OPI Swatch At Your Quebec & Call

Spring is so close, even though we had that snowstorm on April 1st. Of course, those of us in New England can almost always count on THAT April Fools joke! To boot I'm getting over the worst cold I've ever had. I almost think I had pneumonia. Through all of that I stayed with my mom for a week and helped her pack.

My in laws have been talking about a trip to Canada, so of course, I had to swatch up OPI Nail Lacquer At Your Quebec & Call. It's a bit of a mess because I split/shredded a lot of my nails while helping mom move.



This color, from the O.P.I. Canadian collection, is a beautiful dark green gold. It could work well with a black cocktail dress for a night out, or even with a nice tan in summer. The golden shimmer is so perfect.

Before even starting the application I used Mavala® Scientifique Nail Hardener
which is by far the best I've ever tried. I hadn't used it in the last month, hence all the breakage. If you're against formaldehyde I would not suggest using this, it contains quite a bit. However, it soaks right into the nail and hardens them so amazingly well without any layers of junk.




Anyways, back to the swatch. Like most O.P.I. Polishes, At Your Quebec and Call applied fairly easily. One thing I have noticed, is their shimmer polishes dry MUCH faster than the non shimmers. I was ready to go in 2 minutes. It took 2 coats for full coverage. I think the photos made it look slightly sheer, but that is not the case in real life.



All in all, it is such a lovely color. I would highly suggest it to anyone. Even with my super pink-pale skin it still looks good.

OPI Swatch Royal Rajah Ruby

Painting my nails this week hasn't been easy. So I'm doing the best I can for the time being. The house has been filled with family. It's been great spending time with everyone, but I'm already feeling like I need some me time. I bet you ladies know how I feel!

Anywho, I did play around with a beautiful color today. I'm not a fan of red-reds but OPI Royal Rajah Ruby
is a VERY deep shimmer red. It's gorgeous in all lighting.


Royal Rajah Ruby is from the India collection from Spring/Summer '08. It's still readily available online and through Amazon. It's great for the winter being such a velvety deep color.



In Darker light it almost looks brown-black. In very well lit situations it looks very shimmery ruby red.

O.P.I. nail polish To Eros is Human

Happy Monday!

I got a chance to play around with O.P.I To Eros is human. A discontinued duechrome color. This is a deep pink almost red shimmer color. Very pretty, without being overbearing red.




The beauty of this color is it looks very warm in some light, but in others very cool. In fact, it's quite noticeable even indoors as you walk into different lighting situations. In my opinion, it's the perfect shade for a different color french tip.



This color may be discontinued, however, it's still readily available through online marketplaces... at a slightly more expensive rate. If you really love this polish then it may be worth it for you.



Again, another beautiful Holiday color, without going to deep into "red" nail polish territory. I'm not a giant fan of reds, if you can't tell already.



Speaking of the Holidays... What are your plans?

OPI Fireflies

Want one word to sum up Fireflies by O.P.I.
from the Holiday 2007 collection? NO.
What was OPI thinking? So the allure of the color is better than the actual polish on. Fireflies are so beautiful, mystical, fun. On nails it just doesn't work.



I suppose if you want a sheer no matter how many coats(I did 3) that also looks like you stained your nails then go for it. Hehe. But otherwise, I could only see this color being useful for layering nail polishes.

I'm normally all for weird nail polish colors and I don't like to be negative about many things but like my OPI feet in peach, this is going in the "do not use again" box.



What have been your nail polish no no's?

OPI Designer Series Exclusive

Happy Tuesday? I think so. I suppose I have to try and be excited. I'm especially excited about this particular color. It's just out of this world Amazing. It's OPI Designer Series Exclusive.

OPI : Exclusive from Designer series

While I loved the previous designer color I did, this one has a deeper pink to go with it. It makes the multicolored diamond sparkles POP like no tomorrow. They definitely look amazingly holographic.

All that glitters is not gold

I could see myself wearing this particular nail polish all the time. Although it's harder to do designs on it as it's already perfection on it's own. Any design would look silly as the whole nail would sparkle, excluding the design. The diamond chips give a rainbow effect, and these pictures are VERY true to life.

