Twinsie Tuesday - Nails Painted by Someone Else (OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest)

Good Morning! Errr, before we get started I have to come clean about not being prepared for the Twinsie Tuesday theme for this week. The theme was to have someone else paint our nails. I've been running super behind with blogging, and I've been doing my TT manis last minute lately. It's 11:30pm on Monday evening and I just realized that I don't have anyone available to paint my nails.....
Sorry for the fail on my part! I didn't want to not write anything, so in lieu of what I was supposed to post today I'm just going to leave you with a recent NOTD which was 2 coats of OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest.

Be sure to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies, who I'm sure did much better than me this week.
Sorry ladies! :(

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Beaulieu Review

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Jamie at Polish, Please!

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Tara at Polishy of Truth

China Glaze - Cowgirl Up

Good morning! Happy Friday to each of you. 5:30pm today will begin my four day weekend...woohoo! I expected to have to go into work on Monday, but instead of a Christmas party my job gave us off on Christmas Eve which totally works for me!

Today I have a polish that I'm not too crazy about. It's Cowgirl Up, from the Rodeo Collection by China Glaze. I thought this looked stunning in the bottle, but once on the nail I wasn't very impressed. It's a very dark magenta/purple. The color is very me, but I'm not a fan of the finish which is frosty. When in direct sunlight and bright lighting, there are little blue flecks which you can  almost see in the photos below. These flecks aren't apparent in normal lighting, and the polish looks much more frosty. The formula was good and I only needed two coats to get it opaque. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I apologize in advance for the funky ring finger. I have a break that is very far up and I tried to patch it - which you can tell is a complete fail. I also have a bit of tip wear, I haven't been good about taking my photos right away lately....

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!

Essie Boxer Shorts and Comparison

Good Morning! Happy Friday! Today I have Essie Boxer Shorts from the new Yogaga collection that recently hit stores. I had to have this one. On Essie's website Boxer Shorts is described as "a winning blue." This creme polish is closest to a periwinkle blue, but with a hint of purple. I found the formula to be a little thick, but with a few drops of thinner it was perfect. The swatches below show 2 coats of Boxer Shorts topped with Seche Vite....

 



 I went through my stash and this has a few close shades. I've seen the Lapis of Luxury comparison on MUA showing they were different enough (which is why I bought this). In my stash the closest polish I have is China Glaze Secret Periwinkle. Next up is Revlon Modern Grace and Bettina Flip Flop.

Boxer Shorts, Secret Periwinkle, Boxer Shorts, Secret Periwinkle

Pointer & Ring = Essie Boxer Shorts. Middle & Pinky = China Glaze Secret Periwinkle

 

Essie Boxer Shorts and China Glaze Secret Periwinkle are super close. One just leans more blue and the other more purple. They are about the same brightness and both are opaque with two coats.

 

Here's another comparison pic with the other polishes that were somewhat close:

 

Top left - Essie Boxer Shorts
Bottom left - China Glaze Secret Periwinkle
Top right - Revlon Modern Grace
Bottom right - Bettina Flip Flop

I hope that makes everyone's shopping decision a little bit easier. If you already have Secret Periwinkle in your stash, I'm not entirely sure you need both. It's personal preference in regards to whether you want your polish a bit more blue or a bit more purple.

I hope everyone has a good weekend! :)

 

Essie Island Hopping

Hey all! Happy Wednesday! I'm glad to be half way through the week, and this much closer to the weekend. Today is my 9th Anniversary with my boyfriend, so after work we are headed out to dinner. 8:30-5:30 today will be crunch time at work, I need to get out on time today lol.

Today I have one of my oldest Essie polishes for you, Island Hopping. Essie's website describes Island Hopping as a rich plum mauve. At times this looks purple, then it leans taupe, then a grayish purple. It's pretty unique in my stash. I wish I still had OPI Parlez-Vous OPI to compare this to, but I sold it a few months ago. The formula was a little thinner than usual, but I was able to get this opaque in two coats.

The photos below show 2 coats of Island Hopping, topped off with Seche Vite...

Sorry my middle nail isn't 100% smooth. I bumped it three times during the dry time, and after fixing it 3 times I gave up! I guess I had left some older polish on my nail bed and it didn't dry 100% smooth.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

OPI It's My Year

Happy Friday everyone! I mentioned the other day that I was going back to basics as I have recently been shopping my existing stash. I recently picked OPI It's My Year out of the OPI drawer; I forgot how amazing this polish is.

It's My Year is pretty unique. It's a purple shimmer polish with strong bronze/gold shimmer mixed in. Formula was easy to work with. The first coat looked pretty sheer but with three coats it was fully opaque with no bald spots. Also, I should mention that these photos were taken on the fourth day of wear! I barely had any tip wear, as you can see. This mani was topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

This was from the Miss Universe collection in 2011. OPI also has Rally Pretty Pink, which is the pink version of this polish. I have both. I felt they were unique enough to justify owning both versions....

