Nicole by OPI One Time Lime

Continuing with the One Less Lonely Girl additions is One Time Lime, a vibrant lime that's "worth your time."  I must say, it's definitely a bright green - not a neon, but close to it.  I found this formula to be a lot better.  I used a base of OPI Natural Nail, 2 coats of One Time Lime and a top of OPI Top Coat.

I think I need to just bite the bullet for the OPI Ridge Filler because do I ever hate my ridges.  Disregard the ridges and check out how smooth this color really is.

In the shade you can see a bit of streakiness in my index finger again.  I paint my nails from pinkie to index, so I don't know what my problem is.

Okay, now here's the weird thing.  Check out how many bald spots you see indoors with the flash?  Almost every nail!  But it photographs (and wears) so well otherwise...  It's like putting your hotel room under a blacklight or something.


So my take on this polish?  It's definitely a bright lime green (without being neon) but you may have to put on several coats for full opacity.

Nicole by OPI is available beginning at ULTA, Meijer, Harmon, HEB, Sears, Wal-Mart and more for around $8 a bottle.  For more information, visit their website, follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.


Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

Going back a step to the Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Girl additions, which was the line inspired by Justin Bieber songs, today I have My Lifesaver "a soft mint green" creme.  There is definitely a lot more blue in this than green, but compared to something like Baby Blue (also in this collection), it's definitely more green.


I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail, 2 coats of My Lifesaver and a top of OPI Top Coat.  I found this polish to be more on the streaky side.

In the sun, it's not nearly as streaky looking and you can see it's more mint colored than the bottle picture looks.

In the shade, you can see the bald spots on the index finger and the thinness in the pinkie fingers.

Indoors with the flash shows again how the index finger is streaky.


I'm iffy on this color.  I never got into the whole mint crazy last year, despite owning several mint colors.  I think green in general is still my "yikes" color for nails but I'm easing into it!

Nicole by OPI is available beginning at ULTA, Meijer, Harmon, HEB, Sears, Wal-Mart and more for around $8 a bottle.  For more information, visit their website, follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua

So I'm sitting there, looking at the awesomeness that is Senorita Bonita, and I think the only thing that could make it better would be a blue (my two favorite colors) so I decided to test out the new Metallic Crackle from China Glaze Oxidized Aqua.  I put down one coat of Oxidized Aqua and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Look how pretty this cracked!  And then all the purple peeking through?  Love!

A bit better view of it all in the shade - the foil metallic in this crackle really reflects a lot of light.

Indirect sun here - and very pretty.  I'm a big fan of blue and purple.

Finally indoors with the flash - very rich and very me.  :]

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LCN Sale

I have the 8 LCN magnetic polishes to show (as soon as I get some sun up in here!) but if you can't wait to try it out yourself, check out this sale!


STARTING JUNE 22ND, LCN IS OFFERING FREE SHIPPING ON ANY ORDER PLACED FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH!

The first day of Summer is dark and gloomy here in New England but it's bright and cheerful for your wallet!

Call or email your orders so you can try some of our BRAND NEW products like;

X-Tame, light-cured polish starter set: $195.95
One-Component Resin Crystal Clear: $88.95
Magnetic Polish Set: $57.95
Bonder NEW: $47.95
Base Bond: $39.95
Crackle Polish Set: $32
Polish Seal (Light-curing top coat): $8.95


LCN USA can be purchased through their website.  You can also subscribe to their YouTube, like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

Milani High Speed Dry One Coat Formula

Please enjoy the following press release from Milani:

MILANI NAILS IT

Milani presents its hottest and brightest shades that complement every summer glow

July Limited Edition Summer Products

STOP! Wardrobe change? No problem, create a gallery of nail looks with Milani’s New Limited Edition High Speed Fast Dry One Coat Formula Nail Lacquer – fast and luxurious, to get you on the GO – their new flat brush for fast and flawless application that dries in 60 seconds. For an additional pop of color use Milani’s High Speed Fast Dry One Coat Formula Nail Lacquers for extreme shine and electrifying nails.  These high voltage bright pigments are available in eight high fashion shades and great for the summer season!

 Available Shades: Purple Rush, Instantaneous Blue, Racy Green, Fast Fuchsia, Jiffy Orange, Violet Dash, Yellow Whiz, & Hot Pink Frenzy.

  

Limited Edition Items available ONLY the month of July at select CVS drug stores.

