Twinsie Tuesday: Marching Orders - Take 2

First thing's first for this week's Twinsie Tuesday post: We've got some brand new ladies joining our group--Amber, Heather and Róisín--so I want to give a big TT welcome to our newest Twinsies! :) I do hope you'll stop by their blogs and get to know these fabulous bloggers better, if you don't know them already!

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a favorite of ours and one we've done before: Marching Orders! For this theme, we are randomly paired up with another Twinsie and we assign each other a mani challenge. It can be anything, from a specific design to a general inspiration, so it's a lot of fun since you never know what you're going to get!

For this go-around of Marching Orders, I was paired with the fabulous Maribeth of Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!, who tasked me with doing a mani inspired by a food. I thought a fruit mani would be a fun idea to try out, so I did some looking around and came across this apple-inspired mani tutorial, which I used as my guide.

I'm extremely proud of how this turned out! I did this mani freehand, using a dotting tool for details like the stem, leaf and seeds. (Originally, I thought the seeds were supposed to be little cutesy cartoon eyes for the apple and didn't realize they were actually seeds until I was about halfway through this mani. *rolls eyes* I was having a blonde moment.) It was a lot of fun to do and wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be! Here's a complete list of all the polishes I used for this mani, in case you're curious:

OPI My Vampire Is Buff (base), Orly Green Apple (green part of apple--naturally), Lime Crime Crema de Limon (yellow part of apple), Illamasqua Scorch (shiny spot), OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (apple stem and seeds), Sinful Colors Exotic Green (apple leaf)

Be sure to take a look at what all of my Twinsies are up to this week as well!

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

Katherine at Haul of Fame

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

Zoya Stevie

Zoya Stevie is a lavender textured polish with silver sparkle. I received this polish as a birthday gift from my friend Maribeth! :) Stevie is part of Zoya's latest round of PixieDust polishes for summer, as well as the first PixieDust polish I've worn. I'm already a huge fan of OPI's Liquid Sand so I was really looking forward to seeing how Zoya's take on the textured trend compared and I'm happy to say I love PixieDust just as much!

Compared to Liquid Sand, I'd say Pixie Dust has a finer grit to it. It looks and feels a lot like you've rolled your nails in sugar. I don't find the texture as rough or bumpy as Liquid Sand, so if you're still a bit apprehensive about the idea of textured polish, PixieDust would make for a nice introduction. PixieDust is also just as long-lasting on me as the Liquid Sand polishes are. I can wear these textured shades for days with no signs of tipwear or chipping, no matter what amount of stress and strain I put my hands through! The swatches you see above were taken after three days of wear and my mani still looks freshly applied. I love that!

As for Stevie herself, she's absolutely beautiful! There aren't a whole lot of pastel shades of textured polish out there yet, which is what made her stick out for me. The formula is sublime and covers completely in two coats. If you're a fan of purples, you'll definitely want to check Stevie out!

Have you tried any PixieDusts yet? If so, what are some of your favorite shades?

Naild'It Olympic Flame

Okay, so obviously I'm a little (more like a lot) late to the party on this one, since the Olympics have long since come and gone. But pretty is pretty, no matter what the time of year, so I think Naild'It Olympic Flame is still worth showing off! This poor polish has been sitting in my untrieds for long enough and it's a shame I took so long to take it for a test run, because it really is beautiful!

Olympic Flame has a clear base loaded with gold and silver glitter, along with splashes of orange, red, yellow green and purple in a variety of shapes and sizes. This is one coat over Precision Sandstorm.

There are heart and star-shaped glitters in this polish, but I didn't pull up any during this particular mani. I didn't fish around for any of them though. Other than the elusiveness of some of the bigger glitter pieces, the formula is excellent. Olympic Flame is a super fun polish and I love the little matte pops of color throughout!

You can purchase Naild'It on Etsy. (Their Etsy store is on vacation at the moment, but you can still see a list of all of other places you can shop for Naild'It in the meantime.)

Precision Nail Lacquer Oasis Collection: Review & Swatches

Precision Nail Lacquer has been in the business for over 25 years, but I'd never had the chance to try out any of their polishes before. The brand is available in select salons and beauty suppliers, but probably the easiest way to purchase Precision polishes is from their online store. They retail for $5.95 and each bottle contians 0.55 oz, so you get a good bang for your buck. Their line is also three-free.

I was very intrigued to try out one of their newest collections, The Oasis Collection! The collection features six polishes that capture the feel of the desert sands, as well as the plants and wildlife that call them home! It's a fun idea for a collection and I think the colors are really spot on. So without further ado...

