OPI Divine Swine

Good morning, Dear Reader!

The memory of removing OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy with It from OPI Muppets has faded enough to give me the courage to wear its purple counterpart, Divine Swine.

For the manicure, I used three coats of Divine Swine and Essie Good to Go to dry it, and not being up for a thousand coats of top coat, I added one coat of Konad top coat (it's very thick and self-leveling) with a coat of a less effective quick-dry top coat to dry it (I applied it last night and don't remember which).  I know it'll be a great big project to remove, but it sure makes for a cool manicure in the meantime.  I took a picture in daylight long after it had dried, and it's very smooth and sparkly.  Here is OPI Divine Swine.

OPI Divine Swine Nail Polish, Three Coats

I really like it a lot, it's a fun glitter.  The base color isn't as vivid as Gettin' Miss Piggy with It, so it's not quite as eye-catching, but still wonderfully glittery.

That is OPI Divine Swine and the update for today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I changed polish tonight to Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue from their latest collection, which are duochromes.  Purple Blue isn't particularly impressive in the bottle, but it's a lot cooler applied.  Rather than the usual color shifting duochrome pigment, Purple Blue has a bunch of purple and blue shimmery pigment throughout, so both colors are pretty consistently reflected.  I think it works out well.

For the manicure, I used three coats of color and finished it off with Essie Good to Go.  The soak-of gel base I've had for seven days is starting to have a bit of lifting on one nail (still impressive after five color changes with acetone-based remover used), and Essie Super Bossa Nova wore very well on it  for three days with no chips or tip wear at all.  I liked the gel, so when I remove the worn application, I'll put on a new one.  Anyhow, back to Beetle Juice Purple Blue, after it dried I took pictures under artificial light.

Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue Nail Polish, Three Coats

Here are a couple of closer looks at the shimmer, where you can get a better look and the purple and blue shimmery bits.

Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue Nail Polish, Closer Look at Shimmer

Models Own Beetle Juice Purple Blue Nail Polish, Even Closer Look at Shimmer

It's not quite what I'd expected, but the name is accurate and it definitely shows two distinct colors at the same time.

That's the next Models Own Beetle Juice and all I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd give you a look at my Thanksgiving manicure, Orly Rococo A-Go-Go, because the color is really cool.  I'm so late posting it that it the Orly Mineral FX Collection is probably not even in brick and mortar stores anymore, but it's pretty and still available online.

The color is kind of a red plum with the same cool finish as the other Mineral FX shades, and it seemed like a good Thanksgiving color to me.  I used two coats with a coat of Essie Good to Go and gave it some time to dry before taking pictures in the sunlight.

Orly Rococo A-Go-Go Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's my Thanksgiving manicure, and now I'm off to enjoy Thanksgiving.  I hope yours is happy, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

A-England Elaine Swatch

Two coats of A-England Elaine* with a top coat of NYC Expert Last.

You can buy The Mythicals Collection from a-england.co.uk with free worldwide shipping.

A-England on Twitter
A-England on Facebook

Review coming tomorrow!


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Models Own Beetle Juice Aqua Violet

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the Models Own Beetle Juice nail polishes to show you, Aqua Violet.  I'd say of other duochrome polishes, it most reminds me of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Turquoise Opal.  Since Aqua Violet is more opaque than Turquoise Opal, I used it alone, but I think next time I'll layer over black to see how it works out that way.

For this manicure, I used base coat, three coats of Aqua Violet (two coats of color was almost enough, but not quite), and one coat of Tout de Suite to dry it.  I took a bunch of pictures in different natural light to give you a look at it.

Models Own Beetle Juice Aqua Violet Nail Polish, Direct Sunlight

Models Own Beetle Juice Aqua Violet Nail Polish with Sunlight from Left

Models Own Beetle Juice Aqua Violet Nail Polish in Partial Sunlight

Models Own Beetle Juice Aqua Violet Nail Polish in the Shade

It's a good one.  It seems the lower the light, the more duochrome-y it is, which makes it interesting to shift around.

