OPI -Texas Spring 2011

For Spring/Summer this year OPI has released a set of 12 timeless shades perfect for the warm weather months to compliment fingers and toes. This is broken down into two distinct six-piece sets. The green/blue/gray/brown shades then the pinks and purples that are all a jelly finish that OPI is dubbing "Sorbet".

Don't Mess With OPI - This is a grass green creme. Is it similar to Jade Is The New Black? It's close. JITNB is more blue toned leaning toward that tennis court green and DMWOPI is more grass green. Although it is different, I would hope that if they did a green reme, or a green at all, they would do one that was more unique. The formula of this is a dream: super smooth. I got it on in two easy coats.

Austin-tatious Turquoise - This is a shimmery teal. Very beautiful. What I love about this is the base is a cool, jungle green sheer and then it's packed with the teal shimmer. Then to take it one more level, the shimmer has a purple duochrome. This polish is more complex than just teal shimmer. What I don't love about this is the formula. This is 4 coats.

I Vant To Be A-lone Star - I vant to be alone with this. I mean.... this is a hot color. This is a gorgeous clean silver with a pearly shimmer finish. Bright, clean, flattering, shimmery and just mesmerizing. This may be my fave from the whole set.

It's Totally Fort Worth It - Is it? If it's worth it is going to be different for everyone I suppose. This is a taupe-gray sheer with flecks of pinkish shimmer. I like the idea of this but it is very sheer which is a deal breaker for me. This was four coats. If I were to wear this for a full mani I would layer it over gray creme.

San Tan-tonio - haha! I have been dying to get this just for the name! I love it! I love the color of this too. I can't really think of color I have that looks like this. And if I do I don't like them on me. I actually like this one. And the formula rocks as well. Perfection.

Suzi Loves Cowboys - Oh my. This is delicious. It makes me want to eat my hands. I feel like my nails are little drops of dark chocolate.

And now for the sorbets>>>

Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear? - This is a bright, tangerine orange jelly. Very fun and happy, but it's a jelly so it's still got some visible nail line (VNL) after 4 coats.

Big Hair Big Nails - Red/orange jelly. This is a sort-of coral shade. I want to call it something else though. Maybe... guava? I was thinking guava and it hit me that it was like a jelly version of China Glaze - High Hopes, which is described as guava. So I guess that is a good description.

Do You Think I'm Tex-y? - This is a jelly raspberry. Clean and bright and decently pigmented so less VNL than some of the others.

Houston We Have A Purple - This is honestly pretty similar to DYTIT? but darker and I guess more purple than berry. It makes me think grape slush.

Guy Meets Gal-veston - This is a bright coral jelly. I really like this one. I can't wait to put this one on my toes.

Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em - This may be my favorite of the sorbet finishes. This is a hot pink jelly. I think it's the richest and most pigmented of the sorbets and just the most fun! I am a lover of hot, hot pinks like this though!

Overall this is a kick-ass collection. The non-sorbet polishes are gorgeous. You can't really go wrong with blue, green, gray and brown. As for the sorbets, I am pleased that although OPI gave us a whole lot of pinks and berries, they at least made them different. I love the squishy, juiciness of a good jelly. The color choices for all of these really made me think of sorbet and gelato. The only down side is that they take several coats, however that isn't anything new for jellies and when I want to wear a jelly, I deal with more than the usual two coats.

OPI - Texas is available now. Which ones are you going to get?!
:c)

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Teenage Dream - The Katy Perry Collection by OPI

OPI has teamed up with Katy Perry to create a collection of 4 glittery shades this winter. Katy Perry is a nail icon so it makes sense to collaborate with her! To complement the shades in the collection, OPI has also released a crackle top coat: whole lotta fun!

Teenage Dream - Semi sheer pink base full of large hexagon holographic glitter and pink micro glitter. This is three coats and I think it does a decent job building up. You could wear it like this, however I prefer it layered.

Not Like The Movies - My favorite of this collection! This is a steel metallic with a green/purple duochrome and little, itty-bitty silver flaky pieces in it.

Last Friday Night - Sheer blue with bright blue shimmer and iridescent hexagon pieces flashing red, blue and green. This one is definitely one to be layered. It looks pretty much identical to Sinful Colors - Hottie which I used layered for this mani.

