Friday 30 March 2012

OPI Germany Collection Preview (Fall 2012)

Hi everyone!

It's finally Easter break! Not that it's really a break for me as I have ten thousand essays and practice papers and questions and notes and everything to do which will be fun, I'm sure.

Anyhoo, OPI announced their new Germany collection a couple of days ago. I don't know what is up with all these European inspired collections, by the way. First Holland this spring...now Germany. That's not a complaint though as I'm European too!

L to R: My Very First Knackwurst, Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Berlin There Done That, Dont Talk Bach to Me, Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, Schnapps Out of It, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Every Month is Oktoberfest, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, Deutsch You Want Me Baby, Danke-Shiny Red & German-icure by OPI.

My immediate favourites are probably My Very First Knackwurst and Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs. I don't know what is wrong with me recently but I'm starting to like pinks and purples on my nails more! They definitely remind me of fall shades but I don't know if they represent Germany well as I've never been. Is anyone reading this German? I love hearing what people from the country has to say about names and colours!

Until next time :-)

Thursday 29 March 2012

Orange and blue make a hand full of smiles...

Okay so I had the hardest time trying to think of what to call this. It reminds me of hippyish, summery, happy times and makes me smile every time I look at my hands! I intended to post this on Tuesday but I have had so much college work this week (I had to write two essays last night alone) and have been exhausted. I only have two decent photos today as well as I had an appointment at the hairdressers and by the time I got back, the lighting was awful :-( Luckily, the next two weeks are Easter break so I shall be spending much longer on my nails and less on what I should be doing...

This is three (!) coats of In My Back Pocket by OPI for the base colour. This polish makes me so conflicted. I love the colour, but I can never get it perfectly opaque and I refuse to use more that 3 coats. The blue is a cheap (seriously, they are like £1.99) Beauty UK one that I bought once because it was next to the checkout. The flowers were created by simply dotting 5 blue petals with a dotting tool, although you could use a bobby pin, and one dot of white in the centre.



My laptop's doing this wonderful and not at all irritating thing again where it doesn't like to keep photos rotated...

Anyway, hopefully I will have time to do something a little less basic soon. My nail time has been severely lacking :(

Goodbye!

Monday 26 March 2012

OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know? and Max Factor Fantasy Fire (AKA the best thing since the last best thing)

Good evening! Unless it isn't evening where you are, of course.


When I saw the Wooden Shoe Like to Know? bottle in John Lewis, I was VERY excited. I don't own many neutral colours and this seemed to have the best of both worlds as it is a brown with a little shimmer to keep it from looking too dull. I had seen swatches that didn't show it with shimmer, but the bottle led me to believe that maybe I had remembered the swatches wrong. I mean...look at it!




So when I first wore it, I was disappointed. You don't see the shimmer at all. Even in bright sunlight, all you see is this:




Most of the time, even that tiny scatter of shimmer is unachievable. I still like it but it wasn't what I was expecting at all! This is what it looks like in the shade and indoors:




It sucks, right? So I've been thinking of things to use it for to make it better and this morning...I had a brainwave. FANTASY FIRE! Luckily, I live in the UK and after a few weeks of not being able to find it, it now seems to be everywhere so I don't mind using my bottle more. The base makes Wooden Shoe look a little purpler but in my opinion, this only improves it. The following photos are three thin coats of Wooden Shoe Like to Know? and one coat of Fantasy Fire. Prepare for a short photo spam...



THIS is what I wish Wooden Shoe looked like on it's own! The photo doesn't even begin to capture the shimmery loveliness that is this layering.





These next two are blurry to show the colour change of Fantasy Fire. It mostly shines red, but every now and then, you get flashes of green and gold and it just looks so good! I don't even know how to describe it!




Even though this is probably more of an autumn (fall) pairing, I can see myself wearing this quite a lot. I probably would have forgotten all about WSLTK if it wasn't for the goddess of all polish (well...), Fantasy Fire, coming to it's rescue, so this has made me very happy indeed. 


Have you ever bought a polish that has been a major disappointment? What have you done to improve it?

Sunday 25 March 2012

OPI Spider-Man Collection (another one!)

Hello!


I will be posting a nail art design tomorrow, although I'm not sure what of yet, but today I will just be talking about the Spider-man collection that will be released in May. I must admit...I've never actually seen any of the Spider-Man movies and I probably won't see this one but the colours here look sort of interesting...


 L to R: Shatter the Scales, Your Web or Mine?, Call Me Gwen-Ever, Into the Night, My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Number One Nemesis and Just Spotted the Lizard 
I am not a big fan of shatter polishes at all so I will be passing on that one, as well as the grey. Shatters just seem lazy to me and WAY overdone. I can't wait until companies stop trying to shove them down our throats! The pink looks familiar too, but I am sort of excited about seeing swatches of My Boyfriend Scales Walls (unless it is just a white) and Just Spotted the Lizard...maybe Call Me Gwen-Ever and Into the Night too. I like all of the names here, which is rare! 


