Halloween Nail Art

Happy Halloween! The creative juices were flowing yesterday and I was able to create some over-the-top Halloween nail art. I didn't really think it would be appropriate to dress up for work today, so my costume was on my nails!

Right Hand

Thumb: OPI Chopsticking To My Story with jewel-eyed Jack-o-lantern

Index: CG Ick-a-bod-y over Zoya Shawn

Middle: Deborah Lippmann Funky Chunky

Ring: OPI Take The Stage with polka dots and jewels

Pinky: Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

 Left Hand

Thumb: CG Zombie Zest over OPI Did It On Em

Index: CG Mummy May I?

Middle: CC Platinum Record between OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

Ring: Zoya Shawn and OPI Rising Star

Pinky: CC Platinum Record between SC Black on Black

 The Halloween Rainbow

From Left to Right:

China Glaze Mummy May I?

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

Deborah Lippmann Funky Chunky

Sinful Colors Black on Black

OPI Take the Stage

OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

OPI Chopsticking To My Story

OPI Rising Star

China Glaze Ick-a-bod-y

China Glaze Zombie Zest

Zoya Shawn

OPI Did It On Em

Color Club Platinum Record

What do you think? I love how the Jack-o-lantern's eyes glow red like an evil zombie pumpkin. I also love how you can see a little bit of the unique texture of Funky Chunky. I tried to mimic that effect sandwiching silver glitter between layers of sheer polish on my left middle and pinky fingers. My favorite nail though is the polka dots and gems on my right index finger. It's just so fun and I keep rubbing my nail like it's Braille. On a side note: I got to see the tomb of Louis Braille this summer in Paris! He's buried in the catacombs of the Pantheon. Fun fact!

How will you be celebrating Halloween? What will you dress up as, and more importantly, what's on your nails?

OPI Chopsticking To My Story + Shatter

Howdy friends. I had planned to keep my last manicure for a while, but it was a rough morning and I needed something fun and relaxing to do this afternoon. So I put on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and did my nails.

OPI's Hong Kong collection was one that really drew me into nail polish. It contained so many great colors like Suzi Says Feng Shui and Jade Is The New Black. One that I always had my eye on was Chopsticking To My Story. It's one of those ugly/pretty shades, a burnt orangey brown. Well I held off on buying it until Ulta no longer carried it, but one of my dear friends had it and was willing to part with it! So here it is now finally, on my nails. Well, under a coat of gold shatter, since I've been on a big shatter kick lately.

OPI Chopsticking To My Story, two coats with OPI Gold Shatter

I Looove this color. It complements my skin tone nicely. It seems perfect as part of a Hong Kong themed collection too, reminds me of orange sesame chicken and yes, chopsticks. 

Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue with Turquoise Shatter

Hello y'all. It's a rainy rainy day, and after a great morning rehearsal I was looking forward to some frito pie, Psych, and a new manicure. With all the gloomy weather today, something blue seemed appropriate, so I chose OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and OPI Turquoise Shatter.

Yoga-ta Get This Blue is a velvety navy with a turquoise shimmer. It's one of my favorite blues and I just have to show you.

OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue, two coats

For extra depth, I layered OPI Turquoise Shatter on top.

OPI Turquoise Shatter over OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue, with top coat

OoOoOoOoh! The turquoise shatter looks iridescent and having the navy underneath ads extra drama. The shatter had a cool chrome effect before top coat too, so I could see wearing it both ways. 

What do you think? What colors would you like to see under Turquoise shatter?

Berry Gradient

Howdy friends. It was a wonderful weekend at Lake Travis and now it's back to the daily grind. Pretty light week at the symphony, but my boyfriend's in town and this weekend I'll be busy with an extra gig. So I took advantage of my free time now in between practice sessions to do a quick mani.

I was inspired by my friend, who came to the lake house with a wonderful gradient/skittles mani in shades of coral. She used three colors and then rotated them and I thought the effect was fabulous. So much so, that I want to do the same thing.

Instead of changing hues, I wanted to play with different finishes. I chose three polishes that, in the bottle, looked like they were the same general shade of berry. I chose a creme, a subtle shimmer, and a crazy foil, and then rotated them in that order.

