OPI Divine Swine

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The memory of removing OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy with It from OPI Muppets has faded enough to give me the courage to wear its purple counterpart, Divine Swine.

For the manicure, I used three coats of Divine Swine and Essie Good to Go to dry it, and not being up for a thousand coats of top coat, I added one coat of Konad top coat (it's very thick and self-leveling) with a coat of a less effective quick-dry top coat to dry it (I applied it last night and don't remember which).  I know it'll be a great big project to remove, but it sure makes for a cool manicure in the meantime.  I took a picture in daylight long after it had dried, and it's very smooth and sparkly.  Here is OPI Divine Swine.

OPI Divine Swine Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really like it a lot, it's a fun glitter.  The base color isn't as vivid as Gettin' Miss Piggy with It, so it's not quite as eye-catching, but still wonderfully glittery.

That is OPI Divine Swine and the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Divine Swine

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The memory of removing OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy with It from OPI Muppets has faded enough to give me the courage to wear its purple counterpart, Divine Swine.

For the manicure, I used three coats of Divine Swine and Essie Good to Go to dry it, and not being up for a thousand coats of top coat, I added one coat of Konad top coat (it's very thick and self-leveling) with a coat of a less effective quick-dry top coat to dry it (I applied it last night and don't remember which).  I know it'll be a great big project to remove, but it sure makes for a cool manicure in the meantime.  I took a picture in daylight long after it had dried, and it's very smooth and sparkly.  Here is OPI Divine Swine.

OPI Divine Swine Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really like it a lot, it's a fun glitter.  The base color isn't as vivid as Gettin' Miss Piggy with It, so it's not quite as eye-catching, but still wonderfully glittery.

That is OPI Divine Swine and the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Orna-Minted

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I tried out Color Club Orna-minted, the silver glitter from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection, to add on to my Blue Year's Eve manicure.  I added one coat of Orna-minted, which I found to be similar to Sugar Plum Yum as far as application - it's thick, and the easiest way to use it was to get out a blob, put it in the middle of a nail, and smooth it over the nail.  I used a total of three coats of Sally Hansen Speed Shine over it to smooth it out.

Color Club Orna-minted Nail Polish, One Coat over Blue

I like Orna-minted and applying it gave me what seems like a good idea for a mani with it, but this isn't the best use of it.  I was going for a cold, icy manicure, but I think it looks more like I fell on some sparkly gravel with wet nails.

I was a little apprehensive about a mint scent, but it turns out that Orna-minted has the best possible variation of it.  It smells like peppermint tea with just a little bit of white sugar, and although definitely there, is not too strong.

I don't think I'd be so bold as to call this manicure a success, but I figured I'd post it anyhow because it gives you a good look at one coat of Orna-minted, and that might prompt some fun ideas for a better use of it for you, too.

That's it for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: Orna-minted was surprisingly not bad to remove.  Even with three coats of top coat, I had it removed with felt and acetone in ten minutes even.  The only part that took effort was the free edges (that's always true of glitter removal) , so getting this off of shorter nails should be even easier.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Orna-Minted

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I tried out Color Club Orna-minted, the silver glitter from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection, to add on to my Blue Year's Eve manicure.  I added one coat of Orna-minted, which I found to be similar to Sugar Plum Yum as far as application - it's thick, and the easiest way to use it was to get out a blob, put it in the middle of a nail, and smooth it over the nail.  I used a total of three coats of Sally Hansen Speed Shine over it to smooth it out.

Color Club Orna-minted Nail Polish, One Coat over Blue

I like Orna-minted and applying it gave me what seems like a good idea for a mani with it, but this isn't the best use of it.  I was going for a cold, icy manicure, but I think it looks more like I fell on some sparkly gravel with wet nails.

I was a little apprehensive about a mint scent, but it turns out that Orna-minted has the best possible variation of it.  It smells like peppermint tea with just a little bit of white sugar, and although definitely there, is not too strong.

