a-England 'Princess Tears' & OPI 'DS Diamond'

Hello Readers,

Today, I have a comparison post between a-England 'Princess Tears' from the The Legend collection and OPI 'DS Diamond'. When I got the a-England polish I automatically knew I had to do a comparison post! I'd say that the aE is a cooler purple with a finer holo and of course it has a pink-purple flash that the OPI doesn't possess. Also, the aE formula is more opaque. I used two coats for both.

The bottle shot...

Left to right:  a-England 'Princess Tears' and OPI 'DS Diamond'

A Nice Close-Up...

 An angled view...

And with flash...

I'd say they're both different enough but if you have one you probably don't need the other. You can purchase a-England polishes directly here priced at $14.22 when converted to USD (£9) and they ship to the US for free! OPI 'DS Diamond' is considered a 'htf' polish and can be found on eBay from anywhere to $15-$35+. 

What do you guys think? Own either of these babies? I love them both! Ahhh.... pretties!

♥ Cheers,
Bridget

24 Days of Christmas Nails - Day 8: Candy Canes

Hey Ladies,

I'm SUPER excited to participate in '24 Days of Christmas Nails' with both Sabine from My Polish Stash and Shannara from Nails and Stuff so don't forget to check out their nails as well!

This idea was started by Paint that Nail so props to her. ^_^

As a side note - my nails were getting SO frail I couldn't stand it any longer so I cut them down... yes now I have 5 year old hands ;o\ but they needed to be cut!

Here is my 'Candy Canes' design:

Colors used from left to right:  Rescue Beauty Lounge 'Pizzicato', OPI DS 'Coronation', China Glaze 'Sea Spray', Sally Hansen ' White On', and China Glaze ' No Way José' (the 2nd release ;o)

In sunlight

In natural light - shade

In natural light - shade

What do you guys think? I was trying to make them 'pretty' with the purple-pinks and blues. :o)

 

Don't forget to check out Sabine's design from My Polish Stash and Shannara's design from Nails and Stuff !!!

 

♥ Cheers,
Bridget

24 Days of Christmas Nails - Day 2: Snowflakes

Hey Ladies,

I'm SUPER excited to participate in '24 Days of Christmas Nails' with both Sabine from My Polish Stash and Shannara from Nails and Stuff so don't forget to check out their nails as well!

This idea was started by Paint that Nail so props to her. ^_^

Here is my 'Snowflakes' design:

From left to right:  Pure ICE 'Super Star', OPI 'DS Coronation', Revlon 'Downtown'

In sunlight

In natural shade

In sunlight

My secret revealed; snowflake stickers used as stencils!

Illamasqua 'Raindrops' added for a more muted look; in natural shade

Illamasqua 'Raindrops' added for a more muted look; in sunlight

So, what do you guys think?! I have been collecting stickers for nearly 25 years (yes, this is true!) and have many that have these cut out designs. The three things to remember are:  1) make sure your base color is dry to the touch, and 2) make sure you don't glop on the paint, it will bleed over the design, and 3) make sure you peel the sticker off just after you're done painting the nail. I like to sort of lightly lift up all the sides (so it's not stuck on your finger) and then lightly pull it off from one side.

Hope you all enjoyed this design! Don't forget to check out Sabine's design from My Polish Stash and Shannara's design from Nails and Stuff !!!

♥ Cheers,

Bridget

24 Days of Christmas Nails - Day 1: Snowfall

Hey Ladies,

I'm SUPER excited to participate in '24 Days of Christmas Nails' with both Sabine from My Polish Stash and Shannara from Nails and Stuff so don't forget to check out their nails as well! 

This idea was started by Paint that Nail so props to her. ^_^ 

Here is my 'Snowfall' design:

In sunlight

In sunlight

Natural light in shade

In sunlight

Natural light in shade

My vision was thinking about what falling snow actually looks like; you have shadow, it's not usually sunny outside (overcast, hence the grays and blues), and then you have the white snow. I tried to make the 'sky' at the top of my nails and then the snow collected towards the beds of my nails. 

What I did to create this look:

1. I painted my nails with two coats of butter London's 'Lady Muck'
2. I painted Pure ICE 'Super Star' towards the bottom of the nail then used a sponge to fade it about half way on the nail.
3. I painted random dots using a dotting tool with both OPI 'DS Coronation' and 'DS Sapphire'. I thought silver and gray-blue colors would look good creating that 'shadow look' I was going for!
4. I let the dots dry then put one coat of Orly's 'Winter Wonderland' to give that shiny icy look that snow has.
5. I let that dry then I did different sized (and I was going for imperfect) white dots all over the nail.
6. I let that dry and added one coat of Nubar's 'Dewdrop' just to make sure the white still somewhat hidden.
7. I finished with coat of 'Out the door' top coat! And voila!

What do you guys think? Does it remind you of a lovely snow storm?  Don't forget to check out Sabine's design from My Polish Stash and Shannara's design from Nails and Stuff !!!

♥Cheers,
Bridget

Loving OPI's 'DS Sapphire'

Hello Readers!

So, I just painted my nails with *OPI's Designer Series Sapphire and I'm smitten with this color. I'd describe it as a light blue-gray (somewhere between a baby blue and a medium blue grayish shade) with a stunning and very noticeable holographic appearance.

Here are some photos I took with the iPhone 4S. They're all taken indoors with artificial lighting while the others are taken with a flash to show off the holographic effect!

*Note:  This is a rare polish. You can get it on eBay anywhere from $10 - $39+ so it just depends what kind of a deal you can get. It's definitely worth it (I think :o) !

Here are the photos, I used 3 coats:

OPI's 'Designer Series Sapphire'

OPI's 'Designer Series Sapphire'

OPI's 'Designer Series Sapphire'

OPI's 'Designer Series Sapphire'

OPI's 'Designer Series Sapphire'

Would you wear this color? Do you just love holos or what?? ^_^

♥ Cheers,
Bridget