OPI Tease-y Does It

I wouldn't normally go for a chocolately purple polish but like I mentioned before it came in a set with my beloved OPI Sparkle-icious so here it is with me. This is two coats and I am not terribly impressed with it. Its a shimmery vampy and I do love those, but nothing stands out here for me. I suppose that's why I only wore it for two days. 

Sorry for the dry skin/cuticles. I had just removed Sparkle-icious with acetone before applying this.

♥ Lachelle

OPI Sparkle-icious

There are very few words that can describe the glitterbomb on my nails. Amazing is one of them. I knew from the moment I saw the glitters in the OPI Burlesque collection that I needed Sparkle-icious. Not only does it have something in common with my blog's new namesake, but it successfully achieves making my nails look dangerously gorgeous. An explosion of gold, turquoise and pink, this is not for the faint. I've gotten a couple of stares at my nails, but hey! What can I say? I'm a girl that loves nail polish and I'm crazy enough to look like I dipped my fingers in bucket of glitter. 

 I purchased Sparkle-icious in a set with Tease-y Does It and OPI body shimmer was included. I think its very pretty, but not sure I'll be wearing it anytime soon....I'm really not a body shimmer type of girl.

♥ Lachelle

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

 Let me just say I've had this color for about a month now without ever breaking it out to do a full manicure. Sure, I've swatched it on a couple nails, but I always ended up taking it off for another color. It should be called Lucerne-tainly Look Deceiving. In the bottle, its a gorgeous shimmery steel/charcoal type of color but on the nail it kind of falls flat. That disappointing to me because I saw tons of gorgeous swatches of it everywhere and it was one of the few colors I truly wanted from OPI's Swiss collection. I also honestly don't think it looks all that great on my skin tone either.

No complaints about the formula or the brush. However, this is coming off today, even though I just applied it this morning. And I wanted it so badly. *shrugs*

♥ Lachelle

OPI Funky Dunkey

Funky Dunkey is a medium tone purple cream that I really wanted from OPI's Shrek Forever After collection. Besides OPI's awesome Pro Wide brush and butter formula, I wanted a purple that was not deep, dark, vampy, jewel toned, shimmery or sparkly. I am immediately drawn to purples like that and I realized that I was seriously lacking in purple cremes. So here we have it! 

This is one coat, but on the ring finger you can see an area of my nail that I must have not covered with well. It wasn't all that visible in normal lighting you know, so it looks way worse than it actually is. At least to me...

♥ Lachelle

OPI Strawberry Margarita + OPI Princesses Rule!

I picked up 3 OPI's this Friday at Ulta because they are having a buy two get one free sale. Oh you didn't know? Well know you do! This is a great way to stock up on OPI polishes because with those 3.50 off a 10 dollar purchase coupons, you can really save! I happened to have a rare $5 off 10 coupon they sent in the monthly mailer to my house and got 3 polishes for $12.99! Awesome.

Here's the first of my picks, OPI Princesses Rule! over the classic OPI Strawberry Margarita. I had to have this polish after seeing it across the blogosphere. I like that I can put on more coats for buildable coverage or use it as a shimmery topcoat, like here:

 Loving this combo!

PS- Notice anything different about my nails?! I'm rocking fake ones for now. I've been debating getting them for a while and decided to take the plunge. It may not be a regular thing because I hate removal and I will have to seriously baby my nails afterwards.

PPS-Notice that serial number on the brush handle? Am I late or has OPI been doing this?

♥ Lachelle

Blast from the Past :OPI Sonora Sunset

Indoors (above)

Outdoor/Sunlight shot

This is two coats + Poshe topcoat.

This is an old OPI I found when I was volunteering in a thrift store sometime last year. Sonora Sunset is from OPI's 1998 Painted Desert collection! I was so excited to find a old OPI so I took it home without second thought. When I got it home, it was thick and clumpy and I thought to myself "What am I gonna do with this?" That's when I found my brand new, unused bottle of Poshe Polish Reviver (because I'd never had a reason to use it before). Polish Reviver, according to the bottle "revives thickened polish to its original viscosity, enhancing the flow for a smooth, professional looking application." I dropped a couple of drops of that stuff into this polish and voila! It was was smooth and gathering nicely on the brush! I was able to revive this polish and do a whole manicure, just as if I had opened a fresh new bottle of nail polish.I am absolutely in love with the possibilities now that I have my Poshe Polish Reviver!

Sinful Frenzy + OPI Blue My Mind

I'll admit, I've never been big on layering polish, especially glitter polishes. I'm like either the polish has it or it doesn't. However,lately I've been picking up some Sinful glitters that make me think otherwise. Frenzy is gorgeous all by itself:

I decided to layer it over one of my favorite blue polishes ever, OPI's Blue My Mind and I was pleased with the results.

