coat was applied, the shimmer pretty much disappeared.  I used two coats for this one but I was disappointed that the shimmer didn't translate to the nail.

Third is Find Me An Oasis, which is a pale baby blue cream.  I liked the color on this one but the formula was awful.  The polish was thin and streaky and required three coats to even out.

Last up is Under the Twilight, which is a deep cool purple.  This was the only polish with a good formula, it was a one coater!  The formula was buttery and perfect.  I did one coat for my swatch below.

Overall I was really disappointed in this collection, and my little mini cube of polishes is going right on my pinterest swap board.  I feel like all of the colors have been done before and all but one had really terrible formulas to top it all off.  Have you picked up any from this collection?  What were your thoughts?