As a nail swatcher and all-around nail polish enthusiast, I have to be on top of taking care of my hands and nails. I feel that I am lucky in that I have naturally strong nails, but I do tend to have very dry skin which obviously affects my cuticles. Many years ago, I used to bite my nails and cuticles to the point of making them bleed which is why I started wearing acrylics. Lucky, this helped me kick the biting habit but I also have to stay on top of avoiding hangnails and such because it will tempt me to bite them. Gross, I know! Well, today I have some of my favorite nail care products to share with you; these are items I use often to help keep my hands and cuticles well hydrated and soft. Continue reading “Favorite Nail Care Products”
Tag: Nicole by OPI
Nicole by OPI Coca-Cola Collection
I haven’t been sleeping well lately. The reason is that I keep having jacked up dreams that I am in The Walking Dead, and I’m being chased by zombies. And you know what? There’s a reason why there aren’t any fat people on the show. If I had to run away from zombies, they would catch up with me in about 30 seconds. Even Hershel with one leg would be able to run faster than me. I always end up waking up completely freaked out, and then I don’t want to fall asleep again for fear of dreaming about zombies again. You’re probably thinking: “So stop watching the show, you dumbass!” I haven’t been watching this second part of this season cause I want to watch them all at once so I guess I can’t escape the terror! So besides zombie nightmares, things are going pretty good over here. I am enjoying blogging again so that is always good. Today I am sharing a collection that is flying under the radar: the Nicole by OPI Coca-Cola Collecion. Yep, you read that right. After OPI put out a Coca-Cola Collection last year, NOPI also put one out. While the collections are not identical, they have some similarities. Let me show you the 6 polishes that make up this collection.
Nicole by OPI The Look Is Orange
Nicole by OPI Seriously Citrus
Nicole by OPI Always A Classic Coca-Cola
Nicole by OPI DC Lover
Nicole by OPI In Grape Demand
Nicole by OPI Zero Is My Hero
Overall I think this is a very neat and cohesive collection. I really like Seriously Citrus and Zero Is My Hero so those two are my main recommendations. The formula on all of these is nice–I don’t really have anything negative to say about this collection, but it definitely did not wow me. These are nice staple colors so don’t hesitate to pick them up if you like the colors or don’t have anything similar. This collection is out now so go get ’em! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will catch up with you later.
Dermelect Above It
Have you heard of Dermelect? I’ve seen their polishes around on the internet but I never paid much attention because they are $12-$14 for a .4oz bottle which is kinda pricey, and I’m a big cheapskate for the most part. However, a couple of weeks ago I was loading up on essentials at Ulta, and I happened to see a bunch of these polishes in their clearance section for under $0.50!!! Whuuuuut???? At first, I grabbed everything in site because how could I not, but once the euphoria wore off a bit I put things back and only purchased three because I had to leave some for the rest of you, right? See how considerate I am? Besides, I didn’t know what to expect from the brand and maybe I would hate the polish or the brush. When you hate the polish, it doesn’t matter how cheap it is–it’s still a waste. Let me show you the first color I picked up.
Dermelect Above It is a beautiful sky blue. The formula seemed a little watery, but magically it was perfectly opaque with two coats. I also really liked the brush even though it’s thinner that what I usually like. Overall, I think the quality of the polish is very good. Would I pay full price for it? Nope.
And just for shits and giggles, I decided to mattify the polish with my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) and dangnabit it looks amazing.
So what do you think of this polish? Have you tried anything from this brand? I’m pleasantly surprised and hope that I can purchase more on clearance in the future. Moving on to more serious things: today is Ash Wednesday which signifies the beginning of Lent. I have decided to go on a polish no-buy during this time which I know will be very difficult for me considering the sheer amount of Spring collections that are coming out now, but I think it will be good for me. There are a lot of things that I could give up, but nothing will be as hard as giving up purchasing new polishes. Wish me luck!
Have you entered my giveaway? Click the image below to enter!
The Lacquer Ring – Splatter
I need to tone it down a little today because I’m almost roid raging over a freaking nail. So here I am all happy with being able to use my swatching hand again, and I was all showing off my new nail shape and all…and BAM! My pink nail split lengthwise. How does that even happen? I’ve never had that happen before so I was like…WTF nail? I managed to file it down enough to where the split ended, but now I’m just waiting for the next nail catastrophe. Oh, and I also have a nail starting to peel/break on my non-swatching hand. Of course this happens when I have about 30 polishes to swatch because the universe hates me. Let me get off this rant for now so I can actually show you what I’m supposed to be talking about today: The Lacquer Ring! Yep, we are at it again with a new prompt which was chosen by Amanda. She chose splatter nails, and of course I had to take the easiest way out because, at Sweet Brown says, Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!
