More Pink

I came to the realization that I've purchased a lot of pink nail polish as of late so I better stop my grousing about not not caring for the color and start wearing it. Please forgive my horrid cuticles, this was after I'd been cleaning like a mad woman in preparation for company and had my hands in water nonstop. 

So this is OPI's La Paz-itively Hot, a bright fuchsia pink with a great bit of shimmer.  I applied three coats here (and not all that well from the look of my middle finger...oops), which still left a visible nail line, good thing my nails were clean. :) 

In my defense, it was a bit streaky going on.  I tried to fix it with more coats (thumb) but it started getting goopy so I left it be.

This is pretty similar to Orly flirty but again, more on the fuchsia side, the difference is most obvious in the shimmer which is much more subtle than Flirty.

It's not a unique pink in any way, but it is pretty, obviously if I didn't like it I wouldn't have bought it.  Hopefully the streaking and goopieness was due to my waterlogged nails and won't make a repeat performance. 

Thanks so much for reading, until next time, have a great one!

Comparison - China Glaze Light as Air and. OPI Steady as She Rose

When I brought home China Glaze Light as Air I thought it may be a possible dupe for OPI Steady as She Rose.  Putting them side by side though it becomes apparent that Light as Air is more lavender while Steady as She Rose has a distinct rose cast to it.

I applied three coats of each color.   Unfortunately Light as Air developed some significant bubbles while I had some streaking issues with Steady as She Rose.  (I also did my cleanup too quickly and have some issues from that as well)

 Personally I feel that Light as Air is more flattering with my coloring than Steady as She Rose which seems to make my skin a little more pink when I wear it but neither or unflattering. 

I like them both though, what do you think?  I'll be showing you one of my Kleancolor polishes next so stay tuned!

Until next time, take care!

It's an Addiction I Tell You.

I always have the best intentions of cutting back on my polish expenditures, especially since we've got a trip to California planned for next month.

Unfortunately, the moment I walk into my nail supply store of choice, all sense seems to leave me.  This is Steady As She Rose from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection (of which I got all but one).  In full sun I can see the "rose" but honestly, more often than not it appears more of a very light pinkish purple than rose and fits in perfectly with the likes of Done Up in Deco and Parlez Vouz OPI.  Steady As She Light Purple just doesn't have the same ring to it though.

I find this shade to be quite flattering in it's subtle non-assuming way, and as usual for OPI, the formula is quite lovely to apply aside from a wee bit of drag around the edges..  This is two coats. 

I'll be honest, I did get the silver shatter, but as of yet, haven't had the desire to try it.  Maybe I'm just ok with living vicariously through other nail bloggers at the moment because there is certainly no shortage of shatter swatches.

Doesn't this make you wonder what the next "big thing" will be though?  Before shatter there was holo, what would you like to see as the next big thing for nails? 

So I know I'm becoming pretty flaky about my posting, I like posting every other day-ish, but they've increased my hours at work and school is becoming more of a pain and when I should be studying I'm daydreaming about other projects and when I go to do other projects I feel guilty for  not doing homework so nothing ends up getting done really.  Ug, remind me how great it's going to be having a degree 'cause I'm not seeing it at the moment. 
I do want you my wonderful readers to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to stop by to read my sporadic postings and commenting.  You're the best! 

I Juggle...Men by OPI

Whew, it has totally been one of those weeks.  Between work, school, family to do's and what not I've been getting more and more behind.  If I haven't responded to your comment I'm sorry, I'm getting to that, thanks for being patient with me, I appreciate all my wonderful readers.  So anyway, do you remember reading fairy tales where the hero or heroine would be gazing into a deep, dark, mysterious pool hidden somewhere deep in the forest?  In my imagination these pools were never slimy or gross, rather they were full of fairy light and secrets, hidden just below the surface.

I am totally, absolutly in love with I Juggle...Men because it gives that kind of dimension and mystery to nail polish.  It's from the Femme de Cirque collection that's out right now. Which is funny to me because the swatches I've seen of it over the rest of the colors of the collection are so pale you can hardly see it.  It's when you add it to a nice dark color that you get the full impact.  Ladies, run, don't walk and get this top coat!  I swear you won't regret it. 

I applied two coats of it over two coats of OPI's black (I should have done three, I noticed some streaks) and had to sit and gaze at my nails for the next bit.  Depending on the kind of light it radiates a beautiful blue or purple glow.  Blue in brighter light, purple in low or shadows.  When my boyfriend first saw it, his comment was "That's a really deep purple polish."  (I love it when he notices my nails.)  He had to grab my hand for a closer inspection when I told him it was black...with a top coat.

As a side note, I applied Seche Vite top coat which I've noticed is getting thicker and got my first bit of noticeable tip shrinkage as you probably noticed.  I was rather bummed about that but it's holding up quite well even though I've started my spring cleaning and am being pretty rough with my nails.

Do you think you'll pick up I Juggle...Men and add it to your collection?   Maybe you have already, do you love it?



Thanks so much for stopping by and reading and I do enjoy your comments.  Until next time, take care!

Yodel-le-hee Yodel-le-hee Yodel-oh!

I'm having a bad nail day.  You know, the ones where you detect a snag and instead of leaving it alone until you can fix it you pick at it until you end up ripping your nail to the point where you can't save it.  :(  Yeah, that was me last night...On FOUR nails!  We're talking down to the quick, itty bitty nubbins.  This is one downside to my new gel nails.  So sad. 
So I'm trying to determine how bad it is.  I certainly don't want the rest of my nails down to the quick, that would just be silly even for the sake of consistancy. So for the next few days I'm going to be working on them to see if I can get them back to the point where I'm not ashamed to show them to blog land. and for the next few posts you're going to be getting back photos.

Just so you know, I have to sing the title of this blog entry like they did in the Sound of Music. Yodel-le-hee Yodel-le-hee Yodel-oh!  And if I just gave you an earworm and you're going to be singing this throughout the day...well so am I so I'm not sorry.  :) Don't you just love me all to pieces? You can thank me later, lets move onto the star of this show.  Which I'm sure you've figured out is OPI's Yodel Me on my Cell.

I wasn't expecting this polish to be as sheer as it was. In the bottle it looks really rich and opaque but alas, it took three/four + touch up coats to get complete coverage. Totally worth it for this beaut though if you ask me. The color reminds me of the ocean when I was in Hawaii years ago. In this landlocked state of mine I rarely see it outside of screen savers.

Application was super smooth though, no streaking and since I took my time between coats no dragging either, exactly how I like it.

This is from the Swiss Collection which was kind of hit and miss with me.  This was for sure a hit.  If you have a thing for lovely blue's and don't have this, I highly recommend. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading.  Until next time, take care.

OPI - Friar Friar Pants on Fire!

Love me some OPI

 Two coats.  The top pic is color accurate. 

This bottom pic shows the gold shimmer pretty well.  So pretty!

Glaming it up with Revlon Star Top Coat

It really does look like stars!

I'm sure you remember my last NOTD OPI's Yoga-ta Get This Blue. I wanted to extend it out a couple more days and realized that I have a whole lot of fun top coats that hardly ever get used.

Yay, some blue skies!

Time to rectify the situation! Out came Revlon's Star. This is a barely blue clear base with holographic hex glitter and fine silver glitter. Sooooo pretty.

I did have to do a bit of fishing for the hex's but very worth it I think. Don't you agree??
I'm so glad we had a bit of sun so you can see the shine!

A Lovely Winters Blue

The snow peeked through the clouds today and I dashed into the kitchen (my polish and supplies are all on my kitchen table) to pick a new polish to show you.
Between the weather and the inversion, sun is a hard to come by commodity this time of year so I'm going to save my special polishes for when the sun shines.

Look, blue skies!

This is OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and you really do gotta get it. It is just beautiful! I love the way it glows, and while it's a cool blue, it's not a cold blue. Does that make sense? It's the only way I can think of putting it so I hope so.

Pardon my cuticles, between holiday cleaning and harsh weather it's hard to keep them pretty.

You should know, I detest the cold, but I love you all so much that I braved the cold so I could take pretty pictures in the snow just for you ;)

See, a pretty snow picture just for you!

So this was two coats of polish over Orly Ridgefiller. The first coat dragged just a bit, but the second coat went on smooth as silk. I love me some OPI!

Hope you all are enjoying yourselves and not going too crazy with the impending holidays. Have a lovely one and until next time, ciao!

