Tag: opi

OPI Iceland Fall/Winter 2017 ~ Down To Earth

Caffeinated Cuticles

                                                                          *Provided for review
                                                                          *Picture heavy

Hi polish lovers! I hope your weekend went well 🙂 I had family dinner last night at the inlaws. Fajitas and apple upside down cake. Seriously fantastic ❤ Thankfully that stuff was amazing because my Cowboys were not… Really Dak? 17-42???? UGH! So, I liked sharing recipes in my post a few weeks ago. Click on the stuff I just mentioned and it will bring you to the recipes I use for my household!! We are now at the end of our OPI Iceland Fall/Winter 2017 collection. This last segment has the earth shades. The kind you always want and need in a good polish collection!
 The polishes have the signature OPI formula. Luxurious, opaque, and it practically paints itself. It is such a dream to work with. It stays where you put it, doesn’t drip all over the place, and it dries super fast. I actually had to use remover to take off some of these swatches lol! I think the Infinite Shine line of polishes dry much faster than their regular line. Every swatch is using the full 3 step system: 1) Primer 2) 2 coats of color 3) Gloss.
Icelanded A Bottle Of OPI is a perfect transition polish. You can go from fall to winter with this color easily! Its almost the color of a putty and will match absolutely anything. Great for nail art as well. For the art I used Turn On The Northern Lights and Winstonia stamping plate W403.

With flash

Oh I love this one so much! This Isn’t Greenland is a muted pastel grass green. I could never have too much of this color in my polish collection. Since it is a grassy color I added some mushrooms using That’s What Friends Are Thor and Winstonia stamping plate W110. I apologize for the inconsistency in the polish color. My camera did not like it very much 😦
 The macro picture is color accurate.

With flash

That’s What Friends Are Thor is a coffee brown. I think I may be starting to like brown polish! Maybe… a little. Art for this one is a smoosh mani using Check Out The Old Geysirs. These colors together are just so exquisite ❤ 

With flash

Krona-logical Order had me staring! I have never seen a blue toned brown. I don’t even know how to describe it! I promise you will understand when you see it for yourself. Even cooler is the fact that I stamped this with a very light color and it showed up soooo well! I used One Heckla Of A Color and Winstonia stamping plate W402.

With flash

Now that we have seen all 12 shades what do you think? I think you need them all! Just overall really wonderful polishes. I will be sharing my video swatches of these colors tomorrow!!  *I would like to thank OPI & Preen.Me for sending me this set for free in return for my review. As always, all thoughts are entirely my own! Have a great week everyone ❤ Thanks for stopping by! 



OPI Iceland Fall/Winter 2017 ~ Enamored With Pink

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                                                                       *Provided for review
                                                                       *Picture heavy


We are almost at the end of the week! Who’s excited?! I’m not lol. Friday is the new Monday in this house. So, for today, let’s enjoy some pink vibes. I will have 3 pinks, top coat, and base coat in this post. How are you liking the OPI Iceland Fall/Winter 2017 collection so far? I am LOVING it! They all stamp well and who doesn’t love a good crème polish? I was just telling my husband the other day that I needed some new brown cremes and earth type tones for nail art. This collection has exactly what I wanted and need in my collection! My next post will cover the earth tones so watch for that. For now let’s get to it!

 “They have the signature OPI formula. Luxurious, opaque, and it practically paints itself. It is such a dream to work with. It stays where you put it, doesn’t drip all over the place, and it dries super fast. I actually had to use remover to take off some of these swatches lol! I think the Infinite Shine line of polishes dry much faster than their regular line. Every swatch is using the full 3 step system: 1) Primer 2) 2 coats of color 3) Gloss.” All that in quotes was taken from my last post. It all applies here and it’s my weekend so I’m a tad lazy… my bad!
I want to start with I’ll Have A Gin & Techtonic. Mostly because it reminds me of my M-I-L ❤ She likes gin (in martinis) and this is just her type of color. She also has a passion for OPI and swears it’s the best. She bought me my first OPI‘s (Yodel Me On My Cell, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous), and I just love her in general! Such a versatile shade of pink.For the art I used Aurora Berry-alis and Bundle Monster stamping plate BM-S208.

with flash

Holy crow is this polish awesome. Aurora Berry-alis could easily be a 1 coater. It is so vibrant and girly. I did some double stamping for this one using I’ll Have A Gin & Techtonic and That’s What Friends Are Thor with a CICI & SISI stapming plate CIC&SISI04.