I hope that everyone has a good weekend! It's supposed to be in the 90's in New York this weekend. Tonight I'm headed out with my bestie to watch Magic Mike and gossip about all the nail polish/Lynnderella drama lol  :0)

Twinsie Tuesday - Duochrome Polish (Ozotic 506)

Good Morning! Today is my 250th post! Thank you to everyone who has stuck around so far.
Of course, since it's Tuesday we have another Twinsie Tuesday post today. This week's theme was a duochrome or a metallic polish. I'm not big on metallics, since most of the ones I own tend to leave brush strokes. I had to pick a duochrome polish from one of my favorite makers....OZOTIC! I don't think anyone does duochromes or multichromes quite like Ozotic.

Ozotic 506 is from the soon to be discontinued multichrome line. The color shift changes from blue to purple, and at certain angles there is a slight copper feel to it. I layered two coats of 506 over a coat of Sinful Colors black. I topped it all off with some Seche Vite....

My pictures really don't do this polish justice. I want to paint my car with this!

I'm pretty sure I've read that Australia is now out of Ozotic polishes and the US suppliers are on their last batch, so grab them while you can if you are interested!

I added something special to this and planned on sharing it along with this post today, but my photo editor on my computer won't open and it's too late to try and fix it. I don't edit my photos other than cropping, but nobody wants to see all the background junk lol.

Don't forget to check out all of the other Twinsies!

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Srsly Swatched
Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth



Lynnderella Nosegay

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a super productive Sunday. We went out to dinner for Father's Day, I gave my dog a hair cut, cleaned my bird's cage and scrubbed every inch of my car until it was sparkling like new.....but broke three nails while in the process. :::womp womp:::  Today I have a special mani for you, it's another Lynnderella. I realized that the wish lists are going to be opening again soon and I still have a few sitting in my untrieds. I'm supposed to be on a strict no buy, but once I see the new Lynnderella collection I may have to lift it temporarily.

Nosegay is one of my favorite Lynnderellas. I looked at quite a few different bases and wound up picking Essie's St Lucia Lilac because it was closest to the base color in Nosegay. I used 2 coats of St Lucia Lilac and a coat of Nosegay. The formula on this was excellent and glitter placement was super easy due to how dense the glitter is in the polish. WIN!

My pictures may look a little repetitive, but I couldn't cut any so here we go.....

If you are unsure about this one, I'd definitely say it's a go! I do find that some of my Lynnderella manicures don't look 'fresh' after a day. I do find that some of them chip very easily. Nosegay wore like iron for me. I wore this during my weekend getaway to Washington DC, and from Thursday night to Sunday evening I had not one chip. Double WIN!

China Glaze C-C-Courage

Happy Wednesday! We're half way through another work week ::sigh::  Today I have China Glaze C-C-Courage for you. C-C-Courage is from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection. It's a dark grape purple with blue undertones and tiny purple/lilac glitter. I have had this in my untrieds for over a year and I regret not wearing this sooner. This polish is gorgeous. If you like purples you should keep an eye open for this (I know it's not a stock item at Sally's, but it's on 8ty8beauty.com still)

For the photos below I used two coats of C-C-Courage and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. I'm not sure if I'm losing my mind, but I feel this did dry a tad more blue than it appears in the bottle. I'm not really a fan of the name. I get where they were going with it, but how much easier would just 'Courage' be?

I hope everyone has a good day today :)

Twinsie Tuesday - Ombre Mani

Good Morning! The theme of this week's Twinsie Tuesday is an ombre mani. This is honestly the first time I've done an ombre. While they are cute on other people something about it just doesn't seem wearable for me on a daily basis. Before I even start, I am not proud of this mani. I mixed up the two end colors, so my ombre is a little off. On top of that I only have one photo. I'm trying to stop cutting my cuticles, which seems to be quite a challenge. They are going through a terrible/awkward stage that I can only hope gets better (otherwise I'm breaking out all my tools again). So I apologize for the one sideways pic, it hides them best lol.

For my ombre I decided to go with purple cremes. From left to right I used Bettina Flip Flop, OPI Do You Lilac It, Essie Nice is Nice and OPI Rumples Wiggin. All were two coats topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

Make sure you check out the ombre manis by the other Twinsies!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Srsly Swatched
Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Ozotic 513

Good morning! I've finally decided I either have to post my old swatches or delete them, so I'm starting by posting the good ones lol. I purchased Ozotic 513 from Llarowe months back. For whatever reason, it never made it to a post.

