OPI - Skyfall

Another holiday souvenir 

Two coats of OPI - Skyfall, one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

Water Marble Nails feat. OPI Nordic Collection

I always like doing nail art with specifique colors of a collection and I think the water marble technique is perfect for combining different colors in one design. I used my favorite polish from the OPI Nordic collection called My Dogsled Is A Hybrid as my base color for the marble. Then I added Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm? and Viking In A Vinter Vonderland to the mix. If you're unsure about this technique you can check out my Water Marble Basics. 

OPI Nordic Collection Fall/Winter 2014

After a few weeks of beautiful Mexican heat, I'm back in rainy Switzerland and ready for fall. Waiting for me on my return was the complete OPI Nordic collection for Fall/Winter 2014. Thank you Opi Swiss! The collection is available now in Swiss stores and each bottle is sold for CHF 23.90. As always these have a great formula and dry rather fast. I really like the general look of this collection which was inspired, well, by the northern countries. I would have expected a lot more blue instead of the brown shades, but then again I haven't seen too many brown shades in nail polish collections so far. My absolute favorite though, which is not surprising, is the mint color and you should definitely check out My Dogsled is a Hybrid if you're into mint nail polish. I swatched every color with two coats without base or top coat. 

Coca-Cola by OPI: Icons of Happiness

I received three samples of the OPI collaboration with Coca-Cola and I will show you all of them in today's post. The Coca-Cola by OPI - Icons of Happiness collection will be available from the end of June 2014 until October, including 9 bottles for CHF 23.90 each and a mini set with all bottles for CHF 49.90. For more information you can visit the OPI Swiss Facebook page. I was really excited about this collection since I just love the idea of colors inspired by drinks. I'm a big fan of Vanilla Coke, so I'm probably gonna buy You're So Vain-illa for myself, just because. I got the classic red inspired by - well - the classic coke called Coca-Cola Red, then the black with dark red glitters which was inspired by Coke Zero and is called Today I Accomplished Zero (love the name!) plus the duochrome green inspired by Sprite which is called Green On The Runway. I really didn't get the reference to Sprite though, but it's a lovely color. I used two coats of each polish and no top coat except for Today I Accomplished Zero, to even out the glitter surface. As usual these are of good quality and dried fast.

Coca-Cola Red

Classic red - always in style, always perfect.

two coats, no top coat

Green on the Runway

This uncut-lime green makes a real fashion statement.

two coats, no top coat

Today I Accomplished Zero

Dramatic black with effervescent red sparkle is a total must-do. 

two coats, 1 coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss

Purple & Mint Water Marble

Today's design is a water marble which I did last week and although I got a bit confused with what is left and right while doing the marbling, I still kind of liked it in the end. I used a white base to make sure that my colors would look opaque enough and then picked three colors for the marble: OPI - Pamplona Purple, Essie - First Timer and China Glaze - Holly-Day. Actually I just wanted to use mint and purple first, but then the lines weren't clear enough for me, so I had to add a darker color as well. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

My Water Marble Basics

(Piñata) Water Marble

Time for some water marble! This is one of those designs where I saw some bottles standing around on my table and felt like they would look cute combined. At first I wanted to add green to it as well, since I wanted to do something Piñata inspired. But the green didn't work for the water marble technique (check out my water marble basics here!) so I just used these three colors: OPI - Hey Baby, OPI - I Just Can't Cope-acabana and H&M - Car Paint Purple. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

OPI Spring/Summer 2014 - Pamplona Purple

I received this beautiful color called Pamplona Purple as a sample from the selected OPI shades for spring and summer 2014. It's available in the standard range and not part of a collection. I used two coats for these pictures, although I think you could get away with just one coat if you're careful with application. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - No Chip Top Coat. 

The Lacquer Legion Glam: OPI - My Favorite Ornament

I skipped last month's challenge, but this month's I'm in again! It's the fourth challenge of The Lacquer Legion: Glam. The first thing on my mind was a polish: OPI - My Favorite Ornament from last year's Christmas collection. I love this one! It's textured and I always wanted to combine liquid sand with a creme polish. So I used two coats of Wet'n'Wild - Black Creme as my base and then created a pattern with striping tape. I then added one coat of My Favorite Ornament and removed the striping tape - that's it! You can find all of the other designs of this challenge with the hashtag #LLglam. 

My #LLadoration design

My #LLreinvention design

Striped Nails

I used two coats of Flormar - 400 as my base and then added stripes with a nail art brush and a lot of colors: Flormar - N006,  Essie - Mint Candy Apple, Essie - Avenue Maintain, OPI - AmazON...AmazOff and Sally Hansen - So-Nata Problem. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.

Gradient Nails / OPI - AmazON...AmazOFF

I used OPI - AmazON...AmazOff plus H&M - Manhunter to create a gradient with a piece of sponge. Clean up was really annoying but I do like the combination. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. I think there is a pretty famous picture of a gradient like this, but I couldn't find it anymore. If you know where it's from, please let me know! 

OPI Brazil Collection 2014 - Nail Art

Some hearts on top of two coats of OPI - I Just Can't Cope-acabana from the Brazil Collection for Spring/Summer 2014, painted with AmazON...AmazOff and Where Did  Suzi's Man-go? The collection will be available in Switzerland from the 24th of February. More about OPI Swiss. 

