OPI Jade Is The New Black Swatch

Hi there lovelies! How are you? Sorry I have been a bit absent from my twitter feed and life in general. Doing month-end at work at the moment so I am exhausted come evening. Most of it is spent on the couch either watching TV or swearing at some new enemy I am struggling to defeat in Alice: Madness Returns (awwe, what a nice name!). Well, not really swearing but more like these funny floppy arm movements I do paired with zombie sounds. Yes, I am that tired!

Now for the reason why you are actually here...

In the beginning of July I was lucky enough to be able to make it to Twincare International's "Christmas in July" sale in Johannesburg. As most frustrated nail polish lovers in South Africa know, brands like OPI are very hard to find and when you do find them, they are freaking expensive! OPI goes for around R130.00 (approx. $13) in salons and by pure principal, I won't ever buy a nail polish if it's that expensive. But at the Twincare sale I was able to pick up a few of these beauties and some great mini packs for R50.00 each (approx. $5). WIN!

Today I'm swatching one of those beauties. I am a huge fan of greens and blues so naturally when I saw OPI Jade Is The New Black at the sale, my heart skipped a beat or twenty!

OPI Jade Is The New Black was part of OPI's 2010 Hong Kong Collection and as far as I know, it was added to their core collection. It is a beautiful soft green which I wouldn't describe as dull or dusty, but more as muted but fresh (if that makes any sense).

It was opaque in two easy coats. All the swatch photos were taken without a topcoat so, as you can see, it dries with quite a good shine. I adore this color! It is truly a unique green that I can see myself having tons of fun with in the future! And greeeeeen! *swoon* So pretty!

Of course I couldn't leave this beautiful color alone so I put down two pieces of striping tape over all my nails and layed down a coat of Catrice Hugo Moss between the spaces, pulling off the tape immediately. Then I went in with a small dotting tool and made polka dots on the one side of the line with Tip Top Nail Addict Envy. Lil side note: I can not wait to swatch Tip Top Nail Addict Envy for you! This polish is gorgeous!

OPI Jade Is The New Black is one of those polishes you need to get if you love unique colors. Good shine, decent drying time and great opacity! I am so happy I picked up this color and would recommend it to anyone if they are able to get their hands on it!

Lots of mad love

Wolverine Inspired Mani, bub!

Hi there lovelies! This post was suppose to be up on Friday but our power went out at work and I couldn't put the last few final touches onto the post and yesterday I was just plain lazy! So here we are, on this beautiful Sunday! And might I add, beautiful is an understatement! It was a killer day here in Pretoria! The sun was shining nicely and it is quite warm! Like my fiancée says, Bike weather!

Now, onto something that I find insanely mind-blowingly AWESOME! I'm a bit of a geek and I am damn proud of it! As a kid I got teased about it, as I got older I heard “When are you going to grow up?” or “Grow out of it!” but now as an adult (mostly only by age) I embrace it! I've come to love that part of myself and I never want to “Grow out of it!”.

Naturally when I heard the new Wolverine movie was premièring on Friday, my mind spazzed out! I had to do a mani to celebrate this occasion! And c'moooon! As much as I adore all the X-men characters...Wolverine gives me so many warm feels! (No! This is not a grammar mistake! Now go study your memes!) His awesome mutant abilities, his attitude and just his all round bad-assery! It's freaking fantastic! When coming up with ideas for a mani though, I realised it was not going to be easy to capture that modern clean edge that most Marvel inspired movies portray in their characters nowadays so I decided I was going to do a mani with more of an old school Wolverine feeling to it. Yellow, black and blue spandex FTW!

Nail Polishes used:

• WOW Nail Polish #393
• WOW Nail Art Pen #2
• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Nubar Silver Mist
• China Glaze Man Hunt
• OPI A Oui Bit of Red
• Tip Top Nail Chic Sun Kissed
  
  

Tools Used:

• Small thin nail art brush
• Striping tape
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

I kept everything quite simple and easy. I started off by laying down 2 coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White as a base to work on. Then I layed down a thick coat of Tip Top Nail Chic Sun Kissed on all the nails over the white except for the ring finger. The white really helped to make the yellow beautifully bright. When this was dry, I freehanded on the black triangles on my pinkie, middle and index finger using the WOW Nail Art Pen #2 striping polish and filled it in with the WOW Nail Polish #393 and the thin nail art brush.

On my ring finger I layed down some striping tape close to the tip of the nail and filled it in with China Glaze Man Hunt for Wolverines smexy tight spandex undies. Then I layed down some more striping tape closer to the cuticle and filled the space in between the blue and the tape with OPI A Oui Bit of Red for his belt. The last bit of white I filled in with Tip Top Nail Chic Sun Kissed using the small thin nail art brush.

Lastly on my thumb I freehanded Wolverines claws in with the small thin nail art brush and filled it in with the same brush and Nubar Silver Mist.

