OPI Hawaii 2015 - Is Mai Tai Crooked? & This Color's Making Waves

The Hawaii collection by OPI* will be available from today. They're launching 12 very springlike colors and I had the opportunity to try two of them. Although these two aren't my favorites from the collection (from what I can tell), I swatched them for you. First there is Is Mai Tai Crooked? for which I needed three coats and it still wasn't completely opaque. Apart from the formula I also don't really like this color too much. I didn't use any top coat but the Drip Dry Drops* from OPI which I'm testing at the moment. I do like these so far! The second color is This Color's Making Waves and I like this one much better. That's mainly for the golden/copper glitter inside, which gives the blue a really nice shimmer. I used two coats and although it seems a tiny bit streaky, I like the result. At the moment I'm thinking about getting That's Hula-rious!, the mint color of this collection. Which one is your favorite?

Ab heute gibt es die Hawaii Kollektion von OPI* und ich durfte zwei der zwölf Farben testen. Das ist zum einen Is Mai Tai Crooked? den ich leider nicht so toll finde, weil er nach drei Schichten immer noch nicht komplett deckt. Die Farbe steht mir auch nicht sonderlich gut. Die Bilder sind ohne Top Coat, dafür habe ich die Drip Dry Drops* von OPI benutzt, die ich momentan teste und gerne mag. Zum anderen habe ich This Color's Making Waves zugeschickt bekommen, den ich schon viel besser finde. Ein tolles Blau mit goldenem/kupferfarbenem Glitter und deckend mit zwei Schichten. Leider ein klein wenig streifig im Auftrag, aber ich bin doch recht zufrieden. Ich überlege mir den mintfarbenen That's Hula-rious! zu kaufen. Welcher gefällt euch am besten?

*PR Sample

OPI - Is Mai Tai Crooked?

Get it straight – this fruity orange crème is fabulous!

OPI - This Color's Making Waves

This shimmery, lagoon blue has got heads turning.

More information: OPI Swiss

Matte Gradient Splatter Nails

A while back I saw a beautiful design by one of my favorite nail artists: Lady Crappo. She did a matte gradient with metallic splatter on top and I really wanted to have this design on my nails as well. I decided to go for the green gradient and I used OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! plus KIKO - 347 as my gradient colors. I then used Essie - Matte About You for the matte finish and added the metallic splashes with Essie - Penny Talk. She did a tutorial on how to do all of that.

Heute gibts ein Design von Lady Crappo. Den grünen Farbverlauf/Gradient habe ich mit OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! und KIKO - 347 gemacht. Für das matte Finish eine Schicht von Essie - Matte About You aufgetragen und dann die Spritzer darüber mit Essie - Penny Talk. Sie hat auch ein Tutorial dazu, in dem sie genau erklärt, wie das alles geht.

OPI - Black Shatter over KIKO - Electric Blue

It's been a while since I've used a crackle polish and although I don't think these are too popular anymore, I really like a good old crackle polish every now and then. Nothing too fancy though and nothing with glitter, but a plain black one is a great choice in my opinion. I used OPI - Black Shatter over two coats of KIKO - Electric Blue and one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss on top. 

OPI - Fifty Shades of Grey Collection 2015

The collection Fifty Shades of Grey by OPI*, inspired by the book and the movie, consists of three actual shades of grey, two silvers plus one red and will be released on the 19th of January 2015. I'm going to refrain from speaking out on the inspiration, but I have to admit that I was thrilled to see a collection composed mainly of grey nail polish, especially by OPI. Maybe it was all of those red and golden Christmas shades, but I'm definitely ready to switch to cold grey and silver. OPI Swiss was so kind to send me three of the colors and I was a tiny bit disappointed that I didn't get the three grey shades. Because from what I've seen and read Cement the Deal and Embrace the Gray would have been exactly my cup of tea. But I did get my (assumed) favorite from the collection: Dark Side of the Mood, which turned out to be a bit of a letdown for me. Nonetheless it was nice to get back into swatching some nail polish after Christmas. I do hope you had a great time and got a ton of snow! 

*PR Sample

OPI - Dark Side of the Mood

This brooding, stormy charcoal is dangerously gorgeous.

I knew I would love this one and I do love the color. But the formula is quite thin and runny, so it took me three coats for an opaque finish. This is disappointing for such a dark shade and not the quality I'm expecting from OPI. I'm wearing no base or top coat.

OPI - My Silk Tie

This silky, gleaming silver has got me all tied up.

Haha, that play on words. Not. Two streaky coats of silver. Yawn. No base or top coat. 

OPI - Shine on Me

This shimmering silver with subtle blue sparkle really turns me on!

That's better! I like it! Not my usual go-to color, but it is intriguing. I used two coats without a base or top coat and the result was opaque enough for me, although you can still see the nails a little bit. The blue glitter makes it really interesting to look at and I don't think I have anything similar in my collection yet. Definitely my favorite of the three.

