OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been in the mood for a good red lately, so it seemed like a good day to show you OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the OPI Muppets.  On the nail, it turned out far better than it sounds: it's a clear base with powdery-fine red glitter and red and silver hex glitter.  The outcome looks like opaque stop sign red glitter nails with white glitter polka dots.

For the manicure, I used base coat, three coats of Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and a coat of Addicted to Speed just because it was late.  This morning, I felt around the edges of my nails for any pieces of stray hex glitter overhanging an edge, then just filed off the part over the edge and added a coat of Sally Hansen Salon top coat to seal it and smooth out the glitter.  Without the second coat of top coat, it definitely would have been passably smooth and was far better than I'd anticipated, but I really like perfectly smooth.  Once it dried, I took pictures in the sun.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Three Coats

Here's a closer look at the glitter in it.

OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

There's no way to show you in a still picture just how reflective this glitter is, so I'll tell you.  In low-ish indoor lighting, it completely glows, and I think even in office lighting this one would catch attention from across the room.  It's really stunning, and I'd completely prepared myself for a disappointment since fine glitters often don't build up very well.  With the first coat, I definitely didn't see the potential it had because the glitter looked sparse, the second coat looked almost like this, and I added the third to finish covering a few barer spots.  Gettin' Miss Piggy With It is unequivocally a keeper for me, and it's really an exceptional red for the holidays.

I can chalk up another OPI Muppets success with Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and that's all there is to tell you this morning.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!




All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Excuse Moi

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a new polish that's also pink to show you, OPI Excuse Moi from the OPI Muppets Collection for Holiday 2011.  I only got a few of the OPI Muppets, and I'm especially happy with this one.

Excuse Moi is a pink base that's opaque enough to completely cover in two coats, but not so opaque that it obscures any of the myriad glitters it's completely loaded up with.  For today's manicure, I used base coat, two coats of Excuse Moi, giving each coat of color several minutes to dry a bit, then two coats of clear polish over Excuse Moi to smooth it out before applying one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite.  When applying the clear, I covered the edge of my nails all the way around with each coat and also gave each coat of clear a few minutes to dry, then applied the top coat, covering the edges a third time.  I did that because sometimes when top coat wears a little from typing or just proceeding with the day, if there's a piece of glitter exposed, it'll catch on everything it possibly can and annoy the heck out of me, but I've found the extra padding of some clear polish tends to bypass that.

Once it dried, I went out into the sun and took some pictures, so here is OPI Excuse Moi.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Two Coats

Check out all the glitter it has - this is a close up of part of one nail.

OPI Excuse Moi Nail Polish, Close Up of Glitter

That seems like a fair representation of The Muppets to me!  I loved really The Muppets growing up.  My mom only let us watch PBS when we were little, and Sesame Street was my favorite.  My dad was cooler and would let us watch Sonny & Cher sometimes, and he'd also get us Tater Tots and Lucky Charms when my mom went on trips (maybe that was so we wouldn't whine about when she was coming home...), but I was a Sesame Street gal at heart.  We'd watch The Muppet Show as a family when it started later on and going to see the movies was a great big deal, so I was glad that some of these polishes appeal to me for the nostalgia factor.  Some of them really, really don't - I currently have a pretty strong preference for smaller glitter.  The glitter in Excuse Moi is small but very visible, about the same size as that in OPI Teenage Dream.

Two coats of color and two coats of clear for a very smooth and totally opaque glitter manicure is about as good as I could possibly expect, so Excuse Moi makes me really happy.  I have a whole bunch of work to do this afternoon that's going to keep me inside, and this is a polish that make me really want to look at it in the sun, so I'll be fighting that impulse all afternoon.

That's my OPI Excuse Moi manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!


All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I thought I'd try out Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, which seems to be Revlon's take on Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, a black jelly base with fuchsia hex and regular glitter.  In the bottle, the black base of Facets of Fuchsia looked less pigmented than that of Bad Romance (which fell shy of opaque at two coats), so I decided to layer it over a black creme.  My thought was that drying issues would be inevitable with 4+ coats, and I wanted to make this one work.

