Feeling all Warm & Fozzie with OPI

OPI's  Muppets Collection is one I was so excited about and I am not at all disappointed!

This manicure is OPI Warm & Fozzie with accent finger and tips in OPI Nevermore from the Go Goth 2010 Halloween set.



Browns do not work on me but this I can manage.



OPI description is : Warm
& Fozzie A feel-good shade of metallic copper.

But it's so much more than that, there are flecks of rose

OPI has got THE Blues

I had the urge for blue the other day so I grabbedNicole by OPI It's not me it's Blue and OPI Road house Blues from the Touring America CollectionI was feeling polk a doty so I played with contrasting dots on all my fingersI just used my smallest dotting tool and got a little randomHmmmm....My ring finger has dots of It's not me it's blue all the way up the outer side but the lighting makes it

Hello from Kitty

My beautiful Swedish Sister from another Mother Feline sent me a goody package....(I know you read her blog & if not you are missing out huge, see it here )(Silver Kitty & Kitty Princess)Feline feeds my poor little girl who could buy Hello Kitty goodies and so now as an Adult must have ALL Sanrio pretties!I went a little FUNky on this one because it was for my middle daughters birthday and well

China Glaze Metallic Crackle Glaze Skittles

I thought crackle skittles would be fun on my new mini nailsThe China Glaze Metallic Crackles are such fun colorsRight to left, top to bottom: Latticed Lilac, Haute Metal (My favorite), Cracked medallion, Platinum Pieces and Tarnished goldTarnished gold up closeI did this a little thicker to get wider cracksThese give a lighter application so you can do a subtle crackle finish or apply thicker

China Glaze Metallic Crackle glaze- Oxidized Aqua

China Glaze new Metallic Crackle collection is 6 shades of metallic crackle fun!Oxidized Aqua is well, a metallic aqua. :o)The metallic look of this crackle gives it cool effect....aged almostIt dries quickly and you can make a finer cracked look by using a thin coat or wider, heavier cracks by using a thicker coatI like it without top coat but if you want a smoother shiny finish top oat works

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Zoya Sunshine & Summertime - Tanzy

I had a wild need for orange nails so what other choice did I have...Tanzy is an orange gold metallic duotone3 coats to my opaque happy placeI added a little pink and gold leopard spot decal by request of my youngestI love the application on these, it's closer to a glass fleck in application so very easy to work withYes I filed my nails a little....it's summer and I'm busy so this is an easy

Zoya Sunshine & Summertime - Faye

Zoya...you made this one just for me didn't you?Faye is a beautiful gilded purple with metallic sparks of copper and gold that shifts like crazyThis is 3 coats of nomThe formula is slightly thin but very easy to work with and very forgivingFaye is a moody girl and she might be leaning toward a multiple personality, judging by her constantlyswitching from soft and girly mauvey with copper shimmer

Zoya Sunshine & Summertime - Rica

This one is from the Sunshine half of the Zoya Sunshine & Summertime collection.The Sunshine set is 6 shimmery metallicsZoya describes Rica as a shimmering Rose metallicOn me Rica is a metallic coral with strong orange to pink shiftSee the pink/coral with the orange sparking throughThis is not the best color for my skin but I'm going to wear it anyway because it's fabLiquid SummerSo many

Zoya Intimate collection- Jules

Jules is a sparkling champagne gold metallicI wish I could wear gold better because this truly is a lovely colorThis is 3 coats of Jules with Poshe' top coatApplication is very nice for a metallic, smooth, a little sheer but builds well.Removal is so much easier than most metallics....it comes of as easily as a creme!

**Product in this post was sent by the company/PR for my honest review

OPI Katy Perry collection- The one that Got Away swatch

For some reason I had thought this was red...Ummmm...it's not! lolIt's a shimmery, metallic fushia with a subtle purple flash(note: do not try to use your seche vite when you know it needs to be thinned but you are to tired to go find the restore...you'll get shrinkage like this)It's a bit sheer, this is 2 coats and I can see in the pictures that 3 would have been better.I really like the color

Revlon Copper Penny

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a nice simple manicure today with Revlon Copper Penny.  It's one of three metallic Revlons that were in a little tabletop display I saw a few weeks back, where the other two were a silver and a gold.  Although all three looked great, I'm set for golds and silvers I love, so I passed them by.

Copper Penny is, as the name suggests, a copper metallic.  It's extremely pigmented and was even and opaque in one coat, but I used a second because I thought the ridges in my nails would show too much with only one coat.  Since it is so pigmented, I'd wager this one would work well with Konad.

