Jessica Banana Peel

I have a special affection in my heart for pastel yellow polish. Today's example came into my life courtesy of my friend and fellow Twinsie, Amanda. Jessica isn't sold in my neck of the woods, so any of their polishes I have in my collection are all thanks to her! :)

Jessica Banana Peel is a creamy pastel yellow. Despite the name, I'd say it's closer to the color of a banana itself than a banana peel. It's not quite as yellow as, say, China Glaze Lemon Fizz--there's a bit of an off-white undertone to it that I really like. Anyways, I'm rambling way too much about the minutia of yellow polish, which I'm sure no one other than me cares about, haha. However you wanna hash it, this is a gorgeous color!

Banana Peel has a nice formula, especially for a yellow, which can be notoriously difficult to work with. This is three coats.

Zoya Summer 2015 Preview

If you're in the market for some fun, tropical hues, then Zoya has got you covered this summer! As usual with Zoya's big collections, there are actually two sets of polish here: Island Fun (the cremes) and Paradise Sun (the shimmers), for a total of 12 new shades. Check 'em out!

L to R: Demetria, Nana, Serenity, Talia, Cecelia, Jace

L to R: Aphrodite, Mae, Isa, Oceane, Selene, Genesis

I'm loving these! It's a great example of how a brand can do summer brights, without automatically going the neon route.

These pretties will be available May 5, I've got my eye on Talia, Isa and Oceane. What about you?

Twinsie Tuesday: OPI An Affair In Red Square

We're matching our nails to our cars for Twinsie Tuesday today! I remember that we did this theme three(!) years ago, back when I had my grey Ford Fiesta. I loved that car, but the lease ran out, so now I drive a red Ford Focus. I forgot to take a picture of it today while it was still light out, so here is a glorious stock photo for you all:

So I needed a good metallic red for this. I went with one of OPI's many classic reds, An Affair In Red Square. It looks a smidge brighter in these photos than it is in real life (I blame my lamp), so it doesn't look like as close of a match as it actually is.

Not too much I can say about this one. It's super pretty and glow-y, don't get me wrong, but it's not an exceptionally unique color. I'll admit I mostly got it for the name. One of my majors in college was Slavics and I've always been fascinated by Russian culture.


To spice this post up a little bit, I thought I'd be fun to share a couple of my pictures from the actual Red Square. I studied abroad in Russia back in college and while the majority of it was spent in St. Petersburg, I did stay in Moscow for a few days.

There's St. Basil's Cathedral, arguably the most iconic building in not only the Red Square, but all of Russia.

Then to your right from here is Lenin's tomb.

Behind the tomb is the Moscow Kremlin, the official residence of the Russian President. Kremlin is just the Russian word for "fortress," so there are actually many kremlins throughout Russia. But when people refer to the Kremlin, this is typically where they're referring to.

And then to your left from St. Basil's is a huge shopping mall.

Anyways, I could easily talk about Russia and show you my pictures of it all day long, but that's all for today. :) I hope you didn't mind the little diversion. Be sure to check out my Twinsies' blogs below!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Butter London Wallis

Oh, Wallis... *swoon* I am an extremely indecisive person, so I very rarely have a favorite anything. But Butter London Wallis has got to be one of my top polishes EVER. I had a great excuse to wear it this weekend: my boyfriend's graduation dinner! We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which I still think is the weirdest name for a restaurant, but whatevs, it was delicious! My outfit for the evening was a vintage 1960s white sequined dress. I thought Wallis' green-tinged, antiqued shade of gold was a great counterpart for it.

Wallis has a wonderful formula. I used three coats here. Two probably would have been fine, but I wanted to be extra sure everything was even and opaque.

This is definitely more of a fall color, but I can never resist an opportunity to bust out one of my all-time favorites! What are some of your favorite Butter London polishes? Off the top of my head, a few of my picks (other than Wallis) would be No More Waity, Katie, The Black Knight and Two-Fingered Salute.

OPI Color Paints Preview

You might remember that in my preview post for Essie's Silk Watercolor Collection, I said they reminded me of the very polarizing OPI Sheer Tints. Well, when I saw OPI's upcoming Color Paints and read the press release describing the polishes as "semi-translucent" and "blendable," I immediately thought, "Sheer Tints-Mark II." But I've seen a couple swatches floating around that make it look like these might be more like jellies that are more buildable than the Sheer Tints (which I personally hated).

There are eight colors and one base shade, a silver chrome. Let's check 'em out!

Silver Canvas 

Magenta Muse

 

Primary Yellow

Chromatic Orange

Indigo Motif

Purple Perspective

 

Pen & Pink

 

Turquoise Aesthetic

Landscape Artist

Since these are apparently the more opaque big sisters of the Sheer Tints, I could actually see myself wearing some of these. I do like a good jelly, so long as it covers any VNL!