I started with a base coat, using up what I have on hand, which was NailTek II (so my nails should be orange from the formaldehyde in it in short order).  I let that dry for a minute or two, then applied one coat of Revlon Lunar, the black creme released with a few glitters not too long ago, which is even and almost opaque at one coat.  After giving that a bit of drying time, I applied two thin coats of Facets of Fuchsia, giving each a few minutes to set before moving on to the next.  The glitter's surface was pretty pebbly at this point, so I added one coat of clear polish then one of Seche Vite (my thickest top coat) to even it out.  It's dry and very glassy smooth now, so the hassles involved in ensuring drying issues didn't appear seem to have been worth it.  There's no sunlight today, so this is Facets of Fuchsia in indoor lighting (mixed fluorescent and light bulb).

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia Nail Polish, Two Coats over Black

The consequence of the less pigmented base of Facets of Fuchsia versus Bad Romance is that the glitter shows through it more clearly.  The Lippmann seems to have more glitter, but a third coat of Facets of Fuchsia would even the score, and since this cost me less than $3 versus the $18-$20 for the Lippmann (I didn't look it up to see which it was since my point's the same either way), for me Facets of Fuchsia would be the winner in a showdown against Bad Romance.

That's what I know about Revlon Facets of Fuchsia and I don't have a heck of a lot else to tell you about today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Revlon Blue Mosiac

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I changed my polish to Revlon Blue Mosaic, one of Revlon's new glitter polishes, and I thought I'd give you a peek because it's a nice one.

Blue Mosaic is fine blue glitter along with blue and silver hex glitter in a clear base.  I used three coats of Blue Mosaic, and at three I figured it covered well enough to skip the fourth that would have made it better since I've always had drying troubles with Revlons.  I left a few minutes drying time between coats, then added one coat of regular clear polish to even out the surface and one of Lippmann Addicted to Speed since it's high-powered on drying and I had it out from yesterday.  That seems to have worked well, and I think it's totally dry now, but I still don't trust it enough to test by digging something into it to find out.

This is Revlon Blue Mosaic in the sunlight.

Revlon Blue Mosaic Nail Polish, Three Coats

It looks kind of mermaid-y to me, but without the touch of green most like this have.  I like it, although I'm not looking forward to removal.  It really does take pure acetone to remove glitters like this, which is kind of rough on my skin.


That's Blue Mosaic and what I know today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

OPI Hollywood Blonde & Twinkling Lights

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing a favorite layered polish combination, OPI Hollywood Blonde topped with OPI Twinkling Lights.  I knew I needed redemption after yesterday's manicure, and that was on my mind when I came across a little plastic box of long-lost polishes that included these two.  The little box is like a time capsule from the era when I was married - I'd use the little box to bring out some polishes for the week, and I guess it just got stashed with computer stuff when we split up household stuff.  Finding things stashed is far more common in this home than you'd expect - the ex was big on packing random stuff together when I wasn't looking.  I recall one that was clothes on top, then framed family pictures and breakable memorabilia under that, and about seventeen million coffee cups and and kitchen knives under that (none of those things would even go in the same room!).

Anyhow, Hollywood Blonde, which was part of OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection (2007, I think), is a delicate sparkling blonde.  My bottle has a Trade Secret price tag of $7.50, and that release was right about when that price increase came, and that's the point that I decided that retail was far too much.  I begrudgingly paid it for Hollywood Blonde because she's a beauty.  Here's Hollywood Blonde in low natural light.

