OPI Simmer and Shimmer, Fingerpaints Vintage Velvet

 

Last night I popped into CVS last night to pick up some last minute hurricane supplies, along with three-fourths of the rest of New Yorkers.  Of course, with my CLIF bars, batteries, and beef jerky in hand I couldn’t resist wandering by the cosmetics section.  Although this CVS rarely updates their OPI’s they happened to have Simmer and Shimmer from OPI’s Burlesque collection.

This was my existing mani – Vintage Velvet from Fingerpaints Fall 2011.  Love this subdued greyish teal so much.  It’s just the right balance between teal and hunter green, in my opinion.  I would love a vintage velvet blazer in this color.  And yes, I tried a little Cracked Concrete China Glaze crackle as an accent nail but that didn’t show up too well.

Then I glitterfied it!  This blue-toned glitter dried in a flash and covered completely in two coats (on top of my existing color – not sure how it would fare on a bare nail).

Closeup you can see the rainbow colored glitter, even though blue is predominant.

Then I shattered it!  Used China Glaze here but any other black crackle would do the same thing.  Any glitter under crackle = beyootiful.  I used a goodly coat of Seche Vite on top to even out the surface and add glossiness.

Hope my peeps in the East Coast will stay safe this weekend and weather Hurricane Irene without event.  Hopefully I won’t have to paint my nails by candlelight!

 

~ Allison ~

 

My First Franken!

 

I am very pleased to share my first franken creation with you.  As my polish collection grows, I can’t help but realize there are certain colors I’m lusting for that just don’t seem to exist.  Being of the DIY mindset I figure why not make them myself?  To get acquainted with the world of frankening I turned to a fantastic tutorial by Dr. Frankenpolish.  She calls this franken Angel Tears.

Welcome to my franken lab.

I followed the tutorial pretty faithfully.  Although I didn’t have the same clear red that she did, I used an old L’Oreal Jet Set Shine color called Very Cherry.  Maybe because of that substitution my finished polish came out looking too brown, so I added about 20 drops of a Sally Hansen creme, Cherry Red, to bring the balance back to deep red.

On the nail it is a gorgeous burgundy or blood red jelly, with suspended green shimmer that can be seen in any light.

I’m delighted how this turned out!  All the components mixed together effortlessly.  I’ll give you a mixing hint: if you don’t have BB’s laying around to plop into your frankens, use beads!  I added two small, round, stone beads that are the same size as the BB’s, and they work great as far as I can tell.

Like most jellies, Angel Tears required some patience to build up opacity.  I used 4 thin coats here, but you could maybe use only 3 if you lay it on thickly.  A coat of Seche Vite added crazy shine and helped it to dry.  P.S. I would give this polish the slightly grosser name of Bloody Borealis 🙂   Now, I’m really tempted to go dump out all my old unwanted polishes and make a franken army!

What do you think – would you try your hand at this franken?

 

~ Allison ~

 

Sally Hansen Problem Child + Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper

Problem Child is anything but.  I am in love love love with it!  So much so that I bought two bottles.  Call me crazy, I can handle it.  Anyway, it is a deep eggplant purple shimmer with firey copper flakies that add depth and show themselves when the light is right.

In low light it looks like a deep, almost black, royal purple.

Oooh pretties!

Inspired by the copper flakies, I had to add some Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper on top.

It was very good.  I’d been looking for a copper glitter for quite some time.  This one has large hexes and fine glitter in a clear base.

 

~ Allison ~

Maybelline Cool Couture

The very first nail polish my mother allowed me to get, when I was 7 years old and begging her in the grocery store, was a bright candy pink Maybelline.  (It was lots of fun until I spilled it all over my bedroom floor.  Oopsie!)  Tangents about childhood aside, I haven’t bought any Maybellines since because they seem to stick with pinks and reds – a color range I find snooze-worthy.  Cool Couture is an exception!  This is a limited edition shade from the Express Finish line.  I find it hard to describe this chic fall color.  The best I can do is call it a dark slate grey – appearing as an almost-black teal in low light – with a fine, hidden, yet electric turquoise shimmer.  I couldn’t wait to see if that shimmer translated onto the nail!

The shimmer certainly visible in strong light.  I took the picture above in direct sunlight.

In weaker light you can see how it seems more slate grey – and that turquoise shimmer is much more subdued.

Now, the bottle proclaims this a “50 second” nail polish.  I beg to differ.  When I brushed it on a teeeeensy bit too thin it dragged horribly and started drying right away.  Then the slightly thicker coats took several minutes to dry.  A few minutes isn’t bad, but it’s not 50 seconds.  This lacquer easily migrated into my cuticles so cleanup was not too successful, as you can see.  I used 2 coats here which ended up providing good coverage.  I got a small chip on my tip after 1 day.

Methinks I will definitely hold on to Cool Couture and give it another try, because I think it’s too interesting of a color to give up.  Can you think of any dupes?  I’m at a loss…

Have you had any luck with any of the Maybelline polishes?

 

~ Allison ~

 

Random Multicolored Lacquer Swatches for You

I am so behind on my swatches.  Enjoy six quickies!

 

Milani Totally Cool

Royal purple jelly with rose gold foil.  I found this one in the K-Mart 99 cent clearance bin!  Although this polish is really pretty it’s a bit sheer.  Even with the 3 coats I used here my nail line is still peeking out – boooo.  Still, that color.

 

Milani Feisty Flames

Cutest name!  Another K-Mart 99 cent wonder.  It’s a basic tomato red creme with a jelly’s squishiness and major shine – how do they do that?  Although I don’t buy much red polish this color was fun to wear.  A great choice to coordinate with your 50’s pinup looks.

 

Rimmel Lava Red

I am a sucker for these “blackened” colors.  Although this metallic red pearl looks almost burgundy in low light, in the sun it appears lit from within!  And look how glossy.  This one is sure to make you feel vampy and seductive.

 

Rimmel Hard Metal

Dark pewter metallic frost.  The formula was creamy – a pleasure to apply.  This is 2 coats.  I appreciated the fact that even though this is a frost-leaning finish my brushmarks didn’t dry streaky and visible.  Again, pretty shiny on its own.

 

Pure Ice Spitfire

This is a mauve-pink holographic glitter in a clear base.  Naively I hoped this could be worn on its own for discoball impersonation nails, but that wasn’t happening.  Next time I will layer it over a base color, for sure.  Anyway, this baby was very holographic and reflective in the sun.  Let’s do more glitter, shall we?  We shall!

 

OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window + Milani Gold Jewel FX

UORDTW is from OPI’s latest collection, Touring America.  It’s a dark olive green creme that reminds me of camo.  I like the fact that OPI included some off-the-beaten-path green/beige/brown shades along with their pinks and peaches.    My bottle is so strange – it looks like the pigments got separated, but no amount of shaking will mix them up again.  I don’t think that affected the application, though.  The color looks darker in the nail than in the bottle.  Then I decided to glam up this puke green with glitter!

This is Gold from Milani’s Jewel FX collection.  Sure enough, it’s big gold hex glitter that’s pow, in your face.  Very easy nail art.

 

No more for tonight; I must eat dinner.  Thanks for viewing/reading and I’ll catch up with you soon!

 

~ Allison ~