with flash

Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots is a velvety metallic that is magnificent. No issues with brush stokes in the polish whatsoever. This one will dry to a satin finish without top coat. For the art I used some clear nail vinyls in “chevron variety” from Polished Vino and the shade Suzi & The Arctic Fox.
with flash

I did not take actual bottle shots of the top coat and base coat because they are just clear. I do, however, have some thoughts on them. I feel a ridge filling base coat would really help. This base coat seems really thin, almost watery. Super quick drying though! The top coat is great, I think. It’s really hard to tell through the brush strokes. I think this fault lies in the brush. It’s pretty stiff for a top coat brush. I also have yet to get a top coat from the Infinite Shine line that hasn’t had a wonky brush. There are always at least two bristles poking in the most random directions. If it weren’t for the brush it would be good. Quick drying and shiny! Let me know below what your experiences have been like with this top coat! Also keep an eye out for the upcoming swatch video on YouTube that will correspond with these beauties. *I would like to thank OPI & Preen.Me for sending me this set for free in return for my review. As always, all thoughts are entirely my own! Have a wonderful day all you beautiful people!! xoxo

OPI Iceland Fall/Winter 2017 ~ A Gorgeous Case Of The Monday Blues

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                                                                      *Provided for review
                                                                      *Picture heavy

Hey guys! How was your weekend? As usual mine was way more uneventful than I would like to admit. The highlight? My Cowboys won!! Any who, today we will be looking at the blue and purple shades of the new OPI Iceland Collection.

Ok… so I forgot one in the first pic. Now you get 2 scenic pics! My father has a gorgeous yard so I went and did a nature photo shoot. I am going to do a quick summary of my experience with these then I will show the pics. I want to keep this short for you since there are quite a few pics.
 Four of these are cremes. They have the signature OPI formula. Luxurious, opaque, and it practically paints itself. It is such a dream to work with. It stays where you put it, doesn’t drip all over the place, and it dries super fast. I actually had to use remover to take off some of these swatches lol! I think the Infinite Shine line of polishes dry much faster than their regular line. The fifth polish is a crelly leaning jelly formula. All of the same characteristics just not as opaque. The coverage is splendid and will build up nicely. I will say that I would prefer better base and top coat. The brush marks from the top coat brush are not too nice. We will get into that in the next batch of polishes from this collection. Until then let get to these beauties. Every swatch is using the full 3 step system: 1) Primer 2) 2 coats of color 3) Gloss.
Starting with the purples we have One Heckla Of A Color. This one is a medium lavender color. Simple and stunning. I am always attracted to purple and blue polishes. For the nail art I used Suzi & The Arctic Fox to do a diagonal dry brush manicure.

With flash

Suzi & The Arctic Fox is super deceiving. I thought it was a deep, deep blue until I put it on my nails. I could live in this type of color. Seriously eye catching with the ways it can look blue or even brown sometimes. For the nail art I used Reykjavik Has All The Hot Spots and Polished Vino’s original clear nail vinyls in the “chevron variety”. 

With flash

Check Out The Old Geysirs is the first blue. No big deal. Just a sky blue with electric blue shimmer. Swoon. For the nail art I used Less Is Norse and CICI & SISI stamping plate #04.

With flash

I think this one is my favorite of the whole collection. Less Is Norse is a dark, dusty blue which doesn’t sound amazing but trust me when I say you need this! Nail art for this one is a watermarble using This Isn’t Greenland. As far as art goes, they stamp super well. Watermarble not so much. They dry too fast! I could barely get these done. Not worth the hassle.

With flash

Turn On The Northern Lights is the last polish for today. This one is a little bit more sheer than the rest but the shimmer makes it worth it. It’s close to the UP (unicorn pee) pigment everyone is freaking out about at the moment. The shimmer shifts from red to green to gold. Its just breathtaking. For the nail art I used Icelanded A Bottle Of OPI and Winstonia plate #W405.

With flash

I love this collection. It perfectly captures the upcoming seasons. I will be posting the rest of the collection in 2 more parts since it’s a large set. *I would like to thank OPI & Preen.Me for sending me this set for free in return for my review. As always, all thoughts are entirely my own!  So which of these is your favorite? Make sure you comment below and stay tuned for more to come!! Have a great week 🙂 





LevelUP Lacquer ~ Game Of Thrones Collection

Caffeinated Cuticles

                                                                          * Provided for review
                                                                          *Very picture heavy

          Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Are you superstitious? I am not. I have 2 Black kitties 🙂 I will admit though that today I just feel off. I think it is a full moon tonight as well…. So let’s make this night better with a little polish. LevelUP Lacquer has a Game Of Thrones collection that is available now! This collection is gorgeous. Flakies galore! I have a ton of pics for these polishes so I will get right to it.

