Sunday 31 July 2011

OPI The Show Must Go On

Hiya!

Last night I did OPI The Show Must Go On as mani. I only bought this shade really recently from one of my local nail shops. It was part of the Burlesque minis set.

I must say, when that collection came out late last year, I only ended up picking up two of the glitters- Show It And Glow It, and Bring On The Bling. I think it was their glittery fabulousness that caught my eye, and so much so that I hardly even gave a second glance to their foily counterparts in the Burlesque Collection. I was blinded by Cupid's arrow! :)

Well. Let's just put it this way- I'm so glad that I picked up this Mini set so I could FINALLY try the other shades.

My favourite from the Mini collection, although I'm a HUGE fan of glittery reds, is not Ali's Big Break, but this: The Show Must Go On. Probably the only reason why Ali's Big Break is not my favourite, even though it looks utterly gorgeous, is because my favourite ever glittery red is China Glaze's Ruby Pumps, which I completely ADORE. If you don't have that one in your stash, RUN, don't walk, to pick it up, I'm serious!

Anyway, back to TSMGO.

This is TSMGO in direct sunlight (honestly, I'm not lying, it is SUNNY in London today!) :)

...I love it! How beautiful is this Cerise pink foil finish!?

...But... TSMGO has a secret!

...Errrmmm.... How beautiful is this golden orange/copper colour!? (a different angle in sunlight)

...Yes people, TSMGO is strangely duochromey, flashing hues of fuschia, cerise, copper, orange and even a bit of red, as seen here:

Reddish hue coming out on TSMGO, image taken with direct flash

...It all combines to make a very interesting polish. It's pretty cool when your nails look cerise on the outsides and golden orange towards the centre. Hmm, good stuff.

The application was alright, the first went on a bit streaky and thin. The glitter really shows up in coat one. By the second, it was getting a lot better, and by coat three, my final coat, I couldn't stop twirling my nails in the light! It absolutely GLOWS!

The duochrome is very interesting. It's not as duochromey as Orly's Space Cadet or anything like that... I'd say it was, at least for me and from what I can remember, on a par with OPI Ink- that one is great too, ranging from violet purple to navy.

What do you guys think?

:)

New Flip Flops: Pedicure colours, please! :)

So I needed a new pair of flip flops, a lovely leopard print pair I got in America at J Crew broke (Noooo!) the other day, so I decided to fall back on my favourite brand and get some Havaianas...

I wanted a nice summery looking pair because the sun has recently reappeared in London (finally!) so I went to my local Office (shoe store) in Bromley, and ended up getting these beauties...

...Observe:


 I love them, they're so pretty!

At the moment I'm wearing OPI On Collins Ave as my pedicure.

I've actually had that since Washington DC in June, although I have put a couple more layers on since then. Pretty lazy, eh!? So to spare my blushes, I took a pic of JUST the flip flops, if you get my drift... :)

Which colours do you reckon would go with these beauties, then?

:)

Saturday 30 July 2011

WIN IT, WIN IT!!!

Ok guys.

As a sort of 'Golden Hello' to my blog, I'm doing a competition to win an OPI Nail Lacquer...

...Not just any old OPI, though... A DS Series Lacquer....
...Not just any old OPI DS Lacquer, though...

Folks, I am giving away.......

(Drumroll, please!)



ONE boxed bottle of OPI DS ORIGINAL to one lucky follower of my blog!

This polish is super super gorgeous, as you guys know, and also of course a now very hard to find lilac coloured linear holographic lacquer.

I'm in London, but this is an International competition.

To be in with a chance of winning, just FOLLOW MY BLOG and PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND NAME IN THE COMMENTS BOX ON THIS POST so that if you win, I'll be able to contact you.

I need to get a minimum of 200 followers to do this giveaway, so as of 30/7/11, that's 195 more! I set myself high standards, eh!? :)
All people who follow my blog already will be entered into the draw. If more than 200 people leave their info, then no problem, you'll still ALL be entered into my competition.

I'll announce the winner on September 1st, and you're welcome to enter, wherever you're from.

Good luck everyone! :)

Hannah

Friday 29 July 2011

The one that started it all!

Ok, people.

Here's my first EVER bottle of OPI!


It's We'll Always Have Paris!

I love this colour. I bought it around Christmas time 2009, and I can't believe it's been that long already!

It's a beautiful Maroon creme finish polish, no shimmer or anything in here, and it's perfect in two coats.

I think it's the perfect Vampy Winter shade, I am a big big fan of Vampies, reds in particular, and this one is an incredibly elegant shade. I may be alone in thinking this, but I reckon this shade is fairly unique- it's so creamy and the pigmentation is very dense in this one, unlike other Vampies such as All A-Bordeaux The Sled (also in my stash) which seems to be a bit jellier and less dense, as well as being a much browner red.

WAHP is from OPI's French collection, which I think, colour wise, is a very sophisticated and unusual collection in general, and includes stunning and pretty unique shades such as Parlez-Vous OPI?, Crepes Suzi-ette, and the best-seller, You Don't Know Jacques.