I started off with a simple black base using Jessica Velvets & Pearls (press sample) which is a pretty standard black creme. It has a great formula so no complaints here.
I then used Jessica Standing Ovation (press sample) to stamp this splatter image from Konad Plate M70. I thought the contrast would be better, but I kind of like how this looks. I should have left well enough alone but nooooooooooooo…
I then used my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) to mattify the whole mani and basically ruined it. I do not like how this looks matte. I should have used a different stamping color to make it stand out more when I mattified it.
Welp, I’m sorry I brought you this craptacular mani today. I just gave up. I had a long day and just didn’t have it in me to do anything different after this fail. Hopefully I’ll do better next month. Womp womp. Check out the links below to see what the other ladies from The Lacquer Ring came up with–it sure can’t get worse than this. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!
Loading InLinkz ...
The Lacquer Ring – Chartreuse
Since I was such a turd and missed out on the last The Lacquer Ring prompt, I got my manicure done early for today’s post but I still waited until the last possible second to edit my pictures and actually write my post. Will I ever learn? I am such a procrastinator and then I have to rush to get things done on the fly. I hate this trait of mine, but I don’t see it changing like…ever. Anyway, Jessica chose chartreuse as our color prompt today so I had to think hard about what polish I wanted to use. Then I remembered this gorgeous color from the Nicole by OPI Tinkerbell collection which is what I have for you today.
Nicole by OPI Sweet on Pete is exactly the color I think of when I hear he word chartreuse. I wish the formula was a bit better because it was so streaky after the first coat. I ended up applying three thin coats for the final result here. It’s a very unique color in my collection.
And then I used the glitters from Nicole by OPI Be Awesome to create some funky flowers. Applying this glitter was such a pain in the ass but I really like how this looks. It looks sort of like funky flowers and kind of like ninja stars. Ninja Gaiden nails!!!
So what do you think about both the color and my glitter mani? Are you a fan of unique colors such as this or is it just too bold and out there for you? Don’t forget to check out the other chartreuse looks from my fellow ladies who make up The Lacquer Ring. Thanks so much for the visit, and I will talk to you soon!
Loading InLinkz ...
Nicole by OPI Seize The Summer Collection Summer 2014
Guess what? I’m about to enter the black hole of Netflix binging again. I just started watching Orange Is The New Black, and I am obsessed. I know it’s not exactly new, but I had hesitated watching it because I get so mad when I have to wait forever to see the next season. Basically, I don’t want a repeat of the whole House Of Cards drama in my life: I binge watch the entire season and then I get so sad that I have to wait and wait and wait and wait… Well, I started watching Orange Is The New Black because I know the second season is coming out on the 6th, so at least I can binge watch 2 seasons! So besides the Netflix binging, I didn’t do much this weekend. I was planning to watch Maleficent but I didn’t really feel like going anywhere so I just veged out all weekend until Sunday evening when I was in a rush doing my laundry and getting my stuff ready for work tomorrow. Yep, pretty typical. One thing I did do was swatch the Nicole by OPI Seize The Summer Collection which is made up of 4 new shades for Summer 2014. Let me show you my swatches first.
Nicole by OPI Lay It On The Lime
Nicole by OPI Leapink For Joy
Nicole by OPI The Coral Of The Story
Nicole by OPI Shaved Ice
When I first got these, I was really excited that it was just a small 4 piece collection: 3 bright and juicy cremes and 1 glitter. It seems that this summer, lime greens are all the rage which is fine by me because I love the color. Our of all 4 polishes, the only problematic one was Lay It On The Lime. It was super streaky and just a pain to work with in general because it needed three coats to look decent. The other 3 polishes were fine so I don’t have anything to point out about them except that they all look a lot like some other recent polishes…………
Shaved Ice vs. Muppets World Tour
Lay It On The Lime vs. Life Gave Me Lemons
Leapink For Joy vs. Kiss Me I’m Brazilian
The Coral Of The Story vs. Live.Love.Carnaval
So are all of these 100% dupes? Two of them are: NOPI Shaved Ice/OPI Muppets World Tour and NOPI The Coral Of The Story/OPI Live.Love.Carnaval are 100% dupes so you can pass on one if you have the other. NOPI Lay It On The Lime and OPI Life Gave Me Lemons are NOT dupes because Life Gave Me Lemons is a traditional neon that dries to a satin finish while Lay It On The Lime is a standard creme. LGML is also way brighter than LIOTL even without the white base. If I had to pick one, I would go with Life Gave Me Lemons. Lastly, NOPI Leapink For Joy and OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian are not 100% dupes because LFJ is a tiny bit darker, but not by much. They both have really great formulas so being the polish hoarder that I am, I would recommend both. However, you don’t need both–especially if you’re just starting to build up your collection and you don’t want too many dupes.
