OPI Absolutely Alice

Just a quick post for today. I've managed to get a lot of polishes swatched that I wanted to, but now lack the energy to prepare the posts, haha. Also I ate half a box of Bottle Caps candies and now my stomach hurts. I'm so bad.

So, I'm still kicking myself for not buying OPI's Mad As A Hatter when it first came out. I didn't realize how popular it would be so I figured I would have time to get it later. Absolutely Alice (from the same collection) is awesome too, but not on the same level as Mad As A Hatter. So this the only reason I was able to get Absolutely Alice. The eBay prices weren't TOO inflated, haha. But the polish still is really pretty! If you can find a bottle for a decent price I recommend picking it up.

I believe this was 3 coats.

OPI Absolutely Alice

OPI Absolutely Alice

Recent Nail Polish Acquisitions (AKA I Buy Way Too Much Polish)

So I drank a bottle of champagne last night- by myself, for no reason. Haha, how sad does that sound? I rarely drink and this bottle of champagne had been in my refrigerator since New Year's. I was just waiting for a special occasion. I got tired of waiting and decided Tuesday evening was special occasion enough. So I drank the bottle, got really happy, danced around to the Gangnam Style song, got sleepy, laid down and read a book, then got totally sober and awake and decided to write this post.

Since I decided to write this post at such an ungodly hour I'm just going to show bottle pics of some of my more recent nail polishes purchases. I'm sure there have been more than this... somewhere in the abyss that is my nail polish "storage" (aka random boxes stashed around my room) now that my Helmer is full.

Butter London- No More Waity Katie, Knackered, Wallis, All Hail the Queen

Icing- Lipstick & Lovers, Forget You, Eenie Greenie Miney Mo, Mr Right Now (not as neon as it looks)

Barielle Falling Star, OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, KleanColor Chunky Holo Black, Nicole by OPI For Gold Times Sake, OPI Fly, Barielle Buddha-ful

Hits Mari Moon- Artsy, Daring, Chameleon, Unconventional

Zoya- Fei Fei, Frida, Anastasia, Daul, Zara, Jules, Song, Bevin

This was my order from the recent buy one get one free Zoya sale. I got the sugar scrub and the polish remover free.

My NOTD Says I'm Hardcore Yet Girly

Well, my nails say that, but I'm neither hardcore or girly. I wonder what a mani would look like to represent who I really am- open minded with the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy. Probably OPI's fart polish. I am not ashamed of it. I'm 25 years old and "potty humor" gets me every time.

Anyway, I absolutely loved this mani. I've never done an accent nail before. I used OPI's Metallic 4 Life on all fingers but my ring finger, and Revlon's Starry Pink as the accent nail. Both polishes are silver glitter in a base and have large hex glitter. The Revlon only has one other small size of glitter while the OPI had several different sizes.

Metallic 4 Life is from the Nicki Minaj collection. Every time I see the name I think it says Metallica 4 Life, which would actually make me love the polish more. Metallica is the shit, while Nicki Minaj I can't really say as I don't even think I've heard one her songs all the way through, so I won't judge. Just doesn't seem like my thing. I would really love a Metallica nail polish collection though. Like an acid green with gold shimmer called Battery or a blue jelly with green glitter called Orion (Master of Puppets is my favorite album).  This color would have been perfect for it, too. But, I digress.

PICTURE TIME!

This was 2 coats of OPI Metallica 4 Life and 4 coats of Revlon Starry Pink with base and top coats.

What do you guys think? Is there too much contrast between the two colors? Oooh, know what would look cool as an accent nail with Metallic 4 Life? China Glaze's Fortune Teller. Don't you think?

Catch Me In your Nap, I mean Net- An Old NOTD

I'm tired. But in a good way. The accomplished sort of way. So this week I moved and started a new job. The job is going well so far, it's just retail at a department-type store, but I'm applying for a position at a makeup counter within the store next week and I hope I get it! I have to interview with the regional manager, but the store manager told me he hopes I get it because I would be great for the job. It was really nice to hear that and finally feel competent for once.

So the title of the post probably doesn't make much sense yet, but here it is. I haven't had time to take any new pictures recently so I'm going to show you a swatch of OPI's Catch Me In Your Net that's at least 6 months old. The nap part of the title refers to the fact that I, well, could use one!

