Category Archives: Nail Products

OPI Skyfall Collection Swatches- Part 2

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 1 Comment

I hope you all liked yesterday’s swatches of the Skyfall collection! Here’s part 2, which is actually only about the crazy-luxurious 18k gold top coat. I still can’t believe I actually bought it… Another win for sneaky marketing departments!

Behold:

The Man With the Golden Gun 18k Gold Top Coat by OPI

For the not-so-secret agent in me.

For some reason, I forgot to take a picture of the bottle itself. I think you get the idea.

Swatch of The Man With the Golden Gun 18k Gold Top Coat

I think this is a pretty cool effect, though it definitely stands out more with a dark base underneath. It was a bit difficult to get a lot of flakes without glopping lots of polish on, but I was able to take off some of the clear excess with the brush without any problem.

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies with The Man With the Golden Gun on top.

(As I said yesterday, I am NOT good at painting nails! Please excuse any and all flaws.)

I really like this over a dark polish and I’m planning on buying a black polish to put this on. (How do I not own one?! Any recs?) I love the effect the gold top coat has! I do feel a little weird when I think about exactly what it means to have gold leaf on one’s nails, and then to take it off and throw it away. So exorbitant!

I think it would a bit cooler to use larger pieces of gold flake, but overall, I’m still happy I purchased The Man With the Golden Gun. I can’t wait to see what kind of combos I can find. If you get this, let me know what you try! You can find this at Ulta stores for $30. (Eeep!)

*****

I LOVED Goldfinger, and had the privilege to meet Shirley Eaton once, who played the part of the woman painted with gold. She was gracious and kind, even when I mistakenly called her Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore.

Is there anything more iconic than Shirley Bassey singing the theme song?

I can’t wait to see Skyfall! Are you going to see it in theaters?

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OPI Skyfall Swatches- Part 1

Posted on October 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

Hey girls! (And guys.) I have some pretty great stuff to show you today. I am SUCH a James Bond fan, so when I saw that OPI was doing a collection for the upcoming new Bond film, Skyfall, I cried tears. Tears of JOY.

I picked up several polishes, including the ridiculous and opulent 18k gold topcoat. Part of me wanted to buy them all, but I had to be realistic and buy only the ones I would actually use. :)

Please keep in mind- I am NOT very good at painting nails, whether they’re my own or otherwise, and these were done quickly, so don’t judge too harshly, yes? :)

Here we go!

(Each swatch is two thin coats.)

Goldeneye, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, The World is Not Enough, and Tomorrow Never Dies from the OPI Skyfall collection.

Goldeneye

Swatch of OPI Goldeneye

Swatch of OPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Swatch of OPI On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

OPI You Only Live Twice

Swatch of OPI You Only Live Twice

OPI The World is Not Enough

Swatch of OPI The World is Not Enough

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

Swatch of OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

I feel like a couple of these shades, and shades from this collection that I don’t have, aren’t too unique. You Only Live Twice and Tomorrow Never Dies are pretty dupable, but I don’t have anything like them, so it was good timing for me.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The World is Not Enough are sheer, but three coats will cover pretty well. (Again, I only did two.)

Overall, I’m completely happy that I bought these! The colors are great and fill in the gaps in my collection nicely. I love the shimmery ones and find them easier to take off then glitters, which I can’t stand dealing with. You can find these at Ulta stores.

Part 2, featuring the OPI The Man With The Golden Gun 18k topcoat, will be live tomorrow (Wednesday, 10/24)!

*****

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

 

Can’t wait to see this!

Much love,

Lo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nail Polish Haul, Anyone?

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hi loves!

We’re back to Monday again, which means I have no idea where the weekend went. I had to work Friday and Sunday, so I missed most of it, but that’s okay. Dane and I are going to the driving range (golf) this afternoon, so there’s still fun to be had. I really should fix my manicure… Maybe I’ll bust out one of these new polishes I’ve picked up recently!

Last Monday, Ulta featured their great special of buy one Butter London nail polish and get a second polish free! Of course I took advantage of this steal and picked up a couple for my collection:

Butter London’s Nail Polish in Wallis

I’ve wanted this beauty for a while now. It’s a complex shade of burnished gold mixed with olive green. It’s as dynamic on the nail as it is in the bottle, which is one of the many reasons this polish is worth the $14 price tag. Buy it from Sephora.com for $14.

Butter London Nail Polish in All Hail the Queen

I love this shade! It’s such a wonderful nude, but it’s far from being boring. All Hail the Queen has pink and gold micro-shimmer mixed into the warm taupe base. Again, fantastic formula and a unique shade! Available at ButterLondon.com for $14.

