Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

OPI Small + Cute = Heart Swatches & Review

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OPI Small + Cute = Heart Swatches Review

Creamy like a strawberry-milkshake, OPI Small + Cute = ♥ from the Hello Kitty Collection sure is sweet! Do the math: this pink reminds us that, sometimes, good things come in small packages!

Seal your manicure with a kiss that says, “Be my Valentine!” Slick on this ultra-adorable pastel that would make even Strawberry Shortcake’s Custard the Cat put down the catnip and beg for a ‘kittycure.’ 😉

Light and sweet, this baby pink is slightly reminiscent of cotton candy that you remember from your childhood summer nights when the fair’s midway came alive with rainbow lights.

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Super Bowl Nail Art

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Football Nail Art Super Bowl Nail Art

To get into the football festivities, I whipped up simple Super Bowl Nail Art featuring Zoya Desiree, Zoya Chanelle, OPI Angel with a Leadfoot, and BB Couture Frontier Woman.

You can see the shiny version (as shown above), but if you scroll further down this post, you’ll see a mattified version where I used Pretty Serious Matte All the Things Top Coat.

Today, the Carolina Panthers will go up against the Denver Broncos for the NFL Super Bowl. Although I’m not a diehard football fan, I watch the big game each year because it’s exciting!

Each team has so much on the line, and the players put their ‘all’ into the game. It makes for a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat experience, especially when it’s a close call right up until the very end.

I was inspired to paint this after admiring the talented nail design by Jema aka @nailsbyjema on Instagram. I used different nail polishes to put my own twist on it.

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CND Vinylux Flirtation Collection Swatches

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CND Vinylux Flirtation Collection Swatches

Beautiful manicures are as easy as a wink with the CND Vinylux Flirtation Collection!

With a come-hither finger and a suave  sashay, circle your calendar because the CND Vinylux Flirtation Collection launches worldwide in March 2016!

Wear your heart on your sleeve and your nails!

There are eight bat-your-eyelashes colours ranging from demure diva and princess pink to bold blue and you-need-it yellow.

Some of the colours are also available in the CND Shellac formulation. (You can find the details near the bottom of the page in the section where I included the official press release.)

In this post, there are quick swatches (without a top coat) of all eight CND Vinylux Flirtation Collection hues, as well as bottle shots to whet your appetite.

Overall, I found the formulation to be good. Date Night, Aqua-intance, Skin Tease, Be Demure, and Honey Darlin’ covered well with two medium coats. (The others really needed the third coat to even out streaks.)

I particularly enjoyed the cremes in this collection, especially Date Night, Aqua-intance, and Honey Darlin’.

When I wear some of these as full manicures, I’ll publish a separate post with my usual in-depth reviews that include multiple swatches in natural and artificial lighting, so you can get a better idea of what to expect.

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OPI 5 Apples Tall Swatches & Review

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OPI 5 Apples Tall Swatches Review

“How do you like them apples?”

Get fruity with OPI 5 Apples Tall from the Hello Kitty Collection!

Some of my favourite felines are Heathcliff, Grumpy Cat, and Hello Kitty. Their personalities are so different…like comparing apples to oranges.

Fashion-savvy, Hello Kitty sure knows how to accessorize. Her style is sometimes minimalist, but other times, she pulls out all the stops. (Watermelon dress, anyone?)

One accent she never forgets before she heads out the door? Her signature bow, of course! (On any given day, she reaches for a red bow that’s as iconic as red lipstick.)

OPI 5 Apples Tall precisely matches her red bow, which means that you can put the accurate finishing touch on Hello Kitty nail art, if that’s your jam.

Also, let’s talk about the adorable name. Apparently, it pays homage to Hello Kitty’s height!

If you bump into me at the grocery store, and I’m stacking apples, you can safely assume that I’m just measuring my height. Yeah, forget about what it says on my government-issued identification. I say that we should all have our height measured in apples! No, that wouldn’t cause confusion at all! 😉

Participate in my Twitter poll while you still can, and check back for the results!

 

Who do you predict will be the Twitter poll winner?

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OPI My Twin Mimmy Swatches & Review

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OPI My Twin Mimmy Swatches Review

“Yellow from the other siiiide. I must’ve called a thousand tiiiimes to tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done. When I call you never seem to be home.”

Oops, that’s not how Adele’s song goes! 😉

It’s no wonder that OPI My Twin Mimmy from the Hello Kitty Collection puts nails in a sunny disposition! The cheerful bright yellow creme nail polish is full of smiles and warmth, but it never veers over into orange-yellow-egg-yolk territory, so it keeps a clean appearance.

Yellow nail polish can scare people away or make them crack an inappropriate jaundice joke. But I embrace a yellow manicure because I think it’s fun, different, and adventurous.

If you tend to steer clear of ‘unconventional’ colours, I still recommend that you try a yellow nail polish at least once, even if it’s just for the weekend. Why? Well, for starters, it’s fun, and besides, if you don’t care for it, the great thing about nail polish is that it’s not permanent. You can easily remove it in seconds.

Let the sunshine in!

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Essie Spring 2016 Collection Swatches

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Essie Spring 2016 Collection Swatches

Officially launching on February 16, 2016, the Essie Spring 2016 Collection is full of beautiful colours that may take your mind off Old Man Winter!

In today’s post, you’ll find my quick-and-dirty swatches (i.e. no base or top coat) of all six colours and snapshots of the bottles.

I used two coats of each colour, and I was impressed with the pigmentation on every single one of these. Yes, even the palest shade was fully opaque!

The formula on all of these is smooth and easy to glide onto your nails. It’s one of Essie’s better creme formulas.

Stay tuned because I plan to wear some of the colours in the Essie Spring 2016 Collection as full manicures. After I do, you can expect to see my usual in-depth reviews with multiple swatch photos of each colour in different lighting conditions.

(Those are my favourite types of posts to prepare because I enjoy showing you all the nuances of a polish, how it wears, if it stains, etc. But I realize that many of you enjoy seeing the full collection in a snapshot, so this post is especially for those who have requested it.)

Now it’s time to whet your nail-polish appetite! 😉

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INGLOT O2M Breathable 688 Swatches & Review

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INGLOT O2M Breathable Swatches Review

Refreshing like an after-dinner mint for nails is INGLOT O2M Breathable 688, which is a perky green creme.

Clean without being stark, it’s a soft shade that fits into this transitional period where we’re getting tired of the winter and longing for the warmth of spring.

As you know, wearing green nail polish feels like second nature to me, and INGLOT O2M Breathable 688 is no exception. It’s a total ‘Comfort Colour’ for me.

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