OPI: The Neon Collection (partial), Summer 2019

Yeah yeah it's the weekend!  I'm attending my little brothers wedding shower today - it's a couples/family event so lots of people and kids will be there to enjoy the BBQ and festivities.  I can't believe my baby bro is getting hitched!  It's a great day for a BBQ too, it's been super hot here this last week.  I'd say it calls for some neon nails!  I did a little post of a few of the OPI Neon Collection I picked up a while ago.  These are still in stores so if you love them to go pick them up!  They run about $10 a bottle.  Apparently they released a shoe collaboration with Converse and the shoes re adores!  I'm going to see if I can still get them.  While I do some online shopping you should check out my swatches!

OPI: Shop

*nothing to disclose*

OPI + Preen.Me; Iceland Collection

Evening all!  Are you a horror movie/Halloween/spooky fan like I am?  I am literally always glued to ghost hunter shows and watch scary movies nightly.  Often I watch them alone because my hubster isn't a fan.  My kids would happily watch with me but I now it's too much for them at their ages (11, 9, 6).  So today I was in the house alone and one of the kids today stared playing music...out of the blue...I've never even heard one of their toys play this song before.  It went off for a good minute and I sat there wide eyed wondering WTF is happening.  Nothing happened again.  But of course that didn't deter me from turning on a scary show.  Anyways, that has absolutely nothing to do with this post.  So I'm done rambling about myself.  Let's talk about the OPI Iceland collection.  HELLO fabulous!  I was super impressed with the colors I this collection, lots of dusty cremes, a couple amazing shimmers, awesome colors for Fall that are both traditional and non.  I received these from Preen.me to review, they have a great website that helps you create all kids of "looks" with info about so many different beauty products.  You can pick up this collection at your local beauty supply stores.  Let's jump in and check them out!

*press sample*

Preen.Me: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

OPI: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

OPI Venice Collection, Fall 2015; O Suzi Mio, It's A Piazza Cake & I Cannoli Wear OPI

Good morning (or afternoon) friends!  Just a quick post to share with you today as I've got errands up the wahzoo and will be working on another post to share tonight!  So back in the Fall I won some OPI's and I haven't had a change to share them until now.  These are from the Venice collection, which is awesome because I love Italy and Venice - such a beautiful city!  I would love to visit again, preferable in the Spring or Fall as Summer was pretty darn hot (and full of pesky mosquitos).  But back to the topic...I've got 3 of the beautiful colors from the OPI Venice collection to share with you so let's jump in and check them out.  These should be available at all of your local beauty supply stores by now, and probably even on sale since they are an oder collection now!

*products in this post were won*

OPI:  Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

OPI Give Me Space

Good morning lovelies!  Just a quick post for you today.  A couple weeks back I wore this gorgeous blue from OPI and while I know it's not really ground breaking but it is surely fabulous!  But I say kudos to OPI for putting a scattered holo in one of their collections!  I mean obviously OPI used to release some pretty awesome holos but it seems they haven't dabbled in that finish much lately.  So I welcome this little scattered holo as a step in the right direction.  Hopefully the OPI marketing team sees how much everyone loves this shade (and not those awful frosty glitter polishes they keep trying to make) and they give us a rainbow of scattered holos.  

*nothing to disclose*

OPI: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

CosmoProf North America; OPI, Essie & Orly Coverage

Hullo again!  I'm happy to be back with more coverage of the super fun, extremely overwhelming, foot wearing-out event that is CosmoProf.  Yesterday I showed you Jessica Cosmetics and Color Club (you can see that post HERE).  Well today I am sharing all the exciting new stuff coming out from OPI, Essie and Orly.  So I won't waste time being a chatty Kathy, let's jump right in to the post!

Last year OPI was very hush hush.  They had a closed booth that was all covered up.  You had to be invited for an appointment of even get in the door (yes they had an actual door that you knocked on to get in) and daring I didn't have the secret password.  But this year they opened up for everyone to see!  I was beyond excited to walk about their large space and checking out all the pretty new polish coming out.  Sadly there was no tour guide to answer questions and Michelle and I couldn't get an appointment so I don't have much info on any of this stuff.  Aside from what I have pictures of I saw a fantastic new collection coming out that I am very excited for!  That was embargoed and I wasn't allowed to take pictures of it though.  

