Nails Inc. Bloomsbury Square

Today is going to be a short post. I just wanted to get something done fast. I have some pictures that I haven't posted yet, and this was one of them. I figured I'd post a purple polish since today is my boyfriend's mom, Jenn's, birthday and she looooves purple.

So this was my first Nails Inc. polish that wasn't one of their magnetic ones. I love how bright it is and the purple and pink glitter in it is amazing. In my pictures it was three coats of this polish. I think next time I'll try layering it over a similar purple that way I can 1) save some polish since these bottles are smaller than the standard size like OPI and 2) it might look a little cleaner. We shall see!

Bloomsbury Square





This polish has small purple glitter with round pink glitter in a clear base. In the shade you can really see the pink glitter, and in the sunlight the pink just helps to bring out the brightness in the purple. Just to warn you, this is a huge top coat eater. It dries matte and very gritty. If you want your nails to be smooth and shiny you'll probably need at least two coats of top coat depending on what you use.

Claire's Magnetix Nail Polish

Hey everyone! This weekend I pretty much attacked Icing looking for those darn magnetic nail polishes everyone keeps talking about. It was so frustrating because they told me that they had them in back, but they weren't sure when they were going to put them out. I checked back everyday this weekend, and finally on Sunday they had still not put them out so there wasn't much I could do. My co-worker had the idea to see if Claire's had any since Icing and Claire's are basically the same store just for different age groups. What do you know, they had two colors left. I grabbed them both! So those are the swatches I have for you today. You'll see my review below.





This is the green polish I got from Claire's it comes with a straight line magnet. The magnet on these were pretty easy to use. They're similar to the ones Nails Inc. uses but they have two of those "stands" (?) to rest on your cuticle.





Here's the pink one that I have. This one comes with the wavy magnet. I really like this magnet, but as you can tell I didn't get it to show up that well. My pinky came out the best and that's probably because I did that one last. I think next time I try to use it I'll be able to get the technique down.

What I really like that I've found from the magnetic polishes is that the formula is very thick so you don't need more than 2 coats for it to cover your nail. That's really good, but also that means I have to be a little more careful when applying. I also thought the brush had a weird shape to it, but maybe that was just my bottles.

Essie Navigate Her Spring 2012 Collection Swatches

Today I have for you Essie's Spring 2012 Collection, Navigate Her. It's a great mix of bright and pastel-like colors. I was very excited for this collection, and if you look at the swatches you'll see why. Click the Read More button to see the rest of the swatches!



Navigate Her

Essie Go Overboard Collection

Hey guys! Today I have Essie's Go Overboard collection for you. There are three colors in this collection and at first the only one that really stood out to me was the purple, Play Date. I ended up getting all of them and I'm really glad I did! I love them all. Essie has been really surprising me lately with their colors. Click the Read more button to see the swatches of each color!

OPI DS Extravagance

Hey everyone! I hope everyone's weekend was good. We got lots of snow here. I think over 10 inches where I live! So today's post is of my first Designer Series polish I ever I got. The Designer Series from OPI started out as releasing intense linear holographic polishes in an assortment of colors. From there it died down to a scattered holographic effect, and then now, their most recent colors are glitters. Who knows what else OPI has in store for us. I know a lot of people are begging for those linear holos to come back, and I agree! I think I have 6 DS polishes now (including DS Original and DS Signature!!). I remember trying to figure out which one I wanted when I was looking at what my options were and I couldn't decide what to get. Extravagance is a berry toned polish with scattered holo. It is beautiful. Eventually I ended up at the register with Extravagance, and what a good decision that was! Click Read more to see more pictures!


 

Deborah Lippman's Get This Party Started Trio!

Still being MIA. I know, I'm sorry. I started my spring semester this week, so it's been a little hectic. Anyway! Today I have for you guys Deborah Lippmann's Get This Party Started set. I got this for Christmas (yay for holidays) after telling my mom about it. I was very easy to shop for this year.. nail polish, nail polish, nail polish! So I finally tried these beauties on so I have the swatches for you to see.


