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Serena Williams is one of the only tennis players I can name, but not only is she an amazing player, she always has had some amazing nails! I thought it was pretty neat that OPI paired with her for the Gram Slam collection which was this - Simply Smash-ing! and a Black Shatter (ooh, coming soon!). It is a glitter without the grit, yellow-green leaning towards gold. I'm tempted to call it glass fleck because it wore just like Zoya Sparkle's collection or the China Glaze Summer Days. Removal was similar as well, leaving behind microglitter on my hands.
I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, 2 coats of Simply Smash-ing! and a top of OPI Top Coat.
In the sun, you can see a few bald spots on my nails where the color didn't stick as well. However, you can also see a bit of green in the polish. I'm happy to say my nails did NOT stain after application - always a fear of mine.
Indirect sun picture - again you can see the smooth application with glitter but no grit of glitter. I do love the OPI Pro-Wide brush - it helps get the polish in one stroke instead of 4 or 5 mini strokes.
Finally - shade. You can really see the olive greenish coming out now. I don't think this color flatters me that well, but when you add the Black Shatter... well let's just say it spices things up!
OPI is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and Ulta, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. Please visit their website for details [official website].
Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.
I don't know how this beautiful shade sat on my testing shelf for so long... It's amazing! Zoya Julieanne is from the 2010 Fall Wicked and Wonderful collection (Wicked) and is listed as a Byzantium purple sparkling metallic. So apparently Byzantium is just a dark shade of purple - knowledge is power ^_^
I was absolutely thrilled with this color. I always forget how smooth Zoya applies and am always happy with it when I put it on. I used a base coat of Zoya Anchor, 2 coats of Juileanne, a top of Zoya Armor and another top of Seche Vite (to make it dry faster for me).
Look at that beautiful color in the bottle! And holy cow, my nail just all of a sudden got super long! It almost takes on a glass fleck look instead of a metallic. Lovely.
In the shade, you can really see the richness of this color. The ONLY downside was that inside in ridiculous yellow light (I hate yellow light bulbs), this color was super dark - almost black. I was in church with my son when he said "I like your nail polish" (we're still working on indoor voices) and I noticed two women kind of look at me and wrinkle up their noses. Oops. ^_^ I ended up wearing this color for a couple of days because it was just so stunning. Love it.
Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website for $7/bottle.
Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.
Before you start singing Lady Marmalade (because I do EVERY time I see this color), let's look at this beauty from the 2009 Summer "Summer Days" collection from China Glaze - the orange glass flecked Orange Marmalade. I actually wore this as my Halloween manicure - contained in the glass flecks is some gold particles that really made my nails shine.
I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Orange Marmalade and a top of Seche Vite. The formula was good but I had a tiny bit of VNL afterwards.
Sun! Check out all the gold in the bottle! It's not a neon orange, despite looking quite hot on my nails ^_^ Instead, it reminds me a lot of an orange prescription bottle - less brown though. Go figure.
More glass fleck goodness. This is different from a glitter because it's not gritty or bumpy, but it's not really a shimmer either because it looks like crushed glass has been added to the mix.
For laughs, here are some pictures from summer 2009 before I was blogging. I used a "natural light" makeup mirror as my light source.
China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].
Can you see the duochorome peeking out?! Zoya's Cheryl is from the Fall 2010 Wicked Collection and is a listed as a chocolate bronze sparkling metallic. Whatever you call it, I'm in love. This is easily my favorite from the Wicked Collection.
I used a base coat of Zoya Anchor, two coats of Cheryl and a top coat of Zoya Armor. Sadly, this picture was taken IN some rain and I really only got one picture before the sky opened up and started weeping.
You can see a drop of water on my ring finger hah. Also LOOK at that bottle!!!! Oh I love this color.
Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website for $7/bottle.
Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration. For more information, please read this post.