          Song Of Fire is a iridescent flakie polish in a base with a strong pink shimmer. It has a wonderful formula. First I paired this with a similar color. It was very pretty but I prefer it over a dark color. I will show you both.

 

Song Of Fire bottle shot
 
2 coats of Song Of Fire over 2 coats of Caffeine Cure from Joy Lacquer with top coat

2 coats of Song Of Fire over 2 coats of Caffeine Cure from Joy Lacquer with matte top coat
 
1 coat of Song Of Fire over 2 coats of Guys & Galaxies from OPI with top coat

1 coat of Song Of Fire over 2 coats of Guys & Galaxies from OPI with matte top coat

 
 
Song Of Fire macro

Song Of Fire matte macro
 
 
 
Next is Song Of Ice. This is just like Song Of Fire but a different color. It is A iridescent flakie polish in a strong blue shimmer base. I also tried this over a similar base and a dark base. Again, I recommend the dark base.
 
Song Of Ice bottle shot

2 coats of Song Of Ice over Blue Crelly from Jolie Polish with top coat
 
2 coats of Song Of Ice over Blue Crelly from Jolie Polish with matte top coat
 
1 coat of Song Of Ice over 2 coats of Umpires Come Out At Night from OPI with top coat

1 coat of Song Of Ice over 2 coats of Umpires Come Out At Night from OPI with matte top coat

Song Of Ice macro

Song Of Ice matte macro
 
 
Queen Of Nothing is a dark grey polish with a very strong gold shimmer and iridescent flakies. The formula on this is just perfection! 2 smooth coats with top coat.
 
Queen Of Nothing bottle shot

2 coats of Queen Of Nothing with top coat
 
Queen Of Nothing macro

Queen Of Nothing matte macro
 
 
Lannister Gold is a super unique polish. It is an orangey gold color with gold and orange micro glitters and a strong gold shimmer. Great formula as usual 🙂 3 thin coats with top coat.
 
Lannister Gold bottle shot

3 coats of Lannister Gold with top coat

Lannister Gold macro
 
Narrow Sea is a beautiful polish with blue holo glitters and gold shimmer. The formula is just as amazing. This is such a blingy polish! I used 2 thin coats with top coat.
 
Narrow Sea bottle shot



2 coats of Narrow Sea with top coat
 
Narrow Sea macro
 
 
 
Lastly, but my favorite, is Melisandre. A deep cranberry red polish with holo, fuchsia shimmer and iridescent micro flakies. Ashley REALLY knows how to do a red polish ❤ This is 2 thin perfect buttery coats with top coat.
 
Melisandre bottle shot

2 coats of Melisandre with top coat

Melisandre macro
 
 
There is not 1 polish in this set that isn’t unique. In my opinion you just need them all! Which one is your favorite? I will leave the links below so you can go grab what you want! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
 
 
 
 
 
LevelUP Lacquer:: Shop:: Instagram:: Facebook:: Twitter::
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

OPI ~ Starlight Collection

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Hello friends 🙂 How is your night going? I am having the perfect night at my In-laws house! While they take some time away, my husband and I are house/dog sitting. I have a cocktail and a boxer by my side while my husband is playing video games next to the other boxer. Wait, weren’t we here for polish?!?! Sorry about that lol. I was sent 6 OPI polishes, for free, to swatch and play with from Preen.Me. I have never had such a wide range of feelings for any other collection. Some were amazing and some were… well, read on.
 
 
I Drive a SuperNova. This polish is your average metallic silver polish. For me, it left awful marks from the brush strokes. I had read other reviews where this is not the case. I also used 2 coats while another blogger used only 1. I do believe that, if you are careful, it could definitely be a 1 coater. I used my second coat to even out the steaks from the brush. And, just in case this could have affected anything, I used yellow stopper as my base and HKGirl topcoat.
 

 
 
This polish is called, Is This Star Taken? NO!!! I had such high hopes for this polish. In the bottle, it’s beautiful. I couldn’t get over the holo! Although I am not usually a bar glitter fan, I didn’t even care! Is This Star Taken? is a champagne type light gold foil polish loaded with tiny holographic bar glitters. First of all, glitter in any full coverage foil or metallic polish is just bad. The way the foil shows every flaw is bad enough with out showing chunky mounds of glitter! The glitters lost so much of their rainbow effect because of the coverage. The formula was also very streaky while chunky at the same time from the amounts of glitter. This polish was a total dud for me 😦 This is 2 coats with top coat.

