OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress

Purchased

Hi, and happy Friday everyone. I hope you all had an awesome Halloween. I can't believe that it's over already. At least we have Christmas to look forward to. Today's swatch actually reminds me a little bit of Christmas. OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress is a classic red with a great shimmer. I have a really old black label bottle of this one. I was digging through my Helmer looking for something to wear the other day when I came across it. I hadn't worn it for so long and I thought it would be fun to swatch it.

I don't know why I don't wear this shade more. It's a really beautiful red and the shimmer is just gorgeous. I only needed 2 coats to get the finish you see below. 

While it may not be the most unique shade in the market, it's pretty classic and I think it would look good on almost anyone. 

I definitely think I'll be busting out I'm Not Really a Waitress this holiday season. It's the perfect Christmas color!

What do you guys think? Do you have this one in your stash, too?

Stashed (17): OPI, Zoya, Orly

Hello, everyone! I've been meaning to post this Stashed entry for a couple of weeks now but haven't had the time. This is a holiday weekend though so I am finally getting a little more free time to post. I hope to edit some photos this weekend, too, so that I can schedule some posts for next week. I did buy a few fun things in the last few weeks. I am still on a low buy though so I have purposely been avoiding places where I might be tempted by buy polish.

 

First purchase was this limited edition mini set of Liquid Sands that OPI did for the Brazil collection. I wasn't going to get this initially but saw some pretty swatches up on a few blogs and it was as steal for $5.99.

 

This is my Zoya Earth Day promo haul (I know, ages ago) along with one polish from Orly's Baked collection. Sorry I am too lazy to look up specific names right now but if you want to know, leave a comment and I'll look it up.

This little stash is from a friend who was cleaning out her nail polish box. She has one shoebox with nail polish in it and wanted to clean it out and offered me what she did not want. There was more than this but I gave those away and kept just what I really wanted. There's a fun OPI Hey Get in Lime! in there as well as Linkin Park After Dark Suede. A couple of the Ultra brand polishes looked fun so I kept those as well.

I actually haven't had a chance to paint my nails for the last couple of weeks and my toes are naked (gasp!). Hoping to at least give myself a pedicure though this weekend. Hope you are all enjoying the longer weekend!

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Purchase

Good morning! I hope you all had a good weekend. I was busy volunteering at a friend's book event this weekend most of Saturday and had Sunday to just chill. Can you believe that April is almost over? It's been an insane month for me and I am kind of glad to be getting into a less busy time.

I have another polish from the OPI Gwen Stefani collaboration today. It's taking me a while to swatch them all but I'll get through it one day. :) Love.Angel.Music.Baby is a cool-toned gold or champagne. It's a satin finish with a beautiful glow. This polish is pretty unique in my collection since it's very cool toned. If you look closely you can see the gold and silver particles that make up this unique shade.

Love.Angel.Music.Baby had a smooth, buttery formula that as wonderful to apply. For these swatches I used 2 medium coats, making sure I let it dry fully between each coat. The formula on this reminded me a lot of the Suede formula by OPI. It's just got a soft look about it.

After 4 In the Morning, Love.Angel.Music.Baby is probably my favorite out of this collection.  Are you guys sick of this collection yet? Promise I only have a couple more to go, but I haven't even swatched them yet. :) Thanks for stopping by today!

OPI Push and Shove

Purchase

Look, it's two posts in one week! I hope your week is going just swimmingly. I am continuing on with the OPI Gwen Stefani collection today with Push and Shove. Push and Shove is a silver chrome polish. Chromes are notoriously finicky to apply and show every bump and imperfection on your nails. To combat this, OPI sold Push and Shove with its very own top coat, Lay Down That Base, that is supposed help smooth out the nail base and help with an even application.

First I did one coat of Lay Down That Base on clean, bare nails. Next I did 2 careful coats of Push and Shove. This was extremely pigmented and I could probably have gotten away with one coat if my application had been perfect. It wasn't, of course, so I ended up with 2. Shown without top coat.

Push and Shove had a really interesting formula and application. It was a little water and hard to control so I tried not to have too much polish on the brush. When I was painting my nails, I thought it was going to be brush stroke city but, as the polish dried, it dried to a smoother finish with way less brush strokes than expected. I probably could have done with a bit of clean up around my cuticles but I was being lazy that day. 

I am pretty lucky in that I don't have a lot of bumps or ridges on my nails. So I wasn't really worried about those kinds of imperfections showing up. I could not tell if the base made a big difference since, as I said, my nails are pretty smooth to begin with. If you do have ridges on your nails, I would definitely suggest a base coat, maybe even a ridge filler.  

My nails looked super shiny and metallic with this polish and I think it delivered as a chrome. While you have to be careful with application and prep your nails accordingly, the end result is pretty cool looking. 

What do you guys think of this one? I kind of miss all of the chromes that used to be available. It can be an unforgiving finish but it looks great when done right. I would love to see a black or grey chrome or even some jewel tones. Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful day!

