OPI Sheer Tints Swatches and Play Time!

 *Sent for review*

I have swatches of the new OPI Sheer Tints for you today and since I've seen a lot of people asking "how can I use these?", I also did a couple of different looks with them. I've been dying to play around with these and once you check them out for a few minutes, your brain starts coming up with all kinds of ways to use them! I did want to show you all of them all alone also, to give you an idea of the color and opacity level. OPI I Can Teal You Like Me is a sheer blue-green. It is more green than it looks in my pictures, not quite as straight up blue.

This is three coats of I Can Teal You Like Me with OPI Top Coat. These are all very shiny by themselves, but I did use top coat in these swatches. The formula is like gel, thicker than normal polish. I didn't have trouble applying this at all and I think the gel-like consistency makes it easier for some nail art looks. You don't have to worry about polish running all over the place.

The most obvious use for these is sandwiching with glitter. Some people thought these might be too sheer for this purpose, but I thought they were just fine. This is three coats of I Can Teal You Like Me, one coat of OPI Which Is Witch?, and one more coat of Teal You Like Me on top.

OPI Don't Violet Me Down is a lovely shade of sheer violet purple.  I can definitely see myself wearing this all by itself or in a jelly sandwich.

This is three coats and the consistency was the same thick gel feeling. Don't Violet Me Down was easy to apply and steak-free. I appreciate this- if you're going to do a sheer/jelly/tint, please keep it streak-free, right?

The OPI Sheer Tints can be layered over polishes to make a totally different look. Below, I used one coat of Don't Violet Me Down over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. This is like the ultimate pastel violet, so soft and delicate looking. Gorgeous! I would absolutely wear this as a full mani, especially right now during the spring.

 I think OPI I'm Never Amberrassed is the only Sheer Tint I wouldn't wear all by itself. The yellow-orange look is not the most flattering on top of bare nails. It is a true amber color, and all I can think of is the mosquito trapped in amber in Jurassic Park LOL.

This is three coats. Amberrassed has the same gel formula and streak-free finish as the first two Sheer Tints. Once you get used to the thickness, it's easy to apply these.

OPI Be Magentale With Me is a sheer juicy bright pink. This looks so tasty in the bottle. This is the most "normal" looking one to wear all by itself.

This is three coats of Be Magentale and I found it to be less pigmented than the other three. The formula was also slightly less thick. Still streak-free, but I could have used a little more of the hot pink punch that was in the bottle.

I was dying to do a gradient with I'm Never Amberrassed and Be Magentale With Me, but I discovered I didn't have a sponge (I always use sponges for gradients). I decided to see if I could do it without a sponge, just using the brushes of the polishes. Luckily, these Sheer Tints are perfect for this kind of look, no sponge necessary! They really blend all together nicely, especially if you do the work while the base color (Amberrassed) is still wet. I did this look by painting a very very thin coat of Magentale on just half of each nail, over three coats of Amberrassed. I then went back and added more Magentale to the tips of my nails and topped everything off with OPI Top Coat. The top coat helped all the colors blend together too.

*Sent for review*

I am loving these Sheer Tints! I'm definitely not done playing around with them, so I'll have more looks for you soon. For any nail art enthusiast, or anyone who likes to experiment with different nail looks, these are a must have.

The OPI Sheer Tints are available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer. 

A Lynnderella Sugar Bunny Sandwich!

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus

Color: one coat OPI Don't Burst My Bubble, two coats Lynnderella Sugar Bunny, one coat OPI Don't Burst My Bubble

Top: one coat KnockOut Cosmetics Flatte Top (matte top coat)

Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

Lynnderella Sugar Bunny was purchased by me with my own money. OPI Don't Burst My Bubble was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

 I knew Lynnderella Sugar Bunny was the first polish I wanted to wear from the Lynnderella Everything's Coming Up Neon collection. Sugar Bunny is a gorgeous, spring-y looking mix of white and neon glitters in a soft shimmery sheer white base. I hadn't done a good jelly sandwich in awhile, so I decided to use OPI Don't Burst My Bubble from the Oz collection to sandwich Sugar Bunny. When I finished the sandwich, it looked gorgeous and glossy, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it. I grabbed my favorite matte top coat, KnockOut Cosmetics Flatte Top, and had at it. I love the result!!! For some reason, I just really like this matte! Don't get me wrong, it looked great shiny too, but I think I was just in a matte mood.

Sugar Bunny was super easy to apply with the dabbing method. Let's be real here, if you're not dabbing your  heavy glitters on, I think you're causing yourself a lot of unnecessary frustration. This is really one dabbed coat, plus a few strategically placed glitters for the second coat.

Lynnderella Sugar Bunny and the rest of the Everything's Coming Up Neon collection are available on Lynnderella.com.

Lynnderella Sugar Bunny was purchased by me with my own money. OPI Don't Burst My Bubble was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Sandwiching Fun With Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Lacquers!

Base: one coat Zoya Get Even

Color: three coats Sally Hansen Arm Candy, two coats Sally Hansen Copper Penny, one coat Sally Hansen Arm Candy

Top: one coat Poshe

Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

We've already discussed that Naomi Watts wore Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Arm Candy to the Golden Globes, but now we should discuss what I would wear to the Golden Globes!!! In the pictures above and below, I am wearing three coats of the very sheer pink Arm Candy (Watts wore two coats). This polish is great for adding shine and a tiny hint of pink to your nails. It looks like you have no polish on, just nicer looking natural nails. I had a few streaks to deal with here and there, but nothing terrible.

