bond...bond girls

I couldn't wait for these Bond Girl OPI Liquid Sands to be released. My sweet bf got some for me when they first came out. These two are Pussy Galore (pink with pink shimmer) and Solitaire (white with silver glitter).

I super dig them both and find myself wanting to grab them over and over, *but!!* there is one caveat about the light, textured colors, at least for me. They catch dirt and show it really easily, and it doesn't seem to want to come off :( so it has about 1 full day to maaaaaybe 1.5 days of wear at most.

Can I just lodge one complaint about the sands and the OPI brushes? The sands tend to fluff up the bristles and the OPI brush is already pretty big, so it can make it a bit unwieldy. As for the formula on these two, they're great. A bit more sheer than the previous ones I've tried, and Pussy G has a frosty base, which I noticed started to get a little strokey if I wasn't careful. For these reasons, I also think it would look great layered over a similar color. Cute, cute colors, great for spring and I can wear the white one year round :)

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

Pastel Party!

There's something about pastels--I just can't get enough of them, despite the fact that they always do me wrong. They are too eye-catching to resist. Even the pastel cremes with proclaimed “ease of application” often fit into one or more of these unpleasant categories: thick, gummy, stringy, they pull or are streaky. 

 

Most of the following pastels presented some problems, some got better with practice, some didn't. The only one I absolutely COULD NOT work with was Lime Crime Pastelchio (a sort of pastel yet neon green, such a cool color!). It was like painting with melted chewed gum. 

My Lifesaver was the easiest of the bunch and the best tip I could relay about pastels would be to let each coat dry in between layers. These pictures suck, so here's a bunch.

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver. Artificial Light. (index finger looks fat!)

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver. Artificial Light.

Pastelchio, Up and Kim-ing Pink, Milky Ways (Index has horrible Orly Repair on it!!)

Milky Ways, Pastelchio. Natural Light.

Milky Ways, Pastelchio. Bottles, natural Light.

V-Day Mani!

I wanted to do a fairly festive Valentine's mani, but I don't have any really Valentine-themed polishes. I decided to layer a few--OPI Elephantastic Pink, Sephora by OPI Be-Claus I said So, and Lynderella Love, Lace, and Lilacs. 

It turned out looking interesting, but not terribly Valentine-y because Elephantastic Pink turned out more corally on me than pink. Even a little orangey in some light. It was a little sheer and I used three coats. 

LLL was better than it's ever been and I noticed that it has a faint white shimmer. Beautiful. 

Elephantastic Pink, Beclaus I Said So, and Love, Lace, and Lilacs. Natural Light

Elephantastic Pink. Natural Light.

Elephantastic Pink, Beclaus I Said So. Bottles, Natural Light.

Aqua Lemming

It's blue(ish). It's beautiful. It's finally mine. I got this as a birthday gift for a shameful price after the first time it sold out. I wanted to wait until my birthday to use it--so here it is.

Aqua Lily. Natural Light.

Aqua Lily. Natural Light.

Aqua Lily bottle. Natural Light.

Aqua Lily. Natural Light, Shade.

It was one of those colors that does not disappoint upon receiving. It's the same gorgeous blued turquoise with pink particle shimmer that I expected. However, it was the formula, as with many Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes I've tried (gasp) that was problematic for me. It was very pigmented (awesome) and strangely self-leveling. It took about an hour to level out completely on the second coat. It pulled for me as well, so the second time I used it, I waited for the first coat to dry and had much better application. Another issue--it chipped the next day :( and for a polish that retails for $20, I would just find a dupe or wait for one.

Oh...

So these pictures are absolutely terrible. But I adore this color. I know it gained a mini cult status in the "nail world," so I picked it up at Walgreens. I figured since it was a pastel it would be a pita, but it wasn't so bad. 

I only used three coats and it is not completely opaque, however it's a sheer jelly-ish formula and I like the sheerness of it. I let the coats dry a lot in between each one to make sure that it wouldn't be too goopish. 

I left this on for three days with minimal tip wear and it wore really well. It does make me look a little red, but not nearly as red as in the photos. These just turned out so badly :( I definitely foresee wearing this and posting more in the future!