Left to Right: OPI Belize it or Not, Zoya Manon, Zoya Gloria 

Bottom to top: Gloria, Manon, Belize it or Not, Gloria

On the nail, the foil looks a lot lighter. The shimmer in Manon is so subtle that it gets lost and looks almost identical to Belize it or Not. I still like it though, the shades are all very flattering on my skin tone and I think the varied hues are more flattering than just a straight mani.

*I need to make a quick side-note about Belize it or Not. This is a polish I've had SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL. That means it's ELEVEN years old and still has an absolutely beautiful application. Can we just take a second to appreciate that? Unfortunately it has OPI's older more health-hazardous formula, but seriously, eleven years old and still flows, self-evens and isn't thick! Impressive.

How was your weekend? Do you have anything special coming up this week?

OPI Pink Friday with Glitter Blizzard Accent Nail

Howdy friends. Today I had a little fun with Pink Friday from the OPI Nicki Minaj collection. This is the last polish from this collection I have to show with you. It's a bubblegum pink creme with a hint of pastel to keep it from being too girly. Don't get me wrong, it's still very girly, but with that Nicki Minaj knock-you-out edge. On my ring fingers I added OPI Turquoise Shatter, then topped it with OPI Save Me, the holographic bar glitter.
This is two coats of Pink Friday with Turquoise Shatter and Save Me accent finger.

OPI Pink Friday, two coats with OPI Turquoise Shatter and OPI Save Me on ring finger

OPI Pink Friday, two coats with OPI Turquoise Shatter and OPI Save Me on ring finger

 

OPI Pink Friday, two coats with OPI Turquoise Shatter and OPI Save Me on ring finger

Looking at the accent nail is kind of like looking through a blizzard of glitter, but I kind of like the effect. You can't see the cracks but the light catches the holograph and the pink and blue make a good effect underneath.

As far as Pink Friday goes, look at how shiny it is without top coat! It self levels and dries in minutes, making for a very east and fast pink manicure.

Nicki Minaj Nail Art

Happy Valentines Day! OPI recently held the Nails For Life contest, where you could design a manicure inspired by one of Nicki Minaj's outfits from the past year. The contest was aimed at promoting "stand out nails" in everyday life. Now that it has ended I am allowed to publicly post my pictures. The polishes I used are OPI Teenage Dream, Color Club Platinum Record, Zoya Minka, Sally Hansen Milles Fleurs, a neon pink and neon green from Urban Outfitters, and nail decals.

Nicki Minaj Nail Art for OPI Nails For Life contest 

Nicki Minaj Nail Art, bottle pictured is OPI Teenage Dream

Nicki Minaj Nail Art for OPI Nails For Life contest

How I did each nail:

• Pinky- two coats of Urban Outfitters unnamed neon pink, one wipe of Urban Outfitters unnamed neon green on tip, nail decal on tip
• Ring- two coats of OPI Teenage Dream, diamond and pearl nail decal in center of nail
• Middle- two coats of Sally Hansen Milles Fleurs, two coats of Color Club Platinum Record on tip, nail decal just above tip
• Index- two coats of Zoya Minka, one coat Sally Hansen Milles Fleurs swiped diagonally across tip, one coat of OPI Teenage Dream atop that, diamond and pearl nail decals bordering tip

Painting on the fly, these nails took about 2 hours to create. After I did these I was so in love that I had to come up with more designs for the rest of my fingers, those took another hour or so. If you'd like to see a picture of the outfit I was inspired by, click here.

I LOVED wearing this manicure. My favorite nail was my ring finger, it reminded me how much I absolutely love Teenage Dream. 

My thoughts are that I would love to do something like this again, and it is much easier having something, a photo, as inspiration. What do you think of nail art manicures like this? What types of things would use as inspiration? I would love to read your answers in the comments section.

OPI Fly + Save Me

Howdy friends. Fly is another polish I picked up from the new OPI Nicki Minaj collection. At first I expected it to be just like Suzi Says Feng Shui, only more teal. But in actuality, Fly is not a creme but a really opaque sorbet. Three coats provides full coverage, and because it's a sorbet, the effect is like looking into water that's so deep you can't see where it ends. I like that about this polish, it has more depth than a regular creme (no pun intended.)

OPI Fly, three coats in direct sunlight 

Here's what it looks like with two coats of Save Me.

