OPI Glam Slam France: Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter

After my vampy-on-the-first-day-of-summer fiasco, I made sure to go for something that screamed summer for my weekend mani.  Summer means sunshine, and what could rival a holo for sunny day mani?  GLITTER!  I dove head first into OPI's French Open Glam Slam duo.  Created with Serena Williams, the France duo contains a sparkly glitter and a brand spankin' new white shatter.  Bring it, summer!

I started with the glitter - Spark de Triomphe.  It's a combination of gold and silver glitter in different shapes and sizes, including small and large hexagonal and round glitter, all suspended in a clear base.  The gold and silver together give an overall color that's somewhere between champagne and pale gold, depending on the light.  It applies pretty easily for a glitter, but unless you want to layer this over another color (Two coats over OPI Glitzerland would be perfect!), you're gonna need at least three coats (shown here) to get this one opaque.  It dries rough and bumpy, as with any glitter, but you can smooth it out with a coat of Gelous or Instant Artificials (both thick, acrylic-based base coats found at Sally's) before your top coat.  Pleeeeease click to enlarge these photos to check this one out up close!

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Ohhhh, you guys, I am in LOVE with this polish!  I'm not a huge glitter girl, but I love everything about this polish, from the name to the color, to the sparkle!  And boy, does it sparkle!  Even in low lighting, it was gorgeous!  My pictures don't even remotely do it justice!  I loved this so much, I wore it alone for three days!

...And then I added White Shatter.  I'm gonna be honest.  I never intended to get the White Shatter.  I really only wanted Spark de Triomphe, so I tried swapping for it.  Turns out my lovely swapper wanted to swap the set, so the shatter found its way home to me.  I loved Spark so much on its own, I was kind of sad and scared to cover it up with the shatter.  The two were meant to go together, so I forced myself to try it out.  One medium-thin coat of shatter later, and here's the result:

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Well.  It's not as bad as I feared it would be, but I just really don't love it.  White Shatter was super easy to work with, it's totally opaque, and I think it looks cool with the glitter poking through the cracks, but Spark de Triomphe is the star in this duo, and it's just too gorgeous to cover up!  It's a good look, but I prefer the glitter all by its sparkly self.  :-)

So, White Shatter gets a pass from me, but Spark de Triomphe is a MUST HAVE.  MUSTTTT HAAAVE!  It's stunning!  Perfect in every way, shape, and form!  This duo was part of OPI's May Glam Slam collection, so you should RUN (don't walk!) to your nearest Ulta to grab it while you can!  I'm telling you guys - it's all that and a bag of chips!  Mmmm...chips....

OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries

I promised you guys more pink, so more pink you shall have!  :-)

For my weekend manicure, I decided to dive into my stash for an old favorite - OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries.  Not many pinks jive well with my skin tone, but this is one of the few that does.  Yay!

Ate Berries is a (surprise!) berry pink creme.  It's kind of hard to describe, because while it's certainly pink, it also falls heavy to the purple side.  It's almost a raspberry color.  But not really real raspberries.  More like artificially flavored raspberry candy.  It applies like a dream in two easy coats.  I have to be honest here.  These photos aren't even remotely color accurate.  I tried to take as many as I could in different lighting, but I just couldn't get the "berry" color to come out.  I tried adjusting the color in my photos, but failed miserably.  Sorry, guys!!  Imagine the color to be a deeper, more saturated, but vibrant raspberry pink.

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This is seriously one my favorite pinks ever!  It's so saturated and gorgeous!  Makes a great pedi color too!  :-)  Ate Berries in the Canaries was released with OPI's Spain collection of Fall 2009.  Seems kind of out of place in a fall collection, no?  Either way, it's an amazing color, and thankfully made the cut to the permanent collection.  It's been rumored to be dupe-y to Deborah Lippmann's Between the Sheets.  I don't have that one to compare, but Jessie does and she tells me they're close, but not complete dupes.  They're probably different enough to own both, but if you want to save some money, you can pick up the OPI for almost half the price.  (But those Lippmann bottles are so prettyyyyyy!)