Products were provided for review.

OPI - Black Shatter & China Glaze - Pool Party

A crackling pool party, yay! I got a beautiful present from my boyfriend and I wanted to show you one of the polishes, although you probably already know this one. It's OPI - Black Shatter, a black crackling polish from their Shatter collection. I don't have a lot of crackling polishes and they are sometimes a bit difficult to combine, especially the glitter ones. But I do love the black one, especially over a clear bright neon pink like China Glaze - Pool Party. I used two coats of the base color and then one thick coat of the crackling polish which gives the best result in my opinion. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.

Gwen Stefani for OPI

I had the opportunity to try four of the seven polishes in the upcoming Gwen Stefani for OPI collection which will be available in Swiss stores from 21st of January 2014. As usual the 15 ml bottles are sold for CHF 23.90 and there is one special polish including nail art studs and rhinestones for CHF 49.90. For more information you can visit the OPI Swiss website. The polishes have different finishes, so the ones I tried are a pink crème called Hey Baby, a golden mat satin called Love.Angel.Music.Baby., a black mat satin called 4 In The Morning and a silver glitter top coat called In True Stefani Fashion. I was the biggest No Doubt/Stefani fan and kind of still am, so I love the concept and I think the colors are a great choice to represent Gwen. Then again I didn't think they are super unique on their own, which is why I combined them all in one design. I used one coat of OPI - Rapid Dry on top since OPI Swiss was so kind to send me a bottle of their top coat, but I'm not too impressed yet. One coat was too thin to melt the brush strokes together and I don't usually apply two coats, so I'm still able to see and feel the black lines. But I will definitely try it with other designs as well. 

From left to right: 

Hey Baby (Crème Gloss), Love.Angel.Music.Baby.(Satin), 

In True Stefani Fashion (Glitter Paillette), 4 In The Morning (Satin)

In True Stefani Fashion over 4 In The Morning

I wish you all the best for 2014, 

thank you for being the best followers ever! :)

Essie - Mint Candy Apple & OPI - Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat

As planned I tried my OPI - Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat over a mint base color and which mint nail polish would be more obvious than Essie - Mint Candy Apple? I was wearing this combination last week and really liked it, even if the flakie top coat kind of changed the color of my base to a more yellowish mint color. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Salted Watercolor Nails

Salted, what? Yes, I stumbled upon one of those art tutorials on YouTube the other day and we also learned that technique in school back then: the one where you sprinkle salt over watercolors and it results in beautiful textures. I figured if this works on paper it should work on nails (not that this is always the case, but I had to try), so I started with some colors and sea salt. As my base I used China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint and then I added one coat of Essie - Matte About You to make a canvas for the acrylic paint. Then I mixed blue paint with water, painted it on the nail and sprinkled everything with salt. I still have to find the best way to do this technique, but for now I'm quite happy with my result. I also added a tiny bit of OPI - Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat and Sally Hansen - Night Watch. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss.  

OPI Mariah Carey Christmas Collection 2013: In My Santa Suit, My Favorite Ornament & Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat

I got some really cool press samples from OPI's new Christmas Collection and decided to review them for today. The Christmas Collection 2013 will launch tomorrow, the 28th of October in Switzerland and each nail polish is sold for CHF 23.90, except for the Pure 18K Top Coat which is sold for CHF 49.90. There are 19 polishes alltogether and their names are inspired by Mariah Carey. The collection includes 10 regular finishes, 8 liquid sand polishes and the super fancy White Gold & Silver Top Coat. To state the obvious: the price for the top coat is hilarious, considering you can easily DIY (as seen at Demelza's World last week). But since I had the opportunity to try it, I was of course very curious! In addition to the top coat I got a liquid sand and a regular polish. Alright, let's do this! 

OPI - In My Santa Suit

This generously pigmented red is worth staying on the "nice" list. 

Indeed, nice list it is! It's a pretty metallic, shimmery red with a perfect formula. I used two coats without base and top coat. I think this could also be nice as a stamping polish, I will have to try that!

Natural light

Lightbox

OPI - Pure 18K White Gold & Silver Top Coat

The Top Coat consists of real white gold and silver leaves in a clear base and yes I do absoutely love it! I added it over In My Santa Suit and I think it looks adorable. OPI recommends to add this over darker colors, but I think it would look great over any color, even maybe on top of a beautiful mint? The bottle is really cool as well and besides the price I have nothing to complain about.

*drum roll* 

OPI - My Favorite Ornament

Make this champagne glitter your new personal favorite.

I love how they read my mind. THIS ONE! I'm so in love! It's like Essie - Beyond Cozy in textured. I used two coats and nothing else and decided that this will be my favorite holiday polish from now on. For good. Love it.

OPI Swiss

OPI Swiss on Facebook

I bet this post gave you Christmas feelings. A little? 

Have a beautiful Sunday <3 

OPI - San Francisco Autumn/Winter 2013: Dining Al Frisco, Muir Muir On The Wall, Alcatraz...Rocks

For Autumn/Winter 2013 OPI is releasing a collection inspired by San Francisco. They sent me three colors to review and I will show you all of them plus the bottle pictures of the whole collection after the jump. The collection consists of 12 permanent shades and 3 liquid sand shades which are limited. This collection will be available in Switzerland as of 25th of July 2013.