The Venice Collection is the Fall/Winter collection and it's already been shared on some bloggers pages.  I believe it's already in beauty supply stores too!  These are really lovely cremes and a couple metallic-shimmers.  

OPI also has the upcoming Starlight collection, which is their holiday collection.  I will admit that it's refreshing to see a non-music lady collection for the holidays.  And this collection looks really exciting!  I love the colors and the finishes.  There are some shimmers, glitters, what looks like textures.  And I always love silver during the holidays!  Also, is that blue (Give Me Space) a scattered holo?!  

There will be plenty of gift sets available from the Starlight line up.  OPI always does a great job putting together gift packs and sets.  Yes, that stunning necklace is one of them too!  

OPI will also be releasing some new Infinite Shine collections and here's one of them!  I love these colors, they are very Spring-y.  I haven't tried the Infinite Shine polish yet but they look really amazing.  

Moving on, We stopped at the Essie booth!  Most of what we saw here was hush-hush and no pictures were allowed.  But I hadn't yet heard of the Silk Watercolor collection!  So I got to see a little about that and how it works.  My understanding, during the tour, is that the Silk Watercolor collection are "Pro Colors" and are only available in salons.  They should b out now and you can get your next mani/pedi done with them!  There is a mini kit that might be available for retail.  They work much like the predecessors: OPI Sheer Tints or NfuOh Jelly Syrups...a sheer wash of color that is buildable.    There's a white polish put out with the collection to wear as a base for art, but you can really layer these over any color - think gold, silver, etc.  There were a few nail techs on site and they were playing around with the Silk Watercolors to show how they worked.  I was given a bottle of the yellow to try out and I will share that with you soon!  

We also stopped by Orly.  There was some really cool stuff here!   The first thing I saw was the display of the new Epix collection.  It's called "flexible color."  You get the benefit of a gel but in a regular polish.  There are 36 colors to chose from.  You basically paint 2 coats of color and then a layer of the seal coat.  They last for over a week.  The really cool thing about Epix is the smudge fixing technology.  This polish literally fixes itself if you smudge or nick it!  It was explained as "shock absorbing polymers" that are at work here.  You can removed Epix with regular polish remover.  This line is available at Sallys, Ulta and other beauty supply stores.  I want to see this in action so I will totally be purchasing a bottle to try out.  

Orly is also releasing In The Mix, it's Fall collection.  Hello beautiful creme colors!  And that glitter?!  Come to mama!  This collection is available online and should be hitting beauty supply shelves soon!

Orly came out with an awesome peel off base coat called One Night Stand.  I have yet to try a peel off base coat so I was very excited to receive a bottle to take home.  I have already used it and guess what...it's totally awesome!  I have pictures ready to share with you and will have that post up soon.  

And the last thing I have to share this morning is the BB Creme - for your nails!  It really is foundation/makeup for nails!  It's meant to help color current any problems you many be having and has a natural finish.  You can pick this up at Orly.com.  

St. Patrick's Day Skittlette

Hey hey!  It's St. Patrick's Day!  I hope you wore green and didn't get any pinches, unless that's what you wanted (you naughty little...).  I made sure to wear my Shake Your Shamrocks Off tshirt, green underthings and of course painted my nails.  So this is just a short little post to share my mani!  Enjoy the rest of your day/night what ever it may hold - bar hopping, green beer, a relish Irish dinner, time with the family!  It's all good and fun!  *nothing to disclose* Crows Toes: Blog, Llarowe, Overall Beauty, Facebook, Instagram Smitten Polish: Shop, Edgy Polish, Femme Fatale Cosmetics, Hypnotic Polish, Rainbow Connection, Facebook, Instagram     OPI: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter I wanted a skittlette.  Why?  Because I feel like I haven't done one in a long time.  I guess I usually do one for the holidays since it's easy and fun.  But yeah, here it is - my green skittlettle!  I started with Smitten Polish The Irish Rover, a gorgeous matte green.  It's not a straight up green though, it has a slight teal tone to it.  The matte finish is fantastic!  I am 100% on board with Noeile's mattes and really want her to make more.  Anywho, The Irish Rover had a great formula and applied perfectly opaque and smoothly in 2 coats.  The Irish Rover is on my index and middle fingers.  

