Wet 'N Wild's Bejeweled Collection

The entire weekend, I had planned to stay home and chill.  However, when my friend, Alli of nifty_ba, shared a quick Facebook chat, that all changed. She told me that the Winn Dixie grocery store near me had the new Be Jeweled collection from Wet 'n Wild. Off I went to see what I could snag.

These are the jewels that I came home with...

From the left: The Crown Is Mine; Jewels For Your Highness; Born Into Privilege; Bow In My Presence. What is missing is: Speak When Spoken To.

They are all sparkly with micro glitter and small glitter, mixed up into a look meant for royalty.

Who could wait to swatch one of these? Resistance is futile, in my case...

 

Since I couldn't decide which one first, I reached into the bag and pulled one out. The winner: 'The Crown Is Mine'. The primary color is a light lavender shade and it is not showing in the photos. But you can see the small glitter in shades of blue, magenta and silver.

I knew that 'The Crown Is Mine' was going to be thin. I looked for a very neutral pink to use as a base coat. This helped bring out the sizzle in this polish. This is the swatch with a light pink creme underneath.

Here is a test of just 'The Crown Is Mine' without a base color...

 Nice and very dainty. Yet, I wanted to give the polish a bit more of a grandstand. And, with a light pastel creme polish from Color Club as 'underwear', that is what I got...

 

I found it interesting that even though it is a glitter polish, it didn't take scrubbing to remove it. I used Zoya's Remove+ and it works splendidly.

It was a very bright and hot day today in Central Florida. Yet, in the shade, 'The Crown Is Mine' shimmers. However, let me explain, the glitter is one I would not refer to as 'in your face'. It is subtle...

And that makes it perfect for Spring.

Take a look at my friend Alli's blog, nifty_ba. She shows looks of the day and she is just as cute as a button to model them too.

The nail polish universe has gifted us with a plethora of glitters lately. Or, so it seems. Are you still in a glitter mood? What do you think of the newest Wet 'n Wild collection 'Be Jeweled'?

Sephora by OPI...What Does 212 Mean?

St. Valentine's Day is here...Oh, no! And St. Patrick's Day after that. I'm getting the feeling that holidays come around faster as I get older.

So, I need to get on the ball and post reviews and swatches. I'm getting more and more of a backlog. But I have to show you this one; it is one that I can't overlook.

This is Sephora by OPI's '212 Sephora'. Yep, that's as good as they got with the name. Look, it deserves so much better...

We have, here, a murky black base with holo micro-glitter. Yep, that is what I said: Holo. This is a 'busy' polish...

Lots and lots of sparkles and twinkles. Fancy it on the nails...

I did 3 coats and it needed everyone of those to become opaque. In fact, even after the second coat, I was unsure whether I would come up to opacity. Don't let the photos fool you. In the above, there looks to be flakies in the bottle. That's just a light reflection. And, the polish looks flat when actually, it is very shiny and alive.

The top photo is in the shade of my patio. And the last photo, I'm still trying to capture that twinkle. The micro-glitter has this illusion of depth. It's reminiscence of looking down at the city from a plane, at night, as it comes in for a landing.

Sephora by OPI isn't a new polish but it is new to me. I felt that it applied very well and wore well too. I really wish they could have named it something rather than just a number. That's surprising coming from OPI, whom we have come to know as a polish company with very unique names.

 I liked this one and will keep an eye out for another shade to add to my stash.


Have you tried any of the Sephora by OPI series?

Snow Light Blues

Yesterday I posted on a Sally's Girl polish that, even though has no name, is still a crisp and shimmery steel blue-gray. I gave it a make-over and it came out fairly better.

First, I want to show you the Cosmetic Arts polish that began this evolution...

Cosmetic Arts doesn't name their shades, but doesn't this one just scream for one? Screamin' Steel? Eh.

But, oh how lovely this steel blue is...

This is with four coats and I still didn't get the same opaque look I wanted. I just wanted it to look like it does in the bottle.

Here is a photo in the shade...

Too sheer for the look I was going for. However, as I was sitting there with a grimace, I glanced over and saw the Sally's Girl, again no name, that I had just swatched. I got a simple idea...

Check out the micro-glitter in the bottle, and there is the slightest of shimmer on my nail...

It's there, on the nail, but ooooh, so subtle. In the sunlight, and rolling my nail back and forth, I could see all the different colored glitter twinkling like a night sky.

Using Sally's Girl polish, as the base coat for Cosmetic Arts, gave me more of the look I was hoping to achieve and with less coats. I used 2 coats of Sally's Girl and just one coat of Cosmetic Arts.

If I was a Franken Fashionista, I would franken these two and see if I could get the wanted look in just a single polish.

I'm sort of partial to icy blues during the winter. I got a photo of this over Christmas...

