OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades 2012 swatches

Hi guys!

I know I'm super late on this collection. I was holding out for so long, since OPI prowide brushes are not my favourite (small nail beds + OPI prowide = cuticle flooding), but I broke down anyway. Ahhh the story of every nail junkie's life, amirite?

OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? (3 coats) - Some VNL, but it looks nice



OPI Barre My Soul (3 coats) - I'm not sure if I can decide if I like this better or worse than Lyre. I'm going to have to wear both at the same time (1 per hand) one day and decide.



Since OPI Samoan Sand and OPI Let Them Eat Rice Cake are two of my staple nude/neutral shades, I thought I'd do a little comp for ya'll. There's no (or very little) VNL with Samoan Sand and LTERC. Why do they all look the same-ish?! Hahaha...

Comparison: OPI Samoan Sand, OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre?, OPI Barre My Soul, OPI Let Them Eat Rice Cake (all 3 coats each)


OPI Care to Danse? (3 coats) - This looks like a pale purple in the bottle, but on my skintone, it looks like a cool-toned pink



OPI My Pointe Exactly (3 coats) - This is the sheerest out of the 5 jellies; 4 coats would probably make it look more similar to the others in terms of opacity. I think this might be my least favourite, but it looks like it would go good with Polish Revolution Vegan Zombie...



Comparison: OPI My Pointe Exactly (3 coats) and OPI Skull and Glossbones (2 coats) - Just to give you an idea of opacity


OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (3 coats) - Very jelly white



Comparison: OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and Essie Marshmallow (both 3 coats) - I consider the Essie a jelly... and with 3 coats each, quite a difference in opacity!


Comparison: Misa Heaven White (2 coats), OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (3 coats), and Essie Marshmallow (3 coats) - again, to help you with opacity :)



Overall, I'm glad I finally got these. They're all super jelly, but they are not streaky, which is quite a feat. I'll have to give them a good whirl to decide which ones to keep, though! A few look too similar on me to keep them all..

I have a couple Essies I purchased along with these OPIs, but after that, I think I'm totally out of nail polish to swatch :O I have a few more reswatches that I haven't posted yet, but after that... there might be a lull. Or Inglot eyeshadow swatches. Or macro shots of chocolate. Who knows! :)

I'm off to Toronto tomorrow for a week. I'm not sure what to pack, nail-wise! Maybe I will do a travel-bag post when I get back :)

Indie: Pam's Girly Bits - a delightful spread of spam

Disclosure: The following polishes were sent to me for review.

Hey guys! Look what Pam, from Pam's Girly Bits, sent me recently!!! These are from a variety of collections.







Formula on all of these were fantastic. Pam has that shiz ~nailed~ down. Check out my swatches!

Arctic Sunrise - 3 coats. No secret shimmer here! Very pretty polish; it reminds me a bit of that Sinful Colors Cinderella polish that everyone was going crazy about earlier this year... I never got it, but I can't imagine it's as beautiful as Arctic Sunrise :p Sorry for that little bald bit on my ring finger! I didn't notice it until I uploaded the pics!




Cu Blue - 1st and 3rd pics are 2 coats over AA Hassid. 2nd pic is 3 coats on its own. This is a deep blue jelly with copper shimmer, so it was really difficult to photograph, hence the layering over black. But let me be perfectly clear, 3 coats by itself is super gorgeous and opaque, while still jelly. It is very dark blue (think NARS Midnight Express), but the copper shimmer adds depth, even in indoor lighting. Looks beautiful in sunlight *sighs* This reminds me of one of those recent RBL polishes where everyone was disappointed in the shimmer being too lost.




Sidebar: why does the blue pigment in polishes like this always stink? LOL. This one smells quite bad as you're applying (and while it's drying), but it's completely worth it, ok?

Mother May I? - 2 coats, no underwear :O. In indoor lighting, the shimmer is not that apparent. I actually prefer how it looks indoors compared to how it looks in full sun, but only because I like jelly bases a lot, LOL. Still, this polish is so beautiful and applies flawlessly. The glitter mix originally reminded me of Lynnderella Boy Girl Party, but Mother May I? has the added bonus of square turquoise glitter and cool iridescent glitter. My pictures really don't do this one justice! Love love love!