I don't think I'd be so bold as to call this manicure a success, but I figured I'd post it anyhow because it gives you a good look at one coat of Orna-minted, and that might prompt some fun ideas for a better use of it for you, too.

That's it for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: Orna-minted was surprisingly not bad to remove.  Even with three coats of top coat, I had it removed with felt and acetone in ten minutes even.  The only part that took effort was the free edges (that's always true of glitter removal) , so getting this off of shorter nails should be even easier.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Androgynie

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a cool polish with a weirdo name to show you, Orly Androgynie.  It's the only one I went for from this collection, and it's a pretty good one.  It's a black base with lots of different glitter in it, and in two coats it was opaque but still let the glitter show through.  I like it, but in normal, non-picture lighting, the glitter doesn't show quite as well as I'd like.  It does make for a good picture though!

I applied it last night, two coats over a base topped off with Tout de Suite to dry it, but it was lumpier than I cared for this morning, so I added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to it and that helped quite a bit.  It's still not glassy smooth, but my choices were to add more top coat or make a post, and I figured the longer I wait to post the more likely it is to get messed up, so this is as good as it gets.  There's no sunlight today, so artifically lit pictures are all I have.  Here is the manicure.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Two Coats

Here's a close look at part of a nail to see the glitter.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Closer Look at Glitter

The glitter does show indoors, just not quite as much of it shows as in the pictures.  Looking down at my hands, I see the tiny sparkle bits and the colored hex glitter shows, but the hex glitter doesn't sparkle like in the picture.  It's still a good polish and a pretty unique one at that, so it still get a well-manicured thumbs up from me.

That's Orly Androgynie and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Androgynie

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a cool polish with a weirdo name to show you, Orly Androgynie.  It's the only one I went for from this collection, and it's a pretty good one.  It's a black base with lots of different glitter in it, and in two coats it was opaque but still let the glitter show through.  I like it, but in normal, non-picture lighting, the glitter doesn't show quite as well as I'd like.  It does make for a good picture though!

I applied it last night, two coats over a base topped off with Tout de Suite to dry it, but it was lumpier than I cared for this morning, so I added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to it and that helped quite a bit.  It's still not glassy smooth, but my choices were to add more top coat or make a post, and I figured the longer I wait to post the more likely it is to get messed up, so this is as good as it gets.  There's no sunlight today, so artifically lit pictures are all I have.  Here is the manicure.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Two Coats

Here's a close look at part of a nail to see the glitter.

Orly Androgynie Nail Polish, Closer Look at Glitter

The glitter does show indoors, just not quite as much of it shows as in the pictures.  Looking down at my hands, I see the tiny sparkle bits and the colored hex glitter shows, but the hex glitter doesn't sparkle like in the picture.  It's still a good polish and a pretty unique one at that, so it still get a well-manicured thumbs up from me.

That's Orly Androgynie and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been in the mood for a good red lately, so it seemed like a good day to show you OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the OPI Muppets.  On the nail, it turned out far better than it sounds: it's a clear base with powdery-fine red glitter and red and silver hex glitter.  The outcome looks like opaque stop sign red glitter nails with white glitter polka dots.

For the manicure, I used base coat, three coats of Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and a coat of Addicted to Speed just because it was late.  This morning, I felt around the edges of my nails for any pieces of stray hex glitter overhanging an edge, then just filed off the part over the edge and added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon top coat to seal it and smooth out the glitter.  Without the second coat of top coat, it definitely would have been passably smooth and was far better than I'd anticipated, but I really like perfectly smooth.  Once it dried, I took pictures in the sun.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Three Coats

Here's a closer look at the glitter in it.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

There's no way to show you in a still picture just how reflective this glitter is, so I'll tell you.  In low-ish indoor lighting, it completely glows, and I think even in office lighting this one would catch attention from across the room.  It's really stunning, and I'd completely prepared myself for a disappointment since fine glitters often don't build up very well.  With the first coat, I definitely didn't see the potential it had because the glitter looked sparse, the second coat looked almost like this, and I added the third to finish covering a few barer spots.  Gettin' Miss Piggy With It is unequivocally a keeper for me, and it's really an exceptional red for the holidays.

