Sephora by OPI "Nonfat Soy Half Caff"

Hey guys!  So this week I decided to break out some new Sephora by OPI polishes I got for Christmas.  My parents ordered me a great 15 polish set of Sephora by OPI nail polishes off of QVC (which in case you aren't American, is a TV channel that sell all sorts of products from cooking equipment to bed to beauty and clothes.)  The set is called "Sephora by OPI Merry & Bright 15-piece Holiday Nail Collection" and can still be purchased at www.qvc.com. The set also includes a limited edition Sephora by OPI nail polish that can only be purchased through this set!  So I really like the set, it has a variety of colors and showcases some of the more popular Sephora by OPI colors.  Here's what the set looks like:

I really do like the set, and the first nail polish I decided to try out is "Nonfat Soy Half Caff" which is this really pretty and dainty pinkish skin color.  It also reminds me of a shell color.  I really like this color and it looks nice on my skin tone, which makes me happy because a lot of nudes I have tried haven't looked good.  Like most of the Sephora by OPI's nail polish I have tried before "Nonfat Soy Half Caff" has a fabulous formula and goes on really easily!  It also was nice to still only need two coats of color to have opaque nails.  Lighter colors sometime streak or require many coats but "Nonfat Soy Half Caff" did not!  Also I was a tad nervous about using the miniature sized bottle because the handle looks so small but actually it worked wonderfully!  As for chipping, I can't really say because I had to work several days in a row and I maimed my nails pretty quickly.  But I know that if I had been kinder to my nails the polish would have lasted longer.

Overall I am really pleased with "Nonfat Soy Half Caff."  I love the color and the quality of polish.  My only regret is that I destroyed the polish at work so quickly.  I would have liked to have been able to wear the polish for longer, but that just means I will have to use it again soon!  :)

Thanks for reading my blog!

ULTA "The Jungle Look"

Hey guys!  So after last week's 22 store visit looking for Nicole by OPI polishes, which I didn't really find but I did buy 8 new polishes, I went looking through my entire nail polish collecting looking for polish I had never tried before.  And one of the ones I found was ULTA's "The Jungle Look," which is this fabulous green color!  Now I know kelly greens aren't usually a winter color but I just couldn't resist adding a splash of spring to my day!  (I am already ready for summer!)

These ULTA nail polishes retail around $3-$6 a bottle depending on whether it is on sale or not.  And every now and again ULTA puts these polishes on sale for buy one get on free!  (Which is usually when I buy them!)

Okay on the the actual nail polish!  ULTA's "The Jungle Look" is this super pretty kelly green, which I purchased not only for its color but also for its name (based on the Disney movie The Jungle Book!)  "The Jungle Look" goes on really well and has an awesome formula!  You can almost get away with just one coat of polish, but I did two because I always do!  As for chipping "The Jungle Look" held up pretty well for about 4 days, but then I did start to notice small chips appearing at the tips of my nails.  As the week went on the chipping was minimal.  I am very impressed with ULTA's "The Jungle Look."  I love when you can wear a nail polish for a week and see very little chipping!

Overall the ULTA's "The Jungle Look" is a good polish.  It has a great formula, goes on well and has a great green color, and lasted 4 days before chipping, which is always a plus in my book!  I definitely recommend this nail polish!  It is a good quality nail polish at an affordable price!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

OPI "Houston We Have A Purple"

So a couple of weeks ago I ordered my first two jelly polishes on Amazon.  Jelly polishes looked really fun in all the pictures I saw online and I decided I just had to try some out!  I went looking for some OPI jelly polishes and came across the Spring 2011 Texas Collection, which featured several jelly polishes.  I decided to order "Houston We Have A Purple" and "Big Hair... Big Nails," both of which are jellies.

This week I decided to wear "Houston We Have A Purple."  I originally wanted this polish because of its name!  I spent my childhood in Florida and NASA is a huge part of that because whenever a space shuttle launched, as long as you lived on the ocean side of the state, south of NASA (at Cape Canaveral) you could see the shuttle in the air and the big orange booster fall off and drop to the ocean.  Anyway OPI's "Houston We Have A Purple" looks like a deep red purple in the bottle, but turns out to be a lighter berry color on the nail.  I think the change in color from bottle to nail occurs because a jelly polish is made to always look a little less opaque than a cream and jellies are also made to make your nails always look wet and shiny.  And I personally prefer the berry color over the color in the bottle.

As for wear and tear I got "Houston We Have A Purple" to last about 4 days before any major chipping occurred.  However I will admit that the polish probably would have lasted longer if I had gotten more even coats.  Since this was my first time wearing and applying a jelly polish I was unable to get even coats and I had a decent amount of streaking on my nails.  I think with practice nice even coats are possible and that the even coats would mean a longer wear time!