Clearly, if I were attending the Golden Globes, I would NOT wear a sheer barely there color. But I would wear a glitter like Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Copper Penny! Copper Penny contains beautiful pale copper, almost rose gold, medium-sized hex glitter and small copper glitter, all in a clear base. Below, I am wearing two coats of Copper Penny over three coats of Arm Candy. Using Arm Candy as a base gave Copper Penny such a pretty glowing look!

Of course, when I layered Copper Penny on top of Arm Candy and saw how lovely it looked, I had to try a sandwich!!

The final look is three coats of Arm Candy as a base, two coats of Copper Penny, and then one more coat of Arm Candy to top it off. It was very shiny like this, but I did add a coat of Poshe to help all of the layers dry faster. I LOVE this combo! It's glittery, but in a really soft, pretty way! Can you imagine how excited we would have been if someone had actually rocked a glitter sandwich at the Golden Globes?!? Maybe someday...

I definitely think Arm Candy makes a great polish for sandwiching. It's not technically a jelly, but sheers do often work well in glitter sandwiches. Copper Penny is my new favorite copper glitter! It's so gorgeous and a bit different color than some other, more orange coppers. What do you think about this glitter sandwich?

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes are available at a drugstore near you!

Products sent for review. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

Tasty Memorial Day Glitter Sandwich

Happy Memorial Day to my U.S. readers! How are you celebrating/commemorating today? We had a small BBQ with my uncle (a veteran) yesterday. Today, my boyfriend and I are finally going to see The Avengers!! I am sporting a red, white, and blue glitter sandwich for the occasion.

This tasty treat is one coat of Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam, two coats of either Lynnderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue or OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and finished with another coat of Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam.

This was definitely not what I was going to wear today, but the idea popped into my head and I wanted to try it! I'm glad I did, it's a lot of fun. Lynnderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue is now discontinued, but Lynnderella Mlle. Violette de Blue is not too far off, just a hair more purple.

Some polishes in this post were sent for review. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

A Slimy Sandwich

OK, before you even say anything, I know have some 'splaining to do about this sandwich. Here's a little back story for ya. Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle was sitting in my untrieds *gasp* and lookin pretty. Having never used it before, I somehow thought it might work for a jelly sandwich. I know it isn't a jelly, but you can sandwich with a light coat of a creme as well. So, I settled on sandwiching OPI Servin' Up Sparkle in between layers of RBL Recycle.

So I'm applying Recycle, and I can CLEARLY see that it is very opaque. Clearly! But what do I do? I proceed to try to sandwich anyway. FAIL. So then, too lazy to remove my mess, I applied another layer of Servin' Up Sparkle on top of the failed sandwich. Silver glitter on green looks like Christmas though, I couldn't have that. Again, instead of removing, I applied a coat of China Glaze Kiwi Coolada! So this is: base coat, one coat RBL Recycle, two coats OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, one coat RBL Recycle, one coat OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, and one coat China Glaze Kiwi Coolada. That's 7 coats of crazy.

So, I think a good idea would be: base coat, one coat Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle, two coats Servin' Up Sparkle, one coat China Glaze Kiwi Coolada. It would look like this, just not the bumpy mess part of this. And without the gashes in it, where it obviously took 9 hours to dry and I proceeded about my life pretending that all 7 coats were dry.

Cool concept, not good execution LOL. I'll try it again eventually, without the extra coats in between.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle was sent to me by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Houston, We Have A Sandwich.

I originally passed on all of the jelly "sorbet" finish polishes from the OPI Texas collection. I'm not a big fan of jelly/sorbet, as I can't stand VNL. VNL on purpose... really not my thing. BUT... when I did my first ever jelly sandwich, I was hooked! I needed more jelly!!!! So I picked up OPI Houston We Have a Purple for sandwiching purposes.



This is one coat of OPI Houston We Have a Purple, two coats of Sinful Colors I Miss You, followed by one more coat of Houston We Have a Purple and a coat of CND Shiney top coat to finish it all off. This look doesn't look as much like a sandwich as my last jelly sandwich. This kind of looks like it could just be glitter on top of Houston We Have a Purple. I didn't want to put two coats of Houston on top and eclipse the glitter though. I like the way it looks regardless!



I'm contemplating picking up the other sorbets from the Texas collection now. Do you own any of them? Have you tried "sandwiching" them? I want to try a shatter sandwich next!

OPI Jelly and Glitter Sangwich!

I don't know who started doing Jelly Sandwich manicures, but they've been quite popular among the nail blogging community lately. In case you've never seen one, a Jelly Sandwich involves layering a jelly polish underneath and on top of a glitter (or even crackle) polish, essentially making a sandwich! This is the first sandwich I've attempted and I'm sad to say my pictures do not do it justice. It was thunder storming all morning today and the sky is darker than it usually is at 8 p.m. I always photograph in natural light, and there really wasn't any to be found.



Only this picture above shows the real beauty of this manicure. WOW! Look at that awesomeness! For this look, I actually used two different jellies for the base and top, I got a bit confused LOL. I used OPI In The Spotlight Pink as the base, but then remembered it was really too clear to use for this purpose. Then I layered on two coats of OPI Sparkle-icious for the meat of the sandwich. Finally, I topped this sandwich with one coat of OPI Step Right Up! I like how this came out a LOT!



The cool thing about these manis is that the glitter looks kind of captured inside a pool of polish or something. Make sure you click on these pictures to enlarge them and see the detail. I now want to purchase the three jellies from OPI Texas so that I can do many many more jelly sandwiches!



What do you think of the jelly sandwich look? Have you tried one? Do you have a favorite combination?

OPI In The Spotlight Pink and Step Right Up! were sent to me for review by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.