I can chalk up another OPI Muppets success with Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and that's all there is to tell you this morning.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: I really can't overstate how tough this was to remove.  2.5 days without a chip or bit of wear translates into some tough polish.  Felt and acetone took five minutes per nail for the first three, then I soaked it off for about ten minutes.  However, removed bits of glitter were everywhere and required many hand washes.  Still totally worth it to me, but be prepared.




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been in the mood for a good red lately, so it seemed like a good day to show you OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the OPI Muppets.  On the nail, it turned out far better than it sounds: it's a clear base with powdery-fine red glitter and red and silver hex glitter.  The outcome looks like opaque stop sign red glitter nails with white glitter polka dots.

For the manicure, I used base coat, three coats of Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and a coat of Addicted to Speed just because it was late.  This morning, I felt around the edges of my nails for any pieces of stray hex glitter overhanging an edge, then just filed off the part over the edge and added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon top coat to seal it and smooth out the glitter.  Without the second coat of top coat, it definitely would have been passably smooth and was far better than I'd anticipated, but I really like perfectly smooth.  Once it dried, I took pictures in the sun.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Three Coats

Here's a closer look at the glitter in it.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

There's no way to show you in a still picture just how reflective this glitter is, so I'll tell you.  In low-ish indoor lighting, it completely glows, and I think even in office lighting this one would catch attention from across the room.  It's really stunning, and I'd completely prepared myself for a disappointment since fine glitters often don't build up very well.  With the first coat, I definitely didn't see the potential it had because the glitter looked sparse, the second coat looked almost like this, and I added the third to finish covering a few barer spots.  Gettin' Miss Piggy With It is unequivocally a keeper for me, and it's really an exceptional red for the holidays.

I can chalk up another OPI Muppets success with Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and that's all there is to tell you this morning.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: I really can't overstate how tough this was to remove.  2.5 days without a chip or bit of wear translates into some tough polish.  Felt and acetone took five minutes per nail for the first three, then I soaked it off for about ten minutes.  However, removed bits of glitter were everywhere and required many hand washes.  Still totally worth it to me, but be prepared.




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Excuse Moi

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a new polish that's also pink to show you, OPI Excuse Moi from the OPI Muppets Collection for Holiday 2011.  I only got a few of the OPI Muppets, and I'm especially happy with this one.

Excuse Moi is a pink base that's opaque enough to completely cover in two coats, but not so opaque that it obscures any of the myriad glitters it's completely loaded up with.  For today's manicure, I used base coat, two coats of Excuse Moi, giving each coat of color several minutes to dry a bit, then two coats of clear polish over Excuse Moi to smooth it out before applying one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite.  When applying the clear, I covered the edge of my nails all the way around with each coat and also gave each coat of clear a few minutes to dry, then applied the top coat, covering the edges a third time.  I did that because sometimes when top coat wears a little from typing or just proceeding with the day, if there's a piece of glitter exposed, it'll catch on everything it possibly can and annoy the heck out of me, but I've found the extra padding of some clear polish tends to bypass that.

Once it dried, I went out into the sun and took some pictures, so here is OPI Excuse Moi.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Two Coats

Check out all the glitter it has - this is a close up of part of one nail.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

That seems like a fair representation of The Muppets to me!  I loved really The Muppets growing up.  My mom only let us watch PBS when we were little, and Sesame Street was my favorite.  My dad was cooler and would let us watch Sonny & Cher sometimes, and he'd also get us Tater Tots and Lucky Charms when my mom went on trips (maybe that was so we wouldn't whine about when she was coming home...), but I was a Sesame Street gal at heart.  We'd watch The Muppet Show as a family when it started later on and going to see the movies was a great big deal, so I was glad that some of these polishes appeal to me for the nostalgia factor.  Some of them really, really don't - I currently have a pretty strong preference for smaller glitter.  The glitter in Excuse Moi is small but very visible, about the same size as that in OPI Teenage Dream.

