What I Use: OPI Nail Envy

So for some one who is only meant to work at my part time job one day a week - I have just worked 4 of the last 5 days. This means crap for my nails. I always break them at work and this week has been no exception. They are almost all back to as short as can be. So I am so not proud of them at the moment and don't really want to stick pictures up of them looking so crappy.

So no pretty colour picture posts for a while sorry.

My nails are recovering for the next week with OPI Original Nail Envy.
This would have to be my favourite product ever.



My nails are naturally really thin and break so easy. I get a tiny little snag and the whole thing rips off.

But since using Nail Envy my nails are so much better. They actually grow now and are so much thicker than they used to be. Its just when I work that they break and now because they grow longer when they break it seems way worse than it used to be.

I actually have a visible line on my nails where you can see the Nail Envy working and making them thicker.

That is all for a while now
Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Lilac Layers

I am not a big fan of creme polishes - I like things that sparkle and shimmer.
So I use my cremes as bases for my shimmer polishes.

This is OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender from the Hong Kong 2010 Collection.

I was not happy with this polish - not sure if its just me bottle or everyone's- but it came out of the bottle runny and applied horribly thick and gluggy and streaky. I didnt like applying it at all.
This was three coats, it probably would have been ok but it had brush lines all through it and was not even.

Next I applied a coat of OPI Significant Other color.


This looked amazing. I find a lot of shimmer polishes are too see through on their own, so layering them over a similar colour creme means they come out the colour they look in the bottle and are opaque this way.

I really liked the way this turned out. Ive been wearing it for two days now and still haven't taken it off.

How do you wear your shimmers?

Lots of Love
Lisa

China Glaze - Passion in the Pacific

So in case you didn't already know I live in New Zealand.
Its a bunch of Islands below Australia and is part of the Pacific.
So whats more appropriate than a polish called "Passion in the Pacific"?

Outside - sun - no flash

I liked this when I first put it on at night. The lights in my house have that yellow glow to them and it made the polish shimmer slightly yellowy greeny colour. But the next day I didn't like it. It was crappy weather here (we had winds of 140kms per hour - that's around 90 miles and hour) and it was cloudy and rainy. And this polish didn't make me feel happy. When I looked at it on my fingers I just felt meh and like I kind of couldn't wait to take it off. This sucked Because I was looking forward to liking this colour. I just couldn't.

Dont get me wrong this polish has its moments - beautiful moments under a slightly yellow light. So I perservered and wore this colour for another day. Today it is clear blue sky and sunny as (so I got you a good photo) but I'm still iffy on this one. I know it is not a colour I will always reach for. Like i said its just kinda average. Bonus points was the application was perfect.

I'm just trying out some of my new OPI's (from the Hong Kong collection) so stay tuned for shimmer layering on top of cremes.
Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Think it's pink? pastel

I LOVE this polish.
OPI Think it's pink? Pastel. I am unsure of what collection this is from (If you know please let me know).

Outside - no flash

This is three coats. Its amazing! Its a beautiful white base which shimmers pink and green and blue in that cool way glitter sometimes does - but over the whole nail. It looks different at every angle and every time you look at it you notice its shimmering a different colour. This applied really well and needed no tidying up afterward.

I also used Konad plate M3 to place little black hearts on top. I did these using OPI Black Onyx. I think I'm getting better at it.

Lots of Love
Lisa

China Glaze Glitter Polishes

China Glaze Carnival Lights and Preppy Pink

Today's NOTD was Carnival Lights.

This polish surprised me. It doesn't look too appealing in the bottle. But on the nails it is awesome! Its a medium pink jelly base filled with little pink bits of glitter and larger silver (rainbow sparkle) bits of glitter. Last night I just marveled at it under a light in the bedroom. The pink glitter and the big rainbow glitter combines to sparkle amazingly.

These photos were all taken inside as today its blowing a gale (120kph winds - that's windy Wellington for you)

Carnival Lights - Inside
(The polish is actually darker than it appears in these photos)

Carnival Lights - With Flash

Before I thought these polishes reminded me of those ones you have when your about 5 years old in those crappy beauty kits you get at Christmas - except china glaze have done it so well.

This Polish was so easy to apply. In these photos I have used three coats. Its a great consistency and I've never found it so easy to make my nails look neat and tidy with out any tidying up work after applying the polish.

After being amazed by Carnival Lights I tried out my other new glitter - Preppy Pink.