OPI Hollywood Blonde Nail Polish, Two Coats

The only way to improve upon Hollywood Blonde is to make it sparklier, and that's just what I did when I added two coats of OPI Twinkling Lights to it.  Twinkling Lights and her sisters were my cruel introduction to the world of OPI's Japanese releases.  You know the six reds in OPI's Holiday in Hollywood Collection?  Well in their place, Japan got more like Hollywood Blonde and  some amazing glitters (I don't recall how many of each kind offhand, but my hope that I might find them around here has been renewed).  I'd commented on a message board that they were gorgeous and it was a mean joke that they weren't available to us, and a really lovely Japanese woman contacted me to do a trade that was my all-time best and coolest.  My side was the six Japanese Hollywood shades, which she bought for me at her local beauty supply for just under $9 each including shipping (wow, I just turned into my mother, citing deals from years ago!), her side was several Tazo teas and a bunch of American cookies aimed at kids (Nutter Butters, Chips Ahoy, shopping for her was like my parents were out of town).  Everything went perfectly, and as a result I have Twinkling Lights here and I was able to provide the woman who sent them lots of happy snacks of fun teas and cookies.

Twinkling Lights is about the same hue as Hollywood Blonde, but it's a base that seems to be between a sheer and a jelly that is full of fine holo glitter and cool hex glitter.  I added two coats to Hollywood Blonde, and this is what it looks like in sunlight.

OPI Twinkling Lights over Hollywood Blonde, Two Coats Each

What I particularly love about this pairing is the unexpected nature of the combination of this really safe shade and all that glitter.  Hollywood Blonde provides more opacity and adds depth with shimmer that shows through Twinkling Lights, and although it's not especially eye-catching in indoor light (the glitter shows and all, I just mean it's not flashy), in the sun the fine glitter explodes with a bunch of light and colors and the hex glitter starts shifting color.  It's great!

That is my OPI Hollywood Blonde and Twinkling Lights redemption manicure, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Serena Glam Slam England

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the OPI Serena Glam Slam England sets to show you, the purple one with Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape...Set...Match is a truly fantastic purple, about the same shade as Nubar Pasadena Purple, and the OPI has distinctly visible pink and blue shimmer bits.  It's very well pigmented, requiring only two coats and very easy to apply.  Here's Grape...Set...Match without top coat.

OPI Grape...Set...Match Nail Polish, Two Coats

I topped it off with two coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, which looks just like Disco Ball Sparkle, the UK exclusive from a couple of years ago, but the glitter seems to reflect more colors in Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle Nail Polish, Two Coats over OPI Grape...Set...Match

This is my favorite of the Serena Glam Slam sets so far - the purple is gorgeous, and I think Servin' Up Sparkle is just more versatile than the shatters in the previous sets.

That's the news of the day, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was going to hold off on changing my manicure until later today, but my Ruby Red Slippers was chippy, so I did a quick change to Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance.

Bad Romance is kind of like a purple Ruby Red Slippers.  It's a black jelly base with purple regular and hex glitter.  I used two coats, but really could have used a third to make it totally opaque.  Here's the finished mani with Bad Romance.

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like it - I think it ties with Lady Sings the Blues for my favorite of the Lippmann glitters of this season.

I expect to have something really good for you later today, assuming all of the stars align properly.  As soon as I have it, I'll give you a peek!  Until then, love and nail polish to you!  

Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Today I have a Lippmann glitter nail polish for you that's not new, but really, really good: Ruby Red Slippers.  It's a black jelly base with red regular and hex glitter.  For easier removal, I layered one coat of Ruby Red Slippers over one coat of Chanel Black Velvet.  I really like it, and it got a lot of compliments today.

Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers Nail Polish, One Coat over Black

I've really been enjoying the glitter lately, and have another planned for tomorrow - I managed to get hold of a bottle of Bad Romance, which I'm looking forward to trying out.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe for you.  It's a blue jelly base with lighter blue regular and hex glitter as well as light green hex glitter, and it's really cool.  I needed three coats to make it totally opaque.  I was afraid that would be overkill on the glitter, but it turned out nicely, I think - the glitter looks almost 3D with how it peeks out to varying degrees, and it's really mermaidy.  Here it is finished with top coat.