 
 
Ce-less-tial Is More. This one shocked me! It did not have anything, anywhere, that said it was a textured polish! It ended up being my second favorite of the six. This polish is a pinky gold with tiny holo bits. Its gorgeous. As with the OPI Liquid Sand polishes, the texture is perfect. I used to think Zoya Pixie Dust’s were my favorite textures, but OPI wins hands down. Always even with great coverage. This is 2 coats without top coat.

 
 
No More Mr. Night Sky. This is a sheer, smokey, dark grey polish that leans purple with a very subtle aqua flash. I die. It is so deep and pretty. I used 3 thin coats and it built up nicely for the sheerness of the first coat. This is such a wonderful winter time polish. This swatch is with top coat.

Macro of No More Mr. Night Sky
 
 
Guys & Galaxies is a deep reddish with a touch of brown. I think oxblood would be a good way to describe this. It was the amazing, classic, perfect OPI crème formula. 2 thin coats, that evened themselves out beautifully, with top coat. The one and only down side to this polish is the cuticle staining. Use caution when applying and removing or you will find out what I mean!

 
 
I saved the best for last. This is Ro-Man-ce On The Moon. This is 2 coats with top coat. As with all metallic polishes, be thoughtful with your brush strokes! The finish is very unforgiving. Almost all holiday collections have a red. And this one definitely has some very close dupes. But seriously, who could ever get tired of a shimmery, sexy red polish?!?! Not this polish lover. I don’t wear too much red but when I do I drool over my own hands lol! Its just so classic and bold.

Macro of Ro-Man-ce On The moon
 
 
Minus Is This Star Taken?, the polishes I received were wonderful. Nothing super new from a holiday collection, but all gorgeous none the less. I may use Is This Star Taken? to make an ornament with! Would You be interested in seeing that? Let me know that and what your favorite polish from this collection is in the comments!! All Links below 🙂
 
 
 
 
 
Preem.Me::: OPI::: HKGirl ::: Zoya

OPI ~ Infinite Shine

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Recently, I had been given the opportunity to do some swatching and nail art with the new Infinite Shine line from OPI. These polishes are supposed to last 10-14 days with a gel like shine! This opportunity came from being a member on Preen.me. These were provided free of charge in return for the stated reasons above. First of all, HOW COOL!!!! OPI is such a huge brand and I am beyond honored to get to do this! Second of all… no, just the first one!!! OMG! Ok, now that I freaked a little let me warn you how picture heavy this is: 3-4 pictures per polish and a few others for artsy purposes 🙂  I will make this as simple as I can by letting you know that the 10 colors I received all had the same wonderful, pigmented formula! The dry time was insane! Like a fast dry topcoat! All of these polishes were 2 coaters. However, all of my swatches are 3 thin coats. This is only because of the base coat, Infinite Shine 1 Primer, which is part one of this system.  I happen to have very ridgey nails. Is that a word? Either way my nails need a thick self leveling base coat. This base coat was thin and seemed to soak in a little. I am guessing that is part of what makes these last longer. There was nothing wrong with the base coat and it dried super fast. It was just not the best for my nails. If you buff your nails smooth or just have naturally smooth nails this would be great! Step 3 in this process is the topcoat, Infinite Shine 3 Gloss. For me this was the only part that was just eh. It dries fast and is so very shiny! The problem I had was that it left awful streaks in my polish. Even after the polish was totally dry. You will be able to see what I mean in the macros of each polish. My other issue was that no matter what type of art I tried to do the topcoat smeared it. I also made sure my art was totally dry so I could find out if it were just user error. Not the problem for me.  So, is the system worth it? Absolutely! Even if you use another base and/or topcoat the colors are still amazing and so bold. As for the streaking, it can only be seen up close so its definitely not a deal breaker. Art may be an issue but most of us nail addicts have different topcoats for different reasons anyways! Lets take a look!
How cute is this box that the OPI’s came in!! I keep this on my desk 🙂

These silver caps are so fancy!

