Del Sol - Superhero

I received Superhero as a gift not long ago and I've been anxious to try it.  It's a pearly baby blue color indoors and it turns into a light platinum pink when it's in the sun.  The pic below is two coats of Superhero taken in the shade (without sun):

As soon as I walked outside, the color began shifting to a very light pink / purple with the same pearly finish:

Although I really liked the shift from blue to pink, I should mention that both colors are very light, almost white / platinum so the color change isn't super obvious and dramatic like Ruby Slipper or Girls Night Out.

Orly Witch's Blue

I was surprised by how shimmery and vibrant Witch's Blue looks outdoors, because it looks darker (and murkier) in the bottle.  I used two coats in the pic above and since I still had GCOCL plate K04 on my desk from Monday I stamped one of the flower designs using China Glaze Milennium:

The design I chose (in the center of the plate above) is pretty big but I didn't want it to cover the entire nail of every nail, so I rotated the design around and stamped only parts of it.  Each nail ended up looking different but they all matched since they are from the same design:

Confetti - Smitten vs. Pop The Cork Purple

I got an email requesting a side by side comparison of Confetti's Pop The Cork Purple and Smitten, so here it is:

They both look like dark purples in the bottle and navy blues in low light, but Smitten is much more sparkly while Pop The Cork has a smooth even shimmer.  I'd say Smitten is also more purple, but it really depends on the lighting.  Hope that helps!

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.

Sinful Colors - See You Soon

See You Soon is a really dark blue shimmer with a black base.  When I was at Walgreens I couldn't decide between this polish and What's My Name so I got both even though they looked pretty similar in the bottle:

  Here's a quick comparison:

Though they both have a black base, See You Soon has blue shimmer throughout while What's My Name just has a sprinkle of glitter.

Confetti - Pop The Cork Purple (Russian Navy Dupe?)

Pop The Cork Purple is a navy blue with purple and pink shimmer.  It looks like a purple shimmer in the bottle, but once you start applying it the base color is clearly dark blue.  I originally picked it up because I thought it might be a dupe for OPI's Russian Navy, which is one of my favorite dark colors:

Can you tell the difference?  Though I love OPI and am a huge fan of the pro-wide brush, I paid $8.50 for Russian Navy at Ulta compared to $1.99 for Pop The Cork Purple at CVS...

Confetti - Smitten

Smitten is a dark purple with blue and pink shimmer, though sometimes it appears more blue than purple.  I really enjoy the complexity of color in this polish.  In the shadow it looks like any dark polish so it's not too dramatic indoors, but when the light hits it at the right angle it has an amazing shimmer.  As with the other Confetti polishes I've tried, application was smooth and flawless though this one definitely needed three coats for the color to build.  So glad I bought this, and for only $1.99!

More Snowflake Nails

I was thinking about the snowflake manicure I did a few weeks ago and I wanted to try using the same design over a light blue background (OPI What's With the Cattitude?) or white (OPI Kyoto Pearl on the index finger).  As before, I stamped the snowflakes from Konad plates m20 and m59 using China Glaze Millennium for the silver and Konad special polishes for the dark and baby blue.

I really love the detail on the Konad snowflake plates--they stamp crisply every time.  On the nail above, I added a little embellishment by tracing part of the snowflake with clear top coat using a striper brush and tapping on a little bit of loose silver glitter.  I like how it turned it out but I can't decide whether I prefer the dark blue base better:

OPI Yodel Me On My Cell

My sister is visiting for the holidays and she wanted a manicure using OPI Yodel Me On My Cell, which is a turquoise blue shimmer from the new Swiss Collection.  I just picked it up a few days ago and I think it's a great color.

The gold vine pattern is from Bundle Monster plate BM20 using China Glaze 2030.

Continue Reading . . .

Holiday Nails Pt. 2

Above is OPI Dating a Royal, which is a soft dark blue creme.  I wear this color in all seasons, but to add a holiday flare I stamped on some white and silver snowflakes:

The far left is the dandelion from Konad plate m20 and the snowflakes are from Konad plates m20 and m59 using Konad white and China Glaze Millenium.  When I stamp metallics I usually use China Glaze polishes from the Khrome Collection because I think they show up better than the Konad silver and gold.