Two coats of color and two coats of clear for a very smooth and totally opaque glitter manicure is about as good as I could possibly expect, so Excuse Moi makes me really happy.  I have a whole bunch of work to do this afternoon that's going to keep me inside, and this is a polish that make me really want to look at it in the sun, so I'll be fighting that impulse all afternoon.

That's my OPI Excuse Moi manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Excuse Moi

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a new polish that's also pink to show you, OPI Excuse Moi from the OPI Muppets Collection for Holiday 2011.  I only got a few of the OPI Muppets, and I'm especially happy with this one.

Excuse Moi is a pink base that's opaque enough to completely cover in two coats, but not so opaque that it obscures any of the myriad glitters it's completely loaded up with.  For today's manicure, I used base coat, two coats of Excuse Moi, giving each coat of color several minutes to dry a bit, then two coats of clear polish over Excuse Moi to smooth it out before applying one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite.  When applying the clear, I covered the edge of my nails all the way around with each coat and also gave each coat of clear a few minutes to dry, then applied the top coat, covering the edges a third time.  I did that because sometimes when top coat wears a little from typing or just proceeding with the day, if there's a piece of glitter exposed, it'll catch on everything it possibly can and annoy the heck out of me, but I've found the extra padding of some clear polish tends to bypass that.

Once it dried, I went out into the sun and took some pictures, so here is OPI Excuse Moi.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Two Coats

Check out all the glitter it has - this is a close up of part of one nail.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

That seems like a fair representation of The Muppets to me!  I loved really The Muppets growing up.  My mom only let us watch PBS when we were little, and Sesame Street was my favorite.  My dad was cooler and would let us watch Sonny & Cher sometimes, and he'd also get us Tater Tots and Lucky Charms when my mom went on trips (maybe that was so we wouldn't whine about when she was coming home...), but I was a Sesame Street gal at heart.  We'd watch The Muppet Show as a family when it started later on and going to see the movies was a great big deal, so I was glad that some of these polishes appeal to me for the nostalgia factor.  Some of them really, really don't - I currently have a pretty strong preference for smaller glitter.  The glitter in Excuse Moi is small but very visible, about the same size as that in OPI Teenage Dream.

Two coats of color and two coats of clear for a very smooth and totally opaque glitter manicure is about as good as I could possibly expect, so Excuse Moi makes me really happy.  I have a whole bunch of work to do this afternoon that's going to keep me inside, and this is a polish that make me really want to look at it in the sun, so I'll be fighting that impulse all afternoon.

That's my OPI Excuse Moi manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I thought I'd try out Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, which seems to be Revlon's take on Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, a black jelly base with fuchsia hex and regular glitter.  In the bottle, the black base of Facets of Fuchsia looked less pigmented than that of Bad Romance (which fell shy of opaque at two coats), so I decided to layer it over a black creme.  My thought was that drying issues would be inevitable with 4+ coats, and I wanted to make this one work.

I started with a base coat, using up what I have on hand, which was NailTek II (so my nails should be orange from the formaldehyde in it in short order).  I let that dry for a minute or two, then applied one coat of Revlon Lunar, the black creme released with a few glitters not too long ago, which is even and almost opaque at one coat.  After giving that a bit of drying time, I applied two thin coats of Facets of Fuchsia, giving each a few minutes to set before moving on to the next.  The glitter's surface was pretty pebbly at this point, so I added one coat of clear polish then one of Seche Vite (my thickest top coat) to even it out.  It's dry and very glassy smooth now, so the hassles involved in ensuring drying issues didn't appear seem to have been worth it.  There's no sunlight today, so this is Facets of Fuchsia in indoor lighting (mixed fluorescent and light bulb).

