OPI My Private Jet w/ Houndstooth

For this mani I used OPI's My Private Jet as the base color and then stamped the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate m63 using China Glaze 2030 and topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.  I really like the way this turned out!  It kinda makes me feel like I'm wearing nail decals or Minx--the pics above are after about three days of wear.  

My Private Jet was a cult fave before OPI updated to a 3-free formula.  It used to be a charcoal holo but the new formula doesn't have the same holographic look.  It's still packed with rainbow glitter and glass flecks though, so still pretty awesome in my opinion:

In some light My Private Jet can look brown-ish like above, which is why I paired it with gold instead of silver when I was stamping the houndstooth.

Sinful Colors - Mercury Rising

For this mani I used Mercury Rising from Sinful Colors, which is my new favorite brown shimmer:

I amassed quite a few browns this past fall / winter and I love them because they're warm-toned like dark red but never run the risk of looking vampy.  I bought a bunch of H Series (fauxnad) plates online a while ago and haven't gotten the chance to use them yet, so I picked out plate H1 and stamped this random ribbon / flower design using China Glaze 2030 (my go-to gold for Konading):

I gotta say the design is a little strange, but a nice change from the flowers, hearts, and bows that I'm used to from standard Konad plates. 

Tri Color Mani

Lately I just haven't been satisfied with sticking to one color.  For the look above, I started with shades (Barielle) Swizzle Stix:

Swizzle Stix looks like a regular baby blue but it actually has some green tones that make it closer to robin's egg.  It's more blue than other Tiffany blues (like China Glaze For Audrey) but its green tones really stand out when paired next to a solid blue like OPI No Room for the Blues, which is the middle color here:

I meant to do this with tape for crisp lines but I was just too impatient to wait for each layer to dry, so the lines look a little wobbly.

Black w/ Cleopatra Tips

Today's mani was super quick.  I used two coats of black (Sinful Colors Black on Black) and a gradual glittery french tip using China Glaze Cleopatra.  Cleopatra is amazing--it's a gold glitter with a rainbow of other colors thrown in that always make me think of a treasure chest.  To get the gradual look, I started with a regular french tip and then dabbed the brush sporadically right below it.  I like it because it's easy to free hand in a hurry and it doesn't need to be perfect and symmetrical on each nail.  I used thick top coat after the glitter tip so that the glitter wouldn't be scratchy.

Confetti - Show Stopper

I did this mani with Confetti Show Stopper and stamped a design along the edge of each nail from GCOCL plate B01 with gold (China Glaze 2030).  The design is only fully visible from the side profile which I thought made the design more simple and elegant.  See pics of Show Stopper pre-stamping after the jump.

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Citrus Inspiration

I've been eager to try out my new citrus fimo canes, so for today's mani I used Life Preserver from China Glaze's Spring 2011 Anchor's Away Collection.

In the bottle, Life Preserver looks like a soft creamy orange, but it dries a shade darker into a bolder color.  I stamped the citrus design from Konad plate m55 using China Glaze 2030, and then added fimo slices of lemon and grapefruit to one nail over a layer of top coat.

I think fimo fruit are so cute!  I know it looks pretty impractical but it was definitely fun to try.

Confetti - Just Dancin

Love this color!  Above is Just Dancin from Confetti.  It's sort of a plum / wine color, between a purple and red.  I don't have anything quite like it so I was happy to add this to my collection for just $2.  I wore this plain during the day but I wanted something more flashy for night:

I used tape to cover a section of Just Dancin on each nail then applied a coat of Rage from Orly's Foil FX collection.

Another Zig Zag Mani with Metro Chic and OPI Ink

Here's another zig zag tape mani using OPI Ink and Metro Chic.  OPI is so shimmery I feel mesmerized every time I wear it.  Check out my tape mani tutorial from last week or individual swatches of Metro Chic and OPI Ink if you're interested.

Spring is in the air!

After some rain for the past few days, it's finally sunny outside and it feels like spring, so I wanted to wear something cheerful:

The shimmery lime green background is China Glaze Tree Hugger.  I stamped the flowers from fauxnad plate M59 (or GCOCL plate B02) using green and yellow Konad polish.  The grass on the ring finger is from Konad plate m66 and the dragonfly is a slice of fimo clay.

