OPI So So Skullicious

We were in Beauty Brands the other day and I was pretty excited to find this super cute mini collection from OPI, So So Skullicious. In a mini celebration of Day of the Dead, here's some quick photos of the bright creams inside!

OPI - So So Skullicious
Yellow - Candelight
Black - Mourning Glory
Pink - A-Rose from the Dead
Orange - hi, Pumpkin!

I used 2-3 coats of each color

It also included these super adorable sugar skull nail tattoos! I just couldn't bring myself to use them yet!

OPI DS Magic ~VS~ Sally Hansen HD Laser

Last Friday I got some nailmail and one of the items included was Sally Hansen HD in Laser. When I sat down at my desk and turned on my lamp it started to look very familiar. I went for my OPI drawer and grabbed DS Magic and a nail wheel to see how this turned out! 

The fun thing is, as I was taking photos of each layer, Ashley on Creative Nail Fun on Facebook posted the photos of the bottles and that she found them to be dupes as well! 

Bottle Shots

                                      

In all the photos below, Sally Hansen HD Laser is on the left nail, and OPI DS Magic is on the right.

One Coat

Two Coats

Three Coats

 Four Coats

Final Results... they are very very close! Magic is fully opaque in less coats, and the blue seems to be a little darker, but not by much, Im sure if you went as far as adding a fifth coat to Laser it would darken it just a little bit more. For me, five coats, is a little much after you factor in a base coat and topcoat. But for someone looking for something similar with a smaller pricetag, you really cant go wrong.

Have you compared these two yet? What to you thing about them?

News on Pedal Faster Suzi!

This was my first newsprint mani attempt. I have seen so many photos of this mani on white or grey bases - well white looks very strange on my nails to me, and I really need to get some other greys that I can use more frequently. Any suggestions? Please? Haha!  I deiceded to give this a shot on a pastel shade. I thought this pink was perfect - its light enough to not overpower the print and has that great shimmer I love so much about this color! So lets get to the photos shall we?


Base Color: OPI Pedal Faster Suzi - 3 coats
Newspaper - Arizona Republic ;)
Top Coat - Seche Vite

I cut small squares of the newspaper. Then I would dip my nail into 70% Isopropyl Alcohol for a couple seconds. I would place a square on my nail and press it onto my nail, using a alcohol-dipped Q-Tip to press in the sides and moisten any sections that are dry - but careful not to let the paper slide around. There is enough alcohol on the nail from soaking it to absorb into the paper and create the transfer. Last I slowly lifted the paper off my nail, let it dry and added topcoat.

OPI Vintage Minnie Collection!

I cant tell you how excited I was for this to be available! We got back from NJ last Sunday night, and while we were running errands on Monday we stopped through Ulta. There they were, on a display in the doorway. I darted directly to it. Though it was rather picked over I was able to get all four! Enjoy!

If You Moust You Moust

2 Coats

I really love this bold light pink creme

I'm All Ears

3 Coats

An awesome glittery bright pink jelly

These 2 are a little blurry - but I wanted to catch the sparkle of this one!

The Color Of Minnie

2 Coats

A brilliant shimmery red!

Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It

1 Coat on top of The Color Of Minnie

A pink shimmery glitter top coat with light pink hearts. 

This is much like other heart glitters and required a little "fishing" for the hearts

I really love this collection and it was well worth the wait! The only one Im not sure about using again is the glitter. I'm not really fond of "fishing" for glitters - I have a lot of patience with nail art, but for some reason that irritates me. Haha! 

Have you pick of any of these lacquers? What are your thoughts?

First sponge gradient attempt!

I was very excited with how well this came out! This was another day in the 31 Day Challenge.

Base - Butter London Knees Up
Tips - OPI INK
Top Coat - SV

Once my base color was dried I tore up a few small pieces from a triangle beauty sponge, dipped them into my new color and lightly sponges at the very tips. I went back a second time and did the same but from the tip down a little lower, and then the same for the third to create this effect.

Black and White Gradient! (Challenge Day 7!)

As most of you know by this point, I have been working on a 31 Day Challenge hosted by Painting Outside The Lines. Its been a lot of fun and I've been learning a lot of new techniques!

Day 7 was for Black & White Nails so I decided to take a second shot at a sponge gradient. (tearing pieces from the triangle make-up sponges, holding with tweezers dab the raw or rough end into your paint and sponge away!)

On this one I used a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather and sponged my tips with OPI Alpine Snow. I wasn't too sold on this result as it felt too separated. So I added a drop of the black into my leftover puddle of white to make this soft grey and sponged the middle. I them topped it off with NYC Matte Me Crazy for a softer look. I was very happy with my final result! What do you think? Have you tried this method?

A couple recent hauls!

From Thursday evening! The lady at Sallys Beauty was AWESOME and not only did I get the China Glaze's $1 off from my Beauty Club card, but they had a coupon for $1 off a bottle of Chine Glaze and she let me use it for all 4 of bottles I got from there! It is almost cruel to have a Sallys Beauty Supply in the same shopping center as an Ulta. Eeeeeeevilll!

