OPI NY Ballet Collection: Swatches and Review

This was an unexpected love for me. I'm not usually the sheer/pink/nude type, but something drew me in: these are beautiful, elegant JELLIES! I've been crazy about the glitter/jelly sandwiches lately, and I have a feeling these would be perfect for them!

OPI - My Pointe Exactly

This is my favorite. My Pointe Exactly is a light grey jelly that is semi-opaque at three coats (shown). Even with a bit of VNL, I still loved the look of this. Elegant and edgy at the same time!

OPI - Don't Touch My Tutu!

Don't Touch My Tutu is a nice clean white jelly. Along the same lines as Essie Marshmallow but a little bit more sheer, I think it would work even better for the glitter sandwiches. I love the way white jellies make glitter look like sprinkles on a cupcake.

OPI - Care to Danse

Care to Danse is a light purple jelly. The bottle looks more purple than it appears on the nail.  I'm not sure, but this may be my second favorite.

OPI - Barre My Soul

Barre My Soul is a very nice peachy beige jelly.  This would be a lovely base for a French manicure!

OPI - You Callin' Me a Lyre?

You Callin' Me a Lyre is a a peachy pink jelly that's more saturated than the others in this collection. Again, it'd be a great base for a French manicure base.  I think of the collection this was the most opaque at three coats.

OPI - Pirouette my Whistle (over each of the colors above)

Pirouette My Whistle is a clear base with silver micro glitter and large white/silvery pearl hex glitters. Most pictures of this at one coat didn't have too many white hexes, but my bottle seemed to be packed with them. I had to actually TRY not to get too many because I wanted a sparse look. Either way, it's quite elegant for a glitter. I think I like this even better than Nubar White Polka Dot.

All of these applied very nicely and easily in three coats, although it seems easiest to avoid streaks by using medium-thick coats. I suggest waiting a few minutes between each coat to prevent bubbling as well. They do kind of self-level though, which is a plus.

OPI is available at Ulta stores as well as in JC Penney Salons. I prefer JC Penney because if you buy two or more, they're only $6 each instead of $8.50 at Ulta.

Nerd Lacquer - Holy Grail: Swatch and Review

Sorry for the absence!  I was snowed in at my parents house and couldn't get to my camera or computer.

Yet another one where I'm not sure WHY I got it, but it sort of just jumped into my Nerd Lacquer order (I think I was in the "BUY ALL THE NERD LACQUER!" mentality... haha).

Anyway, I actually ended up wearing it for a few days because I loved it so much!

Nerd Lacquer - Holy Grail

Holy Grail is a whole bunch of different shapes/sizes of silver holo glitter in a dusty light teal holo AND glow-in-the-dark base! At first I thought the base color was a little bland, but after wearing it I realized that it toned down all of the crazy holo in this just enough to make a really pretty, classy polish. Not everyone may like it (and it actually took me a couple hours of wearing it for me to fully appreciate it), but I'm very happy I picked this one up.  I actually ended up being very pleased with EVERY Nerd Lacquer polish I got!  This only took two coats to be fully opaque (like all of the Nerd Lacquers I currently have), and the glitter lays nice and flat although it does need a couple coats of topcoat (Gelous and SV) to be smooth.

Again, Nerd Lacquers can be found in the NerdLacquer store on Etsy, on NinjaPolish, and Harlowe & Co, but are kinda of hard to catch in stock. All of these sites offer some way of being notified when it IS in stock, so sign up for the emails if you're really itching for some Nerdiness!

Zoya - NYFW Peter Som Collection: Swatches and Review

I'm not really sure what made me spontaneously buy the Peter Som collection from Zoya during NYFW (probably the fact that it was LE and had free shipping), but I'm glad I did!

Zoya - Audrey

Audrey is a pale, sheer pink jelly that has a nice glossy finish. This was the one I was most excited about because of its "revolutionary magical gel look." And the finish IS very nice, but the color is a bit uneven on its own. Not really streaky, but just more sheer in some spots and more opaque in others. Very light and feminine, and I like how it looks with three coats (shown).

Zoya - Katharine

My favorite of the collection. Katharine is a subdued plum/raisin jelly (it looks more eggplant in the bottle though) that is quite sheer on the first two coats, but builds up into a nice squishy jelly finish. For this swatch I used three thin coats, but I think it looked a little better the night before when I tried it with slightly thicker coats. Either way, it looks more even in person than in the pictures.  I love that this is a more dusty/greyed shade of red purple.  So chic and juicy.

Zoya - Evvie

Evvie is a very opaque dark sage grey creme. The only creme in the collection, it is completely opaque in two easy, thin coats. Again, very chic with a little bit of edge. Zoya really hits it home with their greens and this is no exception. I think it is also neutral enough to complement a variety of skin tones from cool to warm. Simple, but quite flattering.

