Rainbow bubbles

I decided I need more practice stamping, so I used the OPI Color Paints and Vivid Lacquer stamping plate 024:

OPI Say Hello Kitty!

purchased by me

Part of the OPI + Hello Kitty collection, Say Hello Kitty! is a bright pink glassfleck polish that comes with two rhinestone "bows".  It's very pretty, very sparkly and very pink.  The formula was smooth, self-leveled beautifully and was opaque in two coats.

And the bottle has little Hello Kitties on it!  Okay, it's a bit over-priced at $19.50, but it's LE and cute, so I don't regret grabbing it at Ulta.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 25, Inspired by Fashion

purchased by me

My inspired by fashion manicure was intended to be a little black dress with a simple medallion necklace.  I used Cult Nails Fetish, OPI Push and Shove and some holographic hex glitters.  *grin*  It looks like flip-flops!  So, still fashion, just not quite as high-end. ;-)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 24, Inspired by a Book

purchased by me

When I saw the prompt for Day 24, I mentally ran around screaming, "Inspired by a book?  One book?  How can I pick one book?  Then I sucked it up and decided to go with the book I'm currently re-reading, All the Stars in the Sky by Sarah Lyons Fleming.  There is a scene in the book where the main character watches the Northern Lights, something I've always wanted to see.  I used Zoya Dream, Essie White Page, OPI Primarily Yellow and OPI Landscape Artist.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 20, Water marble

purchased by me

Damn, I am out of practice!  Anyway, for my horrible water marble, I used OPI Push and Shove and the OPI Color Paints.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 15, Delicate print

purchased by me

Well, I learned a lesson with this one--a blinding background is not the best choice for a delicate print!  I used OPI Push & Shove as my base and OPI Turquoise Asthetic as a stamping polish with a Fauxnad plate patterned with tiny roses.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 10, Gradient nails

purchased by me

For my gradient nails, I sponged OPI Purple Perspective and Pen & Pink over OPI Push and Shove.

It's not the best gradient, because the purple overwhelmed the pink rather than merging with it and I got pink on my cuticles, but it was fun to do and fun to wear, so I was happy with it.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 9, Rainbow nails

purchased by me

For my rainbow nails, I did a vertical gradient with OPI Push and Shove and the OPI Color Paints.

Very simple, just sponged lines over the silver base.

Fun with OPI Color Paints

purchased by me

So I started with the OPI Color Paints set of minis, 5 color paints and one silver chrome.  I had so much fun playing with those that I had to get full-size versions of the ones that weren't in the set, plus full-size versions of the purple and turquoise because I know I'll be playing with those a bunch!

My first attempt was a fail--a checked pattern of Purple Perspective and Turquoise Aesthetic over Silver Canvas base.  I like the color combo, just not my inability to draw straight lines. :P

My next attempt was more successful, because it was more of a patchwork of Chromatic Orange, Pen &Pink and Primarily Yellow over Silver Canvas.  One of my work friends grabbed my hand and said, "Girl, your nails are fire!"  which of course made me grin.

My best so far was a watercolor mani with Indigo Motif, Turquoise Aesthetic and Landscape Artist over a white base.

If you'd like to play with these, you can get both the minis and full size bottles at Ulta, which is where I got mine.

OPI Shine for Me

purchased by me

OPI Shine for me was part of the 50 Shades of Grey collaboration, and the only polish I wanted.  Shine for Me is a silver foil with royal blue glitters which give the whole polish a bluish tone.  It's intensely sparkly, opaque in two coats, and my hairstylist squeed and asked me what I was wearing when she saw it, so I think it's a success!

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Shine for Me is still available at Ulta, where it retails for $9.50 + shipping and applicable tax.

Ohio Wears Blue April 8, 2015

Wear Blue is a statewide awareness campaign that takes place on the second Wednesday of every April, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Ohioans are encouraged to wear blue that day - to work, to school, to a community event - to show support for preventing child abuse and neglect.

Since my outfit tomorrow will be a navy blue & white tweed jacket and navy pants, I thought I'd also post some blue nail polishes!

Tons more after the jump!

The Alesha manicure

press sample/purchased by me

Time for some bad nail art!  Woo! :-)

I have a co-worker who is bubbly, fun, sweet and half my age, but she still knows her movies, and sometimes I'm the only one who gets her references and vice versa.  One of the outfits I like on her is a mint colored shirt with a royal blue sweater, and when she wore it on Monday, I told her I was going to do a mani inspired by it on Tuesday.

So here is the Alesha, a freehand half-moon mani with Zoya Tiana and OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number:

Clearly, I need to practice more, but I love the color combo and I made a friend smile, so it's good.

OPI Nordic collection: Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm?

purchased by me

Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm? is a pretty, vibrant purple crème.  The formula was smooth, easy to work with and opaque in two coats, plus it dries shiny even before top coat.  It's a good basic purple to add to any stash.

