Tag Archives: OPI

Nicole by OPI Stars at Night Swatches & Review (Layered Over OPI Vant to Bite My Neck?)

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Nicole by OPI Stars at Night Swatches & ReviewSome people think that bar glitter makes their nails look hairy. Well, hun bun, if you want to see hairy (or furry), you should check out a flocking manicure I did not long ago.

So, in comparison, Nicole by OPI Stars at Night is the tame version of hairy nails. 😉

This silver-holographic polish is part of the Selena Gomez Collection coming out in January 2013!

P.S. I never knew how many Selena Gomez fans are out there. After blogging about this collection, I found that out on Twitter! Wow, and they seem like a very loyal fan base, too!

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OPI Vant to Bite My Neck? Swatches & Review

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Vant to Bite My Neck Swatches & ReviewOPI Vant to Bite My Neck? is a dark purple from the Euro Centrale Spring/Summer Collection coming out in February 2013.

If you’ve followed Swatch And Learn for a little while, you may have noticed that I don’t maintain a nail length. I sport all different lengths from little nubs like in today’s post to longer nails. (It’s not because I’m crazy. Well, okay, maybe just a smidgeon. I just appreciate diversity, and perhaps I’m a little indecisive. Maybe…I haven’t decided! Haha, kidding! I did that on purpose.)

I trimmed my nails super short quite a few days ago, but you’re just seeing it recently because there’s a bit of a lag between the manicure I wear and when it gets published on here. (You’ll probably notice that more when one day my nails are really short and then the next day, they’re much longer. Sometimes I upload manicures out of order. I swear I haven’t been drinking the werewolf’s Kool-Aid…even though it’s supposedly delicious!) 😉

The first polish I reached for after trimming my nails was Vant to Bite My Neck? because I just love how chic dark shades look on short nails.

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Mariah Carey by OPI Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

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Mariah Carey by OPI Collection Press Release & Promo PicturesYesssss, songbird Mariah Carey teamed up with OPI! Will it be a high note in her career? We’ll find out soon enough!

The Mariah Carey by OPI Collection contains 8 limited-edition shades with a unique texture they’re coining ‘Liquid Sands’. (Read all about it in the press release!)

There are 2 subgroups in this collection: the Studio Shades and the Stage Shades.

I’m a fan of Mariah Carey because, damn, that woman can blow!

Mainly, though, I’m a fan of her earlier work (i.e. her self-titled album, Emotions, Music Box, and Daydream), although I do like a lot of her newer songs. (Back in the day, I feel like her voice was clearer, and she did less ‘whisper-singing’.)

To date, I have all of her albums (except for Glitter or Greatest Hits), and as long as she keeps putting out new songs, I will keep buying her CDs. She’s so talented, and although there are other great voices in the industry, she has an undeniably unique gift.

Out of all the colours in this collection, I’m most drawn to the Stage Shades. 😉 Stay the Night and Get Your Number are making me drool from just the bottle images!

Once again, OPI’s PR has something en route to me, and it’ll be a surprise. I wonder which one(s) they sent! 🙂 Of course I’ll wear them and share my thoughts with you all!

P.S. This is unrelated, but…I wish that Lana Del Rey would team up with OPI and have a nail-polish collection. That would be incredible!

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OPI Euro Centrale Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures

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OPI Euro Centrale Collection Press Release & Promo Pictures smallerYesterday, OPI’s PR team sent me the OPI Euro Centrale Collection press release and promo pictures. From the moment I saw the bottle images, I got really excited because it looks like there’s a good assortment of colours!

Although this is the Spring/Summer 2013 collection, some of the polish names sound like they belong in a Hallowe’en collection – e.g. Vant to Bite My Neck? and My Vampire is Buff. But that’s okay by me because Hallowe’en is my favourite holiday.

Some of these colours are on their way to me, courtesy of OPI’s PR. I don’t know which shades, but you can be sure to expect upcoming reviews. Haha, probably within just hours of me opening the package, I’ll be painting my nails with one. 😉 Brand new polish is way too tempting!

From just looking at these bottle images, the ones I’m most curious about are Polka.com, You’re Such a BudaPest, Can’t Find My Czechbook, OY–Another Polish Joke!, and A Woman’s Prague-ative. But the other colours also look appealing. (A lot of times you can never tell just how gorgeous it’ll be until you see the bottle in person. I’m expecting to see some amazing shades, though, because even the bottle images look good!)