This mani isn't flawless but I really enjoyed doing it and liked how it looked! I can't wait to try the black and yellow combo together again. And now I'm even more excited to go see the movie! Heee, holding thumbs for next week!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love

Subtle Tape Mani

Hi there lovelies!

I'm in one of those horrendous moods today where I want to tear the wings off of butterflies and scream at myself. Granted I'm a bit of a drama queen but you get those right? Of course you do, you're primarily female...if not, SHOUT OUT TO MA BOYZ! So if I don’t seem like my chipper ol' self just remember that ultimate cheesy break up line. It's not you, it's me! But I'm not breaking up with you so just tolerate me for today! I'm like a bad rash. I stick around like a Facebook stalker!

The mani I'm posting today is a simple tape mani. As boring as they might seem, I really like tape manis. They are very versatile! You can do all types of designs and patterns, combine stunning colors and with the right combination can be very “work safe”.

Nail Polishes used:

• China Glaze First Mate
• China Glaze Recycle
• Nubar Dolcetto

Tools Used:

• Adhesive Tape

I started by laying down 2 coats of China Glaze Recycle and waited for it to dry properly. When this was dry, I layed down a small strip of tape over my nail in a random direction and painted on a coat of Nubar Dolcetto over the open section, removing the tape immediately after the coat was painted on. When I was finished with all the fingers, I waited till they were properly dry again and added another piece of tape over the nail in an random direction, basically just making sure they go in a kind off opposite direction than the previous layer. Then I painted on a coat of China Glaze First Mate over the open section, pulling the tape off immediately again.

Like I said, a very simple mani but I really liked the results! It looks kind of...classy! And even though these colors together reminded me of high school uniforms, I loved them together!

Now, where's some candy? I think a sugar rush is just the type of kick I need to get me out of this slumpy iffiness I'm feeling right now!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love

Born Pretty Store Holo Polish #8 Swatch

Hello there lovelies!

I've had this mani in my folder for about 3 weeks now but for some reason I've been putting off writing a post for it. Then other times I get lazy and don't want to and on top of that, I am a HUGE procrastinator! You know what they say: “Procrastinators Unite...tomorrow!”. I think the big reason is that it is my first swatching post! Swatching can be daunting yo! Am I describing the colors correctly, are the colors properly shown in my photos, is the lighting not too bright? IT'S TOO MUCH! AAAAAAGH! First world nail polish problems people!

Anyhoo...

A little while ago, Born Pretty Store ran a giveaway on Twitter to snag up 1 of 200 of their new Holographic Polishes and I was lucky enough to win 1 (WHOOOO!). I chose #8 because it looked like a bright tealish color on their website and man, am I a sucker for blue green nail polishes! A few days later though I felt like kicking myself because I already had a bright teal holo polish. Much to my surprise when I finally received my package that it wasn't a teal holo but more like something that looked like the waters that unicorn mermaids swim in! ...Yes, unicorn mermaids. Because we all know everything is better with unicorns!

Born Pretty Holo Polish #8 is a beautiful bright blue linear holographic polish. It's probably best described as an aqua polish. The first coat was quite sheer which made me a little bit nervous but after another 2 thin coats, it was perfectly opaque. It also dries quite fast so a third coat did not bother me at all!

The swatch photos were all taken without a topcoat and as you can see, it has a really nice shine to it! Also, the holo in my photos do not do this polish any justice! It is very strong and even in low light you can see its beauty shine through.

I wasn't able to leave the polish just like that so I freehanded on what is suppose to be some sort of lace design with WOW Cosmetics “Nail art pen” #2 (it's actually just black polish with a striping brush) and a small thin nail art brush. In hindsight white would've looked a lot better over this color, done with a thinner brush. But now I just have an excuse to try it again!

Overall, this is a really great holographic polish! High shine, fast dry and very strong holo! The only complaint I have is the bottle size of 6ml. It is quite small considering it costs $12,88 (USD). It is currently on special though at Born Pretty Store for $5.59 (USD) so for that price I would say definitely get it! GET THEM ALL!

Lots of mad love

For Talia... #MintManisForTaliaJoy #TaliasLegacy

As most of you know, this week the world has lost a beautiful person named Talia Joy.

She was a girl of thirteen with the personality of 20 spitfires and a smile that reflected true happiness, no matter how tough things probably were in reality! She had two horrible forms of cancer, preleukemia and neuroblastoma which she battled with for 6 years and unfortunately lost that battle this past Tuesday. It was a deep tear that went through everybody's lives that she touched.

Nicole of Nail Polish Wars thought that it would be a great idea for the nail polish/art community to commemorate Talia by wearing mint green mani's, the color that she wore with her sister and mom in one of her last Instagram photos. When I read this, I knew I had to be a part of this movement. A life like hers has to be celebrated. She did so much with the little time that she had and she did it with love and joy.

Unfortunately I don't currently own any mint polishes but I thought China Glaze For Audrey represented her soft and fun personality beautifully. I painted a mosaic heart on my ring finger to show that she will be always be in our hearts like it's set in stone.