Overall, I'm not that excited by this collection and probably won't end up buying any right away,  even those that look fairly good. Maybe swatches will persuade me otherwise :-)


Do you have any favourites in the Spider-Man collection?

Saturday 24 March 2012

Vintage Minnie Mouse by OPI collection

Hello...me again...


I know, three posts in one day. Too much. WAY too much. I'm blaming it on the fact I only started blogging today and I am bursting with excitement and such.
However, I wanted to write a quick post about the new Vintage Minnie Mouse collection by OPI. They announced it a few days ago and I honestly glanced at it and forgot as it seemed to be just another collection of pinks and reds. But then I saw something else...


L-R I'm All Ears, Nothin' Mousie 'bout it, If You Moust You Moust and The Color of Minnie

Do you see Nothin' Mousie 'bout It?! It is pink and glittery and sparkly and looks like a five-year-old's dream. Which is basically the same as it being my dream. I also really like The Colour of Minnie just because of the name, not because it is anything original. All I know about release dates is that it will be out in a few months, so that could be longer for me as I live in England and we're always a bit behind, sadly. 


Are you excited for this collection?



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Effie Trinket Inspired Nails (Pink and Gold)

Hey!
I watched the Hunger Games on Thursday and it was absolutely amazing! I've been a fan of the books for about a year and a fan of Josh Hutcherson since I was about twelve (I even put his face all over my wood tech project that year!) so it was good to finally see the film version. Whilst watching, I noticed Effie Trinket's pink and gold lipstick and thought it would make a good nail design, but a few seconds later, I saw the costume designers had already thought of that! 


This is the best photo I could find of Effie (played by Elizabeth Banks) and her nails: 




It's not great, but you get the idea. So to begin with, I painted my nails with a base coat and then a bright pink. I'm not big on pink or red nails, so I used the only one I had, which was Barry M Shocking Pink


From what I saw, this pink was an almost perfect match so it was lucky I had it! With a make-up sponge (although I'm sure if you were careful, you could use some scrunched up tissue or something), I then sponged on some orangey gold polish to the top half, focusing on the tips. I tried a yellowy gold first, but it didn't look quite right, so I switched to a Max Factor polish that I couldn't see the name of. I THINK it may have been called Bronze but I got it a few years ago so the colour could be different now. Anyway...LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS!





I had rotated them and saved it about ten times but apparently Quincey (my laptop) was not in the mood so you will have to deal with wonky photos taken at odd angles. I don't think the photos do it justice either. It was really easy to do and looks basically exactly the same as the ones Elizabeth Banks had in the movie!


Goodbye, butterfly :)

An Introduction

Hello :)
I started getting obsessed with nail polish about a year ago and began to read blogs shortly after, so it is only natural for me to want to start my own after seeing all the beautiful colours other people have painted their nails with. So, anyway, my name is Hannah, I live near(ish) London and I am a nail polish addict.
It has taken me several months to build up the courage to start actually posting on this (I mean, come on, there are nail blogs out there that are so fabulous that I could never hope to come close to them!), but I saw this tag when I was shamelessly googling Pretty Little Liars nail images and thought it would serve as a good first post.

Favorite nail polish brand? 
I don't really think I have a favourite but I own mostly OPI and, for the most part, their formula and colours are wonderful.
Glitter or no glitter? 
GLITTER! It seems strange that this is coming from someone who named their blog after creme polishes, but glitter makes my nails look like a party and who wouldn't like that?!
When do you change your nail polish?
If it is term time, I can only find time to paint them once or twice a week. If I am not at college though, I change it nearly every day. I get bored VERY easily.
What’s your favorite color on your nails? 
Usually, whatever I am wearing that day. I always put polish on and claim that it is my absolute favourite colour ever to be created but then the next day, when I put a new colour on, that new one will become by favourite. I suppose if I HAD to choose...it would be A England's St George. Maybe.
Darks or brights? 
Although I love dark colours more, I probably wear brights more now that it is going into summer.
What color are your wearing on your nails right now? 
Barry M Shocking Pink and a goldy Max Factor polish.
Matte nails : are they in or are they out? 
IN IN IN! I love making shimmer polishes matte! OPI The One That Got Away is beautiful when made matte.
French Manicure?
They look good on some people, but I prefer a bit of colour on my nails!
Favourite Winter/Autumn colour?
China Glaze Glittering Garland
Favourite Spring/Summer colour?
OPI Do You Lilac It?


And that's all! I hope someone somewhere reads this blog, but if not, it'll always be a place for me to look back and rediscover nail designs and colours I forget about.
Goodbye, young grasshoppers.