OPI The Amazing Spider-Man - Swatches & Review

Hey everyone, I've missed you guys! I am back from my break and you're going to be seeing a lot more of me in the next few months. I thought I'd start things off with a bang, so today I have for you my swatches and review of the OPI The Amazing Spider-Man collection which is set to hit stores this May. I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about Spiderman, but I know a thing or two about nail polish, so keep reading if you'd like to see what OPI is bringing to us this spring!

This post is extremely picture heavy, but you'd expect no less from a swatch post, right? 

Full swatches and review after the jump!

China Glaze Magnetix

Hello hello! Today I have something very cool to show you! I may just be slow on the take since this kind of polish has been in the spotlight for quite some time now, but I just got two polishes from China Glaze's Magnetix collection (I also got CG's Blue Iguana and Ahoy! Went on a little polish spree.) 

So if you don't know what magnetic polish is, it's just specially formulated polish containing iron particles, which are attracted to a magnet that has been engraved with a pattern. When you hold the special magnet over the wet polish, it'll attract the iron particles and therefore create that design on your nail. Cool eh?

More pictures and information after the jump!

Fuchsia Fever

Hello world! Here is the second Maybelline Color Show polish that I was talking about in my last post. This one's Fuchsia Fever, an electric purple creme that goes on darker than the bottle color but is still bright nonetheless! First up, here are the pictures!

Like my physics formulae?? Nerd.

3 coats Fuchsia Fever + 1 coat Seche Vite topcoat

So the formula on this one wasn't the greatest... It's very runny and almost has a jelly-like finish. Actually, before topcoat it dries matte, which I guess is what most neon shades do! I would assume that most neon purples like this are runny and thin, but yeah it's definitely not my favorite. And if you keep adding more coats the color gets darker and darker, so I didn't really want to do that since I bought it for the brightness. Oh well! You never know if you don't try!

That wraps up my haul on Maybelline Color Show polishes! I might go and get some more, depends on if I want to splurge on more polish again haha!

Thanks for reading!
Mandy

Tenacious Teal

Hello loves! Today I'm showing you a new line of polish that I saw when I went to Wal-mart just recently. It's from Maybelline's Color Show collection, and the selection of colors was surprisingly fab! I quite liked what I saw but wanted to test out a couple first before buying more. So here is Tenacious Teal, it's a darker jade-y teal creme that dries shiny and takes about 3 coats to achieve opacity. Here are the pics!

If you saw my Ruffian manicure post, this is the original teal base color I was going to use. But it ended up being too dark for the pink to look bright, and so I changed it up. I know, I've been on a teal-y green kick lately, I just love this color family so much! Probably one of my favorite colors to wear. So the application on this was pretty good, it's a little bit runnier than OPI or even China Glaze, but has similar consistency to Essie I would say. Overall, for 3-ish bucks a bottle, you can't go wrong! I have one more from this collection to show you guys, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

Mandy

Ruffian Manicure

Hey there! Hope you're all having a good week so far, I know this one's gonna be another stressful week for me but such is life! Only 2 more months of school left, I can't wait until summer. Although... I'll still be researching about university, working, studying for things, getting my license... The busyness goes on forever! Anyway, today I have another nail art design to show you, but it's definitely not as crazy as the others have been lately. I decided it was high time that I tried out the Ruffian manicure that we first started seeing last year sometime. So, originally I had planned for a teal and hot pink Ruffian but the colors were too dark and bled together, didn't look very good. I then decided to use colors from the same family so that it would at least be clear that there were two different colors. I used China Glaze's For Audrey and Nicole by OPI's Iceberg Lotus. Here are the pics!

Not sure how I like this color combo, but the application process is really easy. You just have to create a smooth curve and that's not too hard to do with a polish that has a wide brush like OPI's or Insta-Dry, etc.  

Thanks for reading!

Mandy

Glitter Gradient

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry once again for not being very active recently, I had three consecutive exams in the first three days of exam period - so saying I've been busy is an understatement. Luckily, I had a pretty nice mani throughout this entire week, I've been wearing this silver glitter gradient for quite a while now and I've gotten a few compliments! Let's take a look..

To get this look I started with two coats of Barre My Soul from OPI's recent SoftShades collection featuring the New York City Ballet. I then layered Pirouette My Whistle over top but only part way down the nail to start off the gradient, and finished with some thick coats of OPI Crown Me Already on the tips!

Nautical Nail Art

Hello lovelies! Hope you're all having a great start to the week! I'm a little sleep deprived but that always seems to be the case now doesn't it? The one thing keeping me going is the little flit of happiness that I get when I look down at my nails! I think this is one of the cutest designs, and credits go once again to cutepolish! Her videos are amazing and explicitly easy to follow, not to mention the designs are all really nice. I think I'll have all of her manicures re-created by the time I'm done high school they're just that good! Be sure to check her out if you haven't already! :)

For this mani, I used two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On for the base, Red Glitter striper by Nail Art Deco, the white striper by Nail Art Deco, Denim by Joe Fresh, and Seche Vite basecoat/topcoat as usual. This design is perfect for summer as it truly captures the nautical, sailor trend that's been in style for the past few years.