High Speed Fast Dry One Coat Formula Nail Lacquer, Retail, $3.99

‘LIKE’ MILANI COSMETICS ON FACEBOOK OR FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!

China Glaze Senorita Bonita

The finale in the Island Escape Summer 2011 Collection from China Glaze is Senorita Bonita - a "passionate purple shimmer with pink micro glitter."  Except, this isn't really microglitter like China Glaze Mummy May I but rather it's flakies!


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Senorita Bonita and a top coat of Seche Vite.  Formula was super smooth.

In the sun, the flakes are hiding - trust me.

In the shade - FLAKIES!  Such a lovely color - I want China Glaze to make a lot more of these, and even make big flakes so you can see them in the sun too.  Love love love.

Indoors with the flash - you can see a bit of VNL near the cuticles, but probably 3 thin coats of polish would take that part away.


This is definitely stick around this summer for my nails - I absolutely love this shade of purple, and the fact that it's not a neon.

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Nail Files "Sundance is a Big Deal" Breakdown

Image from TV Guide Network's Facebook Page

Continuing with the crazy driver from the last episode, Katie demands to have the car pulled over and when the replacement driver shows up, turns out their original driver isn't crazy... he's in a diabetic coma.  LOVELY.  One granola bar and several apologies later, and the incident has been cast aside.  At this point, they have missed their flight to Sundance, and Katie is frantically calling the airlines.  Surprise!  She gets on the last plane (of course!). 


Back in the shop, Nichole is living it up with the other nail techs - wine, music, dancing, party!  She also tries to get the answering machine to work...  Oh those tricky answering machines!


Back to Katie and Amy, in the snow, in Utah, and here's some good news - the room they booked (I think it's the one they booked?) is awesome.  It even has a hot tub!  Katie starts getting her displays ready for the plethora of celebrities she's been expecting but instead it's more like the random locals.  Ralina, Katie's publicist swears that Toby Maguire is around but Katie's not seeing anyone that would have a page on IMDB.  Clearly upset (and probably several thousands of dollars in the hole at this point), Amy and Katie jump in the hot tub.


Later, Haley Duff tweeted about naming a polish with her sister for Katie and it's been RTed over 3000 times already.  Ralina who?  The power of Twitter strikes again.


One commercial break later, and Katie is back in the arms of her beloved and ready to get back to work.  She arrives and Too $hort walks in (rapper) and Katie ends up rapping it up about boobs while making her booty clap there on the floor.


For half a second, I thought Tabatha Coffey was going to walk in and bust Katie's butt.


Back to Katie's home life and Walter has been nominated for a Grammy for his work on Kenny G's album. On top of her husband's success, it also means that Katie is going to the Grammys!  On her way to see Ralina, Katie calls the salon to hear that the number is disconnected.  A call to Becky shows that Becky was "waiting on authorization from Katie to pay the bill."  Really Becky?  I mean, don't you think you need to get authorization before the deadline so you don't get disconnected?


Ralina and Katie are not seeing eye to eye about Sundance.  Ralina thinks that everything went great, and Katie felt like it was a waste of time and money.  While they are sitting there talking, Katie gets two great text messages... "The power is out."  "The water is off."  Guess what?  Bills weren't paid.  Again.


Katie lets Becky off the hook for this $5,000 "mistake" of not paying bills only to get a nasty surprise when Becky texts Katie to see if they can talk.  When Katie decides to just call real quick, Becky quits.  (By the way, Katie has a lovely accent nail of silver with her other nails being blue.)  Outside, Katie breaks down again to Walter and like her Superman, he reassures her once again that things will be okay.


Up next week: It's Walter's big night at the Grammys and Katie isn't ready.  Girl needs a mani!  (Oh, and a new custom created dress.  Holla.)


Nail Files airs on the TV Guide Network Tuesdays at 10/9c.

China Glaze Blue Iguana

Check out my bottle here of China Glaze Blue Iguana.  Notice how it's got some missing?  I don't know why, but boo because this color is AWESOME.  I wish that the duochrome purple would show up in my pictures (and not just the bottle) but I took tons of pictures and couldn't get it.  (I know other bloggers have felt this same pain!)


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Blue Iguana and a top of Seche Vite.

Here in the sun, it almost looks like there is some VNL on the middle finger, but I don't recall that.  Also look how super shiny pretty it is!  (The purple is completely hidden.)