So overall, these 4 new polishes from Nicole by OPI are nice but I’m not thrilled about the dupe factor. But hey: at least you can save yourself some moola if you have some of these colors already, right? I hope you have a good Monday because I will sure try to make mine good–try being the operative word. Thanks for stopping by today, and I’ll catch you later!
The Lacquer Ring – Cherry Blossoms
After my orange debacle, I was sure that I was going to crash and burn on today’s challenge. Let me tell you that I am not one of those people who can do awesome freehand nail designs–there is a reason why I love stamping so much! I can admire the amazing skills that other ladies have when it comes to nail art, but I just don’t like it on my own nails because I want crisp lines and geometric patterns. I had to suck it up for this post because Nicole chose Cherry Blossoms as her second prompt for the month of May. You want to know what I kept thinking about? Ken Watanabe.
I kind of love him. Not as much as my childhood crushes, but he’s up there. I really like The Last Samurai even though I strongly dislike Tom Cruise. Rather, I strongly dislike Tom Cruise’s public persona and the whole Scientology thing but to each his own. Anyway, I kept thinking about what to do for this manicure so I took out some polishes to get started.
Here you see Nicole by OPI At Least I Pink So, Nicole by OPI Promises After Dark and OPI Minnie Style (all press samples). I also needed a nail art brush to draw the branches.
To start with, I applied 2 smooth coats of Nicole by OPI At Least I Pink So which is a delicate and creamy baby pink.
I then used Nicole by OPI Promises In The Dark and my nail art brush to draw some tree branches. I feel that they look super sloppy. Grrrr!
Finally I used the glitters in OPI Minnie Style to create the cherry blossoms. This was not very time consuming and I think it gives the whole mani a little bling factor. Maybe it’s a little tacky but I can be a little tacky with my manicures sometimes so who cares?
So what do you think? Be honest! I don’t totally hate it, but I’m not super happy with it either. To be honest, this was my second attempt. The first time, I used a base color that just looked awful so I removed everything and started all over again. I almost gave up completely, but I’m glad that I kept going because this is all about challenging myself. So, thanks Nicole for picking a design that I had never attempted before. Make sure that you check out the other Cherry Blossom manis from the other members of The Lacquer Ring. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you have a great Thursday!
GIVEAWAY REMINDER
There is about a week left! Have you entered my giveaway to win a full size 4 piece set of the OPI Sheer Tints? Click on the image below to go to the giveaway post. Good luck!
Loading InLinkz ...
Nicole by OPI New Core Colors For 2014 – Part 2
So I should have posted these swatches of the Nicole by OPI New Core Colors For 2014 like a million years ago, but I just kept forgetting. When I saw this in my draft folders, I got all excited because these colors are fan-freaking-tastic. I wish I was in the mood to chit chat right now but I’m basically sitting here SWEATING. I’m sitting down withe the fans on and I’m sweating. Enough said. So, let me show you just how pretty these colors are!
Nicole by OPI That’s Putting It Mild
Nicole by OPI Yoga-Then-Yogurt
Nicole by OPI Sweet Surrender
Nicole by OPI I’ll Have The Salmon
Nicole by OPI Taupe Of My Class
Nicole by OPI Always A Flirt!
Nicole by OPI Something About Spring
Nicole by OPI Fabulous Is My Middle Name
Nicole by OPI Oh That’s Just Grape!
Nicole by OPI Be Awesome
There is not a single color here that I didn’t like and that’s pretty rare. The formula on all of them was good–two coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche. The two glitters I could do without, but they give a nice look so I’m not going to knock them. You should check out Part 1 of this review which shows my 5 favorite colors from these new additions to the core line. I’m not going to talk your ear off right now because I need to get some stuff done before I can settle down to watch Grey’s Anatomy. Burke is back. Ghhhaaaaaa! Are you as excited about this as me? Anyway, I’ll talk to you soon!!