That's Models Own Aqua Violet and the first of their Beetle Juice polishes I have to show you, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

Here we are at the penultimate day of the challenge and I'm getting a little emotional. This amazing journey will soon be over for Me, Chris and Rie so I'm gonna go out with a bang and give you the most awesome manis I can for the next two days!

Today I had to pick a tutorial to inspire my nails and I've always wanted to try out some of Jane @ Nailside's amazing designs. Jane comes up with the most amazing uses for scotch tape and her nails always look incredible.

I really wanted to try recreating her explosion design but I'm not very good with scotch tape so that went belly up very quickly and I decided to try her cartoon hearts. Swoon.

Follow me over to Cristina and Rie's tutorial inspired nails today.

My base colour is A-England Elaine. I used whit acrylic paint and Nails Inc. Shoreditch for the hearts, then topped it off with a few coats of NYC Top Coat.

I won't give you any details of how I achieved this look, you'll have to head over to see the tutorial at Nailside [here] and you can check out all of Jane's simple but stunning tutorials here.





For 'Day 31: Recreate Your Favourite Challenge' we've decided to pick our favourite challenges from each other so check back tomorrow for a double feature!

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Color Club Sugar Plum Yum

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Color Club Sugar Plum Yum from the Sally Beauty Supply exclusive Color Club Scent-suous Holiday Collection I showed you bottle pictures of.  It's the purple and green glitter, and I did find the glitter hard to work worth but well worth the effort.

I didn't want to load up on tons of coats of glitter, so for the manicure I started with a Nutra Nail base coat and two coats of OPI Grape Set Match as a base color.   I gave each coat a couple of minutes to set, then added two coats of Sugar Plum Yum.  It's really gloppy andI found the best way for me to cover each nail was to scoop out a big blob with the brush, plop it down in the middle of a nail, then spread it from there.  The glitter is pretty dang big, so I knew I'd need a good bit of top coat.  I use SpaRitual Tout de Suite to dry it, and after about 15 minutes added a second coat of it.  I switched to Sally Hansen Speed Shine after that and have added a total of three additional coats of top coat.  It's still not perfectly smooth, but since I'll probably have to rent a sandblaster to remove it at this point, it's as smooth as it's getting.  What's cool is that the sugar plum fragrance is still there - it has a really nice scent, like a sugar plum scented candle rather than an artificial flavoring smell.  Like with the Color Club scented  neons, it's not overpowering at all, I just catch the occasional whiff (well, and I keep sniffing it, too!). Aside from the smell of it, I love the finished mani just for how it looks.

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum Scented Nail Polish, Two Coats over Purple

I'll likely wear this until at least tomorrow night because I'm still working on the arduous project I mentioned, so it works out well that I like it so much.  It's a high maintenance polish, but the payoff definitely makes it worth the extra effort for me.

That's my tale of Color Club Sugar Plum Yum, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Edited to add a note on removal: I knew this one would have to soak off.  Six minutes with acetone-soaked felt held on with plastic baggies and rubber bands made it painless, like completely not a hassle, and it contained all the glitter so there wasn't a mess.  It's now officially two well-manicured thumbs up for Sugar Plum Yum!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Day 21: Inspired by a Colour

Today's criteria is a bit of an odd one. I couldn't decide if it meant inspired by an actual colour or inspired by a shade name or even something else completely that I didn't pick up on! In the end I decided to rummage through my stash to see if any of the colour names inspired me and this Rimmel polish, Purple Reign, gave me an idea straight away.

I decided to make a mani from the name and stamp crowns on my nails. Get it? Purple REIGN ;)

Head over to see whar Cristina and Rie came up with today.



Plate: Bundle Monster BM08
Base Colour: Rimmel - Purple Reign
Stamp Colour: GOSH Metallic Purple
Top Coat of NYC





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Day 18: Half Moons

Sorry today's post is a little later than usual, it's been a very busy and fun few days for me. 

