Hey Party People! I don't know what this look is, honestly. You know I love my graphic designs, and I just wanted to play with lines, symmetry and the lack thereof... I hope you know what I mean lol. Of course I'm featuring a polish from the OPI Coca-Cola collection again, leading up to tomorrow's review of the collection with live swatches. Enough said; here's the off-kilter look:
This would be a great design to use just as an accent nail if you didn't want to do it all the way across the hand, but you know I couldn't help myself and had to pay with all the different angles. Now you can see them all and just pick the best one for your accent =p
That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back tomorrow!
Hey Babes! How is your Sunday going so far? I have another manicure featuring a polish from the OPI Coca-Cola collection- I'm sure you can figure out which one. I'll have another one for you tomorrow- all leading up to the review of the collection on Tuesday. Here is a simple design for cherry blossoms. All you gotta do is place some branches on the nail and then put red,pink, and white on your palette together and using your dotting tool, dip a bit in each color and create small dots on the branches in little groups. Then, using just the white, place as-small-as-you-can dots on the groups you've already made. Use a generous amount of topcoat and you're done! Here's the look:
This design would also look great against a cream gradient background, but I wanted to just feature the polish from the Coca-Cola collection. I hope you enjoyed this look! See you back tomorrow.
Happy Swatchfest Day everyone! :) Per usual, I have 10 polishes to share with you from my swatched folder. None of these shades has made an appearance on my blog before, and I'll show you live swatches in the video here:
You can find the reviews and grades for each polish here. Let's get started:
The red polish I have to show you is this very deep burgundy Rimmel Lava Red. It's almost a duochrome as you can see it flashes some gold in there with the burgundy. This one is absolutely gorgeous if you want to wear something devastatingly dark but still have some color on your nails. The formula is awesome- pretty much a one-coater, but you see two here. A
From the ill-received China Glaze Crinkled Chromes collection, this is I'm a Chromantic. This polish only needs one coat and gives plenty of pigmentation and texture in that one coat. I've shown it here without top coat(as well as the rest of the swatches). Polish fans didn't care for the appearance of this collection(and it's inflated price tag) but I really don't think all of there are necessarily that bad. I mean, if you don't like texture, you won't like it. But I think a few of them, this one included, are rather nice, and if you don't have a lot of time for a DIY mani- this one's practically fool-proof because you don't have to worry about having a messy application since it kind of ties in with the appearance of the polish anyway. Anyone out there feel the way I do about this collection? A
Pure Ice Poker Face is a mega bright orange-yellow shimmer. You can pick up this brand for under two bucks at Walmart, and for that price tag, they sure do offer some winners. You know I'm not crazy about orange polish, and I don't especially feel that this shade of orange is that flattering...however I think this polish packs a major punch. Well done. A
China Glaze I'm Not Lion is satisfying for the gold/yellow category today. This polish reaches the level of opacity you see here at three coats. I think the combination of gold and holographic micro glitters is just gorgeous. This polish can be found in the Fall 2012 On Safari collection which is still being sold at a number of etailers like head2toebeauty. While these microglitter polishes can be a hassle to clean up, I still looove it. A
Fingerpaints Mistful Thinking is a perfect-for-Summer bright soft lime. This makes me think of key lime pie. This is two, easy, creamy coats and it's at such a great price point in my opinion. this was almost my polish of the week, that's how much I love it. A
Color Club Chelsea Girl is kind of a mess...can you see why? This is two coats, and still streaky and not at all opaque. The other thing- this little number is a stainer if you leave it on for more than a few minutes...I almost hesitated swatching it on my finger for the live application swatches in the video above. It's such a shame cuz the color is so beautiful, but ya, I'd just pass on this one guys. C-
The divine Zoya Julieanne is representing for our purple polish today. I have no idea how this has not made it on my blog yet lol. It must have just got lost in the shuffle of things- but this was one of the first Zoya polishes I picked up, and man was I hooked. Just look at the dimension and all the different purples they mixed in there. This practically shifts from gold, fuchsia, blurple, and back to deep violet all at once. Your eye darts over your fingers trying to capture all the facets. Love it- wholeheartedly recommend this to you. A