I thought I'd spice up my plain ol' creme with some glittah!  I threw on two coats of OPI Mad as a Hatter over Ate Berries on my thumb for a "Blackberry manicure."  Ate Berries works perfectly with the multi-colored glitter in Mad as a Hatter.  A match made in heaven!  Click to enlarge to see all the awesomeness that is Mad as a Hatter!  :-)

...And then after I took my photos I managed to screw up both thumbs so horribly that I had to take off the glitter and just throw on another two coats of Ate Berries.  Sigh.  I hate wasting any awesome glitter, but I especially hate wasting and awesomely hard-to-find glitter.  Argh!  Can't win 'em all, right?  ;-)

OPI Turquoise Shatter

Shatter... oh how I tried to resist.  I made it through the China Glaze Crackles, OPI Black Shatter, OPI Silver Shatter without blinking an eye.  Then OPI made an announcement that they were releasing 3 "blue" shatters!!!! I instantly feel in love with Navy, Turquoise and Blue Shatter, but I still wasn't convinced the look of shattered nail polish was for me.  So I told myself I could get one to try, and if I liked it then I could get more.

I ordered it online because my local Ultas are constantly failing me.  I really think someone comes in to both my local Ultas the day everything is released and just buys up the store!  I found it online and ordered it immediately.  It came just in time for me to wear it with Essie Super Bossa Nova (which I'll highlight in my next post), the perfect combination for my 80's themed outfit to see The Legwarmers on Saturday night.  (The Legwarmers were AMAZING by the way and you should definitely go check them out if they ever visit a city near you).  I wasn't home much this weekend but thankfully it was super sunny and allowed me to take some great pictures of OPI Turquoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter
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OPI Turquoise Shatter
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Close up of OPI Turqoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova
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Hopefully you can tell why I love Turquoise Shatter so much.  It's beyond gorgeous and I can't wait to try it over other colors. Turquoise shatter is a beautiful summer turquoise that leans more green indoors and blue outside.  It's got a beautiful shimmer to it that can be seen both inside and out. For this look, I layered one coat of OPI Turquoise Shatter over two coats of Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter was just released for the summer and can be found at Ulta for $8.50.  Since my Ulta is constantly out of everything, I got mine at Aveyou.com for the same price.  I'm planning on picking up Blue and Silver Shatter now that I've worn this and I can't wait until the new China Glaze Metallic Crackles come out!!!!!!!

My Beach Manicure: Milani HD and OPI Paris Couture For Sure

Hello lovelies!  The hubby and I just got back from celebrating our two year anniversary with a fabulous weekend at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland.  YAY!  Okay, it was really more like a few hours at the beach and then hitting up bars with friends, but same difference, right?  ;-)  Knowing I'd finally be exposed to more sun in one weekend than I had all year, I had to do a manicure that thrived off the sun - holographics!!

I started with Milani 3D Holographic polish in HD.  HD is a silver scattered (meaning the rainbow/oil slick effect is weaker and kind of dispersed, or "scattered" on the nail) holo, and was surprisingly sheer.  I used three coats for what you see below, and I still had some VNL.  Application was easy, and I didn't need to use any special base coats.  Scattered holos are a little tricky to photograph, as you need the light to hit them in just the right way to really show off their beauty, so I took a ton of photos.  I'm sure you guys don't mind.  ;-)

The first two photos were taken under my Ott-Lite.

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 And since holos love sun, the next two photos were taken in sunlight.

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The Milani holos are really great and super affordable.  I'm pretty sure Milani made these permanent, so you can find them for less than $5 at your local CVS, Rite Aid, etc.  You can also get them from Milani's website, along with a few other favorite Milani hard-to-finds, at www.milanicosmetics.com.

I loved the look of HD, but I wanted to spice it up a bit.  I found OPI Paris Couture for Sure on my first dusty hunt with Jessie and had been dying to try it out.  This was the perfect opportunity!  PCFS (that name is way too long to type out over and over again) is an old black-label OPI that was released with the Shopping Around the World holiday collection back in 2005.  It's labeled as a "glitter top coat," but it really isn't a glitter at all.  It's more of a very fine irregular holographic flakie to my eyes.  I'd call it a scattered holo, but it certainly has some linear holo qualities.  (Linear holos have a very pronounced rainbow/oil slick effect on the nail.  They're not as sparkly, but the overall effect is jaw-dropping.  I have a few to show you - just waiting for a good sunny day!)

OPI PCFS is very sheer - even more so than Milani HD - which makes it perfect for layering.  I added just one coat of PCFS over HD.  It applies extremely well, and I was so happy with the result!  You can see how much more pronounced the holographic effect is!  The first three photos were taken under my Ott-Lite.

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And then in sunlight.

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PCFS is so awesome!  I hate that it was limited edition.  Your best bet for tracking this one down is swapping, dusty hunting, or shelling on on eBay.  There's no listings currently, but I see them pop up all the time.  It's one of the few that I'd say would be worth it.  It's just too cool!

