Category: OPI

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Glam Nails Challenge December— Poinsettia

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Today’s pre-Christmas look is also todays prompt for Glam Nails Challenge December — poinsettia. So I created a cute floral poinsettia accent nail!

Also let me apologize for my pictures — I took them at work, after it was dark outside, so they’re a little rougher than I like to do. But it’s been a busy week! (also reason this manicure is looking a little rougher than usual…)

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Society Ruler
  • Sally Hansen CSM Blush Around the Clock
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blacky-O
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • OPI How Great Is Your Dane?
  • Icing Emerald City
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

The close up is my favourite (minus the blue hair dye peeking by my cuticle… ugh) I feel like these turned out so pretty, & they were surprisingly simple… after I finished my accent nails I kind of wished I had done a couple more fingers. But it is still a lovely accent nail look, & a lovely Christmas look!

What do you think about this nail art look? Do you like my lovely accent nail? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments below & what nails you have planned for Christmas Eve.

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Glam Nails Challenge December— Cookies

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

I’ve got 3 more (long) days of work & then I’m excited for 4 whole days of Christmas vacation. & my plan for this week is to (hopefully) post a Christmas design every single day leading up to Christmas Day! 🎄

& today we’re starting off with the next prompt for GlamNailsChallengeDecember: Cookies! & I decided to go with some Gingerbread inspired nail art.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essence Intergalactic Adventure
  • Starrily Eclipse
  • OPI How Great Is Your Dane?
  • Quo by Orly Breathable Bare Necessities
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

I’m super impressed with how these turned out –they came together exactly like how I pictured in my head. Right down to my lack of decorating skills on my cookies (you should see my real life cookies! Haha)

Originally I had thought about doing everything over a holographic pink base, but when I saw this shifty base sitting in my stash. I just had such an urge to use it! I added some holo over top to give off a little extra sparkle. The cookies were completely freehanded using my NailStuff 7mm brush, which made things easy & I’m really happy with how they turned out. I even managed to freehand not one, but two stars on my nails–for the first time ever–so even though my “decorating” looks as bad as my real life decorating, my actual cookies made me feel pretty proud.

What do you think about this design for GlamNailsChallenge? Would you ever attempt a design like this? How are your cookie decorating skills?

Let me know down in the comments below.

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SWATCH SUNDAY— OPI Infinite Shine Heart & Coal

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday. The last Sunday before Christmas! Can you believe that Christmas is only 6 days away? That means its time to kick the Christmas designs into high gear!

But, in the meantime, I have a fun Christmas related polish to shade for Swatch Sunday: OPI Infinite Shine Heart & Coal from the 2020 Shine Bright Holiday Collection. I found this beauty at Winners, during my Christmas shopping adventures this past week, & kind of couldn’t leave without it! They had a few a the shades from the collection left, but I decided to be good & just buy this one.

This is also, somehow, my first full sized Infinite Shine shade which is also really exciting!

2 coats + 2 coats OPI Infinite Shine Gloss Top Coat

Heart & Coal is a beauty black with an abundance of tiny holo scattered glitters. A lot of holo glitter. The first coat of this shade was a bit thin, but the second I applied the second coat, it was perfect opacity. The formula can be a bit grainy–thanks to those thickly packed holographic glitters–but applying two coats of top coat definitely smoothed things out a lot. A part of me would be curious to see how it would look without top coat, & if it would dry similarly to those sand effect shades of a few years ago.

Look at that macro shot! You can see those beautiful shimmers, plus you can really see that the black base has a bit of a shimmery finish to itself as well. A lovely holiday polish to wear! Especially if you’re not in the mood for a traditional red or green polish to wear to celebrate.

I also like the lasting power of the Infinite Shine line. According to the OPI site, it’ll give you up to a 11 day lasting manicure. I’m not sure about that, but I did get a good shift out of these where I was unpacking boxes & being all around rough on my nails, & my nails looked as good as the beginning as at the end.

What do you think about this polish? Do you have OPI Heart & Coal, either regular or Infinite Shine, in your stash? What is your holiday manicure you’re wearing right now? Let me know down in the comments below!

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Purple & Gold Freehand Swirls

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a very lovely week so far! We’ve actually been having a beautiful weather here in Halifax — very un-November like weather! It’s been absolutely beautiful… which has kind of made being inspired for nail art a little difficult. So I decided for my latest mani to go with a look I used to do all the time — this freehand dainty swirl look.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI Ink
  • Essie Getting Groovy
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Back in circa 2014-2015, I used to love freehanding these swirly looks, so I decided since I wasn’t feeling all that inspired, it was a great look to go with.

I really love the look of the gold over the shifty purple base of OPI Ink. I feel like this look is very regal — it also gives me slight wrapping paper vibes, but I’m not mad about it. I think it looks very beautiful. It was definitely a good nail art choice in this in between time when it doesn’t quite feel like Fall, but is too early (in my eyes, anyways) for Christmas.

What do you think about this nail art look? What designs are you wearing right now? Have you started thinking about Christmas nail art? Let me know in the comments below!

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SWATCH SUNDAY — OPI Ink

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday… The first Sunday of November!

I’m not quite ready to start thinking about holiday polishes yet—although I’ve been tempted—so I thought I would delve into my stash & pull out an untried. Todays pick is OPI Ink, which I scored on a serious deal at my local Lawton’s.

2 coats + Seche Vive Top Coat

According to my Google research, Ink was originally released as part of the 2007 Night Brights collection. It has since become part of the permanent core collection.

The polish is a deep blue shimmer with a multitude of purple & blue micro flakie glitters. It’s very densely packed, which means 2 coats of polish easily covers the nail. There is also a beautiful shift that shows blue or purple, depending on how you move your nail.

You can really really see the glass fleck glitters in a macro shot. It looks really beautiful. Also you can really see the beautiful shift — it’s a stunning polish for sure!

You can OPI Ink (pretty much) anywhere OPI nail polish is sold, both in regular formula as well as the gel formula. A few places I’ve found online which have it in stock are:

What do you think about this beautiful OPI shade? Do you have OPI Ink in your nail polish stash? Let me know all your thoughts down in the comments below!