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!

Chevron Nail Art Tutorial

So I have been house / doggy sitting for my boss since Friday last week and haven't had a lot of nail time. My situation - A 6 month old chihuahua / terrier mix, a 5 year old terrier mix, and a 16 year old deaf shi tzu mix. Oh, and plus my 5 year old daughter!
I only brought maybe 20-30 polishes with me out of my 250 some at home. It was hard and I did it so randomly I didn't know what to grab!

Last night I threw on a lovely Orly color called "Luxe". A beautiful solid gold color that is just to die for. I seriously love this color. This is 2 coats although I could have gotten away with just one for my chevron design.

 

I know there are several ways to do chevron nails. I haven't tried in a while so I wanted to put together a color combo that I thought would really look great against this gold color. I used Essie "No More Film" and Color Club from the Poptastic Collection; it was the purple hued one. It has no name on it.

I first took some pinking shears to cut my strips. This is what I find the easiest way to do chevron, instead of drawing the pattern on or using crafting scissors that are sometimes not sharp enough. I

also used instead of tape, my acrylic nail form stickers.

 

I applied the strips to the center of my nails and painted away. I flip flopped the colors on top and bottom. I kept them the same on my middle and ring, then swapped the top and bottom colors on my pinky, index, and thumb. I enjoyed to out come very much!

 

 



 

Metallic Marker Review for Nail Art

Yesterday I was at Hobby Lobby (I think I could live there!), I wanted to pick up some metallic markers for nail art. I posted yesterday the simple nail art design I ended up doing with them, and here is my full review of the two.

On the left we have a pretty popular brand - Pilot and the 2 pack of markers, silver and gold. These are the markers you have to shake and then press down on the tip to get the flow of ink going. Be careful, I started pressing and pressing and then boom ink all over the paper and my fingers! The tip though is very fine and very sturdy. It is better for dotting work than the line work I decided to do. You get the 2 for $5.99

On the right is Permapaque brand. I have never heard of this brand of pen / marker, but I liked that right on the package it said No Shaking vs the Pilot brand. I pulled out the silver and opened the marker. It was like a Sharpie tip but a little bit finer than a regular sharpie. I really liked it for lines. I was impressed with how easy it went on over the nail polish (after it was dry - remember yesterday I mentioned that the polish has to be totally dry!) and it dried fast! You get the 3 colors for $8.99

All in all both of these brands will do better at different things I think. Pilot brand for dotting and Permapaque for line work. Just be careful with how much pressing and shaking you do with Pilot, and I am hoping the Permapaque brand wont dry out too fast and I will be able to use for a long time.

If you have any questions or would like to know more. Let me know! Thanks!