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You can find the Nordic collection at Ulta and Sally Beauty as well as at salons.

OPI, Clark + Kensington paint, Ace Hardware and Piet Mondrian

purchased by me

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely G of Nouveau Cheap posted that there was a trio of OPI mini polishes available at Ace Hardware.  My dad's second post-retirement job was as one of Ace's Helpful Hardware folks, a job he was good at and where I loved to visit him, so I knew I had to have it!  Clark + Kensington have collaborated with OPI to bring OPI colors to interior paint, and the only fault I find with the collection is that there's no C+K version of Espresso Yourself!  So I zipped into Ace, asked where the nail polish was, giggled, bought the trio, and came home with this cute little box:

Can't Find My Czechbook is a turquoise crème from the Euro Centrale collection, I Eat Mainely lobster is a red-coral crème from the Touring America collection and My Vampire is Buff is an off-white crème also from the Euro Centrale collection.  You've all seen them dozens of times, so I decided not to swatch them on their own, but to try for some nail art.  

Even though there is no yellow in the mini-collection, I immediately thought of Piet Mondrian's lozenge works, and starting with a base of My Vampire is Buff, I added black lines with my Migi nail art pen and filled in random rectangles with I Eat Mainely Lobster and Can't Find My Czechbook.

My lines are terrible because of how much my hands were shaking, but it's a fun mani and I'm glad I did it.  I even wore blue & coral today to match!

My new jelly undies!

purchased by me

Not underwear made of jelly/plastic, but the polish I will forever wear underneath jelly polishes--OPI Push and Shove.

Push and Shove is a silver chrome which was part of the first Gwen Stefani/OPI collaboration, and it was sold with a mini bottle of Lay Down That Base, a base coat supposedly designed especially for chrome polishes.  Honestly, I didn't find that it was any different from a regular base coat, and it's definitely not a ridge-filling one.  Push and Shove was opaque in two coats, blindingly shiny, and showcased every flaw in my nails.

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And following are comparison pictures, with Push and Shove on my middle and pinkie fingers, femme couture Savvy in Chrome on my index finger and OPI My Signature is "DC" on my ring finger.

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 And finally, Push and Shove under one of my favorite jellies, Oceanic Forces by Emily de Molly.

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I just love how Push and Shove sets off the jelly polish!  Push and Shove is technically limited edition, but you can still find it on ebay, drugstore.com, HSN and Walgreens.com.

Coca-Cola by OPI 10-Pack of Style

purchased by me

The OPI and Coke collaboration came out a bit ago, but it took me a while to get all 8 colors swatches.  Yes, that's correct, the collection has 9 colors, but the mini-pack has 8 colors plus base and top coat.  Pictures and reviews after the jump!

photo courtesy of Ulta

OPI Mustang collection: Pony Pack

purchased by me

Of the OPI + Ford collection, I adored The Sky's My Limit and had my socks bored right off me by Pony Pack.  Thirteen dollars for four basic colors, only two of which were done right?  Bleah.

50 years is a standard gold metallic, opaque in two coats and unforgiving of nail ridges.

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Angel with a Leadfoot is a horrible white cream--I've shown three coats and it's still a streakfest.  C'mon, OPI, by now you should be able to do a streak-free white!

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Girls Like Ponies is a flawless formula in a standard pink crème--only one coat!

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Race Red is a standard red crème with a nice, two-coat formula.

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I'm mostly ticked with myself for buying this, but I'm not thrilled with OPI raising the price of the minis and disappointed with the plebeian choices of color and the fact that the white is a mess.  If you disagree with my opinion, you can find the Pony Pack at Ulta.

OPI + Ford Mustang collection: The Sky's My Limit

purchased by me

Wow, this polish is just gorgeous--a deep shimmering blue loaded with gold flecks.  The formula was as easy as the polish is beautiful, and it reached bottle color in two effortless coats.  Well worth the price!

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The Sky's My Limit and the rest of the OPI + Ford Mustang collection are available at Ulta for $9.50 each plus shipping & any applicable sales tax.

Germanicure by OPI

purchased by me

I always say that I'm not celebrating my birthday, I'm celebrating Bastille Day.  Last year, I wore OPI's Bastille My Heart, which was a gift from a wonderful friend.  This year, I'm acknowledging the very tiny part of my heritage which is German and wearing Germanicure by OPI, which was part of the 2012 Germany collection.  On a side note, most of my forebears were English, Cornish and Scottish, with only my great-grandfather being German.  But since the Germans had the boys, I've got a very German last name. :-)

 Germanicure by OPI is a deep, glowing chestnut shimmer.  The formula was smooth and thin without being runny, patchy on the first coat and perfect on the second.  I added some water decals (my first time using them) and was surprised at how quickly I got the knack of using them!

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Germanicure by OPI can be found at Drugstore.com and the water decals I used are from the Born Pretty Store.

OPI Muppets Most Wanted post updated!

Finally, real swatches! :)  Click here.