Girly Bits: Bette Davis Eyes

I'll be off shortly to spend another day exploring London, but I wanted to write up a quick post to share before I head out!  This polish is another beauty from the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and it's called Bette Davis Eyes.  

Bette Davis Eyes is a lovely pearly white polish with an amazing pink/purple shimmer and slight holographic sparkle, which was much more apparent in person than it is in my photos.  Take a look at the bottle in my photos for a better idea of what the shimmer and holographic sparkle can look like!

I used two thin coats for perfect coverage; the formula was slightly on the thicker side, but it made application very easy and I hardly had to do any clean-up.  Bette Davis Eyes naturally dries to a slightly textured finish which I loved, so that was how I chose to wear it.  However, since the texture isn't too rough, I'd say it would likely smooth out with 1-2 coats of a thick top coat, if you wanted to wear it that way.  

As I mentioned, this polish is part of the Girly Bits 80's Girl Band Collection, and you can purchase it and lots of other stunning Girly Bits polishes online here.   The website is currently down for maintenance, but is expected to be back up and running on August 13th. You can also like the Girly Bits Facebook page to keep up to date with the site, as well as new releases.  

I absolutely love how delicate and feminine this polish is, with the added interest of being textured!  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!  :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided for review and my honest opinion. 

NOPI Roughless: On What Grounds?

I was kind of interested to try NOPI's Roughless Collection, but not quite enough to want to pay full-price for them, haha.  So when I saw this one for half-price in a clearance bin at Shopper's, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!  ;)

This is two thin coats of On What Grounds? alone, although I think one thicker careful coat probably would have worked as well.  The formula itself was on the thick side, but as long as I was careful to work the polish evenly it didn't give me any issues.  The texture is very prominent and rough, (closer to the original Liquid Sands than the softer Pixie Dusts,) but it doesn't get stuck on anything so I personally don't mind.  It's worn really well so far, going on day 4 now with just a bit of tip wear and no chips!  

I quite like this blue, and I'm now curious to try the others too; I think this one would work well in a gradient with the purple.  I'm on a bit of a tight budget right now, but if I see any more of these on sale, I'll definitely be picking them up!  :)

Do you own any of the Roughless polishes?  What are your thoughts on them? 

LVX Mynt & OPI My Favourite Ornament

I purchased both of these polishes pretty recently, and when I saw them sitting next to each other on my desk I knew they'd make a good pair!  

LVX Mynt is a beautiful light vibrant mint creme, with full coverage in three thin coats.  (Two thicker coats would probably do the trick too.)  This was my first LVX polish, and I was really impressed with the formula!  I found a ton of LVX polishes at Winners for $6 each a few weeks ago and picked up three, so you'll be seeing the other two around here eventually as well. 

OPI My Favourite Ornament is a full-coverage gold micro-flakie; I used three thin coats for opacity here too.  This one isn't advertised as a Liquid Sand, but it does dry to a textured finish so I chose to leave it without top coat.  I think you'd need at least two coats of a thick top coat to smooth it out.  I really love the lighter gold colour, it's so flattering! 

I'm really happy with both of these recent purchases, and they look so cute together!!  This mani definitely helped get me in the mood for some more spring-hued looks, despite the gross weather.  What do you think?  :)

Jinx, Sunshine!

Apologies for the week-long break - I've been out of town since last Tuesday on tour with the ballet company performing in Giselle!  I didn't have the time (or foresight) to do up enough posts to schedule through the week, oops... We've still got more shows this weekend, but those are here in town so I should hopefully be able to post a little bit.  

This is a mani I did a few days before I left, when I was in need of something quick and fun.  I used two coats of OPI Jinx on my middle and ring fingers, and I my index and pinky have got one coat each of the amazing Zoya Sunshine.  No top coat obviously, to not ruin the textured finish. 

 These colours together did end up looking a little sports-team-like together (my dad was very proud of my accidental Denver Broncos nails) but blue and orange are complimentary colours, so it made for a fun, bold look!  What do you think?  

Here's hoping the rest of the shows go well this weekend.  I get to go home to my family on Sunday as well for spring break, so it's an exciting week coming up!  :)

China Glaze: Sea Goddess Collection (3 of 6 polishes)

Good morning!  I'm so ready for the weekend, but I've got an audition today to get through first before I can relax!  This morning I've got my three picks from the six-piece China Glaze Sea Goddess collection to show you; take a look!  

Noho & Solitaire

Good morning! Just a quick post today with a black and white textured look I've worn for the past two days.  :)

I got a mini bottle of OPI Solitaire from my Secret Santa last month which had been on my wishlist for a while, and I finally got around to using it!  (Thank you Blair!)  I layered two thin coats over a silver polish which I'll keep a secret for now because swatches will be on the blog soon... 

I finally caved and purchased Nails Inc. Noho over the weekend, which is part of the Leather Effect collection.  I've got the burgundy and light blue and have been wanting this one forever, and I'm so glad I finally bought it!  It's a super awesome jet black with the really cool leather finish that I love.  This is two coats; it's opaque in one if you're careful, but it does wear at the tips pretty quickly.  