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really like it a lot, but I think my favorite of the new Lippmann glitters is Lady Sings the Blues.  I can't judge on Bad Romance - Nordstrom's cancelled my preorder of that one... That's my first negative experience with Nordies, so I was sad, I really want to try Bad Romance.

That's the update for now, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Revlon Glitter Top Coats & Companions

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I'm back with something cool to show you that I found while grocery shopping this morning.  I found a Revlon display I haven't seen before or heard of, and the colors looked really cool, so I got one of each to show you.  As usual, I don't know the name of the display - I think I forgot to even check what it was.  I saw glitter and that was the end of it!

This display had eight shades, four cremes and four corresponding glitter top coats.  Two of the cremes, I could do without having swatched them.

The first creme, Silver, is a light grey creme.  Mine had a comically wonky brush and was a three coater.  One of the lighter Nubar greys or Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement would be better.  Here's Silver alone.

Revlon Silver Nail Polish, Three Coats

The top coat for this one is called Belle (Silver Belle...).  I added two coats.

Revlon Belle Nail Polish, Two Coats over Three Coats Silver

The next creme is a dark red called Ruby, a two coater.

Revlon Ruby Nail Polish, Two Coats

The top coat for this one is Slipper.

Revlon Slipper Nail Polish, Two Coats over Two Coats Ruby

Next up is a purple creme called Rock, also a two-coater.

Revlon Rock Nail Polish, Two Coats

Its top coat is called Star.  Here's two coats of Star.

Revlon Star Nail Polish, Two Coats over Two Coats Rock

The last creme is a black called Lunar, a two-coater with a wonky brush.

Revlon Lunar Nail Polish, Two Coats

The glitter top coat for this is the most impressive to me.  It's called Galaxy.

Revlon Galaxy Nail Polish, Two Coats over Two Coats Lunar

Those, Dear Reader, are the Revlon glitter top coats and their creme companions which I stumbled upon this morning.  I think they're great, and at $4, I don't expect to do better.

That's all I have for you.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Anna Sui 101

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm keeping up with the glitter today with Anna Sui 101.  It's sheer blue base with fine opalescent glitter and medium blue hex glitter.  I got it from Urban Outfitters, who recently started carrying Anna Sui nail polish, but I couldn't tell you how they have it listed.  They don't use the color numbers, which makes it kind of hard to find a specific polish.

I used two coats of Anna Sui 101, and it's definitely a bit odd, but I like it.  It looks like my hands are icy cold, which would be kind of nice right now!

Anna Sui 101 Nail Polish, Two Coats

Of course, the added bonus is that now my nails smell like roses, which is fun.

That's the update for today.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Deborah Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back with the last of the Lippmann All That Jazz Trio, the current Nordstrom Exclusive one.  I already showed you Lady Sings the Blues and Razzle Dazzle, so that leaves us with Some Enchanted Evening.  This one's the least impressive to me.

Some Enchanted Evening is kind of a salmon pink glitter, regular and hex, in a clear base.  My initial impression upon picking up the bottle is that it looks a lot like NARS Arabesque, which means it should work well over NARS Pussy Galore.  That good news, because my next impression, after applying three coats, is that it looks a little rashy to me on its own.  I'll let you be the judge...

Deborah Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening Nail Polish, Three Coats

Layered, I think it will be nice, on its own, not so much.  Now you've seen the whole All That Jazz Trio.  I think the first two were knockout, and we'll assume this one is the one that costs $4 to tack on...

That's it for today.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings the Blues

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I'm back sooner than I thought to show you something I got today, Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings the Blues from the Nordstrom Exclusive Trio.  The bottle says "Deborah Lippmann," not "Lippmann Collection," so I'm just going with what the bottle says - I don't know if that recently changed.

Lady Sings the Blues is a great deep blue jelly with regular and hex glitter and excellent color saturation.  It took two coats to make it opaque, which is odd for a jelly.  The glitter distinctly shows through the almost-blackened-yet-still-blue base.

Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings the Blues Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really love this one.  Lippmann does some great glitters, and this is definitely a great one.  I'm fired about about two of the three in the trio, and the third isn't bad.  They're still on Nordstrom's site if you need it.

That's all I have for you for now, Dear Reader.  Until next tome, love and nail polish to you!  

Anna Sui 203

Good morning, Dear Reader!

You've seen today's nail polish before, but I like it so much I thought I'd show it to you again.  It's Anna Sui 203, a reddish plum jelly base with holo glitter and hex glitter.  And it smells like roses.  It's in the newer bottle design and the rose fragrance is not as knock-me-over as in the old design.

I used three coats of Anna Sui 203 to make it opaque, and I just used one coat of top coat.  It could have used another to make it smooth, but at least my nails smell like roses.

Anna Sui 203 Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Purple Manicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a few Nails of the Day for you, including today's, that are purple.  That's all they have in common.

First up is China Glaze LOL from the OMG Collection.  I used Nfu Oh Aqua Base and Diamont top coat with it.

China Glaze LOL Nail Polish with Nfu Oh Aqua Base

Next is yesterday's Nails of the Day, which was two coats of Nubar Pasadena Purple with a tip pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM18 in Konad White.

Nubar Pasadena Purple Nail Polish with BM18 in Konad White

The last is the manicure I just did for today, Nina Ultra Pro in Purple Xing (I have no idea what's going on with some of the Nina Ultra Pro names...).  It was a two-coater.

Nina Ultra Pro Purple Xing Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Sephora by OPI Midnight Mambo

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'll show you a manicure I wore last week, Sephora by OPI's Midnight Mambo.  It's a light medium blue base with a ton of baby holographic hex glitter in it.  It was opaque in two coats, but took an absolute boatload of top coat to smooth it out - I used one coat Diamont, a coat of Gelous, then another coat of Diamont to get it smooth.

Sephora by OPI Midnight Mambo Nail Polish, Two Coats

Despite that, it was relatively easy to remove, and I really like how it looks, so I think it's a winner.

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Essie Splash of Grenadine & Konad M79

Good evening, Dear Reader!

It turned out that Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight in NY was a complete failure for me.  As I'm sure you could tell from my last post, I wasn't thrilled with it.  I decided to fix it up a little with Chanel Illusion D'Or.  I added one coat and another coat of top coat.

Chanel Illusion D'Or over Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight in NY

That was sufficient for me, and I would have been happy with it, but a full hour after adding to it I took a nice Sunday nap, and woke up with the polish smudged all the way down several nails.  It would seem the formulas are not friends...

Rather than spend the rest of my day with squishy, smudgy nail polish, I changed it, and I'm thrilled to bits over the replacement which is why I'm showing it to you now.  I'll likely have to go into The Vault for something to show you tomorrow, I like this one so much - I want to keep it for at least a day.  As the title tells you, it's Essie Splash of Grenadine from The Resort Collection, which took two coats for a perfectly even, opaque, super glossy finish, to which I added a pattern from Konad plate M79.  I used the dotted net pattern in Konad Blue Pearl Special Polish (or Pearl Blue, whatever...), and added tips from plate M19.

Essie Splash of Grenadine, Two Coats, and Konad M79 and M19 in Konad Blue Pearl 

How fun is my new mani???  Since Splash of Grenadine is between pink and purple, I thought the blue would bring out the purple, and this is my other favorite Konad Special Polish, along with Psyche Pink.  Both were introduced with the Coraline Konad plates, and the two are far and away my favorites because they're glowy and striking.  I love many Konad polishes and likely use Black and White the most, but these two are my top picks, so I'm happy when I get to use one of them.

That's my new manicure and all I have for you today.  Fortunately, I have some stuff in The Vault to show you tomorrow, so until then, love and nail polish to you!