Limited Edition Mariah Carey by OPI Liquid Sand Nail Polish Collection Spring 2013

The Mariah Carey by OPI collection for Spring 2013 is a two-parter: Four 'studio' shades, and four 'stage' shades.  The Stage shades are my favorite part of the collection for one predictable reason: glitter.  Except these aren't just any glitter polishes, they're OPI's brand new Liquid Sand finish, which are glitter polishes meant to be worn without a topcoat to give "a never-before-seen look with a pebbled finish that lightly shimmers with fine glitter particles. Worn without top coat, Liquid Sand lacquer gives nails a unique textured matte finish."

I'm a fan of wearing certain glitter polishes without topcoat because of the sparkly sugary look they have, so I was excited to try out these OPI ones.  Here's how they turned out:

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Can't Let Go.  This is a heavily blue-toned purple base with purple and blue microglitter, medium sized silver hexagon glitter and bumpy, sandy grit.  The base on this one seems just a touch too opaque to let all the glitter shine through, but I think that's the effect they were going for.

 OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Get Your Number.  A sheer cool blue jelly base with opalescent microglitter and small, round hologram glitter.  This one works pretty well both matte and glossy, but it is the sheerest of all the shades.

 OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Stay The Night.  A black creme base with small hot pink glitter and added sandy grit.  I think this one would have more impact if it dried to a less-glossy finish.  It looks good with topcoat, but without it, it just looks like your average lumpy glitter polish.

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in The Impossible.  A bright pink-orange coral jelly base with silver, pink-red, and purple iridescent microglitter, medium silver hexagon glitter and large holographic star glitter. This one is my favorite.  It has lots of depth from the combination of bright jelly base and multiple sizes and colors of glitter, plus it has the added kick of holographic stars to make it even prettier.  I think the 'liquid sand' finish comes across the best on this one as well.  It's matte enough to look sandy when it dries.

Here's how they look with topcoat:

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Can't Let Go with one coat of topcoat



OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Get Your Number with one coat of topcoat

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in Stay The Night with one coat of topcoat

OPI Liquid Sand Polish in The Impossible with one coat of topcoat

The formula on all of these was great.  They applied smoothly and provided even, streak-free coats with no added effort on my part.  The only part of the formula I didn't like is that they're all somewhat sheer; I needed three coats for each polish to look its best.  Dry time is fast.

What I find strange about these polishes is that each one has some extra grit in it.  It's not all glitter.  There seems to be something in it that looks and feels like actual sand.  Glitter polishes tend to look really gritty on their own without topcoat, but these take it one step farther.  It's most evident in Stay The Night because it looks grittier/bumpier than it should be for the amount of visible glitter and the lumps are smaller than the glitter particles.

Truthfully, I'm not really sold on the Liquid Sand finish just yet.  I think they're too glossy to provide that sparkling matte sandy look that I love.  Get Your Number dries the most matte out of all of them with The Impossible coming in at a close second.  I could add my own matte topcoat to these to enhance the sandy look, but I actually prefer all four shades when worn with topcoat.  I know, defeats the purpose... But, what can I say?  I love shiny, sparkly glitters.

The OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand polishes are limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Vernis Classique by Cherimoya Electric Heaven over Grey

Vernis Classique by Cherimoya in Electric Heaven (over grey polish). Here's an older picture that I forgot I had. It's was one of the handful of Cherimoya polishes I picked up at the same time as Metallic Purple. Electric Heaven is an absolutely gorgeous polish. It's a sheer layering-type glitter that has lots of different shapes and sizes of translucent pink-orange based iridescent opal glitter plus big pastel iridescent stars. All the glitter is set in a peachy-pink tinted base, but it applies clear with only the barest hint of color.

Yes, it smells bad. Yes, it's thick. And the brush is just silly. But damn if this doesn't look good over every single polish I've layered it over. It even looks good by itself as long as my nails aren't too stained (a coat of Color Club Milky White French Manicure base coat tends to fix that). To me it's worth having on hand just to look at how pretty it is in the bottle. It's like a magical star-filled snow globe.

