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

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