OPI Spring 2011 Texas Collection

OPI has finally realized that releasing images of their upcoming collections and information about them in advance is a better idea than trying to gag anyone who talks about them on the internet before their release date (like they did with the Burlesque collection).

This week pictures were released of the upcoming 2011 Spring collection based on and named after the American state of Texas. It seems a bit odd to base a collection on one American state when there are so many countries and places that don't have collections yet (they could do an awesome New Zealand collection based on our green trees, blue sky and black sand beaches - I want to be acknowledged if you do use this idea though OPI).

The last few days OPI on Facebook released swatches of the polishes from this collection. If your not already a follower of OPI on Facebook I suggest checking it out now that they are using it to inform customers of what they are actually up to. (http://www.facebook.com/#!/OPIProducts)

• Don’t Mess With OPI - A lean, mean, kick-grass forest green
• Austin-Tatious Turquoise – Cowgirls love this bodacious blue-green
• It’s Totally Fort-Worth It – A shimmery lavender grey that’s so worthy of you
• Do You Think I’m Tex-y? A “berry” sexy bloom of Dallas dahlia
• Big Hair…Big Nails – A rosy pageant peach
• I Vant To Be A-Lone Star – You won’t want to share this starry Texas-sky blue
• Houston We Have A Purple – A galactic red-violet that’s ready to “rocket-roll”!
• Suzi Loves Cowboys – But she loves this campfire chocolate shade s’more!
• San Tan-tonio – A “honey” of a ten-gallon tan!
• Too Hot Pink To Hold ‘Em – A red-hot pink-red that deals a winning hand
• Guy Meets Gal-veston – An “engaging” coastal coral. A very orange pink
• Y’all Come Back Ya Hear? – This Texas tangerine will be waitin’ for ya!

I am kind of glad to say that I am actually underwhelmed by this collection. There appears to be only one shimmer and a great deal of reds and brown colours. This is definitely good for my bank balance after the amazingness of the Burlesque collection (which I am still waiting for in the mail to arrive). I think that OPI came up with great names for these polishes but that is about it.

What are your opinions on this collection? Yay or Nay? and how do you feel about a collection based on one state?

Lots of Love
Lisa

My 100 Followers Giveaway!!!

Here it is......
My 100 followers give away :)

The prize is made up of 4 BYS polishes.


Left to Right: Let's Glow!, Gold Boom, Matte Purple, Down the Rabbit hole.

Gold Boom is a regular Metallic gold BYS polish.
Matte Purple is a medium purple matte polish.
Down the rabbit hole is a holographic glitter polish in a black base (I brought one for myself so swatches to come a bit later on)
Let's Glow! is a UV polish that glows under UV lights.

These are all brand spanking new (I bought them an hour ago) and unopened. The only one I will have swatches of is Down the rabbit hole as this is the only one I brought for myself.

The rules:

1. You must be a follower (Please put let me know your GFC name) and provide an email address (1 entry)
2. Blog about this give away or put it in your side bar (1 entry) please provide a link
3. Add me to your blog roll (1 entry) please provide a link
4. Tell me what country you are in and what polish brand you wish was sold in your country (1 entry) for example: I live in New Zealand and I wish that they sold China Glaze here.

Pretty easy really just leave a comment below with your details :)
This is open to international followers too (Thats the reason the give away is made up of BYS so that someone in another part of the world can experience this brand too)

This give away will run until the 10th of November 2010 (1 month from now) and I will announce the winner just after that. I'm thinking of writing my own random number generator code to select the winner (an actual use for something I learned how to do in my honours year at uni)

Good Luck
Lots of Love
Lisa

Spotted in NZ: Mac Venomous Villians

Venomous Villians was released in New Zealand this morning.


This is amazing this collection arriving in New Zealand and only a week after being released to the rest of the world!

Bad Fairy - Red with multi-changing pigments
Formidable! - Purple with teal pigment
Mean & Green - Teal with pink pigment

Bad Fairy is he polish to have this season, being sold out on the MAC website and around America. If you can find one, grab it and don't let go of it! You will regret not selling your soul to a Disney villian if you don't get this polish!

I managed to pick up all three VV nail polishes from Kirks in Wellington for $26 each! (not bad considering OPI is $25)

Lots of Love
Lisa

Spotted in NZ: Butter London

Spotted at Farmers today in New Zealand: Butter London.


Butter London is 3 free meaning No Formaldehyde, No toluene, and No DBP (Phthales).

