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