OPI Save Me, two coats over OPI Fly in direct sunlight

I like that the colors in this collection seem like they were inspired by the holographic spectrum found in the bar glitter. I also like how the silver glitter in Save Me creates such a flashy sheen. Overall, I think Fly is a unique polish because of the sorbet effect, and I like how it coordinates with Save Me.

Save Me, Your Royal Shine-ness

Howdy friends. Today called for something celebratory, since I just found out I won the audition for principal horn of the Mid-Texas symphony! Wooot. I wanted to stick with OPI Save Me and was interested to see what it would look like over a silver polish. In celebration of my victory, I found and bought a bottle of OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, from the Serena Williams Grand Slam! Summer 2011 collection. Here are two coats of Save Me over two coats of Your Royal Shine-ness.

OPI Save Me, two coats over OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, indoors with flash 

It's so fabulous, I have to show it to you in direct sunlight!

OPI Save Me, two coats over OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, outdoors, direct sunlight

AAAAAAAh!!! I seriously cannot stop staring at my nails. I am like a raccoon! YRS-n has this amazing reflection, and the glitter in Save Me is so wickedly holographic. I highly recommend BOTH of these polishes if you like shiny things.

OPI Save Me over Did It On Em

Howdy friends. After wearing Did It On Em for a while I decided to add a little sparkle with OPI Save Me, also from the new Niki Minaj collection.  Save Me is an interesting glitter with small silver glitter, blue slightly holographic bar glitter, and silver mega-holographic bar glitter. I'm not kidding when I say mega-holographic, the flashes from these things seriously look like electric lights.  It's pretty amazing.

OPI Save Me, one coat over OPI Did It On Em

Seriously, look at this bottle! These babies are glowing!

closeup OPI Save Me, one coat over OPI Did It On Em

The glitter is pretty sparse. I think two coats might look better than just one. I didn't like how the glitter just clumped together on my middle finger, but hey that's part of the "imperfect" look. Bar glitter has an odd look to me, kind of like little hairs. But the more this polish on my fingers, the more I'm getting used to it. And holy cow, you can't beat the holographic effect.

OPI Did It On Em

Hello hello hello!  I'm finally back after a long break. I apologize for my absence. I was traveling a lot over the holidays, and I realize that isn't such a good excuse when it's already almost February, but let me tell you I plan on updating much more frequently now that I'm all settled back in the Alamo city! I still travel back and forth to visit my bf a lot, but I will start updating from his apartment so I don't leave you without pretty colors for too long!

When I saw the Niki Minaj collection in person, I realized how awesome it is and got Did It On Em, Pink Fiday, Fly, and Save Me. Today I'm sharing with you Did It On Em, a slightly muted chartreuse. It sounds ugly and it kind of is, but in a pretty way.

OPI Did It On Em, three coats

See what I mean? It's an unusual shade, but because of the olive undertones, it looks really good on my skin tone. It also coordinates with lots of colors I wear: Navy, Fuscia, Orange, Black, Tan. It's kind of the neutral of really odd colors. I love how bright it is without being neon. I think it captures the funky cool offbeat hip hop flavor of Niki Minaj. As far as formula, it dried quickly and has a great shine! I did need three coats, which is a little odd for OPI cremes, this polish is just a little thin. I'm curious to see if the other cremes from this collection are like that.

What do you think? Would you wear a color like this? What would you think if you saw someone wearing it?

Thanksgiving Water Marble

Howdy friends.  Thanksgiving is almost here, and I was inspired today by the rich autumnal colors of the Harvest.  I tried a nail art technique I've never done before: water marbling.  No, it's not something they do in prisons.  It is a way of making marble designs with different color nail polishes in water, and then dipping your nail onto the pattern.  It sounds hard, and it kind of is.  And it's messy.  But it's a fun way to combine different colors into a beautiful manicure.

The colors I marbled were OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naughty and Nice, and Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose.  Before I marbled I painted my nails with one coat of Zoya Minka, just to give myself a nude base.  Here's how it turned out:

Right Hand: Water Marble with OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naught
and Nice, Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose

Left Hand: Water Marble with OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naught
and Nice, Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose

I love the autumnal color palette.  It was time consuming to do, but know that I feel like I have a hand on the technique (hah, no pun intended), I'd like to try it again.  I have some great Christmas combinations in mind!

