NOTD - New Years Eve Mani

while most people are doing a Glitter gradient mani for New Years Eve, I thought I would go in a different direction.

For those of you who just cant wait to get your hands on OPI Black Shatter, I give you Barry M's Nail Effects...

For the base coat I used 1 coat Glitzerland with 2 light coats of Bring on the Bling, this was the first time I have worn BotB from the Burlesque holiday collection and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! I was expecting chav-tastic gold glitter. But instead what you see on the nail is more complex, a blend of gold, green and orange glitter that's quite chunky and really stands out.

You can't see it in the photo but I promise you it is there. It makes a really nice nail colour by itself, it was almost a shame to use the nail effects over the top.

Whats your New Years Eve manicure??

2010 - A Year in OPI. The Winners and the Losers

I am sure it will not come as a surprise to you that OPI has fast become my nail laquer brand of choice, and this year has seen my collection grow.

Here are my picks from this years collections from OPI

(wow it doent look that much in the photo, but in person I'm sat here thinking "why do I need all this polish lol).

Starting from the tip of the 2 we have -

Alice in Wonderland Collection.

Off With her Red, Mad as a Hatter, Absolutly Alice, and Thanks so Muchness.

Hong Kong Collection.

Dim Sum Plum, Hot and Spicy, Suzi Says Feng Shui, Jade is the new Black, Pearl of Wisdom, Meet me at the Star Ferry (moving onto the 0), Lucky Lucky Lavender, Panda-modium Pink.

Shrek Collection.

Rumples Wiggin, Funky Dunkey (why wasn't it called Re-donkulous???), Whats with the Cattitude? Fiercley Fiona, Ogre the Top Blue, Who the Shrek are you?

Summer Flutter.

Catch me in your Net, Flit a Bit,

Halloween/Coture Colleciton.

Unrippened (promotional bottle),

Pink of Hearts 2010,

(1)

Glitzerland, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Ski Teal We Drop, Willaim Tell me about OPI, Cuckoo for This Colour, Yodel Me on My Cell,

(0)

Burlesque Holiday 2010.

Bring On the Bling, Glow Up Already! Extra-va-vaganza! Simmer & Shimmer, Show It & Glow It!, Sparkle-icious, Rising Star, Take the Stage, The Show Must Go On! Let Me Entertain You, Ali’s Big Break, Tease-y Does It

Now may I presents ...

The Winners of 2010

Mad as A Hatter. This one had to be included didn't it? this multi glitter polish is amazing!

Whats with the Cattitude? Probably my favourite release of this year, it is the perfect baby blue.

Catch Me in Your Net. Although it is said to have many dupes (Zoya Charla for one) this has to be my fave, but in any form this colour rocks!

Teasey Does It. My fave dark from this year, just wish it looked exactivcally like it does in the bottle on your nails

The Losers

Ski Teal we Drop. Just didn' t like it :( wish I did, this one sits unworn.

William Tell Me About OPI. I hoped it to be lighter than Lincoln Park after Dark, which it is, just not light enough!

Unrippened. I searched for this one everywhere, and paid over the top for it, and its just not as special as the hype, and has a dupe in Nicole by OPI :(

What are your winners and losers from 2010 collections??

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season.

Its Christmas morning here in the UK, which means just one thing! presents! lol but first I wanted to show you my Christmas day manicure.

This is 2 coats for China Glaze For Audrey, a gorgeous colour I'm sure everyone is familiar with.

To that I added some snowflake nail decals, 2 on each finger and 3 on my thumb.

To give it that little added sparkle I used Sinful Colours Pearl Harbor, clear polish with lots of turquoise and silver? possible pink? glitters. When I first saw this polish about a month ago I knew it would look perfect over CD For Audrey, and have been fighting with myself as whether to get it or not. Yesterday I finally gave it, well it is Christmas after all!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas xoxo

I'm off to open my presents with my family.

NOTD - Get Lea Michele's Emmy's Nail look

For Lea's Emmy manicure Deborah Lippman used Lady Sings the Blues on fingers and toes - a deep navy base with cobalt blue large glitters, and silver and blue micro glitter.

My version of this looks isn't quite the same, it has more silver glitters, but this look cost under £6 instead of the normal £14 for a Deborah Lippman polish and that's always a bonus!

First I painted 2 coats of Barry M Navy no:292 to give a nice dark navy blue base to the nail, like that of Lady Sings the Blues. Then once that was dry I used 2 coats of Revlon Galaxy top coat as I found 1 coat to be a little lacking on the glitter.

Overall I was happy with the effect. I am in LOVE with Barry M Navy so I think this was always going to be a winner in my eyes, although I did find that the Barry M lost its metallic effect a tad once the top coat had been added. Maybe it was just the lighting or my eyes?