OPI Paris Couture for Sure and Milani HD say hello from the beach!  :-D

OPI Movin' Out

Wow... first off I'd like to thank Courtney for graciously letting me do some blogging for her. She is completely amazing and I am so happy we met and are friends. However the blogging request turned out to be both a blessing and a (tiny) curse. As soon as I agreed and we went out and bought me an Ott-Lite, things took a turn for the worse.

First, I actually wasn't in the mood to paint my nails. I've been painting my nails about once every 2-3 days for about a year now, so not wanting to paint my nails for a week or so was strange. Then 2 huge shelves fall off my wall crushing my Wet-n-Wild Black Creme with it (crucial to this blog post). Finally I attend a crab feast and completely murdered my nails. So I decided to suck it up, file them down, stop by CVS for a new WnW Black Creme and force myself to sit down for my mani. I was so nervous painting my nails that I got black nail polish all over my hands, clean-up was horrible. Then the dreaded picture taking. My first pictures looked nothing like Courtney's amazing pictures. So after taking about 40 in different lights and backgrounds over the last 24 hours, I finally got a set of pictures I was happy with.

So you see, this first post was a serious labor of love. So it can only get better from here! I am so excited to finally be posting, to be sharing my love of nail polish with the blog world, and doing it with my dear friend Courtney.

I first became aware of OPI's Movin' Out when reading this post on Fashion Polish. I've been dying to get Clarins 230, a nail polish with amazing color changing pigment, but it goes for about $60 on Ebay. I love nail polish, but not that much! So when I saw this post and Sam's amazing pictures and video, I instantly got onto Ebay and secured one for $10. Now my pictures don't do this nearly as much justice as the ones on Fashion Polish, so I urge you to check those out as well. Enough blabbing! Onto the polish!

To achieve this look, you need layer one or two thin coats of Movin' Out over any black creme polish. This multichrome polish flashes purple, magenta, amber, and green. It also has beautiful shimmer to it, which I believe is what actually gives it the amazing color changing abilities that I tried desperately to capture. I didn't do it justice (couldn't manage to capture the amber at all). Movin' Out is from the 2003 Holiday on Broadway collection which means it is Hard-to-Find. However you can still grab it on Ebay for under $15. It's also still available on Aveyou.com. Since it's from 2003, that means its the old, chemical filled formula and no Pro-Wide brush. Pick this up, you won't regret it!

OPI Affair in Times Square

Cue Rebecca Black - IT'S FRIDAY!!  And boy, I sure am looking forward to the weekend - it's been one hell of a four-day week at work!  On to the good stuff!  :-)

My friend (and soon to be guest blogger) Jessie and I met up on Sunday for some shopping and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some dusty hunting while we were at it.  She took me to a place where she previously found two (TWO!!!) La Bohemes.  No sight of a third, but they did have some great old black-labels.  I was lucky enough to find a lemming of mine - Affair in Times Square.  Woo-hoo!

Affair in Times Square is a taupe-y mushroom creme.  In some lights it's more brown and in some lights it's more grey.  Totally an edgy-neutral, so you know I was all over this one.  It's a black label, so it's got the skinny brush, which is so strange to use once you've been accustomed to those darn pro-wides.  It was super easy to apply, and I only used two coats, but I probably should've added a third.  Oh well, I think it turned out just fine.  :-)

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See the color difference in all three pictures?  A morphing polish, this one is!  It was released back in Fall of 2000 with the New York City Collection, which I believe makes this the oldest polish I own!  I think it's funny that these colors are so popular right now, but OPI was ahead of the curve on it - and then discontinued it.  Silly OPI.

But I have a confession to make...and you guys are gonna think I've lost my mind....I think I'm edgy-neutral-ed out.  Affair in Times Square is pretty, but nothing special.  My huge binge on edgy neutrals means I've got like five other colors that are similar enough to this for me to be slightly disappointed.

For a comparison, I pulled out Milani Teddy Bare (dupe of Chanel Particulere) and Sephora by OPI Metro Chic.  I REALLY wanted to compare this to Essie Mink Muffs, but I had literally just packaged it up for a swap before I did my manicure.

(L) to (R) Milani Teddy Bare, OPI Affair in Times Square, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

Clearly not a total dupe of these, but it is pretty similar to Metro Chic - just a bit warmer and less purple.  You definitely don't need both, although Affair in Times Square is nice to have if you're more of a collector.  I'm still glad to have found it, but I'm sad it wasn't a bit more unique for my collection.  Still, it was a great dusty find, especially considering it's going for around $17 on eBay right now.  Score!!  :-)

And of course, the cherry on top is....It's Fridayyyyyy, Fridayyyyyyyyy!!  