Happy Birthday

This polish consists of multicolored medium and small hex glitter in a clear base. The clear base makes it obvious that unless you want layers and layers of glitter on your nails, your best bet is to pair it up with a base color. In this picture, I'm wearing three coats of Happy Birthday. The glitter is an great range of colors: silver, magenta, red, blue, orange, yellow, and green.


Here is one coat of Happy Birthday over naked nails. Excuse the staining, I rarely ever leave my nails bare!


Here's an up close shot of the polish. I have up-close shots of all three colors, and they're all pretty blurry. Sorry about that, I guess I have to play around with my camera a little more to figure out how to make it less blurry.

Candy Shop

Here is Candy Shop. It's got the same glitter that was in Happy Birthday, but this is suspended in a baby pink jelly. The lighting that I took this picture in doesn't necessarily capture the pinkness of this color, but it's really cute! I liked this a lot. This is two coats of Candy Shop.


Here is a perfect example of how the pink doesn't really get picked up. It looks very peachy/nude in this picture and it's definitely not.

Forget You

Forget You, again, has the same glitter we saw in Happy Birthday, but this is in a black jelly base. You'd think that the black base would hide most of the glitter, but it didn't! The glitter showed up really well which makes this my favorite out of the three! I love this it's just kind of edgy, but obviously girly. This is two coats of Forget You.


Close up of Forget You

Deborah Lippmann polishes I don't come by too often. Retail values vary, but they are kind of on the expensive side. I've found them at Lord & Taylor's and I know they're available at her website www.deborahlippman.com.

Finger Paints Special Effects Flakies!

Hey guys, sorry for being so absent lately. I actually got off track because I'm trying to build a nail polish rack. I'm working on it, but I don't see it being done anytime soon.

Anyway, I know I'm not the first to post about these beauties Finger Paints released, but I'm sure you guys aren't too tired of seeing pictures. I know I'm not. So this collection was exclusive to Sally's and I'm really not a Sally's shopper, so I definitely didn't think I was going to be able to get my hands on them, but I did! The lady acted like she didn't know what I was talking about, but then it must've clicked because she brought them out from the back room for me. Yay!

The pictures I have are each of the five flakies layered over OPI's Black Onyx (which is actually the only black polish I own: fun fact). I also decided to show you the pictures I took indoors because I found that they showed the flakiness much better than my pictures in the sunlight. Okay so less talking and more pictures, right?!

Flecked



Flecked is a bright green flake in a clear base. In these pictures you can see some blue at certain angles, but trust me it is definitely predominantly green. All I could think about is that it would be fun to play with this for a St. Patrick's Day mani. It also made me think of Halloween.. not too sure why, but it did. It was so bright and it stood out so much. Out of all of them, this one was the one that had the most flakes in a brush stroke.

Flashy



Flashy is a mix of orange flakes that turn yellow, green, and dare I say purple at some angles? Anyway, this is the kind of flakie we've seen before. I think it's pretty similar to Essie's new Shine of the Times flake from their Luxeffects collection. I haven't put them side to side, but I know that Essie's does have a lot more coverage than Finger Paints. That's okay though, this is still a beautyy.


This is a picture of Flashy in sunlight. See all the mix of colors and dimension you would have missed if I only put in sunlight pictures? The indoors/shade definitely makes the colors pop against the black polish.

Motley



Here is Motley. This flake has blue, teal, and aqua mixed in. It's kind of similar to Flecked, but 1) not as opaque, and 2) obviously more blue, not so much green.

Asylum

This is one coat of Asylum over black. It didn't stand out as much against the black as a one coater, so I decided to do another coat. This is the only one that I did this with.


Now that's much better. It stands out so much more with two coats, and I love it. This one just looks like Flashy, but with dark blue flake added. I can't wait to layer this over some colors to see the awesome effect I can get!

Twisted



This is Twisted, and it really just reminds me of a carnival, and then paint splatter all at the same time. Paint splatter at a carnival? I don't know, but it's fantastic. Such a great combination of colors that really stand out and just scream fun.

That's it! So yay for a collection of flakies and to my first Finger Paints I've ever bought!

