OPI - DS MAGIC swatch

Ohhhh gosh, the OPI Designer Series nail polishes are among my absolute favorite polishes. Ever. They are sparkly, glittery, holographic amazingness. DS Magic is added to my list of favorites for it's sheer blue beauty.

This is two coats of DS Magic, topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. It's nearly impossible to capture on camera, but you can sort of tell in the picture of the bottle, but this color is a beautiful deep blue with fuschia duochrome. It is jam packed full of glittery goodness. If you loved the other DS polishes, you're bound to love this one, too. My only complaint was that it chipped within just a couple days of wear, which isn't typical of most OPI polishes.

What's your favorite Designer Series polish?

Finger Paints - Blue Raspberry Taffy

Thursday, MAY 2ND we got 15.5" of snow in southern Minnesota. Hard, heavy, bringing-trees-down, knocking-power-out, cold, spring snow. One for the record books. So today, you can imagine I was in the mood for a spring nail color - something to make me forget that there is snow outside on May 4th. (Thankfully, the forecast shows mid-high 60s for the next week - buh-bye snow!)

This is two coats of Blue Raspberry Taffy by Finger Paints from the Spring 2012 Gumdrops & Lollipops collection (I got this on clearance recently, hence being a year late!). This is a lovely, creamy sky blue that is perfect for spring! There is not a whole lot that makes it unique (there are many colors just like this out there, in fact I'm sure I have a couple already in my own polish collection), but it is a pretty color, nonetheless. 

To jazz it up a little, I used an oldie but goodie, Last Friday Night by OPI from the Katy Perry collection (which I loved) on my middle and ring fingers. This is a super pretty blue glitter polish, filled with circular blue and silver round glitters, and a mix of micro glitter. I'm a big Katy Perry fan, so naturally I loved this collection, which I still pull out and incorporate in to my manicures now and then - which is saying something as I don't use many polishes over and over (total polish snob over here...). 

Hope you are enjoying your weekend as much as I am! Til next time! :) 

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Color Club - Blue Heaven

Today I have a polish I've been very excited to wear since receiving it for Christmas; it's a polish from Color Club called Blue Heaven. This polish is from the Halo Hues collection (a collection entirely of holographic colors), and if you've spent any time reading my blog you know my ultimate favorite polishes are holographics!

This is two coats of Blue Heaven, topped off with OPI's Start to Finish top coat (which I am NOT a fan of, but I left my Seche Vite at home). Because of the junk top coat I used, my nails chipped rather quickly, but I can't bring myself to remove it quite yet. It's just too pretty!

The application was pretty good, although I'm curious to know if it would chip as fast even with Seche Vite as a top coat. I got two others from the collection, and I can't wait to show you if they're as pretty as this polish!

What is your favorite style of polish?

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Color Club - Insta-This

I'm not one to gravitate towards a blue polish if I'm presented with lots of other color choices, but this blue is one I'd definitely recommend picking up. However this color, Color Club's Insta-This, is a Birchbox exclusive - so if you want to sign up for an awesome monthly subscription box that comes filled with beauty samples, leave me a comment below and I'll send you a referral link! I think I'll actually do a review on my next Birchbox so you guys can see how awesome they really are!

Insta-This is a bright true blue cream. There is no shimmer or glitter or anything of the sort, but I think this color is loud and fun enough without it. I got this polish back in my September or October Birchbox and just didn't feel inclined to try it out until this week, and I do not know what I was waiting for - it's absolutely gorgeous! I'm wearing two coats, as one coat was not quite opaque and a little streaky. 

Unfortunately, I've been wearing this polish for just a couple days and it has already turned in to chip-city on my nails, even with a good coating of Seche Vite top coat to seal it off. Like I said, it would probably be a good pedi color (I don't know about you, but my toenail polish takes about a month to chip), and I think it would be especially pretty in summer!

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Essie - Trophy Wife

Happy 2013 everyone! Hope you had a very happy NYE celebration, and 2013 has been treating you well so far. Today I'm wearing a polish I received as a gift at my bachelorette party earlier this summer, and funny enough the friend who got this for me didn't even read the name when she bought it! Hilarious, considering the name!

This is two coats of Essie's Trophy Wife, a shimmery turquoise that is stunning! I'm not one to go crazy for blues and turquoise colors, but this one is so full of shimmer and vibrancy that I'm sure I'll wear it again! I'd like to see how good this looks for a pedicure in the summer.