Cranberries and Candied Yams Part III

I think that two days of turkey put me in a serious brain dead state because all I wanted to do was come home and do nothing. So I flaked out on my mani...more than just a wee bit.

All I did was take some Holly Good Times by Finger Paints (seriously love this polish!) and layer it over the Rising Star.

Then I said "Meh" and took it off and did this.

Alli's Big Break with Nubar Nail Art Liner in Green Creme with no name 2 way glitter pen.
There was a wee bit of sun today, these were taken as it was coming through a sift of clouds
Thanksgiving is over so bring on Yule!

Nothin' but Nail Guides Mani & Tutorial

How bad is it that as you're putting on one color of polish you're thinking of the different things you can do to it? I sometimes wonder if having so many polishes keeps me from truly appreciating the individual polishes. Umm...Ok, done philosophizing, lets move onto the polish. :)

As I was putting on OPI's Rising Star I was contemplating how I could turn it into another more glamorous Halloween look, I wanted to fit just one more in. Ug, can you believe this month is over!??

Anyway, here's what I came up with, and since my last tutorial was a hit, and this look is really simple and can be used with a variety of color combos, I figured I'd do another one.

Without embellishment

With embellishment

I must admit that I wish I'd left the jewels off, they just don't go with the look like I'd hoped.

Moving onto the tutorial!

Step 1: Apply your base coat and base color, (OPI Rising Star.) Make sure it's completely dry and apply french nail guides as shown.
Step 2: Apply a darker color (Orly Out of This World) to the area above the guides. Carefully remove the guides and apply a quicky drying top coat (Seche Vite) and let dry completely.
Step 3: Your nails will look like this, now you're going to take a fresh set of guides and using the diagram shown place them on your nails. The guide edge placement is important to achieve the crescent shape.
Step 3 cont.: Once your guides are in place, take your final color (OPI Take the Stage) and paint the area below the guides.
Step 4: Remove the guides, your nails will look like the pic above. Apply another top coat to smooth things out, you can also add embellishments if you like. Now sit back and enjoy.

OPI Rising Star

Oooo La La! Check out this glowing goodness!

This is OPI's Rising Star and isn't it just lovely! Although the plan was to use my usual two coats, I dinged up the middle and pinky so put an extra coat on all around to try and smooth out the damage. It's still noticeable but since I'd already done one mess up removal and repair I decided to live with it. (Pardon my in need of a fill nails)

The first two pictures were taken outside with cloudy conditions but the sun came out for the last two and look at how brilliant this becomes. I love the little glints of gold.
I'm loving this color for fall, it's a nice warm orangy copper that doesn't fall into the "orange" rut.
So off nail topic, check out the winter wonderland that Mother Nature sent my way. Isn't it pretty?
Are you ready for winter? I know I'm not. I have a friend that lives in New Zealand. It's going on Spring there. If I could I'd go spend the cold months here, there.

I hope you have a lovely day and until next time, ciao!

Diva for a Day...or two

My pretty blue mani made it through the weekend, but with my happy haul calling my name it couldn't come off fast enough. I used my favorite new method of polish removal that I picked up from Colette over at My Simple Little Pleasures. I love it because it takes a single cotton ball (I unwind it since I don't have the cotton strips like she does) to remove the polish off one hand where it used to take three full cotton balls. Someone on her post make the comment that it reminded her of the fluffy fingers of The Grinch. A very apt description don't you think?

So after removal and base coat application (OPI Ridge Filler) I had to decide which color was going to go on my fingers first. I picked up some great colors so it was kinda hard to choose but I finally settled on OPI's Diva of Geneva. This is a Beautiful with a capital 'B' faintly fuchsia purple with a lovely soft shimmer.
I was in love at first brush stroke because it went on smooth as silk, almost like my nails were painting themselves and all I needed was two coats.

Check out the glow on this, isn't it beautiful? It's almost like it's lit from within.

I think this has a warm tone to it, if you look really close at the bottle you can see just the teeniest hint of gold shimmer in there.













Even in shade it's just lovely.


I think Diva of Geneva is just lovely and elegant, it seems silly but I would classify it as a "grown-up color", something your glamorous favorite aunt from Beverly Hills would wear and I just love it. I hope you've enjoyed it too.