I really liked mixing the Liquid Sand and Leather Effect polishes in this mani; the different textured finishes were really fun together, and the black and white were a great contrast.  What do you think?  :)

Chita & 1999

Happy Friday!!  I'm so ready for the weekend... Anwyho, just a quick post this morning with a double-accent mani I wore a couple days ago.  :)

On my accent nails I used one perfect coat of Zoya Chita, and added three black studs from a Sally Hansen I <3 Nail Art kit using Seche Vite.  I wasn't too impressed with these studs, unfortunately; a lot of them are misshapen around the edges and have little pokey bits, and they stick up from the nail more than I'd like.  Although they did stay on for two whole days, without any top coat to seal them in!  (Didn't want to ruin the textured finish of Chita!)

My other nails are all two effortless coats of LaCC 1999, the most perfect black with a lovely deep shimmer.  Those nails are topped with one coat of LaCC 2013  top coat.  

Honestly, I was kind of indifferent about this mani.  Not that I really didn't like it, but I just wasn't a huge fan.  I love these two polishes individually, though!  What do you think?  

I've recycled the black nails in this mani and switched up the accent nails, so keep an eye out for that post soon!  :)

Christmas Skittlette with VL006

Good morning!  We've got one more Nutcracker performance this afternoon, and then I'm finally flying home!  I get two days off, and then we have another run of five shows.  I've been so busy that I still haven't really processed the fact that tomorrow is really Christmas... Probably doesn't help that I've barely been able to do any Christmas manis!

This is a skittlette that I did at the very beginning of December for my work Christmas party, and unfortunately it's the only real Christmassy nail art that I've gotten to do this year!

I started with three coats of Essie Macks on both my middle and ring fingers, and stamped the snowflake image from VL006 in Essie No Place Like Chrome.  I've been playing around with a couple Vivid Lacquer plates for a while now, and honestly this is the first image that I've successfully been able to get most of the image to stamp cleanly; you can see that the small ones got smudged when I picked up the image from the plate.  I'll try to get some of the others working for me soon, to give you a more comprehensive review of them. 

My thumb is two perfect coats of piCture pOlish Monroe, accented with two studs.  My index finger is one coat of the beautiful OPI Live And Let Die, with polka-dots in Essie No Place Like Chrome.  My pinky is two coats of my recently-accquired Zoya Chita, which I've yet to wear as a full mani.  All nails (except the pinky) are topped with two coats of LaCC 2013 top coat.  

I really loved how this mani was a more subdued and vampy holiday look.  Of course I love burgundy and dark green, and all of these polishes together made an awesome combination in my opinion!  What do you think? 

I still have to decide what I'm going to do on my nails for Christmas, although I know it won't last long because I'll probably get some more polish for Christmas which I'll want to wear right away!  What are you all planning on wearing on your nails tomorrow? :)

Nailz Craze Stamping Plate Review - NC02

As promised, here is part two of yesterday's post!  Yesterday I showed you two manis that I did with the Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01, and today I've got two manis to share using NC02!  :)

Liberty & Roses

Today's blog post is just a quick nail art look that I did last week with some of the new polishes I got on our shopping trip in the US last weekend!  :)

I picked up a few of the Zoya Pixie Dust polishes, and I used two coats of Liberty on my index and pinky nails for this mani.  I really love the Pixie Dusts, the texture is much more fine and sparkly than OPI's Liquid Sand polishes!  

My accent nails are wearing a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  The roses started with OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, and I added details with Essie Mesmerise and LaCC 1976; the leaves are LaCC 1968.  

I actually did this exact mani on my mom in shades of purple (with Zoya Stevie) and we both really loved it, which is what spurred me to re-create it in blues!  :) 

KKCenterHK Triangle Nail Studs Review

Happy Friday!  Posting will probably be a little sporadic over the next few weeks as I finish everything up for the year, fair warning.  You probably know that I love studs on my nails, so when I was offered the chance to review a product from KKCenterHK, I jumped at the chance to try some of their awesome nail studs!  :)

These studs came in a package of about 50; it's not very many compared to other packages of studs I've got, but if you remove them carefully you can reuse them, (hence why some of mine look a bit scratched up.)

This was actually the second time I wore these studs, the photos from the first time turned out horribly.  This time, I chose to wear them over one coat (yes, only one!) of OPI Honey Ryder.  Because it was a textured polish and top coating over the studs would have ruined the finish of the polish, I used nail glue to attach the studs and left them sans top coat. 

They actually lasted an entire day, much to my surprise!  The first time I wore them, they were attached with top coat and covered in two coats of Seche Vite, and those lasted almost two days before I took them off!  

These studs come flat, and the edges would poke up a lot on my curved nail beds.  To solve this issue and prolong wear time, I simply curved each one over the handle of a nail art brush to fit the curve of my nail prior to applying.  No pokey edges here!  :)

This product can be found on the KKCenterHK website here:  Studs Regular Triangle Silver 5mm Nail Art Decorations.  These studs retail for $5.28USD per package, but you can use the code "globeandnail" to get 10% off your order! (Expires Jan.21st, 2014.)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were sent to me for review.  

OPI Swatch Spam

I've acquired quite a few OPI polishes over the past few months and the photos have just been sitting in a folder, so I figured I'd show them to you all together!  I've got four Euro Centrale shades, two Liquid Sand polishes, and one from last year's Spring/Summer Holland Collection.

This post is super picture-heavy, so read on after the jump!  :)