The One That Got Away - This is a super rich, magenta berry with glass-fleck shimmer. This doesn't have quite as much sparkle as OPI - Let Me Entertain You from the Burlesque collection which I expected it to look just like, but it's beautiful in its own right.

Black Shatter - Shown over The One That Got Away - This is the best thing since sliced bread! I have been having a whole lot of fun with this one. You have to apply this over dry polish. It works best that way. If you ever used the old Cover Girl - Crackles from the 90's you'll remember they had to be applied over wet polish and they took forever to dry/crack. Black Shatter cracks quickly and gives a more uniform look. I am a big fan.

So overall, cool collection. It has everything. Holo, iridescent, duochrome, glitter, shimmer, and crackle! The Katy Perry Collection is out now!
What do you think!?
-Elaine
:c)

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Nicole by OPI - Liquid Metals

For the new year Nicole has released a set of shades for some "notice me nails"! This is a collection of for foil finish, flashy colors giving the look of liquid metal on your nails.

Rich In Spirit - When I first saw this bottle I though "blue foil". But once I got it on it looked more like a silver foil tinted a bit blue. However you look at it, it's pretty.

Miss Independent - This is a cool pink foil with undertones of lilac. Very different from any other pink foil I have ever seen. I love how cool and purple it is. It could have been a girly pink but instead it is edgy and hott.

The Next CEO - This is a gold foil, which isn't really unique, but it at least is a more neutral gold thanks to the loads of silver in it instead of being real warm and yellow such as China Glaze - Midnight Kiss.

It Starts With Me - This is a peachy, warm foil. It actually, against my skin tone, made me feel like I was wearing a polish that matched my skin but was foil finish. Weird.

Liquid Metals are available this month and retail at ULTA, Walmart, Target, Sears, Harmon, HEB and Wegmans.

What do you think?!
Elaine
:c)

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Nicole by OPI - Wal-Mart Exclusives - January 2011

I don't know if there is an actual name for this set or if it is just "Wal-Mart Exclusives". I have swatches for you of four new shades added to the Wal-Mart line of Nicole by OPI. They are meant to be "timeless and sophisticated shades".

He's A Keeper - Bright red, creamy creme. This is sort of on the orange side and I like that. It's hard to make an red creme different, and this one has at least a bit of an edge.

Got Style? - This is a cinnamon, brick reddish, shade with a ton of silver shimmer. This is reminding me of a gingerbread cookie color and I like it because it's interesting but work appropriate. I wore this as a "work shade".

Never Give Up - Unless it's on trying to make polishes like this. This is a magenta with small holo glitter, which should be awesome, but the base is too opaque and frosty, and with the glitter it turns into a lumpy mess. This swatch even has a top-coat on it and it doesn't help even it out :c(

Count On Me - Back to the good stuff. This is a shimmery lilac with a flashy duochrome blue to purple shimmer. This is sheer so I layered it over Sally Hansen - Thinking of Blue.

These are available at select Wal-Mart stores this month.

What do you think?!
:c)
-Elaine

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Glitter, Glitter, Glitter... and more Glitter!

I am a list writer. I write to-do lists all the time, for everything, and I generally like to write them in little notebooks. That means I am always on hunts for cute notebooks to write all my lists in. While shopping recently I found really cute glitter-bomb notebooks at Charlotte Russe and of course bought one. It was made of red, purple, green and blue hex glitter and of course all I could think is "how can I translate to this exact look to my nails?" Well I figured it out!

I did this with two coats of Nubar - Night Sparkle, a deep blue base with blue glitter. Then added Nubar - Grass Green Glitter, then Hard Candy - Zombie, then Wet n Wild - Prancer on top.

-What do you think?
:c)

China Glaze 'Tis The Season to be naughty and nice

For the holiday collection this year China Glaze has released a beautiful set of 16 SHADES! I am stunned. This is not only amazing because it is 16 polishes, but it is amazing because they are gorgeous colors. I have swatched all of the shades and did a couple comparison swatches. Swatches and reviews first and comparison s second. Let's take a look!>>>

Ruby Deer - Bright, bright tomato red. Sort of jelly in finish and has a fantastic smooth formula. So, so smooth. Amazingly smooth.