Which was your first OPI polish and why? :)

Very sad day for the UK.... :(

Good morning, everyone!

So, I put in a call to Selfridges, London this morning, as I want to get my paws on some new OPI shades!

I spoke to the Sales Rep for OPI, and, woe betide...

....Selfridges will NOT be getting the Nice Stems OR Miss Universe Collections!

Nooo!

Next for them are Touring America, and The Muppets, apparently.... :(

If you wanna pick up Nice Stems right now, head to Lena White, and I hope Miss Universe will be showing up there in due course too!

Thursday 28 July 2011

NOTD: OPI Absolutely Alice and Last Friday Night

Hey guys!

So today, I have a pretty special mani to show you! I did it this morning, and it's the No. 2 layered mani on my list, which you can see if you scroll further down :)

...So yeah, I actually cannot stop staring at my nails, they're so gorgeous! I'm generally not a massive fan of blue nails in general, but in this case, I'm sure gonna make an exception! They're incredible... My sister said they're kind of Mermaid-ish... For me, that's no bad thing...!

So yeah, a picture:


It's good, no!?

So about how I got here....

2x Nail Envy
2x Orly Matte Vinyl
2x Absolutely Alice
2x Last Friday Night
2x Seche Vite (for a  smooth finish over the glitter)

....Wowza, that's TEN layers of polish! I don't think I'll ever get it off!


Absolutely Alice and Last Friday Night OPI Mani

I always put two coats of Nail Envy on as my base, I find that stuff great. On the subject of that, I tried a bottle of Nail Maintenance one time, and I found that it made quite a few of my nails break at the side, it must have made them brittle. NOT good, so since then, I just stick to the Original formula.

I needed two coats of Matte Vinyl as the first was pretty streaky and if I'd kept it at one, I thought there would probably be bald patches showing.

With regards to the glitter, I'd really say just apply how much you'd like. I'm sure one coat each of AA and LFN would be completely sufficient, as their coverage is good anyways.

And for the top, I nearly left it at one coat of Seche, and you could, that would be fine, but as I like the polish to feel smooth, I put two thick coats on to achieve that.

It was worth the 10 coats for this mani!
...Ask me again when I come to take it off, though... I ain't looking forward to that! :)

Wednesday 27 July 2011

So cute!

Check this link out for pint sized OPI gorgeousness!

http://www.asos.com/Opi/OPI-ASOS-Exclusive-Mini-Designer-Series/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=1644667&cid=2507&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=20&sort=-1&clr=Mini+designer+series


.....How cute are they!? :)

Ooooh Sparkly!


Oooh! Red Holo anyone!?

This is OPI An Affair In Red Square with a single coat of OPI DS Signature on top, which went onto the nail like butter. Aaaah so smooth.
No topcoat on this- because it's a DS polish, it's not needed.

The piccie was taken with *FLASH!* because...

...Well number one it's night time here in London, and number two, we hardly have any decent sunshine in the day anyway! Booo :(

OPI Muppets Collection






Oh. My. Goodness!!!! Thank you OPI, Thank you! 

Well, WOWZA, what a collection we have here! This is OPI's Winter 2011 offering, and seriously, like,  this is actually INSANE!
I NEED to get my polish addicted paws on over half of this incredibly beautiful collection!

How about you?

OPI Breast cancer awareness Pink of Hearts shade Pink Shatter!

New OPI Shatter- This one's PINK for October Breast cancer awareness!

What do you guys think?

Hmm, tasty recipes! :)

My Top 5 favourite nail layering efforts from the nail wheels I painted up are as follows...

Hannah's Top 5 Layering Recipes:

1- OPI Black Cherry Chutney (base) x2
    China Glaze Ruby Pumps (top) x1

(I am SO obsessed with China Glaze's Ruby Pumps, I ADORE it!)

2- OPI Absolutely Alice (base) x2
    OPI Last Friday Night (top) x1

3- Orly Matte Vinyl (base) x2
    OPI Last Friday Night (top) x1

4- Orly Dazzle (base) x2
    OPI DS Original (top) x1

5- OPI DS Mystery (base) x2
    OPI DS Original (top) x1

(Hello, Original MPJ!!)

6- OPI Princesses Rule! (base) x2
    OPI Teenage Dream (top) x1

(Uber girly sparkly perfection)

7- OPI Absolutely Alice (base) x2
    OPI DS Original (top) x1

    (Lavender/Cornflower blue sparkly hololiciousness! Utterly incredible combo!)

8- OPI Have You Seen My Limo? (base) x2
    China Glaze Fairy Dust (top) x1

9- OPI Teenage Dream (base) x2
    OPI Last Friday Night (top) x1

10- Orly Matte Vinyl (base) x2
      Nubar 2010 (top) x1

Which one should I swatch first!? 

Votes please! :) 

Layer it up, baby!

So as I say, I bought some nail wheels a few days ago and after doing plain two coat swatches of my collection of polish I decided to have some fun- layering!