I don't remember how much I paid for this, but I don't think it was over $4. It came from Walgreens, but they haven't had a Cherimoya display since I originally picked this up.

First try with BundleMonster

I just found out about this BundleMonster thing what... last week? But I wish I'd learned of it sooner!

For the people who have no idea wtf I'm talking about, BundleMonster is a company that sells various things and among them are these marvelous Konad-style image plates. Basically they're off brand Konad plates with more interesting designs.

The first design I tried was the stars and I forget which plate number that is, but I think you can only order all the plates at once now so the star will be in there somewhere.

First, with Konad Black special polish over BB Couture Coal Miner. I like this very much.


Then with China Glaze Millennium over Coal Miner. Pretty, but after wearing these around for a day, I think I prefer the black-over-grey. That and my chrome designs sometimes come out funny cause I work too slowly.

A strange thing I noticed with this particular design is that it seems... too deep? After I scrape the plate and pick up the image, there's always a lot of polish left in the large star.

The plates seemed pretty similar to real Konad plates with a few obvious differences. First, these BundleMonster ones are SHARP!! They have no paper backing like Konad and they feel really thin. They require you to remove the protective plastic film on the face of the plate before use and I nearly sliced every finger open trying to complete that task.

Second, the full nail designs aren't as big as Konad's designs so if you have larger nails, you'll have to stamp twice or something because they're short and narrow.

I'll try out some more designs next time I'm inspired to do so, but my first impression of these was definitely a good one.

Happy Independence Day!

I was playing around with some of my Art Club striper polishes and did these two designs really quick:

Stars

Stripes

Lippmann Holiday , Art Club Blue Glitter, Art Club Silver Hologram, the silver stars from Love My Nails Glort, INM Out The Door Northern Lights Gold and Orly Prisma Gloss Silver.

I know, they're a little sloppy and uneven, I was just playing around a bit, but I think they turned out pretty cute! I might actually leave this on as my final Fourth of July mani. It's so sparkly, like little fireworks on my nails!

If I don't get a chance to post again, I wish you all a happy and safe fourth of July / Independence Day!

Sinful Colors

Another drugstore brand that I really like is Sinful Colors. I used to have a lot of Sinful polishes in the 90's, so I have a soft spot for Sinful. Especially Sinful in the old bottle.

I haven't been able to swatch much of my Sinful collection yet, but I did take some bottle pictures which show the colors very accurately.

Before I post the pictures, I'd like to say one thing about Sinful...

The formula is TERRIBLE. It's not just that they're either too thick and globby or too thin and runny, they're all very sheer. It's very hard to apply these polishes. Sheer polishes with bad formula are especially difficult because you have to figure out a way to do enough coats to build opacity without making a gigantic clumpy streaky mess.

There are a few of them that don't give me any trouble- Dream On, Tucson, San Francisco. The rest are a pain in the rear.

However, the colors are so lovely and unique, the trouble is usually worth it.

I am missing a few bottles... They are in my house somewhere, but hell if I know where they are...

Please click the images to enlarge. These are much better in full size.




Sparkle, Heartache, Broadway Star, Treasure Island, Pearl Harbor, Kansas



Hottie, UFO, Pinky Glitter, Pink 4 Ever, Pink 4 Ever (version 2), Green Ocean




Pacific Ocean, Poison Ivy, Guam, Green Bean, San Francisco, Show Me The Way, Irish Green



Toxic Shine, Shausha, Dream On, Daddy's Girl, What's Your Name?, Pink Diamond, Tucson


Lagoon, Euro Trash, Old Gold, Morph Marie, China Gold, Canary Yellow, Serena & Chloe

And a couple that I swatched but can't find the bottles:



Swedish Blue



Greenland (five coats!)