OPI Nail Polish in Number One Nemesis

This shade was just too cool to pass up. It has a blue/black sheer-ish base with tons of small gold glitter. Very pretty and interesting without being too girly. It’s from the Spiderman collection, so it is limited edition, but you should still be able to find it at Ulta or Ulta.com for around $8.50.

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Grey-t to Be Here

I have long loved the inexpensive nail polishes that Essence makes, but they recently redid the packaging and introduced some new colors. This is one of the new shades and I LOVE IT. It’s a blue-based gray with fiery red and orange micro-shimmer. There is an expected difference in quality between the Butter London formula and the Essence formula, but with a good base and top coat, this polish can last for days. $1.99 at Ulta stores or at Ulta.com.

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Oh My Glitter!

Again, I love the new packaging of these little Essence polishes. I bought this color because of the pronounced shimmer in a pretty standard purple base. Oh My Glitter! has purple and light blue sparkles in a medium purple base. As a purple lover, I just couldn’t resist. $1.99 at Ulta stores or Ulta.com.

What have you purchased recently?

 

Alright y’all. We can do this. Let the week commence!

Much love,

Laura

 

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Maybelline Fashion Week Fall 2012 Collection Pieces and Swatches (Just a few!)

Posted on August 17, 2012 | 3 Comments

Happy Friday!

I have a few quick shots and swatches of the new Maybelline Fashion Week 2012 collection. I found my products at my local Rite Aid, but they should be at all drugstores soon.

If you aren’t familiar with this collection, head over to Nouveau Cheap’s blog to get the scoop here, here, and here !

This is a pretty big collection! I picked up only the pieces I thought I might actually use, although I might pick up another Color Tattoo and try a blush… ;)

Here’s what I picked up:

Maybelline Limited Edition Color Tattoos in Mossy Green and Barely Beige

Maybelline Limited Edition Color Tattoos in Mossy Green and Barely Beige

Maybelline Color Show Limited Edition Nail Polish in Downtown Brown

Maybelline Color Show Limited Edition Nail Polish in Downtown Brown

Maybelline Limited Edition ColorSensational Lipsticks in Strike A Rose and Tenacious Taupe

Maybelline Limited Edition ColorSensational Lipstick in Strike A Rose

Maybelline Limited Edition ColorSensational Lipstick in Tenacious Taupe

Maybelline Brush for the Color Tattoos (Not sure if this is limited edition or not, but I haven’t seen it before.)

Maybelline Brush for Color Tattoos

Swatches (clockwise, starting from the top right): Color Tattoo in Barely Beige, ColorSensational Lipstick in Strike A Rose, ColorSensational Lipstick in Tenacious Taupe, Color Tattoo in Mossy Green

These colors go together so well!

Nail swatch of Color Show Nail Polish in Downtown Brown

I LOVE this color. It’s the nail polish version of MAC’s pigment in Green Brown or the Wet ‘N Wild Comfort Zone shadow on the bottom right corner. Great duochromes!

Prices:

Color Tattoos: $6.69

ColorSensational Lipsticks: $7.19

Color Show Nail Polish: $3.99

Eye shadow brush: $4.69 (?)

 

See anything you love? If you spot these while out in a store, grab them, because they won’t last long!

 

Much love,

Laura

 

 

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Posted in Brushes, Eye Products, Hauls, Lip Products, Nail Products, New Products

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**UPDATED**Nailed It

Posted on September 16, 2011 | 3 Comments

Essie "It's Genius", Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (UH-MAZING), OPI "It's My Year"

I’m not big into nail polishes (mainly because I’m not very good at applying them or being patient enough to let them dry before reaching into a bag and nicking them to death) but when I do buy them, I usually go for the good stuff. I find colors I know I’ll use frequently (for me) and justify the $8 that way, because the formulas of the brands listed above are typically so much better than the cheap stuff (as they should be).

What’s your favorite color/brand of nail polish?

**UPDATE** 

I’ve used the OPI polish shown above several times now, all without base coats, though I did use the Seche Vite on top. Every time-EVERY SINGLE TIME- the polish has literally peeled off of my nail the next day. It’s crazy. I don’t know if it’s this shade (It’s My Year) or if it’s the fact that I wasn’t using a base coat, but either way, it’s annoying. I bought an OPI base coat (have previously been too lazy to use them) and I’m going to give it a go again and see if anything changes.

I typically use Essie on my nails and haven’t had this problem, though I haven’t used Essie with the Seche Vite, so I don’t know if that will change things. I’ll keep you posted!! :)

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Posted in Nail Products