They have some great looking colours and I am definitely looking forward to trying out Thames - a great looking shimmer green.

Check out the Butter London website here.

Here is a sample of some of their colours:


Picture from http://bagatellesandco.blogspot.com/

Butter London is reportedly selling for $30 a polish in New Zealand.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Upcoming Summer Trends: #5 Flakie Polish

The big polish of the American Summer this year was Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure.

This polish was HUGE in America. People layered it on top of EVERYTHING and then mattified it afterwards to make a whole different look to their manicures

This however is going to be a hard trend to follow in New Zealand. As Sally Hansen polishes are not available in New Zealand (we do get their treatments and other nail bits and pieces).

And to make it worse alot of the other flakie polishes are not available in New Zealand.

Color Club Covered in Diamonds top coat was release as part of the fall/winter untamed luxury collection (another 6 months away for New Zealand). Check out ebay if you can not wait 6 months and don't mind paying for the shipping.

Nubar 2010 - Best bet for this is to have a look online. I got my Nubar Sparkle collection online at Beverly Beaute.

But never fear all those whose hearts have just sunk at the prospect of not getting any of these gorgeous flakey nail polishes ............. Nfu-Oh is available in New Zealand.

I registered an account at the New Zealand Nail Academy, where you can order Nfu-Oh polishes from New Zealand.


The three I own (and as soon as I get a job I will be getting more of these!) are #52, #49, #39.
Nfu-Oh Flakiey polishes are slightly different to the others just mentioned as there is more than one of them and they are all tinted with different colours. $52 is blue/purple, #49 is pink/orange and #39 is green/white. I do love these polishes and try to match them to different base coats all the time (some posts on this coming up soon).

So that is it. The five big summer trends from the other side of the world this year. Hopefully we can carry them on into our summer here.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Upcoming Summer Trends: #1 Taupe

The next 5 posts will be about the up coming summer trends for New Zealand (and other southern hemisphere countries) based on what was hot around the rest of the world this summer.

Taupe was huge this summer. It is a trend that I will not be taking part in though. For this post I had to borrow some Taupe polishes off my best friend to show you. Taupe is a brown grey colour. To me it seems more like an autumn colour but nether the less here it is for summer.

OPI Over the Taupe - Sunshine

This is from last years Bright Pair collection (A little hard to find in NZ but have a look on trade me for it)OPI You're a doll! - sunshine

This is from the 2008 Holiday in Toyland collection - its a light taupe with micro red copper glitter.

Other polishes to try for this summer trend which are available in New Zealand are:

Bloom Bette (available at Farmers for around $15)

BYS White with one (available from Cosmetics Plus for around $8)

Revlon Grey Suede (available at pharmacies and department stores for around $17)

Orly Coffee Break (available at Farmers for $23)

More Summer trends to come :)
Lots of Love
Lisa

Tags and a plea for help

I was tagged with these two awards by Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes (sorry hun I dont know your real name). she made the effort to tag those of use who have blogs that she likes but are unknown to many others out there. Thanks so much - I appreciate any one who can help get awareness out about my blog and my little country at the bottom of the world (New Zealand - and no we are not part of Australia)


So the 10 things I like most in the world at the moment:

1. Nail Polish (I think this is obvious but I am deadly serious, I have developed serious shakes at the moment because I have had no money to buy any more)
2. Chris - My Fiance (Hes had a hard time lately and gotten sick, but we are dealing with it. Its been 8 years and I still love him to pieces)
3. Keera - my beautiful black cat. She is my baby and I love her to pieces, I worry when she goes outside at night and I love it when I come home and all she wants to do is cuddle.
4. Farmville - yes that annoying game on facebook - I am completely addicted, I have been playing since the start and it is a great waste of time, but a good way to procrastinate at Uni.
5. The Big Bang Theory - This is the most hilarious TV show ever. LOVE it. If you haven't seen it you are seriously missing out. even watching the dvd for the 8th time I still love it and cant stop laughing.
6. Disney - Anything Disney - I grew up as a Disney kid, I have all their animated movies on DVD and still love watching them. The one problem is we don't have any Disney shops in New Zealand so no cool Disney merchandise :(
7. Reading - I read at least one book a week, cant go to sleep without reading. And I like my books in paper format.
8. Sleep - enough said - especially when Chris isn't snoring :)
9. Caramel Slice - Gooey chocolatey caramely goodness
10. Gossip Girl - The drama, the passion its all amazing (I was a huge fan of the OC and this is just as great)

So I hope you learned a little about me this way. I am going to tag anyone who hasn't already done this and wants to :)

And on that note I am going to make a plea to anyone living in America - Here in New Zealand we do not get Nicole OPI polishes and I am desperate for the Gossip Girl Collection.


