OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest & Essence Time For Romance

YAY!  We made it to Saturday!  I've got a busy day weekend ahead so this is just going to be a short post.  Last weekend was my little sisters bachelorette party.  We went wine tasting in the Santa Cruz mountains and had a fabulous time relaxing and talking and sipping delicious wines.  I snapped a few pics of my mani and wanted to share!  Ready to take a look?

*nothing to disclose*

OPI: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Essence: Website, Facebook, Instagram

Nail Vinyls: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

I started out with OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest on my index, middle and pinky nails.  This is truly one of my favorite OPI's ever.  It's everything I want in a fantastic polish: deep, vampy, shimmery.  It's the most perfect plum-burgundy and surely it will compliment every skin tone.  It's definitely one of those polsih shades that makes me feel pretty.  I used 2 coats of Every Month is Oktoberfest for perfect coverage.  On my thumb and ring nails I had 3 coats of Essence Time For Romance, a dusty plum jelly based polish with loads of plum and gold hex glitters.  It built up nicely and covered well.  On my accent nail I let Time For Romance dry completely and applied a Nail Vinyl Starburst design.  I painted 2 coats of OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest and pulled the nail vinyl off while the polish was still wet.  I think I could have let Time For Romance dry a little longer because some of the glitter did pull up.  I filled in those spots with more glitter, applied topcoat to all my nails and ta-da!  Perfect wine tasting nails!  

*direct sun*

Here's a pic of my outfit!  I totally adore this dress!  It was cute and comfy.  There were little eyelets and the pink slip underneath showed through.   I wore it with my suede cowboy booties and a ton of my Chloe + Isabel jewelry.  

Lastly, here's a nice blurry picture of me and my little sister.  I blame the out-of-focus picture on the wine.

Sunny Day Nails using Maybelline Bleached Neons

Good morning/afternoon!  I'm watching the very exciting Brazil vs. Chile World Cup game and getting ready for my husbands 20 year reunion today!  Wow we are old!  So I thought I'd share my mani for the events today - a day time BBQ then a meet up at a local bar.  I picked up some of the Maybelline Bleached Neons because they looked so lovely!  Well they are lovely!  Very fun, pastel yet bright colors that remind me of old, sun-washed photographs from the 70's.  I'm sure there's an Instagram filter named for that look.  Anyways, let's take a look at what I did!

Maybelline: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

You know I love coral, peach and yellow shades, especially during the summer months.  So it was no surprise that I picked up  Maybelline Bleached In Peach, Citrus Collide and Coral Heat (as well as Lime Accent but I didn't use that for this mani).  I actually started with 2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow on my middle and ring nails.  I then sponged a triple gradient using (from nail cuticle to nail tip) Citrus Collide, Bleached In Peach and Coral Heat.  I sponged 2 or 3 layers on and had great color payoff over the white base.  I had initially tried to sponge them on their own but they were not building up well at all.  I blinded up these nails with 2 coats of essence Space Queen, a very pale peach tinted polish full of holo and iridescent micro glitters.  I then used 3 coats of Bleached In Peach on my thumb, index and pinky nails.  Bleached In Peach is actually my favorite of the 3 colors I used because it is so unique and pretty.  It's reading more orange than peach in my photos so be sure to check the shade pics - they are more color accurate.  I found the formula and application to both be fine for a pastel (which is usually chalky and difficult to work with).  These did dry matte so I used topcoat to gloss them up. 

 *shade pictures to show accurate color*

ellagee Alhoa Isle & essence Dreams Are For Sale

Hello polish friends!  Sorry for not having a morning post, but I have been so busy swatching and taking pictures that I haven't had a chance to work on the computer!  GASP!  I have a gorgeous ellagee polish to share and I accented it with a brand new essence.  Hullo amazing match up!  I have reviewed quite a few ellagees and you can see some HERE and HERE.  Or just use my search bar and look up ellagee.  I have been impressed with every ellagee that I try on.  Laura makes lovely and unique polishes.  She also runs weekly sales and giveaways!  Make sure to follow her on Facebook and IG (ellageepolish)!  You can also shop the store HERE.

Aloha Isle is from the World of Laughter collection and is inspired by the Dole Pineapple Whip served at Disneyland and Disney World.  I have had more than my fair share of these and they are delicious!  Kind of like ice cream, but so much more refreshing…full of yummy pineapple flavor (I think it's made with pineapple juice and soft serve).  Now I really want one and you might too so here's a recipe I just came across that you can try.  For this mani I have on 3 coats of Aloha Isle.  Aloha Isle is a gorgeous creamy pastel yellow that really captures the color of the treat.  It also has subtle silvery flecks that are so pretty.  Aloha Isle applied wonderfully, with no formula issues to report.  

I then accented my thumb, ring and pinky fingers with essence Dreams Are For Sale.  DAFS comes from the Hugs & Kisses collection that was release around Valentine's Day.  My sweet friend Dulce in Portugal gathered most of these up for me and sent them my way!  Thank you Dulce (kiss kiss)!  DAFS is a delicate and pretty blend of iridescent hexs and micro glitter.  I love the sparkle on this polish!  No problems to report with the application or formula of this polish.  1 layer of topcoat for smooth nails.