More pics after the jump!

I know there's a polish all over my nails, sorry! Didn't have time to clean up before taking these!

The only thing with this design is that you have to have an extremely steady hand if you want the lines to look sharp and straight. If you don't mind the wobbliness, well then there you go! Also, doing your non-dominant hand is a pain when it comes to the anchor... But overall, I really like how this turned out! What do you guys think? Will you be trying out the nautical trend this season?

Thanks for reading!

Mandy

New Water Marble Technique

Hey everyone! Once again, sorry for my intermittent posts recently, but the end of the semester is almost here and I'll have much more time to blog!
Today I have a manicure that I'm not really sure about, I love the idea, but I wish I had executed it just a little bit more successfully. To give you some background, I first saw this sort of technique here and I was intrigued, but I couldn't figure out how to get the clear "windows" in the water marble. After I received the OPI New York City Ballet collection it just came to me: I could water marble with one of them and it would be sheer enough for the design underneath to show through!

I wish that I had taken more care on the base design instead of just slapping colours on wherever, but keep on reading for some more pictures of this new water marble technique!

Splatter Mani

Hey everyone!
I'm so sorry for my absence recently - but as I'm sure many of you know it's getting close to final exams and my nails are the last thing on my mind. I've been meaning to try out the splatter mani technique for a while, and I fell in love with this one that Sarah from Chalkboard Nails did as a guest post on Fashion Polish - I'm sure you all know of these two blogs but if you don't they are ones to add to your list!

For this look I started with two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. I then used a straw and began splattering using China Glaze Liquid Leather, OPI Alpine Snow, Revlon Metallic, Quo by ORLY Filthy Rich, and for the first time ever A England Lady of the Lake! 

Keep reading for some more photos!

Easter Bunny Nail Art

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all are doing well! It's pretty late in the evening, but I just did a design that is perfect for Easter and I want to get it up as quickly as possible!

Inspiration comes from my fave Youtuber - cutepolish, go and search her up, she's brilliant! The polishes that I used for this design are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, Orly Basket Case, and OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys. I also used my dotting tools to create the small circles. Here are the pics!

My 'Hello Bunny' in the background :)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day...

What do you guys think? This design was REALLY easy to do, the only thing I would change is a lighter pink color for the ears and nose. However, I don't have a lighter creme pink than Basket Case so if you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!
Mandy

Joe Fresh Mist

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend! :)

Today I have Joe Fresh's Mist to show you, it's an iridescent and frosty seafoam green color. Not sure how I like this on its own, but it's a nice polish nonetheless! Here are the pics!

3 coats Mist + 1 coat Seche Vite topcoat

The formula on Joe Fresh polishes are AMAZING, I would've never expected them to go on so nicely but they really do give you value for your money! Impressive is all I need to say! Anyway, have a great weekend, and hope to have another post up soon!

Thanks for reading,

Mandy

OPI Pirouette My Whistle Comparison

Hey everyone! Who's excited for the long weekend - I am! When I first saw Pirouette My Whistle from the OPI New York City Ballet collection I wanted to know how similar it is to OPI Crown Me Already from last summer's Miss Universe Collection. Pirouette My Whistle has medium matte silvery-white hex glitter and silver microglitter, while Crown Me Already has three different sizes of metallic silver hex glitter and silver microglitter. The matte glitter in Pirouette My Whistle is what makes it stand out to me, it's not as attention grabbing as most glitters, instead it adds a feminine touch to a jelly or creme finish.

I layered one coat of each glitter over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. Crown Me Already is on my pinky and middle fingers and Pirouette My Whistle on the index and ring fingers.

Keep reading for more photos!

OPI New York City Ballet - Comparisons

Hi everybody! (I feel like Dr. Nick when I say that). I've noticed that quite a few people in the nail community are saying that a lot of the shades from OPI's NYC Ballet collection look the same on the nail, and so I've done some swatches of the four shades side by side.

This picture is from my original swatches, it shows each colour photographed in the shade.

Keep reading to see the comparisons!

China Glaze Capitol Collection Pt. 2 - Agro

As promised, here is China Glaze's Agro from the Capitol Collection for The Hunger Games! Sorry it took so long for me to put this up, I've been getting distracted by a ton of other polishes and designs and such! So the formula on this was surprisingly good, achieved opacity within the first coat but I wanted to do 2 just to make sure. The color is also super pretty, it's like a golden mossy green that's wearable yet daring at the same time. Definitely unique! Here are the pics!

Thanks for reading!

Mandy

OPI New York City Ballet - Swatches and Review

Hello! Today I have five of the six shades from OPI's annual SoftShades collection to show you, and this year's theme is the New York City Ballet. Though I have never been a fan of sheer shades like this before, I have to admit there are a few winners in this collection, and don't even get me started on how perfect the glitter is.

A word of warning, this post is going to be extremely picture heavy!