Ooh, another polish I didn't care for. It just doesn't make much sense to me that such a dark polish like Sally Hansen Triple Shine Slick Black can't get opaque at two coats. When that's the case, it's just not worth it to me...The concept is ok- black with silver and slightly blue shimmer in it, but they don't pull it off, and having to do three coats isn't worth the price point in my opinion. Fail, sorry... C
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fruit-ta-ta over Orly Glowstick is part of the collection that SH released of matte glitters each in a clear base. This one I didn't find as interesting as some of the others because, well it's red, pink, white, and black...but I picked it up with a coupon for like fifty cents. I think it's just ok. I probably could have used another base polish and it would have been more flattering... Eh, it's kinda boring in my opinion. B
For my A+ polish of the week I'm featuring Bonita Salon Blue Steel, this lovely teal blue with silver shimmer. I found the collection that housed this polish at Rite Aid a while ago, and I almost didn't give any of them a try(in fact my first few passes by them I disregarded them). The reason being: I've tried the regular Bonita polishes and really didn't care for them, but these ones say Bonita Salon, so I finally caved and wanted to see what these were about. I'm very glad I did, because this one, along with a few others I tried, is a beaut! They also have a pretty decent price point, about 2.50, and they say right on the bottle that they're three free. Additionally, this brand just released two new collections, one called Blooming Colors, and another called Witches Ball- both of which will be fully reviewed here, so you can look out for those reviews soon. Unfortunately, I did find this one to be a tad staining, so double up on basecoat, peeps like you often have to with polishes this shade :)
Well I hope you found something here you like. Let me know what your A+ polish of the week was. I hope you're having a great weekend and I'll see you back tomorrow!
Song of the Day: Casio Social Club- She Takes My Breath Away
Hi loves. The next three manis I will be posting here will feature polishes from the OPI Coca-Cola collection. I really adore the offering in that collection- it's so well-rounded, but we'll save that for Tuesday- which is when I will have the full review and live swatches up. As for today, I'm feeling a little beachy...
Wow, that was a long title...Now that that's out of the way we can get to the meat! Today I have 8 new polishes from the Xtreme Wear line, in a collection called Electric Summer. To start out- these polishes neither feel electric, or Summer to me...they're very subdued in fact. All 8 shades are chalky pastels, and it really feels like the company saw the reception that the Maybelline Bleached Neons got so they cranked out something similar...but did it work?? Hmmm, that's what we're going to decide today. If you care to watch a video where I give you live application swatches of each shade so you can witness the formula for yourself, I have that for you here:
As for the pictures and individual reviews- we can get on to that now. All pictures will be two coats and the formula was the same for every polish, rather on the thick side. However, I will say that not one of these polishes was unmanageable.
First off we have what I believe is their orange or peach in the collection and it's called Floaties. As I said this is two coats and you can see that I wasn't able to get it absolutely even with the two coats, but it was close enough. This is a nice soothing shade, but definitely not electric...
The green in the collection is this grayed-out sea green pastel called Kelp Yourself. Slightly easier to make opaque with two coats, I did enjoy this polish, but it is definitely dupe-able. Probably one of the polishes I'll pull out to wear most often of the collection.
It is no secret that I'm not crazy for pink polish- and there are 3 in here...none of which is amazing. This one is called Peach Babe, even though it is not peach. I can report this one did not give me formula issues so that is a plus. Just a regular old chalky pink. Nothing too special here.
They included this milky white that has just a pinch of pink in it and called it Pearl Up. Probably one of my least favorites of the collection. This color of polish can look chic and I've pulled it off with other polishes, but the formula is just not exactly conducive to getting a clean look because of the thickness.
I love yellow polishes, but unfortunately this one doesn't quite make the grade. The nice thing about this polish called Teeny Bikini is that you can reach opacity in two coats- which is great for a yellow polish, but it was the shade that I didn't care for. I just don't want a grayed-out yellow because it makes it appear dingy- you know what I mean? I guess there are certain colors that look great when you add gray- in my opinion yellow is not one of them.