Under my lamp + flash

Indoor + flash

With this manicure, I tried Posh Super Fast Drying Topcoat for the first time. I'd always wanted to try it but I had a bottle of Seche Vite and I had no need to get it. Finally, my SV has gotten impossibly low (and thick) so I decided to try Poshe. It dries just as quickly as SV and very glossy. It also smoothed this glitter polish so my manicure was very smooth to the touch. I have no complaints...I'm just glad that topcoats like Seche Vite and Poshe exist because I cant wait forever for my nails to dry. I don't know how I polished before without them!

4th of July Inspired Manicure

Okay, here's a warning. This is a crazy red, white and blue skittle kind of manicure. A different design on every nail but I did it so I could decide what I wanted my 4th of July manicure to be. 4th of July has been one of my favorite holidays ever since I was a little kid but they seem to have gotten less "magical" the older I get. Its like that with Christmas too but that's a story for another time. Anyway, here's all the polishes I used:


L to R: Zoya Valentina, LA Colors Static Electricity, OPI Himalayan Hideaway, OPI Blue My Mind, Art Deco nail art polish in white, Stripe Rite silver glitter and Wet n Wild French White Creme. (Not shown is Zoya Armour topcoat)

Yes, that's red you see. I put aside my feelings about red polish and did it because whats a 4th manicure without red, white and blue? Sigh, I know. Anyway, here's what I came up with.

I think I'm going to go with the design on my middle or ring finger because I like them the best. I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Be safe! :-)

My First Dupes?

L to R: Pinky and Middle finger: OPI Eiffel for this Color, Ring and Index finger: Nicole Show You Care

While going through my polish to find something to wear for today, I came across an old favorite, OPI Eiffel for This Color. I picked it but only to have Nicole Show You Care catch my eye. I held both of them up and I figured they must be dupes. I mean it's possible since OPI makes Nicole polishes and everyone knows that Eiffel for This Color is a Lincoln Park after Dark dupe. Meanwhile, while I'm comparing polishes, my boyfriend is looking at me shaking his head. "They're both the same color!" He thinks its funny because I finally have enough polish in my collection to have a dupe. However, I see a subtle difference though. EFTC is a slightly more blackened purple than Show You Care. I think this would be more evident in a picture without flash or outside but I didn't have time to do that. For my NOTD I ended up picking Show You Care because my bottle of EFTC is getting very low and it doesn't apply as smoothly anymore. Also, a difference between the two polishes that has nothing to do with the color is the brushes. I don't know why Nicole doesn't have those awesome Pro-Wide brushes like OPI.

Oh well, I don't mind having a dupe of this gorgeous color. It was my first OPI and possibly my favorite vampy polish of all time.

Blue French Manicure

Indoor + Flash (above)

Outdoor + No Flash

This is the same thing I did in my Black French Manicure post, except for now I have blue tips. When I got off work I was really wanting to do a blue manicure for some reason. I had the perfect blue in mind; Nicole No Limits. Just my luck, I couldn't find it. Oh well, I had OPI Blue My Mind near so I decided to do only my tips with it. I wanted the deep, dark almost black blue of No Limits but since I was using this lighter blue, I didn't want to paint my whole nail. Still a gorgeous blue nonetheless.

This was fast and simple. Just one coat of Essie Pinking Up the Pieces, two coats of OPI Blue My Mind, Stripe Rite silver for the line and Seche Vite for the topcoat.

Wait...typing all that made it seem not so simple.
But I promise it was.
-Lachelle

OPI Eiffel For This Color

Outdoor + No Flash

Indoor + Flash

This is a nostalgic polish for me, the very first OPI nail polish I ever bought. Full price and everything, from Trade Secret. The polish that started my obsession. Eiffel For This Color is from OPI's La Collection de France launched for Fall 2008. Supposedly it is a dupe for Lincoln Park After Dark, you can check that out here: EFTC vs LPAD .OPI calls this a wine shimmer; I call it gorgeous, beautiful, dazzling...any other synonym for beautiful you could think of. This was also my first foray into dark, vampy nail polish. Up until Eiffel For This Color, I would only paint my nails pink. I also had never bought brands such as OPI, Essie, Zoya, etc...

So this is like my "gateway" polish to my polish addiction and it holds a special place in collection. Plus isn't the name just perfect? It sums up the beginning of my love affair with polish! :-)

This is three coats + topcoat. Indoors it looks almost black, but in the sun I can see the deep gorgeous purple color. My bottle is pretty low, so I have a lot of polish around the neck of the bottle. For some reason, I have issues with this brush. It's so wide, the polish always gets on the skin surrounding my nails. I apologize for the messy areas around my nails and skin. Clean up is such a hassle with this one. I know their pro-wide brush is in all their polishes now but for some reason this one is just weird. That's my only complaint about this color.