Phat Santa - Another bold red creme but darker than Ruby Deer.

Mrs. Claus - This is very interesting! This is a sheer red with silver glitter. I am so intrigued by this because it seems soooo sheer but with three coats, the color and the glitter still hide any VNL. Very impressive. This reminds me of candy canes. It also reminds me of Zoya - Astra, although it is absolutely not a dupe.

Mommy Kissing Santa - Deep, burgundy red shimmer. This is velvety and smooth and delicious. I love this! I had a client comment that it was gorgeous and very Christmas-y. I said that it was funny she should say that because it was from a Holiday set!

Sugar Plums -Wine shimmer with sparse, tiny holo specks. Similar to a discontinued China Glaze fave, Crystal Ball, but not a dupe.

Naughty and Nice - Deep, deep, almost black, burgundy creme with a jelly finish. I loooooved wearing this. This is three coats, although when I did a mani I did two. When I did this swatch I guess I forgot how to paint my nails and needed to do a third coat to even things out.

Little Drummer Boy - Navy/denim shimmer. Very nice. I wanted to say that this isn't terribly unique/exciting, but I also don't have anything close to it. What did excite me about it, though, is that it has an out of this world formula. Super pigmented and smooth. You can get away with one coat with this one.

Jolly Holly - Wow! This blew me away. This is a rich green with golden shimmer. So beautiful. Just like Little Drummer Boy this is an amazing, smooth, super-pigmented one coat dream.

Mistletoe Kisses - What a cool polish! It makes me smile when I look at it! This is a mix of a really neat, soft green that is sort of between emerald and jade, completely packed with super small silver glitter. Very pretty. I couldn't decide if this is a two or three coater. I guess it's two but I did a third to be sure. I probably could have just stayed at two. This swatch is with top coat and one coat makes this polish smooth. It's not too grainy.

Peace On Earth - Wow! Striking, olive shimmer. This is one of my faves of this collection. I did a comparison with a few other olive shimmers below.

Jingle Bells - Classy gold. This isn't a very yellow gold. It's more or a neutral gold. Very pretty. The finish is hard to describe. It isn't quite a foil. It's sort of a chrome, but not as chrome as a chrome... if that makes sense! It's like a pearlish chrome.

Midnight Kiss - Partying yellow gold foil! There is no ambiguity here. This is definitely a gold foil. This is two coats.

Party Hearty (over white) - Fun! This is a clear base with large red hexagon glitter, smaller green hexagon glitter and even smaller gold and silver glitter. This is two coats over white.

Snow - White Cream. Nothing noteworthy. I am always interested to try a new staple like white creme to see if it may be like, the best white cream ever. But this one isn't . It a standard three coat, sort of difficult to apply, white creme. This is three coats with top coat.

Frosty - Pretty, delicate, snowy, pearly shimmer. It's not like a typical shimmer. The particles are sort of like small pearly pieces. I really, really like this on. It is sort of sheer so it needs at least 3 coats unless you want to layer it over something. This is actually 5 coats but that is because I kept getting my middle finger uneven and had to add more to fix it, but then it was way off then the rest. I do like the look of 5 coats though.

Cheers to You - Silver fun foil. Very pretty and flashy and awesome, but not unique.

And as promised here are a couple comparison swatches:

Sugar Plums on index and ring and China Glaze - Crystal Ball on middle and pinky. Crystal Ball is thinner and has more holo glitter. Sugar Plums only needed two coats, but Crystal Ball needed three.

Peace On Earth comparison. From left to right:

• Peace On Earth
• China Glaze - Cat's Eye
• OPI - At Your Quebec & Call
• Peace On Earth

I was hoping that Peace On Earth would be close to an amazing discontinued olive from China Glaze: Cat's Eye. Cat's Eye is more metallic and not as green.

Midnight Kiss on index and ring. Orly - Luxe on middle and pinky. Close, but not dupes. Luxe has more silver particles giving it a less yellow gold look then Midnight Kiss.

'Tis The Season is available now online and at retailers. What do you think?! :c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.