Marathon post. Lots of Swatches. :)

In the past few days I have been going crazy swatching some of my new colors.
First up: China Glaze Magnetix Pull me Close

This was just a quick picture with my phone, so I apologize for the quality and for my gross cuticles. I had a birthday party to attend so I wanted a quick manicure that looked fun and different. I took off my last polish and had this finished and topped off with a coat of SV within an hour. Here's what I did: Base coat: Sally Hansen Complete Care 4 in 1 Treatment (my current go-to base since my nails are a fragile mess) One coat of the magnetix to all fingernails Once it was dry to the touch I added a second coat to one finger at a time and applied the magnet. (Following Scrangie's advice)
I would like to note that my China Glaze magnet hasn't come in the mail yet, so I used the magnet by Icing's Magnetix, and it worked like a charm.
It's hard to tell from the picture but every streak in these magnetic polishes has the gleam of a catseye stone. It is truly stunning.
Next up we have China Glaze Paper Chasing. I'd like to preface this by saying that bright lime green is my favorite color and I have never found a bright green nail polish that I like.

I LOVE paper chasing. The color, perfect. The finish, perfect. I love everything about this color. I loved it so much that I wore it for a couple of days, then put a layer of glitter (Spoiled - Show Me The Money) and wore it for another day. The only problem I had was that it stained my nails horribly, even with a thick basecoat.

China Glaze Paper Chasing with Spoiled Show Me The Money over the top.
This WILL be my St. Patrick's day manicure.

Next was China Glaze Sparrow Neon.

My next manicure was A-England Perceval. I'm obsessed with reds, particularly dark beautiful reds. Perceval may just be my new favorite red. It's bright yet darkened. It's shiny, but not glittery. It's smooth and shimmery in the sun. Love. Love. Love.

These two pictures are taken in direct natural sunlight.

This picture is taken at dusk.

Next is Color Club's Worth the Risque. This is the first true linear holographic polish I own, and I absolutely love it! Prior to this I purchased OPI DS Coronation, which is a scattered holo. I don't think there's anything as impressive as a linear holographic polish. In the shade it's a light grey, that is very pretty.

Outside in the sunshine! Rainbows on a shiny silver background.

Indoors with flash

Indoors without flash. (Never was the chip on my pinky nail near the cuticle more obvious.. This is why I tend to avoid silver polishes, they are gorgeous, but completely unforgiving.)

Close-up of the holo on my thumbnail. I have to be careful when I'm wearing a polish like this and driving my car. It's easy to get distracted by the colors.





My NOTD is OPI Mauving to Manitoba with Milani Disco Lights over the top. Here is Mauving to Manitoba before I added the sparkle. :)

This is one of my go-to colors. I love the reds/pinks, and Mauving to Manitoba is a great polish that can be professional in the workplace.

My new haul!

China Glaze Santa's Little Helpers with Holly Day, Twinkle Lights, Velvet Bow and Ring in the Red

Color Club Revvvolution and Worth the Risque

China Glaze Sparrow me the Drama and Paper Chaser

China Glaze Magnetix Pull Me Closer

and lastly, A England's Perceval and Saint George.

I can't wait to get swatching!

Old Swatches!

Most of these are old, quick, and messy so bear with me.

Essie Peach Daiquiri

Nicole by OPI Disco Dolls

China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Ruby Pumps again. This one just isn't the same in photos as it is in real life. Deep red jelly, intense red sparkles suspended in the jelly. Love at first brushstroke.

OPI DS Opulence (in the shade). This one has a very subtle holo in direct sunshine, but most of the time it's pretty subtle. Opulence is the perfect holo for those with conservative jobs.

Lastly, my NOTD. OPI Servin' Up Sparkle layered over OPI Crown Me Already!

I can't come close to describing how gorgeous this is in person. The layer upon layer of glitter of Crown Me Already! combined with the colorful holographic glitter of Servin' Up Sparkle. Little disco balls on my fingernails!

The Quest for Bottle Color

I got a set of the OPI Texas Collection minis for Christmas this year. When I first tried to wear the color Austin-tatious Turquoise I got to three coats of streaky-goopy mess before I gave up. My bottle was very sheer and thin, but my mani got goopy fast. I've heard from other bloggers that there are two different common formulas for this color, the thin version and another rather thick version.

The color is a bright turquoise with blue shimmer and glass fleck. It's a beautiful color. The glass flecks look blue in some lights and fuchsia in others.

In order to get bottle color I started with two coats of Sally Hansen X-treme wear Marine Scene, and topped it off with one coat of Austin-tatious Turqoise. The result: a match for bottle color in real life. Here it is in photos:

This last one is a little bit blurry to try and capture the glass flecks in the bottle. I couldn't catch the pink shade to them no matter how many shots I took.

Essie Go Overboard and Shine of the Times

I got a chance to do a couple of quick (and messy) swatches this week!

Here's Essie Go Overboard. It's a dark teal that looks only a little bit darker on the nail than in the bottle. The application is great, the pictures are with two coats (and you can see where I had to fix a spot on my middle finger...)

My chubby fingers...


Next, from the Luxeffects collection, Shine of the Times. One coat of Shine of the Times over Go Overboard. This one was really hard to capture in photos so I ended up taking the photos in the shade. The flakes in this are gorgeous. Just the right size, nice and dense. They shimmer from a pink-ish orange to green but nothing in the blue end of the spectrum.

New Essie Lacquers!

Today at the local drugstore I picked up two new (to me at least) Essie polishes.

Go Overboard, a dark teal, and one of the Luxeffects top coats, Shine of the Times.

I'm excited to swatch these two this weekend, both solo and layered.

Crown Me Already!

OPI Crown Me Already is from the 2011 Miss Universe collection. They released four shades in this collection: Congeniality is My Middle Name (A gorgeous dark berry sparkle/shimmer that I want to get my hands on), It's MY Year (plum purple with gold sparkle), Swimsuit... Nailed It! (a bright shimmery blue) and Crown Me Already.

Crown Me Already is a tiny glitter base, slightly larger circular silver glitter and huge hexagonal glitter flecks. It's glitter, glitter, and more glitter. I could see it being a perfect shade for that New Year's Eve party, but I'm sure I'll wear it all the time, it's so pretty to look at!

It's a dense glitter, this is only three coats but I probably could have stopped at two. It's so dense that you won't want to use this one for layering. Application is great, a little bit thin, but the glitter goes on smooth and dries slightly rough. I used one thick coat of seche vite to take away the roughness and might add another top coat for a completely smooth surface.

I apologize for how horrid my cuticles look, this week has been rough on them but I just had to show you this one!

Wear is great, typical of OPI products, although removal can be slow as with any dense glitter.

What do you think? Is it a shade you will be sporting?