Mint Reindeer Nail Art - Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Two coats of OPI - My Dogsled is a Hybrid,

Reindeer water decals are available on Ebay.

Christmas Plaid Nails feat. Essie - Urban Jungle

Today's nail art was inspired by a beautiful plaid design I saw a few weeks ago on Quiche Girl. She had the awesome idea to use multiple colors in one stamping. I love that she also added blue to the mix which looks amazing, but I left it out to make mine a bit more Christmassy. I also used the same collection from MoYou London, that is the Hipster collection. But instead of #06 I used the XL version #05. As my base color I used two coats of Essie - Urban Jungle. Then for the first round of plaid I used OPI - Christmas Gone Plaid and Cinnamon Sweet together on the same image. Then I used OPI With a Nice Finn-Ish for the golden plaid, which could have been a bit more opaque, but that's okay. For the last step I took a nail art brush and the same red and green colors to add some stripes over the stamping. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Reminder: OPI Giveaway

Just a little reminder about my OPI giveaway: You have until tomorrow, 30th of November midnight (Swiss time) to join. More information and how to enter here.

Ruffian Nails / OPI Nordic / Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014

Today's nail design combines two of the newest OPI shades in a fancy sideways Ruffian. I used My Dogsled is a Hybrid* from the OPI Nordic collection  as my base color with two coats. Then I added some very old french nail stickers from essence onto the dried base and created the Ruffian effect with Unfrost my Heart* from the OPI - Gwen Stefani Holiday collection. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri.

* PR Sample

This blog gives me the awesome opportunity to try a lot of new products and I decided I want to give something back to you ladies, because you're a big part of this blog! I'd love to make two of you very happy by giving away two new and unused OPI sets. Set Gwen Stefani consists of Unfrost my Heart, Rollin' in Cashmere and So Elegant. Set Nordic consists of  Can't aFjörd Not To, Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm? and OPI With A Nice Finn-Ish. This is open internationally and you have until the 30th of November 2014 midnight (Swiss time) to drop me an e-mail with the subject: "OPI is awesome". Please also let me know which set you would like to win and try to convince me that you're not some bot looking for free stuff (for example, say Hi and use my name, send me your blog link to look at or a picture of the nail design you've done! I'd love that :) ) I will draw two winners and contact you by e-mail for your address. Also obviously one entry per person, since duh. Thank you! You're awesome! 

EDIT: Ihr könnt mir natürlich auch auf Deutsch schreiben! Viel Glück!

Set Gwen Stefani: 

Set Nordic:

Plaid Nails / MoYou London Hipster Collection #05

It's time for some more plaid nails! I'm really happy with my MoYou London Hipster plate #05 and I could wear plaid nails for the rest of my life really. I decided to use H&M - Get A Rose 4 Me as my base color. It's just perfect for autumn! Then I did the stamping with Essie - Angora Cardi. Since the plate doesn't have simple lines, I free-handed them with a nail art brush and OPI - Skyfall. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Birthday Smooshattack Nail Art!

Yay for two posts in a row! Yay for my birthday! Obviously I wanted to have awesome nails for today and I tried something new, so I just had to show you right away. This is a technique invented by Elle from @with2l. I'm her biggest fan right now, her nail art is so beautiful and creative! The technique she invented is called Smooshattack and you basically use a stamper to smudge colors on your nails. She has a tutorial for it, which you can find with the #smooshattack. I'm amazed by the effect and how great it looks on the nails. This is my first attempt and I love it, so there's definitely more to come! I used OPI - Ski Teal We Drop*, Flormar - 400 and KIKO - #523 Royal Blue. On top are two coats of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

And now I'm gonna look for cake! <3 

*PR Sample

OPI - Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 Collection

I had the pleasure to review 12 of the 18 polishes in the newest OPI collection for Christmas 2014 called Gwen Stefani Holiday for OPI*. The collection was created with Gwen Stefani and contains colors from red to purple, green, silver and gold plus four glitter top coats and a golden flakie top coat. It will be available at the end of October 2014. As always, you can find more information about OPI on the OPI Swiss website or their Facebook page. I swatched every color with two coats without base or top coat and I will write a little note for each color this time. Overall I think it's a nice collection, but not too exciting. There are a few colors which stand out for me though: Cinnamon Sweet, Comet in the Sky, Sleigh Parking Only and First Class Desires. Pictures after the jump!

*PR Sample

Dance Legend - Waszowski feat. OPI - Ski Teal We Drop

For today I have a very simple nail art with just two different colors. As my base color I used two coats of Dance Legend - Wazowski*. After the base was completely dry, I added a piece of my self-made 2 mm nail art striping tape in center of each nail. Then I used one coat of OPI - Ski Teal We Drop* as my top layer and removed the striping tape. On top of it is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

* PR Samples

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.