Nicole by OPI Kellogg’s Special K Collection 2014
I say this every Sunday, but Sundays really do suck. I’m so incredibly annoyed right now because it was like the weekend was gone in the blink of an eye, and I didn’t get to do most of the stuff I had planned. Do I just have some serious time management issues or is that pretty typical for everyone? I don’t know how long I’ve been saying that I need to get into a routine so I can go to the gym a few times a week. On Saturday I was cleaning out my closet and I noticed that some clothes now fit me again which was kind of a surprise. I’ve made a few changes like forcing myself to eat breakfast (oatmeal or yogurt with granola) every day, and I think that has helped me not feel so ravenous by the time lunch rolls around. If I could stop snacking before dinner, I think that would be another huge change. I want to make a commitment to go to the gym 2-3 times a week just to start out. I know that if I say I want to go every day, I will just burn myself out and won’t follow through. I remember hearing about the Nicole by OPI Kellog’s Special K partnership last year–mainly the free polish part. lol This year, they are once again collaborating to bring us 3 shades. Let’s take a look at my swatches below and then I can tell you how these can be yours.
Nicole by OPI My Sol Shines Brighter
Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y
Nicole by OPI Live In The Momentum
While these colors aren’t earth shattering, they are really nice basics. They are all super creamy, highly pigmented and deliciously glossy. I did not even have to top coat them for that glass-like shine! Here is some information on how you can get this trio:
Through the “Shine Brighter” campaign, Nicole by OPI and Kellog’s Special K hope to inspire “women to be their best selves–healthy, confident and positive, to look better, feel better, and shine brighter.” The three custom shades include: Challenge Red-y (crème red), Live in the Momentum (crème blue) and My Sol Shines Brighter (crème coral). Shoppers will have the opportunity to receive free full-size bottles of Nicole by OPI nail lacquer by signing up for the Kellogg’s Family Rewards program and entering codes from specially marked boxes of Special K products, while supplies last. With the purchase of three eligible Special K products, consumers will receive the shade Challenge Red-y. After submitting the purchase codes from five eligible Special K products, consumers will receive two lacquers – Live in the Momentum and My Sol Shines Brighter.
Nicole by OPI Signature edition Special K packages designed by Suzi Weiss-Fischmann will be available exclusively at Target. The designer packages are available only for select flavors (Original, Red Berries & Chocolatey Delight). For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com. Follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan!
So what do you think about this collaboration? I’ve got to admit I thought it was a bit random, but I like Special K (the strawberries one–yum!!!) and I love polish. If that means someone gets free polish, I’m all in! Thanks for stopping by today, and I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.
Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection
If you follow me on Facebook, you probably read about how I broke my toe because of these polishes. Yep, these polishes made me break my toe…let me explain. When I got home from work, the box of polishes was waiting for me so I teared into it like a lunatic, and I was admiring their speckled pastel gorgeousness. I immediately put one on, and I jumped up from the couch so I could go to my light box to photograph them. In my excitement, I stubbed my toe on the coffee table and I heard/felt it snap. It hurt like hell, but I proceeded to take pictures of my freshly polished nails. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I noticed the swelling and the tenderness and now it’s just a bruised mess. There’s not much that I can do about it except keep it bandaged and not hit it again which will be hard since I’m so clumsy. Despite the broken toe, I am feeling pretty hopeful about a few things, so not everything is bad. And of course, I am so excited to be sharing the Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection with you. When I first saw the press release, I read it as roofies or ruffies which prompted Jessica to call them puppy drugs…I know…I know….haha! Let’s take a look at my swatches below, and I will share my thoughts with you at the end.
Nicole by OPI I’m Stucco on You
Nicole by OPI On What Grounds?
Nicole by OPI Rock the Look
Nicole by OPI Sand in My Shoe
I don’t know how you feel about pastels, but I have to say that I am in love with these. The beautiful pastel shades are perfect for this time of year, and the speckled effect gives them a little extra kick. The formula was a breeze to work with because it applies so smoothly and easily. I do recommend that you apply 2 thin coats and that you let the first coat dry for a few minutes before applying the second because otherwise you might create some bald spots. Luckily, these dry super fast so you won’t have to wait too long. I also wanted to mention that On What Grounds? leans very blue in my pictures, but in real life it is more of a turquoise color–my stupid camera strikes again! I really hope that polishes with a similar effect are release in the future because I’d love to have these in a bunch of different colors. What do you think of these? Do you have a favorite or are you over textured polishes? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!
From Nicole by OPI
Nicole by OPI formulas are long-lasting, fast-drying, and salon-quality. The 4 new nail lacquers will be available in stores beginning March 2014 for $7.99 each at retailers including select Duane Reade, Kroger, Kmart, Fred Meyer, CVS locations. In Canada, these shades will be available for $10.99 each at Shoppers Drug Mart, Jean Coutu, Rexall, Walmart Canada, Loblaw, and London Drug. For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com. Follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan!
