Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

OPI Not Like the Movies Swatches, Review & Konadicure

OPI Not Like the Movies Swatches & Review As I was going through my computer and deleting photos, I came across photos of OPI Not Like the Movies taken with my old camera in the summer.

Since I still strongly remember wearing this manicure, I feel comfortable providing you with an in-depth review of the polish.

This blog post is going to be slightly different than my typical swatch-and-review posts, though.

All the photos I show have the Konadicure I did on top of it because I didn’t wear the colour solo, and I have no photos of it solo. Despite this set-back, I think that you’ll still be able to see the multichrome nature of the polish. Continue reading →

Cult Nails In A Trance Swatches & Review

32 Replies

Cult Nails In A Trance Swatches & Review We all have our favourite comfort food that we gobble up in no time flat. It may remind us of home or something else that’s familiar and reassuring – it makes us feel good.

The same is true of nail polish. No, we don’t swallow our liquid euphoria, but we get the same sense of security when we wear our trusty nail colour. In other words, certain colours can put us at ease.

Cult Nails In A Trance from the Hypnotic Collection is one of my ‘comfort polishes’.

It’s a golden olive that I find very easy to wear and that really fits in with my style. I find the colour soothing yet interesting enough to keep my attention.

This is the first time that I tried In A Trance, and I can easily see myself going back to this colour whenever I’m not sure what to wear.

Do you have a ‘comfort polish’? Continue reading →

Quo by Orly True Love Swatches & Review

31 Replies

Quo by Orly True Love Swatches & Review Don’t be shocked. You didn’t accidentally visit the wrong blog. (Well, even if you did, come stay a while!)

I’m actually wearing a pink nail polish! *Gasp* And, yes, I chopped my longer nails to little nubs. (I just love growing my nails long and then trimming them super short. I just can’t settle on one length. I need to experience them all!)

This is the teeny tiny bottle of Quo by Orly True Love that came in the Quo by Orly 18 Piece Mini Nail Polish Gift Set I blogged about earlier. (It’s available in their full-size core collection.)

Since I don’t photograph pink polishes often, I didn’t realize that this shade would morph so much on me.

In dim lighting, it looked completely different than what you see in real life. With flash, it’s closer, but not accurate. And I wasn’t able to get any photos of me wearing it when the sun came out.

So, why even bother showing you this if the colour in my photos isn’t accurate? You can see the finish and get an idea of the opacity.

Plus I’m learning as I go. I’d like people to see my improvement over time. I don’t want to be a blogger who only shows photos when they come out as expected. That’s not real life.

I believe that you can learn a lot from all kinds of photos…even the bad ones. It’s not about having immaculate swatches. It’s about who’s willing to share a piece of themselves with others. (At least that’s how I think.)

My nails are an open book to all of you! 😉 Some chapters will be better than others. Continue reading →

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe Swatches & Review (Layered Over OPI Swimsuit…Nailed It!)

50 Replies

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe is my first Deborah Lippmann nail polish. It was the one that I was lemming badly ever since I first set eyes on it.

Even though I bought it at the same time as Chanel Peridot, it took me all this time to wear it! Why? I wanted to save it for a special occasion…at least for the first time.

New Year’s Eve was the perfect opportunity because not only does it have the bling, but it complemented my blue monochromatic outfit.

I layered Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe over OPI Swimsuit…Nailed It! Using the OPI as a base allowed me to achieve the bottle colour with fewer coats of Deborah Lippmann.

I wore this polish from December 30th to January 2nd. All swatches were photographed on the last day, unfortunately.

Later on in this post, I’ll show you what Across the Universe looks like solo.

What did you wear to ring in the New Year?

Continue reading →

The Best of 2011: Nail Polish, Nail Art, Makeup, Skincare & Fragrance

16 Replies

Swatch And Learn The Best of 2011 It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it?

I’ve tried all sorts of new beauty products including nail polishes. And I’ve had tons of fun coming up with nail-art designs!

Now that it’s the last day in 2011, it’s time to reflect upon the year.

I’d like to share with you my Best of 2011 list! I still have a ton of favourites from last year, so these picks are strictly new ones that I’ve blogged about in 2011.

You’ll see it broken down into the following categories: nail polish (duh), nail art (double duh), fragrance, makeup, and skincare. All lists are in no particular order. (It was difficult enough to whittle down my picks for the nail polishes!)

Feel free to click on the links – they’ll take you to the blog post with the swatches, reviews, and tutorial (where appropriate).

Now I’m so curious about what you think!

Is there a lacquer that you feel I sorely missed including? Have you found your Holy Grail facial cleanser? What nail-art design have you worn in 2011 that you would consider wearing again in 2012?

Please weigh in with your picks! We’re all different, but our love for beauty products brings us together. 🙂 Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Martini Nails (New Year’s Eve Nails)

29 Replies

Martini Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Pictures If you’re underage and shouldn’t be drinking alcohol, at least you can give my Martini Nails a try – they’re a fun way to ring in the New Year!

I’ll never forget the first time I had a classic, dry martini – it was at a German restaurant. I was so excited to try it and see what all the fuss was about because you always see classy people in movies elegantly sipping martinis. (Of course, in movies, the glasses are really just filled with water…at least I hope so!)

Not sure why, but I thought it was going to be sweet or delicious like the fruity or dessert martinis and cocktails. Haha, so the second I took my first sip, my whole face crinkled up in disgust! My then-boyfriend burst into hysterical laughter and asked me, “That good, huh?” 😛 He wished that he had brought his camera.

I had no idea if it was a ‘good martini’ or not because I had no reference to compare it to. All I remember was that it tasted like the way nail-polish remover smells. (I finished it, but that was my first and last classic, dry martini.) The best part about it was the olive… Continue reading →

China Glaze Twinkle Lights Swatches & Review

28 Replies

Sunlight China Glaze Twinkle Lights Swatches & Review Let It Snow Collection 2011 If you’ve ever seen China Glaze Party Hearty, you’ll know that it’s Christmas in a nail-polish bottle. I love it so much!

Although this year I didn’t get around to wearing it, I did manage to try out China Glaze Twinkle Lights, which is a new festive nail polish from this year’s Let It Snow Collection.

As you can see, it’s a blinged-out glittertastic lacquer with red, green, and gold.

I was very excited to wear it for the first time, but when it was on my nails, I felt extremely disappointed. This is going to sound strange, but I felt like this polish was missing something to take it from alright to mind-blowing.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this polish, but because the red and green took a back seat to the gold glitter, I felt like Twinkle Lights wasn’t as Christmasy as Party Hearty. (And I was wearing this for a Christmasy feel.)

I ended up doing New Year’s Eve nail art on top to make it more my style.

(I know that I’m running out of time, but I’ll try my hardest to get up the nail-art tutorial for it tomorrow in case any of you want to actually wear the design on the 31st. It’s a really simple look that’s fast to create and that can be easily customized.)
Continue reading →