On to the swatches! CMIYN is pretty sheer so I'm guessing this was 3 or 4 coats. They apply smoothly and dry fairly quickly. Of course there are a zillion dupes of this by now, so if not this OPI, you definitely need one of the others!  This one was limited edition anyway and is probably harder to find.

OPI Catch Me In Your Net

OPI Catch Me In Your Net

Do you own any of the numerous dupes of this color?

Random NOTD: OPI Tease-y Does It

Only once in my life have I bought an entire nail polish collection and that was OPI's Burlesque collection last winter. I loved the glitters and and the foils and the duochromes! It is one of my favorite collections of all time. OF ALL TIME! ;-)

OPI Tease-y Does It in the sun

One of my favorite polishes from the collection is Tease-y Does It. It has a terrible name, but it's a gorgeous polish. And apparently it is very close to Nubar Raspberry Truffle and Chanel Feu De Russie. Since this one was limited edition, Raspberry Truffle might be easier to track down.

OPI Tease-y Does It in the sun

Also, this one completely changes based on the lighting. The shimmer can go from a plummy purple to coppery red to a warm caramel. Mmm, caramel... Anyway, I luff it.

OPI Tease-y Does It bottle picture

You can see all the colors in the bottle. The green rarely shows up on the nail, but you can see the other colors better depending on the lighting.

OPI Tease-y Does It taken with the flash

This picture is pretty terrible, but it was taken to show how purple it can look compared to the first two pictures above.

OPI Tease-y Does It in artificial light

This was taken under a lamp and really shows how the polish can take on the warm, golden tones.


Available:

• If you have to have this polish, I found it here on Amazon for close to what OPI retails for.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Week 10: Shopping my Stash for Untried Polish- OPI Sparkle-licious

Ugh, whyyyy do I have do be so busy.  I went from being able to spend hours each day for my blog to squeezing a an hour in when I can.  I'm worried that I'm going to have to start posting less frequently than once a day and I don't want to have to do that!  I haven't missed a day yet in my short few months blogging and i don't want to start now.  Once my summer classes are over I should have more free time as I won't be attending class every day like I am now.  So for the next few months my posts may be a tad short!

This is week 10 of me trying to use my untried polishes (click here to see previous posts).  I've since accepted that it will never happen, but doing these posts helps me to go back through what I own and think twice about buying new polish because I already have a lot of really great ones.

I NEVER buy entire collections of nail polish, with few exceptions.  OPI's Burlesque collection was one of them.  I was going through a glitter phase and was kicking myself for passing on Mad As A Hatter (I'm STILL angry at myself for passing on that one).  I didn't want a repeat of that so I bought the entire collection.  But my nails grew longer and on longer nails glitter is a pain in the butt to remove (it's a PITA no matter what, actually), and I never got around to wearing most of the glitters.  I recently had a nail break right at the start of my free edge and had to chop my nails off as short as they can go.  So I decided to pull out the most blingy glitter I could find to distract me from my stunted nails.

This is 3 coats of Sparkle-icious (probably could have used another) over 1 coat of a nude creme.  I find painting glitter over a creme finish helps with removal a bit.  This is a full manicure with base and top coat.

OPI Sparkle-icious in the sun

 Ewww, nubbins!

Here is a little tip for glitter polishes that you may already know.  I can't remember where I first heard it but it really works.  To prevent the bumpy glitter look you need to use a thick top coat. I use Seche Vite.  But sometimes I need up to 3 coats of Seche Vite to get a completely smooth finish.  All I do it put a layer of Gelous base coat over the glitter and under a layer of quick dry topcoat and then the glitter is perfectly smooth.  I bought my Gelous base at Sally Beauty Supply.

OPI Sparkle-icious in the shade

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Where Is Texas in OPI's Texas Collection? Swatches and a Complaint

I'm a die-hard Texan.  I was born here, I live here, and I will most definitely die here.  Just hopefully not any time soon.  Or actually preferably not at all.  So needless to say, I had high expectations for the OPI's Texas-inspired nail polish collection. Being the overly-dramatic Texan I am who takes offense to any perceived slight to my beloved home, I was outraged at the seeming lack of thought or research that went into picking the color palette.  I immediately saddled up my horse (we all own one ya know; it's a requirement to live here) and began the trek to OPI headquarters to express my outrage.  Okay not really, I just experienced mild distaste and decided I didn't need any of the colors.  Plus, I don't know anyone who even owns a horse.