Nicole by OPI Kendall on the Katwalk

Today, I have Kendall on the Katwalk from Nicole by OPI's Kardashian collection. I only bought two of the colors because they were the ones that stood out the most to me. I bought this one and Khloé Had a Little Lam Lam (I love that name!). I had only been wanting these two colors since I saw the collection, and I didn't think I would be able to get them, butttt I was lucky enough to spot them in a random spot in Ulta (the display didn't have any left so I had almost given up). Anyway, Kendall on the Katwalk is a gorgeous glitter. It has a mix of blue, green, and purple glitter in a sheer blue base. This went on sheer, but built up okay. I used three coats for my photos. A good top coat is definitely a must because it dries kind of dull and also veryy rough.







My camera couldn't really pick up the purple glitter, but you can kind of see it in this picture. Trust me though, it's very aparent when you're wearing the polish. The purple glitter is my favorite part!

I did find that this color didn't want to stay on. At one point my whole pinky nail came off in one sheet. It didn't bother me too much because the color is so awesome something like that won't change my opinion. I might just try a different base coat next time I decide to wear it.

Butter London's No More Waity, Katie

Today I have Butter London's No More Waity, Katie. This one I was a little hesitant to get as I am with most Butter London polishes because of the price. I try to make sure I get something different that I wouldn't find in another brand. That's why I decided to finally get this one! No More Waity, Katie is a purpleish grey sort of sheer color with small lilac type glitter in it. I wanted to call this color orchid, but I'm not sure if that's right, so I figured I was better off describing it how I did. I really enjoyed this color. It's not as bright as it looks in the bottle, but I still really liked how it came out on my nails. I'm actually wearing it to my job's (belated) Christmas party tonight. Like I said before, this color is sheer, so I needed three coats. I still ended up with a few bald spots, but they're not obvious at all unless you're examining my nails.


No More Waity, Katie





Shade

China Glaze - Fireside Glow

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! Today I have China Glaze's Fireside Glow. I found this at Ulta and boy is it a beauty. It's a burnt orange sort of glitter mixed with holographic glitter. I can't stop moving my hands just to look at my nails. They sparkle in every sort of light. I used two coats for the pictures. It probably could have used a third, but you can definitely get away with two. Below are some pictures in different lighting.

Fireside Glow






Trying to catch holographic goodness in a picture is very hard to do. So with the last picture it's kind of blurry on three of the nails. That was done on purpose so you can kind of see how the holo lays on the nail. It's like trying to be linear but in a scattered sort of way, if that makes any sense at all, haha.

The moral of this story: If you find this anywhere, don't pass it up. It's awesome!

OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight

Today I have some swatches of OPI's Lincoln Park at Midnight. I can't explain how excited I was to get this color. I had been wanting it for a long time and kind of just gave up, but when I was at Ulta yesterday I found this beauty in a lonely corner with a shatter. I'm so glad I even thought to look at it! So here we go...

Lincoln Park at Midnight






Sorry about the glare in some of these pictures, but I really do like this color. The deep purple with the shimmer is so pretty, and I'm so happy I finally picked this color up. As you can see some of the brush strokes are obvious which is a downfall to this color, but everything else kind of outweighs that. Sooo I guess I just need to be careful of how I polish my nails!

Until next time.. :)

Zoya Haul Today!

Today I had the day off so I decided to go to Ulta and browse around. I found a couple of Zoya's on clearance so I picked up a few. My swatches below are of Pippa, Mitzi, Phoebe, and Dannii. I also got Ali, but my friend Ali from Florida is visiting and leaving tomorrow so I decided I would give it to her. I didn't want to swatch it because it's a gift and that's not very fairrr, but it looks like a nice hot pink in the bottle.

Pippa

Pippa is a nice bright yellow. I don't normally wear yellows, but this one stood out to me. It was streaky at one coat, but smoothed out on the second coat. This photo is two coats of Pippa.

Mitzi

Mitzi was a part of the Mod Mattes collection Zoya came out with this summer. It's a vibrant lime green with a matte finish. I'm not used to wearing matte nail polish so I wasn't familiar with the application. I used three coats of Mitzi to get full coverage in the picture.

