First Look: OPI New Orleans Spring 2016

Yep, already! It is just barely fall, but if you're like me, you hate to wait for new things, so here is a little sneak peek at OPI's Spring 2016 collection: New Orleans!

The pictures aren't the highest resolution, so it's tough to make any concreted judgments, but at least it gives us an idea on what the color palette potentially looks like. I've found these early leaks are generally quite reliable, but since none of this has come directly from OPI, take everything below with a grain of salt. That being said, take a look at these puppies and analyze away!!

 

 

Minis set, L to R: Got Myself into a Jam-balaya, Take a Right on Bourbon, I'm Soo Swamped!, Show Us Your Tips!

The only shades that have official names attached to them are the ones in the minis pack, which I've labelled for you guys. But the same site with these pictures had this list of names for the whole collection:

NL N51 Let Me Bayou a Drink

NL N52 Humidi-Tea
NL N53 Suzi Nails New Orleans
NL N54 I Manicure for Beads
NL N55 Spare Me a French Quarter?
NL N56 She’s a Bad Muffuletta!
NL N57 Got Myself into a Jam-balaya
NL N58 Crawfishin’ for a Compliment
NL N59 Take a Right on Bourbon
NL N60 I’m Sooo Swamped!
NL N61 Rich Girls & Po-Boys
NL N62 Show Us Your Tips!

One thing's for sure: I will be needing Show Us Your Tips!, because that's just my sense of humor. I'll wait to make a formal shopping list though until we've got some better shots of the bottles themselves. Judging by these pics though, the color palette doesn't look terribly far off from what we saw in the Hawaii Collection, does it?

You can expect to see these on shelves in late February or early March of next year. I'll share more in-depth preview pics as they become available!

Sally Hansen Gemincello

As a Gemini with a fondness for pastel yellow, Sally Hansen Gemincello was a must-have for me. Gemincello is a buttery yellow creme that came out in the Beachside Astrologer Collection earlier this year. I wore it with a dash of Urban Decay Goldmine as an accent nail, because I was craving some sparkle with this mani.

The formula is surprisingly non-streaky for a pastel, but it still needs three coats for complete opacity. There were some visible bubbles in the bottle and the consistency is on the thinner side, so make sure you give this one a good shake or roll before applying so those issues don't transfer over to the nail.

I will add that I was impressed with how nicely Goldmine applied, especially for a mini bottle. It's only the second UD polish I've tried, but I really like what I've seen from their polishes!

Jamberry Accent Nails: Review & Swatches

I've got a couple different manis to share with you guys today, all of them incorporating Jamberry nail appliques. Nine times out of ten, if I'm wearing nail wraps and someone comments on them, they will ask me if they're Jamberry, so they seem to be pretty well known. But if you're not familiar with Jamberry, they're kinda different from other nail wraps, so here's a quick crash course for you!

Jamberry is sold through individual consultants. This time around, mine was Maureen. She was super sweet and willing to help troubleshoot if I had any questions or application issues. Consultants offer their appliques through their own websites, which feature a TON of designs. Click HERE if you want to check out Maureen's.

The biggest difference between Jamberry and other nail wraps in that you have to heat the appliques.  After you peel them off the sheet, you have to expose them to heat for 3-5 seconds to make them more flexible. I always use my blow dryer and that works perfectly. Next, apply the wrap to your nail, trim and file the excess, then hit them with a little heat again to fully bond the wraps to the nail.

These are a little more time consuming to apply than traditional wraps, since you have to involve a heat source, but I've found them to be extremely sturdy on the nail so taking a little extra time with them typically equates to long, worry-free wear. I also like that if you get a crease or a bubble when applying, you can smooth it out with a little patience and an extra blast from the blow dryer. To remove, soak them in acetone for 30 seconds to break down the adhesive, then gently peel them off.

Maureen sent me a selection of different Jamberry accent nails to play around with. These little sheets feature six different wraps, each with a different design, so that you can see what patterns you like and get a feel for how Jamberry wears and applies. I'm obsessed with nail wraps, but I've never tried them as accent nails. Here's a couple quick and easy combinations I came up with using these designs!

