O.P.I. Love This Color

Sorry, but I don't love this color.  I don't love O.P.I. either.  O.P.I only wears O.K. for me.  I Love This Color is a browned red.  It is an O.K. color on me, not great.  I liked it better when I stamped it with gold polish.  I used the apple stamp from the Salon Express kit.  It doesn't look much like an apple when stamped on the nail.  It looks a little bit like an old school T.V.  I'll try a different stamp next time.

OPI I Think In Pink

This is OPI I Think In Pink with Wet 'n Wild Megalast Candylicious for the french tip.  I used my new nail art brushes I bought from Amazon to make the french tips.  I like my manicure better this way.  I think I did an O.K. job for my first time using my nail art brushes and my second grade level art skills.

Above is OPI I Think In Pink by itself, 3 coats.  I don't really like this polish.  It is sheer and the color is too cool for me. 
I read online that if you add a coat of top coat between the polish layers and let it dry completely before adding another layer (about 15 minutes) that a sheer polish will become opaque in fewer layers.  I tried this procedure on this manicure and on my Easter manicure using Wet 'n Wild Megalast Sugar Coat.  It did not work.  The polishes took the same number of coats to become opaque as they usually do.

Valentine's Day Manicure: Hearts and Kisses

This is my second Valentine's Day Manicure this year.  I used Wet 'n Wild Sugar Coat and OPI Big Apple Red.  If I did this again next year, I'd do the heart french tip and the kisses as an accent nail.  The french tip hearts were easy.  I used the OPI brush itself to create the heart shapes.  I used a dotting tool for everything else.  For the kisses, I made an "m" shape for the top lip and then a smaller "c" shape for the bottom lip.  That was also really easy.  The pinky hearts are upside down (oops).
I love Megalast polishes, but Sugar Coat is a dud.  It is sheer and streaky.  It takes 3-4 coats before it isn't streaky. And, the color makes me look dead.  :(

OPI Two Plums Up

With Pro FX Quick Dry Top Coat

With NYC Matte Me Crazy

This is OPI Two Plums Up.  The second pic is with a matte top coat.  I think this shade is nice enough.  I don't love it, but it is good. OPI just wears O.K. on me, 4-5 days.  I can get 6-7 out of a few other brands.

Christmas Candy Nails

So, I'm behind on posting and this is my Christmas manicure.  I started out on the pointer finger using striping tape to mask off the polish.  It turns out that striping tape is hard to put on with one hand.  I'll have to figure out how to use it.  I finished the other nails with a dotting tool.  I used Wet n Wild French White Creme, Revlon Emerald City, OPI Big Apple Red and a very old pink polish. 

OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti and You Glitter Be Good To Me

The base color of this mani is OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti and the glitter gradient is done with OPI You Glitter Be Good to Me.  You Glitter Be Good to Me is gold glitter with fuchsia hexagon glitter mixed in.  I think My Auntie Drinks Chianti is the perfect pairing for this glitter. 

OPI My Auntie Drinks Cianti and Pure Ice Busted

Shade

Sunlight

This is two coats of OPI My Auntie Drinks Chainti topped with two coats of Pure Ice Busted (2$ at Walmart).  These pics do not capture this manicure accurately at all.  It is a more grape color in person.  Also, there is a ton of micro pink shimmer that doesn't seem to show up in the pictures.  That is a shame, because the pink micro pink glitter is so pretty. 

Pure Ice Busted is a very shear blue base with tons of pink micro glitter.  My cousin turned me on to this cool nail polish color.  It is best layered over other polishes.  I've swatched it over a dark purple and a blue polish and it looks great with those colors.  Busted shimmers like crazy in the sunlight.  Too bad I don't have the photography skills to capture it properly. 

4th of July Manicure

This is the manicure I did for the 4th of July.  Meh.  I'll do something different for my next patriotic manicure.  Wet n Wild Megalast Break the Ice is the base.  Then I used the Salon Express stamping kit (as seen on TV) for the stars and stripes.  I used OPI Big Apple Red and Wet n Wild Denim Chrome.  The size of the stamps are way too small for my nails.  The stamp on the pinky fit, but it is way too small for the rest of the nails.  As you can see, the ring finger stamp doesn't reach the cuticle and it isn't wide enough for the nail.  The stars were stamped horizontally with two stamps.  If you are interested in full nail stamps, skip the Salon Express kit.  I think the stamps would be too small for all but children's nails.

O.P.I. Big Apple Red

Happy Valentine's Day!  O.P.I. Big Apple Red is one of the polishes I got from my Aunt.  It is a true red.  It isn't a color that I'm really drawn to.  I haven't used OPI enough to have formed an opinion and I can't remember if this is 2 or 3 coats.  I used my stamping kit to stamp hearts on my nails for Valentines day.  I'm still learning how to stamp and I'm not very good yet.  One thing I just recently learned (after I did it for this mani) is quick dry top coats drag the color of the nail stamp as you apply it. I'm still trying to figure out if the problems I'm having are the stamping kit, the polish I'm using, or user error or some combination.  Hopefully I'll get better at it.
Update:  I get 5 days wear from OPI, which is just O.K. for me. (I can get 6-7 days with other brands.)  OPI is not worth the price for me, but I might buy a bottle of a special color. 

Failed Search for Dupes

A dupe (short for duplicate) is a color that is the same as a more expensive formula but costs the same or less.  I never get to search for dupes, because I don't buy colors that are similar if I can help it.  When my Aunt gave me some polishes, I had some similar colors.

Revlon Blackberry is close to OPI Bogotta Blackberry, but the OPI color is much more of a berry color.  Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine is darker and more purple then OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti.  But, if you just want a color that is close, either of these cheaper versions could work.  As you can see, I just slopped nail polish on for the comparison.

If you have an expensive product (nail polish, eye shadow, lipstick, etc.) and would like a similar drugstore dupe, here is what I would recommend.  Do a Google search with the name of the product and you are interested in and the word dupe.  This should pull up some links with product recommendations (assuming the product actually has a dupe)