I have also decided that glitter is an absolute bitch to remove! especially the Revlon top coats and CG Party Hearty which is a shame as I love them so much. The past few days I have had to resort to having robot fingers (using Sayanythingbr00ke method of glitter removal). I may have looked ridiculous but it works!!

NOTD - GingerBells

This is 2 coats of Ginger Bells by OPI with 2 coats of Take the Stage on my ring finger.

Sorry for the quality of the photo, I think I need to change my camera batteries :)

NOTD - Ruffian

Here we have a Ruffian inspired Manicure. I did mine freehand and found it much easier than using french manicure templates, although it does give a much cleaner line.

The Ruffian first premiered at NY Fashion week and it has taken off! So I thought it was time to try it.

First I did 2 coats of OPI Glitzerland from the Swiss collection as a base. Then I used Barry M's Navy no: 292 to paint over. I just love this combination!

Christmas Haul

Today I have for you a disgusting sized haul. I don't know what on earth possessed me! I certainly did not need to buy this much polish.

But it does look pretty!

OPI Burlesque Collection.

Yes I needed all 12 colours okay :p

China Glaze:

(from top going clockwise)

Party Hearty <3>

Frosty

Sugar Plums

Mistletoe Kisses

Ruby Pumps

Ingrid

Little gingerbread man pendant.

I found him on a Christmas market in the city and fell in love. Isn't he cute?!

I seem to acquired an obsession with gingerbread. Its a little odd I admit.

Snowflake Pendant.

(maybe a bit more work appropriate than Mr gingerbread)

What items have you been buying in preparation for the festive season? and what are your must have Holday manicure colours??

Its CHRISTMAS!!

or at least it will be very soon. yay!

and that can only mean 2 things

Christmas manicures and cute decorations!

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses with a top coat of seche vite

Unfortunately these photos just don't do the polish justice, its a gorgeous icy mint green and totally unique. I would defiantly recommend picking this one up before they all sell out!!

NOTD - Konad Refresh

A quick refresh on yesterdays OPI manicure using Glitzerland.



cute right? very festive, reminds me of Christmas gift wrap :)

NOTD - Glitzerland

I never thought I'd say this, but I really love this gold!

This is about the third time I have worn it since picking up my picks the Swiss Collection.

Application was good, this is 2 coats, and gives a nice festive colour <3

NOTD - Nail Effects

Here's a little something for the weekend, I don't really see this as a work appropriate mani but its a little bit of fun :)

Introducing Barry M Nail Effects, I can imagine this will be very close to the forthcoming Black Shatter by OPI.

Its very easy to achieve this look, just one coat on top of your normal dry nail lacquer, the amount you apply and the speed at which you apply it will determined what type of effect appears on your nail.

This was one regular coat (by regular I mean I wasn't too generous and tried not to make it a thin coat) and I added a top coat to get a glossy, polished look as I tend to find it will dry quite matt looking.

For a more subtle look I am going to try a coat of black polish and then a coat of nail effects, to see if I can get that mixture of textures on the nail.

In case you are wondering, the polish I am sporting under the nail effects is Pamplona Purple, although it could easily be Barry M's Bright Purple no:303 as they are dead on dupes!

NOTD - Konad Refresh

This is day two of wearing Barefoot in Barcelona by OPI. This is virtually unheard of after an 9 hour shift at work, but my polish was still intact and I didn't want to waste it.

I used Meet me at the Star Ferry from this years Hong Kong S/S collection with my Konad for a subtle design (this photo was before clean up, please excuse me).

Overall I liked the effect, and I like that I can use my lacquers as well as Konad special polish, to give a subtle effect that isn't so in your face as their very strong black or white.

NOTD - Mannequin Hands

After my last monstrosity of a manicure I decided to play it safe..

This is 2 coats of Barefoot in Barcelona by OPI and 1 Seche Vite top coat.

This lacquer goes on like butter, its application was effortless and drying time was good and what a gorgeous, work appropriate colour.

Whats you mannequin hands colour?

NOTD - Post Halloween Nails

This is 2 coats Flit a Bit with 1 very gloopy coat of Mad as a Hatter.

I don't know whats happened to it but all of a sudden my MaaH has gone extremely thick! I might need to invest in some thinner, but that is a scary prospect - I don't want to ruin my polish.

Both nail lacquers dried quickly, I very much like the formulation of Flit a Bit, I don't know if it is any different from the norm but it seems to dry fast and is opaque in just 2 thin coats (just 1 if you do a very thick layer).

For me, this was a fail. I was dreading wearing this for work, but now I have fixed it up a little, I don't mind too much. I had imagined a thin coat of MaaH with plenty of the orange showing through, which didn't happen :( I can't wait to change this polish.

I will have to try idea again with Extra-va-vaganza from the Burlesque collection, maybe that will work better.

What are your post Halloween nails?

