OPI's Push and Shove

OPI's Push and Shove is the most unique polish I've come across in a while. To me, it almost feels alive like a crackle or texture polish. Once layered over it's special base coat, the silver colors smooths itself out to give an almost chrome finish. It's highly pigmented (this is one coat) and very reflective. The instructions say to not use a top coat, but since without one the polish is not guaranteed to last past 24 hours, I took a risk and tried one---no major differences were found, so TC-away, everyone!

Swatch: OPI's A Oui Bit of Red

I love OPI's A Oui Bit of Red! It gave me jelly-vibes in terms of pigmentation, even though it isn't a jelly. It's a bold color with a tiny bit of shimmer--it's a traditional "candy apple red" color.

OPI's Sanguine

Sorry folks, no fancy jumbo posts this week because I recently hurt my back pretty bad and it totally derailed my week... so let's have some swatches instead!

Here's the vampy Sanguine by OPI. It's super dark, but when it hits light you can really see the blood-red shimmer peek through.

OPI Glim-Merry Gold Glitter Top Coat

I was gifted this bottle of OPI's Glim-Merry Gold Glitter Top Coat and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw it. It's so glittery! The glitter is really fine so no scratchiness is to be had.

over OPI's Kennebunk-port:

While this picture doesn't capture the sparkle, you can see that you get really good coverage with one coat. I'm really looking forward to experimenting with this glitter!

Swatch: OPI SoftShades 2010

I Think In Pink (creme) (3 coats)

Isn't That Precious? (creme) (3 coats)

It's a Girl! (creme) (3 coats)

Pink-a-Doodle (pearl) (3 coats)

Swatch: OPI's Divine Swine

From the Muppets Collection, two coats:

One coat over Zoya's Dove:

The Death of a Bottle of Shatter

I've noticed that it was becoming more and more difficult to successfully screw on the top of my OPI Black Shatter because it dries so quickly around the mouth. It seems like the bottle won this battle because when I was poking around my nail polish collection I noticed this:

It's totally dried up and ruined, but it's kind of beautiful in a Dothraki-esque way, right?

OPI's Not Like the Movies + Pink Crackle

Step One:

Step Two:

Crackle Over Crackle

Lime base color with Burst Crackle's Pretty-N-Pink underneath OPI's Black Shatter (with clear coat separating the crackles):

It gives off a cool, almost camouflage vibe.

OPI's Just Tea-sing

This is SO sheer! It's dainty and pretty, but the extreme sheerness makes it hard to apply.

Purple Shatter

Purple gradient using the Shrek Collection purples by OPI, with OPI's Black Shatter.

The Mighty Monarch!

Yellow (China Glaze's Happy Go Lucky) → Orange diagonal gradient (China Glaze's Sun Worshipper) done with a sponge, Flexbrush's water-based black for the stripes, and OPI's Alpine Snow for the dots (applied with the rubber end of a bobby pin).

Black & Gold Marble

OPI's Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow (dark green-black) and OPI's Bling Dynasty (gold) swirled together with a simple toothpick.

Mermaid Gradient

OPI's Papua Pink Pearl → China Glaze's Sea Spray

I imagine a mermaid would have nails like these...

Green-Black/Mauve Half-Moons

OPI's Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow (green-based black)
China Glaze's Below Deck (mauve base)

Those hold-punch reinforcement stickers will be your best friend for this!

Kylie's Kabuki Magic Mani

OPI's Alpine Snow (white)
China Glaze's First Mate (navy)

Rainbow Leopard

I saw a rainbow leopard floating around the Tumblr-verse so I decided to give it a go!

White base: OPI's Alpine Snow
Red: CM Nail Art's Red
Yellow: China Glaze's Happy Go Lucky
Green: OPI's Who the Shrek are You?
Blue: OPI's Ogre-The-Top Blue
Purple: China Glaze's Grape Pop
Black: Flexbrush's water-based black

D-I-Wah: Marble Nails

Earlier, the goddesses at WAH Nails posted this to their Tumblr and gears immediately started turning in my brain:

My version:

Here's how to achieve this look:
1) Paint a thickish base coat of OPI's Pamplona Purple on one nail.
2) Dab on some thick, random blobs of China Glaze's First Mate on the nail (while base coat is still wet).
3) Dab on some more random blobs of OPI's Ogre the Top.
4) Take a toothpick and start randomly swirling the paint together on the wet nail.
5) Top coat it!

Two key things:
1) "Random" is the word to live by with this. Don't try to be too uniform because it'll drive you crazy because it's nearly impossible to do.
2) If one color starts overtaking another, add another drop of whatever color is lacking while everything is wet.

Adventures in Sponging

All done with sponges--it looks a little like '90s denim.

Green - OPI's Who the Shrek Are You?
Pink - China Glaze's Something Sweet
Blue - China Glaze's Sea Spray
Orange - China Glaze's Sun Worshipper

White m57 Konad on top

Mauve → Purple Gradient (Sponged)

OPI's Pamplona Purple sponged over China Glaze's Below Deck.

It looks really good in person... not so much in pictures!