OPI 4 In the Morning

Purchase

Hi, everyone. I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend. I didn't really do much on Sunday. A lot of things were closed which was actually kind of nice because it forced me to chill out. The weather was also gorgeous and I spent a couple of hours outdoors. I am trying to get a bit ahead of myself this week by scheduling a couple of posts before I get too busy and suddenly realize that it's Thursday and I still haven't posted.

Today I have one of the polishes from the Gwen Stefani collection by OPI. I picked up a bunch of them when they went on sale a month or two ago at Sally Beauty. 4 In the Morning was the polish that I was most excited for in this collection. I love satin/matte blacks and this one looked beautiful in swatch photos. In person, it did not disappoint.

4 In the Morning is a black satin with a very slight grey shimmer. You can't see it very well in person but it helps give the polish a really pretty glow. I had no issues with formula and used 2 coats with on top coat in these swatches.

I really like this one. It's edgy and cool and was a breeze to apply. Now that the polish world is embracing the matte and textured finish, I hope that they move on and give us more satins like this.

Did anyone else pick up this polish? Let me know what you think of it in the comments below. :)

OPI Baby Please Come Home

Purchase

Hi, everyone. Man I've been so terrible about posting lately. It's just so hard to come home after work at night and find the enthusiasm to get on the computer again. Not to mention that my computer has been super slow lately. Anyway, those are just lame excuses that you don't want to hear. Let's get to the polish.

This is OPI Baby Please Come Home from last year's Mariah Carey Holiday collection. Baby Please Come Home is a cool toned lavender that leans a bit pink. It has a Liquid Sand finish, meaning it's textured and meant to be worn without a top coat. If found it to be nicely pigmented and only required 2 coats, as shown below.

 

I like this one. I don't have anything quite like it in my collection and I like that it's a very cool toned purple. Of course I love the bling-y glitter and the Liquid Sand formula is very nice. As you can see, I bought I have a mini bottle of this as part of a little 3-pack. I would consider getting a full size bottle though. I don't see the texture trend dying anytime soon and I am still a fan.

Thanks for hanging in there and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

OPI Animal-istic

Purchase

Hello again. I hope you've all been having a fantastic week. The weather continues to be uncommonly warm where I am. On the one hand, I love the pretty sun but on the other, I really wish we had more seasons. I guess you can't have it all. :) Today I have OPI Animal-istic, which was released a couple of years ago as part of a Muppets collection. I didn't get this when it first came out because, while pretty, it did not look super original. But then I saw it and a bunch of other polishes for a steal on a blog sale, and I decided to throw it in with my order.

Animal-istic is a pretty, warm glass fleck red. I like glass flecks so this one was right up my alley. It's a little sheer, as I think you can see in my photos, but that's the nature of glass fleck and I was fine with it. If you want something more opaque you can do more coats. For my swatches, I did 2. Shown here with top coat.

I still don't think it's a super original color but it's fun and a nice addition to your collection if you don't have anything like it already. 

Thanks for coming by today. :)

OPI White Gold Top Coat

Purchase

Hello and happy Tuesday! Did any of you L.A. readers feel the earthquake yesterday? It was a pretty substantial one. I was actually in the shower when it happened and my shower door was rattling pretty badly. It was fine though and pretty short, though it did make for an interesting morning on Facebook and Twitter.

So I know today is St. Patrick's Day but I do not have a green manicure for you. Nope, I am busting out something that has been in my drafts for a little while now. It's OPI White Gold Top Coat. This came out last winter as part of the Mariah Carey Holiday collection (I think). I wasn't initially interested in this but I found it after Christmas on clearance at Ulta so I said why not.

OPI White Gold Top Coat is a...white gold top coat. Haha. It has white gold flakes and is basically the silver version of last year's Man with the Golden Gun, also from OPI.  I wore it here over MAC Grey Friday, a gunmetal grey. I found the flake payoff to be pretty good though I did have to do a little bit of dabbing to get the gold where I wanted it to go. It wasn't too fiddly though and I used about 1.5 coats here.

This is a fun polish to have in my collection though I am really glad that I bought it on sale. What do you guys think of the gold flake trend? Love or leave it? Let me know in the comments below. Have a lovely week!

Stashed (15): Gwen Stefani for OPI

Hi, everyone. Have you sprung forward yet? While I don't relish the idea of losing an hour, more daylight is definitely a bonus. So I did a tiny bit of stashing this week. I have been trying not to spend money on polish lately but I heard that the Gwen Stefani OPI polishes were on sake at Sally Beauty and they were. I only picked up the few that really interested me though the vampy burgundy is on my maybe next time list.

I really haven't bought much from any of the new spring collections this year. Part of it is because of money and the other part is because I just haven't had a ton of time to swatch lately. But I am happy to have these and hope to wear them soon. 

Did you stash anything good this weekend? :)

OPI Animalistic

Hello there! I hope you guys all had a fun weekend. I didn't really do anything too exciting, but it was nice to have some downtime. Today's polish is OPI Animalistic. This came out a year or two ago and was a part of their Muppets collaboration. I have a soft spot for the Muppets and we even named my childhood dog Gonzo. :) I wasn't really interested in this one until I spotted it on a blog sale for $1. I mean, how can I pass up OPI for $1? 