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia Nail Polish, Two Coats over Black

The consequence of the less pigmented base of Facets of Fuchsia versus Bad Romance is that the glitter shows through it more clearly.  The Lippmann seems to have more glitter, but a third coat of Facets of Fuchsia would even the score, and since this cost me less than $3 versus the $18-$20 for the Lippmann (I didn't look it up to see which it was since my point's the same either way), for me Facets of Fuchsia would be the winner in a showdown against Bad Romance.

That's what I know about Revlon Facets of Fuchsia and I don't have a heck of a lot else to tell you about today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I thought I'd try out Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, which seems to be Revlon's take on Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, a black jelly base with fuchsia hex and regular glitter.  In the bottle, the black base of Facets of Fuchsia looked less pigmented than that of Bad Romance (which fell shy of opaque at two coats), so I decided to layer it over a black creme.  My thought was that drying issues would be inevitable with 4+ coats, and I wanted to make this one work.

I started with a base coat, using up what I have on hand, which was NailTek II (so my nails should be orange from the formaldehyde in it in short order).  I let that dry for a minute or two, then applied one coat of Revlon Lunar, the black creme released with a few glitters not too long ago, which is even and almost opaque at one coat.  After giving that a bit of drying time, I applied two thin coats of Facets of Fuchsia, giving each a few minutes to set before moving on to the next.  The glitter's surface was pretty pebbly at this point, so I added one coat of clear polish then one of Seche Vite (my thickest top coat) to even it out.  It's dry and very glassy smooth now, so the hassles involved in ensuring drying issues didn't appear seem to have been worth it.  There's no sunlight today, so this is Facets of Fuchsia in indoor lighting (mixed fluorescent and light bulb).

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia Nail Polish, Two Coats over Black

The consequence of the less pigmented base of Facets of Fuchsia versus Bad Romance is that the glitter shows through it more clearly.  The Lippmann seems to have more glitter, but a third coat of Facets of Fuchsia would even the score, and since this cost me less than $3 versus the $18-$20 for the Lippmann (I didn't look it up to see which it was since my point's the same either way), for me Facets of Fuchsia would be the winner in a showdown against Bad Romance.

That's what I know about Revlon Facets of Fuchsia and I don't have a heck of a lot else to tell you about today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Blue Mosiac

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish to Revlon Blue Mosaic, one of Revlon's new glitter polishes, and I thought I'd give you a peek because it's a nice one.

Blue Mosaic is fine blue glitter along with blue and silver hex glitter in a clear base.  I used three coats of Blue Mosaic, and at three I figured it covered well enough to skip the fourth that would have made it better since I've always had drying troubles with Revlons.  I left a few minutes drying time between coats, then added one coat of regular clear polish to even out the surface and one of Lippmann Addicted to Speed since it's high-powered on drying and I had it out from yesterday.  That seems to have worked well, and I think it's totally dry now, but I still don't trust it enough to test by digging something into it to find out.

This is Revlon Blue Mosaic in the sunlight.

Revlon Blue Mosaic Nail Polish, Three Coats

It looks kind of mermaid-y to me, but without the touch of green most like this have.  I like it, although I'm not looking forward to removal.  It really does take pure acetone to remove glitters like this, which is kind of rough on my skin.


That's Blue Mosaic and what I know today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Blue Mosiac

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish to Revlon Blue Mosaic, one of Revlon's new glitter polishes, and I thought I'd give you a peek because it's a nice one.

Blue Mosaic is fine blue glitter along with blue and silver hex glitter in a clear base.  I used three coats of Blue Mosaic, and at three I figured it covered well enough to skip the fourth that would have made it better since I've always had drying troubles with Revlons.  I left a few minutes drying time between coats, then added one coat of regular clear polish to even out the surface and one of Lippmann Addicted to Speed since it's high-powered on drying and I had it out from yesterday.  That seems to have worked well, and I think it's totally dry now, but I still don't trust it enough to test by digging something into it to find out.