Talia, you came into our lives for such a short time but the memory of you will always live on. 

Yes, the world has lost a beautiful person but heaven gained an even more beautiful angel.

Pink and Black Skittle Mani

Hi there lovelies! Yay for Friday hey!

Most nail polish and nail art blogs are featuring beautiful mint mani's today in remembrance of Talia Joy. I'm really hoping I can join in this great effort to bring honor to someone who was already at such a young age an inspiration to so many people! Fingers crossed!

Onto today's post...

Skittle mani's. They look and are so easy to do! They are fun, adventurous and quite cute looking! The perfect excuse for any nail artist who wants to try a whole bunch of different designs but doesn't have the patience time to do all of them separately! I adore them...except on me! For some reason they never look right when I do them! It's like I never really choose the right type of patterns to go together. It's weird. But in the spirit of learning and growing together, I have decided to post my attempt that I tried a few weeks ago anyway.

Nail Polishes Used:

• China Glaze Make and Entrance
• China Glaze White on White
• WOW Nail Polish 393

Tools Used:

• Dotting tool
• Wide fan brush

Other:

• Bundle Monster plate BM222
• Rhinestones
• Loose small hex glitters

On my index finger, pinky and thumb I layed down a basecoat of WOW 393. On the thumb I made random polka dots with the dotting tool using China Glaze Make an Entrance. On my index layed down a thin layer of top coat and put on a few rows of small hex glitters in silver. And on my pinky I used this tutorial from my friend V's blog (For The Love of Nail Art) and made a few swipes with China Glaze White on White and then a few swipes with China Glaze Make an Entrance over the white.

For my middle and ring finger I layed down a basecoat of China Glaze Make an Entrance. 

Then my middle finger I stamped on the butterfly design (tramp stamp on my finger yo!) using Bundle Monster plate BM222, layed down a thin coat layer of top coat and placed small black hex glitters around the butterfly. On my ring finger I kept it “simple” and stuck on 2 black rhinestones. I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite. Besides it being an awesome top coat, it also helps keep the rhinestones in place!

Overall it's not a bad skittle mani! I just didn't...”feel it”, if that makes sense. But hey, that only means I get to work on this type of nail art some more till I'm eventually happy with it! And that's a WIN in my books! ...Also, and purely by coincidence, my friend M from Ordinary Misfit also did an pink and black skittle mani this week on her blog! Go lookie!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love

Autumn Colors Nail Art

Hello there lovelies! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty damn awesome! Went to the zoo with friends on Sunday and it was spectacular! Saw some seals, lions, okapi's, tigers (swooooon!), a leopard (double swoooon!), a red panda (triple quadruple MIND EXPLODING SWOOOOON!) and tons of other awesome animals! Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent photo of the red panda because she kept pacing on her log in her enclosure and my camera's motion capture function SUCKS! So I googled a bit this morning and found this picture...

1, 2, 3...AWWWWEE Source

You're welcome!

Anyhoo, I digress! Nail art!

With it being winter here in South Africa, everybody tends to lean to their vampy colors and blues but for today’s post I used a few autumn colors. Also, I did it in the beginning of winter so technically it was autumn-ish! Hell, it's not like I stick to seasonal colors anyway.

Nail Polishes used:

• Essence Wanna Say Hello
• Tip Top Nail Chic Sun Kissed
• Tip Top Nail Chic Lemon Fuel
• Tip Top Nail Chic Solar Flare

• Tip Top Go for Gold! Duo polish

Tools Used:

• None

To start off this mani, I layed down 2 coats of Tip Top Solar Flare over my basecoat. Once this was dry, I went in with Essence Wanna Say Hello with barely any polish left on the actual polish bottle's brush and added random swipes of the color. After that I just basically winged it with the rest of the colours, placing them randomly over the nail making sure they cross over each other here and there but still leaving a few spaces open. On some of the open spaces I made a swipe with the Tip Top Solar Flare just to make the orange really pop through.

A little side note: Tip Top Sun Kissed isn't very opaque, so I first swiped on some Tip Top Lemon Fuel and then the Tip Top Sun Kissed over that. This gave it that bit of foundation it needed and the other colors can still show through.

Out of all my fingers, my thumb was my favorite  I think it's because there's a bit more strokes of all the colors in it compared to my other fingers and by the time I got to him, I've had a bit of practice! ...and yes, I refer to my thumb as a him. He's built like a dude! Staunch and well set!

Even though these aren't colors I would typically wear (Gold! Grrrrr!), I really enjoyed wearing this mani and got quite a few comments/compliments on it. It's ridiculous and in your face! Awesome!

Do you have any colors that you don't like to wear? Try wearing it sometime! I was never a fan of orange but man, now I adore Tip Top Solar Flare.

If you would like me to swatch any of the colours you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige!

Lots of mad love!