Bahama Breeze Nail Art with Lippmann and OPI

Howdy Friends.  Showing you guys the OPI shatter polishes rekindled my adoration of them.  That being said, while browsing through Pinterest, I was inspired by this picture to create a multi-color shatter manicure.  I used one coat of Deborah Lippmann It's Delovely, one coat of OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui on the bottom half of my nail, and then one coat of OPI Black Shatter over the whole thing.  Finally I sealed it with one coat of OPI Top Coat to give it some shine.  I will tell you, this is the first time I've used OPI's top coat and I'm very impressed by it.

my Bahama Breeze manicure

"I'll have another, please."

When I first applied SSFS, it looked really bumpy over the tip of my nail.  But as the polish dried, it evened out over It's Delovely and created this slight purple fade in between the two polishes.  My colleague at work asked what I call this manicure.  My first response was a hodge-podge of the impression it gives me: "Bahama Breeze on the Beach at Sunset."  Realizing this is too long for a catchy name, I've since trimmed it down to simply "Bahama Breeze." 

This picture is exactly the impression I get from this manicure

What color combination would you like to see under Black Shatter?

OPI Black and Silver Shatter

Howdy friends.  Today lets have a view at the two shatters I will be giving away in the Castinails Thankfulness OPI Giveaway.  If you haven't already, click here to enter.

Shatter is fantastic because it is an easy way to add fun art to your manicure.  There are so many color and finish combinations you can play around with, I don't think there's any way to get bored with these polishes.  Personally, I love the way shatter looks over bright colors.  Here is OPI Black Shatter over OPI Meep-Meep-Meep.


The way shatter works is that when applied over completely dry polish, the shatter breaks up as it sets.  Be sure to wait until your base color is completely set before applying shatter, otherwise you'll end up with a weird mess.

OPI Silver Shatter is the other shatter polish in the giveaway.  I think this one is absolutely amazing.  I can imagine how awesome it would look if you played around with wearing it on top of other metal sparkles like gold or copper.  I think over white or black too it would look completely stunning.  Or, over green it would look like tinsel on a christmas tree.  Aaaaah.




Well there you have it.  Good luck, make sure to enter by December 1st 12pm CST

Meet our Giveaway Polishes: OPI Meep-Meep-Meep

OPI Meep-Meep-Meep, one coat

Howdy friends.  Let's take some time to meet the polishes I will be giving away in the Castinails Thankfulness OPI Giveaway.  If you haven't already, click here to enter. 


Today we have Meep-Meep-Meep from The Muppets Holiday 2011 collection by OPI.  Meep-Meep-Meep is a fuchsia sparkle.  Believe it or not, this is one coat.  This bright polish is a great compliment to pale winter skin, and the vibrancy of the pink will definitely lift your spirits and have you singing holiday carols in no time.  It dries quickly and would be a great, low-fuss, festive holiday manicure.

What Beaker has to do with hot pink I'm not quite sure,
but he certainly is cute.  Meep-Meep!

Castinails OPI Giveaway

Howdy friends.  This has been an absolutely crazy week for me.  My car was stolen, I bought a new car, the Police found my car, Toyota returned my new car and gave me a complementary rental car while my old car is in the shop!  I'm amazed and so lucky for how it all worked out, and I'd like to now pay my thankfulness forward to you guys.  So here it is, my first ever giveaway.

Castinails OPI Giveaway

Prize includes OPI Silver Shatter, OPI Meep-Meep-Meep and OPI Black Shatter

OPI Meep-Meep-Meep 

OPI Silver Shatter over OPI Meep-Meep-Meep

OPI Black Shatter over OPI Meep-Meep-Meep

How to Enter: One lucky winner will receive a bottle of OPI Meep-Meep-Meep from the The Holiday Muppets Holiday 2011 Collection, as well as OPI Black Shatter and OPI Silver Shatter.  To enter, leave a comment on this post with one thing you are thankful for.  If you have a blog, you will receive one extra entry for blogging about this giveaway, just leave a link to it in your comment.

Rules: Only one comment per person.  You must be a follower of Castinails to win. Be sure to leave your follower name or email in you comment so I can contact the winner.  Winner must have a valid US mailing address (sorry international fans).  Contest will close on December 1st at 12pm CST.  Winner will be chosen through random.org and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.