I will gladly make a swap/or pay for these polishes If any one can get a hold of a set of these, I will be forever grateful. For anyone interested I can easily get BYS and Nfu-Oh polishes here in New Zealand.

Lots of Love
Lisa

100th post, Update and my first Award :)

Picture thanks to Lolcats

YAY today is my 100th Blog post!

To be honest I can't believe it came up so fast. I doesn't seem like I have been doing this for long at all, so I also cant believe it has been 6 months!

I am slowly gaining followers and I appreciate every single on of you. You all keep me motivated to keep on doing this. When I have some more followers (I'm thinking 100) and get a job (fingers crossed) and have finished my Masters Thesis (1 month to go) there will be a give away to say thanks! Some goodies from New Zealand and of course some POLISH (Im thinking BYS and Nfu-Oh - which is unbelievably quite easy to get here).

I got my first tag today from PolishPig. Thanks so much hun :)

The rules are very simple:
- Answer one question: What do you like the most about your own blog?
- Pass this award on.

The thing I like most about my blog is the people. People from all over the world. And all nail polish girls are so lovely. I have meet wonderful people in New Zealand as well (Kathy from The Finishing Touch and Rob from Color Club New Zealand). I love having followers and people who comment, and I get so excited when I find out I have more people taking an interest in the things I have to say (from a little tiny country on the other side of the world).

I pass this award on to:

Zara at Never Unpolished
Jacie at You've got Nail
and the wonderful Stephanie from Imperfectly Painted

Lots of Love
Lisa

Color Club Untamed Luxury + Poptastic

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Color Clubs Untamed Luxury Collection looks AMAZING!!!

This is the Fall 2010 collection for the Northern Hemisphere, I am assuming this will be released next month sometime to all you lucky folks in America.

Pretty in Platinum, Wild Orchid, Positively Posh, Soft As Cashmere, Nothing But Truffle, Jewel of a Girl.
De-Luxe-Cious, Ms. Hautie, Red Velvet, Untamed Luxury, Resort to Red, Snakeskin, Covered in Diamonds.

How can you not be excited about this collection? Glitters, flakey top coats, Shimmers and amazing colours make this a must have collection! I cant wait.

This however is at least 6 months away for New Zealand. We run a season behind on Color Club polishes, so that collections are released in the correct season here.

In September the Poptastic Neon Collection will be released in New Zealand. This is the 2010 Spring/Summer collection, and replaces last years neon Flower Power Collection from last year.
I was lucky enough to receive the 7 piece sampler pack from Color Club NZ, and so with 7 colours and 7 days in a week, guess what next week will be? A week of Poptastic Neons (Hopefully - I'm waiting on a bit of sun, to get more colour accurate pictures of these neons, but it wont stop raining here!)

Hope you all have a great weekend :)
Lots of Love
Lisa

OPI Suede Collection now in New Zealand

The OPI Suede collection is now being sold exclusively at Farmers in New Zealand. These are selling for $24.90 each.
This collection was released last year (fall 2009) to the rest of the world, and has taken ages to become available in New Zealand.

Top (left to right): Russian Navy Suede, You Don't Know Jacques Suede, Linkin Park After Dark Suede
Bottom (left to right):Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees Suede, OPI Ink Suede, We'll Always have Paris Suede

I managed to get the whole OPI Suede collection last November when I was in America on holiday. *Now would be when I would post some swatches of the suede collection, but I still have my shellac on, so am unable to swatch anything at the moment* These polishes look great by themselves and even more amazing with a top coat on, which makes them look glittery and shimmery.

My mum and dad have just gone on a holiday to America and I set my mum the task of finding me the new OPI Here today...Aragon Tomorrow Suede polish. (This is not part of the suede collection just released in New Zealand). Fingers crossed she manages to get me a bottle.

Also don't forget to get beauty club points when you purchase any make up from Farmers :)

Lots of Love
Lisa

Free OPI with Bride and Groom subscription

I got my latest issue of Bride and Groom magazine in the mail yesterday :) I love getting things in the mail that are not bills.


