OPI Kitty White

OPI Kitty White is a mother of pearl shimmer. I'm normally not big on these types of shades, but I actually liked this one quite a bit! It's pretty alone, as you'll see below, but it also makes a nice base for layering (like in last week's Twinsie Tuesday post) or you could put it over top of another shade to add a dash of shimmer.

I kind of became obsessed with photographing this polish. I took swatch pics in a bunch of different lightings, so hopefully that will give you a very thorough idea of how this shade looks!

And then a pic with flash to finish things off. It's been a long time since I posted a swatch with flash but I thought it brought out the shimmer nicely.

 

As you'd probably expect with this type of shade, it's more on the sheer side. I wore three coats above and while that was not completely opaque, it was close enough that it didn't bother me. I was worried this would look frosty or brushstroke-y but it really doesn't, so that's a huge plus in my book!

Twinsie Tuesday: Grey and Gold

Kudos to whoever came up with this theme, because gold and grey is one of my favorite color combos! I kept this one pretty simple. I started with a grey base of Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements and added a sprinkling of holographic gold glitter with Nubar Gold Celebration.

I loooooove Chasing Pavements. Such a perfect grey! Not too much more to say on this one--like I said, it's simple, but hopefully pretty too. :)

Be sure to check out my fellow Twinsies' grey and gold manis today! I like these colors so much that I'm sure I'll be borrowing an idea or two of theirs for future manis!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Disclosure: The Nubar polish in this post was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Orly Pacific Coast Highway (Summer 2016) Preview

It seems a little early to be looking at summer polish, but I (and my wallet) always appreciate a look ahead! So today we'll be sneaking a peek at Orly's offering for the season, Pacific Coast Highway. The collection features six new shades.

 

 

L to R: Road Trippin, Summer Sunset, Put The Top Down, Scenic Route, Life's A Beach, Paradise Cove

 Source

Cute collection, right? The colors aren't a big departure from the usual fare for summer, but I do like the shades here. Scenic Route is calling to me in particular. 

I don't believe there is an official release date for this collection yet, but my completely uninformed guess would be May. 

OPI Small + Cute = Heart

OPI Small + Cute = <3 (I had to spell it out above to get Blogger to accept the HTML tag for this post, but the name is in fact stylized as <3 rather than the word.) is the most adorable shade of ballerina pink. It reminds me a little bit of one of my very favorite OPI pinks, Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj Collection. Pink Friday is a lot more warm-toned, but they have this same kind of softness to them that I really like.

The formula is pretty nice for a pastel. It self-levels well and isn't too streaky. I used three coats for this mani. I apologize for the messy painting on my pinky. I had some polish peel around my cuticle line there.

I liked this one more than I expected to. Just like the name says, it's really cute! I think it'd make a great base for glitter too.

OPI Super Cute In Pink

We're continuing our journey through the OPI Hello Kitty Collection today with Super Cute in Pink, a magenta crelly. This shade is extremely similar to one of my favorite (and oldest--seriously, it's one of the first polishes I ever swatched here) Essie colors, Splash of Grenadine. I would go so far as to say that if you have one, you don't really need the other unless you're a huge fan of this type of shade.

For some reason, this photographed a little too pink on my nails. It pulls slightly more purple in real life. What you see in the bottle in the pictures above is more true-to-life. The formula here is a smidge sheer, since this is a crelly, but still reaches opacity in three coats.

Twinsie Tuesday: Shattered Glass

I'll admit, I had to look up what this technique was because I'd never heard of it before. But near as I can tell, a shattered glass mani involves large iridescent mylar flakes laid across the nail. The nearest thing I had in my collection to replicate this style with was Studio M Covered In Diamonds, which has a clear base filled with mylar pieces.

I like the way this polish looks but I don't wear it much because 1) it's a bitch to remove and 2) the mylar pieces are pretty jagged and easily get snagged on things. A thicker top coat is a must with this one. (I used Nubar Diamont.) My base was OPI Kitty White from the new Hello Kitty Collection.

This combination didn't come together quite as I envisioned it but it did make for an interesting pairing nonetheless. It has a cool, kind of opalescent look to it that like. It looks way more complex and multifaceted in person than my camera could pick up with all the colorful flakes. I had to layer up Covered With Diamobds to three coats to get it to stand out against the pearly white background of Kitty White, so my nails felt hella rough, but they looked sparkly and shiny so that's what truly counts. ;)

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Deborah Lippmann Afternoon Delight (Spring 2016) Preview

Deborah Lippmann's Spring 2016 collection is something a little different from the brand, as it marks the debut of colored polishes to DL's gel-alternative line, Gel Lab Pro. I'm not sure if this means all of Deborah Lippmann's future new releases will be part of this Gel Lab Pro deal or if it will branch off into an entirely separate "brand-within-a-brand" thing like OPI Infinite Shine, China Glaze EverGlaze, Orly Epix, Butter London Patent Shine, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel...the list goes on.

 Although Gel Lab is my all-time HG base and top coat, I must confess that I am getting a little sick of so many brands releasing entirely separate "gel-alternative" color lines. I am all about gel-alternative base and top coats--they're pretty much all I wear--but having a whole other line of special long-wear colors (that are usually more expensive than the regular polishes, too) meant to go along with them seems kind of unnecessary to me.

Anyways, I'll get off my nail polish soapbox now and show you the pretty colors, because that's what we're here for! :)

Top row, L to R: The Pleasure Principle, Peaches & Cream

Bottom row, L to R: Get Lucky, Dirty Little Secret

Despite my little rant against the proliferation of gel-alternative colors, I do have to admit DL has put together a super cute collection here. Peaches & Cream and Get Lucky are both calling to me. The moral here I guess is that beautiful nail polish makes hypocrites of us all. ;)

The other new talking point for this collection is the introduction of a re-designed brush tip. This one appears to be more rounded than DL's traditional rectangular one.

 Afternoon Delight is already available on the Deborah Lippmann website, individually or as a set for a discounted price.

So, what do we think? Like the collection? Gel-alternative polishes: can't get enough or cut it out? I will buy a gel-alternative polish here and there strictly if I like the color itself, but otherwise, I don't feel compelled to buy replacements for existing shades I have from "regular" lines or anything to that extent.