OPI Mod About You

Hello! Happy Friday! I hope you all have some fun plans for the night, personally I'm just working.
Today I have a classic OPI shade that I think is great for springtime! I love pinks and this soft baby pink is no exception. Pictures show three coats and topcoat, I found it to be a little streaky until I added that last one and then it levelled out nicely.

I think this will be the perfect base for some springy nail art (ie dotting or tape) next time I wear it! Do you like soft pastels like this?

March Untrieds- HITS Hefesto

Hey there! So for this month Amanda, Amanda, and myself are doing Rainbow untrieds. This one is pretty open for interpretation so that's cool! I personally have a rather large amount of untried holos so I'll be showing them lots.
Today (but actually I meant for this to be last week) I wore HITS Hefesto over Revlon Sweet Tart. Hefesto is the holo topcoat from the No Olimpo collection of holographics. I put one coat over two coats of Sweet Tart. The first two shots are in indirect light and then the next two are full lighting to show the holo goodness!

I like this combo a lot, it made me feel like I had Barbie nails! I can't wait to try Hefesto over other colours!

Dollish Polish Girls Rule Boys Drool

Hey all! I hope you had a fun Christmas if you celebrate, and a successful Boxing Day if you were brave enough to face the malls! I thought about going shopping today, but then decided I would rather read A Storm of Swords. I've been completely sucked into the Song of Fire and Ice books this past bit, so if anyone was wondering where I was... yeah, stuck between the pages of a book haha. BUT I remembered myself, and here I am.
Today I have a very pretty indie for you, and a rare one at that. I don't have many indies at all, but when I heard about this one I thought it sounded pretty cool. It's one of only 300 bottles, and to be given the opportunity to get it you had to fill out a form and have your name drawn. Kind of like a giveaway, but you still had to pay. haha!! Anyway I never expected to get to buy it because I never win anything, but I did! Yay!
Girls Rule Boys Drool is a very girly mix of tiny pink and purple matte glitters. This is also the first matte glitter I own, and I really like it. Here I wore one coat over two (or three? can't remember) coats of China Glaze Something Sweet to really amp up the girlieness. I also think it would look great over periwinkle, or white/cream, and obviously black.

There you have it! What do you think of this girly glitter? Would you wear it, or is it too much?

Joe Fresh Bumbleberry

Hi!!
Okay so I realize I'm on a super intense Joe Fresh kick right now but I seriously can't help it! They're my go-to for creme shades that round out a collection. They do great basic colours that I love, but don't necessarily want to spend a ton of money on. (I'm looking at you, $10/bottle OPI!) The formula is almost always great, and the price point is so right! Three for ten dollars, don't mind if I do. This particular colour is a great berry shade, a bit more on the pink side. It has a great creme formula and went on easily in two coats. The little short brush handles do take some time to get used to, but the brushes themselves are fantastic. Anyway this is all something you've heard from me before, so let's get on to the picture!

I really loved this shade and will be reaching for it to pair with some glitters soon! The little bit of blackness at my nail line isn't the polish's fault btw, I didn't clean up properly after the galaxy mani.

The Lazy 15- Water Marble

Hey everyone! So today we have my mortal enemy the challenging technique of water marbling. Now this is something I'd seen on other blogs and thought was pretty cool, while also being like "Pfffft how hard can it be really? Put some polish in a cup and stick your finger in, I could TOTALLY do that. If I wanted to." Well I am here to tell you today that it is VERY hard really, and no I totally CANNOT do that.

This mani fought me every single step of the way, and I was very close to pulling a /ragequit and going to bed (I foolishly started this project at 11:45 pm.) However I didn't want to bail out of the challenge on the third day, so I steeled my nerves and fought on. The polish wouldn't spread. It dried too fast and wouldn't make a design. I missed getting the design on my whole nail and the white base was showing. I somehow smudged and dented my other nails in the process. My one cat decided he wanted attention and was walking huffily on my desk, dangerously close to my marbling cup. My kitten decided he wanted to torment my other cat and was clambering around my feet and trying to get close to the other cat. Oh yes my friends, it was no good.