OPI Tease-y Does It

Hola, friends!  Hope your weekend was a fabulous one!  Given that the world, indeed, did not end, I'm gonna say that mine was definitely good.  After my Pirates of the Caribbean swatch-a-thon on Thursday, I needed a palate-cleanser.  Typically this is a nude/pale color and it comes after wearing something glittery/shimmery/bright, etc.  After six pastels and numerous comparisons of other random pastels, I needed something deep and sultry.  I dove head first into my stash for OPI Tease-y Does It.

Tease-y Does It (yes, another stupid name from OPI) was released with the Burlesque collection from this past holiday season.  Burlesque was a collection full of glitter bombs and duochromes, so Tease-y Does It almost seemed out of place.  I never thought twice about buying it until I started to see the swatch photos on MUA.  There's more to this polish than meets the eye.

Its deep plum-brown base is almost cloudy and murky-looking in the bottle.  I assure you that all goes away on the nail to reveal the best feature of this polish - its gold/fuchsia duochrome shimmer.  The duochrome isn't super noticeable, but you do certainly get the flash of both colors.  Application was fabulous in just two coats.  It practically applied itself!  Definitely click to enlarge these photos so you can see this baby up close!

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How sexy is that?!  When I first put this on last December, I was shocked by how much I loved it.  It's not too dark - doesn't even come close to "almost black" - and was just what I needed after those Pirates pastels.  Just as pretty the second time around.  Ahhhh....

Unfortunately the Burlesque collection was limited edition, which means you may have a hard time tracking this one down.  Though it could still be lurking in your Ulta's clearance section, so check that out for sure!  The good news is that Nubar's Raspberry Truffle is said to be a dead-on dupe!  You can get it for $7.49 at www.bynubar.com.  Double good news is that both of these are also almost dupes of Chanel's Feu de Russie.  Anytime I can get something close to a Chanel for less than half the price, I consider that a VICTORY!

A perfectly unexpected palate-cleanser.  :-)

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean plus Silver Shatter

Ahoy, mates!  I've got goodies for you today!!  I've been waiting FOR-EV-ER for this order to be shipped to me, as I pre-ordered from a wholesaler back in March.  Still no word on my order, so I decided to check my local beauty supply store to see if they had them in.  Lo and behold, an entire set waiting just for me!  (Okay, not really just for me, but I really did luck out!)  I canceled my online order so fast it would make your head spin, and it's been a swatch-a-thon all afternoon!  Just in time for the movie release today, I am SOOOO excited to bring you the entire OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection!  YAY!

When I first heard OPI was doing a Pirates of the Caribbean collection I was like:

Then I found out they were all cremes and pastels, and I was like:

Then I realized the error of my ways.  Just because pastels don't really say "pirates" or "swashbuckling" to me, doesn't mean they don't need love too!  The promo photos looked gorgeous, and I knew I wanted every last one of them!  When I finally got my hands on the collection, I was like this:

(A quick thank you to Jessie for introducing me to http://www.jamesvandermemes.com/, and also a thank you to James Van Der Beek unknowingly starring in this blog post and for being awesomely hilarious!)  ON TO THE POLISHES!

Mermaid's Tears - A muted, kind of dusty creme that falls somewhere between turquoise and sea green.  I love this!!  A color with my name written all over it!  It's dupey to Orly Ancient Jade.  I don't own it, but I did a bottle comparison at Ulta, and while they're very similar, Mermaid's Tears is a bit lighter.  But I'd say if you own Ancient Jade, you can probably pass on Mermaid's Tears and vice versa.

I did a comparison of Mermaid's Tears with OPI Damone Roberts 1968.  You can see how much bluer Mermaid's Tears is.  It's not a mint green at all.

(L) OPI Mermaid's Tears, (R) OPI Damone Roberts 1968

Stranger Tides - Strange is right!  What color is this??  A dusty, greyed green, murky...celery?  I don't know but I LOVE it!  Surprise favorite of the collection!  It's soft but completely different from anything else I own.  It seems similar to Essie Da Bush, but I don't own it to compare.  I chalk this one up as an edgy neutral - I totally wore this to work and it played well in an office setting, and with multiple outfits.  

You've heard me mention "greyed green" before in reference to Essie Sew Psyched, but I did a comparison to show you how different these two are.  Look how yellow Stranger Tides is!  It makes Sew Psyched just look straight up grey!

