Copper Patina Water Spot

Hello Lovlies!

Today's nails are my first attempt at a technique I've been starting to see around the blogosphere. It's called a water spot manicure, and is a variation on water marbling. The trick to this one is you spray an alcohol based solution like hand sanitizer or perfume on the polish after putting it in water. There is a great tutorial here.  I chose to double dip my nails to get this really marbled, patina look, and I love the outcome... See here:

I started with one coat of Wet N Wild French White Cream. I then spotted on Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Green Tea, a fantastic dusty mint creme, followed by Essie Penny Talk, a super shiny rose gold/copper.

I did my manicure using pure rubbing alcohol instead of hand sanitizer, and noticed that with Penny Talk it broke it up more into chunks than into spots, which worked great for this manicure, but it is something to keep in mind. I love this technique though... it's going to be perfect for making nails that look like natural stones like turquoise or jasper.

What do you think about water spotting?

Until next time,
HeatherS

King Tut- Inspired Fishtail Nails

Hello Lovelies!

Back again today with a new favorite kind of nail art... fishtail braid nails! I have been seeing tutorials for these these pop up  lot lately and have been loving coming up with new and exciting color combos. Today's colors were inspired by my ipod shuffling and coming up with this:

Which of course, led me to this gorgeous color combo:

Which quickly became this:

This super shiny look was made using 2 coats of OPI Goldeneye on all nails, with Orly Sweet Peacock and Wet N Wild Black Creme free-handed to make the fishtail braid pattern on the ring finger and thumb. As you can see in the above pictures, Goldeneye is an incredibly reflective gold fleck that gives a great foil appearance. Sweet Peacock is an equally bright cerulean blue foil which shines so beautifully against the gold and black.

Until next time,

HeatherS

Broken Bones = Bad Bad Blogger

Hello Lovelies,

I'm sad to say that it will be awhile until I have new swatches for you due to a broken finger. I was working Horse Expo Pomona this weekend and had a beautiful but hungry Frisian take a bite at my hand, crushing my finger in the process. I will work on something to hopefully be back soon, but in the meantime, this will be a hiatus.

Until next time,

HeatherS

OPI Designer Series: Design & Extravagance

Hello Lovlies!

Finally some sun to swatch! I've decided to start showing two polishes at a time, because I will never get through them in a timely manner at the rate I'm going. Today I have the last of my stronger linear holos, Design, and my favorite of the non-linear holos, Extravagance.

Design is a gorgeous linear tan holographic polish. In person, this is a perfect match to my skin, so I get holographic mannequin hands, which I find so very pretty. The above swatches are 2 coats, and there is no visible nail line in person, but for photos I could have used 3.  

Extravagance is a rich raspberry scattered holographic. Photos don't really do this polish the justice it deserves. The first one above only hints at the kind of lush, subtle holographic goodness I see in person looking at this color. Coverage on this is wonderful... the above are 2 very thin coats, but 1 thick one would probably suffice. The only downside to this one is visible above... it's tough to clean up, and like many in the red family, it tends to stay visible in cuticles.

Until next time,

HeatherS  

OPI Designer Series: Original

Hello Lovelies!

Today's OPI Designer Series polish is Original! Original is a pretty lilac holographic polish that covers beautifully in 3 thin coats as you see below.

They say you always remember your first, and Original, as the name would suggest, is the first holographic polish I ever got, so I can thank it for starting my holo obsession. Of all my holos it's seen the most wear over the years. I attribute this to it's versatile color... it's subdued enough to not be completely off the wall, but it's still purple and funky and different. 

Until next time,

HeatherS

OPI Designer Series: Signature

Hello Lovelies!

Continuing on with the OPI Designer Series today is another classic holo: Signature.

Signature is a lovely rose pink holographic that is definitely more cool toned than warm toned. It's very understated in low light, looking a bit plain and mauve. It has one of the strongest holo effects of all the old DS polishes.

Now, I'm not really a girl who likes pink polishes... in fact pretty much every other polish color outnumbers pink in my collection, but this is a really pretty one. 

Until next time,

HeatherS

OPI Designer Series: Glamour

Hello Lovelies!

Alright, today I have my absolute FAVORITE of the OPI Designer Series... Glamour. My amazing mother got me this polish for my birthday 2 years ago and I've been head over heals with it ever since.

*swoon*

It shouldn't really come as a surprise that I love this color so much, its a rich royal blue holographic polish that appears a bit indigo in low lights and applies like a dream in 2 coats. This is definitely high on my list of favorite blues, and it would probably make the list for favorite polishes.

Until next time,

HeatherS

OPI DS Diamond

Hello Lovelies!

Continuing the OPI DS swatches today is Diamond. Diamond is a bit of a holographic ugly duckling. It's too silver to be a purple, too purple to be silver, too dusty to be lavender, with a touch of taupe in certain lights... I've determined it's probably best to call it a thistle color. The holo is strong, but not super linear, and it really doesn't show well in the bottle.

 Initially when I bought this color I was sort of underwhelmed. Yes, it's a fairly strong holo, yes it's unique, but it was sort of... safe? Something about the kind of dusty thistle color of it didn't really appeal that much to me, so into the drawer it went, never really brought out again until it needed swatching. Then something odd happened... I put it on, and it was like a completely different color than I remember. It suddenly seemed chic, and a little edgy with it's dusky looks. I honestly didn't take it off for about 3 days, and so many different people commented on how pretty it was. I sort of love when a polish surprises me like that.

Have you ever had a polish that deserved a second look?

Until next time,

HeatherS

OPI Designer Series: Desire

Hello Lovelies!

So I have decided that I want to start off 2013 swatching all of my OPI Designer Series polishes. I have already shown you Sapphire, but I may redo that one. As I mentioned, I collect the old school DS polishes, with the really linear gorgeous holographic details. I have a few from the second series with the more scattered holo and metallic effects, but I'll be saving those for towards the end.

To kick-start, here is Desire... and what a pretty thing it is. Desire is a milk chocolate-y holographic brown shown here with 3 coats. I usually layer this over a brown creme like Essie's Little Brown Dress, but I wanted to show it to it's full potential on it's own. The first photo below shows it in shade to give you a better idea of it's color.

*Please pardon the beagle hair... I didn't see them until uploading.

 *sigh* So pretty. I really hope with China Glaze and Color Club releasing new holographic collections that OPI will do the same.

Until next time!

HeatherS

That 70's Mani.

Hello Lovelies!

Today I have my last manicure from 2012. It's another gradient mani using China Glaze Westside Warrior, a very 1970's drab avocado green creme, China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway, a deep navy creme, and Zoya Kelly, a stormy dark grey with bluish undertones. I then stamped it using Color Club Lumin-Icent and Cheeky XL Plate A.

It was a fun look, but under low light the gradient is almost impossible to see. I may try this again sometime in the future with lighter colors and see how it turns out.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year. Please feel free to leave feedback about what you'd like to see more of... I love suggestions!

Until next time,

HeatherS