My Top Five Favorite Fall Polishes

I know we're still a few weeks out from it being "technically" autumn, but lately I've been so in the mood for fall colors that I decided to put this post together. These are my top five absolute favorite polishes to wear during the fall. I do have a lot of other shades that I enjoy wearing around this time, but I find myself reaching for these five very frequently every year.

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest is a super dark, super shimmery blackened shade of garnet. The formula on my bottle is incredible and covers great in two coats.

Essie Very Structured is kind of my "wild card"; I never expected to like this dark pumpkin spice shade, but I actually love it! I'm wearing two coats.

A England Dorian Grey is an absolutely stunning gunmetal grey metallic. Two easy coats are all you need.

Zoya Monica is a stunning aubergine crème. I have such a thing for purples and I wear this all the time, fall or not. The formula is fantastic and it covers perfectly in two coats.

A England Tess D'Urberville is one of my all time favorite shades. This deep, dark shimmery green is absolutely breathtaking! I'm wearing two coats.

What's your favorite fall polish? Did it make my list?

OPI Hawaii: Swatches/Review of My Favorites

Are you hanging onto the shred of summer like I am? Wearing your tropical maxi dresses one last time? Soaking up the warmth before the temperature starts dropping and the leaves start turning? I can't say I'm not excited for that (I love fall!), but I'm not quite ready to give summer up just yet. So today I have my favorites shades from the OPI Hawaii collection to share the summer spirit with you.

Do You Take Lei Away? is a lovely milky beige cream shade. I love wearing shades like this every other week or so in the summer to kind of cleanse my palette from all the bright shades I wear. This is two coats.

That's Hula-rious! is an awesome light minty green polish which covered well for me in two coats.

Go With the Lava Flow is a gorgeous shade of pink that reminds me of hibiscus flowers. What made this one a favorite is the stunning blue shimmer in it! I just love shades like this. I'm wearing two coats and the formula was perfect. 

Aloha from OPI is a searing hot shade of coral that leans far to the red side, but with just enough pink to make me love it. Wear this to the beach if you want to stand out! Two coats here.

Is Mai Tai Crooked? is a light mango orange polish. I find that most orange polishes give me a Halloween vibe, but this one does a good job of staying in summer territory. The formula wasn't the best here, but I got away with two coats.

Hello Hawaii Ya? is a beautiful dusty shade of lilac that was excellent in two coats. You know my favorites list had to include a purple! :P

OPI released this collection in the spring, but you should still be able to find it now (possibly even on clearance!). Which shade was your favorite?

OPI DS Tourmaline and Titanium Swatches & Review

Hello hello! I'm sharing with you today the two new DS shades from OPI. These are seriously blingy shades in a jelly-like formula that you could either wear on their own or layer over similar colors.

DS Tourmaline is a beautiful medium pink that is absolutely packed with holographic and iridescent glitter. I'm wearing three coats but will definitely layer this over another polish when I wear it again.

DS Titanium is a stunning charcoal jelly with holographic and iridescent glitter. I'm wearing three coats here as well, but I'm betting this would look more incredible over a plain black polish. I can tell you for sure that I'll be making a nail polish ornament out of this one!

These shades are available now wherever OPI is sold. I'm a little disappointed that they weren't full coverage; I think I would have enjoyed them a lot more if they were. Will you be picking them up?

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

OPI Nordic Collection Swatches & Review

Good morning! The OPI Nordic collection was tempting me on my desk so I decided to swatch and post it next. This twelve piece collection was inspired by the Nordic countries and is so fun! OPI sometimes gets a little repetitive with their collection (who needs six reds in a holiday collection???), but this one knocked it out of the park! Let's get started...

My Dogsled is a Hybrid is a beautiful jade green creme. This is two coats.

Going My Way or Norway? is a nice camel tan. I don't think this one looks particularly good on me, but I love the color. Two coats here.

Can't Afjord Not To is a knockout! This creamy, dreamy orange-based coral is just incredible. I love that OPI added this obvious summertime shade to their fall collection. Perfect formula, perfect coverage in two coats.

Ice-Bergers & Fries is a milk chocolate brown shade. I guess I must not like browns since I don't really like the look of this one on me either, but it'll be great to keep around for nail art. I'm wearing two coats.