I'm loving this blue/green polish that I picked up in the pharmacy for 99p! It's one of those shades that's stuck right between blue and green so it's been a hot topic of debate today. What do you think?

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's half-moons too!

Rimmel Purple Reign

Kriston 52

Gosh Metallic Blue

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Day 15: Delicate Print

Here we are at the halfway point and I'm still loving the challenge!

A friend of mine visited Canada this month and I asked her to pick me up a bottle of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. Since I saw it on Marta's blog here, I've had a lemming for it and Marta reminded me to ask my friend to grab me a bottle. So now I finally have a really, really good white stamping polish and it really is a weight off my shoulders!

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's challenges too!

No7 Lucky Lilac
Konad Plate M71
Sally Hansen Whirlwind White

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Sally Hansen Haunted & Emerald Amethyst

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Since duochromes seem to be making quite a return right now, I thought I'd show you one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line, Emerald Amethyst.  The sun is absolutely not cooperating today, so the best I can do is give you a sense of how cool this one is.

Since Nail Prisms seem to be pretty sheer, I picked a charcoal shimmer base for it, which I find to blend a little better than a black creme, and the one I used was Sally Hansen Haunted, which is a New Lengths from a few years ago, and I think it was a Canadian exclusive.  Haunted needed two coats over a base, and while I gave it a few minutes to set, I took a picture of it alone.

Sally Hansen Haunted Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added two coats of Emerald Amethyst to it, waited a few minutes, then added Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to dry it all.  Here are a few pictures under a completely overcast sky to give you a hint at what it really looks like in decent light.

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Straight On View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Final Angled View

You can see that straight on, it's kind of a purple mauve, but from any angle it's really green, which make it a lot of fun to play with in the light.  I'm glad to see a return of duochromes, and hope that some of the new ones coming out are as cool as the old ones with some different color combinations.  I haven't seen any yet that strike me as unique, but hope springs eternal.

That's my ode to Emerald Amethyst, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Day 9: Rainbow Nails

Today was a tricky one! Say the words 'rainbow nails' to me and my mind starts running wild! I was thinking stamping, dotting and striping all in one mani I decided reign in all that jazz and take the simple chic approach with rainbow stripes which I am absolutely over the moon with. Think 'Sammy and the Amazing Technicolor Manicure'!

Don't forget to peek at Cristina and Rie's rainbow creations today!





Polishes used
All on a white base coat
La Femme - Red Cherry
Miss Sporty - 323
George - Buttercup Shine
Collection 2000 - Spangles
Barry M - Cyan Blue
Barbara Daly - Purplicious



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Day 6: Violet Nails

Today's criteria is Violet Nails but that seems a bit narrow compared to previous days so I took it to mean purple in general. I really don't want to do too much talking today. I want to let you all soak up the pure beauty of this W7 Polish!

This is a colour that I find myself reaching for time after time when I just want to wear something simple and pretty. I don't know how to describe the finish, my best guess is shimmer. What category would you slide this polish into?

Visit Rie and Cristina's blogs to see some amazing nail art!

2 Coats of W7 Purple Paradise
Top Coat of NYC

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So! FashioNAILble

Today's nail art comes straight from the catwalk at New York Fashion Week. I've decided to recreate a few of my favourite nail looks from NYFW Spring 2012 this week.

Even though I'm sure this design didn't originate at fashion week, CND's Wanda Ruiz used this checkerboard pattern to decorate the models' digits for the Nicole Miller show using a Raspberry Pink and Navy Blue.

I used No7 Lucky Lilac as a base. With a liner brush, I drew a cross on my nails and then used a small nail art brush to fill in two of the four sections with Primark's Yes Cyan!.

I don't know if you can see in the pictures but my top coat has bubbled a little. This could be because I used 3 coats of the stuff, or because I tried to thin it out with Nail Polish Thinner. The consistency definitely improved with the use of the thinner but it has now gone cloudy and apparently bubbly so I'll just move on to a new bottle. Not to self: don't use thinner in your top coat!