Overall I am very happy with OPI's "Houston We Have A Purple" and I am definitely a fan of jelly polishes now!  I cannot wait to try out the other jelly polish I bought!  And as for chips I think 4 days is pretty good for me, but I really believe that if I had gotten more even coats "Houston We Have A Purple would have probably lasted about 6 days.  (Which is a pretty nice length of time!)

Okay so before I finish this post I just want to mention some new OPI and Nicole by OPI collections that have just been released. 

The first is OPI's Mariah Carey collection, which is featuring OPI's brand new finish "liquid sand."  The collection features 8 colors, 4 liquid sands and 4 non-liquid sands.  I'll admit that I only like the liquid sand colors.  I purchased the mini set of liquid sands at an ULTA for around $13 and I can hardly wait to try them out!

The next two collections are both by Nicole by OPI and they are the Modern Family Collection and the Selena Gomez collection.  Each collection offers 14 colors, which is really exciting!  I have looked at these polishes online and there are several from each collection that I want, but I have not been able to find either of these collections.  I have been to 22 stores (including ULTAs, Wal-Marts, Targets, Sears, CVS', Rite-Aids, Kmart, and a Walgreens) and I have had almost no luck!  Not a single one of the places I went had any of the Selena Gomez collection and only store #19 (an ULTA) and store #21 (a Target) had some of the Modern Family Collection.  And by some I mean they each had only half of the polishes in the collection.  And of the Modern Family collection I did find neither store offered Alex's, Lily's, Manny's, or Jay's colors, which of course are the colors I want.  If you have had any luck finding these two Nicole by OPI collections please let me know where you found them because I would love to know!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Man Hunt" vs. OPI "Dating A Royal"

So I have been looking through my collection lately for dupes and for the most part I am happy to report that I don't actually own very many!  But I did find two polishes that look identical in the bottle: China Glaze's "Man Hunt" and OPI's "Dating A Royal".  I decided to swatch both of the polishes and find out for sure if the polishes are dupers or not.  As it turns out they are not completely dupes!  But they are very, very similar.

Here's what I found:

China Glaze's "Man Hunt" is slightly darker and richer than OPI's "Dating A Royal" and "Dating A Royal" has a little more of a green tint to it.  Aside from color I also noticed that OPI's "Dating A Royal" was more watery.  After one coat of nail polish it was easy to tell the polish apart based on how well the nail was covered.  Here's what it looked like:

As I started to apply the second coat of OPI I noticed that with two coats of OPI "Dating A Royal" and one coat of China Glaze "Man Hunt" that all three of my nails looked nearly identical.  I decided to snap a photo of this because to me they actually look like real dupes at this stage:

But of course when I wear nail polish (and most bloggers do the same) I always put on two coats of the colored polish I want to wear.  So I then put on a second coat of China Glaze's "Man Hunt."  From here all three of my  nails looked completely opaque but it becomes clear again which nail polish is which.  OPI's "Dating A Royal" almost could use a third coat to make it look nicer, though two coats does cover the nail, while two coats of China Glaze's "Man Hunt"  covers flawlessly.  The watery formula of "Dating A Royal" makes it very hard to get an even coat of polish on your fingers.  Here's the finished product:

Overall both nail polishes are pretty colors and I adore OPI's "Dating A Royal" because of the name and for the wide brush head which does help put the polish on better.  But I do not like the formula of "Dating A Royal" because it causes streaking.  And on the other hand I love China Glaze's "Man Hunt" for it's formula which is prefect and goes on streak free, but I do not like the skinnier brush head that China Glaze uses because it makes it harder to get polish on your nail without needing to re-dip the brush into the bottle halfway through each nail.

Really in the end the color is similar enough, though they are not identical as China Glaze's "Man Hunt" is more of a true royal blue, while OPI's "Dating A Royal" is lighter and has a hint of green in it.  A normal (non-nail polished obsessed person) does not need to own both polishes.  If I had to pick one I would pick China Glaze's "Man Hunt" because of the formula quality.

Also sorry for not touching up my nails to make them look perfect in the photos but they were taken as I went along.  Usually I save the touch ups for the end, but the best picture of the finished nails was one I took before I touched up my nails!

Happy New Year and thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Essie "Wrapped in Rubies"

So for the final week of 2012 I spent a long looong time debating what nail polish to wear and I finally decided on Essie's "Wrapped in Rubies"!  I hadn't rocked an Essie nail polish in a while and I was a little sad about that!  Plus "Wrapped in Rubies" the perfect holiday color!  It is bright and shimmery and really pretty, so I couldn't resist!

Like always I started with my basecoat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Invisible", followed by two coats of "Wrapped in Rubies", and finished with my favorite top coat Orly's "Sec'N'Dry."  I almost could have gotten away with one coat of "Wrapped in Rubies" except for some minor streaking on about half my nails, which evened out fairly well with the second coat!  As far as color goes I adore this color!  It is a deep burgundy red color with a gold shimmer running throughout.  And when the light hits the polish it shines and shimmers in the prettiest way ever!  Essie's "Wrapped in Rubies" surprised me by easily cleaning up off my skin when I went to removed the excess polish!