Cinderella. Artificial Light.

Cinderella. Artificial Light.

Happy Holos pt. 2

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This doesn’t look like much in the bottle, I’ll admit. I swapped for it because I wanted a Jade holo so much, but it was my least favorite of the pinks and reds. I thought it looked mauve and old lady in the bottle but when I put it on—bam!! Somewhere between sweet, yet seductive Barbie and every so slightly dusty rose office appropriate yet eye-blinding rainbow fire in sunlight holo (I was lucky to catch about 30 seconds of semi-sun on a rainy day for this). It looks even better and fire-ier in true sunlight.

What a fantastic surprise! I can’t really recall a time when I’ve felt…sexy? Wearing nail polish, haha! Whoever named this polish hit the nail on the head. Seducao it is. If you’ve worn it, I think you know what I mean.

As for wear, it did chip the next day (sorry about the ugly chipping D;), but not as quickly as some holos have on me (ChG OMG collection and MUS come to mind). I used NFU-oh aqua base under it and that worked very well for adhesion, though I didn’t try it without a base.

I cannot wait to get the rest of the collection <3 happy holo to all! And to all a good night :)

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light, shade.

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

  

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

New Year's Eve Eve already!?

I'm lucky enough to have two new and beautiful polishes to show today--New Year's Eve Eve from Lynnderella's Season's Glitterings collection over Nicole Up and Kim-ing Pink (dupe for OPI Pink Friday).

I love the color of Pink Friday but had a ton of issues with the formula. I'm not sure if the Nicole formula was much better or if I'm just more skilled now. The polish isn't terrible to apply, though it's streaky and takes at least three coats to even and still has a somewhat chalky look. Also, it chipped like a beotch (sorry for the tip wear!) after half a day. But this color can't be beat!

New Year's Eve Eve, December 30th, I think ;) From Lynnderella's website: "363 days of glitter. We expected it to have some relationship to The Glittering Crowd, and it does. But the addition of new matte and satin glitters add an extra whallop. Just like 2012."

The satin glitters are really different--I think these were used in Sweets to the Sweet as well. A sort of pearlescent effect. A beautiful rainbow of glitters in a clear base which is great for anytime of year, really. The main differences I notice between NYEE and tGC is the satin glitter, diamond glitter, and yellow flowers. Of course the overall color scheme is also different. I haven't actually worn tGC yet either, but will compare soon <3

Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

New Year's Eve Eve and Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve. Artificial Light.

Miso Excited!

It's been a really long time since I posted...and for a good reason! I am currently employed and though it is very part time right now, I've still been busy and adjusting to a new schedule has been tough on my nails, believe it or not. 

It took me a long time to find this polish for a reasonable price (ie not on eBay) and I really *needed* to--I mean, you've gotta understand because I've read it's the only dupe/semi-dupe out there for RBL's Plie (see crappy comparison pic). As you can see in the picture, the pink in Plie appears to be a bit more saturated. 

Plie, a color I adore and think of frequently, is a color I have almost never been able to apply well. It nearly always requires three coats to cover streaks, gets thick and gummy, and takes 12 hours to dry even with a quick dry topcoat. I'd given up at one point and taken it to a salon and wished I hadn't.

I really hoped Miso Happy with this Color would *not* dupe Plie's application and it didn't. Application was so smooth and easy. While a bit sheer, with three thin and easy coats, this applied like a toxic, black-label dream. Why am I not wearing this right now, actually?

And oh my gosh. With the sunset starting at 2:30pm and me waking up at 8am at best--I am so sorry for this one terrible picture :( More to come!

Miso Happy with this Color. Artificial Light.

Miso Happy with this Color. Bottle Shot. Sunlight.

Miso Happy with this Color and Plie bottle comparisons. Sunlight.

October Pink

Since I didn't really take the opportunity to celebrate Halloween this year, I thought I would reserve the last post of October for a special pink polish. I was also going to talk about boobs. But I thought that might be weird, despite the breast cancer awareness month. I thought to write about my maternal grandmother, who had breast cancer, but no...so pink nail polish, awareness...breast cancer.   