I set out from the beginning to only do an accent nail of marbling, because let's be serious. Nail art + me= no bueno. I painted my other nails with Sally Hansen Green Tea because I haven't used it aside from Wednesday's dots. I like it except for that giant paddle brush. The "marble" (term used very very loosely) was done in China Glaze For Audrey because Green Tea wasn't pigmented enough, and with Essie In Stitches. In my first and most spectacular fail, I also tried using L'Oreal Walk on the Beach but it wouldn't spread enough. So I left it out on the second go. And this is what I got! I would try and explain it, but I don't even. Just.... Wow. On the bright side, when/if I ever get passable at water marbling, I can look back and laugh. Right? Right. With that said, here we are.

I just.... give up okay? I'm so sorry. I promise the rest of my posts won't subject your poor eyeballs to this level of fug. But everyone else's marbles are going to look really really good next to mine, so really, you should be thanking me! ;) ;) Haha! Anyway it is now 1 am, I am exhausted, and I am going to pass out on my keyboard unless I get by butt to bed! Can't wait to see everyone else's posts!

China Glaze For Audrey

Hello!!

This is a polish I wanted for a long time until the lovely Arlyn gifted it to me in the Secret Goblin swap a bunch of us did a while back. This is a great colour and I'm super happy to have it, a classic Tiffany blue creme.

Formula wise, this one was a little challenging. It wanted to run off the brush in big blobs and I was tired and let it get away onto my nails! Noooooo! I needed three coats to even it out, but I think next time if I polish more carefully I'll be able to get away with two. 

Then since I've been seeing lots of posts about RBL's Bring it Back event happening soon, and am trying to convince myself that I don't need to buy any more polishes at this point, I tried to imitate Aqua Lily by adding Amethyst Sparkle on top of For Audrey. It's certainly no dupe but it's good enough for me! I really love the CND effects, they're so versatile.

What do you think of this colour? You probably have it by now, it's a great shade! Hopefully soon my nails will be back in good condition, they haven't broken in a while so I hope they keep improving!

China Glaze Ahoy!

Hi everyone!
Today I have a summery polish for you. Yes, yes I know its fall but I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer yet! Plus the weather here is holding up nicely so it's easy to pretend I still have a little bit of summer left.
Ahoy! is from Anchors Away, the spring 2011 collection. It's a bright, hot pink with gold glass fleck shimmer. I love it, it looks very juicy to me. It dries pretty fast and shiny too!
I did two coats here with a coat of SV.

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Just a short one today, what do you think of this colour? I didn't always like pinks very much but I'm really starting to enjoy them now!

More OPI swatches! and a bonus

Hi again! This is the last of my scheduled post so hopefully I find some time (and nice weather) to swatch some more or else the blog might be lonely again for a bit. I think I want to build a lightbox soon, in another month or so going outside to take pictures won't be an option. That's Canadian winters for ya! This post is long so I'm putting the rest under a cut!

I'm Back! With Some OPI Swatches

Hey everyone, so it's been just over a month since I last posted... Wow. Definitely didn't mean for it to be that long, things definitely haven't been going as planned. The reasons for my disappearance are long and boring (to anyone who isn't me, haha!) If you're curious, feel free to ask, otherwise, on with the polish!
So you may know that my No-Buy July was definitely not a success, and not something I will EVER do again. It was painful. It was torturous. It backfired terribly and I hauled like MAD in August. And the next few posts will bear witness to that! My stash of OPI multiplied like crrrraazy because I found this awesome lot sale on kijiji (Canadian Craiglist) of like, 15 polishes for $50. Mad As a Hatter was in there so I definitely had to get it! Then a week or two later, OPI was on sale at Beyond the Rack and I had a credit so I picked up maybe 7 more. Yuuuup, I have a problem. Most of the colours you've more than likely seen before, but I had never worn them so I felt the need to swatch. Bear with me ;)

Side note- I wasn't sure if it was "bear" or "bare" with me, a quick Google search informed me that if I used "Bare" with me, I'd be inviting you to undress.... SO yeah. Bear it is! Pictures after the jump!

