Twinsie Tuesday: OPI The Impossible

Our theme for this week's Twinsie Tuesday features arguably the hottest trend in polish today: textured polish! I personally am a big fan of textured polishes, especially sparkly ones like OPI's Liquid Sand. The Impossible, a glittery red complete with star glitter, is one of OPI's original Liquid Sands, released with the Mariah Carey Collection earlier this year.

The formula is excellent and delivers complete opacity in two coats. My one main complaint though is that the star glitter tends to hang around the bottom of the bottle. The first time I wore this polish, I was determined to get at least one star and I really had to fish for it. But this time around, I got two without even trying, so it's kind of a crap shoot. Also, I love the stars, but I can never get them to lie completely flat on my nail! The corners always snag on stuff and it drives me a bit nuts. :-/ This is more of a complaint about star glitter in general though rather than an isolated issue with this specific polish.

That being said, this polish is very pretty and a prime example of why I think Liquid Sand are some of the best textured polishes currently on the market. I would say the best, but after recently trying out Zoya's PixieDust, it would be too tough for me to choose between the two!

What do you think of the whole textured trend? Whatever your feelings, I do hope you'll check out what my fellow Twinsies are wearing on their nails today! :)

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

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra

OPI My Vampire Is Buff

OPI My Vampire Is Buff is a beautiful off-white creme from the recent Euro Centrale Collection. I received this as a birthday gift from my fellow Twinsie Kelly, who told me it was one of her favorite polishes. After wearing it myself, I can definitely see why! An off-white may not sound super exciting, but it's a surprisingly interesting, rich shade that makes even a girl like me, who's as pale and Irish as the day is long, look tan. I think it makes both a stellar base for nail art (I used it for just that purpose for last week's Twinsie Tuesday, in fact) or, as I hope my swatches will help convey, a gorgeous neutral to wear all on its own.

The formula is divine--smooth and not the least bit streaky--and covers in three coats. My Vampire Is Buff is a beautifully creamy shade that reminds me a lot of my beloved Lime Crime Milky Ways, another favorite off-white. Milky Ways may be a touch lighter, but the two polishes are definitely kissin' cousins, if not absolute dupes. The color is an excellent alternative for layering or nail art when you don't want something as stark as true white, but still need a clean, crisp base color.

Azature Pink

You may know the name Azature from when the fine jewelry brand launched its polish line last August with one hell of an introduction: the world's most expensive nail polish, priced at $250,000 and infused with over 267 carats of black diamonds. But for those of us who, y'know, can't afford to drop a quarter of a million dollars on a bottle of nail polish, Azature has released a more affordable take on its signature diamond polish. 

The initial launch features 13 polishes and will expand from there. Each bottle contains one real black diamond and retails for $25. The bottle itself contains 0.5 oz of polish and the presentation is suitably luxurious. I love how the bottle is faceted just like a cut diamond.

I got to try out Azature Pink, inspired by the flirtatious pink diamond. It's a sparkling shade of baby pink that packs some serious bling, as of course you would expect from a diamond-infused polish! Azature Pink strikes me as something Lorelei Lee, Marilyn Monroe's character in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," would wear. It's youthful, fun and ultra feminine!

The formula is excellent and goes on very smoothly. I used two coats here. The sparkle in Azature Pink is really amazing and it catches the light at all angles, giving the polish this beautiful twinkle even in low light. [Insert obligatory "shine bright like a diamond" reference here.]

There's no doubt that this polish is a luxury item and the price is more than most polishes out there--but hey, it's still cheaper than Chanel! If you do choose to indulge though, the quality is certainly there. It looks and applies like a good high-end polish should. Plus, how many girls can say they're wearing diamonds on their nails? ;)

You can purchase Azature from their website.


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

Essie Naughty Nautical

Essie Naughty Nautical is a bright teal with soft silver shimmer. The base color reminds me a lot of Butter London Slapper, except of course Naughty Nautical has shimmer, whereas Slapper is a creme. The shimmer in Naughty Nautical is more on the subtle side, but it's clearly visible and looks the same as in the bottle. I am so happy that this new summer collection doesn't have any of Essie's notorious "vanishing shimmer" issues! (Anyone else remember shades like To Buy Or Not To Buy or Bikini So Teeny, where they have this mouth-watering shimmer in the bottle but practically look like cremes on the nail? Frustrating!)

