Geometric nails using OPI Euro Centrale

Since receiving a set of 4 OPI Euro Centrale polishes from my BF I have been trying to come up with a mani that incorporated most of the polishes. I finally got round to it today.

Using Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!, Can't Find My Czechbook and Vant to Bite My Neck this simple looking geometric design was actually a real pain to do. Getting the triangles even and in the centre took some patience and not to mention the tape itself was damn fiddly.

Those who do a lot of tape manis hats off to you because I doubt I'll be doing another in a hurry! I am pleased with the results though and quite like the bit of naked nail peeking through.

Pink - Suzi's Hungary AGAIN!, Blue - Can't Find My Czechbook, Purple - Vant to Bite My Neck?

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Rave party on my nails feat. Lush Lacquer Clowning Around

I don't have many indie polishes in my collection not because I don't like them but purely because I'm too lazy to sit down and order them. This explains why it has taken me an absolute age to get my hands on  Clowning Around by Lush Lacquer despite falling head over heels the moment I first saw it online. Varied sizes of neon glitter suspended in a clear base may not sound anything special but looks can be deceiving because once on the nail (especially over a light base) this glitter comes alive like a little rave party.

The following mani could be my favourite EVER!

Winning combination:
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Boots 17 Monochrome
Lush Lacquer Clowning Around

I never want to take this off...
(I bought my bottle of Clowning Around from eBay as Lush Lacquer (etsy) no longer ship to the UK)

China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On and OPI gold flakes

Hello is there anyone there!?

Work/life has been getting in the way of my blogging as you can probably tell but don't worry I'm not about to quit. Although I have to admit nothing has been wowing me recently and I've not had any urgency to buy or get swatches of new collections posted. I'm saving money as a result so it's not all bad!

Enough talking, here is the lovely China Glaze "Keep Calm, Paint On" topped with some gold flakes (OPI "The Man with the Golden Gun"). KCPO is a lovely minty green with silver shimmer. The formula was a little odd on this one as it dragged when I was a bit eager to paint the 2nd/3rd coat. It was ok when I put thicker layers on and let them dry properly. TMWTGG required a bit of fishing around but I expected that as it was a flaky. Overall I love this combo. Do you?

Subtle Gradient using OPI Stay the Night and The Impossible

OPI Stay the Night

OPI The Impossible on the tips

OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Hi ladies! My friend at work (hello Marie) told me I needed to put up a post asap so here I am with another polish from OPI's Skyfall collection, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I overlooked this polish when I was at Olympia Beauty (stupid me) so had to pay full whack at Sally's. Sharp eyes will see this polish is made up of pink, blue, green, gold/bronze particles in a greyish base. There is a hint of duochrome to the particles which is very obvious in low lit conditions. The formula for me was quite good. It was buttery smooth and only required two coats. Several bloggers have mentioned the smell of this polish being a bit like cheapy polish. I didn't really smell anything awful but then I do have a cold right now! Was it worth the full whack? For me yes as I don't have anything in my collection like this!

Have you ladies picked this up recently? Thanks for reading xx

OPI Live and Let Die (and some stamping)

Until today, when I picked up On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Live and Let Die was the only polish I had from OPI's Skyfall collection. The dark teal creme sprinkled with gold/green flecks seduced me when I was at Olympia Beauty and I didn't hesitate when I placed it to my basket. The formula is buttery smooth and a one coater if you're careful.

The flecks give the polish a starlit sky feel.

When I was photographing LALD I had a sudden feeling it may be a dupe Revlon's Rain Forest so I decided to do a comparison on a wheel. Luckily you can see from the swatches they're not. The green base is different and the flecks in LALD are not really duochromey like Rain Forest.

Now here is LALD stamped using images from a gorgeous plate I picked up from eBay for £7.99. I used Barry M gold foil which was fine but I had to work fast. The fine intricate detail means a lot less polish is picked up and so dries a lot quicker.

The images on this plate is massive and I would recommend this for ladies with bigger nails to really show off the designs. My little nails just don't have enough surface area!