Animalistic is a bright red that leans a little orange with a great glass fleck finish. China Glaze does this finish really well and this one was no exception. I used two coats below without top coat. As you can see, it's still a bit squishy looking, but that's the beauty of a glass fleck glitter. 

I don't think this is the most original color in my collection but I still like it because of the Muppets connection and it's pretty. No real issues with the formula. If you don't already have a color like this, it might be worth a second look. 

Speaking of The Muppets, is anyone else excited about the new Muppets movie? I already have a date with a friend lined up to see it. :)

Stashed (13): OPI, Morgan Taylor, China Glaze

Hi, everyone. Sigh - this is my last official day of vacation. I am not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I also got sick over the weekend and have spent the last couple of days just trying to get better. Boo - well enough with the sob story. Let's check out what new polishes I bought this week.

I went to Ulta a few days ago to see if they had the new OPI Gwen Stefani collex. No luck but I did find a bottle of the Mariah Carey white gold flake top coat. I wasn't really super excited about it but it was on sale...I also had 100 Ulta points to use so they knocked off another $3 off of it. I ended up paying about $13 total which isn't too bad. I also picked up Orly Country Club Khaki, which I've been meaning to get for a while now. Two Morgan Taylor polishes also made it into my cart (sorry I don't know their names right now) along with China Glaze Queen B, a lovely blurple creme shade. 

Hope you're all having a fantastic Sunday! :)

Halloween Week: Jack Skellington Mani

OMG look! I actually have something ready in time for a themed/holiday week. It's really a miracle. I have been getting a Halloween manicure or two done every week for the past few weeks just so I would have something fun and Halloween-like this week. First up is a manicure inspired by Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas.

I actually saw something like this on Zoya's Instagram account which inspired me to try this. For  this look I used Kleancolor Black for all of the black creme accents and Cult Nails Tempest, an awesome white, for all of the white details. For accent nails, I used OPI Emotions from the new Mariah Carey holiday collection. It's a very cool textured black Liquid Sand. I will be reviewing it at a later date. 

I used a small brush for Jack's face and used tape to make the stripes. For my index finger and thumb I used 2 coats of Emotions without top coat. Other nails have Poshe top coat on them.

This manicure was super easy to do and it looks great.  You could also do endless variations of this and play around with the accent nails. A quick and easy Halloween manicure. Thanks for coming by today. Stop by later this week for more Halloween nails. :)

OPI My Current Crush

Hi, everyone. This week seems to be going by quickly which I am digging. I spent a good chunk of time today looking through the internet for Halloween Costume ideas. I love, love Halloween but I am the laziest person when it comes to costumes. I have some ideas but we'll see if I can get it together in order to have something ready in time.

But today I have a fun polish from OPI that I think is part of their holiday collection. This is My Current Crush and I found this one a couple of weeks ago at my local beauty supply store. It was available in a two pack with top coat but they also just had individual bottles, which is what I picked up.

My Current Crush is a liquid sand polish and is meant to be worn without top coat. It's a really nice red toned plum shade that is full of fine silver glitter. This is a little different than some of the other textured polishes that I have because the glitter is so even and fine. As you can see, the texture is very even.

Pigmentation was good on this one and I only needed 2 coats to get opaque coverage. I usually like my textured polishes to be pretty bling-y but I liked this one. It was a subtle look. And I am always a sucker for these kinds of purples.

What do you guys think? Are you over the textured polish trend?

Stashed (7): Cult Nails, China Glaze, OPI, Color Club

Hi, everyone. This post is a bit late. Last weekend was a little crazy and I really haven't had time to do much swatching or blogging. But I did have time to shop and go to my local beauty supply. Picked up some fun fall releases as well as a few older shades I had been wanting. Also had a tiny bit of nail mail last week. Polish diet is back in effect now though as I need to enjoy these goodies before I get any more.

I picked up Minnie Style by OPI at Nordstrom Rack recently. I wasn't super interested in this polish but then I found a bottle with the white square glitter and figured I would give it a go. Also received two bottles from Cult Nails. They had a BOGO sale a couple of weeks ago and I finally got Tempest. Hoping it's a magical white like everyone says. Also got Ay! Poppy, a fun orange/coral.

Picked up a couple of neutrals from Color Club that might be good for nail art. They are Bonjour Girl and Silver Lake. Also shown are Ruby Wing Strawberry Shortcake and OPI My Current Crush (Mariah Carey holiday) and Lucky Lucky Lavender, a shade I have been wanting for a long time.

Also spotted the new China Glaze Halloween display. These were the two that interested me the most - Howl You Doin' and Boo-gie Down. Nanoco Love Me Tenderly was on sale for $1 and I picked up another Nanoco that is only white bar and hex glitter. It's called Snowflakes. I can't wait to try that one. It looks really interesting.

Managed to find the black and white Konad polishes for $4 each and a few Dare to Wears on sale for $1. I got Ready for my Close Up, Illusions and Celestial. Also picked up a backup cleanup brush. I love mine. 

Lastly, I hit up my local Dollar Tree and picked up a few of the Milani 3D holos. I don't have any of these but many people like them. And I can never say no to a holo.

That's it. Hoping to try some of these out this week. Have a good week, everyone!