China Glaze Dance Baby

Hello! So I don't think I've mentioned this here yet, but I am doing a no-buy July! Luckily my blog is new enough that almost all of my polishes are unswatched so I have lots to tide me over. I'm still finding it difficult not to buy any more though. And to make it extra challenging, I'm trying not to buy ANYTHING this month except for bare essentials like gas and food. Yikes. But it's for a good reason, and hopefully I will be able to share that with you all soon!
Today's nail polish is Dance Baby from the spring China Glaze collection. I got quite a few from the collection, and like the others I've tried, the formula on this was a little thick for my taste. It seems to work best in two thickish coats. Normally I prefer to do thinner coats but it's just not happening with these ones! No worries though, the polish was still easy to control. I would describe the colour as very girlie, almost Barbie-like. It makes me think of candy and princesses and all that jazz. It's a blue-based bubblegum pink and dries slightly darker than bottle colour.

 As you can see, I flipped this picture. My bottle isn't actually backwards! But that would be pretty cool if it was, right?

HITS No Olimpo Atena

Hello! Yesterday I had some awesome nail mail from Llarowe, I got a few of the discontinued Ozotics as well as some other polishes that caught my eye. Including this one, Atena from the No Olimpo collection of holographics. Before I got into reading nail polish blogs, I had never seen a holographic polish before. They're amazing, and I'm very happy to own several now. This one is awesome because it's such a bright colour. It seems like lots of holos out there are really pale subdued shades, but this way you get the double whammy of bright pink and holo! Formula was good, I used three coats with basecoat but no topcoat. I didn't have any problems with patchiness or streaking. The HITS brush is a little different but once you get used to it, it works fine. In the shade this looks like a bright cranberry pink with silver shimmer, but out in the sun or bright lights you can see the rainbows! I apologize for the weird bit of polish on my ring finger, I didn't see it in real life and now the sun is hiding again so I can't retake them. The weather here is so unpredictable!

Quo by Orly Purple Daydream

Hello! Happy weekend everybody! I'm bagged today, last night my boyfriend and I drove down to Calgary to see Porter Robinson. It was a good show and lots of fun to go dancing for the night, but we (namely me) drove back after the show because we had to be home early today and I am sleepy! Definitely going to be napping before work.
Today I have another bright polish for you. This one is my boyfriend's favorite, he actually bought it for me after seeing it on one of his clients. He asked that I wear it again soon, so I decided to put it up on here! It's from a brand called Quo that is available exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart. The nail polish line is parented by Orly, so it's of good quality. The colour is called Purple Daydream, although you can see that it's really not purple at all. This is a bright fuschia, almost neon. In fact it does dry to satin matte, so remember your top coat! This is another polish with secret shimmer, which becomes more obvious when topcoatted. Formula was good, as you would expect from a polish giant like Orly. I believe I used three coats for peace of mind, two probably would have been okay but I have some staining near the free edge from a blue colour I wore a while back. Gross.
Photos are all outside in the sun! I wish it would be sunny more, June has been ridiculously rainy so far. I want to swatch my holos!

Color Club Wing Fling

This is the last of the Take Wing collection I have right now, I might eventually go pick up the other three though. I can't resist a good glass fleck! Wing Fling is a bright, hot pink but the shimmer makes it seem...classy?  Can hot pink be classy? If so, this one is! The polish in the bottle shows some orange duochrome, but it unfortunately doesn't show on the nail. The shimmer is enough to keep the color interesting though, lots of depth and glow. Formula was good, a little on the thin side but very easy to control. By three coats it had good opacity, and it dried quickly and didn't feel "dentable". Of course I added my SV topcoat to seal it and give it extra shine, but I think it would have been okay on its own.
First two in shade, second two in sun. Look at that depth in the shade and sparkle in the sun! Awesome.

Anne + Florio B49

This nail polish was a gift from Leigh, an amazing client of my boyfriend's. She recently got married and went to Thailand for her honeymoon, and she picked up this polish and one other for me while she was there! I was really touched by her thoughtfulness! She's awesome :) And so is this color! It doesn't have a name, just B49. It's a bright pink, almost neon. BUT the finish is a jelly! I am in LOVE. I've barely been able to stop staring at my hands since I put it on last night. So bright, and shiny, and squishy. lovelovelove. I have a feeling I will be reaching for this color a lot over the summer!
I used three coats to get it to an opacity I liked, and cleanup was a little bit of a hassle just because it's so bright. The formula was good, but I'm a spaz and get paint everywhere. I'm REALLY excited to try a jelly sandwich with this polish with the Essie luxeffects flakie Shine of the Times. I'm hoping it might be a similar to the summer Deborah Lippmann shade.

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