Happy Halloween

Its Halloween-o-ween!

and heres my Halloween konad ... with a free hand Swarovski spider :)

This is 2 coats OPI Unripened from their Go Goth Collection (or Couture collection if you are, like me, and in the UK).

I was a tad disappointed by this colour, in most lights it looks black and not the teal/green that it looks in the bottle. Not even the glitter shows up terribly well in real life :(

hopefully T-easy does it won't disappoint when that arrives.

Hope you are all having a Happy Halloween! and I will leave you with a few photos from my day.

Pumpkin Carving

Candy corn candle

Trick or Treat

Oogie Boogie and Jack-o-lantern

Halloween Nails: Orange and Black Faux-nad

This is Flit A Bit from OPI's Summer Flutter Collection 2010, a Vivid and bright orange that screams Halloween!

This is 3 coats over 2 coats of OPI Nail Envy and a top coat of Seche Vite before and after faux-nad design.

I had a lot of fun doing this faux-nad design. I used nail stamping template T-23 Halloween from this ebay store and the black konad polish.

The transaction was pleasant, no complaints here! and the product is great, just as good as previous Konad imaged plates I have used. My only bug with it is that the image does seem to sit a little deeper in the metal than regular konad, making cleaning a messy business (I like to have my boyfriend on standby with polish remover to avoid any mani malfunctions) :)

I just love the cat, owl and spiders web designs (the latter is so effective I think I will attempt a full mani like it soon).

Breaking Nail News

OPI just tweeted about their upcoming collaboration with Katy Perry - including a pic of the colours that it will include Black Shatter “a revolutionary topcoat that creates a cracked/leopard pattern when applied over dried nail lacquer.” hmm didn't Barry M just come out with one of those?



Photo Source
Quote Source

Teenage Dream - Pale Pink Glitter
Black Shatter - "Shatter" Effect
The One That Got Away - Burgungy shimmer
Last Friday Night - Light blue glitter
Not Like the Movies - Gunmetal irredesent

See the Black Shatter and a sneaky swatch of all the colours including Simply Smashing, a bold gold from the upcoming Serena Wiliams line on OPIs facebook or Youtube



Video Source


Still I'm a sucker and will have to buy at least 3 - Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night and Not like the Movies.
Okay 4 I will have to try Black Shatter too - Will look fabulous for next Halloween :)

Which ones have caught your eye?

Nail Haul

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have had family birthdays, meals and get together, and work has been crazy busy this week too. But I hope to have lost of posts and Halloween nail ideas in the upcoming weeks. So I had to stock up on goodies before this festive season begins.





OPI
DS Extravagance - Not something I would normally chose but I like it, perfect for what I wanted it for (photos coming soon)

DS Coronation - Not sure how I feel about this one, I wanted super dooper holographic, and it just didn't deliver, currently being worn on my toes, soon to be replaced by Glove you so Much.

Flit A Bit - I originally passed up on this one from the Summer Flutter collection, the only one I had my eye on was Catch me in your Net. I thought I was being good as typically OPI release an orange with their Halloween collections, but oh no not this year. To me Flit A Bit screams pumpkin! perfect!

Pink of Hearts 2010 - surprisingly I have already worn this, and I kinda like it, a pretty pale pink packed full of shimmer



Unripened - from this years Halloween collection, or Couture as it is being promoted in the UK?? unripened is what I would call a duocrome. It looks to me like a navy base with turquoise glitter that turns purple in the light, can't wait to wear this one. Shame all the colours didn't come in full size bottles or I would have tried them all

Glow-ink in the Dark - From last years Halloween Collection I believe, the colour of this reminds me a bit of dating a Royal, and how could I pass up a glow in the dark polish? I am now on the hunt for Boo Berry, I love the colour of that one, and Ghostess with the Mostess (great name :) )



Sensitive and Peeling Nail Envy
lately my nails have started to peel at the ends, it will not do. My aim is to get them healthy looking and strong. Wish me luck





Barry M
311 Nail Effects - I expect this will be somewhat like OPI Black Shatter that will be released with both the upcoming Katy Perry and Serena Williams collections. You Apply one coat to your nail over dry polish and then watch as the effect appears. I remember I used to have something like this in my collection from years ago that Bought from Avon, will have to have a dig around and see what I can find.

313 Dusky Mauve - Supposedly a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal, I got the last bottle in Superdrug after looking in 5 of their stores :) can't wait to try it out!



Illamasque Muse
I have been craving this polish ever since I first clapped eyes on the range
<3



Halloween Nail Art Stickers
So Cute! I think I will be placing another order for the Christmas ones



LeChat Nail art in Hot Green, white and Platinum Pearl and Swarovski Nail Art Jewels (I'm not expecting them to be real Swarovski)

Can't wait to try them all out!

All photos are my own

NOTD - OPI Mad As A Hatter

and a cupcake :)

Halloween Inspiration

photos borrowed from OPI's Halloween contest on facebook, incredible entrys!