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Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking for something dignified this morning, and I picked Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched, which is one of the upcoming limited edition Tracy Reese polishes for fall 2011.

Bewitched is an interesting shade in a good way, kind of a cross between plum and the (I can't think of a more savory description for this) dried blood shades with a creme finish.  I used a base coat, two coats of color, and a top coat for this manicure.  I found that Bewitched almost gives full coverage in one thin coat, but I did need the second to make it completely even on all ten nails.  It dried to be pretty markedly darker than bottle color, as you can see in the picture.  This is Bewitched on a cloudy day.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's quite a big difference between bottle shade and dry-on-the-nail shade, but I'm happy with how it looks on the nail.  The down side to a significant difference in bottle color versus dry color is that I have to remember that Bewitched is one of that dries darker, but if that's its biggest trouble, I can live with it.

Bewitched does have the usual Complete Salon Manicure brush, which I know is not the most popular design ever, but it's worth noting that it does a really nice job once you get a feel for it.  I don't recall what the first shade from this line that I used was, but I do recall thinking that it looked like I'd let a little kid paint my nails the first time I used this brush.  It has an unusually long stem, lots and lots of short bristles trimmed to a rounded shape, and it's wider than average, and the result is that it holds a lot of polish and is a little harder to manipulate than most.  Since I have great big nails by some standards, that might seem like a good thing, but it's easy to pick up way more polish with it than I want for one nail.  I found that wiping off both side of the brush inside of the bottle's neck rather than just one side as I normally do fixes the issue of quantity, and once the excess polish is wiped off, I found it's way easier to control where the remaining polish goes.  Having gotten a feel for using the CSM brush, it does a great job (there was no cleanup on this mani), but it took several crappy to marginally bad manicures to get to that point.  Since the colors in this line are so often very nice, it was worth the effort of learning to work with the brush.

That is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Bewitched, the first of the Fall 2011 Tracy Reese polishes that Sally Hansen's PR sent for review, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Honk if you love OPI - DS Original

Honk if you love OPI is from the Touring America collectionA gorgeous blackened berryI free handed some sadly misshapen v french tips and my ring finger with DS OrigionalI love blackened shades like this where you can easily in any light tell the color but it's so very deep and vampy stillI used 2 coats of Honk if you <3 OPI and one of DS OriginalVampy and holo is a favorite combo for it they

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers 2011

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I ran into the 2011 Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers display last night in a really unlikely place, and I have two of the nail polishes from it to show you.  Fantasy Makers polishes are the ones that come in the little tombstone bottles, so the Halloween theme of these is pretty campy in a good way.  It's raining, so the pictures are indoors.

It was strange to find them because I was in a store that has just a few basic beauty items as kind of a convenience afterthought, not anything to get people there, and I ran into two full standalone displays in completely different sections of the store, and near one of them, on a shelf with extension cords, were several of the tabletop displays of the round little jack o' lantern glow in the dark polishes.  I eyed a hot pink one, and moved along without it.

In the Fantasy Makers displays, I noticed something odd.  There were two little rows of a polish named Black Magic in each, and in both displays there were two versions of Black Magic.  One was a black creme, which I left that behind along with the glow in the dark top coat, and the other is full of lots of fine glitter.  This is the glitter version of Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Black Magic.

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Black Magic Nail Polish Bottle

Here's a closer look at the glitter.

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Black Magic Nail Polish, Glitter Version

The other one I brought home is call Purple Potion.  It's similar but the glitter is purple-y fuchsia, and this might be the most poorly formed bottle I've ever seen.

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Purple Potion Nail Polish Bottle

Here's a better looks at Purple Potion's glitter.

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Purple Potion Nail Polish's Glitter

I'll be trying these out soon, but I wanted to let you know the displays are showing up and that there are two version of Black Magic in it.

That's just about it, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.