A prime example of when gray looks nice in a polish is with purple and the winner of the collection for me, is this lovely gray purple called Water Orchid. This one is truly lovely and a two-coater like the rest of them. If you are going to pick up any of these, I think this should be one of them.
Another winner of the collection is the blue polish called Wet Suit. Another color of the rainbow that looks nice with gray in it, and the formula made for easy application on this one. This color is probably the closest to looking electric... but I still stand firm that it was a misnomer to call the collection Summer or Electric lol.
The last pink of the collection is called You're Crabby and after reading this review- that's what you're going to think I am lol. Actually, this collection isn't horrible, it was just mis-marketed in my opinion. This pink has gray in it, and they kind of pull it off. I actually like it better than the other pinks, just because it's something different for a pink- different than all the bubbly, bright, or baby pinks we've seen a million times. This one also had a nice and easy formula.
SO...to sum up. This is a nice collection- as long as you know what to expect from it. They're not electric, they're grayed pastels. It's not evocative of Summer, but rather late Winter just barely turning into Spring. Are you feeling me on this one? If you watched my video on the Maybelline Bleached Neons, or picked up any of them yourself- I'll do a little comparison for you because I can't help myself. First- whereas not all of the Bleached Neons were easy to reach opacity in two coats without streakiness- these are all pretty much easy two-coaters. However, whereas those were advertised as Bleached Neons(a totally believable name for the collection) these are in no way electric which their name suggests. The Bleached Neons were for the most part bright and exciting even though they had a chalky appearance. These are none of them bright and exciting...just chalky. Had they been marketed under a name such as Grunge Floral or something...that would be more applicable and I think ppl would have gone for it too. As long as you know you're not going to get anything electric out of these polishes- you won't suffer from the disappointment that I did lol. Like I said, most of these are perfectly usable and even nice colors.
With a great big ANYWAY...did you pick up any of these polishes? How did you feel about them being called electric? lol I hope the video and written reviews helped you feel more able to knowledgeably head out in to that great big retail universe and shop wisely ;) I hope you're having a great day, and leave me a comment below letting me know what collections you'd be interested seeing swatches of. See you back tomorrow!
Are you interests peaked as to why I was receiving gifts on Father's Day?? I put together a short video on what went down on Father's Day at our house- hint hint- it involves polish.
This was just a short and silly update on some of the upcoming videos you'll find here of me reviewing OPI polishes in the near future and I wanted to put it all together in one video because I thought all these mini collections he got me were just precious and super thoughtful. Seriously people...this guy hates my polish preoccupation but his sweetness outweighs his hatred lol.
Stay tuned for these reviews as well as some from Sally Hansen, Fingerpaints, Bonita Salon, Sinful Colors NYC and lots more! Hope you're having a great day and I'll see you back tomorrow for another review.
Hey everyone! I hope you're having a great week. We are still enjoying some quality time with little lady since Missy Bee has us all to herself still. It's been so fun to just be able to give her all of our attention and do all the things she likes to do, which are to name a few, bake, read books, do puzzles, go to the park and OF COURSE, go shopping. :) Here are a few pics from our week with a few of the boys too, courtesy of their dad.
This is lady baking banana bread while "talking to gramma" on the phone. She was very persistent in doing both at the same time
The Queen of Sheba is her own stylist
Mom, I may have gotten a little chocolate on myself
Uhh..
Ya, could you take care of that, Mom?
One second Tim's telling me how annoying the birds are every morning- the next he's got a bird feeder set up for them in the backyard. Hey, if you can't beat em, join em.
Mr. Bear has been going to golf camp this week and is having a blast!!
Here's bug in his usual habitat, plus the awesome weighted blanket he now has thanks to his dad. Hopefully it will help him feel more calm at night and get some good sleep.
Because this is what his usual behavior is! That's Excited Bug, by the way.
In case you can't tell :)
Lots of love from our family to yours! Have a great week and we'll see you back again once it's July!!