Skating on Thin Iceland is a lovely deep raspberry shade. This is two coats and the finish seems jelly-like to me. Three coats would probably give it a total creme finish.

Thank Glogg It's Friday is a gorgeous shimmery pinkish red. I love subtle shimmer like this! I'm wearing two coats and the formula was great.

Viking in a Vinter Vonderland is of course one of my favorites! This deep, eggplant purple is just fabulous! I'm wearing two thin coats.

My Voice is a Little Norse is a holographic silver glitter that can be layered up to be worn on it's own or topped over another shade. I chose to put one coat over Viking in a Vinter Vonderland.

With a Nice Finn-ish is a warm gold shade with a slightly frosty finish that totally glows. I'm normally not a big fan of metal-toned shades but this one is so beautiful. This is two coats.

Do You Have This Color in Stock-holm? is an incredibly bright blue-toned purple. It's so much fun for a fall collection! I'm wearing two coats.

Suzi Has a Swede Tooth is a deep bubble gum pink shade with fabulous coverage in two coats.

How Great is Your Dane? is an amazing dark dirty taupe. I love shades like this! This will be the perfect dark neutral for the winter. Two coats.

What did you think of this collection? I love how unique these shades are and how bright some of them are for being in a fall collection. The Nordic collection is available wherever OPI products are sold.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

OPI Halloween 2014 Peanuts Collection Swatches & Review

Happy Halloween everybody! I sadly don't have any nail art to share with you this year since I've been trying to get caught up on my swatching, but I do have OPI's Halloween collection to share. This year, OPI looked to the Peanuts for their Halloween inspiration and put together a four-shade collection in ode to the cartoon.

Who Are You Calling Bossy?!? is your standard black polish. Good coverage and formula; this is two coats. If you don't already have a staple black in your collection, this is a good option.

Good Grief! is a bright sunshine yellow, a perfect match to Charlie Brown's iconic shirt. This had a good formula for yellow and covered well in two coats.

Where's My Blanket??? is a glitter topper with black, yellow, and pale orange glitter. I layered two coats on my index and middle nails.

To Be or Not To Beagle is a glitter topper with black and multicolored glitter. I layered two coats here on my ring and pinkie nails.

These limited edition Halloween shades are available wherever OPI is sold and are also available in a mini set that includes nail decals. I was never a huge Peanuts fan, but I can see these being hugely popular! Did you pick them up as a collector's item or did you pass on them?

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

OPI Pink of Hearts Duo 2014 Swatches/Review

As many of you know, October is breast cancer awareness month and each year, OPI puts out a duo in support of breast cancer awareness. This year, they've stepped up their game with a gorgeous creamy glitter and the perfect light pink.

Mod About You is a lovely shade of baby pink, this is a classic OPI color. It applied perfectly in two coats, although the formula was a little thick.

The Power of Pink has a creamy pink base with white and hot pink glitter suspended in it. This one covered fabulously as well in two coats and I had no issues getting the glitter to come out of the bottle.

This duo also comes with a cute glittery pink nail file with a breast cancer awareness ribbon charm hanging from it. The set retails for $16.95 and you can find it wherever OPI is sold.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

OPI Brazil Collection Swatches/Review

Good morning everyone! Today I finally have my OPI Brazil swatches to share with you! This collection is super bright and fun... perfect for summer! There's also a nice mix of light and neutral shades that compliment the brights very well. Let's get to it!

Toucan Do It If You Try is a juicy orangey-coral. The formula was a little thick and I found that my second coat dragged a bit if I wasn't careful. You're looking at two coats.

Live.Love.Carnival. is my absolute favorite in this collection and suprise! It's coral! It's darker and pinker than Toucan Do It If You Try and it's just totally perfect. The formula again is a little thick, but I was able to apply two coats fairly easily.

Kiss Me I'm Brazilian is a bright bubble gum pink. You want Barbie pink? Here it is. This is two coats.

Where Did Suzi's Man-go? is the most gorgeous cantaloupe-colored shade that I've ever seen in polish! The formula was good too and I used two coats.