 
Staying Neutral

Staying Neutral

Brains & Bronze

Brains & Bronze

Strong Coal-ition

Strong Coal-ition

You Can Count on It

You Can Count on It

You Can Count on It

Raisin’ the Bar

Raisin’ the Bar

Raisin’ the Bar

Raisin’ the Bar

Unrepentantly Red

Unrepentantly Red

Girl Without Limits

Girl Without Limits

To Infinity & Blue-yond

To Infinity & Blue-yond

Endurance Race to the Finish

Endurance Race to the Finish

In Pursuit of Purple

In Pursuit of Purple

Staying Neutral

Brains & Bronze

Strong Coal-ition

You Can Count on It

Raisin’ the Bar

Unrepentantly Red

Girl Without Limits

To Infinity & Blue-yond

Endurance Race to the Finish



In Pursuit of Purple
Overall, these polishes are 4.2 out of 5 stars! I hope you all go out and try some of these! I know that out of the 30 beautiful colors available there are at least 5 more that I NEED!  Make sure you are following OPI and Preen.me for all updates and info! Thanks for stopping in!
 
 
OPI: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Preen.me: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter

 

OPI ~ Umpires Come Out At Night

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Good morning! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and continues to have a nice relaxing Sunday! As usual here in Connecticut we are expecting snow later today. We have had snow once a week (at least) consistently for 6 weeks now! I am so over it! I have to do a post to help me forget about it so today I bring you, OPI Umpires Come Out At Night. I also added a shimmer topcoat from Orly just because it was a great match! Lets start with UCOAN. I went to the OPI site and it says that this is a crème polish. I really thought it was a crelly by the super smooth way it applied. It is so creamy and shiny. I picked this up because it reminded me so much of Revlon Royal. Turns out its darker and not as bold. That’s fine with me. Who doesn’t love blue polish?! For this swatch I used 3 thin coats plus topcoat. I didn’t need the third coat at all. Not even to even out the polish. I’m just weird like that lol. Look how gorgeous!!!

 
Here I have 1 coat of Love Each Other from Orly Over UCOAN. To me, it looks like very fine pink and blue shimmers in a clear base. Now, because of the mix of color shimmers, it flashes violet. I love it!  I used glossy topcoat for all but the ring finger. I used matte on that finger so you could see the shimmer!

 
What a standout combo!! Hope you enjoyed my random Sunday morning swatch!!
 

OPI ~ Pink Of Hearts 2014

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Hello! Tonight I have a polish duo From OPI. This is the Pink Of Hearts collection for 2014. It took me forever to get these but I have made a point of getting every yearly set/polish since 2012. Not a huge accomplishment but I had just stopped biting my nails so whatever! Anyone who knows me also knows that awareness of breast cancer is super important to me. As it should be for all females (and men)!!! It could happen to anyone anytime!! Click here to be brought directly to the Susan G. Komen site for info and/or to donate!! Back to the polish! Pink Of Hearts 2014 had 2 polishes and a little pink nail file with a glitter side and attached pink ribbon. The pink ribbon is clipped on with a lobster claw type clasp and I am really happy about that because I will be able to move it to my key chain when I am done using the file.

 First polish up is Mod About You. Mod About You is a bright pastel pink crème. the formula is very opaque but I still found it very streaky. My swatch on my fresh new nubs is 3 thin coats with a shiny topcoat.

 Second polish is The Power Of Pink. This polish is a sheer milky crelly tinted slightly pink with matte white and fuchsia micro and medium sized glitters. This was the one I was more excited for and I ended up liking the pink crème better!! I really do like this, its just not for me. I may come back to this when my nails are a little longer. My swatch is 3 thin coats with top coat and a matte coat on my pinkie. Very smooth formula for so much glitter!

 Over all I am super happy with this purchase! I cant wait to see what OPI releases for 2015!!

Julep ~ Lizanne

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Who got their Julep Maven box?!?! Well, hopefully everyone has because it took me a week or so to get to posting this. I am an it girl 🙂 What type of box do you get? This month I was actually going to cancel my box but forget, then it showed up! I am actually super glad it did because I absolutely love the colors this month! I did also get a cotton candy flavored old fashioned candy stick but my 8 year old daughter pulled the wrapper off and shoved it in her mouth before I could even read the label!! So for this post I will have Lizanne. Lizanne is a dark greenish teal color with a green shimmer. I drooled over this in the bottle… wasn’t so happy with the final outcome on the nail. It lost a lot of shimmer even when I applied Glisten & Glow H K Girl fast drying & super shiny clear top coat (which as you shall see in an upcoming post on my experience)!! I even tried to use a matte top coat, as you will see on my pinky, also to no avail. Still, it is a nice color and from what I have seen so far (I don’t own it) it looks a lot like O.P.I’s   Amazon…Amazoff. Just more on the green side. This polish applied OK. It wasn’t finicky but it wasn’t nice either. Dry time was average. I used 2 coats of this crème polish for these pictures. Check them out and let me know what you think in the comments 🙂