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?

L.A.K.E.

Howdy friends! This is an exciting weekend coming up: Tomorrow I fly to L.A. for 24 hours, then it's off to Austin for a weekend lake-house retreat with my boyfriend and our friends. I haven't seen him for 3 weeks so I'm quite excited :-)

It seemed too soon to part with my Coronation mani, so I kept it on my index finger as an accent nail. Then I used L'OREAL Waters Edge, a serene aqua creme, and a coat of OPI Silver Shatter.

L'OREAL Waters Edge, OPI Silver Shatter, Coronation Accent Nail

The result: something suitable for California and the lake! Now hopefully it will be sunny this year :-)

Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Coronation Nails

What happens when you put debutantes into the same theater? Glitter. Lots and lots of Glitter.

Tonight I'm playing for Coronation, a coming-out ball that happens every year during Fiesta. All the ladies wear glitzy dresses with loooong trains. I got a peek of them today during rehearsal- Yowza! Not wanting to be shown up, and since we have to wear all black, the bling goes on my nails.

I started with two coats of OPI Your Royal Shineness, a wonderful platinum microglitter. Then I added a coat of OPI Silver Shatter for texture. Once that dried, I used Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday on my index fingers for an accent nail. The other nails are topped with Color Club Platinum Record.

Coronation Nails

They're so sparkly! The shatter effect isn't very visible, but it keeps the texture from being too flat. Happy Birthday looks really great over silver, and I like how the color is a subtle effect against the rest of the glitter.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day! The weather here in San Antonio is beautiful, I hope you're all experiencing something similar where you live :-)

¡Viva Fiesta!

¡Viva Fiesta! Every spring in San Antonio, the entire city throws a giant week-long party. It's either to celebrate Easter or to have an excuse for music and bright colors and drinking in the street. We at the symphony participle by throwing a Fiesta Pops concert, which includes a real live Mariachi Band. If you happened to be at the concert last night, you did in fact hear a Mariachi song that was about...a handlebar mustache.
An event this spectacular obviously requires a special manicure. I chose 5 different piñata colors, painted each nail a different shade, then used two coats of Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday on top.

 Fiesta Nails

The colors I used were:

• Thumb: Zoya Pippa

• Index: OPI Belize it or Not

• Middle: China Glaze Gaga for Green

• Ring: Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

• Pinkie: OPI Fly

On my Right hand, I used the same colors but changed the order. I wanted a complete melange of piñata shades. If I had more time, I thought about getting some tissue paper too...maybe next year.


What do you think? Does it capture the spirit of Fiesta? Have you ever gotten to experience Fiesta? I would love to hear your stories.

  

Revlon Lilac In Love

Howdy friends. Recently we've seen vivid bright nail polishes come into vogue. But as Spring approaches, something delicate seems fitting. For this manicure, I pulled out an ancient bottle of nail polish, one in my collection since circa 1999. Revlon Lilac in Love, a limited edition, is a pinky lavender with orchid blue shimmer. Two coats makes for a romantic manicure. The blue shimmer makes it a pink that leans towards purple, and on the nail it just looks soft and enchanting.

Revlon Lilac In Love, two coats 

Revlon Lilac In Love, two coats

I love the way this looks. While a huge fan of bright, in-your-face manicures, there's something about the subtlety of this look that has me intrigued. Seeing your natural nail line isn't such a bad thing, and I think we are about to see sheer polishes gain more popularity.

**Tip: When choosing this type of manicure, look for shades with pink or red hues to complement skin tone. Polishes that are too blue or too green look unflattering. Since there will not be complete coverage, make sure that nails are nicely groomed by filing them to the same length and shape.