Author Archives: Mary S.

OPI This Color’s Making Waves Swatches & Review

OPI This Color's Making Waves Swatches & ReviewOPI This Color’s Making Waves hails from the Hawaii Collection.

If there was such a thing as a mermaid robot, I feel like OPI This Color’s Making Waves would be Ariel VT4000!

It has a cool, futuristic feel with the tealĀ that reminds me of a mermaid’s tail.

As if you couldn’t tell, this nail polish has a high shine with tons of shimmer. I feel like it could catch the light, even without a baseball glove and with its eyes blindfolded!

Like an enchanted pool, OPI This Color’s Making Waves beckoned me closer. Somehow, it ended up on my nails and it stayed there for a few days! šŸ˜‰

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OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too! Swatches & Review

OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too Swatches & ReviewOPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too! from the Hawaii Collection is the nail polish that I’ve been curious to try because it’s so different from anything I’ve ever seen from OPI.

It’s certainly weird. And okay, maybe pineapples have ‘peelings’ (hehe, feelings), but my reviews are always honest. I won’t spare the poor pineapple’s feelings.

Remember how I said before how I tend to wear nail polish for at least a day? Well this is the very first lacquer that broke my rule!

Sadly, right after I painted my manicure and took photos, I just couldn’t wear this in public. It was so chunky-looking, and I strongly disliked the way it looked.

The combination of the brushstroke-y gold base with the multicoloured glitter missed the mark in a big way, and parts of the polish pooled in weird areas on my nails, which made them look warped.

Read the rest of my detailed review with lots of swatches to see why OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too! didn’t pull at my heartstrings. It wasn’t love at first sight. It was “hand me the remover – STAT!” at first sight, unfortunately.

I recommend that you save your money for other polishes. Unless you’re a die-hard fan who needs to own the complete OPI Hawaii Collection, you won’t miss not having this one in your stash.

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Quick Look: Essie Spring 2015 Collection Swatches, Bottle Shots & Press Release

Essie Spring 2015 CollectionIn January, I had a pleasant surprise waiting for me when I got home from work – theĀ Essie Spring 2015 Collection, which will be available in drugstores, salons, and other beauty locations across Canada in March!

The Essie Spring 2015 Collection was under embargo, which is why I shared a little black-and-white photo as a teaser on Instagram.

Today, I’m finally allowed to share them with you, so here’s my post with Essie Spring 2015 Collection swatches, bottle shots, and the official press release!

I’ve worn all of them already as full manicures, so expect upcoming in-depth reviews with tons of swatches, as usual.

If there are any shades that you’re most interested in seeing, let me know, and maybe I can work on a post for this week.

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Reader Request: Comparison Swatches of OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked?, Aloha from OPI, Where Did Suzi’s Man-Go?, Toucan Do It If You Try & Live. Love. Carnaval

OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked Swatches ComparisonA while ago, some of my wonderful readers asked me how certain OPI nail polishes compared, so I put together this post.

Two of the lacquers are from the Hawaii Collection: OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked? and OPI Aloha from OPI.

The other three I compared them with were OPI Where Did Suzi’s Man-Go?, OPI Toucan Do It If You Try, and OPI Live. Love. Carnaval, which are from the Brazil Collection!

P.S. If you haven’t already, enter my 1000th Instagram Post Worldwide Giveaway for your chance to win a nail-polish prize pack! (Ends Friday February 20 at 11:59 pm EST)

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Worldwide Giveaway: Win a Nail-Polish Prize Pack to Mark My 1000th Instagram Post

Edit:Ā Sunday February 22, 2015

Congratulations, @JustBlendItOut (Jessica)! You’ve won my Instagram worldwide nail-polish giveaway! Please reply to my direct message that I sent you on Instagram within 72 hours to claim your prize.

Thank you to everyone for participating in my giveaway. Stay tuned – I’m going to announce a HUGE nail-polish giveaway in a few days. It’ll be open to Canada and US residents, and you won’t want to miss it! šŸ˜‰

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To mark my 1000th post on Instagram and as a special thank you to my Swatch And Learn blog readers who’ve supported me, I’m having my firstĀ Instagram-Only Worldwide Nail-Polish Giveaway!

You could win all the items you see below: Pretty Serious Swatch And Learn (the green nail polish I designed) and lots of Zoya goodies!

SwatchAndLearn 1000 Instagram Post Giveaway

The details are on my Instagram account, but I’ve also included them in this blog post.

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OPI My Gecko Does Tricks Swatches & Review

OPI My Gecko Does Tricks Swatches, Review & PhotosOPI My Gecko Does Tricks from the Hawaii Collection that officially launches today (February 4th) certainly is a tricky one for a couple of reasons.

This pearly, bright green is very flashy – even flashier than my photos would suggest. But that’s not why my ‘gecko’ is tricky.

The first reason is that it wouldn’t show its true beauty to the camera. Its not a hard polish to photograph…if you have decent lighting conditions. (Read the rest of my post to learn about the second reason why it’s tricky.)

The thing is that I wore OPI My Gecko Does Tricks twice as a full manicure in the hopes of capturing it properly. Unfortunately, the mornings before I left for work were very dim, and by the time I came home in the evening, natural-light photos would’ve been more grainy than organic cereal.

Since I don’t have a light box or use any fancy lighting equipment, I rely on Mother Nature, even though she likes to switch things up on a daily basis. (Hey, I love challenges!) So, after wearing OPI My Gecko Does Tricks for a few days, I did something I rarely do: I painted my nails the exact same colour right after I finished removing it. Then, I wore that manicureĀ for a couple of days straight. (Yeah, back-to-back OPI My Gecko Does Tricks!)

During the first and second times, I snapped photos, which is why you may see that there’s tip wear in some photos and not others. All these photos spanned probably around 9 days of wear, so the lighting isn’t consistent.

Typically, I try to take the majority of my photos of a manicure on the same day to rule out major natural-light changes or very-different angles.

I even considered wearing it a third time to hope for (literally) a brighter morning where I could snap this baby. But then, as I’m sure you understand, a new nail polish caught my eye that I had to wear instead. The nailphile train just kept on rolling! šŸ™‚

Instead of delaying this review further, I decided to post it because today is the official launch of the OPI Hawaii Collection! (From the minute I saw the collection, I secretly wanted to highlight this polish to coincide with the release date.)

P.S. Yesterday night, I published a second blog post. Check it out, if you missed it! It’s about Essie at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week!

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News for Nailphiles: Essie at Paris Haute Couture 2015

Paris Haute Couture Mabille EssieI came home from work this evening and found an interesting e-mail from Essie’s PR with a recap fromĀ Essie at Paris Haute Couture 2015!

Nail polish is very exciting to me, but seeing it in action in the fierce fashion world? I love it!

In this little post, I share with you the information I was sent, as well as photos of the models in their Jean Paul Gaultier, Loris Azzaro, and Mabille designer apparel with Essie manicures.

Valerie Banino was the talented nail artist who led the Essie team to deck the models’ tips with style for the runway!

They used many different Essie nail polishes, but the photos in this post depict just a few. Enjoy!

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