Good luck! I look forward to hearing about what y'all are thankful for :-)

OPI Rising Star

Howdy friends.  My weekend blogging hiatus was the result of having to go out and buy a new car.  But I am back now with a nicer vehicle and another sparkly polish to share with you!  Really, everyone wins here.

OPI Rising Star was released last year with OPI's Holiday Collection, Burlesque.  The collection was made for the release of the movie with the same title, so all of the polishes have showbiz names.  Rising Star is a toffee orange microglitter.  I prefer the formula on Rising Star to the two polishes I showed you from the Zoya Sparkle collection.  OPI's formula is a little thicker so the polish doesn't run as much.  It also dries quicker.  I used two coats.

OPI Rising Star, two coats

OPI Rising Star, two coats

Stats:

• Color: Orange tinted gold micro glitter.  
• Finish: Microglitter
• Price: Moderate, $8
• Application: Good
• Coats needed: 2
• Dry Time: Average.
• Impressions: Rich holiday gold, great for parties, Antique gold frames

Overall:  This is a great polish for dark winter days because it really sparkles indoors.  Not entirely flattering on my skin tone, but still a fun festive color.

OPI The Color To Watch

A few days ago I found out I get to go to a wedding this weekend.  I LOVE these events, so I gave great consideration to what would be on my nails.  (More consideration, in fact, than to what I'll actually be wearing.)  At first I thought I'd go with Chanel Morning Rose, but when it came time to paint my nails yesterday, I decided I was in the mood for something with a little more complexity.  Chanel Paradoxal and RBL Insouciant were considered, but I ended up deciding on OPI The Color To Watch from the Fall '10 Swiss collection.  I fell in love with this shade after choising it for an outsourced pedicure.  It looks fabulous on toes!  Not wanting to miss out on this shade, I caved and bought a bottle from ULTA.

The Color To Watch is a beautiful sophisticated lavender/blue shimmer.  It's not quite a duochrome, but both hues are definitely present.  It falls somewhere inbetween RBL Insouciant and Sally Hansen Virtual Violet.  Insouciant has a more strong lavender base and Virtual Violet has a stronger blue flash.  For this manicure I used three coats of The Color To Watch and one coat of CND Air Dry.  The top coat really helps give TCTW a glossy finish.  TCTW has a thin formula so I experienced minor cuticle drag.  Aside from that, application is pretty good.

OPI The Color To Watch, three coats, indirect sunlight

OPI The Color To Watch, three coats, direct sunlight

This polish is officially on my list of all-time favorites.  It is also my permanent go-to pedicure.  Happy Sunday, I will take lots of wedding pictures to share with you!

OPI Extra-va-vaganza

I don't think I've shown you Bring on the Bling yet, but I loved it so much I wanted to try out another of the OPI Burlesque glitters.  Extra-va-vaganza is an orange-leaning multi colored glitter.  I layered one coat over two coats of OPI You Don't Know Jaques! Suede.  Extra-va-vaganza isn't completely opaque on its own, so putting it over a brown gave it a nice depth.  I think it also helped the glitter adhere better and made it slightly easier to take off.

OPI Extra-va-vaganza, one coat over OPI You don't know Jaques! Suede,  sunlight

Extra-va-vaganza doesn't make my heart flutter the same way Bring on the Bling does, but it is a fun polish and I think it will be great for layering.

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean for Spring 2011

Ahoy mateys!  To go along with the new movie Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, OPI is releasing a collection of the same name.  The collection will consist of six dusty spring pastels and a silver crackle polish.  Shiver me timbers!  Let's take a look:

Silver Shatter top coat:

Mermaid's Tears:

Stranger Tides:

Planks A Lot:

Sparrow Me The Drama:

Skull and Glossbones:

Steady As She Rose:

Photo credit: The Beauty Bite 

Wow!  These all look beautiful.  With the exception of Stranger Tides, none of them really scream "Pirate!" to me.  But I love the Eastery hues and am especially excited for:

• Mermaid's Tears- shades of jade always look so fresh and unique
• Steady as She Rose- looks like a wonderfully delicate, sophisticated pink creme
• Skull and Glossbones- GAH!  I bet this pale taupe is going to be stunning

Which ones call out to you?

OPI says this collection will be available in May.  You can buy OPI polishes from ULTA.