Glitter in the Air

You thought I was done with my Lippmanns, didn’t you? So did I! The other day I went to a photography exhibition and my friend, Liane, presented me with this:

Glitter in the Air! So my theme week has gone on for an extra day, making it a total of about 9 days. Wow! 🙂
This is a GORGEOUS polish. I have ordered my own bottle actually. I had to. I couldn’t NOT have this.

Brief swatch. I thought/hoped that the murky grey/pale blue or lilac base would transfer onto the nail, and no dice as you can see above. That was about two coats. It’s a mix of pink and blue hex/round glitter.
So I decided to layer it on a pastel baby blue and wow is it ever gorgeous. It’s a very Easter-y color, too.  I chose Avon Vintage Blue:

Then I layered Glitter in the Air over this!

The only issue I had with this was that it was very hard to align the glitters, but I think that’s just a thing we deal with when dealing with glitter toppers. The sheer murky base muted the pastel blue down and it was PERFECT. However I logged on this morning and found out Chloe did the EXACT same look! GRR. 🙂 I should have gone with yellow or grey. Liane did lilac, (American Apparel L’Esprit if I remember correctly) with matte and it was gorgeous. Oh, speaking of matte…

Yep! I felt that the matte topcoat gave it a lot more Easter feel, it was like an eggshell you know?

However this one reacted badly with the Seche Vite and I felt like it shrank by the hour. Horrible. You can see some tip wear already, and I think this was definitely over 15 hours of wearing it. 😦

Boom Boom Pow

We’re nearing the end of our Lippmann week, and I have something unique this time. Today Was A Fairytale was layered over a fantastic red creme, well this time, I layered it over a new arrival: Illamasqua Milf.

Buddies, all ready to go 😉

Milf is a gorgeous mint pastel creme. GORGEOUS. Very eye-catching too, and looked great with my skin 😀 Totally worth the money.

 Boom Boom Pow is suspended in a clear shimmery base, with gold hexagonal glitter mixed in with small round glitter.

 Boom Boom Pow is said to have the dust of 24k gold. 😉 Gold glitter looks extremely luxe on mint polish, and I’m glad I took Liane’s recommendation.
No matte shot, because I forgot. 😀

Don’t forget to go here and vote for me in the Bundle Monster nail art entry! 

Boom Boom Pow

We’re nearing the end of our Lippmann week, and I have something unique this time. Today Was A Fairytale was layered over a fantastic red creme, well this time, I layered it over a new arrival: Illamasqua Milf.

Buddies, all ready to go 😉

Milf is a gorgeous mint pastel creme. GORGEOUS. Very eye-catching too, and looked great with my skin 😀 Totally worth the money.

 Boom Boom Pow is suspended in a clear shimmery base, with gold hexagonal glitter mixed in with small round glitter.

 Boom Boom Pow is said to have the dust of 24k gold. 😉 Gold glitter looks extremely luxe on mint polish, and I’m glad I took Liane’s recommendation.
No matte shot, because I forgot. 😀

Don’t forget to go here and vote for me in the Bundle Monster nail art entry! 

Today Was a Fairytale

 For Monday, we have the sixth Lippmann featured! This one is Today Was A Fairytale and it has diamond bits in it! (They probably said that to justify the price, but you could go around saying “I’ve got diamonds on my nails.” and feel luxe)
Pictured next to Essie Limited Addiction, a polish I used to layer the Fairytale polish with.

 A pic of Limited Addiction. The color is much darker than this, and I think this is my “the Red.” I am not sure. I need to do research.

 This is one coat. You can see why I chose to layer this polish because one) hello price tag and two) it’s silver glitter suspended in a clear jelly base. It would never get opaque!

Hexagonal and small glitter, a la Bad Romance and Across the Universe. Purdy! Unfortunately I destroyed this manicure quickly so I took it off before I remembered to take out the matte topcoat D:

Today Was a Fairytale

 For Monday, we have the sixth Lippmann featured! This one is Today Was A Fairytale and it has diamond bits in it! (They probably said that to justify the price, but you could go around saying “I’ve got diamonds on my nails.” and feel luxe)
Pictured next to Essie Limited Addiction, a polish I used to layer the Fairytale polish with.