This is Revlon Blue Mosaic in the sunlight.

Revlon Blue Mosaic Nail Polish, Three Coats

It looks kind of mermaid-y to me, but without the touch of green most like this have.  I like it, although I'm not looking forward to removal.  It really does take pure acetone to remove glitters like this, which is kind of rough on my skin.


That's Blue Mosaic and what I know today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Hollywood Blonde & Twinkling Lights

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing a favorite layered polish combination, OPI Hollywood Blonde topped with OPI Twinkling Lights.  I knew I needed redemption after yesterday's manicure, and that was on my mind when I came across a little plastic box of long-lost polishes that included these two.  The little box is like a time capsule from the era when I was married - I'd use the little box to bring out some polishes for the week, and I guess it just got stashed with computer stuff when we split up household stuff.  Finding things stashed is far more common in this home than you'd expect - the ex was big on packing random stuff together when I wasn't looking.  I recall one that was clothes on top, then framed family pictures and breakable memorabilia under that, and about seventeen million coffee cups and and kitchen knives under that (none of those things would even go in the same room!).

Anyhow, Hollywood Blonde, which was part of OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection (2007, I think), is a delicate sparkling blonde.  My bottle has a Trade Secret price tag of $7.50, and that release was right about when that price increase came, and that's the point that I decided that retail was far too much.  I begrudgingly paid it for Hollywood Blonde because she's a beauty.  Here's Hollywood Blonde in low natural light.

OPI Hollywood Blonde Nail Polish, Two Coats

The only way to improve upon Hollywood Blonde is to make it sparklier, and that's just what I did when I added two coats of OPI Twinkling Lights to it.  Twinkling Lights and her sisters were my cruel introduction to the world of OPI's Japanese releases.  You know the six reds in OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection?  Well in their place, Japan got more like Hollywood Blonde and  some amazing glitters (I don't recall how many of each kind offhand, but my hope that I might find them around here has been renewed).  I'd commented on a message board that they were gorgeous and it was a mean joke that they weren't available to us, and a really lovely Japanese woman contacted me to do a trade that was my all-time best and coolest.  My side was the six Japanese Hollywood shades, which she bought for me at her local beauty supply for just under $9 each including shipping (wow, I just turned into my mother, citing deals from years ago!), her side was several Tazo teas and a bunch of American cookies aimed at kids (Nutter Butters, Chips Ahoy, shopping for her was like my parents were out of town).  Everything went perfectly, and as a result I have Twinkling Lights here and I was able to provide the woman who sent them lots of happy snacks of fun teas and cookies.

Twinkling Lights is about the same hue as Hollywood Blonde, but it's a base that seems to be between a sheer and a jelly that is full of fine holo glitter and cool hex glitter.  I added two coats to Hollywood Blonde, and this is what it looks like in sunlight.

OPI Twinkling Lights over Hollywood Blonde, Two Coats Each

What I particularly love about this pairing is the unexpected nature of the combination of this really safe shade and all that glitter.  Hollywood Blonde provides more opacity and adds depth with shimmer that shows through Twinkling Lights, and although it's not especially eye-catching in indoor light (the glitter shows and all, I just mean it's not flashy), in the sun the fine glitter explodes with a bunch of light and colors and the hex glitter starts shifting color.  It's great!