Starry Pink/Popular came out I believe around the same time as some of Revlon's dupes for higher end polishes such as Naughty/Perplex for Chanel Paradoxal and Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia/Scandalous (Lippmann's Bad Romance), Revlon's Whimsical (Lippmann's Glitter in the Air)...and others, but this chunky glitter in a sheer base is, to my knowledge, totally unique. To me it definitely screams Glinda, fairy princess, or at least vintage lurex. 

The formula is easy and I would say requires a sure three coats, though I wouldn't knock experimenting with one or two over a pink or lilac shade. Three coats gets a little...I don't know. Lumpy. Chunky? Maybe it's just me. I don't like three coats, but it's necessary for opacity. Partially I think the application problems are because of the quality of the glitter--if you look carefully, particularly on my pinky nail, the hexes are not lying flat and are taco-ing a bit. This is where I do start to feel like it may be worth spending a little more for the higher end glitters. 

However, this color, lying somewhere between pale pink and lilac with cool silver glitter seems to be unique only to Revlon, so unless they shell out for some higher quality glitter--this is what we have. It's still a very pretty polish and pretty special. I haven't seen anything like it. 

Starry Pink. Artificial Light (strangely focused, like a "Glamour Shot").

Starry Pink and a fail sandwich of Urban Outfitters Dust :(

Bottle Shot

Welcome Shimmer

I am not going to lie. I have a bandaid on my right middle finger. I’m not trying to get creative with hand poses here

Today I bring you a medley (heh) of nail looks featuring OPI Privacy Please and Shimmer’s fantastic mermaid tail reminiscent “Jenny.” Jenny is very versatile and great for so many looks, so I decided to do several. It’s pretty dense even in one coat and unless your base is on the brighter/darker side, it seems to perhaps over shadow it, like with Privacy Please, so I did decide to show its versatility with this mani.

Privacy Please is a nice and subtle pinky pale creamy jelly-like sheer from OPI. It’s a good neutral and comes fairly streak-free in three coats. There are a lot of shades similar to this in their line, I just happened to try and like this one.

Jenny is available in Shimmer’s Etsy shop and was delivered pronto. At $12 they are a little pricier than some sellers on Etsy, however the density of the glitter will require fewer coats (one or two will be more than sufficient for a gorgeous sparkle imo), thus making the bottle go much further. Another note about Jenny is that there are so many different glitters in the polish, adding to the versatility and dimension, something I always appreciate.

PS.Thanks to Sparkly Vernis for the recommendation of Shimmer polish.

Shimmer Jenny with OPI Privacy Please (layered on fingers, topped with Jenny on thumb). Sunlight.

Shimmer Jenny with OPI Privacy Please (layered on fingers, topped with Jenny on thumb). Shade.

Shimmer Jenny Macro Bottle. Sunlight.

Shimmer Jenny over OPI Privacy Please. Sunlight.

Shimmer Jenny over OPI Privacy Please. Artificial Light, flash.

Shimmer Jenny over OPI Privacy Please. Artificial Light, flash.

A Brief Interlude

I had to take a quick break from my Sprinkles swatching to show you another sweet polish--one of my fav Pretty and Polished, if not my favorite. This is Candy Coated. Its lovely pinky lilac or lilac-y pink with multi-sized pink and purple hexes seemed to glide onto my nails. It’s versatility allows it to look beautiful in two coats (slightly sheer) three coats (opaque), and one coat (over another polish).

While I normally prefer multicolor glitters, Candy Coated is really a standout for me. Part of it is surely the formula, but the pretty girly-ness of it, without being sickeningly sweet really appeals to me. It's a pretty unique combo, as well. I tried it as a jelly sammich with Beclaus I Said So $OPI and I thought that was pretty cute. I have a crappy picture of this.

I would recommend not using a quick dry topcoat over this, unless you have one that results in minimal shrinkage, because I think I noticed some. It goes on smoothly without a topcoat though, so you may skip all together. I was wondering if Candy Coated is anything like Tart, but I don’t own both. Thoughts?

Candy Coated (two coats). Artificial Light.

Candy Coated (three coats). Natural Light (overcast).

Candy Coated (three coats). Close up.

Candy Coated. Macro.