Grey: Barielle Feathered Slippers

Green: Essie Chillato

Red: Barielle Blushing Beauty

There's a bit of a learning curve with Jamberry, but I've found I can get the hang of it pretty quickly. It's been a while since I used any Jamberry wraps, so my first attempt (the flower wrap with Barielle Feathered Slippers) wasn't perfectly smooth, but this was due to user error rather than a flaw with the product. After that though, I got back in the groove and didn't have any issues applying the rest of the wraps.

My favorite of these was the overlay wrap I wore over Essie Chillato. I believe the name of this design is Island Energy. It adhered really well to the polish already on my nail and added a fun bit of depth to my existing manicure.

Have you tried anything from Jamberry before? I'd love to hear how what your experience with them was like in the comments!


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

Twinsie Tuesday: Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

This week's TT theme is ocean-inspired and everyone knows the best thing about the ocean is mermaids, so what better reason to wear one of my all-time favorite polishes, the legendary Mermaid's Dream by Deborah Lippmann! Aside from the name, the colors in Mermaid's Dream also bring the ocean to mind. This ethereal blend of teal, gold and blue glitter slays me every time I wear it!

I feel like Mermaid's Dream truly shines in outdoor lighting, but I painted my nails at night, so I didn't have an outdoor shots this time around. But if you want to see it in its full glory, you can do so by checking out my original review HERE. The fact that post is over three years old is blowing my mind right now, but I digress...

I love how luxe and multi-faceted this polish is. There's a lot going on here and it's all good. The colors are the perfect mix of cohesion and contrast. The formula is equally on point, covering in three easy coats. If you buy just one Lippmann polish in your life, Mermaid's Dream gets my vote!

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

Essie Chillato

Hey all! Hope you had a good weekend and that you are keeping cool. Our air conditioner decided to break a couple days ago and we are still waiting for it go get fixed, so we are really sweating it here! :-/ Earlier today, we decided to go grab some fresh lemonade to cool off and my polish was almost the exact same color as the lemonade! I'm a dork, so I get excited over stuff like that.

Then here it is, sans lemonade:

Chillato is a really interesting color. I guess I'd described it as a yellow-based pastel green creme. It's pretty unique. The closest polish to it that I have is probably Deborah Lippmann Almost Paradise, but even that is visibly less yellow.

When applying, I had to be careful not to overload my brush, as Chillato does tend to pool around the cuticles. I wouldn't describe it as runny, but it's something I had to be mindful of. Overall though, it's got a nice enough formula that's not too streaky for a pastel. Above is three coats.

What are you drinking today? Other than the lemonade, I've become completely obsessed with Naked and Odwalla brand fruit juice smoothies, so I'm downing a ton of those lately to help keep cool! The fact that they're crazy yummy doesn't hurt either!

First Look: Essie Luxeffects 2015

In what's becoming something of a winter tradition, Essie is bringing back Luxeffects again this year. But don't get too excited--this latest batch seemingly features only one new polish: a pewter bar glitter called Fringe Factor.

The rest of the promo pictures floating around the net about this collection are super grainy-looking, but from what I can tell, the other shades are all re-promotes from past Luxeffects collections: Rock At The Top, Set In Stones and A Cut Above. Stroke Of Brilliance might also be in there? Again, this is just my best guess from looking at the picture and none of this info has been officially confirmed by Essie.

And then I've included one of the blurry pics here so we can all speculate together!

 

Source 

Honestly, I feel like each subsequent Luxeffects release has been increasingly underwhelming. We've gotten one new shade each in the 2014 and now 2015 collections. I don't mind re-promotes when they're polishes that are rare or were only available for a short time, but all of these other Luxeffects are still readily available in-store. The original Luxeffects Collection was beloved by many (including me), but we've been missing those standout polishes like Shine of the Times in these follow-ups. Just my two cents!

I'll have more info for you guys as soon as it's available!

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired By A Flag

The Twinsies are back after our month-long hiatus with manis inspired by a flag! I put together a couple different glitters to create a mani inspired by the US stars and stripes. I'll basically use any excuse to wear star glitter. ;) It came out looking a little too "4th of July" for fall, but for what it is, I think it's pretty cute. I'd like to revisit the idea of glitter Skittles in the future.

White nail: OPI Snow Globetrotter over LOOK Broad Stripes Bright Stars
Blue nails: China Glaze Frostbite over Lynnderella The Stars In Her Eyes...
Red nails: China Glaze Ruby Pumps

It feels good to be back! I'm looking forward to another round of fun challenges with everyone!

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