Phoebe

Phoebe is another color from Zoya's Mod Mattes collection. It's a bright blue that has a subtle shimmer in it. This made the matte a little harder for me to work with because the brush strokes are very obvious, but nevertheless I really like how bright it is and the matte finish is growing on me! This picture is 3 coats of Phoebe. Everytime I hear this name, I can't help but think of Phoebe from Friends which then makes me think of this little video clip:


Dannii

Dannii is a beautiful purple shade from Zoya. This color has a gold shimmer in it which I loveee. I'm totally a sucker for purple nail polish, and this one has gold in it? You can't beat it. This is two coats of Dannii. I can't get enough of this color. Excuse the bald spot on my pinky, aparently I kept hitting my ring finger on it today lol.

I had a really hard time trying to take these pictures. I had to use my mom's camera, which is 6 years old, because I left my camera in my boyfriends car (whoops). This camera wanted to make every picture blurry and unclear. I'm sorry about the lack of quality, but these were really the only good pictures I had. I should (hopefully) be getting my camera back within a day or so.

First Post! OPI Nicki Minaj

Hello everyone! I'm just gonna make this short and sweet and get to the stuff you actually care about: nail polish. I'm Kim from Connecticut. I'm starting this blog today as a part of my new year's resolution! I'm kicking it off with OPI's new Nicki Minaj Collection. It consists of five outrageous colors and a purple shatter. Here we go...

Did It On 'Em

Here is Did It On 'Em. This is a bright green. A lot of people probably thought it was pretty similar to Who the Shrek Are You? from the Shrek collection from 2010. Its really not though, this color is brighter. The application was pretty flawless. I used two coats for this picture.

Did It On 'Em w/ Super Bass Shatter

This is a coat of the Super Bass Shatter that came along with this collection over Did It On 'Em. I was pleasantly surprised with the color of this shatter even though I can say that I'm pretty over that whole nail trend. The purple you see in the bottle is a completely different purple you see on the nail, and once you add a good top coat it's even better!

Fly

Fly is a bright teal/blue from this collection. It's easily my favorite out of the five. I had no idea how much I was going to like it until I saw it on. The formula on this was similar to Did It On 'Em. No problems at all.

Fly w/ Super Bass Shatter

Let me just say that I love this combination! I think these two colors look so awesome together. I swatched this last, and I kept it on because I liked it so much. I really don't want to take it off, but I have to so I can put on my New Year's mani (pictures coming soon).

Metallic 4 Life

Metallic 4 Life consists of silver hex glitter mixed with silver small glitter in a charcoal/black jelly-like base. This was the only color that I used 3 coats for, but most people could probably get away with 2. I didn't think I was going to like this color, but I do!

Metallic 4 Life

This combination actually looks good. It does kind of look like Metallic 4 Life is covered a lot by the shatter and it doesn't stand out too much, but I liked it. I thought it looked interesting and kind of cool.

Pink Friday

Pink Friday... well, I had to convince a lot of people about this color. Everyone says that OPI has a bunch of pinks that this looks too similar, but let me tell you it's really not. It's different. This color is opaque and easily a two coater. Most of OPI's pinks are sheer, and the ones that aren't are not this bubblegum shade of pink. In my opinion, it's worth getting.

Pink Friday w/ Super Bass Shatter

Just like the other pictures, this is the shatter over Pink Friday.

Save Me

Save Me. Pictures do not do this beauty justice. This color is very flashy and looks awesome when the lights hit it. It consists of holographic bar glitter in a clear base mixed with small silver glitter. This color looks cool on it's own, but it will take a few coats if you are not a fan of VNL (visible nail line) like me. Otherwise, experiment by layering! The bar glitter might make it's way off the edge of the nail and can be annoying and scratchy. Just beware.

Save Me w/ Super Bass Shatter

I was not a fan of this combination, and that's only because the shatter hides too much of the holographic bar glitter, but hey, to each his own, right?


Overall, I really liked this combination. I am in no way claiming to be a Nicki Minaj fan, in fact I know next to nothing about her, but these colors are pretty exciting! The only thing I didn't like was how OPI named the shatter 'Super Bass' instead of purple to follow the rest of the trend of shatter names, but I guess that just goes with the collection.