More Crimson Cutie

After I posted a swatch of Crimson Cutie yesterday I was experimenting with one of my new GCOCL plates and came up with this:

All the images came from GCOCL plate E02:

I really liked the designs on this plate!  I'll definitely be using these again with different colors.

Confetti - Crimson Cutie (compared to OPI)

Above is Crimson Cutie from Confetti.  I originally grabbed this bright red shimmer at CVS because I thought it looked just like OPI's I'm Not Really A Waitress and I wanted to do a comparison.  I'm Not Really A Waitress was one of the first nail polishes I ever owned, and I've heard it's OPI's best selling color of all time.  It's my favorite red for pedicures in both summer and winter.  Check out Crimson Cutie and I'm Not Really A Waitress side by side (three coats of each):

Though it's tough to tell the difference in these pictures, I think Crimson Cutie is just a teeny bit lighter than I'm Not Really A Waittress.  For the most part I think they're nearly indistinguishable, though a more discerning eye may disagree.  Either way I'd recommend Crimson Cutie as a cheaper alternative ($1.99 vs. ~$8.50).

Palm Tree Nails

My friend showed me this pic of Alexa Chung's nails and asked me how easy it would be to get the look, so I  grabbed my white nail polish and Konad plates to give it a shot:

I used three coats of China Glaze White on White and stamped the palm tree from fauxnad plate M01 (or B70).  The green fronds are Konad special polish and the trunk is China Glaze Unplugged.  I know the shape of the palm trees look different from Alexa's (hers were probably free handed with acrylic paint) but with my lack of coordination, Konad was the best I could manage.

Sephora by OPI - Personal Shopper

I was in the mood for a classic red so I chose Sephora by OPI Personal Shopper.  I got Personal Shopper as part of a free gift set from Sephora that also included Dear Diary (a light pink) and I'm with Brad (a black with red shimmer).  The first picture above is more true to color; the second was taken in really bright direct sunlight.  See close-ups after the jump:

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Sephora by OPI - Never Enough Shoes (Revisited)

I decided to give Never Enough Shoes another chance to impress me when I was looking for a black background for my Valentine's Day mani.  I kept peering at it in different lighting to see if I could pick up the multi-colored glitter and once or twice it looked really pretty when the sun hit it just right, but otherwise I was still disappointed.

To me, the bottle looks jam-packed with multi-colored glitter:

But when it's actually on my nails it's hard to see the cool array of colors in the glitter and it just looks like regular black polish with some white/silver specks:

So I guess my verdict from last month is still the same, but I'd love to hear what you think.

Sephora by OPI - Techno Girl (with Red Tips)

I thought Techno Girl from Sephora by OPI would be cute for Valentine's Day, so I tried it using China Glaze Sexy Silhouette for the tips.  Techno Girl is a nice medium pink but it's similar to a lot of pinks that I own.  Sexy Silhouette is a really nice shimmery fuschia but it goes on translucent so I usually use it in layers.  I played around with a few different combinations including a matte effect--see more pics after the jump.

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Sephora by OPI Metro Chic Dupes

I'd describe Metro Chic as a muddy grey-ish purple--it really depends on the light, as you can see in the different pics above.  At first I didn't understand the hype about Metro Chic, but once I tried it out I loved how it was subtle and work appropriate.  It matches with almost everything and it's a little more unique than the traditional neutrals.

Unfortunately, I was less than thrilled with the streaky application, which I thought was atypical for Sephora by OPI polishes.  I don't know if it was the formula or the super skinny brush, but I got so frustrated I decided to go on a quest for a drugstore dupe with the same color, smoother formula, better brush, and lower price.  More details after the jump.

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Pink & Red Valentine's Day Mani

I wanted to try out some of my new polishes in a Valentine's Day look so I used two Confetti colors, Crimson Cutie and Party Hearty.  Crimson Cutie is a bright shimmery red and Party Hearty is hot pink with a touch of gold shimmer.  To get the half red / half pink look, I painted my entire nail with the pink first and then layered the red on top of one side.  Then I stamped the heart design from fauxnad plate M21 using white Konad polish.