Preppy Pink - Inside (No Flash)

This makes me feel like a princess out of those little kid movies and I feel like I need a pair of glitter fairy wings. Its a delicate pale (slightly peachy) pink jelly base. This polish has only one colour of glitter in it - medium and smaller sized pink/white sparkle. This glitter is more on the rainbow side and less on the pink side. Again this is 3 coats but you can clearly see the VNL (visible nail line) and as usual the colour is brighter in real life than this photo shows.

I will definitely be investing in more of this glitter collection. The ease of which they applied so well and neatly is a huge plus for me.

Lots of Love
Lisa

My first ever Konad

Today I tried my first ever Konad manicure.

I wanted to try it with OPI Keep of the grass and then Lazy Daisy Pink as the stamped pink flowers. However the pink was too light so I switched to OPI La Paz-itively Hot.


This is how it turned out.

I was quite disappointed with keep off the grass. It was streaky and even after 3 coats it still looked streaky too. It has a metallic finish to it.

I will be definitely trying more konad out - I am actually really happy with it and the way it works. (Although this is another thing to add to the list of hard to get in New Zealand products).

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Visions of Sugarplum

OPI Visions of Sugarplum.
This is from the 2009 Ultra Exclusive Holiday Collection. Although it is so amazing I wouldn't save it for just during the holidays.

Outside in the sun

At the moment this is my favourite polish! I would wear it every second day if I could!
Its absolutely amazing.
2 coats and its done. Formula is perfect.
At night its a very dark purple which isn't in my opinion that exciting - but in the sun/light it glows.

Outside in sun with Flash

Its a vibrant amazingly perfect purple! It sparkles all shades of purple - dark and light. It blows me away every time I put it on. It looks darker in the bottle than it does in the sun but once you put your first coat on you know your in love.

I had to get this off ebay (and with shipping to New Zealand) cost me a small fortune. But I do not at all regret it!

Lots of Love
Lisa

Zoya Tallulah and Jo

Well the people in the flat above ours had a great st pats day - they lasted till 5am this morning. Great for them but absolute hell for me trying to sleep during the night. So today I was feeling amazingly tired and BLUE.

So whats more appropriate than Blue nail polish??

Zoya - Jo

Zoya -Tallulah

I was surprised by these 2 polishes as I thought that Jo would be my favourite. Low and behold I think I actually like Tallulah better. Jo has a slight silver shimmer in it, which I fell dulls it a little. Tallulah is much brighter. It has a bright aqua-green-blue shimmer in it. The photo doesn't show this too much (there wasn't much sun here today). It looks much cooler in real life under light or in the sun.

The nail polish didn't help at all in making me feel better today - however a nap will :)
Lots of Love
Lisa

St Patrick's Day - OPI Bikini Envy

It's St Pats day and like everyone else my nails are green. I discovered today I don't actually own any green clothing so my nails were the only thing celebrating today. I got home just in time to get the last of the sun before it disappeared and took this photo.


This is OPI Bikini Envy.

GREEN!!!!!

I love green nail polishes. This one is quite bright and slightly shimmery.
Applies like a dream. Here I used 3 coats so that you could no longer see the nail line underneath. 2 coats would be ok though.

That's all for today.
I'm not a fan of Guinness so wont be joining in the drinking - I have to teach a tutorial at 9am tomorrow morning so wont be celebrating much today.
Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Shrek Forever After Collection

I really liked the Alice in Wonderland collection put out by OPI a couple of months ago. I saw the movie the day it came out in 3d in New Zealand. I thought is was done really well and the queen of hearts is hilarious! (It should be seen just for her).

I got 3 of the 4 of these (Absolutely Alice, Mad as a Hatter and Thanks so muchness!) All 3 of which are awesome - especially Mad as a Hatter - there are hundreds of reviews and swatches of these already on the internet (http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/12/opi-alice-wonderland-collection-swatches-review.html)

I for one love Disney and Dreamworks movies. As a 23 year old I have a rather large Disney and animation DVD collection. Everyone knows who Shrek is and I was so excited when I found out about OPI's Shrek Forever After Collection.

Dont they all look awesome! I could not has asked for a better collection. Purple, Green and Blue are my absolute favourite nail polish colours! I am completely in love with this collection - I don't even mind if they are cremes, shimmers or frosts. I want them all!!!!!

Bigger pictures of the polishes can be found at http://laquermanic.com/2010/02/18/opi-shrek-collection/

Last but not least for the day here is yesterday's China Glaze Tantalize me NOTD with a layer of OPI's Princesses rule! over the top. Princesses rule! is pink enough and not overbearing as a top coat over tantalize me. You can still see the blue shimmer of tantalize me underneath but now it looks even prettier as it now has glitter over the top. You cant get much prettier really.