Where's the Party? On Your Nails And Everybody's Coming!

Have you just about had enough of the 'Happy Birthday' glitter polishes??!! Practically no brand has skipped this polish band wagon.

If you read enough nail blogs, you have, by now, read about Debra Lippman's 'Happy Birthday' nail polish. If not, and since I do not currently own this polish, here's Vampy Varnish's swatches of it. 'Happy Birthday' as been around at least a couple of years. Yet it is still popular.

Check out some of the dupes I have...

First, there is Icing's 'Birthday Beyotch', Milani's 'Gems', Ulta's 'Pinata-Yada-Yada', and Wet 'n Wild's 'Correction Tape'.

None of them are dupes, but they are all in the same neighborhood.

 Icing's 'Birthday Beyotch' wins in the best name category. Hee hee. I spy red, gold, green, teal and fuchsia; some larger, some smaller. Then it is all swimming in a vat with teal micro-glitter. 

 Here's Milani's 'Gems'. This one has two sizes of hex glitter in it. And then that is all in a very translucent teal base that shares even more micro-glitter. Tons of red, silver, gold, green, and blue glitter. I found this one to apply the most glitter.

 This is Ulta's 'Pinata-Yada-Yada.' Worst name here. :/ Gold and fuchsia hex glitter is surrounded by two smaller sized glitters in gold, teal, and red. The base is a slightly blue tinged color.

And this is Wet 'n Wild's 'Correction Tape.' I'm still scratching my head over that name. If you 'get it', would you leave me a comment? All the glitter seems to be the same size in gold, teal and fuchsia. Without getting out my microscope, I think there is some gold hex and fuchsia squares in this one. Not as rainbow colored at the others, it gives the feeling of Mardi Gras.

Are 'Party Hands' the same thing as 'Jazz Hands'?

On my thumb and middle finger, I swatches 'Birthday Beyotch'. On my index finger is 'Gems'. On my ring finger is 'Pinata-Yada-Yada' and that leaves 'Correction Tape' on my pinky. This photo shows 3 coats.

Here's where I started and this is 2 coats. So, you can do a little glitter or gobs. However, the polish you can pick to apply under these is all up for grabs. These are naked here, though.

Now, once you are ready to remove the glitters, you might want to read up on the foil removal method; no one wants to leave the party on your nails!

Confetti nails, I say. When I lived in Kansas City, KS, there was a dance bar on the Missouri side called 'Confetti's'. The next morning I always found confetti in my clothes that I had worn and even on the floor where I had changed into my jammies. It was everywhere! And you'll experience the same thing when you go to remove any of these glitters.

Great polishes for New Year's Eve parties? Which one do you like the best? Can you think of any other polishes that live in this neighborhood?

An Intoxicating Grog: Witch's Brew

There's a pink giveaway going on at the Pink Vanity. Click here and enter.

Halloween is coming up so fast, I'm going to run out of days before I can do all my Halloween looks.

Here's one that is my favorite for this season...

 

 Check out Icing's 'Witch's Brew.' That is some concoction!!

'Witch's Brew' is Icing's 2011 Halloween collection. Out of an jelly orange glitter and a jelly purple with purple glitter, this one out of the bunch is my total, total favorite.

I'm intoxicated by 'Witch's Brew.' If I were not a nail blogger, I would wear this shade all month. It's a black jelly and has dark turquoise micro glitter in it.

I used Seche Vite as the top coat and you'd swear that you are looking up into a midnight sky. I used three coats of polish then one coat of Seche for this mani.

Have you seen this shade before? You probably have. 'Witch's Brew' is a near dupe to a couple of other polishes available...

On the left is Icing's 'Witch's Brew', in the middle Sinful Color's 'What's Your Name?, and last is Cult Nails' 'Living Water.' Can you see how 'What's Your Name' is more of a blue glitter?

And take a closer look at Cult Nails' 'Living Water.' This polish has something the other two do not: luminosity. 'Living Water' has turquoise glitter that looks like it is lit up. Hands down, the best looking of the three. I did a post on 'Living Water.'

It probably goes without saying that I'm a total sucker for clever names and 'Witch's Brew' is one of them.

Next is a couple of random sharings.

Every time I am at a mall that has a Forever 21, I stop by. I'm compelled to! This is what I scored last week...

When I was in high school, there was this saying 'I wouldn't kick that out of bed for eating crackers in it.' How horrible, blech! But that stupid saying came to mind when I photo'd these at the sunny window. I'm saving these for Christmas manis.

And lastly, last week my brother, sister-in-law and niece vacationed at the happiest place on earth, Disney World. I got to hang out with them a few days. I, too, am 12 years old when I'm with my 12 year old niece. It's grand to have someone to play with. :)

This is Karlie...