NOPI Rich in Spirit

Today I'm wearing something I've had in my stash for awhile, but never used. It's called Rich in Spirit from Nicole by OPI. Rich in Spirit  is a light blue metallic foil polish. This is three coats, but I probably had full coverage after two coats. It went on very smooth and dried quickly, so the formula was great!

I don't think this polish is available for sale anymore, because it's from their 2011 Liquid Metals collection. If you think you have to have it, your best bed is probably Ebay. I got it last year from Marshall's. NOPIs usually retail for $7.99, but you can get 2-packs of older NOPIs at places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx for the same price as one at regular retail price.

Deviantly Daring Disco Dolls!

I swear I didn't notice the alliteration when I picked out these two nail polishes to wear together, but it sure works!

For this manicure I used "Deviantly Daring" from China Glaze as my base color. I used two coats, but this polish has such nice coverage that I probably could have made do with one. After the base color was dry I angled tape strips across my nails (using the striping tape I bought from eBay). If you want to recreate this look, be sure to leave "tails" on the tape, because you'll be removing it. On top of the whole nail and the tape I painted "Disco Dolls" from Nicole by OPI. Then I quickly removed the tape, revealing the stripe of the original color.

"Deviantly Daring" is part of China Glaze's new Bohemian Collection for Summer 2012. It's a turquoise luster chrome. They're all supposed to be duochromes. I have to say, the duochrome on this color pretty much disappeared once it was on the nail. I still think it's a gorgeous color though. I found my bottle of "Deviantly Daring" at Sally Beauty Supply, but you can probably also get it at Beauty Brands and Ulta.

"Disco Dolls" is a glitter polish consisting of mainly gold glitter, but it has flecks of turquoise and pink glitter as well. It's from Nicole by OPI's Kardashion Collection. I'm not a fan of the Kardashian's, so buying their polish made me feel a little dirty, but it was so pretty! And sparkly! "Disco Dolls" is available at most retail locations, like WalMart, Kmart, Target and CVS.

This is one of my personal favorites so far. I know I'm going to want to keep doing this same effect with different polishes, so I'll have to try to keep challenging myself to do something different. :)

Here's another shot of it, taken with my camera phone, where you can see more of my thumb. You can see the glitter a little better, but the camera phone is terrible for the color & saturation.

Colorblocking!

Today I have a colorblocking manicure. The base color is Orly "Rock-It". On top of that I layered Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's "Gunsmoke" at an angle. Lastly, I layered Nicole by OPI's "Fabulous is My Middle Name" at the opposite angle. I entered these into a nail art contest from Shelly's Sassy Nails, but I didn't win. I didn't really think I would, but it's fun to enter the contests and connect with other nail polish junkies. :)

Orly "Rock-It", Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Gunsmoke", and Nicole by OPI "Fabulous is My Middle Name."

Orly "Rock-It" is a shimmery magenta that was part of Orly's Mineral FX collection from 2011. It retails for $8.00, but I purchased it at Ulta during a Buy 2 Get One Free Sale. This is the first time I've used an Orly polish, but they are very high quality. Plus, you get a little more polish--Orly bottles hold .6 oz., and most polish brands hold .5 oz. I have a few more Orlys that I need to try some time.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Gunmental" is a dark metallic grey. It retails for $1.99 and is available just about everywhere. As you can see from the photo above, my dog got his teeth on my bottle of Gunsmoke. But isn't he cute?:

Chewbacca

Lastly is Nicole by OPI's "Fabulous is My Middle Name". It's a glitter bomb polish containing small silver glitter, and silver, red, magenta and black small bar glitter. I believe it is a Wal-Mart exclusive color. It retails for $7, and I bought this with a $1 off coupon given to me by my sister Deana. (Here's the shout-out I promised you, Deana!) :)

Here's a shot of Orly "Rock-It" without the other colors layered on top:

Kleancolor "Firework" over Nicole by OPI "Iceberg Lotus"

Happy Memorial Day!

This week's manicure features what I call "messy glitter french tips." Not messy in a bad way, but on purpose. The random nature of the glitter is perfect for free-handing the french tips without using french tip guide stickers.

The base coat is called "Iceberg Lotus" from Nicole by OPI. It's a gorgeous teal shimmer, but it took three coats for full opacity. Luckily it dried quickly. It also has a hint of duochrome in it. Some lights bring out a bluish/purple color, but I couldn't get that to photograph. If I recall correctly, I bought this one at CVS. I have a few other polishes in the metallic turquoise/teal family, and several polishes in shades of metallic blue. What can I say, they're my favorite colors. :)

For the glitter tips I used "Firework" by Kleancolor. It has a clear base with red, gold and turquoise hex glitter, as well as small gold square glitter. This glitter looks great over SO MANY nail polish colors. Kleancolor isn't sold in my area, so I purchased this in a set of other Kleancolor polishes from an eBay seller. I think "Firework" is one of the best ones from the set.

Nicole by OPI "Iceberg Lotus" and Kleancolor "Firework". You can kind of see the duochrome of the Iceberg Lotus in this picture.

Of course, to make it smooth over the glitter I have two coats of Seche Vite on top. Altogether that makes 8 coats of polish at the glitter tips! (Two coats of base, three of the turquoise, one thick coat of glitter, and two of topcoat.) Something I've read about in other blogs and have noticed myself is that the Seche Vite causes some shrinkage of the polish. Not every polish, but definitely glitter polishes. With this manicure it's really obvious on my pinky. I haven't had a problem putting it over cremes.