No matter which angle you look at your nails, or almost all lighting situations it will have this amazing effect. In this instance, I think the extra money per bottle for Designer Series is worth it. It's also very easy to remove unlike other "glitter" polishes, as the sparkles are not the sizes of glitter. Designer Series retails at my local beauty supply store for about $6+ USD which is at least $2 more than the other OPI polishes offered there.

A top coat is a necessity for this color, as the sparkle would just turn to silvery spots within 24-48 hours without a decent protecting coat.

O.P.I. Grand Central Carnation

I really hope everyone(in the states) had a wonderful holiday weekend. I ate way too much.
This post is happening later in the day than normal. I apologize. It's been a hectic and news-worthy Monday. I'd share, but it's a bit too personal.

OPI Grand Central Carnation : A sophisticated pink polish

Anyways, onto the swatches! I had some fun over the week with a ton of colors. One of which is Grand Central Carnation. This is a sophisticated pink shimmer color. More like a rose. Definitely a good color for almost everything. It's neither too pink nor too red. For whatever reason (maybe discontinued) it's like $20+ on amazon, however it's still available on other websites for a reasonable price.

No flash, warm indoor lighting.

In most light it looks a dusty rose, with a small bit of shimmer. It's just positively lovely and girly. The above picture shows it's true colors a lot better, as with the flash on it looks almost hot pink. However in sunlight it does achieve more luster.

All in all, it's a color I'd use again, even though it's not my main forte on the radar of nail polishes. It does look a LOT better on my nails then it does in the bottle. So I'm glad I got to try it out first because just based on looking at this hue in the OPI bottle I would've passed.

What do you think? Too pink? Too bland? Too over the top?

Creative Nail Design - In The Mauve

I'm so so so in love with this unexpected color. Creative Nail Design (or CND) polishes for whatever reason were never my first choice. In reality, the colors are pretty, and they paint well. Plus sometimes you get an unexpected color from an otherwise boring bottle.

Creative Nail Design - In The Mauve

This color in the bottle doesn't look like much special. A normal reddish purple with some sparkle. However, once I painted it on I was amazed. The Mauve color was perfection. Even better, the gold sparkles just jump out from the nail but work so well with the mauve. 

I really could see myself wearing this color a lot more often. Both creme mauves and really gold colors tend to make me look very pale, but the two mixed together work really well on my super pale-pink skin.

With one coat is was almost perfect, although slightly too sheer for my tastes. Most who don't mind a slight sheer wouldn't mind. Two coats were perfection for me and the polish dried quickly.

Without flash, picture deceptive as it isn't this washed out in real

You can find this particular color online for about $5-$6 USD. I see a lot of CND polishes at C.B. Sullivan, my local professional beauty supply store. 

Feet By OPI Warm Peach

So I purchased this bottle because it was on clearance. I should have taken that as a sign.
Feet By OPI polish is actually a nail strengthener with added color (although they also have clear) and straight from their website it says "Helps protect toenails and keeps them their strongest, guarding against breaks, chips and splits, even those caused by injury. This unique protective formula coats nails with liquid nylon, acting as a shield against stresses."

Feet By OPI Warm Peach

This stuff goes on streaky and weird. It takes several layers to look normal. Even then something is still "off" On my feet the warm peach color looks like I'm lacking any nails at all as it blends well with my feet skin color. Go figure.


As far as less damage, I can't really tell. It chips easily, but is thicker after all those coats of polish. I didn't notice anything special going on with my toenails or fingernails when wearing it.

I suppose if you have really brittle toenails or damaged nails it might be nice to hide damage with and maybe offer some protection. But, for me, this is on the "do not use" list. Sorry OPI!

OPI Hungary For My Honey

OPI Hungary for my Honey is a beautiful burnt orange with yellow shimmer. It's great for Thanksgiving.
It was released with the OPI European collection in '02. It's been discontinued, but you can still find it rather inexpensively online.
The color is absolutely lovely. Especially for the fall. In the right lighting you can catch the yellow sheen that sets it apart from other burnt orange polishes. This was a very hard effect to photograph.

Hungary For My Honey Review

If you're not into pumpkin orange polish you aren't going to love it. Also, to probably sport this properly your skin better be a warmer tone. It's an extremely warm color, and for some reason just looks "off" on me. I still love it though.

With 2 coats the color is pretty true to the bottle. Something I definitely like. I really dislike buying a polish without trying it but then the dried color is so different then the way it looks in the bottle.