Unfortunately "Wrapped in Rubies" started chipping for me on the same day I painted my nails!  Now granted I work in retail so I stock shelves a fair amount but the tips on eight of my nails was worn off less than 10 hours after I painted them!  (All five nails on my left hand and my pointer, middle and ring finger on my right hand.)  I am used to some minor chips from work on my nail polish but eight out of ten nails seemed a bit ridiculous to me!

Overall  I really do adore the color of Essie's "Wrapped in Rubies" but I seriously did not like all the chipping!  I ended up taking the polish off after only a couple of days because the chipping continued to get worse!  I will probably still wear "Wrapped in Rubies" because I love the color and its name (which reminds me of Katniss' dress in The Hunger Games) but if you are looking for a nail polish to wear for several days then Essie's "Wrapped in Rubies" probably isn't the nail polish for you!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And have a fabulous New Year's Eve!

Give this nail polish a go for yourself - it's available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Nails INC "Hampstead Gardens"

Hey everyone!  So sorry to have gone MIA for a couple of weeks but the flu took me down hard and fast!  But I am better now!  So this week I decided to try out another nail polish that I have had in my collection since this summer that I hadn't tried yet!  The color is "Hampstead Gardens" by Nails INC!  And this is my very first bottle of Nails INC that I have tried!  I love trying new nail polish brands it is so much fun!

"Hampstead Gardens" is an interesting color that I had a hard time trying to decide how to describe it!  In the end I think I would call it a burnt orange/golden yellow/brown.  I know that's a lot of descriptive colors but it looks different in different kinds of light!  I was kind of worried about wearing it because it looked like an ugly poo brown when I first put it n one night but after I saw my nails the next morning I was glad I picked this color!  It is super pretty and I have gotten tons of compliments about it!  Even the male librarian at the Library noticed my nail polish!  I love when that happens!

Unfortunately I am having a hard time judging how long the nail polish holds up because of work, but Nails INC "Hampstead Gardens" lasted me about 5 days before the chipping on the tips of my nails started.  But considering I worked and the nail polish still lasted that long I think it is safe to say that Nails INC makes some quality nail polish!  Also I was pleasantly surprised that I could have gotten away with one coat of "Hampstead Gardens" if I had wanted too!  I did use two coats just because I like too but the polish covered really well and evenly!

Overall I am very pleased with Nails INC and especially "Hampstead Gardens"!  I can hardly wait to buy more Nails INC polishes!  And just to let you know I purchased my bottle of Nails INC at Sephora and they cost about $9.50 a bottle, but "Hampstead Gardens" is currently on sale on Sephora's website for $5 a bottle!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And have a great Christmas/holiday season!

butter LONDON "Fiddlesticks"

So sorry for not posting as much as usual!  I got a part time job at the mall and it has been eating away my time that I usually spend on painting my nails!  Hopefully now that I have gotten used to how my time is being spent I'll be able to get back to posting more regularly!

So Black Friday yielded several new nail polishes, some that I had had my eye on and several that I found good sales on!  I believe I added seven new nail polishes and some nail jewels!  Though I must admit I was a little disappointed by Sephora's lack of sales!  (As in they only had one small sale table that at 9am had already been picked to death!)  However Nordstroms made me very happy with their buy two get one free on their butter LONDON and Deborah Lippmann nail polishes (and you were allowed to mix and match between the brands!).  The Nordstroms sale is actually where I got this week's polish!

So on to this week's nail polish: butter LONDON "Fiddlesticks."  I fell in love with "Fiddlesticks" as soon as I saw it on the shelf!  It is this gorgeous deep fuchsia polish with a ton of micro glitter in fuchsia and burgundy!  Together they form this wonderful nail polish!  I also love this nail polish for the Winter holidays because it is shimmer and fun but full of class and elegance!

As for application I am mixed.  The polish itself applied decently well for a glitter polish but refused to apply in one long stroke down the entire nail.  Therefore the tips of my nails look uneven and some are even missing polish!  However if you can get the polish to apply well then you could probably get away with one coat.  I used two coats in an effort to even the polish out, and from a distance my nails look fine.  In terms of chipping it began just hours after I finished painting my nails.  It started on the tips and worked its way up my nails.  (In fact in order to get pictures for this blog I had to repaint my middle, ring, and pinky fingers!)  As for removing "Fiddlesticks" it wasn't the worst glitter polish I have ever removed but it did take some time to do.  I spent about 15 or 20 minutes working it off my nails and even still it is stuck on some of the cuticles.

Oh and I went to ULTA today and they currently have a bunch of sales on nail polish!  China Glaze, Zoya, Orly, and Piggy Polish are all buy two get one free.  While OPI polishes are buy two get a free full sized holiday color (and the three choices are super pretty!)  And the ULTA brand nail polishes are buy one get one free.  And if I remember correctly this sale goes until Christmas Eve.

Thanks for reading my blog!