(L) OPI Stranger Tides, (R) Essie Sew Psyched

Skull and Glossbones - Cute name!!  This is a pale grey creme.  Nothing too special going on here, but I like it.  I'm a sucker for greys.

I compared this to Zoya Dove, which I thought was going to be a really close match.  Wrong!  Skull and Glossbones is warmer, and Dove is darker.  Go figure!  I'd love to see Skull and Glossbones compared to Lippmann's Waking Up in Vegas, but sadly I don't own that one to compare.

(L) OPI Skull and Glossbones, (R) Zoya Dove

Steady as She Rose - Another cute name!  :-)  This one's a dusty pinkish lavender.  Sometimes it looks more pink and sometimes it looks more lavender.  It's nice, but I dunno - I'm just not feeling it.  To its defense, I don't own anything like it, so it's clearly unique!  

Sparrow Me the Drama - Aaaaaand THIS is why I don't do many pink manicures.  As soon as I pulled this one out of the box, I knew we weren't meant to be.  Light pinks don't like to play nicely with my skin tone, and this one was no exception.  Bleh.  I'm sure it would look fab on pretty much anyone but me.  Sigh.

I pulled out Essie Splash of Grenadine, another pink I could never get to work for me.  They're similar, but Sparrow Me the Drama is warmer.  I actually never realized just how blue Splash of Grenadine really was until now!

(L) OPI Sparrow Me the Drama, (R) Essie Splash of Grenadine

Planks a Lot - Dusty medium-toned purple.  Again, nothing too special here, but I do really like it.  It's not nearly as blue as this photo shows, but isn't that just the story of my life?  ;-)

I have a plethora of "dusty purple cremes" in my collection, so I brought them all out for this comparison.  I think Planks a Lot is much truer to color in this photo.  I thought this would be pretty close to OPI Done Out in Deco, but it's clearly darker.  Definitely in the same vein though.  Parlez-Vous, OPI? is much more red-toned - not even close.  It's closest relative seems to be Do You Lilac It?  Planks a Lot is a bit cooler-toned and not quite as bright, but they were pretty similar in real life.  Cool tones work better with my skin tone, so Planks a Lot is the keeper for me of the two.

(L) to (R) - Parlez-Vous, OPI?, Planks a Lot, Do You Lilac It?, Planks a Lot, Done Out in Deco

I was lucky enough to snag a bottle of Silver Shatter at Ulta on Mother's Day when the display was fully stocked, and I definitely wanted to swatch it for you!  As with Black Shatter, Silver Shatter needs to be applied over completely dry polish in order to crackle properly.  Polish takes forever to dry on my hands, so good on-the-nail swatches just weren't going to happen.  Boo!  More nail wheel swatches!  This is Silver Shatter over each Pirates of the Caribbean polish:

(L) to (R) Mermaid's Tears, Stranger Tides, Skull and Glossbones, Steady as She Rose, Sparrow Me the Drama, and Planks a Lot

I was never sold on getting Silver Shatter until someone on MUA said it was like jewelry for your nails! What a great description!  I think it looks nice over the Pirates polishes but I like a little more contrast with the shatter polishes.  So here's Silver Shatter over a couple other colors (click to enlarge for better detail):

(L) to (R) - Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, Milani White, OPI Russian Navy, OPI Ski Teal We Drop, China Glaze Jolly Holly, and Essie Limited Addiction

Overall, I think OPI put out a great collection.  They're not necessarily the most unique colors, but they work nicely, and they're great for spring/summer.  My only complaint is the application.  With the exception of Mermaid's Tears and Planks a Lot (which applied perfectly), the application on the rest of the Pirates polishes was AWFUL.  Terrible.  Turrible.  I don't even know how to describe it.  Almost...chalky?  And streaky.  And patchy.  Kind of like a neon.  It was really strange, and not even close to what I normally expect from OPI.  The only thing that saved those polishes from looking like crap was a good ole coat of Seche Vite.  I would say for those polishes, it's best to wait until each coat is completely dry before starting the next.  

That being said, of my four problem children, I'd say Stranger Tides and Skull and Glossbones are worth the hassle for me.  The other two just don't jive with my skin tone, and I just don't want to deal with awful application if I don't love the colors.  Silver Shatter gets the thumbs-up from me as well.  It doesn't shatter quite as nicely as Black Shatter, but it's still pretty cool, and the overall effect is nice.  I'd say the collection gets 3 out of 5 stars from me.  :-)

And just because it's fun to talk like a pirate - AAARRRRGHHH!  YO HO!  :-P