No flash, Warm lighting

Speaking of Fall, Thanksgiving is nearing. I have to do a TON of cooking (for 2 separate celebrations). I'm starting to get excited and antsy. I haven't even purchased some of the stuff I should have grabbed already. I'm really hoping the supermarket doesn't sell out of my fave stuffing.
How much cooking do you usually do? What is you fave dish?

OPI Swatches Divine from Designer Series

I got to raid my aunts nail polish collection (wee) and she has a lot of colors I wouldn't usually purchase. Mostly pinks, reds, and golds.

One that caught my eye almost immediately is O.P.I. Designer Series polishes. I decided to swatch Divine. I haven't purchased any of the designer series myself, because the price is double that of the other OPI polishes at my local beauty supply. Why OPI? What makes the designer series so special?

Swatches of OPI Divine (Designer Series)

According to OPI the series is "A spectacular diamond-dust formula. Ultra-rich, glimmering colors. And unmatched glamour for nails. In eleven shades, including nine brand-new choices, and top coat.Designer Series by OPI. Flawless by design."


Does it contain actual diamond dust? That would explain a premium cost. From my searches it seems that this is the case.


This color is an awesome deep pink, with holographic multi changing sparkles. It will look like a rainbow of sparkles on your fingers. This picture is pretty true to life.

OPI Divine

Not only does it sparkle like crazy, but it also is a pretty shiny polish even without topcoat. I highly suggest a good top coat as the nails will lose their luster pretty fast. The sparkles remove with ease with %100 acetone, so I was able to do a great french tip on my toes with this color.

Am I willing to pay more for a rainbow of sparkles? Yes, because the top price of OPI designer series in my local beauty supply is still less then most retail costs ($6.75 about).

Good luck finding this particular color. Designer series Divine is said online to be a Japan exclusive. I know for a fact my Aunt purchased this color in the USA at either CB Sullivan OR at her beauty school (Blaine!). I've seen it on E-bay and google shopping for $35-$50 a BOTTLE. Insane. Maybe I should talk her into selling it. hehe.

Do you like holographic nail polishes?

O.P.I. Swiss Collection Ski Teal We Drop

Probably the only color I've really really wanted from the Swiss Collection by OPI Ski Teal We Drop
. I've been so in love with the swatches I've seen but my CBSullivan seems to always be sold out. I finally broke down and ordered it through Amazon(for double the price, ouch). Amazon told me I'd have to wait a month for shipping, but I got it within 2 weeks.

O.P.I. Swiss Collection 2010 Ski Teal We Drop

The color is lovely cream navy blue in most light. Which I love. I could see using it for all sorts of fun designs. In fact, I did a colored french design I'll post next week. Overall it's a great fall/winter nail polish.

In warmer light

The downside is, in warmer lights or at night time it actually appears completely Forest green. Gag. Green is one of my favorite colors, but for some reason forest green nails just look funky to me. To me, thats the biggest downside to Ski Teal We Drop. It bugged me so much I removed my polish a day before I had originally planned.

Because I had trouble finding it at my beauty supply store (they had the rest of the swiss collection) I can only assume its popular. Many sellers on Amazon do in fact carry it, including Amazon itself with free prime shipping. Don't be turned off by the shipping time, it really did not take over a month for them to plop it in the mail - more like 5 days.

Do you like Navy polishes?

CHI Ceramic Nail Lacquer Out On The Town Brown

I got a chance to dig through my Aunts nail polish collection. Yay! She has colors and brands I usually don't purchase so this was a lot of fun. First is CHI Ceramic Nail Lacquer. Color is Out On The Town Brown.

CHI Ceramic Nail Polish Out On The Town Brown (Flash)

This color is gooooorgeous. With flash or warm lighting it comes off very orangey, but it's really not that orange. More of a medium brunette brown with sparkles of gold and orange. It applies nicely, but the brush is very skinny so sort of a pain to work with.

One coat provided good application, although two was needed to clear up any streaking. This would be a great polish to layer with.

Natural lighting, color more true

I hope I get a chance to use this color again soon for Konading as it has a lot of depth to it.

E.L.F. Nail Polish Royal Purple

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. We had a small family emergency. This year is turning about to be crazy.

