I was finally able to really get out and about last weekend after my fall. Had the hubs take me to do some errands, one of which was going to Sally's. They had the new China Glaze Crackle Glazes, yay! I've been loving the shimmery, metallic Shatters/Crackles so much. I only got Latticed Lilac, since gold/bronze/copper do not look good on me, I didn't want Oxidized Aqua (although it is pretty), and they were out of Haute Metal already. Here's the mani I came up with for Pink Wednesday.
I started with 2 coats of OPI's The One That Got Away and topcoated with SV. These are all outdoor shots; sorry for the first set being more shadowy than the second. I was impatient on waiting for the sun to clear the treeline in my yard, lol.
I prolly could have done 3 coats to cover the "bald" spots, but I didn't think that was neccesary since I was gonna apply the Crackle.
Then I just applied one coat of Latticed Lilac and topcoated again with SV. I really like how nicely it applied, but you do need to apply it like Silver Shatter: polish needs to be totally dry, which means using a topcoat in between if you're impatient. Remember to keep the pressure even; you can tell where I didn't on a few of mine. That will keep it from crackling evenly if you don't.
It's finally been really, as in not cloudy and crappy, sunny for a few days and the weather guessers say it will be for the next for days. Who'd have thought we wouldn't see the sun, here in the Sunshine State? >.> Don't get me wrong, most of the time I hate how hot it is here in the summer, but cloudy weather is just depressing.
In honor of the sunshine, I pulled out the first holo I purchased, OPI's Blue Moon Lagoon. It's a subtle holo and very pretty. I started off with 1 coat of Suzi Says Feng Shui, to give it more presence.
Then I applied 2 coats of Blue Moon Lagoon and topped that with CND's Super Shiney topcoat. Second time I've used that topcoat, and even though I used OPI's Drip Dry Drops, it's still took forever to dry. I'm just glad I was off yesterday.
I did this mani up yesterday. It's another one of my new colors, Grape...Set...Match from OPI's Serena Williams Glam Slam England duo. This color reminds me of Crayola Purple, with the goodness of the blue, almost duochrome. It's gorgeous and unique in my collection; the closest polish I have to it is Play 'Til Midnight and that's much darker than Grape. Grape is fully opaque at two coats.
And since it's been awhile since I shattered, I added one layer of Silver Shatter over this after I topcoated with SV and it had dried.
I want to apologize for not posting anything since last Thursday. The last eight days have been really rough on me, starting with me falling in the parking lot at work last Friday. It hasn't been easy doing things, since I can't walk/stand/sit comfortably for long. I was home bound all weekend and pretty much stuck in bed with my feet up, which sucked. I got nothing accomplished and didn't go back to work till Tuesday, and even then it's not easy on me. I did manage to put together a pink mani for Wednesday. I started with 2 coats of OPI's Be a Dahlia Won't You. This is a beautiful color for summer. It's almost jellylike in how it applied, but it was opaque with the second coat.
Once that was all dry, without a topcoat, I added one layer of I Lily Love You.
Wednesday was also OPI's Worldwide Shatter Day, so in honor of that I topped this mani with Turquoise Shatter. This is the first time I've tried this color combo, and I was surprised at how much I like it.
When the weather finally cooperates for long enohg and I can walk more, I'll get more swatches up, I promise. The weather in the last few weeks has been very cloudy in the mornings, which makes for not so nice outdoor pics >.>
I've been dying to try this since it was suggested on OPI's fanpage about a month ago; I just didn't have a blue jelly to use. I ended up ordering OPI's Dating a Royal, which I passed on when it first came out. First things first, though. For the base glitter, I used OPI's Show it And Glow it!, which I'm gonna totally regret when I go to take this mani off, lol. This is two coats.
Then topped with one thin coat of Dating a Royal and one coat of Poshe topcoat. The ONLY thing I don't like about Poshe is it didn't give a thicker finish. Meaning, my mani has a textured finish, which drives me nuts. Probably, I should have used SV, but I wanted to give the Poshe a try. I'm betting I'll like it better with a mani that doesn't involve glitter.
And lastly, here is my little haul from the last week and a half.
Back row: OPI's Servin' up Sparkle, Grape...Set...Match!, I Lily Love You, and Be a Dahlia Won't You.
Front row: Poshe topcoat, Zoya's Sooki (<3!!!), CND topcoat, and OPI's Dating a Royal.
The only one missing is Essie's Splash of Grenadine. I think I might in trouble here. If I like Zoya's formula as much as OPI's, I may have found another love. They have so many colors I haven't seen in OPI, it'll be hard to resist. Or I just might need help......... or another job :P
But worth it, in my opinion, because of what I'm going to show you today. Except for my basecoat, everything is new. Let's start off with the color: Essie's Splash of Grenadine. I fell in love with this color the first time I saw it on Chloe's Nails; I had to have it! It came last week, along with one of my new topcoats. This is what it looks like with just 2 coats AND NO TOPCOAT. Barely any streaking.
I kept this mani fairly simple, and only added OPI's I Lily Love You (one coat) to my ring fingers. Now, I also tried one of my new topcoats, CND's Super Shiney. It dried to nice, shiney finish, but man. Even with OPI's Drip Dry Drops, it took a long time to dry compared to SV. I didn't have too much, if any, tip wear by the time I got home from work yesterday, which was nice.
