Author Archives: Mary S.

OPI A Butterfly Moment Swatches & Review

OPI A Butterfly Moment Swatches & ReviewNow here’s something you don’t see often on here – a polish that’s close to my skin tone!

And…there’s a reason for that. As ridiculous as it sounds, these kind of shades intimidate me. I have no problem wearing loud and crazy manicures, but a soft and demure one like this makes me very self-conscious. (I feel like my nails are flashing you!) 😉

But I love trying new nail polishes because you never know when you’ll land a surprise winner.

This nail polish is OPI A Butterfly Moment from the Mariah Carey by OPI Collection, which will be in stores January 2013. It’s one of the Studio Shades.

P.S. Please excuse the indentations on my pinkie. I think it happened when I accidentally hit my hand on the bathroom door (owww!). I didn’t bother re-painting it because the imperfection didn’t bug me.

Continue reading

Share

Blog News: My Blue Fiend Nails Featured on NailPolishCanada.com

I have something exciting to share in today’s short post! 🙂

Earlier this month, the awesome people at NailPolishCanada.com reached out to me and asked if they could feature one of my manicures in their new weekly newsletter for the “Favourite Swatches of the Week” section.

Of course I said yes, especially because they were courteous to ask first and provide proper credit plus a link back to the blog.

They chose my Blue Fiend Nails where I used some colours from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Collection. (Click here if you’d like to see my Blue Fiend Nails blog post.)

You can click here to go to the original article on NailPolishCanada.com or on the below screenshots.

NailPolishCanada SwatchAndLearn

Here’s a closer look:

SwatchAndLearn NailPolishCanada

They also chose to feature a number of other amazing manicures created by talented women. Check out the article to discover a new blog!

I must take this opportunity to thank all of my incredible readers for supporting and motivating me during my blogging journey. Swatch And Learn wouldn’t be what it is today without you!

I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me, and I hope to keep this up for as long as possible. Thank you for leaving me thoughtful comments, for engaging in fun conversations on Twitter, and for following me on the various social-media platforms. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Swatch And Learn readers are the best! 🙂

Hope that you’re having a wonderful Thursday!

Edit: They retweeted my tweet about this blog post and also sent me an encouraging tweet! 🙂

SwatchAndLearn NailPolishCanada Twitter

NailPolishCanada Twitter SwatchAndLearn

Share

OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours! Swatches & Review

OPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours Swatches & ReviewOPI My Paprika Is Hotter Than Yours! comes from the Euro Centrale Collection, which will reach stores on February 6, 2013.

Do you like hot and spicy food? I enjoy a little kick, but when food is very spicy, I can no longer taste anything and just focus on the pain! My tolerance for spicy food is pretty poor.

One of my co-workers never ceases to astound us all, though. She loves jalapeño peppers and hot sauce. In fact, in the lunch room, we’re used to seeing her pour hot sauce over her meal like it’s ketchup! (To give you an idea of how spicy it is, just a small drop of it is enough to make my mouth burn.)

And she never seems to feel cold, even when the temperature’s been dropping. We think it’s because of all the sauce she consumes! 😉 It must get the blood circulating…

P.S. How cool is it that today is December 12, 2012? 12…12…12…

Continue reading

Share

OPI Can’t Find My Czechbook Swatches & Review

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook Swatches & ReviewOPI Can’t Find My Czechbook is the beautiful, clean blue nail polish from the Euro Centrale Collection coming out in February 2013.

Have you ever lost your wallet or had it stolen?

When I was around 9 or 10, I lost my wallet in the mall. (My parents thought somebody stole it, but I remember insisting that it had fallen out of my pocket even though I didn’t actually know which story was true. I just didn’t want to believe that someone would steal from a kid. Even as a child, I had my head in the clouds…)

It was such a bummer because it had $50 in it, which was a combined holiday and birthday gift from my grandparents. It was also the most they had ever given me, plus it was in a wallet I loved way more than the cash itself.

Yes, I cried like a baby. Having $50 was like winning the lottery, especially for a kid who never got weekly allowance from her parents!

(Doing household chores was expected without getting any reward in return. And, this is a great life lesson because we shouldn’t always be motivated to do something good based on a reward. Let’s just do good because it IS good!)

Continue reading

Share

OPI Get Your Number Swatches & Review

OPI Get Your Number Swatches & ReviewI wore OPI Get Your Number last week, and couldn’t get enough of this manicure!

This is one of the Stage Shades from the Mariah Carey by OPI Collection. It has the new finish that OPI is coining ‘Liquid Sand’. You’ll see it in stores starting January 2013.

Before trying this, I’ve always been interested in matte nail polish, but I was never blown away by any.

That all changed when I wore Get Your Number! It came as quite the shock. Sure, I expected to like it, but to fall head over heels in love with it? Is OPI lacing the lacquers with some sort of drug? 😉

It must be said – Get Your Number is the most memorable and intriguing nail polish I have worn in all of 2012! That is saying a lot because I typically polish my nails a few times each week!

If you haven’t been interested in matte polishes before, I still urge you to give this one a try. It’s extremely different than anything I’ve ever seen or worn.

Please note that I tried my best to capture the interesting features of this polish, but it was such a diva! I didn’t do it justice, but I tried various lighting conditions and changing the focus (since blurring the focus helped me show the holographic glitter in this.)

I’ll also share a photo of how it looks with a shiny top coat, in case you absolutely must wear a top coat. However, I strongly recommend you wear this as is for even just a day. It has such an interesting finish!

Continue reading

Share

Smorgasbord Sundays: The Time I Ran Away from Home

Running Away from HomeFor today’s Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’d like to get a bit more personal. Based on the comments my lovely readers have left me on the blog and via e-mail, I get the feeling that you actually enjoy it when I ramble and don’t just stick to straight-forward reviews.

Well, I’m going to share something very personal with you!

It’s a memory of the time I ran away from home. I think it’ll give you a little glimpse into what I was like when I was younger, and perhaps you’ll see how it affected me now that I’m older.

Continue reading

Share

China Glaze Tranzitions Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

China Glaze Tranzitions Collection Press Release & Promo PicturesWho says that two heads (or two polishes) are better than one? 😉

With the new China Glaze Tranzitions Collection, you get two amazing shades in a single bottle of nail polish!

Basically, you can transform the colour of any of these polishes by applying a clear top coat.

It’s a very cool concept, and this is going to facilitate easier nail art. I’m all for it!

Out of all the shades, the ones that appeal to me the most are Duplicity, Modify Me, and Altered Reality.

A few are heading my way, thanks to PR, so look out for my in-depth reviews soon!

P.S. Does anyone remember that old Sega game called Altered Beast? It was one of the few video games I enjoyed playing as a kid. (It was also one of the very few games I could play for more than a minute without dying. Haha!) The reason I’m bringing this up is because every time I saw “Altered Reality” in this press release, images of “Altered Beast” sprung to mind. Then my imagination ran wild and I had visions of a creme polish turning into a hairy polish…in true Altered-Beast form. 😉

Continue reading

Share