So how was everyones Halloween? We had a lot of fun as it was a combo birthday for my niece and trick or treating event. Check out this awesome decoration we saw! Dracula actually pops up inside the carriage.

Anywho, onto the swatch. I painted my nails purple for Halloween. I used E.L.F. Royal purple which is a deep sparkley purple. Very lovely.

E.L.F. (EyesLipsFace) Royal Purple

In bright light it looks warmer medium purple, in darker settings its way more deep and cool. I used some matching purple nail art on it after Halloween, but it blended too well in dark settings.

Under lower light

This unfortunately was one of my funky E.L.F. polishes though, this particular bottle was a bit thicker and had fibers in it. Made it a little hard to paint but not impossible. It also dries fast like most of the E.L.F. polishes. A good base and top coat is required to prevent staining and to make it very shiny.

See below for coupon

Another reason I wanted to post this is E.L.F. is currently doing a %50 off their 25 fave  items, which includes nail polishes! So if you've been hankering for some items from Eyes Lips Face now is a good time to jump on it. If you need fillers, I totally recommend the mineral line (especially the eyeshadows), and the studio brushes. I especially LOVE my Studio Kabuki brush as it's the softest mineral brush I've ever used. The other studio brushes are great for acrylic nail art paint (not good for use with acetone however).

Half Off 25 Insider Faves with coupon code FAVES through 11/23. Minimum order $25.

O.P.I. Alpine Snow

I've been looking for a really great coverage white polish. So I picked up O.P.I. Alpine Snow. At the time I was hoping for a pure white creme and thats exactly what Alpine Snow is. In school growing up I always painted my nails with white out, hoping for this exact result (of course, white out looks horrid on nails). I worked with this color on a previous post with MAC Bad Fairy.

O.P.I.  Alpine Snow Swatch

The polish takes 2-3 thick coats for full coverage. It's exactly the color I want, however it has some serious flaws. Maybe it's just my bottle, but I'll outline them here. 

My bottle of nail polish has the almost consistency of melted marshmallows. Its THICK. Which is really hard to get non streaky or non lumpy nails. It also takes a very long time to dry even one "thin" coat of the goopy polish. Blah. However, painting it thin can cause lots of streaks or what looks like shadowed areas.

Also, I tried to do a few french manicures with it. It was a pain to clean up the smile lines with a craft brush and acetone . Acetone seems to have a harder time removing this particular color over the others I've used. I'm not really sure why. I'm wondering if I just got a funky bottle.

All in all, I love the color, but I can't see myself using it as much as I'd like (I love white nails and traditional french manicures with bright clean white tips) so I'm going to continue looking for that perfect pure white polish. Any tips?

E.L.F. Dark Navy Nail Polish

Sometimes I place something aside for awhile and forget how much I love it. I've been all over M.A.C. and O.P.I. lately I've been neglecting my E.L.F. polishes. So I took out Dark Navy the other day and began swatching. I didn't have time to clean up around my cuticles, please excuse the sloppy job.

E.L.F. Dark Navy Nail Polish ($1)
http://www.eyeslipsface.com

Dark Navy is an incredibly deep blue, almost black. The blue is barely visible unless under sun/bright lighting. It would be great for many applications where you wouldn't want to use a black but still need something dark.

Eyeslipsface Dark Navy - No Flash - Indoors

What I love most about this nail lacquer, besides the color, is that it goes on smoooth. It's not a thick polish, but this particular color went on with full coverage with only one coat! Yay! It also dries much faster than most of my other brands of polish. At $1 a bottle how can one go wrong?

Eyes Lips Face

The only downside I've found to E.L.F. polishes is some colors can dye nails to match your painted color. Always use a base coat to prevent that from happening. I didn't have much trouble removing the offending dye however. Dark Navy has a slight dyeing effect, so your nails could turn blue-grey(the worst offender I've found so far is Punk Purple, however).

If you're just interested in a few polish from E.L.F. it's usually a sound idea to wait for a %50-%75 site wide sale(shipping kills it), but they happen once maybe twice a year from what I've seen. There's always great coupon codes flying around online. This month SHIP25 is free shipping over $25 or EYES50 for %50 off eye makeup (through 10/31). Their absolute best eye makeup is the mineral eyeshadow (in my opinion), I'd avoid the $1 eyeshadows, I didn't like them too much.