Howdy everybody. I had a few requests to put up a review on the Orly Baked collection and I had to hunt one or two polishes down, but I finally found them and here's the swatches and review. You can start here with this video if you like- it gives you live swatches and a little chat on each polish and the collection as a whole.
As for the pictures and review of each polish, we'll do more of that here. So this collection consists of 6 shades. For the majority they dry semi-matte so you will want a topcoat for a glossy finish. There are two high-shimmer shades, three creams, and one jelly/glitter. These were all fine with two coats, which is what you will see below, and I did swatch the glitter over a white base of two coats. Let's get started:
First up we have the gorgeous coral, Ablaze. It is absolutely packed with gold shimmer and if you are searching for that perfect coral for the Summer that has a little something extra, this might just be it! You're looking at two coats, and as with most of the polishes in this collection, the formula is a little thick so you may have to allow for a little extra dry time between coats, but I absolutely love this one.
Just like her sister above, Hot Tropics is packed with gold shimmer. This lovely fuchsia is another beauty and definite star in this collection. This is again, two coats, and easy to apply.
The odd ball of the collection is this light yellow/green jelly polish with micro gold glitter and gold bar glitter. I can't see myself wearing this that often, but the more I played with it and tried it over a few different options, I didn't end up being as wary of it as when I first saw this online. I think it has a few major problems- the bar glitter makes the nail look hairy, and it's a bit goopy, but other than that I actually really liked this color. I actually liked that Orly threw in such an odd polish because I think it's the things that make us different from each other that makes us beautiful- and that goes for polish too ;)
This deep violet semi-matte is called Saturated. She is devastatingly gorgeous! This is shown without topcoat, so if you don't like the matte look then definitely grab your favorite glossy top coat. I love the way this collection is balanced out with a deep shade like this against all the brights! This is definitely a favorite.
Ok, this polish looks just like super bright macaroni and cheese and it's name is Tropical Pop. This one's a bit thick so give the first coat some dry time so you don't have any issues. Definitely not something I'm going to wear every day, but I sure don't have another polish like this in my collection. Now I have uber-bright mac n cheese polish! You're looking at two coats.
Finally, we have Neon Heat and in my opinion this one has the best formula of the collection. It is smooth and easy to apply- no worries here. I know it's just a basic super hot pink cream, but like I said, it's easy breezy and very bright. This is two coats.
And that rounds it out peeps! How did you like this collection? Once Sally Beauty put Orly on BOGO this month I knew I wanted to pick these up, but then they disappeared from the three(yes three) locations near me in like a second. Lucky for me, Ulta had the two I couldn't find anywhere else on B2GO so I was very happy that I would be able to bring the whole collection to you without having to pay and wait for shipping ;)
I hope you are having a great day and thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me today. Did this help you decide if you're going to pick any of these up? Let me know below which one your favorite is! Love to you, and see you back tomorrow :)
Hey Dolls. I had on this super vibrant blue from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line called Blue Flame and it just called for something punchy. I decided what better than the little spitfire pony Dash from the cartoon My Little Pony. She has really awesome rainbow hair! Here's the finished look:
Here is the base polish Blue Flame at two coats:
Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me today. I hope you enjoyed this look and I'll see you back tomorrow for another collection review! Hint- Orly :)
Song of the Day: Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith- La la la
Hi loves :) I have a super simple Sunday mani for you today. Let's just get right to it. Here's the look featuring some polishes from Sally Hansen and Nina Ulta Pro:
For a simple mani- use a mix n match method with designs and polishes. Throw in one accent nail polish like the one on my fourth finger, and then put a few small designs on other fingers. Take pictures of your work and then you can refer to the quick designs to do a mix n match manicure any time you want something fast and easy.
Here is the polish that is on all fingers but one- Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Trouble Maker:
This polish is divine!! Two coats and creamy goodness in a purple. So lovely
The other polish I used is Nina Ulta Pro Soho Chic which is this lovely taupe with lilac/silver glitter in it. This is two coats but I think I'd do a third next time.
I wore this single polish the whole day that I swatched this because I loved how truly chic it looked- just like its name :)
I hope you enjoyed this look and that you're having a great day. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back tomorrow.
