Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

OPI Venice Collection Swatches, Bottle Shots & Pictures

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OPI Venice CollectionToday, I have a quick look at the OPI Venice Collection, which arrived in my mailbox just yesterday! (It’s very picture-heavy!)

If you follow me on social media, you saw that last night, I attended a fun event previewing Fall/Winter 2015 and current products by KISS and Broadway Nails (imPRESS) held at the Trump Hotel in downtown Toronto, and I got to meet Marni Burton, a makeup artist who’s worked on celebrities such as Milla Jovovich, Shania Twain, and Brooke Shields!

When I got home and checked my mail, the OPI Venice Collection was waiting for me. It included even more than just nail polish this time!

After picking up my jaw (hehe…because it had fallen on the ground in a puddle of my own drool), I grabbed my camera and got straight to work, snapping photos of everything.

Not only did OPI’s PR send me the full 15-shade collection (that includes the 3 limited-edition colours), but they sent it in a beautiful, collectible box, along with cute recipe cards (for real dishes you can make), some edible treats, and a masquerade mask! (Heck, even the cardboard box everything was shipped in was customized by OPI. What a great touch! I love it when companies pay such close attention to all the little details.)

In this post, I show you everything, plus, of course, quick swatches of all the colours.

Keep your eyes peeled like a banana later because after I wear some as full manicures, I’ll be reviewing the colours separately and in-depth with more swatches of each.

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Nail Art: Summer Carnival Dotticure

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Summer Dotticure SwatchesIf you followed me on social media since Friday, you already saw some photos that took while at the Canadian National Exhibiton (aka the CNE / The Ex) in Toronto.

This Summer Carnival Dotticure is what I wore to the CNE!

It was my first time trying out the KISS Polish Pop nail stickers. (The neon dots are the stickers.)

Everything else, I painted myself and tried to create a cohesive look to incorporate the fun neon dots.

With photos zoomed in so closely on my nails, you can see the transparent outline surrounding the neon dots, but in real life, it’s not quite as noticeable.

They’re worth playing around with, especially if you don’t have dotting tools, a lot of nail-polish colours, or the time to do freehand designs.

The black lacquer I used is China Glaze Liquid Leather, the pink (used on my thumb, which you can see in other photos in this post) is Duri Venom, the green is Duri Summer Rain, and the white is OPI Infinite Shine Non-Stop White.

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OPI DS Glamour Swatches & Review (Revisited)

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OPI DS Glamour Swatches & Review In 2011, I reviewed OPI DS Glamour on here in this post. But, it was time to pull it out again because it’s one of those oldie-but-goodie nail polishes that I consider to be a classic.

Funny thing is that I wore OPI DS Glamour on a sunny day, so I was expecting that by the time I got home, I could catch the tail-end of the rays for a photo that showcased the holographic nature.

The true beauty of a holographic nail polish shines through in bright sunlight.

However, Mother Nature had other plans for me. 😉 The clouds covered up the sky, despite me rushing home straight after work.

I took photos in artificial light, natural light, and flash. The flash photos you’ll see later on are closer to what you see in the sunlight – explosive scattered holographic goodness!

Since this is an older, discontinued OPI Designer Series nail polish, it’s trickier to find because it wasn’t kept in the permanent collection.

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Essie Leggy Legend Swatches & Review

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Essie Leggy Legend Swatches & ReviewNo photos can ever do Essie Leggy Legend justice – it’s one of those polishes that looks even better in person!

Still, I tried to capture some of its beauty to share a taste of how majestic it is.

Essie Leggy Legend is from the Fall 2015 Collection that’s set to officially hit stores on August 25th, although I’ve already seen it online.

Although it’s advertised as a bronze, I think it’s so much more than that, and I explain why later in this post.

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Zoya Desiree Swatches & Review

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Zoya Desiree Swatches & ReviewBrown nail polish isn’t my thing. Never have I craved a rich chocolate manicure, but when it comes to lacquer, I’ll try out any hue because you never know if it might open a window and push you toward discovering new colour territory.

Zoya Desiree is one of the colours in the new Focus Collection that’s full of cremes, and I decided to go way outside of my comfort zone. With this brown, I did more than that. I went to the Twilight Zone!

No beating around the bush here. I strongly dislike this colour on my nails, even if the formula was flawless and the superior quality that I’ve come to expect from all Zoya nail polishes.

If you love browns, you’ll probably enjoy this, but I just couldn’t get over how it reminded me very strongly of a specific emoji (and it’s not the dancing woman in a red dress)! 😉

When I saw this polish in the bottle, I thought that it would be a good shade for Christmas when you want to do gingerbread nail art. Other than that, I can’t picture myself pulling out this polish to wear solo ever again. Sorry, brown. We were never meant to be.