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for reading. A x

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest and a disco party

If you only buy one vampy polish this fall (autumn) make sure it's OPI Every Month is Okoberfest from the Germany collection. A gorgeous red-plumy shimmer with an inky blue base it's very sexy and classy.

The polish flows effortlessly onto the nail without flooding and if you're careful one coat is enough for full coverage. One negative is the brush. It's too wide and square but that's just my taste.

After swatching this I decided to try my hand at creating a honeycomb/disco ball effect on my nails with hex sequins from Olympia Beauty (a post to come about it).

I think the glitter pieces are a little big for my nail. They're also quite rigid so they didn't really bend to match the curve of my nail but I still like the effect and can see myself wearing this on a night out. What do you think? Thank for reading.

OPI Number One Nemesis, My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a bit of neon stamping

Hello there!

To make up for the lack of post yesterday I have for you a triple helping! First up is OPI Number One Nemesis from the Spider-man Collection that was released earlier this year to coincide with the new film.

Depending on the lighting this polish appears either as a warm metallic gold/green or a warm metallic silver shimmer with sparkly elements within. It applies like a foil and took hardly any time to dry between coats of which I applied 2. It is said to be a dupe of Chanel Graphite which I don't have so this is a welcomed addition to my collection.

Next is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls another polish from the Spider-man collection. This is an off-white creme that applies very well with minimal streaking and only requires two coats for full opacity. It is on the thick side which if you don't like can be remedied with a couple drops of thinner. The fact that it's a muted white makes it a lot more wearable and look less like you've painted your nails with tippex (white out)!

Now for a little stamping. Over MBSW I decided to stamp some neon rays from Bundle Monster plate 301. I used Pixi Summer Pink which stamped very well. What do you think?

I tried stamping my thumb but the image was too small to cover the entire surface, what do you guys do when that happens? Until next time x

Dutch 'Ya Love OPI?

OPI UK have hiked their prices up to 11 POUNDS for one bottle! ONE BOTTLE! For my American readers that's 17 USD. *sigh* Anyway I said to myself I didn't need and wouldn't buy any of the new polishes from the Holland collection because I thought my stash contained many of the colours in one form or another. WRONG! After looking at swatches again there were three that called out to me: Dutch 'Ya Love OPI?, Vampsterdam and  Gouda Gouda Two Shoes.

Luckily the first in the list was given to me as a late V-day pressie (along with DL Glitter in the Air) so technically I haven't broken my OPI no buy just yet!

Dutch' Ya Love OPI? Well yes I do (not the prices though)!
Red-toned grape with subtle gold shimmer doesn't sound like my cup of tea on paper but on my nails I am absolutely loving it. I think it's actually one of those polishes that look better on the nails than in the bottle.

Perfect quick drying formula that is opaque in two coats. Not the most glossy finish so could do with a top coat (pics without) if you want that extra shine or you could try a holographic top coat like I did!

Lights on!

 One coat of Hits Hefesto

Lights off!

Have you guys picked up any of the polishes from the Holland collection? If so which ones? yay or nay to the holo top coat?

OPI Who The Shrek Are You?

Well hello there and hello to my new readers! You're probably thinking why on Earth I'm showing you a polish from a collection that came out Spring 2010, well because I'm a cheap skate! This colour was in the sale on Lena White (UK OPI distributor) and from a far it looks pretty similar to Did it on 'em (Nicki Minaj Collection Spring 2012) which I really wanted because it's like nothing in my collection and I wanted a loud colour. On my current budget I couldn't really stump up the £11 ($17 USD) they were asking so thought this was a great alternative.

It's not a colour for everyone but I really love it and as soon as the weather warms up and my hands are less red (it clashes) I'll be sporting this on all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs.

It's a mustard yellow/green, exactly like the colour of Shrek!

Bye for now!

Hold the shrimp!

Despite the random title this post has nothing to do with shrimp though you may argue there is a tenuous link because this is a pink manicure?! It's just a line that my bf said whilst ordering take-out that for some reason I find hilarious.

Anyway I haven't worn a full pink manicure in a while because I don't think pink really suits my skin tone but as it's nearing Valentine's Day I wanted to create a manicure that's a bit girly and errr pink for you ladies to try. 

