Swatch: OPI - Nicole Alert!

Polish I found recently during Dusty Hunting at local nail salons.



OPI - Nicole Alert! (formula was clumpy on this one, needs to be thinned or restored)

**These items used were either provided to me as a gift, or were purchased by me or a friend for my personal use. No review of this product was requested of me by any manufacturer at any time.

Nail Wear Wednesday!

I'm going to try to make Wednesday's when I highlight what today's (or my recent) nail polish is. I change it so often it's almost a different color or appearance every other day!

~Toes~
OPI - Down To My Last Penny
OTD - Northern Lights Gold (top coat)

~Fingers~
Essie - Glamour Purse
BEST Nail treatments - French Twist? (label was missing)
Right hand: George - Starry Eyed (17)

Perfect match to my shirt that I wore! (shirt by BCBG)

Notes:
Wow, do I love the OPI! It's a "black label" non-B3F but a beautiful color I have not seen replicated by other brands to look as good as this one does. So glad I managed to get my hands on it when I was 'dusty hunting' recently.

I did not think I was a fan of the Essie on my nails, but with the subtle top coat in the pink it was a understated addition that really sold me on BOTH colors.

I picked up the BEST at a local nail supply store (but they do not carry the full line and only had hit or miss colors). The OPI was from a nail salon that sold it to me. The Essie was part of a 6 pack from the new Essie Fall collection. The Essie can be found at Ulta for sure but other supply stores may carry it so ask around if it's something you need to have.

**These items used were either provided to me as a gift, or were purchased by me or a friend for my personal use. No review of this product was requested of me by any manufacturer at any time.

Help! What OPI color AM I?

So, recently I decided to dive back into "dusty hunting" at local nail parlors to fill some of the "want list" gaps I had. One of those polishes I found was a red/magenta with some very small/fine glitters that flash almost rainbow (holo) like when caught in the right light. Sadly there is no label on the bottom and it's most likely a "black label" as it's got the smell and no serial # on the glass bottle side or the along the brush cap.

If you think you know what this is, please comment accordingly! I've included a lot of "bottle spam" pictures so click on them and you should get a bigger version. Thanks for reading, and helping me figure out what it is I've got my hands on!

Pictures:

Again, thanks for reading, and if you think you know of a polish name that it might be with a link to a swatch I'd be most grateful!

Labor Day Inspired Manicure

Sunday night while watching the Texas Aggies vs the SMU Mustangs I decided I'd bring something USA inspired to the manicure I was working on.

What I used:
Claires Starstruck
Claires Chunky Blue
OPI I Do! I Do!
OPI An Affair In Red Square
Prolana Quick & Slick
OPI Drip Dry Drops
Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
OPI Blue Shatter
ORLY Dazzle

~Fingers~

Notes:
Thumbs were done with 2 coats of Dazzle, one thin coat of Blue Shatter across the nail (not top to bottom, side to side) and then applied lightly and sparingly the Chunky blue in certain spots. The Stars were placed as best possible and then applied 1 coat of Seche Vite and then later a coat of Prolana.

Rest of hands were done with 4 coats of I Do! I Do! and 1 heavy (or 2 light) swipes of Red Square on one half of the nail free handed. Two coats of Prolana with Drip Dry drops were used.

Overall I'm not impressed with the Prolana. It did drag some red into other colors, applied thin and did not dry well on it's own. I've tried it wtih a variety of nail polish types (the red was B3F but the white today was NOT B3F) and I always seem to have a problem with it drying as it will get smudged easily if it's not 100% complete. I also was not happy with the white, even after 3 coats it fell victim to settling between the ridges besides using a ridge filler. I did choose the white because it had a subtle shimmer but I would hate to give up shimmer to have a better coverage white. I did think the silver underneath the blue shatter worked out real well (better than white would have) and I would totally do that the same again.

**These items used were either provided to me as a gift, or were purchased by me or a friend for my personal use. No review of this product was requested of me by any manufacturer at any time.

Piggy Polish for more than just Toes!

Aunt Bunny here went up to see family on Sunday, and this included seeing my niece along with other family. Since I have a nephew on the way, this will be the only little one our family has around that's girly... my cousins have so far only had boys.

