Dupe Alert?!: OPI I'm All Ears vs Sinful Colors Forget Now

Hey guys so recently I've been going through my collection and swatching my polishes on note cards.  As I was doing this I realized that I have quite a few polish dupes in my collection.  Today I'm going to share a possible dupe of one of my favorite OPI polishes!

The two polishes that I'm comparing tonight is OPI I'm All Ears (from the Minnie Mouse collection) and Sinful Colors Forget Now (permanent collection).

 

OPI I'm All Ears vs Sinful Colors Forget Now

Bottle comparison:  In the bottle the polishes look very similar but SC Forget Now is slightly darker than OPI I'm All Ears.

Click "Read More"  to see if these are dupes!

OPI Liquid Sands Swatches (Mariah Carey collection)

Hey guys!  Today I wanted to share some swatches of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes from the Mariah Carey collection!  I bought the minis so I could try out the textured polishes to see if I liked these textures polishes.

From L to R: Get Your Number, The Impossible, Can't Let Go, and Stay The Night

Click "Read More" to see swatches!

Spring Nail Trends! (2013)

Hey guys!  Spring has sprung and the sun is finally coming out!  Spring is probably my favorite time of the year because of all of the fun nail trends and collections that start to pop up during this season.  Today I wanted to share some of my favorite nail trends for Spring 2013!

 Click HERE to watch my Spring 2013 trends + polish picks video!

Pastel Shimmers
Pastels are always on trend during the Spring, but I have noticed that a lot of nail companies have come out with pastel colors with subtle shimmer or some sort of iridescence in them!  Here are some of my favorite collections that include some pastels with a "kick":

 China Glaze Avant Garden Collection

Image Source: Facebook

 OPI Euro Centrale Collection

Image Source: Facebook

Julep Playful Collection

Image Source: Facebook

More Spring collections with pastel shimmers:

Sinful Colors Sugar Rush collection

L'Oreal Versailles Romance Collection

Cobalt Blue
I LOVE BLUE!!!  I don't now why I'm just discovering cobalt blues, but let me tell you they are awesome!  If you love vibrant colors, especially blues, you definitely need grab a few ( yes more than one) cobalt blue polishes.  Here are some beautiful cobalt blue polishes:

L to R: Essie Butler Please, OPI Eurso Euro, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

Image Source: Essie, OPI, Sally Hansen

More Cobalt Blues polishes:

Sinful Colors Endless Blue

Nails Inc Baker Street

Nina Ultra Pro Cobalt

Indie-esque Glitters
I've been a fan of indie polishes ever since I was introduced to them when I started blogging.  Indie polishes can vary as far as type and finish, but majority of indie polish makers make awesome glitter bombs! I know some people aren't too comfortable buying polishes from indie makers, but there's a solution!  Nowadays I've noticed a lot of mainstream nail polish companies coming out with some awesome glitter bombs!  Here are a few of my favorites:

 China Glaze Glitz Bitz 'N Pieces collection

Image Source: Facebook

Hard Candy Glitters

Image Source: Facebook

Other companies/collections with fun glitter polishes:

China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil collection

Orly (Hope & Freedom Fest and Flash Glam FX)

OPI Oz the Great and Powerful

Milani (Jewel FX and One Coat Glitter)

Textured Polishes
Textured polishes is the newest trend of the year and is kind of a love/hate thing amongst polish enthusiast.  They dry to a matte finish and leave a bumpy texture, almost like sandpaper, on your nails.  Personally I think textured polishes are okay; they look really pretty but I think I would just rub my fingers until all of the polish rubs off.  Here are some examples of textured polishes:

Zoya Pixie Dust Spring/Summer collections and Milani Textured Creams

Image Source: Milani (Facebook), Zoya (Zoya.com)

Others companies with textured polishes:

Julie G Frosted Gumdrops collection

Orly Megapixel FX collection

OPI Liquid Sands (Mariah Carey, Wizard of Oz, and Bond Girls)

China Glaze Texture collection

Nail Art Stickers/ Strips
Nail art strips and stickers are another thing that is gaining more popularity these days.  Sally Hansen was the first mainstream brand to come out with them (don't quote me on that) and many other companies have as well.  They're a quick and easy way to do your nails with no dry time and they come in a ton of different designs!  I'm not a big fan of them but I am curious about the Essie Sleek Sticks.

 Essie Sleek Sticks

Image Source: Essie.com

More companies that make Nail Art strips/stickers:

L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Nail Lingerie 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

Maybelline Color Show Fashion Print Nail Stickers

Holographic Polishes
Holographic polishes have been around for a while but have recently become a "trend" again!  Holos are so much fun to look at and when you get them in the sun your eyes might explode (not literally) from all of the holo beautifulness (<--- is that even a word? Lol)  Here are some holographic collections that I'm loving:

 China Glaze Hologlam collection

Image Source: Facebook

Color Club Halo Hues

Image Source: Facebook

Some more holo goodness:

Ozotic

Glitter Gal

FUNG

Layla Hologram polishes

So there you have it!  I'm so excited to see all of the bright colors and fun nail art for this season.  If you guys ever want to share your nail art (or just the polish on your nails) you can post a picture on my Facebook page. 

What's your favorite nail trend this Spring? 

Thanks for reading; follow and share if you like!

Crystal ❤

** Tomorrow I'll be posting my top 13 polishes for Spring 2013!**

Dupe Alert!?: OPI Casino Royale vs. Kleancolor Plum

Hey guys, so I was looking through my collection and noticed that quite a few of my polishes looked like each other.