That is my OPI Hollywood Blonde and Twinkling Lights redemption manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Hollywood Blonde & Twinkling Lights

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing a favorite layered polish combination, OPI Hollywood Blonde topped with OPI Twinkling Lights.  I knew I needed redemption after yesterday's manicure, and that was on my mind when I came across a little plastic box of long-lost polishes that included these two.  The little box is like a time capsule from the era when I was married - I'd use the little box to bring out some polishes for the week, and I guess it just got stashed with computer stuff when we split up household stuff.  Finding things stashed is far more common in this home than you'd expect - the ex was big on packing random stuff together when I wasn't looking.  I recall one that was clothes on top, then framed family pictures and breakable memorabilia under that, and about seventeen million coffee cups and and kitchen knives under that (none of those things would even go in the same room!).

Anyhow, Hollywood Blonde, which was part of OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection (2007, I think), is a delicate sparkling blonde.  My bottle has a Trade Secret price tag of $7.50, and that release was right about when that price increase came, and that's the point that I decided that retail was far too much.  I begrudgingly paid it for Hollywood Blonde because she's a beauty.  Here's Hollywood Blonde in low natural light.

OPI Hollywood Blonde Nail Polish, Two Coats

The only way to improve upon Hollywood Blonde is to make it sparklier, and that's just what I did when I added two coats of OPI Twinkling Lights to it.  Twinkling Lights and her sisters were my cruel introduction to the world of OPI's Japanese releases.  You know the six reds in OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection?  Well in their place, Japan got more like Hollywood Blonde and  some amazing glitters (I don't recall how many of each kind offhand, but my hope that I might find them around here has been renewed).  I'd commented on a message board that they were gorgeous and it was a mean joke that they weren't available to us, and a really lovely Japanese woman contacted me to do a trade that was my all-time best and coolest.  My side was the six Japanese Hollywood shades, which she bought for me at her local beauty supply for just under $9 each including shipping (wow, I just turned into my mother, citing deals from years ago!), her side was several Tazo teas and a bunch of American cookies aimed at kids (Nutter Butters, Chips Ahoy, shopping for her was like my parents were out of town).  Everything went perfectly, and as a result I have Twinkling Lights here and I was able to provide the woman who sent them lots of happy snacks of fun teas and cookies.

Twinkling Lights is about the same hue as Hollywood Blonde, but it's a base that seems to be between a sheer and a jelly that is full of fine holo glitter and cool hex glitter.  I added two coats to Hollywood Blonde, and this is what it looks like in sunlight.

OPI Twinkling Lights over Hollywood Blonde, Two Coats Each

What I particularly love about this pairing is the unexpected nature of the combination of this really safe shade and all that glitter.  Hollywood Blonde provides more opacity and adds depth with shimmer that shows through Twinkling Lights, and although it's not especially eye-catching in indoor light (the glitter shows and all, I just mean it's not flashy), in the sun the fine glitter explodes with a bunch of light and colors and the hex glitter starts shifting color.  It's great!

That is my OPI Hollywood Blonde and Twinkling Lights redemption manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was going to hold off on changing my manicure until later today, but my Ruby Red Slippers was chippy, so I did a quick change to Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance.

Bad Romance is kind of like a purple Ruby Red Slippers.  It's a black jelly base with purple regular and hex glitter.  I used two coats, but really could have used a third to make it totally opaque.  Here's the finished mani with Bad Romance.

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like it - I think it ties with Lady Sings the Blues for my favorite of the Lippmann glitters of this season.

I expect to have something really good for you later today, assuming all of the stars align properly.  As soon as I have it, I'll give you a peek!  Until then, love and nail polish to you!  

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was going to hold off on changing my manicure until later today, but my Ruby Red Slippers was chippy, so I did a quick change to Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance.

Bad Romance is kind of like a purple Ruby Red Slippers.  It's a black jelly base with purple regular and hex glitter.  I used two coats, but really could have used a third to make it totally opaque.  Here's the finished mani with Bad Romance.

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like it - I think it ties with Lady Sings the Blues for my favorite of the Lippmann glitters of this season.

I expect to have something really good for you later today, assuming all of the stars align properly.  As soon as I have it, I'll give you a peek!  Until then, love and nail polish to you!