I subscribed to this magazine at the wellington bridal show a couple of months ago. I find it is the best magazine for planning weddings in New Zealand because it is full of things from New Zealand, that we can easily source here. It means I wont fall in love with a dress I see in a magazine that I can only get if I fly half way around the world.

When I subscribed to the last issue I received a bottle of Elizabeth Arden Pretty perfume. Its a beautiful scent.

But in this issue if you subscribe you get a Limited edition Blushing Bride Beauty Kit from OPI.

It includes two mini nail lacquers (Alpine snow and Bubble Bath), two eyeshadows, two lip glosses and a dual applicator brush.

How awesome is that? and if you subscribe it is only $40 for four issues, meaning it is way cheaper than buying them in the shops and they deliver them to your house for free.

Check out the Bride and Groom magazine website here.

Lots of Love
Lisa

Essie and Shellac come to New Zealand

Essie and Shellac have arrived in New Zealand!!

Thread announced a while ago that Essie was coming to New Zealand. They say that Essie is coming to Salons and Department stores (I have been checking in Farmers but haven't seen them there yet). But I have as of this week seen them in New Zealand. Body and Skin in Wellington on Lambton Quay is the first place I spotted Essie. They are selling them for $23.50. I'm not sure of how big the range they are selling is yet.

Shellac has also come to New Zealand.

Image from Creative Nail Design.

I got a pamphlet from The Finishing Touch (Nail spa in Wellington) and they say:

"This revolutionary product is the answer to your nail problems. Shellac applies like a polish, wears flawlessly for 14 days of high gloss shine and is removed in minutes. A true innovation in chip-free extended wear colour."

The Finishing Touch are doing a Shellac Manicure for $55. So far there are 12 colours to choose from but they are aiming for 50 in the future. You can read about the release of Shellac in New Zealand, also on Thread here. And here is a list of Salons in New Zealand that are offering Shellac at the moment.

Check out the Creative Nails Website for New Zealand here.

I am so looking forward to getting shellacked when I have some money. I have to stop buying nail polishes for the next three months while I finish my thesis, otherwise I wont be able to pay my rent!

Lots of Love
Lisa

Fake OPI's make me MAD!

Hope everyone's weekends are going well (I'm really sick so mine isn't going too well at all)
And this post is probably going to make you mad - so read it later on in the week if you don't want it to ruin your day now.

About a month ago an investigative show in New Zealand called Close Up did an article on OPI Nail Polish and people and salons selling fake bottles in store.

view video here.

People are placing cheap ($2) nail polish into OPI bottles and then selling it for OPI prices ($25)
They sent samples for testing and found salons were in fact using non OPI Nail Polish and saying it was.

A few weeks ago I walked past a nail salon in the mall that I worked in and I saw saw cool greens in the window in the salon that I had never seen before. CLICK goes my brain. They aren't real OPI polishes either. I didn't go in and see what labels they have on the bottom of them - but for someone who owns a lot of OPI greens - these colours were new to me and this chain of salons is quite new so there is almost no way they had old and discontinued colours as I know how hard they are to get.

The other day while doing my usual OPI search on trademe (New Zealands version of Ebay) I found a whole bunch of bottles for sale by someone - I could clearly tell these weren't real
OPI colours - they were in Designer Series bottles for a start and they appeared to be green glitter - but murky weird glitter colours - clearly not real Designer Series polishes and they claimed all the polishes were all called "Funny Bunny" (Which is a softshade white colour) and they had made up Designer series codes! They were also starting them at $1 reserve (In New Zealand real OPI Designer Series polishes sell for $35-$40.) This makes me really sad as there is no way I can warn people that these aren't real!

This really makes me mad! Infuriated in fact!!!!!
Why do people have to be dicks?

I love OPI and only buy it from department stores that I know are proper OPI retailers. And it is being ruined by gready dickheads!

Sorry but I needed to get that off my chest.

Lots of love
Lisa

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC day in New Zealand and Australia. Its been 95 years now.

For those of you who don't know what this is, Wikipedia says:

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

Each year we remember them. Its quite a big deal here. there are dawn services and lots on the news about it. All over the country we remember the sacrifices our relatives made.

Than ANZAC symbol is the red poppy. This is because red poppies grew in the fields where all our soldiers are buried. Mainly in Flanders Field.

So this was my ANZAC day NOTD.

Done using OPI Pearls Night Out and the Red Konad polish my Konad kit came with.

Lest we forget

Lots of Love
Lisa