 A pic of Limited Addiction. The color is much darker than this, and I think this is my “the Red.” I am not sure. I need to do research.

 This is one coat. You can see why I chose to layer this polish because one) hello price tag and two) it’s silver glitter suspended in a clear jelly base. It would never get opaque!

Hexagonal and small glitter, a la Bad Romance and Across the Universe. Purdy! Unfortunately I destroyed this manicure quickly so I took it off before I remembered to take out the matte topcoat D:

spam

I’ve been back from Florida (which has been great to me, by the way) since Saturday and have gone a bit crazy switching my manis out. So I bring to you a spam of pictures and manicures that I’ve done.

 Base: Rimmel Night Before

Stamped: Pure Ice Outrageous
Bundle Monster plate

 Base: Milani 3D (holographic collection)

Checkers: Zoya Savita

I wasn’t nuts about this one. You Just Wait would make a nice base for a muted down french, but I couldn’t get the french tip stamp to cooperate with me.. See how they all kind of lopside?

 Base: Sinful Colors You Just Wait
Stamped: Color Club Where’s the Soiree?
Bundle Monster plate

 Base: Essie Nice is Nice (From their Spring 2011 collection)

Stamped: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Jumpin’ Jade
Konad

I bring to you my official favorite yellow as of now. Needs about three coats as it is streaky, but evens out and builds up nicely. Also looked great on me.

Avon Sunshine

What I have on now. Nummy. 

Avon Powerful Pink with Nfu Oh 48 layered over.

spam

I’ve been back from Florida (which has been great to me, by the way) since Saturday and have gone a bit crazy switching my manis out. So I bring to you a spam of pictures and manicures that I’ve done.

 Base: Rimmel Night Before

Stamped: Pure Ice Outrageous
Bundle Monster plate

 Base: Milani 3D (holographic collection)

Checkers: Zoya Savita

I wasn’t nuts about this one. You Just Wait would make a nice base for a muted down french, but I couldn’t get the french tip stamp to cooperate with me.. See how they all kind of lopside?

 Base: Sinful Colors You Just Wait
Stamped: Color Club Where’s the Soiree?
Bundle Monster plate

 Base: Essie Nice is Nice (From their Spring 2011 collection)

Stamped: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Jumpin’ Jade
Konad

I bring to you my official favorite yellow as of now. Needs about three coats as it is streaky, but evens out and builds up nicely. Also looked great on me.

Avon Sunshine

What I have on now. Nummy. 

Avon Powerful Pink with Nfu Oh 48 layered over.

OPI Texas collection

So being a Texan I had to pick up the collection and see for myself this “sorbet” finish. This is going to be a huge post with swatches and whatnot 😛

We have the sorbets here. Oh look.. Don’t two, maybe four, of them look SIMILAR already??

The … not sorbets.

FYI: The sorbet shades were dry when their pictures were taken. I do like this finish, I can imagine it would look adorable on toes and nubby fingers. With my kind of long nails (they’re not that long, but if I can’t take my contacts out easily– that’s long to me :P) I had an issue with the visible nail line– three to five coats each for the sorbets just to have some coverage!! Anyway, this finish makes you look like you have constantly wet nails– the finish is very “juicy” and like some bloggers say, between a creme and jelly. I’m not saying it’s juicy just because this finish is named sorbet, not at all…

Onto the swatches!

Guy Meets Gal-Veston. 

Ok I’ve been to Galveston and it doesn’t deserve a pretty shade like this. It’s a berry, definitely– berry with a hint of orange/pink? Grapefruit kinda shade.

Too Hot Pink to Hold ‘Em

In the bottle it appears to be a cherry red sorbet, but again, appears pink on the nail. In the line up picture up on the top, this bottle is on the far right and it’s pretty color accurate.

Big Hair Big Nails.

This color is TOTALLY a dupe for Guy Meets Gal-Veston. I’m incredibly disappointed with OPI for this– did they just not want to release 11 shades so they stuck in another bottle of the same color and slapped on a different label?? I will prove it’s dupe-ness in a second.

 Houston We Have a Purple

The color in the bottle is accurate, it’s quite grape.

Do You Think I’m Tex-y?

This is a cherry wannabe, but I found it to appear purple on the nail and it seemed to me, similar to Houston We Have a Purple up there.

 Y’all Come Back Ya Hear?

Chop job, the thumb picture is the most accurate color.

YAY an orange! It looks delicious, and I want to eat it. I’m thinking this would be adorable on the toes in the summer. I actually love this shade.

I think the problem with this sorbet finish and OPI’s insistence of releasing a “gradient” of pink to purple shades is that they all end up very similar on the nail. I think out of every one, Houston We Have a Purple and Y’all Come Back Ya Hear? are the most unique ones. The other four could look similar and nobody would ask you or comment if you wore a different color on each nail.

Now the not-sorbets:

 I Vant to be a Lone-Star

 This is the most color accurate photo I could take of this enigma. It’s cool!! It’s grey, with white and silver shimmer. In the bottle it looks blue as you can see, but appears  silvery on the nail.

San Tan-tonio

Kind of looks like poop in this photo, but on the nail it’s interesting. Not something I would pick up, but it’s dusky and reminds me of the Texan ranch I grew up on… (What ranch? Yeah right :P)

 Don’t Mess With OPI

This is a nice forest green creme, however I’m not sure how unique this is. I’m already having ideas of its twins.

Suzi Loves Cowboys

I love this brown! It’s just a brown. Not purple brown, black brown, tan-brown.

 It’s Totally Fort-Worth It

Check out that pink shimmer! It’s a grey duochrome, with pink shimmer hiding in it and in the bottle the pink definitely flashes. A lot of people like this for layering, and it’s pretty sheer. 

By the time I got to this (It was the last bottle I swatched) I was just tired of painting the whole nail and just did my thumb 😛 You can see my naked nails in the background!

Austin-tatious Turquoise

I don’t understand this name very much, but whatever. It’s a pretty color but very, very sheer. You can see I missed some spots when applying the three/four layers, and there are bald spots on my thumb. If the formula was thicker, I think I would like this color more, it’s pretty accurate of Austin. 

NOW THE DUPES…. 

I dare you to tell me which is Big Hair Big Nails and which is Guy meets Gal-Veston!! Even I couldn’t see it AT ALL in person. Give up? It’s okay, I did too.

Now that you see it, Big Hair Big Nails is “slightly” darker than Guy Meets Gal-veston but whatever!! When getting this, just pick the name you like better. They’re exactly the same, I swear.

As for Houston We Have a Purple and Do You Think I’m Tex-y? I thought they might be dupes so I checked..

Not really. Houston We Have a Purple is definitely a lot more purple than Do You Think I’m Tex-y? which is much more red. 

While I personally love the sorbet finish, I just wish they threw out a blue or a green to replace two of the four very similar colors. 😦

OPI Texas collection

So being a Texan I had to pick up the collection and see for myself this “sorbet” finish. This is going to be a huge post with swatches and whatnot 😛

We have the sorbets here. Oh look.. Don’t two, maybe four, of them look SIMILAR already??

The … not sorbets.

FYI: The sorbet shades were dry when their pictures were taken. I do like this finish, I can imagine it would look adorable on toes and nubby fingers. With my kind of long nails (they’re not that long, but if I can’t take my contacts out easily– that’s long to me :P) I had an issue with the visible nail line– three to five coats each for the sorbets just to have some coverage!! Anyway, this finish makes you look like you have constantly wet nails– the finish is very “juicy” and like some bloggers say, between a creme and jelly. I’m not saying it’s juicy just because this finish is named sorbet, not at all…

Onto the swatches!

Guy Meets Gal-Veston. 

Ok I’ve been to Galveston and it doesn’t deserve a pretty shade like this. It’s a berry, definitely– berry with a hint of orange/pink? Grapefruit kinda shade.

Too Hot Pink to Hold ‘Em

In the bottle it appears to be a cherry red sorbet, but again, appears pink on the nail. In the line up picture up on the top, this bottle is on the far right and it’s pretty color accurate.

Big Hair Big Nails.

This color is TOTALLY a dupe for Guy Meets Gal-Veston. I’m incredibly disappointed with OPI for this– did they just not want to release 11 shades so they stuck in another bottle of the same color and slapped on a different label?? I will prove it’s dupe-ness in a second.

 Houston We Have a Purple

The color in the bottle is accurate, it’s quite grape.

Do You Think I’m Tex-y?

This is a cherry wannabe, but I found it to appear purple on the nail and it seemed to me, similar to Houston We Have a Purple up there.

 Y’all Come Back Ya Hear?

Chop job, the thumb picture is the most accurate color.

YAY an orange! It looks delicious, and I want to eat it. I’m thinking this would be adorable on the toes in the summer. I actually love this shade.

I think the problem with this sorbet finish and OPI’s insistence of releasing a “gradient” of pink to purple shades is that they all end up very similar on the nail. I think out of every one, Houston We Have a Purple and Y’all Come Back Ya Hear? are the most unique ones. The other four could look similar and nobody would ask you or comment if you wore a different color on each nail.

Now the not-sorbets:

 I Vant to be a Lone-Star

 This is the most color accurate photo I could take of this enigma. It’s cool!! It’s grey, with white and silver shimmer. In the bottle it looks blue as you can see, but appears  silvery on the nail.

San Tan-tonio

Kind of looks like poop in this photo, but on the nail it’s interesting. Not something I would pick up, but it’s dusky and reminds me of the Texan ranch I grew up on… (What ranch? Yeah right :P)

 Don’t Mess With OPI

This is a nice forest green creme, however I’m not sure how unique this is. I’m already having ideas of its twins.

Suzi Loves Cowboys

I love this brown! It’s just a brown. Not purple brown, black brown, tan-brown.

 It’s Totally Fort-Worth It

Check out that pink shimmer! It’s a grey duochrome, with pink shimmer hiding in it and in the bottle the pink definitely flashes. A lot of people like this for layering, and it’s pretty sheer. 

By the time I got to this (It was the last bottle I swatched) I was just tired of painting the whole nail and just did my thumb 😛 You can see my naked nails in the background!

Austin-tatious Turquoise

I don’t understand this name very much, but whatever. It’s a pretty color but very, very sheer. You can see I missed some spots when applying the three/four layers, and there are bald spots on my thumb. If the formula was thicker, I think I would like this color more, it’s pretty accurate of Austin. 

NOW THE DUPES…. 

I dare you to tell me which is Big Hair Big Nails and which is Guy meets Gal-Veston!! Even I couldn’t see it AT ALL in person. Give up? It’s okay, I did too.

Now that you see it, Big Hair Big Nails is “slightly” darker than Guy Meets Gal-veston but whatever!! When getting this, just pick the name you like better. They’re exactly the same, I swear.

As for Houston We Have a Purple and Do You Think I’m Tex-y? I thought they might be dupes so I checked..

Not really. Houston We Have a Purple is definitely a lot more purple than Do You Think I’m Tex-y? which is much more red. 

While I personally love the sorbet finish, I just wish they threw out a blue or a green to replace two of the four very similar colors. 😦

Last Friday Night Dupe

Liane mentioned how she might have picked up a dupe for Last Friday Night from OPI’s Katy Perry collection, from our Rite-Aid. Being curious, I invited her over for a dupe party.

Here is OPI Katy Perry and Sinful Colors’ Hottie side by side:

 Similar isn’t it?

 It’s obvious that Last Friday Night’s glitter is more chunkier and dense than Hottie, but the same jelly base and sparkles are present.

Hottie, Last Friday Night, Hottie. Pretty damn similar in my opinion! Hottie is a lot more shimmery while Last Friday Night has the glitter down. I don’t think anyone would ever wear these by themselves, so if layered I believe the effect would be identical.
So if you don’t want to pay eBay scalpers for LFN since it’s sold out every freakin’ where, Sinful Colors is a pretty good alternative (only 2 bucks a bottle… yeah I’d say it’s a good alternative)