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OPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Swatches & Review

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OPI-On-Her-Majestys-Secret-Service-Swatches-ReviewOPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service from the Skyfall Collection is a much more complex colour than I originally thought.

(It stumped my camera. Seems like I have difficulty capturing fine metallic flecks. Any camera-setting tips you’d like to share with me are greatly appreciated.)

At first glance, it looks like any other pewter polish, but upon closer inspection, there’s a variety of different colours. (Geez, I wish that I was able to capture it clearly so you could see its brilliance. It’s a very interesting polish up close.)

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Nail Art Tutorial: Sheep Nails (I Did This Look on a MAN!)

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Sheep-Nails-Nail-Art-TutorialYou’ll remember that I blogged about painting my guy friends’ nails before. Well, ever since then, I’ve been itching to do it again. And I did! 😉

The Sheep Nail Art you see was the result of a very fun painting session!

I actually had this design in my head for quite some time and had wanted to do it on my own nails, but I was just too busy.

(In addition to having a full-time job, I’m also a professional freelance writer on the side. Haha, it feels like I’m always working! But when I have spare time, I squeeze in socializing with friends, daily blogging, and knitting.)

So when I was chilling with this guy, I was thrilled when he agreed to not only let me paint a sheep nail design on him, but also publish it on Swatch And Learn. Also, he wanted to confirm that he could remove it immediately after. (Haha, no, nail polish isn’t permanent!) So, just a few seconds after this little sheep was born, it was axed. Poor baby!

Keep reading this blog post because I show you step-by-step with written instructions and fun photos of this man’s thumb nail to help you recreate the look (or to help you convince the guys in your life to not take themselves too seriously). 😉

P.S. Funny thing is that he actually pointed out that I got some of the blue polish on his skin. And then he also mentioned that the sheep was missing its ear. Hahaha! Sorry that your first nail-art experience wasn’t perfect, Mr. Brawny Man! 😛 I’ll do better next time. Because…oh yeahhhh, there’ll be a next time…and another time after that…and another….Hehehehe! Practice makes perfect, right? Right! (He’s actually a professional artist, so that’s why he was very observant of my nail-painting flaws. Haha, he’s not a jerk.)

P.P.S. I would make a terrible nail technician. The entire time, I was smiling and giggling! I just couldn’t keep quiet no matter how hard I tried.

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Blog News: I Had Dinner with Suzi Weiss-Fischmann of OPI (Plus Surprise Giveaway!)

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Suzi-Weiss-Fischmann-OPI-Nicole-by-OPI-Mary-Swatch-And-Learn Use for BlogThis is definitely the biggest blog news I’ve ever posted on here, hands down (paws down, claws down, feathers down, flippers down, man down, and Richard-Adams-Watership-Down…You get the idea)!

I’ll always remember Sunday October 14th, 2012 as the day when I met Suzi Weiss-Fischmann (the Executive Vice President and Artistic Director) of OPI and Nicole by OPI and had dinner with her at the Ciao Wine Bar in Yorkville! (Harris Shepard of the PR firm by the same name also accompanied her.)

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you already heard me gushing about it (perhaps to the point of making your eyes roll), but things like this don’t happen everyday, so I’ll keep squealing and squealing until I’m turned into delicious bacon. (Poor piggy…)

It literally was one of my dreams come true, and it was a dream that I never thought would ever happen.

I have to thank Langton Communications for inviting me to the exclusive event. Suzi flew in especially for this occasion, which was a huge honour in and of itself.

I have great memories that I’ll hold onto until the day I die. (Although I almost died when she walked into the room. Before she even introduced herself, I had a total fan-girl moment and said, “Hiiiiii, Suzzzzziiiii!” louder than I expected because I was so excited.)

My account in this blog post is based purely on my memory. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to bring a notebook and pen like many of the smart bloggers who attended.

P.S. Keep reading and find out how you can win an autographed bottle of OPI Movin’ Out by Suzi!

Edit (November 1, 2012): I’ve contacted the lucky winner – Congratulations, Melissa V! She replied to my e-mail to claim her prize, so this giveaway is officially closed. Thank you all for participating! Also, please note that I’ll be replying to all the comments left, but it’ll take me some time. 🙂

Edit (March 24, 2013): I recently got the opportunity to attend another exclusive event and meet Suzi Weiss-Fischmann a 2nd time! Click here to read my detailed blog post on it!

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