On a positive note, after I painted my nails, my first thought, other than the emoji I was referring to, was the song, Shipoopi, which is from The Music Man. (Hehe, I used to sing that song after I first heard it, and my dad always laughed.) Anyway, Shipoopi came to mind mainly because of the poopi part. (Uh-huh. I’m terribly mature, I know.)

In case you don’t know (most people don’t), I grew up with musicals. Name any classic musical that was produced in the 1950s and 1960s, and I probably saw it more than once, even though I was born in the 1980s. (My dad was a big fan of movies in general, but he also had all the musicals, and we used to watch them together. I have tons of fond memories from those days, and while some musicals are cheesy, I still enjoy them.)

My all-time favourite movie is a musical – The Wizard of Oz. I probably saw it for the first time when I was 4- or 5-years old. Whenever I was sick and had to stay home from school, I watched The Wizard of Oz. On the weekends, I watched The Wizard of Oz. Heck, one time, I even lost a baby tooth while watching The Wizard of Oz. No exaggeration – I probably saw it over 100 times, yet even to this day, I still enjoy it like I’m seeing it for the first time. That’s a real classic!

(Also, since childhood, I fell in love with Return to Oz! It’s my second-favourite movie of all-time. If you haven’t seen it, it’s not a musical, and it’s a dark and twisted sequel that features Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale. Yup, the same actor who starred in The Craft! Haha, polar-opposite roles, and she was incredible in both!)

My favourite character from Return to Oz was Princess Mombi. (This was my favourite scene from the movie.) She was one of the villains, and she chopped off the heads of young maidens, and brought them to life with The Powder of Life. All the heads, she collected in a gallery, and she would switch out her own head for others. I always thought that was cool and creepy when I was a kid, and I was never into horror films. It was just that character that I found really unique, and back then, I read a LOT of books, so finding a unique character was a feat!)

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Zoya Focus Collection & Zoya Flair Collection Swatches & Bottle Shots

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Zoya Focus & Flair Collection 2015 FallYesterday, 12 nail polishes followed me home and then jumped into my mailbox a few seconds before I checked it. (Funny how that happens sometimes, right?)

While I was opening up the package with the gorgeous Fall 2015 Zoya Focus Collection (cremes) and Zoya Flair Collection (metallics), I caught myself humming.

It totally made me laugh because I had a boyfriend who once told me that he noticed that whenever I open up nail mail, I always hum. When I open up bills and junk mail, I’m silent like a lamb. Never realized it until he pointed it out.

For the Zoya Focus Collection and the Zoya Flair Collection, the gorgeousness deserves much more than mere humming. It’s the type of collection that compels you to make some noise! (Where’s a gong when you need one?)

As I pulled each nail polish out of the box and welcomed them all to their new, loving home, my eyes were wide like a lemur, and I was standing up at attention like a meerkat!

I snapped lots of photos and quick swatches of all the shades to share with you. Enjoy! 🙂

As usual, when I wear some as full manicures, I’ll do separate, in-depth reviews with swatches.

P.S. If you want to view the official Zoya Focus & Flair Collections press release, I posted it not too long ago. Click on the above link for the colour story and more information about the collection.

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Essie Color Binge Swatches & Review

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Essie Color Binge Swatches & ReviewThe first colour I decided to dip my fingers into from the Fall 2015 Collection available starting on August 25th was Essie Color Binge!

Orange is a colour that I tend to neglect like a bad nail-polish mother. *Hangs head in shame*

I’ve been this way since I was a kid. Never loved orange juice. Don’t like C Plus pop. Not usually drawn to fragrances with a strong tangerine note. One look into my closet reveals just a handful of orange clothing.

Maybe the only exception is that I love redheads and any hair colour that has an orange tinge to it. (I can attribute it to one of my fictitious role models growing up – Anne Shirley…or “Carrots”!)

When I was 18 or 19, I got my hair professionally dyed a firetruck red! (My facial expression resembled the emoji face with the horizontal line for the mouth when I went back home, and my dad asked, “Is it fall already?” when he opened the door. Point taken.)

Even before that, I had tried to obtain what I considered to be the ideal shade of red – a cherry red. Many times, it was flattering, haha, but that firetruck red? I think even Ronald McDonald wouldn’t approve…not that I look up to creepy fast-food clowns with terrible fashion sense for approval. 😉

When October rolls around with pumpkins and Hallowe’en begins winking at me from around the corner, that’s almost the only time I begin craving orange like something fierce. Well, also in the summer, I sometimes enjoy a vibrant orange that’s like a burst of citrus for your nails.

So, long story short, Essie Color Binge was happy that I finally chose it first instead of last. (When I turned my back, I swear I heard it mutter, “Pfft! It’s about time! What does it take to get some appreciation around here?”) 

Shh! Don’t tell Essie Color Binge, but I think the only reason I really love the colour is because it has quite a bit of red running throughout. It’s not an orange purist!

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