The two polishes that I'm comparing tonight are OPI's Casino Royale and Kleancolor's Plum.

 Bottle Comparison:  They look very similar, but Casino Royale does look a bit "brighter" than Plum.

On the nail:  In person the two colors look a lot more similar on the nail, but in the pictures you can kind of see a difference between the two polishes.  Can you tell which one is which?

 

Here I have a light directly over my nails.  Now can you tell which is which?

I applied OPI's Casino Royale on my index and ring finger and Kleancolor's Plum on my middle and pinkie finger!  Did you get it right?

In regular lighting you can't really see a difference unless you stare at fingers for a all the time and analyze the polish.  OPI Casino Royale is a tad brighter than Kleancolor Plum, which is more of a muted greyed plum.

 In this picture you can really see that Kleancolor Plum has some grey in it.  

Overall:  These colors aren't exact dupes, but I don't think you need both of them.  If you want to save a few bucks then go for the Kleancolor shade.  If you prefer the brighter plum color and don't mind spending $8 then go for the OPI shade.  Both polishes only took two coats to achieve full opacity.  One thing that I didn't like about KC Plum is that the polish did seem a little patchy but I think my polishing skills were to blame. : P

So which of the two do you prefer?  

Thanks for reading; follow and share if you like!

Crystal <3

Nail Polish Spotlight: Pretty&Polished Candy Coated

Hello everyone!  I hope you all are having a great Sunday.  Today the nail polish spotlight is going to shine over Pretty&Polished Candy Coated!  I bought this polish a couple of months ago, you can see my P&P haul HERE, and it is definitely one of my favorite indie polishes, .

Candy Coated is a sheer lavender pink polish with purple, pink, and holo glitters!

 I applied two coats P&P Candy Coated over two coats of OPI Lucky lucky lavender!  The application was great and I had no problems getting a good amount of glitter on my nails.  The wear of this polish was also very good!  I wore this mani for a week and I had very little tip wear.

 With flash

Here is a close-up of the awesome polish combo!

I absolutely LOVE Candy Coated!!!  You can buy Pretty&Polished polishes from their Etsy store HERE, and get restock information on their Facebook page HERE.

Do you have any Pretty&Polished polishes?  Tell me which one(s) is your favorite in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!  Follow and share if you like!

Crystal <3



Lots O'Dots Nail Art!

Hey y'all!!!!  Long time no talk!
Today I'm going to show y'all a nail design that I came up with using my new dotting tools!!!  It's a fairly simple design that anyone can do and it only requires two polishes!!!

You can watch the tutorial for this design HERE!

I tried to do this design a while back but it was a complete FAIL!  I just came up with this design in my head, but after I finished doing my nails it kind of reminded me of something you would see on fabric or a sari!  I'm very pleased with the way it turned out!  Although it was time consuming, the end result makes up for the hours that it took to complete this cute design!

Here are some more pics of this fabulous design!!!

BK wanted my attention!!! Isn't he cute?! >.<

Check out BK in the background checking out my polishes!

And there it is!  If y'all try this design I would love to see it!!! You can post pictures of y'alls cute manis on my Facebook page!  Don't forget to check out the tutorial for this design HERE!

Thanks for reading!

Crystal

UPDATE 7/15/12:  I've entered this design for The Lacquerologist's 6 month blog anniversary contest!!!  You can check it out HERE! 

April Nail Polish HAUL!

Hello wonderful people!  I hope y'all are have a fantabulous Sunday!  I recently posted my April nail polish haul on my YouTube channel, which y'all should definitely check out HERE!  In this post I'm going to show y'all pictures of the bottles that are a little more accurate than what they look on my video.

WARNING!:  There are a lot of polishes so get ready! ; )

The first batch of polishes that I got this month are from OPI!  Being from a small town, I don't really have a place near me where I can go and buy OPI polishes.  Luckily, with some connections, I was able to get these four lovely colors!

From L to R:  Save Me, Fly, Lucky Lucky Lavender, and Pedal Faster Suzi!

Nail Polish Spotlight: OPI Pedal Faster Suzi!

Okay so in my last blog post I asked if y'all knew what polish from the OPI Holland collection was going to shine in the NPS so here it is!  Drum roll please....

OPI Holland Collection Dupes!

Hey y'all so I recently got some mini OPI polishes and found that I had a dupe for most of the colors that came in the set and I wanted to share them with you all!  If you didn't see my haul, you can check out my blogpost or watch my haul video.

I bought this set because I fell in LOVE with Pedal Faster Suzi!  I also wanted to try the other colors that came in this set so I can compare them to other polishes in my collection.

From L to R: I Have a Herring Problem, Red Lights Ahead...Where?, Kiss Me on My Tulips, and Pedal Faster Suzi!

Nail Art Supply Haul!

Hello everyone and happy Monday!  Today I uploaded my nail art suppy haul, click HERE to watch it!  I wanted to post some close up pictures of the things that I got so you guys can get a better look at everything so here it goes!

All of my new goodies!

Ombre Mani 101: Tips and tricks

Hey y'all today I'm going to talk about a nail trend that has been all over Pinterest for a while.  I'm talking about Ombre manicures!  Surprisingly I just discovered this nail trend via Pinterest in February!  In this post, I'm going to talk about this trend and give you some tips and tricks to achieve an amazing ombre manicure on your own nails!