Overall I'm quite impressed with this whole set. All of the shades are nice, and Audrey is so unique! Unfortunately, the set was limited edition for NYFW and is currently sold out, but I've heard rumors of these colors making it into the Zoya core line this fall or so.

butter LONDON - Knackered

I don't really know why I NEEDED Knackered, but nevertheless I bought it when I made an Ulta order for Revlon Whimsical recently. I feel like it's similar to Wet n Wild's Gray's Anatomy (maybe with China Glaze Fairy Dust or Northern Lights topcoat), but without directly comparing I feel like Knackered is a bit more brightly duochrome and has a more metallic finish.

butter LONDON - Knackered over Essie Fair Game

Knackered is a somewhat sheer purple to green duochrome metallic with silver holo micro glitter.  I decided to layer it over Essie Fair Game because it didn't seem like it'd be easily opaque on its own (it'd probably take 3-4 coats to be fully opaque). Plus, at $14 for .4oz (11mL) of polish, I'd like to conserve it. Essie Fair Game is kind of a gunmetal blue/grey shimmer and I used one coat under two coats of Knackered.  The edges in person look a tiny bit more green than in the pics above.

The thing I love about this polish is that in low light the duochrome really stands out, and in bright sunlight the holo glitter brings it to life. Luckily, the glitter doesn't seem to make the metallic finish look too lumpy.

This picture in artificial light shows off the metallic finish and pretty green to purple duochrome depth nicely:

Knackered is a part of butter LONDON's spring/summer 2012 collection and is available at Ulta and the butter LONDON website.  I also got Disco Biscuit which I'll be showing soon as well!

Black and White Jelly Sandwich

This is my first time trying out a jelly sandwich, and I really liked it!

Essie Marshmallow and Claire's Black/Silver Holo glitter

This was made in five layers alternating between Marshmallow and the Claire's glitter. The multiple layers of glitter create varying shades of grey which is a pretty cool pattern. The overall effect reminds me of stones in concrete or the little color-blindness tests (except in black and white... which doesn't really make sense, haha).

What I realized with various experiments is that your base color doesn't need to be a jelly at all.  I found that using a medium pink creme then a layer of glitter, then a layer of white, it created a neat light pink with white and grey speckles.  Very pretty!  So now I want to try some with various glitters and base colors.  I really like the effect that white puts over the glitter!

Any ideas for jelly sandwiches that you'd like to see me try?

Some Manglaze Swatches and Review

After reading so many good reviews and seeing awesome swatches of ManGlaze nail polishes, I figured I should try some of them!

First of all, can we talk about how AWESOME the names are of these polishes?? They all go right along with the attitude of the company, which is straight-forward, brutally honest, and not in the least bit "work safe." And yet because of their antics ("If we don't hear from you, we will assume we sucked ass" on the receipt), they are incredibly likable. I'm not one to throw obscenities into my daily speech, and I think it's for that very reason that I can truly appreciate how amazing it is to have a polish named something as perfect as "Fuck Off and Dye." I suppose my blog may get a "mature filter" for that statement, but oh well, SOPA is going to censor the internet anyway, right? (Holy gooses, I hope not... please sign Google's petition here if you haven't yet!)

Manglaze - Mayonnaise

ManGlaze - Mayonnaise (with top coat)

Mayonnaise was really the reason I wanted to try ManGlaze. Gotta love the name, and the color is awesome too! I have a couple shimmery whites, but this is the only matte one, and also the only one that is an off white instead of stark, bright white. It's as wonderful as I'd hoped, though it took three coats instead of two.

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly (with top coat)

This is one I threw in to the order just because it was on sale... and it ended up being my favorite of them all. Not only does it look so drab chic matte, but it turns out to be a stunningly edgy gunmetal shimmer with a top coat. I don't know which I like better! Two easy coats.

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder (with top coat)

And last is their matte black shimmer: Matte is Murder. This is one of the blackest mattes I've seen, although with a top coat it becomes a lovely charcoal shimmer that has amazing depth. Could be my new favorite black shimmer. Two coats and super easy to apply!

All of these can be bought directly from ManGlaze on their website, or from their Amazon store or Facebook store (all three link can be found here).  Fuggen Ugly and Matte is Murder are still on sale for $6.66 as of this post!

Zoya Swatches - Greys and Blues (pic heavy!)

Sometimes I like when bloggers have a lot of one brand in a post so I can see which colors I want to buy. So here are all of my greys and blues from Zoya (however, I don't have all of them).

Zoya - Dove

Zoya - Harley

Zoya - Cailtin

Zoya - Kelly

More blue-toned than shows in this picture

Zoya - Freja

Zoya - Raven

Zoya - Cynthia

Zoya - Indigo

Zoya - Kotori

Zoya - Crystal

Zoya - Jo

Zoya - Tallulah

Zoya - Akyra

Perfect Rainy-Day Grey: Zoya Dove

Today is a rainy, grey day in Tempe, AZ, so I was craving a nice dreary grey polish to go with it. This is Zoya Dove, and it's a perfect fit.

