Monday, April 30, 2012

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man - Swatches & Review

Hey everyone, I've missed you guys! I am back from my break and you're going to be seeing a lot more of me in the next few months. I thought I'd start things off with a bang, so today I have for you my swatches and review of the OPI The Amazing Spider-Man collection which is set to hit stores this May. I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about Spiderman, but I know a thing or two about nail polish, so keep reading if you'd like to see what OPI is bringing to us this spring!

This post is extremely picture heavy, but you'd expect no less from a swatch post, right? 
Full swatches and review after the jump!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Glitter Gradient

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry once again for not being very active recently, I had three consecutive exams in the first three days of exam period - so saying I've been busy is an understatement. Luckily, I had a pretty nice mani throughout this entire week, I've been wearing this silver glitter gradient for quite a while now and I've gotten a few compliments! Let's take a look..

To get this look I started with two coats of Barre My Soul from OPI's recent SoftShades collection featuring the New York City Ballet. I then layered Pirouette My Whistle over top but only part way down the nail to start off the gradient, and finished with some thick coats of OPI Crown Me Already on the tips!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

New Water Marble Technique

Hey everyone! Once again, sorry for my intermittent posts recently, but the end of the semester is almost here and I'll have much more time to blog!
Today I have a manicure that I'm not really sure about, I love the idea, but I wish I had executed it just a little bit more successfully. To give you some background, I first saw this sort of technique here and I was intrigued, but I couldn't figure out how to get the clear "windows" in the water marble. After I received the OPI New York City Ballet collection it just came to me: I could water marble with one of them and it would be sheer enough for the design underneath to show through!
I wish that I had taken more care on the base design instead of just slapping colours on wherever, but keep on reading for some more pictures of this new water marble technique!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Splatter Mani

Hey everyone!
I'm so sorry for my absence recently - but as I'm sure many of you know it's getting close to final exams and my nails are the last thing on my mind. I've been meaning to try out the splatter mani technique for a while, and I fell in love with this one that Sarah from Chalkboard Nails did as a guest post on Fashion Polish - I'm sure you all know of these two blogs but if you don't they are ones to add to your list!
For this look I started with two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. I then used a straw and began splattering using China Glaze Liquid Leather, OPI Alpine Snow, Revlon Metallic, Quo by ORLY Filthy Rich, and for the first time ever A England Lady of the Lake! 
Keep reading for some more photos!

Thursday, April 05, 2012

OPI Pirouette My Whistle Comparison

Hey everyone! Who's excited for the long weekend - I am! When I first saw Pirouette My Whistle from the OPI New York City Ballet collection I wanted to know how similar it is to OPI Crown Me Already from last summer's Miss Universe Collection. Pirouette My Whistle has medium matte silvery-white hex glitter and silver microglitter, while Crown Me Already has three different sizes of metallic silver hex glitter and silver microglitter. The matte glitter in Pirouette My Whistle is what makes it stand out to me, it's not as attention grabbing as most glitters, instead it adds a feminine touch to a jelly or creme finish.
I layered one coat of each glitter over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. Crown Me Already is on my pinky and middle fingers and Pirouette My Whistle on the index and ring fingers.
Keep reading for more photos!

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

OPI New York City Ballet - Comparisons

Hi everybody! (I feel like Dr. Nick when I say that). I've noticed that quite a few people in the nail community are saying that a lot of the shades from OPI's NYC Ballet collection look the same on the nail, and so I've done some swatches of the four shades side by side.
This picture is from my original swatches, it shows each colour photographed in the shade.
Keep reading to see the comparisons!

Sunday, April 01, 2012

OPI New York City Ballet - Swatches and Review

Hello! Today I have five of the six shades from OPI's annual SoftShades collection to show you, and this year's theme is the New York City Ballet. Though I have never been a fan of sheer shades like this before, I have to admit there are a few winners in this collection, and don't even get me started on how perfect the glitter is.
A word of warning, this post is going to be extremely picture heavy!