Bieber Border Manicure

It’s day 20 of the nail art challenge for April and the theme is border manicure!  When I think about border manis I think, “what two colors work well together?”…  and most times I think out loud.  So my man suggested purple and yellow.  Well, I have a two-pack of Nicole by OPI polishes with those exact two colors!  How perfect is that?

I can think of a lot of young girls that would love this manicure.  WHY? Because these Nicole by OPI shades are inspired by Justin Bieber!  I’m a Belieber is a nice basic purple cream (Bieber’s favorite color is purple) and the yellow is called My Favorite Gold.  I’ve swatched My Favorite Gold before- here’s the post.  It’s a beautiful and bright gold color, but it needs a lot of coats (and preferably some undies too)!!  Next time I try a border mani I will use more opaque colors.  I’m a little embarrassed to say how many coats I’m wearing here!  Even still, I love the final result and how the purple really stands out against the gold.  I think Justin Bieber would be proud! 😀

Houses of Parliament Magnetic Effect

Do you love magnetic polish as much as me? Here’s a swatch of nails inc. magnetic polish called Houses of Parliament.  The polish initially goes on a medium greyish purple and once the magnet hits it changes to dark purple.  It’s kinda vampy and edgy and looks just as great in the shade as it does in bright lighting.  The magnet that’s built into the top was so strong that it actually pulled some of the polish up off of my nail- I quickly learned not to hold it too close!  I’ve reviewed another polish from this collection called The Strand which was a really pretty blue, but Houses of Parliament seems to have a different formula…

This one takes forever to dry.  Maybe it’s because my 2nd coat was thick, but the surface of my nails still felt tacky after an hour.  The polish also dried weird and had the tendency to shrink back or even rub off if you touched it.  I got some crazy tip wear right from the get-go!  And within 24 hrs I had A LOT of tip wear.  Oh well, this won’t prevent me from wearing Houses of Parliament again.  Magnetic polishes are fun for when you want an awesome-looking manicure without having to fuss.  To top it off- you’re pretty much guaranteed to get some compliments and/or questions about your magnetic nails!  🙂  And don’t we all love when people look at our nails?

purple dream giveaway entry

I’m entering a polish giveaway that Luchessa is offering!  Her blog post entitled New Purple Dream Giveaway explains it all.  Basically to enter the contest I must post a purple nail design … and on Jan 21st the random winner will be announced.  Thank you to Luchessa for the chance to win!  Here’s the purple design I came up with….

I enjoyed using all purple polishes!  Who doesn’t love purple?  In real life this mani sorta has a 70’s free-love hippie feel.  Here’s the colors I used along with a makeup sponge and a dotting tool:

♥ OPI- Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI? as the base

♥ Sephora by OPI- It’s Hippo To Be Square for the sponged area

♥ Wet n Wild Megalast- Through the Grapevine as the flower petals

♥ Sephora by OPI- I Don’t Bite as the center of the flower

Good luck to all the other entrants!

lavender and thyme

Today I’m wearing Sephora by OPI ‘Thyme for a Mani’ and China Glaze Crackle Glaze in ‘Luminous Lavender’.

With this mani I knew I wanted to use my crackle Luminous Lavender.  But what base color would go with it?  As a general rule when I use crackle… I always choose a contrasting base shade so the mosaic effect really stands out. So either a dark base color and a light crackle…or a creme base and a glittery crackle, etc.  I scanned my polish stash and couldn’t really find what I was looking for to complement my purple crackle.   Then I noticed my mini bottle of Thyme for a Mani and it hit me: LAVENDER AND THYME.  Yes, I like this aromatic herb theme!  Besides, it’s fun to pair polishes solely based on their names lol!

I love the end result…the color combo has a romantic feel…and the purple glitter crackle is extra-sparkly yet demure at the same time.  It did soak up all my top coat though.  I applied two thick goopy clear coats and it still feels a little bumpy on top.  But that doesn’t bother me… I like using lotsa layers!

What are your thoughts on crackle?

wet n wild eggplant frost

wet n wild Eggplant Frost

This color feels like a throwback !  I must’ve owned a similar polish back in the early 90’s cuz I feel like a teenager again LOL. This wet n wild Eggplant Frost is from the wild shine collection and it’s an awesome deep royal purple.  I also painted my ring finger as an accent nail using kleancolor sugar coat.

Overall, I like the Eggplant Frost!  A polish like this is kinda hard to photograph since it has a lil bit of a chameleon effect going on.  In the light it shimmers some fierce blue, and in the shade it’s more of a dark purple.  I like that the pigments shift … it’s shiny & vampy… and it’s only 99 cents 🙂

 

blue shimmer in direct light

 

in the shade- with kleancolor Sugar Coat accent nail