Grand Slam! England Swatches

The England set has 3 shimmery, sparkly shades and no crackles! >>

Grape...Set...Match - This is a gorgeous, super shimmery purple, glass-fleckish type shade. The main color is a reddish purple but the shimmer is mostly blue giving a lot of depth.

Servin' Up Sparkle (over Grape...Set...Match) - This is a clear base with different sized holo glitter. Very pretty and very holo. I unfortunately didn't shoot it in great light so you wouldn't know, but it is very sparkly. It is not however, very unique.


Your Royal Shine-ness - This is a silver foil. I felt like this one looked more steel/pewter in the bottle than most silver foils, but now looking at the pic again, it just seems like the same silver foil.

Stand out from this set to me is definitely Grape...Set...Match. What do you think?

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.

OPI - Pirates of the Caribbean

I know what you are thinking when you read that title. Is she flippin serious? That collection came out months ago! I know I know. I just kept putting this on the back burner and waiting and waiting and I am not quite sure what I was waiting for but here it is! :c)

I do need to apologize to you, my sweet loyal readers. I have become of a bit of an absentee blogger. I am working lots and lots of hours these days and it is very hard for me to find time to do the most simple activities in my life, let alone post. It is always on my mind, and I am still doing my nails and taking pictures, it's just hard to sit and do posts and edit pics as frequently as I would like :c(

Okay, enough with the sob story. Let's look at some swatches!

Mermaid's Tears

Steady As She Rose

Planks a Lot

Skull and Glossbones

Sparrow Me The Drama

Stranger Tides

Silver Shatter (over Mermaid's Tears)

A Couple Revlon Sweetly Seductive Swatches

HELLO!!! I AM NOT DEAD!!!! YAY!

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an untouched display of bright, juicy looking nail polishes with matching lip glosses. Upon further inspection, I realized that the polishes were scented and they were crazy shimmery! They all have a almost indescribable shimmer but I will try: It's not quite flakie, not quite glass-fleck, not a standard shimmer and not a glitter. It's a bit of all of them.

Watermelon Fizz - This is a bright, juicy jelly red with the firey flake type shimmer. The scent is of course watermelon and it is reminiscent of watermelon lip balm. Like a Bonne Bell, or something. Very pretty and I got decent coverage in three coats.

Grape Fizz - This is a pale, uneventful purple jelly base but the shimmer is amazing!!! The shimmer is bright, glowing blue purple and pink. It took me four coats to achieve this swatch. I think it would be more impressive layered. The scent actually reminds me of those scented big bouncing balls you could get at Wal-Mart or wherever that had a grape on it and smelled like a grape, or a cherry and smelled like a cherry. Yeah. It's funny the nostalgia you experience from scents.

In this collection there is also:
Grapefruit Fizz (pink)
Orange Fizz (orange)
Mint Fizz (blue)
Apple-tini Fizz (green)
Pineapple Fizz (yellow)
Colada Fizz (baby blue)

What do you think?!
-Elaine
:c)

Glam Slam France Part Deux

Hello! I have the other set of OPI - Glam Slam for you today!

Rally Pretty Pink - This is a mauvy, pinky, purple with very strong gold shimmer. It reminds me of Zoya - Faye but I haven't compared them yet.

Red Shatter (shown over Rally Pretty Pink) - This shatter is awesome because it is a sheer, jelly-ish crackle as opposed to an opaque creme crackle like most are. It allows the shimmer or glitter in your base color to come through a bit. I like that because I feel uncomfortable using a creme crackle over a shimmer or glitter, but having that translucent property makes me feel better. :c) I also thought I would feel uncomfortable about this crackle combo, but it actually does look nice.

What do you think?
:c)
Elaine

China Glaze - Island Escape Summer 2011

Take an exotic island escape with China Glaze this summer with a tropical, shimmering rainbow of brilliant bright colors! Mix and match these hot hues to add a candy-like pop to that summer manicure and pedicure.

108 Degrees - This is a beautiful, hot pink, glass-fleck shimmer. This is one of those "pinks-I-love". Very sparkly and flashy and hot hot pink!

Papaya Punch - This is an orange I love! This is a super pigmented, creamy orange. This reminds me of pumpkins, which isn't very summery, but it is still summer appropriate. The formula is a bit thick, but in a good way.

Electric Pineapple - This is fantastic! This is so weird. I really don't think calling it "pineapple" is terribly appropriate, because it's a very, very green yellow. It's definitely more green than OPI - Fiercely Fiona but more yellow than any other green in the same realm. So it's definitely unique. I did a cool mani with this plus China Glaze - Crushed Candy Crackle Polish.

Cha Cha Cha - This is a striking olivey green with strong gold shimmer. I'm sure you have all figured out by now that this is close to China Glaze - Moonpool, but not a dupe. Whether close or not it is beautiful in its own right and I love it.

Blue Iguana - Now I do not know any iguanas that look like this but if I did I would have a stash of blue iguanas. This is a sparkly, shimmery, deep pool blue. The shimmer is an intense glass fleck. It's very watery and the sparkle reminds me of sparkling water in the sunshine :c)

Señorita Bonita - This is a red toned, glass-flecked purple. Very pretty and not like anything I have. The picture really does not do this one justice.