At first I thought this was going to be streaky, as it appeared that way when I was painting my nails, but it dried really nicely and you can hardly see any streaks. I'm not quite sure what made someone associate such a shimmery blue with a trophy wife (a bright pink or red comes to my mind), but I feel extra fabulous while wearing this, so maybe that's why. ;)

Savvy - Deja Blue

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I hope you're enjoying this special time of year with your loved ones! My family and I are getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvre dinner, and I'm in charge of the popcorn balls, queso dip and some cheesy grilled peppers so I'll keep this post brief! :)

This is two coats of Deja Blue by Savvy. I've never used this brand before, but got it cheap at Sally's last year some time. This definitely needed two coats, it was very uneven with just one coat, but the formula was smooth and easy to work with.

In the bottle Deja Blue looks much more shimmery, but it's pretty solid once painted on. In my experience, dark polishes like this one lose their color and appear black except in sunlight or bright light - but the thing I like about this one is that it definitely looks blue in any light. I'm not the biggest fan of blues, but I can say I really like this one!

Have any of you ever used any Savvy polishes?

Color Club - Blue-Ming

I'm back, I'm back! I'm sorry I went on a mini hiatus with no notice. I went and got acrylic nails a couple weeks ago to celebrate my bachelorette party (as you can tell, my primary wedding color is orange), and had them painted with an unknown OPI color (anyone know what it is? I tried looking it up to no avail)  and some sparkly orange glitter. This week I finally got sick of them so I cut them down and repainted them. Here's what they looked like:

Once I got sick of the orange and repainted my nails, I went with a color I got in my Birchbox a month or two ago. This is two coats of Color Club's Blue-Ming, and this is the first Color Club polish I've ever used. I'd have to say I really liked the formula and application of this polish (although you can see some bubbles on my middle finger), and I will certainly buy this brand again if I come across it. However, I never see it anywhere here in Minnesota! Anyone know of a place that sells it?

This pretty Tiffany's-esque blue was pretty enough alone, but I wanted to jazz it up a bit with some glitter, so I added one coat of Sally Hansen's Teal-y Cool which is a really pretty teal glitter made up of small and larger circular glitters.  It's very subtle on top of Blue-Ming, and it probably would have been even better with one more coat, but my nails were feeling pretty thick already, so I topped it off with one coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri top coat and called it quits.

Overall, I really like this combo. It's a good end of summer mani; it's really bright and bold, and it has the perfect sparkle to add a little something extra. I can't help thinking my nails look like a Tiffany's box.

What do you think? 

Wet n Wild - Blue Wants to be a Millionaire

This is an oldie but a total goody! I picked this up at Walgreens a couple weeks back when they had a sale. I couldn't pass up a very reasonably priced holo (my polish weakness), and I have to admit I grabbed a couple others, too. This is three coats of Wet n Wild's Blue Wants to be a Millionaire topped off with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. This is a very sheer polish if you only use one coat, and I don't much care for polishes that show nail line, so I carefully applied three coats and I think the coverage is pretty good! Application was reasonable - I had to re-do my thumb nail a couple times because of the slow dry time and my own impatience when I have to do more than two coats, but overall it wasn't too much of a pain. 

I've been wearing this for a couple days now, and it has barely chipped, which is impressive (especially with three thick-ish coats). Blue Wants to be a Millionaire is definitely worth the $2-3 it costs. 

Lacqueristas beware - you will not be able to stop staring at your nails in the sun when you don this polish. The sparkle factor is out of control! 

Check back soon to see the other Wet n Wild holos I've yet to try!

Sally Hansen - Deep Blue Sea

Seeing as it's Memorial Weekend I wanted to paint my nails in the spirit of the holiday! I'm not a huge fan of blues, but I have to say this color is kind of nice. This is two coats of Sally Hansen - Deep Blue Sea from the Xtreme Wears collection, a pretty blue foil polish that reminds me of denim jeans. 

I haven't used my design polishes in a long time, so I pulled out the white and red glitter LA Colors art deco polishes and used my imagination a bit, and there you have it! My ring finger looks surprisingly better on my other hand than it does in this picture, but my thumb looks much better on my left hand (shown here). I already chipped my other thumb... grrr...

One coat is very sheer, but once you apply the second coat, Deep Blue Sea is the perfect consistency. I topped it off with Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri top coat, and called it good.

Anyone else sporting a Memorial Day mani?

China Glaze - Liquid Crystal

Today I'm wearing a really great polish from China Glaze's new Prismatic Collection. This is two coats of Liquid Crystal. This polish features a stunning blue and purple duochrome base, filled with larger multicolored glitter. There are so many colors going on, but they totally work together! It is just as gorgeous on as it is in the bottle. I tried to stamp over the top with a neon blue Konad polish, but it was just too busy so I quickly took off the design and left this beauty bare. It's great left just how it is. 

I absolutely love shimmers and glitters, and when you throw duochrome in the mix - I am SOLD. I've got another from the collection, but I think I just might need to get the rest of them. 

What are your thoughts on China Glaze's Prismatic collection?