Here in the shade you can see how amazingly smooth this formula is, especially since it looks like it would be gritty with all that shimmer/glitter in it, but nope!  It's super smooth, super shiny (super easy to apply and control).

Indoors with the flash - you can really see how much polish is seriously missing out of my bottle.  Oy.  I almost wished I had bought a back up and might still.

Ooh, bonus - check out the bottle in this picture.  Do you see all that purple on the side?!  This, 108 Degrees and Senorita Bonita are my hands down favorites of Island Escape.

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Nail Files "The Queen of Nails" Breakdown

Image from TV Guide Network's Facebook Page

Tonight was the premier episode of Nail Files, the original reality series about the Painted Nail with Katie Cazorla.  I didn't think I was going to be home during the airing, so I set my DVR to "record series", and went off with my happy self.


I realized later that Katie was live tweeting during the show (PS: She's giving away a prize pack! What am I talk about, she's giving away a LOT of prize packs!  I won one the other day!).


Each show is 30 minutes long and it's not just the nails, but all of the awesomeness that Katie is going through as a small business owner in Los Angeles.


I am obsessed with most reality shows, hilariously enough - Jersey Shore is definitely included, and the producer, Sally Ann Salsano, created Nail Files.  Automatically, I knew I was really going to love it.


Okay, so the show starts with an f-bomb.  Can we say win?  Then Katie is rolling down the street in a Smart car.  When I was in Europe in 2005, I first saw the smart fortwo and I swore I was going to get one of those cars in the States.  Well, now it's 2011 and I drive a huge extended cab, extended bed Toyota Tundra (with towing package).  Sigh.  But I live in Texas and I own a metal building business, so that's my excuse (and random Krystal trivia).


Next we meet Nichole, Manager of the Painted Nail.  While her hair changes quite a bit in this episode, I just have to point out that I love the purple.  I think I counted about 4 different hair changes for her!


By the way, purple is ALL OVER the salon, mind you.  The walls, the curtains, the trim, the accent throws... ahh!  What's my favorite color?  OH YES, PURPLE.  Additionally, there is a clothing boutique next door and they do hair and makeup.  (And give away cocktails/wine with your mani-pedi... yum.)


Hold up, Debbie Gibson just walked in - and Katie drops "Holy shizballs."  More win.  Seriously.  Win.


So following in the wave of Deborah Lippmann, Katie is having celebrity help with her polishes.  While Deborah creates polishes with or inspired by celebrities and her polishes are the names of songs, Katie just flat out says "Hey, want to help me name this?"  (And thus Electric Blue was born which I don't currently see in her shop but I'll find out what's up, somehow.)


Ralina, Katie's Publicist calls to let Katie know that she's going to host the gifting suite at Sundance.  Becky, Katie's Assistant is put on a whirlwind of getting tickets, scheduling, etc etc - while Katie playfully chomps on chips in her ear.  Poor Becky ends up confused (I guess) because Katie ends up having to book her hotel herself and everyone is booked.  She does end up getting a condo (for a cool $2k, hah).  Also, can I mention that it's hilarious that above their heads is a sign that says "Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake"?  Becky also has to get Katie's 200 polishes picked up to fly out but Becky is having some math issues and a few more scheduling issues as far as Katie's displays are concerned.


On to Jessica.  Okay.  So while the laugh is SUPER annoying (and Katie's parody of it did have me laughing quite a bit), the fact that this girl didn't write anything down, and was promising things that this chick knows won't happen in a day (at least it would never happen where I live...), just screamed "THIS IS GOING TO GO WRONG."  Displays with 3D pop outs for SUNDANCE in 24 hours?  And then Jessica ends up with backwards displays?  Seriously?  How do you NOT know how a nail polish rack works?  I mean, granted, the first time I tried, I didn't get it either originally (just like Katie) but it took me a whole 5 seconds to say "Oh, I have it upside down, hah."  Not to mention that her lateness keeps Katie from her romantic dinner with her fiancé, Walter.


A little into Katie's home life, where you meet said Walter, a song writer and record producer.  (Another Krystal trivia moment: I used to be a radio personality.)  That studio is uh-mazing, by the way.  (And props to the lava lamp in the corner.)  While Walter is not able to go to Sundance with Katie, she is able to take Amy, one of her best friends.