I then put on 2 coats of Crows Toes Maxxed Out, one of my favorite blingy gold glitters ever.  It's actually a gold and silver mixture but you mostly see the gold.  I've had this for a good 2 years and it's got a hefty dent in it.  Perfect application, the glitters spread nicely and don't clump up.  I could have used a 3rd coat just to cover any little bare spots that show up under the harsh lens of the camera (man it really captures every little thing that my blind eyes don't see).  I finished with a layer of topcoat.  Maxxed Out is on my ring and thumb nails.   And finally I used OPI Love Angel Music Baby on my pinky and to draw ruffian style art on my index and middle fingers.  LAMB is a lovely soft matte gold and I reach for it frequently.  It's not over the top gold, and the finish makes it a lovely and understated compliment to plenty of other colors.  I used 2 coats of LAMB on my pinky and about 2 full strokes for the ruffian lines. No topcoat because I didn't want to take away from the matte finish.   Look how pretty the mattes and the holo glitters look together in regular indoors lighting!  I truly love how this turned out!   Of course Naomi wanted me to paint her nails too so I used a different shade of green, which was also a matte finish.  It was a drugstore polish - Ice Cream Cone Nail Color, it's actually shaped like an ice cream cone!  And it dried scented - smells like candy!  Both of our manis matched her shirt perfectly!  

My Personal Top 10 Mainstream Polishes of 2014

Good morning lovelies!  I'm back with 1 more Top 10 post for you - but this time it features the mainstream brands that I tried out.  Much like that last post, featuring my favorite indie polishes for 2014 (you can see that post HERE), I will provide pictures and links to the original posts so you can read up on the individual polishes if you so desire!  Thank you for a a fabulous year full of gorgeous polish 2014!  I hope that 2015 has exciting things in store for us polish fanatics!  So lets get started!
*please click on links to original posts for disclosures*
10. Jessica SoHo In Love.  What a gorgeous, pastel pink-nude creme this is!  It was the perfect palate cleanser and a perfectly girly shade.  I hope to try plenty more polish from Jessica Cosmetics this coming year.  Original post HERE.  

9. China Glaze Stop That Train.  Here's one of those polishes that is just so me I couldn't take it!  The rest-red orange color was fabulous.  The shimmery finish was to die for.  I know China Glaze will have loads of interesting and beautiful polish for 2015 and I look forward to seeing exactly what it will all look like!  Original post HERE.  

8. Sheswai Lacquer Yowza.  I am not even sure if this polish was released in 2014, but since I tried it out this year it made the cut!  This is such a gorgeous, shimmery purple.  And the formula.  Swoon!  Sheswai has their formula down to a perfect science - buttery, creamy, opaque!  I know Sheswai mostly does cremes, a couple shimmers.  I hope they release a plethora of new shades in 2015!  Original post HERE.    

7. OPI Comet in the Sky.  I'll admit that I wasn't too impressed with the Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 Collection.  Then I saw Comet in the Sky.  Jaw hit the ground - no joke.  OPI totally channeled the indie brands with this iridescent and black glitter bomb.  It's FANTASTIC!  I wore it over a deep navy blue shade and it was perfect galaxy on my nails.  OPI is another brand that I know won't disappoint in 2015 - I have already seen a few collection floating around the Facebook groups and I can't wait to see them in real life.  Original post HERE. 

6. Color Club The Uptown.  I'll admit I've never been much of a flakie fan.  Then The Uptown came out and I happened across it in a beauty supply store.  I bought it.  I loved it.  Now I am beyond happy that I did get it because for some reason Color Club changed their formula and The Uptown looks nothing like this lovely flakie polish!  Color Club always does a great job of putting out interesting and unique collections full of glitters, shimmer, textures, toppers.  I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in 2015.  Original post HERE.  