Revlon Copper Penny Nail Polish, Two Coats

The picture is under artificial light with the polish completely dry.  Photographing a metallic under artificial light is difficult since the light reflects more easily than usual, but this at least gives you an idea of what the polish looks like.  The super tiny silver flecks do not show up as silver flecks just walking around - it takes magnification to show them.  The overall effect on the nail is that it really does look like copper.

Although I have a few polishes with the word copper in the name, I don't have any other metallic that really looks like copper, so I like Copper Penny quite a bit.  I'd been saving this one until my XL plates arrived from Chez-Delaney because I thought some of the geometric tip patterns would look cool in Konad Black Pearl over this, but  they're not here yet and I really wanted to wear it.  I do have that big plain French tip on one of my Chez-Delaney plates, so I might just add that and stamp another pattern in Copper Penny over it.   I'll see if I can find something relatively straightforward that seems good - my stamping confidence has been shaken by my arduous ENAS stamping experience!

There are just a couple of hours left to enter to win Essie Ruby Slippers in a random drawing, so please throw your name in if you haven't already.  It's open to everyone with the only restriction being one entry per person, and the only reason the email address entered would ever be used is to notify you that you've won.

I think that's everything for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you! 

Revlon Copper Penny

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a nice simple manicure today with Revlon Copper Penny.  It's one of three metallic Revlons that were in a little tabletop display I saw a few weeks back, where the other two were a silver and a gold.  Although all three looked great, I'm set for golds and silvers I love, so I passed them by.

Copper Penny is, as the name suggests, a copper metallic.  It's extremely pigmented and was even and opaque in one coat, but I used a second because I thought the ridges in my nails would show too much with only one coat.  Since it is so pigmented, I'd wager this one would work well with Konad.

Revlon Copper Penny Nail Polish, Two Coats

The picture is under artificial light with the polish completely dry.  Photographing a metallic under artificial light is difficult since the light reflects more easily than usual, but this at least gives you an idea of what the polish looks like.  The super tiny silver flecks do not show up as silver flecks just walking around - it takes magnification to show them.  The overall effect on the nail is that it really does look like copper.

Although I have a few polishes with the word copper in the name, I don't have any other metallic that really looks like copper, so I like Copper Penny quite a bit.  I'd been saving this one until my XL plates arrived from Chez-Delaney because I thought some of the geometric tip patterns would look cool in Konad Black Pearl over this, but  they're not here yet and I really wanted to wear it.  I do have that big plain French tip on one of my Chez-Delaney plates, so I might just add that and stamp another pattern in Copper Penny over it.   I'll see if I can find something relatively straightforward that seems good - my stamping confidence has been shaken by my arduous ENAS stamping experience!

There are just a couple of hours left to enter to win Essie Ruby Slippers in a random drawing, so please throw your name in if you haven't already.  It's open to everyone with the only restriction being one entry per person, and the only reason the email address entered would ever be used is to notify you that you've won.

I think that's everything for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you! 

I am "Rich in Spirit" Nicole by OPI Liquid metal collection

I love everything about this polish!The name suits me...I am Rich in so many ways except the monies! :o)I love the metallic foil blue, the short slightly wide rounded brush...I love it so much that I don't even mind that it is slightly sheer and requires 3 coats...it's worth it!Rich in Spirit Nicole by OPII needed something beautiful to look at after a very unpleasant day and with a name like

Nicole by OPI Miss Independent liquid metal collection

A pink metallic/foil polish? Oh yes!Miss Independent is a light pink metallic foil, a little sheer so 3 coats is best but not brushstrokey and most important not hard to remove like some metallic/foil colors are.I did a real foil application on my ring finger using a raindrop foil pattern I got fromdollarnailart this past springI'm not usually big on foil or metallic finish, mainly because they

Barielle Holiday Hustle Swatches Winter 2010

Iwas sent the Barielle Holday Hustle collection....I love it!Barielle has a great way of avoiding the typical so again they make me so very happy!
All swatches are 2 coats no top coat, in lightbox lighting.Gelt me to the Party is an antiqued Copper/bronze/goldI really wish this looked better on me because I love the color a lot!
Coalest day of the year is a dark gray almost black with pearl

OPI DS Radiance & DS Magic

OPI DS Radiance is a metallic silver foilthat almost perfectly matches the silver DS caps.
This is 2 thin coats with no top coat
Application was excellent, not runny but not thick. Very even and no streaks or drag.
I can't stop looking at my "aluminum foil" nails!
DS Magic is just as the name suggest,a magical blue metallic with pink metallic shimmer that gives a subtle purple shift.
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