-Lachelle

OPI My Private Jet (Revisited)

Outdoor + No Flash

Indoor + Flash

Starting the week off with one of my favorite polishes ever! I stated in the previous post that I would be redoing some of my swatches because they deserve better quality pictures. OPI My Private Jet from their Night Brights collection. I got this for cheap (the story of my life) at Trade Secret for about 4 dollars. I never have a problem with application. Goes on smooth, looks great. This is 3 coats but you can get away with 2. It dries smooth and shiny and I can't stop staring at my nails when I wear it.
There's some OPI MPJ controversy with supposedly two versions released. You can read more about that here: OPI MPJ Controversy

I believe I have the 2nd version, but no worries. I think they are both equally beautiful.

OPI I'm Indi-a Mood For Love

Outdoor + No Flash

Indoor + Flash

This is from OPI's India collection last summer. Also this is one of my very first OPI polishes I ever bought. I love, love, love this color. It's funny because I ordered it off Amazon and I could only choose one and I was seriously debating between this and ElePhantastic Pink. I love pink in general so it's already a winner in my book.

I've used this polish a lot so I would say I've used about 1/4 of the polish and I think it still applies well, although I do have a lot of dried polish around the bottle neck. I need to clean that. It's pretty opaque in 2 coats which is what this swatch is. I also used Orly Sec n Dry topcoat but the polish dries smooth and glossy by itself. This pink creme looks great on anyone or any skin tone in my opinion.

What do you think?

OPI Himalayan Hideaway

Outdoor + No Flash

Indoor + Flash

Remember those polishes I got at the thrift store? Well here is one of them, OPI Himalayan Hideaway. Sorry guys, I didn't mention what collection it was from in the earlier post but that was because I just found out. It's from OPI's 1993 Fall/Winter Alpine Colors Collection.

This polish I didn't add any Zoya Renew to it and it wasn't goopy or thick actually. The application was okay, not as great because it doesn't have that awesome Pro-Wide brush that OPI has now. I love that brush! Please excuse that polish on my ring finger and my cuticle situation. Next on my polish shopping list is cuticle eraser, I'm doing my research now on which one is the best.

Because I don't like red nail polish, this was something new for me. I haven't like red nail polish since I was little. It's a weird story. I couldn't just wear a plain red mani, so I added some flowers. This is my first time adding flowers, so they are a little off center and not perfect. I used my regular white, Wet n Wild French White creme and I made a black center with Sally Hansen Black Out.

What do you think?

Nail Polish Finds

L to R: Himalayan Hideaway, Sonora Sunset from the 1998 Painted Desert Summer Collection, Colorado Crimson from the 1996 Rocky Mountain Winter Collection


Well, look at what we have here. Some discontinued OPI's. How did I find them? Well today I happened to be doing my volunteer hours at the thrift store and was sorting donations to go on the racks. I see one of the managers holding up a plastic box, like on of those Sterlite containers, of what looks like OPI nail polish. What? I run over there to him and the conversation goes like this:

Me:"Wow, you dont know how much I love nail polish, How much?!"
Him: "One dollar"
Me: "That's it?!"
Him:"Well then 2 dollars!"
Me: "No , that's okay,I'll take them for one dollar!"

Then I proceeded to run around the counter to dig in. There were a lot of reds, and I have yet to add a red to my collection. There's just something about red polish and my hands that I dont think looks good. So I figured I take a chance on these for a buck. Also I threw in a purple shimmer because I had to have it.

They are the old OPI formulas so they are not big three free. Also they are a bit thick so I will add some Zoya Renew to them and see how that goes.

Sooo...how will these work out for me? Check back and see!


Thanks for reading,

OPI Blue My Mind

Outdoor + Flash

Indoor + Flash

This is from OPI's Brights Collection in 2005. I got it at Trade Secret for really cheap, I don't remember how much but it definitely wasn't retail price.

This is one of the few blues in my collection as of yet so this one takes the cake...for now. That doesn't mean I don't think its ridiculously gorgeous. It's pretty sheer with the first coat. Judging from the bottle it looks like a deep, rich royal blue. It can be...just not after one coat. The picture is two coats + Orly Sec n Dry.

I really need to get my nail art tools because I could really see some designs on this. White polka dots or flowers...

OPI My Private Jet

Okay, I'm about to do some serious promotion for Trade Secret. Why? Because I was able to snag OPI MPJ for about 3.50 plus tax on Saturday. All I had to do was sign up for thier Style Club card. You can go here : http://styleclub.tradesecret.com/FAQs.aspx to see all the great benefits of signing up for the free card. Anyway, so since I've signed up with them, I've gotten several coupons in the mail and e-mail. The latest was a 5 dollar off any purchase on my next visit. ANY. So I head straight for the OPI display. Was going to get a polish from the South Beach Collection but happened to wander around the other side and bam, there goes MPJ. I've been wanting this forever.

Sorry my pic dosen't even begin to show the awesome sparkle and fine glitter in MPJ, but stick with me, I'll be investing a better camera soon. This is 3 coats, could have gotten away with 2. It did chip on my right left hand the third day wearing it but thats the hand I use to help me file at work.