Anyway, the color palette does not evoke Texas to me at all. And while the fruity-colored "sorbets" are pretty, I would like to know exactly what about Texas inspired them?  And while we're on the topic... c'mon, sorbets?  Really?  We all know they're jellies.  Stop pretending that you invented some groundbreaking new finish. Honestly to me it feels like they picked the theme AFTER they had picked the colors.

So I was grocery shopping a few weeks ago and came across a display with these on clearance (I guess all my fellow Texans were offended also.  Either that or no one expected to find OPI at the grocery store).  I bought Austin-tatious Turquoise because Austin is my hometown, where my family lives, and where I long to be. *dramatic sigh* I know the color is sheer and not-so-great from what I have seen on other blogs, but I had to have it for the name.  And how could you not love a city who's motto is, "Keep Austin weird."  I picked up a few of the sorbets (JELLIES!) because they looked pretty in the bottle and one other because it had a really pretty pink shimmer that does not show up at all in pictures.

These are swatched with no base or top coat.

OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise in the sun

 This was 5 coats and you can still see some VNL.  To be honest U was expecting this one to be a lot worse.  What disappointed me the most is that the cool purpley-pink shimmer you can see in the corner of the bottle does not show up on the nail. :(

OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise in the shade

OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It in the sun

This was 5 coats.  Okay, this one looks sort of boring and gross- a frosty, brushstrokey mess.  But in real life it has this really pretty pink shimmer/flash thing that sort of redeems it.  I don't know why it's so camera shy.  So is this one "Totally Fort Worth It"?  Probably not.

OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It in the shade

OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Here in the sun

For all the sorbets I used 1 coat of a nude polish on my index finger to hide VNL.  This was 3 coats on my index finger and 4 on the other fingers.  I'm not sure you would ever be able to get rid of VNL without an opaque base.

OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Here in the shade

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston in the sun

This was 2 coats on my index finger over the nude base and 3 coats on my other fingers.

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston in the shade

OPI Houston We Have A Purple in the sun

This was 2 coats on my index finger over the nude base and 3 coats on my other fingers.

OPI Houston We Have A Purple in the shade

 Available:

• This is a limited edition collection but may still be available at some places.  Check OPI's website for a location near you that sells it.
• This collection is still available on Transdesign and they sell for $5.75 each.

Oh, and just because I'm homesick, here are a few pictures of some of my favorite places/things in and around Austin.

Krause Springs

Image credit sonfotografias on flickr

 Austin skyline at night reflecting off the lake

image credit Michael Connell on flickr

Texas Longhorns

This is my momma before a Longhorn football game.  Shh, don't tell her I put a picture of her here.

Hamilton Pool

image credit Knowsphotos on flickr

This is one the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  Apparently it's a collapsed underground river or something.  They even let you swim here sometimes.

There are so many other places I love but this is getting a bit long. :)


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Week 4: Shopping my Stash for Untried Polish- OPI OPI Red and Some Glitter

This is the fourth week of my challenge. Woohoo!  Here are the other 3 weeks in case you missed them.

I have a lot of nail polish.  Too many really.  I have over 400 (I stopped counting when I reached that) and probably haven't worn a fourth of them.  I've seen people on other blogs challenge themselves to swatch their untried polishes and I really liked that idea.  But, I wanted to take it a step further and challenge myself to WEAR the polish for several days, not just swatch it.  I bought them because I wanted to wear them, and dammit, that is what I'm going to do!  So once a week I will be showing you an untried polish from my stash.  And I challenge everyone to go through their stashes, whether makeup, nail polish, or both, and actually WEAR some of the things they've bought but have never used.  You may just discover something awesome you didn't know you had!

I was looking in my red/pink nail polish drawer and realized I have way more red and pink OPIs than I remember buying.  I seriously do not remember buying them at all.  Red and pink are probably my least used colors so I don't know what even possessed me to buy them.  Thinking really hard I remember going into a random grocery store I never go to and finiding a basket of discounted OPI polishes.  I guess that must be where they came from.  Since I didn't even know I didn't even I have them, all are unworn.