These are dropping in May--which is only a week away! (Can you believe it?!) Are you willing to give the Color Paints a shot? Which summer collections are you looking forward to most? I think for me, it's Essie's!

OPI Infinite Shine: Review & Swatches

As promised, I've got some thoughts on OPI's new Infinite Shine system to share with you guys today! This is OPI's long-wear, high-shine polish system that's marketed as an alternative to gel manis. There are three steps to Infinite Shine: base coat, polish and top coat.

I was curious as to whether or not I'd like the base and top coat, since OPI's regular ones are not my favorite. Their regular base is nice enough, but the top coat takes longer to dry than I would like. I was pleasantly surprised though that I really liked these! The base coat is very quick-drying and the top coat is reasonably fast as well. I liked the consistency of both and found them easy to work with. In my opinion, both are a step up from OPI's regular offerings.

The color I picked is From Here To Eternity, a really cute, warm-toned pink. It's a great, vibrant color for spring/summer. I would say one of my critiques of the Infinite Shine system is the color selection is still getting off the ground. The colors are pretty, but they're not super unique; polish aficionados will find they already own a lot of similar colors, either from OPI's regular line or other brands. Still, that's something that can be expanded upon over time and I did take quite a liking to From Here To Eternity. Here's how it looked after one day of wear.

As you can see, it's got a nice, sleek shine. I don't think it's quite as shiny as my current favorite, Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab, but it's still got that squishy look to it. This polish was very easy to apply, with a wonderful consistency. I used two coats here. As for the brush, it is just like the one you'll find with OPI's classic polishes.

Long wear is a huge part of what is supposed to set the Infinite Shine line apart and I wore this polish for an unprecedented one week to really put it to the test! To ensure the longest wear possible, I capped my tips after each step: base, color and top coat. And I'm pleased to say it held up fabulously!

The only noticeable chipping I had was on my right hand, which is my dominant hand. My right index and ring fingers are my "problem nails" (Everyone has at least one, right?) so it didn't surprise me that they were the ones that chipped, because they hate everything.

Other than my manicure having "grown out" a bit, my left hand looked practically as good as it did on day one! There were no chips--not even visible tipwear--and as you can see, the shine was still in-tact. I was seriously impressed with how good everything looked--and I did not baby my hands and nails one bit!

So overall, I'm diggin' on OPI Infinite Shine. As I mentioned, the color selection could use a little work, but honestly I wear DL's Gel Lab with all kinds of polishes and I'm sure I'll mix n' match Infinite Shine the same way. It's too soon to say whether or not this will dethrone my beloved Gel Lab, but I can tell you that if you like OPI's regular polish, you will like Infinite Shine too! The price is pretty affordable ($12.50 per bottle, although you can also buy the base and top coat in a duo pack for $19.99, which is what I did) and the quality is excellent!

Have you tried Infinite Shine yet? What are your favorite products or tricks to get the longest wear out of your mani?

Essie Silk Watercolor Preview

Today I've got a somewhat puzzling new release on the horizon from Essie to share. It's puzzling in that some of the pre-release material I've seen says this is going to be a salon-exclusive release, while others reference it being available at all the usual Essie retailers. But either way, I figure it can't hurt to show 'em to you.

What we're talking about here is Essie Silk Watercolor, a collection of sheer polishes intended for creating watercolor-style nail art. It's one of the bigger collections Essie has had in a while, with eight brand new polishes. Let's take a look!

L to R: White Page, Muse Myself, Pen & Inky

L to R: Art New-Beau, Blush Stroke, Love Sheen

L to R: No Shrinking Violet, Point Of Blue, Highest Bidder

Source

These seem like the OPI Sheer Tints all over again. I'm not a fan of polishes like this, but I'm sure some of the nail art aficionados out there will be excited for these. I suppose it would make sense for these to be intended for salon use, since this type of polish is not something everyone is going to have a use for.

The collection launches this summer. I'll be sure to update this post when I come across more information on whether these will be receiving a public or salon-only release. If these are released "into the wild," so to speak, will you be getting any?

Twinsie Tuesday: Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns

Hey all, sorry I haven't been around for a couple days. I have been crazy busy over the past few days (I'm supposed to be on vacation, ironically enough) and I just haven't had the time to paint my nails. However, I have advantaged that opportunity to test out the new long-wearing OPI Infinite Shine system, so I'm excited to share my thoughts about that with you all--hopefully very soon!