I did one nail of each layered up polish, usually using two base coats of colour, then one layer coat on top. I always use two coats of OPI Nail Envy as my base, one coat of OPI Ridge Filler, and a coat of Seche Vite on top of my colour, but I didn't do all those steps on these nail wheels.

Anyways, here are the swatches for your viewing pleasure!





The wheels all look a lot better in real life because quite a lot of them are soooo glittery!

My favourite topcoats to use for these swatches were OPI DS Original. OPI DS Signature, OPI Last Friday Night, OPI Teenage Dream, and China Glaze Fairy Dust.

Stay tuned for my Top 10 nail layering recipes!

My big USA haul!

So, I went to Washington DC last month, my first time there, not my first time in the big ol' USA but my first visit to DC.

I did the touristy, the restaurant eating and shopping stuff, and with regards to the latter, came back to London with a pretty impressive nail polish swag!

IMAGE:
Top Row, L-R- Essie China Doll, OPI Turquoise Shatter, OPI Rally Pretty Pink, OPI  Absolutely Alice
Bottom Row, L-R- Orly Space Cadet, Orly Bubbly Bombshell, Orly Fancy Fuchsia, OPI Skull & Glossbones

I picked a bottle each of:

*OPI Absolutely Alice
* OPI Skull and Glossbones
* OPI Turquoise Shatter
*OPI Senorita Rose-alita
*OPI Rally Pretty Pink
*Orly Space Cadet
*Orly Bubbly Bombsell
*Orly Fancy Fuchsia
*Essie China Doll
*Milani Hi-Res

I bought most of these polishes in Mimosa Beauty Salon near Du Pont Circle- it's amazing!!! Apparently it's one of the best salons in DC, and I COMPLETELY recommend it, if you're around the DC area.

So, anyways, I bought Senorita Rose-alita, Rally Pretty Pink, Space Cadet, Bubbly Bombsell, Fancy Fuchsia and China Doll for $5 USD each, which I reckon is a pretty incredible price- about £3.00 each, whereas buying a new OPI here in London at Selfridges will set you back £10.50- roughly $17 USD!

Insane, no!?

IMAGE: My favourites, in order, L-R, that I bought in America-
Numero Uno: OPI Absolutely Alice, 2: Orly Space Cadet, 3: OPI Rally Pretty Pink, 4: Orly Bubbly Bombshell

I was so pleased to get hold of Absolutely Alice for $7, I've heard so many great things about that polish from so many bloggers. I didn't purchase it when OPI's Alice in Wonderland collection came out, and before I could say 'I neeeed me that polish!!!' Absolutely Alice had sold out, like Absolutely EVERYWHERE*.... Sorry, that one was pretty bad.

(...*Apart from Evilbay. Obviously.)





...So yeah, I was pretty chuffed to get hold of that one!

Another one I picked up, Milani Hi-Res, was a bit of a 'uhhhhmmmm' purchase to aid with the pain of not owning OPI DS Original, which I've wanted for ages!

Ok, Milani Hi-Res is quite nice, a very subtle, very scattered holo, but not a patch on DS Original.... Sure enough, about two weeks after I got back to London, I popped into my local nail shop and randomly found....

OPI DS Original!

My god! I was soooo happy! But now, being the proud owner of DS Original means that owning Hi-Res is ever so slightly pointless... DS Original's holo-awesomeness is second to none!...

....That's a whole 'nother post! :)

OPI An Affair In Red Square

Well, this is a polish I picked up just this last week after quite a while wanting it- (yay!)




It's a beautiful cherry red metallic shimmer that applied perfectly by the third coat. It's a slightly lighter red than the OPI favourite, I'm Not Really A Waitress, which I also have in my collection, and in my opinion, AAIRS is more of a true red. INRAW is a touch darker, and also seems much more of a pinkier red to me.

I picked INRAW up very recently as well, and still haven't had it on as a mani yet, so I'm only going on the look of the single nail board swatch that I did.

Obviously it's 'summer' in London at the moment- (I say 'summer' because it's pretty much grey and gloomy and not so warm all the darn time!)- but I still wanted to mani this colour cos I was really happy to get it.

I'm still sporting a teeny touch left of my tan from Washington DC which I visited last month (hello brill nail polish haul!) so my skintone is not as pale as usual.

I have typical English skin, pretty pale, NW15/20, and I actually can't wait to wear AAIRS this coming Winter because I go pretty darn pale in the Winter months and I think the cherry red/ultra pale skin look will be pretty contrasty and interesting.

Dita style, perhaps... :)



Manicure in the image above is AAIRS- and a layering sample which I painted last night!
....More to come on that front.... Stay tuned!

A Blank Canvas!

Welcome to my first post!

As this is my first ever post on my new blog, I thought I'd start off with a blank canvas...


Please bear with me with regards to this site, I'm still making some tweaks here and there and jigging  a few things around.... This is early days, and it'll get a LOT better! :)

In the last few days, I've been individually swatching the best of my nail varnish collection (OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Essie) so that organisation and choosing a colour to wear becomes easier!

Also, I want to swatch through my collection and put it up on here.....

Feel free to leave comments or questions!

Hannah