Ozotic 513 is described as a purple linear holographic on Llarowe's website. I have a weakness for holographics and purples that lean magenta. When I first saw this I had to have it. The undertones in the purple are much more red than blue. Formula was smooth and easy to work with. I used two coats of Ozotic 513 and a coat of Seche Vite for the photos below.....

Ozotic 513 retails for $17.50 on Llarowe's website. While it's a little pricey, I don't own a dupe for this. I have yet to be disappointed by an Ozotic polish. Of course with this polish the real magic happens in the sun. I forgot to take photos of this polish out of direct lighting at the time  but if I ever get through my untrieds I'll swatch this again.  :)

China Glaze Visit Me in Prism

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a good Easter or a good start to Passover, whichever you celebrate! I don't have many family members left in New York anymore so I just had dinner with my immediate family at my house. Then....except for laundry, I literally did nothing for the rest of the night lol. I actually had naked nails for Easter  :0/

Today I have one of my long time lemmings for you, China Glaze's Visit Me in Prism from the Kaleidoscope collection. Besides the amazing fact that it is a holographic, how fun is the name? It gives this polish a bad girl vibe. Visit Me in Prism is a very pale lilac holo, but it leans pretty silver. If I wasn't familiar with the collection I would have thought this was just silver. Nonetheless, it's still very pretty. I actually scored a new bottle of this off of a blog sale for around $12 which is a steal considering what it's going for on Ebay. Formula was easy to work with. I wore this mani at least a month ago (that's how far behind I am) and I can't remember if this is two or three coats. Either way, it's topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

The last two photos are outdoor sunlight photos! Sunlight photos haven't made it to my blog posts in so long....

These Kaleidoscopes don't disappoint!

Since I didn't have anything fun on my nails this Easter, I decided to wear a pastel to start off the week. I'm rocking OPI Gargantuan Green Grape for the next day or so. My nails still hate me and I had to nubbinize them again. :::sigh:::

What did everyone wear for their holiday mani?

Twinsie Tuesday: Hyped Up Polish You Were Disappointed By....

Good Morning! Today we have another issue of Twinsie Tuesday. Today's topic is a hyped up polish that we were disappointed by. The first polish that comes to mind is L'Oreal Owl's Night, since I bought it strictly off all the talk on MUA. It's still sitting in my untrieds. Since I haven't swatched it yet and I was short on time, I felt it was unfair to chose it. So I picked Essie Smokin' Hot.

I'm not saying Essie Smokin' Hot isn't a nice color, I just felt I read so much about it and when I finally got it on my nails I didn't feel the love. The best way to describe this is a deep gray creme with a touch of purple. This has been duped quite a few times and it has some exact dupes and close cousins in Color Club Rad Nomad, Color Club Ash Brown, Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum,  Zoya Kelly, Sally Hansen Gray Area and Chanel Paradoxal.

The photos below show two coats of Essie Smokin' Hot with a coat of Seche Vite...

I was a little bored, so I topped it with a coat of Kleancolor's City Never Sleeps...

Still bored! LOL. Maybe I need a lot to really catch my eye. Like I said, it's a nice color but with all the times it's been duped you would think it was truly amazing. How come nobody is duping Essie Starry Starry Night instead? There is one close dupe (Fing'rs Blue Glitter) which is so hard to find. I want all of my HTF lemmings to be duped like Essie Smokin' Hot was.

Don't remember to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies! Just click the links below :)

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Off topic, but did anyone watch the premier of Brooklyn 11223 on Oxygen last night? I like to watch anything local, but I don't think I'll be able to make it through a season of this show. I was hoping to find a replacement for The Challenge when that ends on Wednesday night. I'm wondering if anyone else had a hard time watching it like I did   lol  ;)

A England Princess Tears and Comparison Swatch

Happy Friday!! Today I have A England's Princess Tears up for review. I was a little unsure about whether or not I would like this, but I ended up wearing it for 4 days so that speaks for itself. 

Princess Tears is a holographic silver-lilac polish with a very strong lilac purple flash. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture the lilac flash with my camera. The holographic finish in this is pretty strong as far as the rest of the collection goes. Formula was easy to work with and it was completely opaque in two coats.

 

 2 coats of A England Princess Tears

1 coat of Seche Vite

For a comparison I picked Color Club's Fashion Addict. I have two versions of Fashion Addict, and I chose to swatch it against the less holographic of my bottles.

 

Middle & pinky fingers = 2 coats of Color Club Fashion Addict

Pointed & ring fingers = 2 coats of A England 

The two are close, but not dupes. Fashion Addict doesn't have the silver undertones and lilac purple flash that Princess Tears has. They are both very nice in their own way.

That's it for today. I hope everyone has a f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c weekend! What are you wearing as your mani? I have had Ozotic 513 on for three days, and I plan on wearing it until Saturday if it keeps up. :)