The last time I was up for a long period I introduced her to getting her toes painted. It was a big deal, apparently bigger than I imagined because every time she sees my black car in the driveway she's asking her mom if I've come up to paint her toes again. Haha, my car is now the NAIL POLISH vehicle!

So we sat down, in the hot and steamy weather in the 2-season porch to paint her toes where it would not stain horribly anything of value during the process.

Last time I used Zoya, today I figured I'd bring a large variety of my Piggy Polish for her to choose from. And like any related family member, she knew that you don't have to feel inclined to have to paint every toe the same color, so we had a party going on for sure! (it should be noted the colors and everything on both hers and mine was at her choosing, I will admit to having changed it all when I got home :) )

Hands~
Piggy Polish alternating between Smootch (I think) & Keep it Teal
Top Coat over all fingers: OPI Crown Me Already

Toes~
Piggy Polish on left 4: Lilac It That Way
Piggy Polish on right 4: Smootch
Piggy Polish on big toes: Haute Sun
Top Coat over big toes only: OPI I LILY LOVE YOU

Little one's hands and feet. I have a pic of her with this really happy face, but since nothing on the internet is ever safe I'd rather not post a picture of a small young child up. Especially without asking Mom & Dad, who knows where that picture would end up.

Hands~
Piggy Polish on left: Pink For Yourself (I think)
Piggy Polish on right: Green and Bear It
Top Coat over all fingers: OPI Silver Shatter

Toes~
Piggy Polish on left: Beach Break
Piggy Polish on right: Pink-ing of You (I think)
Top Coat over big toes only: OPI I LILY LOVE YOU

It was challenging since I have to pick B3F brands that are safe for her to use. Top coats that are quick drying don't always contain B3F materials in them which limits the products I can use. Children don't want to sit around, and you don't always have a long attention span to keep them in so you have to move and think quickly. She was a good sport, I look forward to the day she paints my brothers toes in blue as she suggested she will.

July 4th Manicure with OPI and Creative

I was going to save this for "Nail Wear Wednesday" but figured it's relevant since it was done yesterday to celebrate the 4th.

I was out all last week on work in Chicagoland (and with long 12hr days my time to run around and shop was severely limited), so it's taken me the weekend to catch up on rest (never works no matter how hard I try!) and prep for my next big getaway (visiting family and fly-fishing in Alaska from July 13-24th!).

I don't normally do a lot of travel each year, so this year is a big change for me (Vegas in Jan, Vegas in April, Chicagoland in June, Alaska in July, California in October, Texas in November, and who knows what else!). I'm also horrible at packing light so that doesn't help either when airlines hit you hard on limits of weight and bags you can bring.

Anyway, getting back to the manicure.

I started with a non-B3F mani of OPI Deer Valley Spice (smelly polish, not for the faint of nose):

Then decided to make it 4th of July related!
Tools:
Creative #217 Moonbeam
OPI Blue Shatter
OPI Deer Valley Spice

I used Poshe (a quick drying top coat that doesn't always work well for me) but for this mani, and considering I don't think the Creative was B3F it helped keep it all together. Today I've had minor chips, but overall wear for me has been better than normal.

I'm happy with this, wanted to incorporate the blue shatter into a design but realized I had no red shatter to use with it!

**These items used were either provided to me as a gift, or were purchased by me or a friend for my personal use. No review of this product was requested of me by any manufacturer at any time.

OPI making waves in Bloggerland

If you look back at my post HERE, you'll see the pictures that were previously attached courtesy of another blog have disappeared.

That's due to a request from OPI that the pictures were not given/provided by an appropriate source (granted the pictures are probably ACCURATE but not allowed for posting).

Many bloggers have picked up on this due to the strong natured requests they got from OPI to remove it. I got no personal contact to remove my pictures because I had linked from another blogger's site, once they removed theirs, mine were gone as well.