Katie is having some issues with her signage.  Her labels are off - the hair is more yellow and the skin is a brown tint (a crack about Jersey Shore is made).  All her displays are backwards.  It's not 3-D like she asked.  But Walter puts everything into perspective and lets her know that only she knows it's a problem, and she just has to rock it.


I also work for a company in California, and driving in CA is absolutely scary for me.  Katie gets a driver who is driving on the wrong side of the road and misses their exit.  Katie calls 911 (no joke) because at this point, it's dangerous.  Swirling, not listening, missing exits - will they make in time?


This season looks amazing.  Drama, nail polish, and Katie is an absolute gem.  I can't wait to see what else is coming.


Nail Files airs on the TV Guide Network Tuesdays at 10/9c.

China Glaze Cracked Medallion

I decided to grab another Metallic Crackle from the Crackle Glaze - China Glaze that will be released this summer - this is Cracked Medallion, a "bold bronze".  My high school colors were black and gold so I thought this would go great until I realized that no, this is bronze, not gold, haha.

Loads of shimmer in this one.  I layered this right over my earlier Liquid Leather manicure and added a top coat of Seche Vite.

Here in the shade, it's really pretty - I'm actually super happy with this color.  I need to compare it to the Tarnished Gold that was also released in this collection - I can't wait until I get back into my comparisons :]

Indoors with the flash - crazy!


I haven't seen a bronze anywhere else out there - have you?

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

China Glaze Liquid Leather

So as I'm running low on my CND Blackjack (my first bottle of nail polish to have emptied!), I decided to pull another black that I have - China Glaze Liquid Leather from the Core Line.  This is just a simple black creme - a little watery for me... but it is still opaque.  


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 thick coats of Liquid Leather and a top of Seche Vite.  When I was making my pick for this color, it took 4 thin coats of Liquid Leather to cover the nail and it still wasn't as opaque as my CND Blackjack,  but again on the nail, it was only two.

Granted, I have a coat of Seche Vite over this but look how shiny this color is!  As far as the "watery" goes, check near the cuticles, especially on my ring and pinkie finger - you can just barely see the nail under the polish.

In the shade, it's all about reflecting everything (mainly, my camera and my fingers, haha).  I don't wear black alone - I always tend to pair it with something like a sheer shimmer or glitter or flakie.

Indoors with the flash and well, this picture just kind of makes everything run into each other... bottle, nails... whatever.  :P

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

OPI Blue Shatter

Kind of continuing the whole peacock idea, I thought I'd try out OPI Blue Shatter over China Glaze Cha Cha Cha.  This is a bright cyan blue shatter/crackle polish.

I think instead of "peacock" this just translated into "80s dinosaur egg" look.  I still like it but not nearly as much as I thought I would.  I did use a top of Seche Vite over it for shine and protection.

Still loving how Cha Cha Cha lightens up so much with a dark color over it.

Indoors with the flash - you can see a little shrinking of the shatter on a few places ... need to make sure it dries completely before adding a top coat.


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.

OPI Turquoise Shatter

Continuing with my friend's wedding theme - which is peacocks - she asked me to see what Turquoise Shatter by OPI looked over yesterday's China Glaze Cha Cha Cha.  I applied one layer of Turquoise Shatter and then topped with Seche Vite.

When layered over Cha Cha Cha, Turquoise Shatter tends to take on a bit of a duller blue effect and makes Cha Cha Cha look much more yellow than green.  Still, it looks like a peacock, no?


Oddly enough, it's just because of the base color.  Check out what it looks like over black.

Quite a difference.  Same with the shade pictures.

A bit of wrinkling here in the index finger (didn't wait long enough) but otherwise super pretty.

But much darker over black (and almost a duochrome effect of green and blue!).


Finally indoors with the flash.

So this might be a wedding manicure for us - you'll definitely know and see pictures of it later.


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.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha

Today's color is Cha Cha Cha from Island Escape - the 2011 Summer collection by China Glaze.  My friend Victoria is obsessed with this color & already wants to use it for her wedding next year.  It's a "vivacious shimmer green" but it's more of a pearl finish.  I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Cha Cha Cha and a top of Seche Vite.  I should have used 3 coats.

Hello visible nail line on my middle finger.  This is a yellow based green but still pretty (and non-staining I'd like to report).

More VNL, more yellow based green - nothing new to report in the shade.

Indoors with the flash shows that the color is mostly opaque on the other nails - not sure what's up with my middle finger.  It's just being a rebel I guess.

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply, and TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.