Been There Dune That is a taupe creme. This is an excellent, classic neutral shade that I think would look great on just about anybody. Love it! This is two coats.

Sandstorm is a sandy beige. It starts off a bit sheer but builds up to opacity in three coats.

You're In De-Nile River is a deep greige creme. It's very much in the vein of OPI's classic shade, You Don't Know Jacques, although I think De-Nile has more of a brown slant to it than Jacques does. Either way, it's an awesome color! I can never get enough of shades like this. I used three coats here.

Sahara Deserted Me is a taupe creme that leans pink. It's an odd color to describe and to be honest, I wasn't sure it was going to look good on me when I first saw it in the bottle. But it actually looked a lot better on than I expected it to! It kinda reminds me of hot cocoa mix and I tend to like most things that remind me of food, especially desserts! ;) This is three coats.

Sage is a muted sage green with a haze of silver shimmer cast over it. This is, without a doubt, my favorite of the collection. It is just too perfect!! The shimmer is on the subtle side, yet it still adds so much to this polish. All of the polishes in this collection have good formulas, but Sage's was one of the best, covering in just two coats.

Scorpion King is a deep grey with red and silver shimmer. I gotta say, this polish is totally badass, from the name to the look. It's got an amazing gunmetal look and feel to it! The formula is divine and completely opaque in two coats.

I'm very impressed by this collection and there wasn't really a single shade I didn't like, but my favorites are Sage, Scorpion King and Been There Dune That! There's a great variety of shades and finishes here, so there's something for virtually everyone and the colors could work across a variety of seasons. The whole collection is beautifully done and the formulas are all top-notch too!

Which of these shades is YOUR favorite? Do you own any Precision polishes already?


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

Pahlish Body Electric

Body Electric may just be my favorite polish yet from Pahlish's Coney Island Queen Collection! It's a beautiful robin's egg blue spangled with purple glitter and holographic pieces. I love the base color and the bits of purple look stunning against it! This polish has such a lovely, calming look to it. I'm seriously in love!

I used two coats here and this polish applies just as beautifully as it looks. I don't have too much more to add about Body Electric, other than that it's pretty much perfect!

You can purchase Pahlish on Etsy.

Essie The More The Merrier

Essie The More The Merrier is a chartreuse creme from the brand's new summer collection. I am always drawn to these types of swampy greens and I couldn't resist this one, even though I have a few others like it in my stash. I knew from the second I saw the preview pics that The More The Merrier would be coming home with me, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped for no dupes!

The formula is excellent and covers in two coats. It's a really fun color for summer but maybe not one that's for everyone. I like how funky it is though!

For those of you on dupe patrol, here's what I found based on what I have in my own stash: OPI Did It On 'Em is brighter and more yellow than The More The Merrier, which has more green to it. OPI Who The Shrek Are You is darker and also has more distinct yellow undertones. They are certainly all in the same family, but not exact dupes. If you aren't normally drawn to this type of color, having one in your stash is probably sufficient, but if you collect these swampy shades, there may be enough of a difference here for you to snatch this one up. After all, the more the merrier, right? ;) ...Ugh, I'm sorry, I had to!!

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired By Another Blogger

This week's Twinsie Tuesday challenged us to come up with a mani inspired by another blogger. Of course, there are so many amazing nail bloggers out there that I had a lot of source material to choose from! But as I was trying to come up with some ideas, I remembered this awesome mani I'd seen on Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous a while back. I was struck by how bright and fun it was and always wanted to try and replicate it, so this challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally do it!

Amy's mani is a jelly sandwich of Spoiled by Wet N Wild Did I Dye It Too Blonde? and Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday. For my mani, I also used Did I Dye It Too Blonde? (over Illamasqua Scorch, a white creme, for my base) and then substituted OPI Rainbow Connection for Happy Birthday. I think it turned out to be a really eye-catching summer look, although probably not a mani that will suit everyone's tastes. This is definitely a combination that will get your nails noticed!

Amy's original mani didn't use a white base, but I used one to help amp up the base color and also because my bottle of Did I Dye It Too Blonde? has a seriously gnarly formula plus some crooked brush bristles, so it's a pain in the butt to work with. I'm kinda bummed that the white base took away some of the squishiness that the original mani has, but hopefully the inspiration from Amy's mani still comes across!

I can't wait to see which bloggers and manis my fellow Twinsies used for their inspirations today! Do you ever try to replicate looks you see on nail blogs?

Amanda at Amandalandish

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

Katherine at Haul of Fame

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

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra