Friday, July 29, 2011

China Glaze Blue Iguana + Nail Art

I used to avoid China Glaze nail polishes when I was younger, stemming from an unfortunate experience in which I purchased a bottle of CG Tempest and it was an absolutely disgusting application. I'm talking gloppy and thick RIGHT out of the bottle!

So I was highly averse to China Glaze after that. But that was the early 2000's and now we're in 2011, so after reading some rave reviews and checking out an Ulta Buy 2 Get 1 free sale, I decided to hop on board the China Glaze train.

And quite frankly, I don't think I'm getting off any time soon.



So earlier this week, I decided to try out Blue Iguana from the Island Escape collection for Summer 2011. I'm a sucker for a good blue shimmer and it caught my eye right in the bottle.



The formula was 1000x times better than I'd experienced in the past, so I'm really glad I gave China Glaze another chance. It was a much lighter color on my nails than I expected and I needed three coats to get it opaque. However, it was totally worth it.



Here you can see how smooth the color applied and how bright it was after one thin coat of Seche Vite. In the picture below, you can see just how pretty the slight shimmer is.



It's not sparkly enough to term it a glitter, but it's subtle enough to be seen. Truly a beauty. And speaking of sparkles, I decided to do a little nail art and add tips in OPI DS Shimmer, a silver holo polish, and a white flower on my ring fingers.

So if you're a fan of blue polish, I'd definitely recommend Blue Iguana!

Coming up in my next post... a Mets-icure!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

OPI Designer Series: Glamour

As I mentioned in my introduction, I'm a glitter junkie. If a nail polish has sparkles, I'm interested. Although, I'm particular about my glitters.

But there is one kind of nail polish I'm never particular about: duochromes.

For those of you who have never heard of duochromes, or aren't exactly sure what qualifies as one, I would define a duochrome polish as one in which the color changes hue when viewed at an angle and as they move towards or away from a light source.

The OPI Designer Series are famous for its wide range of these polishes, with a few non-DCs sprinkled in like Fantasy and Magic.

However, I stumbled upon DS Glamour while at a friend's house this past week. She had picked it up a while back and forgotten all about it until cleaning out her dresser, leaving it out to show me.

So OF COURSE, I volunteered to try it out. Fair warning, by the time I took pictures, it was two days later and the slightest hint of tip wear is showing. My apologies.



As you can see, DS Glamour is royal blue with a slight purple tint that is INCREDIBLY prismatic. And boy, is it a stunner.



Here, you can really see all of its facets under artificial light. As I took this tonight, sunlight was not available to me. However, I will post a good sunlight shot tomorrow.

Either way, I'll totally wear this again. That is... if I can pry it out of my friend's hands.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I've FINALLY done it!

My name is Danielle. And I am a nail polish addict.

I'm also a college student, studying political science and Spanish. I love sports... baseball is my favorite. And I'm not afraid to make my nails match team colors, even if they are yellow and brown.

One thing you'll notice in posts to come is that I love glittery and sparkly nail polish, as well as rhinestones. I try to rock a jelly or creme every now and then just to make myself appear sane. Although, I personally believe that to be a lost cause.

I'll try to post about crazy hauls during clearance sales. I'll try to let you know when I find bargains at local retail chains, supercenters, drug stores, and other places. After all, my three favorite B's are bargains, beauty products, and baseball. Not necessarily in that order.


I hope you'll stick around and follow my nail exploits. We're going to have some fun.

Princess Polish