I'm in a good mood today as I actually got quite a bit of work done on my thesis at Uni today.
Yay!
Thats all for today.
Lots of Love
Lisa

China Glaze Tantalize Me

Yay a parcel arrived for me in the mail this morning!
It was full of China Glaze.

From left to right: Tantalize me, Fly, Carnival Lights, Preppy Pink.

And again with the camera Flash on.

Carnival lights and Preppy pink are from the Glitter collection and look really amazing in the bottles, But..........
Tantalize me was the one I was most excited about when I ordered these. Its a light purple/lilac Shimmer, which shimmers blue in the right light.

This is in the sun outside - the shimmer in this polish comes up more blue than these photos show.

This is with the flash.

Formula on this was quite runny - so trickier to apply in thin coats. This here is three thin coats and is completely opaque here (it wasn't completely after 2). I love China Glaze polishes but always find them harder to apply than OPI.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI My Private Jet

On Saturday we went to see the New Zealand Black Caps play the Australian's at the Stadium. Never would of guessed that we would actually win (but still lose the series 3-2).

My Fiance bought me one of the new Black caps tops to wear! yay!

So to celebrate the Black caps in Wellington I thought I would wear some appropriate Polish. It was a really sunny do so whats better than a Black holographic Polish - OPI My Private Jet.



This is so pretty in the sun! I find it quite average when no in the sun - its just black with silver glitter in it - but when its sunny it is truly amazing! Rainbows and Glitter and Sparkle - its everything a girl could want! But as always kinda hard to capture on a camera. This has to be seen in real life to be truly appreciated.

Thats all for today!
Have a good weekend
Lots of Love
Lisa

Obsession...

Obsession....
So Ive been collecting for about 15 months now and this is where I am at....

ZOYA - 30 polishes

I was lucky enough to take a trip to America last year and this is the Zoya collection I managed to bring back! This is almost impossible and really expensive to buy in New Zealand so I was over the moon whenever I came across it in a salon in America

OPI is widely available in New Zealand but at $25 a polish is not very affordable to students! Again I brought a lot back from America where they were only $8 a polish (which is about $12NZ) The other problem with OPI in New Zealand is we don't receive all of the collections or exclusive polishes - that's when I have to turn to ebay and my over used credit card. So far I have 76 OPI colours and 9 of the Designer Series polishes.

While in America I also discovered Sephora by OPI and was in heaven in the Sephora shops (not just because of the polishes!) I picked up 6 of these colours.

I've always read other blogs about China Glaze but have never seen it in a shop in New Zealand. However.... I was over the moon when I saw these for sale on Trade me (www.trademe.co.nz this is the New Zealand version of ebay) So far I have 18 China Glaze polishes and cant wait to get more of their awesome colours.

Now you can clearly see why most of the people I love think I have a slight problem here - some would say an obsession.
I just cant help myself!!!!!
And I dread to calculate how much money I have spent on all of these!

That's all for today. I'm still wearing my yellow polish from my previous post. Its been 3 days and I got my first chip today. This is actually a good effort for my nails.

Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Banana Bandanna & A Little Less Conversation

Outside - Natural light, no flash

Yay! My first Nail Polish blog!

I did this on my nails last night.
It ended up being 7 coats but looks amazing.

1st coat = OPI Base Coat
2nd-4th coats were OPI Banana Bandanna
5th coat = OPI A Little Less Conversation
6th & 7th coats were OPI Top coat

I think it turned out awesome and im stocked with the colour. OPI Banana Bandana needed three coats to become almost completely opaque. This is one of my only creme polishes and I wasn't so keen on it by itself, hence the coat of OPI A Little Less Conversation. This was amazing. A Little Less Conversation is too transparent for my liking by itself.

Both OPI polishes were as always were great to apply.

I will definitely be using this combination again! Its a created a yellow I cant find anywhere else.

Inside - natural light, no flash

Hope you all enjoyed this 'first' nail polish blog!
Lots of Love
Lisa

Welcome!

Hello all and welcome to my blog!

Yay!

I've wanted to do this for so long and finally decided to start today!

At the moment my life is that of a poor student.
Ive got six months left to finish my masters degree and this just seems like one more time wasting procrastination on my way to the end.

Over the last year I have developed an 'obsession' to nail polishes! I love them all.
At present I have over 150 and need to constantly refer to my list to make sure I don't double up when buying more! (although at the moment the poor student life is not really allowing for any purchasing at all!

anyways.....

This blog will be about me, my life, my nail polishes and other things that take my fancy. (I love reading Hollywood novels and will try and review some of them as well to change it up a little)

Bear with me while I take this journey into the world of internet blogging - I'm learning!

Lots of Love
Lisa