Gwen For OPI - OPI Review

YAY! I have been looking forward to this line ever since I heard it was being released. I still have not picked up all the colors but I am not sure if I want the deep red "I sing in color" and the glitter "In true Stefani fashion"
I was able to get my hands on the awesome crème pink "Hey Baby" and the two satins "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" and "4 In The Morning" I also picked up the super cool "Push and Shove"

I picked up "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" and "Push and Shove" in December before the actual release which was odd, at my local JCPenny salon. I had heard the release wasn't until January. I hadn't seen any of my Instagram friends with it yet and I knew it was going to be popular. Oops on JCP but yay me!

I really enjoyed "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" it is what OPI calls a satin finish and it tells you right on the cap do not add top coat. It reminds me of liquid sand but definitely with little to texture it is just smooth and matte. It is a pretty gold hue with a little sparkle. It goes on so easy, and I think because of the formula dries extremely fast. 

I also had to try "Push and Shove" right away. I wanted to see how metallic this would really be. I have been looking for a metallic nail polish on and off so I was really excited to see this. It comes with a special BASE coat. I did not apply a regular base coat to my nails and the one that came with it in fear I would mess up the formula somehow. I let that dry almost completely and then I applied the silver. It goes on streaky, and takes a few strokes to get it to look straight. If you have lots lines in your nails like I do it picks them all up. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to apply this differently but after two or three coats depending on how it went on I got this to look pretty even. I definitely wouldn't do a full mani again because of how it shows the imperfections in my nails (gasp!) I ended up using it again as an accent nail in a Seahawks mani that weekend though. I do really like the idea, and the product, you just need to have patience when applying

Last weekend I picked up "Hey Baby" and "4 In The Morning".
I am not the biggest of fans of pink and this one seemed extra pink. But I wanted to check it out, broaden my horizons, be flexible. This polish goes on so smooth and easy. And it really is a fun color. I got quite a few compliments on my mani when I was out running errands. It is a show stopper for sure.

"4 In The Morning" is the other satin in the collection. It is black in the bottle and when applied it goes on just as easy and smooth as "Love.Angel.Music.Baby". When dry it dries to almost a chalkboard look and has some very fine silver specks in it. Definitely a fun one as one. I used that as an accent nail with my "Hey Baby". I really love pink and black together.

I still want to get my hands on the special edition color with the nail art and Swarovski elements. If I get it I will also review that!

Enjoy! Go get you some Gwen for OPI!

Product Review - Orly Matte FX Flake Top Coat

Recently I reviewed the Orly FX Matte Polish and I really enjoyed the outcome, unfortunately the Flake Top Coat is not a great outcome for me. I am not sure if it was the base color that was wrong to try out or it is just the product.

I first chose a solid base color with no extra shine or shimmer - Orly "Harmonious Mess"

 

 

This is a color that I have had for a while now and not used yet. I thought this color would offset the flake topcoat well. Here is a swatch:

 

 

 

This is actually a really pretty color. It is grey / purple and looks really great against my skin tone. I don't know why I haven't used it before but it is probably because I just have so many polishes.

 

Now for the application of the Orly Matte FX Flake Topcoat. I applied 1 coat to my right and 2 coats on my left.

 

 

Top is Left and Bottom is Right

 

The lighting is not great I am sorry about that but I will post a pic at the end of this to show you better.

 

In my opinion, the top coat is not great. I like the concept of having that matte look with little multicolored flakes. It reminds me of ice on the ground with the little flecks of color.

 

This morning I woke up to look at my nails. They had a brown tinge to them. I am thinking it was the color I used as a base mixed with the "Green" Flake Topcoat but upon application the green really was clear almost. And my nails have bubbles in them.

 

 

Those black dots are bubbles, and are not part of the polish. Also the yellowish coloring of the flakes can also be seen. Again, the idea and concept is nice, but I am not sure about the product quality. I do however want to try this at least one more time on a different base color to see if that makes any difference in the outcome.

 

 

 



 



Product Review - Orly Matte FX Polish

Each time I have gone into my local beauty supply stores like Sally, Ulta etc I see the Orly Matte FX and Matte FX top coat. I finally picked up Iron Butterfly the black / steel colored lacquer and Green Flakie Topcoat. I will be discussing the topcoat in a separate post.

It sparked my interest because I am going to a Halloween party today and I am dressing up as a raccoon :) I thought it would be a good color to go with the costume. 

I put on the first coat and noticed on same nails that if I didn't apply enough or too much that it wanted to come off with additional strokes. I did leave it alone after I saw that and moved on to the next figuring the second coat would be better. The polish is also thicker than a regular polish. I almost felt I had to hurry with the application. After the second coat, it went on much easier. I thought this polish was also textured like the Sugar Coat polishes or something similar. It actually is not it is smooth. It just has small glitters in it and reminds of a gunmetal. I actually really like it. I did not put a top coat on bit I suppose you could to take away some of the matte look. It's like 2 polishes in one :) here is the finished product.