As for TT today, I wanted to at least have something for to show, even if it's a re-post. But it's from a while ago, so I hope you all will forgive me! Our theme this week was scented polish and my pick from the archives, Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns, is not only a scented polish but a color-changing one too! Cinnamon Buns is one of my favorite Ruby Wing's. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of scented polish (strong fragrances give me headaches), but the cinnamon and vanilla scent on this one is not too overpowering.

Indoors and in low light, Cinnamon Buns is a beautiful bronze with rose and gold duochrome.

Then in direct sunlight, Cinnamon Buns becomes a deep gunmetal shade with hits of burgundy shimmer--super pretty!

I apologize again for the re-post. I should be back in proper swatching action soon!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Disclosure: This polish was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Barielle Glitter Mania Collection: Review & Swatches

Fellow glitter groupies, you've come to the right place, because today I've got five awesome new glitters from the Barielle Glitter Mania Collection to show you!

Up first we have Orange Flame, a clear base with medium metallic orange hexes. This one's really eye-catching and pops especially well over darker bases. This is one coat over OPI Road House Blues.

 

Confetti has medium matte hexes in a variety of colors: off-white, grey, black, blue and magenta. I have to say, I got a ton of compliments on this mani! Even strangers would comment on it and it seemed like everyone wanted to know "how I did it," so it was cool to be able to tell them it was just a glitter topper. My co-workers said my nails looked like a little garden. :) This is one coat of Confetti over Butter London Slapper. (As an aside, this is probably the closest I've ever come to a color-accurate photo of Slapper, which is a serious pain in the ass to capture on camera.)

Mermaid Fin is a mix of pastel blue hexes and silver holo micro-glitter. This is one of my favorites from the collection! It's very unique and that extra touch of sparkle from the holo is everything! Here's one coat over OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone Star.

Princess Pink is a mix of small and medium metallic pink hexes. This is sooo cute! I have to admit I wasn't too intrigued by it in the bottle, but it's so shamelessly girly on the nails that I couldn't help but love it. I thought it'd be fun to do a pink-on-pink layering for this one, so here is one coat over one of my very favorite pink cremes, Essie French Affair.

Gemstones is probably the most complex glitter of the bunch. It's got steel grey microglitter with small purple hexes and medium silver holo hexes. To give you a really obscure polish reference, this reminds me of a less opaque version of Studio M Firecracker. This is one coat over Essie Spun In Luxe.

Overall, this is a really solid collection. The formulas are all wonderful and as for the polishes themselves, I don't think there's a single clunker in the bunch! My favorites are Confetti and Mermaid Fin. What about you? :)

You can purchase Barielle from their website.


Disclosure: These polishes were provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Orly Adrenaline Rush Preview

Summer is almost here! It was actually warm enough for me to lie out a bit yesterday. I love to go out in the yard with a good book and read for an hour or two.

In addition to the sunshine, one thing we can look forward to this summer is plenty of bright polish. Neons are everywhere and Orly's summer collection, Adrenaline Rush, is no exception.

 

Source

These remind me quite a bit of last year's summer collection, Baked--which is fine, it was a pretty cool collection, but I'm just sayin'. Push The Limit and Fireball look nice enough to me. I might snag a couple shades from this collection if I can get a good deal, but I don't think there's anything here I'll personally be scrambling to get.

You can expect to see these in stores next month. Any you'll be picking up?

Twinsie Tuesday: Watercolor Nails

Just a quick post from me today. I'm writing this at about 1:00 in the morning (what can I say, I'm a massive procrastinator), so I'm pretty beat! We are supposed to do watercolor nails for Twinsie Tuesday this week, but I kinda-sorted-totally cheated and just used some Sally Hansen nail wraps I happened to have lying around. I picked these puppies up on clearance a while back and they fit perfectly with this challenge! The design is called Spot On.

If you've never tried Sally Hansen's nail wraps, I can't recommend them highly enough! They work just as well as more expensive ones I've tried before and they have so many fun designs. I love the spring colors in this one--super cute!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Born Pretty Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches

I've got some fun nail wraps from Born Pretty Store to show you today! This design, QJ-1040, features eyeballs on different colorful backgrounds.

It's kinda funky-looking, but I really like it! It's not the typical type of design you see on nail wraps or decals. I was bummed that the yellow one was too big for any of my nails; I think it's my favorite of all the different designs in this set.

The wraps were very easy to apply as well, with no creases or bubbling. You can wear them without top coat, but I put a little bit on, just to give my nails an extra layer of protection. I wore these wraps for four days and they held up very well. By the fourth day, I had small chips on two of my nails, but the wraps were still sturdily in place. I easily could have worn them for a few more days.

Born Pretty offers a ton of different nail wraps and virtually all of them I've tried have been excellent quality. I find the ones that have the silver stripe where you peel them off (like this design has) are the best, whereas the ones that look more like individual stickers can be a bit hit or miss.

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.