You can read more about other bloggers reactions at the following links:
Pssion
Lipgloss Bitch Here and Here
Venus' Vanity
Miss Pink
Beleza
Bath Bomb
Sessan
Saint Bella Beauty
Scab Nestor

Personally my opinion? Well, there are ways to communicate to your user base, and customers/fans, but with all of the publicity lately on OPI cracking down on unauthorized retailers selling their stuff, the impression of them hasn't exactly been that positive. I don't think this is the type of publicity they needed a time like this, but hey, it's their call, I'm just a watcher at the moment.

I don't think that it will impression me to buy LESS of their older stock I find from place to place, but it might make me a bit more conscious when I'm shopping new lines of nail polish that I don't just willingly hand my money over for the rates they've been charging here (not just that but goodness other countries pay 2-3x more than I do!).

More New OPI goodies From 2010 Holiday at P'ssion

http://www.pssion.se/

More goodies at the picture (click to be linked there....), but here are some of the names listed on the site:

• Bring On the Bling – A gold that glitter that’s beyond dazzling.
• Glow Up Already! – You’re ready for this glittering green.
• Extra-va-vaganza! – This orange glitter is not for the shy.
• Simmer & Shimmer – In this glitter bit of blue.
• Show It & Glow It! – If you’ve got this fuchsia glitter, flaunt it!
• Sparkle-icious - Multi-color glitter-iciousness
• Rising Star – Lustrous glimmering gold.
• Take the Stage – A warm orange spotlight shimmer.
• The Show Must Go On! – With this deep pink shimmer on your nails!
• Let Me Entertain You – Multi-talented fuchsia glimmer.
• Ali’s Big Break – This glowing red shimmer breaks through in style.
• Tease-y Does It – In this tempting burgundy shimmer.

Rights of the pictures and descriptions belong to P'ssion.

MMM new Opi! New Blues! W00t!

I just saw Opi Swiss Collection at http://www.pssion.se/?p=6456 (it's one of my stalked blogs) and here are some of the pictures from their blog (and text):

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcnxGLvoKUkqG4VmTO8YRPrnoRsa_h48RhcGO6DRjjnuvfQwU5XbhdhKCROuPJGu3Lfi24zbrMK_uf-KeCj18ayg5ij7aqTQDM2DIrG1TmDGxhNR-j_MnXLzqx3UpVhhBgqAu46wY1mw/s320/opi_swiss3.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57ScR8lS-JJxQblPYUL9D6UXZ7izPvqKO4UIw8Ttar53MntUCbdstkBGROx1ZjYLEaPLngGnxJbHfwBlzgdN0pNZAuUxuZRMfzL-XoPVeidLqEQ-rgCav3hIlbTBcSbwvV7VB5HjJn24/s1600/opi_swiss2.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4fidPnBgBqvu7cyr5OGqhS0POoJH15hcCpmRqJ79HVHMZ7KmjGL8ppzaWFj5Fd6LYwBlZpE0l0dQVVXRgEiWfE9Os1RIIRWgMPZ2H0agj3WT0clzjnVtT6-A2BlbyRckQwQQJA02C9k/s320/opi_swiss1.jpg

The new colors are:

• I’m Suzi & I’m a Chocoholic
• From A to Z-urich
• Color So Hot it Berns
• Just a Little Rösti at This
• William Tell Me About OPI
• Ski Teal We Drop
• Diva of Geneva
• Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous
• Glitzerland
• Yodel Me on My Cell
• The Color to Watch
• Cuckoo for This Color

I just can't wait! So exciting... I think it's been since the Greece lines that we've not had some good blues!

The blues for sure will be on my interested list, but also the silver, gold, lilac and the green ones too.

Redux and Preparation

My one handed mani and a skittles on the other:

This is one of my favorite colors, granted it is more nude and a light shimmer then I'm normally preferring, but it's good for a subtle color.




This is Sand in my Suit with Northern Lights Gold version (there are two, silver and gold).



Since I'm expecting more Zoyas, I figured I'd prep for my new goodies by going over my current stash!

From L to R:
Richelle, Odilia, Tangy, Midori, Kotori



Zoya Richelle




Zoya Odilia





Zoya Tangy




Zoya Midori


Zoya Kotori





All beauties together...




LORDY! I need to get someone to help me learn to do the shortcuts so that I don't kill my post pages with my picture heavy posts!