For this manicure I painted all my nails with OPI Sparrow Me The Drama. I wanted really neat lines so used striping tape I got from eBay to mask off the lines then painted using a pink holographic (Sally Hansen Magical Ruby Slipper) and OPI Steady As She Rose and then removed the tape. If you have no patience I would recommend just freehanding the stripes as the tape can be a little fiddly!

And just to show all you doubters I have more than four fingers...say hello to my right hand.
I'll be wearing this mani until Monday evening

What do you think? 

Have a good weekend!

Nail Pop popping!

Happy Monday!

I've seen these Nail Pop polishes by LOOK Beauty on other UK nail blogs and have been wanting to try them since their release however I pretty much gave up hope of finding them after visiting several larger Superdrugs in London to no avail. I know they have them in Westfield Stratford but I refuse to go there again! So you can imagine my surprise when I saw them in the pokey store in Marble Arch! I picked up Kimono which is said to be very similar to Chanel's Peridot and Pearl Effect a lovely blue/purple flakie which I want to show you today.

OPI Siberian Nights and LOOK Beauty - Nail Pop Pearl Effect

The flakes shift from blue to purple but you do need to be in the right lighting conditions to witness this.  

I love it. I love it because it's very subtle.

The formula is so so. It dries quite slowly and you do need about 2-3 coats to get a decent coverage and to minimise bald spots. I still love it though.

That's all for now! xx

Some midweek swatches

Models Own Pro - Green Envy

Green is definitely one of my favourite colours and when it's in a black jelly like this it's even more desirable. 2 coats, dries fast, great brush. LUSH. I then decided to put a layer of HITS Lambada over it

It's described as a "clear base with copper, red, green golden yellow, and turquoise flakie". Not sure about it to be honest. There's too much colour going on at once and it looks a bit garish. This may be due to the base I used so I'm willing to let this combo slide and try another coloured base at a later date.

OPI - Steady as she Rose

(Before I broke my nail!)

This image has been on my desktop for a while and thought I'd just slip it in. It needs no introduction. Perfect application and opaque in 2/3 coats. I can't quite remember!

That's it for now. Hope you're all having a nice week so far!

Pink Wednesday - OPI Do you think I'm Tex-y and Excuse Moi

Today's Wednesday and that means wearing pink. I've never taken part before and as it's the last Wednesday of October which also happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness month I thought I'd indulge you all with a couple of pink shades. Firstly though I want to encourage all the ladies to Touch Look Check (TLC) as early detection really improves your outcome. I know you might think I'm just spouting off on one but I recently had a lecture on breast imaging and it really brought home the message of early detection. The acronym is from Breakthrough Breast Cancer a charity that is 'dedicated to saving lives by finding the causes of breast cancer, improving detection, diagnosis, treatment ans services' check out their website if you get a moment.

So on to the polishes...

OPI - Do you think I'm Tex-y over China Glaze White Cap (you can't see the gold that well in the pic but IRL you could see it underneath)

I actually wore this on Sunday because I really fancied something a bit more cheery and different from all the dark vampy polishes I've been sporting for Halloween. It's one of the polishes from the Texas collection with a 'sorbet' finish, is that what it's called? It required about 3 coats if I remember correctly and dried quite fast.

Next up is the polish that's currently on my nails. You've probably seen a million swatches of Excuse Moi but I make no apologises because it's a stunner. In the bottle the polish looks more of a red but on the nails it's a gorgeous pink. And let's not forget the multi-coloured glitter! My Bf said I had Barbie nails lol.

From The Muppets Collection

Here I've applied 2 coats and you can still see a little nail peaking through so a 3rd coat should sort that out. It's a hungry glitter and needs about 3 (even 4) coats of Seche Vite to get it smooth. Applies fantastically and dries super fast. LOVE IT.

I hope to do one more Halloween design for you guys but with the amount of work I have on at the moment I don't want to promise.

Also those who haven't done so already remember to enter my competition win a bottle of Beyu Shiraz aka unicorn pee!