Captain America: The Winter Soldier Nails

To celebrate today's release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I decided to do some Cap-inspired nail art! I've mentioned on here a few times that I'm a fan of comics but Cap wasn't a character I really warmed to until I read Ed Brubaker's Captain America run, which is all kinds of awesome. And it just so happens that The Winter Soldier is based on a story arc from Brubaker's time on the Captain America comic, so I'm very excited to see the movie!

Anyways, back to the nails! Cap is sporting a new uniform in the movie but I decided to draw some inspiration from his classic duds for this mani--and of course, I couldn't leave out the shield!

Blue: OPI Dating A Royal
Red: OPI Over And Over A-Gwen
White: Sally Hansen nail striper

I know it might not look like much, but this was way outside of my personal comfort zone! While it's not perfect, I'm still very proud of it! I free-handed this mani using some nail art brushes from Born Pretty (review coming soon) and one striper polish for the white bits. The stars were definitely the hardest part and I'm not 100% pleased with how they came out, but I'll take it.

For my right hand, I knew I wouldn't be able to replicate the same design using my non-dominant hand, so I kept things much simpler and did a design inspired by the character of the Winter Soldier. Sorry for the one nubbin nail. I'm refusing to cut the rest of my nails to match when they're all long and happy right now.

Black: OPI 4 In The Morning
Silver: OPI Push And Shove, plus a little silver glitter from an Art Club nail striper
Red: OPI Over And Over A-Gwen

I hope you enjoyed my Cap nails! I'm not gonna promise that I'll suddenly start doing a ton of nail art but this mani was definitely fun to create and wow, having actual nail art brushes makes it so much easier to draw things! Haha, who knew, right? ;)

 Do you plan on seeing The Winter Soldier? Or if you've seen it already, what did you think?

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired By Your Purse

I'll admit it: I'm pretty much lost without my purse. It's got my make-up, my phone, usually some kind of snack (I almost always skip breakfast--I know, I know, it's bad)...all those little essentials that help get me through the day--to say nothing of my debit card, ID, etc. I own at least a dozen purses in all, so this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is right up my alley: a manicure inspired by your purse!

One of my very favorites purses is my green L.A.M.B. clutch. I love the pattern and the zipper accents!

L.A.M.B. is Gwent Stefani's line and as I'm sure most of you know, she teamed up with OPI earlier this year, so I just had to use some of the Gwen Stefani polishes for this mani! Here's what I came up with:

Black: OPI 4 In The Morning
Silver: OPI Push And Shove
Gold: OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Green: China Glaze Running In Circles
Yellow: Deborah Lippmann Walking On Sunshine
Studs: OPI Over And Over A-Gwen Set

This was one of those manis where I couldn't just leave it be. I even took off some extra striping and nail studs because it was starting to look a little too busy. But after so much time adding and altering things, I finally forced myself to be done with it and leave well enough alone. The chevron could stand to be a little neater but experience has taught me that the more I try to "fix" nail art, the higher the likelihood that I'll completely ruin it and have to start over hahaha.

All in all though, I think this mani matches my purse pretty well! Hopefully the inspiration came through in the finished product. :) Be sure to see what my Twinsies cooked up to go with their bags!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

OPI 4 In The Morning

OPI 4 In The Morning is a midnight black with a satin finish that mimics the look of rich leather. This wound up being a surprise favorite of mine from the Gwen Stefani Collection. I rarely wear black polish nowadays, unless it's as a base for glitter, but the satin finish really won me over! To me, there's something very elegant about this polish.

The formula is excellent and covered in two coats. I was very impressed by the wear time on this polish as well. I wore it for four days with zero chips! That's especially impressive when you take into account that I skipped topcoat in order to preserve the satin finish. When you put topcoat over 4 In The Morning, it just kinda looks like plain black and you really lose what makes this polish so special.

Perhaps more than any other polish in the Gwen Stefani Collection, I think 4 In The Morning really encapsulates Gwen's signature mix of punk and high-fashion. This isn't the same black polish you wore in your faux rebellious high school years. (Maybe that's just me.) The satin finish transforms this polish into something much more sophisticated, but it still maintains a bit of an edge too.

Deborah Lippmann Pseudo Silk Kimono

I may not be the biggest matte fan but I am really digging some of these satin polishes we've been seeing more of lately. One of my favorites I've tried so far is Deborah Lippmann Pseudo Silk Kimono, a crisp white satin from the Silk Collection. It's definitely a striking shade that will attract plenty of attention to your nails! Very "white wedding," no?

I've found the formula on DL's silk polishes can be a little frustrating at times. You have to be very mindful of where you place your brushstrokes, as this finish tends to show every line and seam, plus it doesn't self-level especially well. But once you get it right, man, does it look cool! It really does seem like you've coated your nails in liquid silk. Satins also wear much better on me than traditional mattes do, which tend to chip quickly in my experience. I'm wearing four coats here, sans topcoat.

White polish has become something of a trend lately. I'm not sure I'd ever wear a white creme on its own but I absolutely love the unique look of Pseudo Silk Kimono. It just looks so soft and clean.

Would you wear white polish?