From Ulta (on each end): Butter London - Knackered and First Mate (drk blue)

From Sallys (they had the Electropop line FINALLY!) center 4 from L to R:

Gothic Lolita, Aquadelic, Electric Beat, and Flying Dragon 

 And THEN, RJ and I swung through the Ulta in another part of the valley to see what they had. This location tends to have additional lines out. The one by me seems to be 2 weeks behind with things sometimes. 

They had the OPI Holland Collection so I picked up I Dont Give A Rotterdam. Also Layla 07 Metallic Sky, and Butter London Disco Biscuit. RJ grabbed 2 from the OPI Designer Series Mystery and Reserve for me!

I cannot wait to try these out. I also have some nail mail on the way - so I should be set for something new to try out for a while!

Double Nail Mail!

I got to come home to these tonight!

My first ManGlaze order! I picked up Leabihonest and Cabron. I was way impressed with their packagaing! There were 4 biz cards, a logo guitar pick and a sticker - which went straight onto the lids of on of my polish bins!

The Goodies!

Cabron

Lesbihonest

My Revlon Whimsical also arrived and I was expecting a couple more days for that to arrive. Its always such a treat when things arrive early!

I cant wait to swatch these 3! Now to chose what first!! Now until then, as I mentioned in my last post, I have more swatches to share!

First is Revlon Starry Pink. I really like this color. Its a nice light pink with silver small glitter and larger octagon shaped glitter. The formula is a bit thin, but I'm sure its so that glitter can sparkle through. I used OPI Alpine Snow as a base and used one coat of the Starry Pink. I think next time I will use one of my lighter pinks instead. 

Next is Julep Megan. 

This was my first experience with Juleps lacquer. This came from my first Maven box, along with a Fast Dry Top Coat which I have also added. I was pleased with the outcome. This was a very pretty color and a nice sheen to it.This is with one coat of Megan with no top coat.

In natural sunlight

Under a Natural White light.

With the top coat added.

The other two colors that were in my Maven box, I'm not sure if a am super fond of them. I plan on swatching them soon though to make a final decision. We shall see!

Last is Nicole by OPI Love Your Life. This one I was very disappointed with. The formula seemed thick. While the small glitter was sparse, it wasnt bad considering that you will also have the large hearts. That is only if you can get them out of the bottle! I had to dig and fish out every heart. I got one out for each nail, but it was a but absurd. They didnt want to pick up with the brush and come out. Here is one coat on top of Butter Londons Queen Vic, one of my favorites in my collection! Be prepared to see it a lot!)

That's all I have to today ladies! Time for dinner with the fiance and bed! Good night!!

Sunday Morning Haul!

I needed to run to Target this morning to get another storage box for my nail polish and, well theres always time to walk through the cosmetics! Found a some extra goodies, one RJ spotted (Essie - Dive Bar) and remembered how much I liked it. You read that right, my fiance remembered one of the colors I wanted by name! I almost fell over! Hahaha!

Heres what I brought home;

Nicole by OPI - Love Your Life & One Big Happy Fame-ily

Revlon - 051 Starry Pink, 

Essie - Wrapped in Rubies & Dive Bar,

and Sally Hansen Cuticle Eraser + Balm

First off RJ picked up the Sally Hansen Cuticle Eraser + Balm for me after I read Jessika's review on her blog; Polish Insomniac HERE. I had seen this in the store about a week ago, then she posted her great review and I was sold! I haven't had the chance to try it out today, but I plan on it tomorrow when I change my mani. If you have the time, and haven't yet - check our her reviews. They are very well done and extremely helpful!

Now on to the polish! I was able to swatch a few of these while watching the game today. Enjoy!

I started with Essie Dive Bar. 

This was one I had seen swatched a while ago and just loved it! This is two coats with no topcoat. Pardon the messiness of these. My headache hadn't gone away at this point and I didn't realize how bad it was until I uploaded the pictures. 

I then topped these off with a coat of  OPI Nicki Minaj - Save Me

I am really pleased with this color, and super happy that RJ spotted it! This also has a green and purple hue to it depending on your lighting - but those pictures appeared too dark to tell on screen. My camera seems to favor the color blue and likes to pick that out. I also really like Save Me, the long holographic flakes are very fun. It makes a nice addition to dark colors - I can see using it a lot in the future!

Next up is Essie Wrapped in Rubies.

This is just a beautiful color! Its red with a copper hue, definitely reminded me of old pennies. It has small noticeable glitter in colors of pink, brass, and red along with a fine shimmer.

Because of the copper feel it had I couldnt resist topping it with Sephora by OPI - Traffic Copper Stopper and was very pleased with the combination!

Stay tuned for swatches of the Revlon - Starry Pink, Julep - Megan, and Nicole by OPI - Love Your Life tomorrow night.