The formula is outstanding and covers in two coats. This is a delicious shade of teal for summertime and I'm thrilled to see Essie doing a collection with some serious color! Essie already has plenty of classic neutrals and sheers in their core line, so here's hoping we'll be seeing a lot more brights in their seasonal collections!

I liked this color so much that I used it as inspiration for my make-up that day. It goes perfectly with my Illamasqua Apocalips lipstick! Who says matching lips and tips have to be old school? ;)

Nailed Swatch Gallery

I've put together a swatch gallery of sorts over on Nailed's Facebook page. My old computer bit the dust a while back so I don't have the original files for most of my early swatches (this is more of a blessing, really, because a lot them were terrible) and I'm also missing some stuff that I uploaded on my parents' computer at home, which I may be able to try and upload at a later date. So it's not everything I've ever swatched but there's still tons of polish goodness to browse through!

I'll be keeping this, along with the rest of Nailed's Facebook page, updated on a daily basis as best I can, so if you ever want to look at my latest swatches without all the extra babbling, you can always check them out on Facebook. :)

Rainbow Honey The Summer of 199X Collection: Review & Swatches

Featuring 10 new colors inspired by the SNES classic "Earthbound," Rainbow Honey's latest collection, The Summer of 199X, continues the brand's love affair with bright colors, sparkling shimmers and unique inspirations. I've mentioned on here many times that Rainbow Honey is one of my very favorite indie brands, so I'm thrilled to be able to share a special RH treat with you today: three of the polishes from the new collection!

Tessie is a beautiful periwinkle shade with iridescent blue and purple shimmer. The base color is stunning but it's the shimmer in this one that really gets me. It's like it has a life of its own! I did both a shot in shade and full sunlight so you could see it in different lighting.

Apple Kid is proof positive that pink polish doesn't need to be boring! It's a vivid, sizzling magenta with a beautiful glassfleck shimmer that flashes in light. It really is a stunning polish and definitely one of my new favorite pinks!

Magic Cake is another one of Rainbow Honey's signature glitter toppers. This neon explosion of silver microflecks and matte glitters in hot pink, electric blue and lime green is so much fun! It's like funfetti cake on acid. Here's how Magic Cake looks over Apple Kid. I think they work perfectly together!

Tessie and Apple Kid are both two coaters, while I only used one for Magic Cake. I love all three polishes--no surprise there--and can't wait to grab some more of the shades from this collection once it launches! I have yet to get a single polish from Rainbow Honey that I didn't absolutely love and these beauties are no exception. The quality and the fun, imaginative colors from this brand never fail to wow me!

You have lots of different options for purchasing The Summer of 199X Collection. The collection will be available in a complete set of all 10 polishes in both mini and full sizes ($40 for the mini set, $90 for the full-size set). Or the collection is also available in two parts ("shimmery glitters" or "creme and glitter toppers") in full and mini sizes for $45 or $20, respectively. Of course, you can always purchase them individually in full sizes as well for $10 each.

There'll be an exclusive 24-hour pre-sale for Rainbow Honey customers tonight at 12:01 a.m. on their official website, with a wide release to follow on the 21st! For more info on the release and to see the rest of this fabulous collection, be sure to check out Rainbow Honey's Facebook page!


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

Nicole by OPI Tink Preview

This summer, NOPI will be releasing six new shades inspired by everyone's favorite feisty fairy (say that three times fast), Disney's Tinkerbell. The collection will be released on July 1st at select Walgreen's nationwide. Take a look!

Pixie Glitter

 

How Fairy Nice Of You!

 

Tink's in the Pink

 

Sweet on Pete

 

Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary

 

Half Charming/Half Alarming

I dunno. There are some pretty-looking shades here, but with the exception of maybe Sweet on Pete (reminds me of her outfit), none of these really say "Tinkerbell" to me. What about a midnight blue with silver shimmer for when Tink and Peter fly through the night sky? An iridescent shade for her wings or a golden glitter polish for her fairy dust? It just seems like kind of a missed opportunity to me and I don't see much connection between the character and the colors themselves. 

Remember Pixi's Tinkerbell-themed collection from a while back? I think that was a great example of a collection that captured the whimsy of the character (she's a fairy, after all) but still had grown-up appeal.

Do you see Tink in these shades? Does it matter to you if a collaboration takes direct inspiration and color queues from its namesake?