I Just Can't Cope-acabana is a vivid yellow that has a good formula! It isn't sheer at all at two coats and applied pretty well too.

I Sao Paolo Over There is a faded eggplant shade. I love these dirty neutrals! This is two coats and it had a perfect formula.

Don't Bossa Nova Me Around is a light pink-putty shade. This will be a great neutral choice for summer! Great formula, two coats.

Red Hot Rio is a red jelly polish. I guess it wouldn't be an OPI collection without at least one red, but I'm glad that there's only one. This isn't anything exciting. Two coats.

Taupe-less Beach is a light taupe that leans a little to the purple side. This is two coats.

Next Stop... The Bikini Zone is a shimmery purple duochrome with gold and bronze shimmers. This is the one polish that sticks out in this collection as not belonging. All the other shades are bright and cremes and this one seems like it would fit better in a fall or winter collection. It's a little sheer and needed three coats for what you see here.

OPI Scores a Goal! also seems like it could fit in a fall collection, but I just love it! It's a deep raisin creme that was perfectly opaque in two coats.

Amazon... Amazoff is a deep teal green that was a teensy bit sheer, I did two coats here but I'm seeing a little bit of nail line at the tips when I look closely so three probably would have been better.

Overall, I think this collection really hit the mark! Most of these shades are fabulous for summer and I'm excited that there was a good yellow in here. I generally dislike wearing yellow, but it's great to have a good one for nail art! And can we talk about how amazing the names are? Seriously, I was cracking up as I swatched them! Bravo to whoever named this batch!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tropical Zebra Ombré Nail Art featuring OPI Brazil Collection Shades

I'm giving you guys a little break from the florals for today! ;) I had the OPI Brazil collection sitting on my desk and all these colors looked so beautiful together that I knew I had to do an ombré with them.

 

I used OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana, Where Did Suzi's Man-go?, Toucan Do It If You Try, Live.Love.Carnival, and Kiss Me I'm Brazilian for the ombré. I'll have the review of these polishes coming soon, but I'll tell you now that I'm in LOVE with these colors! Especially all together like this.

I thought about doing another floral stamp over this but decided to mix it up and go for zebra print instead. I love how they turned out! This would be the perfect mani to accent a margarita on a beach vacation. ;)

The products in this post were provided for my honest review.

Teal Floral Gradient Stamping Nail Art

Good morning! I had another desire for gradient nails, but this time I decided to do the gradient under the stamping instead of as the stamping. I still stuck with a floral pattern though since I'm so smitten that it's spring!

For the gradient base, I used Essie Go Overboard, OPI Taylor Blue, and KBShimmer A Touch of Glass. I applied two coats of A Touch of Glass and then sponged the other colors over it to create the gradient. Once that was dry, I stamped the flower design over it using Gals plate GA11 and Konad white stamping polish.   

I really almost left it like this. It was so beautiful without the stamping and I worried that stamping over the gradient would ruin it, but I'm happy with how the design turned out. Gradients are my favorite! 

Springtime Floral Gradient Stamping Nail Art

Good morning everyone! I finally had the desire to do some nail art recently and once I sat down to do it, I actually had a really hard time deciding on what exactly to do. It sure helps to have the book around to thumb through for inspiration! I decided on a neutral base with pink/purple gradient stamping and a floral pattern.

The base I chose is OPI My Vampire is Buff, one of my most favorite neutrals. I used Zoya Reagan, OPI Antibleak, and OPI Miss You-niverse to create a stamping gradient by painting a line of each shade and dragging the scraper across the stamping plate in the same direction as I painted the lines. I'm usually not into flowers and floral patterns but I really love this! How do you feel about florals? Fun or granny-style?

Stamped Jewel-Toned Snowflake Nail Art

Good morning everyone! Sorry for the little hiatus! Things have been busy around here and I haven't had much time to swatch or anything lately, but I wore this nail art for a while after Christmas and thought I would share. I used OPI Anti-Bleak and China Glaze Queen B for the base colors and applied a coat of Zoya Sparkle Gloss over it. I gathered up all my stamping plates with snowflakes on them and stamped snowflakes on each nail with the white Konad stamping polish. I love this combo, but my next snowflake mani will be over a neutral color!