5. Orly Pink Crystal.  This was actually not a polish that Orly ever released.  This was a one off that polish fans were finding across the states in Marshall's and TJ Maxx stores.  Man we went nuts over these texture polishes.  One look at Pink Crystal and it's easy to see why we all spend time looking for this (and it's peach counterpart Just Peachy!).  This was a nice bright, perfect for spring and summer pinky-red texture that I think should have been release in mass quantity.  But oh well, maybe 2015 will bring more Orly textures for us to love.  Original post HERE.  

  

4. Dior Aventure.  This is one of the gel-like colors that Dior released in the late Spring.  I'm a little (ok HUGE) fan of the Dior formula so I was excited to try these.  They didn't disappoint.  Aventure applied just like the regular Diors but had so much more shine and gloss.  I'd be a happy camper to see more polishes like this line from Dior.  I'd also be happy to see some more greens and oranges too!  Original post HERE.  

3. Rescue Beauty Lounge Oliveto.  Alright - I am not sure this could really be considered a mainstream brand but it surely isn't an indie.  I guess it sits somewhere in the middle but it's going in this post so I'm just going to have to deal with my in-betweener polish selection.  What I love about this polish isn't just the color or name, it's the way Ji makes you feel like you are in Italy, taking in the sights though her inspiration.  RBL is a brand that paints a lovely picture behind the polish as well as your nails.  I hope 2015 brings us more inspired collections much like this from the Italian Summer Collection.  Original post HERE.  

2. Zoya Posh.  This is a re-release from a year or two back.  I can't say no to a red.  Let alone a matte red.  This is a real beauty and it looks amazing in it's intended matte state as well as with topcoat.  It's like getting 2 polishes for the price of 1!  I would love to see more MatteVelvets from Zoya in 2015! Original post HERE.  

1. Barielle Hawaiian Sunset.  I don't think this one even needs an explanation.  Look at it.  Bright orange.  Heavy gold shimmer.  Jen Jen Jen!  Actually I went into this list with a completely different order so when it started pouring out of my head I surprised myself.  But then I look at this picture and the post and I just knew this was my favorite mainstream of the year.  I only started wearing Barielle about halfway through 2014 but I was consistently impressed with the formula and quality of their polish.  2015 should be a promising year for Barielle and I can't wait to see what their collections have in store for us!  Original post HERE.  

Merry Christmas and a Festive Mani!

Good morning and Merry Christmas!  My family woke up bright and early to start opening presents.  The kids have already played with most of their new toys and now are settling down to build Lego play sets.  I made a fun breakfast of eggs and rainbow sprinkle pancakes.  They turned out cute and were super yummy!  Of course I made enough to feed an army, oops.  Anywho, I wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.  Hope your day is full of laughter and love and memories that you will always cherish.  I'll be heading off to my parents house soon but not before I take a minute to share my Christmas mani.  I found this idea on pinterest, looks like it was created by @iloveyou432 (maybe that's an instagram or twitter name?).  Well I took the idea and made it my own - hope you like it!

*nothing to disclose*

I used 8 polishes to create this mani so I will provide the main website link for each brand instead listing out all the social media links.  I did a different design on each finger and love how happy they all turned out!  It's like a party on my nails!  Here's my party lineup - Gingerbread Man, Snowman, Santa, Christmas Tree and Snowflake.  

Thumb: CND Midnight Sapphire, Sally Hansen OMGhost

Index: Zoya Nyssa, Sally Hansen OMGhost & Sheswai Honeyfox

Middle: Sally Hansen OMGhost, Sheswai Honeyfox, Barielle Irish Eyes, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Ring: Sheswai Honeyfox, Sally Hansen OMGhost, Sinful Colors Black on Black, OPI Love Angel Music Baby

Pinky: Zoya Noot, Barielle Irish Eyes, OPI Love Angel Music Baby, Sheswai Honeyfox, CND Midnight Sapphire, loose star glitter