Zoya - Dove

This applied nicely in two thin coats and is a nice neutral, shiny grey creme. I was considering putting Lynnderella Snow Angel on top of it, but right now I'm just enjoying it by itself.

First Snow! (Orly Pixie Dust and Nubar White Polka Dot)

I can't believe it! It actually was SNOWING here in Pine, AZ on October 7th! Only briefly, and it didn't stick, but still... FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON! I had on Orly Pixie Dust because it was rainy and stormy, so I just added a coat each of Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot over it. Check out my snow nails - I love them!!

Orly Pixie Dust w/ Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot

I've seen a few swatches of Nubar White Polka Dot (which, by the way, is the same formula as the Painted Nail Moon drops) over dark colors, and it looks awesome. But I'm really in love with it over a stormy grey! It has the most beautiful pearly, silvery white glitter hexagons as well as smaller while pearl and iridescent glitters. Honestly, one of my favorite glitters that I own (and I have a LOT).

And for good measure, here is Orly Pixie Dust by itself:

Layla Magneffect Swatches

I recently had the chance to purchase some of the Layla Magneffects line at AveYou.com during a SaveMore sale (I got $75 worth of stuff for $35, and with an order of $50 or more, you get $1 shipping... all in all I payed only $38.50 for these five, and they normally retail for $15.50 each!). I am SO glad I decided to try these out! They are AWESOME!

The pictures below show one thick coat on index and ring fingers, and two thick coats on middle and pinky.

Layla Magneffect - Velvet Groove

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite one. At two coats it truly looks like soft burgundy velvet... LOVE.

Layla Magneffect - Golden Nugget

This was a color that at first I thought "Ewwww, that doesn't look attractive." Somehow I changed my mind and it ended up in my order, and I'm glad it did!

For this one I lined up the magnet vertically with my nails, and it's hard to see in the picture but it really makes them look VERY 3D and awesome. Although I like the diagonal stripes, I think this is my favorite orientation - it even makes my short nails look long and pretty in person. It's hard to capture the 3D effect in a still photo, but trust me: try this at home!!

Layla Magneffect - Blue Grey Flow

Another neat color. The metal parts end up looking silver and the spaces in between become a navy blue.

Layla Magneffect - Purple Galaxy

The first coat of this looks like a nice rich purple, and with two coats it becomes a vampy dark plum with metallic accents. Very classy, in my opinion!

I'm not too big of a fan of the horizontal stripes, though...

Layla Magneffect - Metallic Sky

And my third favorite of the bunch. The brightest one of all, and just stunning in person.

Now I've been playing with frankening lately, and these made me very curious as to how they would look with holographic or duochrome pigment (doesn't it sound like it'd be awesome?!). However, I'm not ready to decant any of these new preciouses to try it, so I figured I'd try layering them over a holo (the holo-est holo I own - Nfu-Oh 62). Here are the results:

Layla Magneffects over Nfu-Oh 62

Disappointing, no? Oh well, at least I'm not gonna worry about combining them with holo pigment anymore. However, I still think that if they could somehow make a magentic pigment that is also duochromatic, this could produce one of the most epic polishes in the WORLD!

Chanel Graphite Swatch

I have to say, I think Chanel really came out with a doozy of a collection this fall. Well, I don't like Quartz, but two out of three ain't bad (Meatloaf, anyone?). I ended up picking up Graphite recently (and ALMOST got a backup of Peridot), and it turns out I love this one too!

 Chanel - Graphite

Aren't the gold and pewter sparkles gorgeous?? Such a beautiful color!

SOPI Metro Chic and Wet N Wild Gray's Anatomy

I saw a girl the other day wearing Sephora by OPI Metro Chic, and it made me want to wear it again, so here it is (2 coats):

Sephora by OPI - Metro Chic

I had recently picked up Gray's Anatomy from the new Wet N Wild FastDry line, and tried it quickly over my old Chanel Paradoxal manicure. It looked really cool because Paradoxal resembled the base color in Gray's Anatomy, but because Gray's is a bit sheer, Paradoxal really deepened it.

So I decided I'd try Gray's over Metro Chic, since it matched the base color even more closely. In my opinion, it's not as beautiful as it was with Paradoxal, but it's still very amazing! (And it's a $1.99 dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Wicked Games!)

Wet N Wild Gray's Anatomy (over SOPI Metro Chic)

That last couple pictures really show the green side of the polish, which is most visible at extreme angles to the light source, though as you can see both the green and purple can be seen together in many views. It's a more subtle duochrome, but still very striking. I recommend layering it over a darker color like Zoya Kelly or Sally Hansen Gray Area.