These are 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.

Spring Nicoles

Nicole by OPI welcomes warmer weather with twelve new vibrant shades from the Something About Spring Collection, available exclusively at Target. From bold purples to fierce yellow metallics and iridescent shimmers, Something About Spring has a hue to accentuate every style.

I had an opportunity to wear most of these shades and not just swatch them and I am VERY pleased with this collection.

Dandy Lion - Starting strong. This is a bold, beautiful yellow shimmer. Probably close to China Glaze - Lighthouse. This is so refreshing and perfect for the season change! I loved wearing this and this is also what I used form my leopard mani.

You're S-teal The One - This is a shimmery bright, cobalt blue with a bit of purple duochrome in the shimmer. It's beautiful and makes me think of jumping in a pool.

Iceberg Lotus - This is awesome, glowing jungle green shimmer. The shimmer seems to have a bit of a blurple duochrome at angels as well. These shimmers are really amazing. I bet they would look outrageous with a matte top coat.

Nicole's Nickel - Now we're stepping up our game with glitter!!! This is a fantastic black sheer base crammed with silver multi-sized silver glitter. It creates a awesome silver/black plating finish.

Brilliant Idea - This is a brilliant idea. This is a clear base with multi-sized lime green glitter. This is bright, sparkly and very pretty. This got lots of compliments.

Sea How Far You Go - And we're stepping it up yet again! This amazing. This is a soft, olivey, antiquey, gold shimmer that is sort of a duochrome, but not quite. It is a warm gray at angles. Very interesting and unique.

Make A Comet-ment - (Shown over Sea How Far You Go) This is a fine holo glitter top coat. Not terribly unique, but very, very pretty.

Pink. Seriously. - HAHA! Love the name. This is a serious, saturated pink creme. Got this one on my toes.

I'm A Pool For Love - This is a super vampy, deep, deep, purple with a blurple shimmer. It's like a super vampy OPI - Ink. And I don't know what the name has to do with the color. Doesn't really look like a pool to me...

Pink-nic In The Park - This may be my least favorite, but still nice if you like more understated shades. It's a soft, sort of sheer, bubble-gum pink with a pinky, purply shimmer.

Shell Me The Truth - This is gorgeous. This is pale pink with a strong gold shimmer. This is stunning.

Daffy Dill - This is a "Shrek-esque" green creme. Rich in color and with a super-saturated formula. Awesome.

You should be able to find these shades at Target stores now!
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.

Sorbets Better

After I posted The OPI - Texas Collection I felt bad about it. I felt like my pictures really didn't do the sorbets in the collection justice. I took them under a daylight bulb before so this time I took them in sunlight and I also used a base acting as "underwear" to hide any VNL. My Underwear color is a franken I made using white creme, OPI - Dulce de Leche and Essie - Mucho Dinero. It created a soft, but clean, fleshy tone to lay my sorbets down on.

Ya'll Come Back, Ya Hear?

Big Hair, Big Nails

Guy Meets Gal-Veston

Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em

Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

Houston We Have A Purple - unfortunately the sun was gone by the time I did this

And for fun (and for my readers!) I did this. Sorbet Skittles!! So yummy

Do these look better to you? I really felt like these needed another chance. They are really pretty, and fun and have a great, glossy, squishy finish.

What do you think?!
:c)

Nubar Spring Garden

For Spring this year Nubar has created a collection of pastels. Now, usually that is everyone's Spring collection, and usually that is disappointing because there isn't too many ways to change up pastels, but these are actually different. They all have a softness to them, mostly due to the silver, pearly shimmer in them.

Pink Lily - This is a soft pink creme that leans on the peach side. The shimmer is pretty hidden in this one, but it's contribution makes a difference.

Earthen - This is a "greige" creme, that is more on the gray side than beige side. The pearly shimmer really stands out in this one and makes it look less like mud than most greige cremes.

Baby Sprout - Super cool, soft green pastel green. It's not so much a mint... it's like a ... baby sprout, I guess. It reminds me of mint gum. This one is a bit more white and stark that some of the softer colors in this set.

Blue Hydrangea - This is a bright, baby blue with strong, pearly, silver shimmer.

White Peony - This is a super soft white creme that is soft in texture: it's sort of squishy, and it is also soft in color as it is slightly off white, or maybe a smidge yellow or ivory. It's a bit difficult to explain but it's beautiful. It also had an amazing formula for being white. Very easy to apply.

Yellow Primrose - This is a very, very soft yellow with pearl finish. It is so soft of a yellow it is almost wrong to call it yellow. It' s more like a cream shade.

Purple Aster - I love this one. This is a gorgeous shade of lavender. This is one of the ones in this set that has more shimmer than others. I looooved wearing this. It's very pretty and delicate, but interesting and not boring, but not flashy and too noticeable. Good work shade.

Honeysuckle - If you have been searching for a polish in Honeysuckle to satisfy your need of the Pantone color of the year in a polish form, here it is! It is a creme with a slight jelly finish. Very pretty and flattering.

Dewdrop (over Purple Aster) - To complement all the shades in this collection, Nubar released this iridescent glitter in a clear base.

These are available now for $49.95.

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.