This is OPI OPI Red.  Yes, I meant to put OPI twice.  The brand is OPI and the color is OPI Red.  Nice and confusing.  It is a bright neutral red with subtle red shimmer.  It took a little searching to find out where this is from, but apparently it's from OPI's Classic Collection.  I don't where red much, but there is nothing like red nails.  They just look classy to me.  Apparently most men are supposed to find red sexy.  It's also apparent that my boyfriend isn't most men.  I showed him my shiny red nails and asked if they were sexy.  He looked at me incredulously and said, "How can NAILS be sexy?  Plus, that's an old lady color."  Haha, I don't care what he thinks.  I still like 'em.
 
 This was 3 coats with base and top coat.

OPI OPI Red in the sun

OPI OPI Red in the shade

And just because I can I pulled out another polish I haven't used and slapped it over the red.  This is one coat of NYC's Starry Silver Glitter.  It has 3 sizes of glitter- tiny silver micro glitter, regular sized silver holo glitter, and large blue and pink hex glitter.  I always like glitter, but I actually think I prefer the red alone.

In the sun

In the shade

Almost looks patriotic doesn't it?

Available:

• OPI is available at places like Ulta, JCPenny, and salons
• You can also purchase OPI Red at TransDesign for $5.75 and Amazon for $5.15

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Random NOTD: Hidden Treasure over OPI's I'm His Coral Friend Matte

Hey guys!  Hope your Tuesday went well.  Mine wasn't bad- got some errands done, that kind of booooring stuff.  I was cleaning out my picture folder on my computer and found this pic of a mani from several months ago.  I wish I had though to take pics in the sun before I removed it!  Still, I love this and will probably recreate it some time in the future.

This is 3 coats of OPI I'm His Coral Friend as a base, which is a bright red-orange coral jelly.  I then topped it with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure flaky polish and a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic top coat to make it matte.  I wish I was able to capture that the flakies still change color with a matte top coat, but you'll just have to take my word for it!

This is taken under a light bulb which makes my skin look sickly and yellow, yay!

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Three OPIs- a Green, a Blue, and a Pink

I think OPI is somewhat overrated.  They do have a huge variety of colors, but for the price, I often find that the colors are very sheer and sometimes streaky.  But then you get the special colors, like Mad As A Hatter, which totally redeem the brand in my eyes. Unfortunately I don't own MAAH.  I was dumb and passed it up thinking I would have the chance to buy it later. So wrong!  Has this happened to anyone else before?

I'm usually a pretty verbose person, but I'm runnin' on empty right now so I'll get straight to it.  Like the oh-so-cleverly-named title mentions I have a green, a blue, and a pink to show you.

They are:

• Who the Shrek Are you?- an olive-tinged chartreuse creme
• Sea? I Told You! - bright blue shimmer with silver particles
• Shanghai Shimmer- a dusty mauve rose with green shimmer

These are all swatched without a base or top coat.

Who The Shrek Are You? in full sun

This was pretty sheer.  It took 4 coats to reach opacity but the color is worth it.  The finish ends up pretty even and non-streaky for a color with a lot of yellow pigment.

Who The Shrek Are You? in full sun

 It is really shiny without a top coat which I love even though I always use a top coat when I'm not swatching.

Sea? I Told You! in full sun

This one is also pretty sheer.  This took 4 coats.

Sea? I Told You! in the shade

Shanghai Shimmer in full sun

I really like this color.  Without the shimmer it would look like a grandma color, but the shimmer makes it look funky and unique.  This was 3 coats.

Shanghai Shimmer in the shade

Here is a bottle picture in the sun to clearly show the pretty green shimmer.

Available:

• Ulta stores
• Check OPI's website on where to buy to find local salons that sell the polishes
• Etailers like TransDesign

After all the pretty I just wanted to share something gross with you.  I saw this while looking at the ad for my local grocery store.

Doesn't that look absolutely foul?!  First of all, the name. EconoMax.  I will NEVER eat anything named EconoMax.  EconoMax is not the name of anything remotely edible.  It sounds like a brand of budget motor oil or something.  Plus, it's a pound of bologna for $1.  I have a hard time believing this is a meat product.  I'm going to the grocery later and bet yer britches I'm looking for this.  I'm curious what the ingredients are.


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!