Born Pretty Leopard Pattern Water Decals: Review & Swatches

I've got another review of Born Pretty Store's water decals for you today! I can't get enough of these things. There are so many cute designs to pick from and they make it so easy to create awesome nail art--just wet 'em, stick 'em on and go!

I love me some leopard print, so this time around, I was drawn to this fun set of animal print decals, which you can see HERE on Born Pretty's website. There's lots of different animal-themed decals on this little sheet and I decided to do a manicure with some of the leopard and zebra print decal stripes. I paired the decals with Deborah Lippmann Break 4 Love as my base and used OPI 4 In The Morning and OPI Push And Shove for some accent work.

I've used Born Pretty's water decals countless times and this was the first set that ever gave me any type of trouble. I don't know what it was, but these just did not want to stick to my nail. I originally wanted to use the leopard print hearts on this sheet for my Twinsie Tuesday Valentine's manicure, but I could not get them to lie flat or stay put on the nail. They kept curling and when I tried to just cover them in topcoat to get them to stay on, the silver lining around the hearts started to crinkle and sort of come apart. It was a strange effect and something I had never experienced before with water decals.

After struggling to apply three of the hearts, I abandoned the mani altogether and did the one you see above instead. Maybe there is some type of different component to the metallic parts of the decals that doesn't get along with topcoat and makes these harder to stick to the nail? I really am not sure. :-/

These weren't a total wash--after a few wrecked decals with my first manicure and a little babying with the second, I did get them to stay put and they do look pretty once they're on--but they didn't have the quick, no hassle application I'm used to with Born Pretty's decals. While I absolutely love their water decals in general, this particular set wasn't 100% up to par.

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

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

Loki-Inspired Nails

So I've mentioned it a time or two on here but in addition to nail polish, one of my other big interests is comics. I'm mostly a Marvel kind o' gal and today's mani is inspired by one of their most popular villains, Loki. Loki experienced a huge boost in popularity following the character's prominent role in the Thor movies and The Avengers film, where he is played by British actor Tom Hiddleston.

I'm not really a fan of Thor himself, because I don't find him particularly compelling as a character, but Hiddleston's on-screen portrayal and Kieron Gillen's work with the character in the "Journey Into Mystery" and "Young Avengers" comics made me take an interest in Loki. I also blame my inner reformed mall goth, which has a deep and abiding love for anti-heroes.

Anywho, the point of this digression is that I decided to putz around and do some Loki-inspired nails. Loki's signature colors are green and gold, so I incorporated those two shades into a ruffian mani, with added black accent nails as a nod to Loki's look in the comics, where, in more recent years, he has been shown wearing black nail polish.

I started with a base of Azature Gold Diamond, then used Butter London British Racing Green. For my accent nail, I used OPI 4 In The Morning. This was only my second time trying a ruffian mani, but I think it is already worlds better than my first one! I hope you enjoyed my dorky nails today! :)

OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is a warm-toned gold in a satin finish. If you remember This Gown Needs A Crown from the 2013 Miss Universe Collection, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is more or less a gold version of that polish. I really love the satin finish and am excited to see OPI exploring it more with the Gwen Stefani Collection. I'm not all that big on matte polishes, so I like that the satin finish isn't quite matte. I've seen several other reviewers liken the finish to frosted glass and I think that's a very spot-on comparison!

The formula applies very smoothly and spreads effortlessly across the nail. I used three coats here. The satin finish does have a tendency to accentuate any dents and dings on your nails. (Please excuse the little dent on my middle finger here! It wasn't visible in person and I only noticed it as I was going through photos after the fact.) But it's nowhere near as noticeable as it is with chromes, like Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'s collection mate, Push And Shove. The satin finish is designed to be worn sans topcoat, so I wore this polish without it. Topcoat would definitely bring out the sparkle in this polish more, but I think it would also take away a lot of what makes Love. Angel. Music. Baby. so unique and interesting.

I don't think this is the most flattering color on me personally, but I still like it in general and found myself staring at this polish a lot, admiring the satin finish. I am really finicky about golds because I have a hard time matching them with my skintone. But I think someone with a darker or more olive-based complexion would really rock this polish!

Twinsie Tuesday: OPI This Gown Needs A Crown

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme was to do a manicure inspired by weather. The weather here has been pretty crappy lately: all rain--and not cozy, curl up with a book rain, either. Instead, we get a whole week of depressing grey rains and awful winds. So I am looking forward to getting past this gross transitional weather and to some actual snow! Hence I had winter on the brain for this theme. My choice may not be the most literal one but hey, it's pretty so that counts for something, right? ;)

This Gown Needs A Crown, from this year's Miss Universe Collection, is a gleaming silver in OPI's new Satin finish, which is set to play a big role in their upcoming collaboration with Gwen Stefani. The satin texture of this polish and the way the light casts such a beautiful sheen across it reminds me of sunlight on freshly fallen snow. It's a perfect silver for wintertime!

The formula is excellent and applies very effortlessly. I used three coats here, although one or two nails needed four. The Satin finish is meant to be worn without a topcoat, so I skipped one for this mani. However, I did still use my regular basecoat and that did not seem to impact application at all. I thought the Satin finish would have a bit of grittiness to it, almost like a toned down Liquid Sand, but it is actually glassy smooth, even without any topcoat! I can't wait to try more Satin polishes!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Traci at DrinkCitra