Daddy's Little Girl - 2 coats over AA Hassid. Sorry for the messy swatch! Those little glitters like to get everywhere XD I really like the blue glitter in this; it's so light catching.




Hocus Pocus - 2 coats. Silvery holo topcoat. The formula flows easily onto the nail. This first set of pictures is 2 coats on its own, there is a little VNL, but lots of rainbows in direct light




Hocus Pocus - 1 coat over Essie Cocktail Bling. I'm wearing this as my NOTD right now and it's very pretty! In dim lighting, the topcoat gives my nails a bit of a silvery look, but oddly enough appears kind of golden? It kind of reminds me of how OPI DS Sapphire looks, if you have that and know what I mean about there being a golden/rosy cast to it. Can someone explain what this sorcery is?!




Jelly Shoes - 2 coats over Illamasqua Collide. This one looks great 3 coats on its own, but wouldn't photograph correctly, again, because it has a jelly base :D This one is pretty darn neon, but doesn't dry matte (I guess because of the shimmer?) which I thought was interesting.




Star Spangled - 2 coats over CND Midnight Sapphire. This looks way better on the nail than it looks in the bottle. It's actually super sparkley, and I didn't even know until I saw the macro I took that there's super itty bitty bar glitter in there!!




Wet Bikini - 2 coats over CND Midnight Sapphire. I really like this mix of glitter... because it doesn't have holo glitter XD I'm also loving those square turquoise pieces. Ahhh lovely! I can't wait to put this in a jelly sammich!




My top picks are Cu Blue, Mother May I?, and Wet Bikini.

Thanks for sending me these polishes, Pam! They are gorgeous!

How to spend your monies on these (hehe):
Pam's Store
Pam's page at Llarowe

Whachu guys think? I know some of you probably want to strangle me for posting so many indies lately, but I promise I have a "normal" spam post coming soon. I *finally* got on the OPI Ballet train, LOL.

Next week I'm flying up to Toronto for a conference and I'm going to be seeing a few old friends. I'm looking forward to going... which reminds me, I need to buy some CAD! Have a good weekend, guys! :D

Misa Frozen in Time (from Fall 2012 Wanderlust)

Just got my Transdesign haul in the mail today!

I wanted to show you a quick swatch, since I haven't seen swatches of the new Misas anywhere... although I only bought one:

Misa Frozen in Time - 2 coats




Formula is good; it looks sheer on the first coat, but when you put the second on, you're like "Wait, it's opaque? Huh?"

The colour reminds me of a softer Essie Smooth Sailing (uhhh sorry I can't compare it, I think I just sold mine in the last round of my blog sale -_- Eeek I know, I know, I'm super useless for comparisons these days!!) and the shimmer reminds me of Zoya Lotus.

From the bottle shots of this, I was hoping it would be a bit deeper, something like RBL Catherine H or BB Couture Impact Driver, but no dice. *sigh*

Did any of you make any blind purchases (i.e., didn't look at any swatches beforehand) lately? Hit or miss?

Indie: Polish Revolution spam

Disclosure: The following polishes were provided to me for review and swatching!

Hi guys! I know Lauryn from a nail polish community and she asked me if I could swatch her polish line for her. So here we are :)

The formula on her polishes were all great; very easy to apply. They aren't glitter-bomb topcoats like some other indies, rather, most of them are meant to be worn on their own. She did tell me that she'll be adding more of the large heart glitters to Oh My Goth! and large white glitters to the polishes that have them, though! I think the labels are so cute and I like how each colour has a different colour scheme and font style.

My personal favourites are Vegan Zombie and Surprise!

You can find Polish Revoluation at her Etsy shop. She said she would be restocking it tomorrow around noon EST (Saturday, Aug 18)!

Bottle Shots




Polish Revolution A Better Tomorrow


Polish Revolution A Better Tomorrow - 3 coats on its own, such a great formula! The base colour is a little deeper than pictured, since it is a jelly, it photographs a bit lighter because of my flash :)





Polish Revolution Coffeeshop Politics


Polish Revolution Coffeeshop Politics (2 coats) over ChG Ingrid




Polish Revolution Coffeeshop Politics (2 coats) over Essie French Affair (yes, ugh, I still own this terrible pink polish LOL)




Polish Revolution Coffeeshop Politics (2 coats) over Nails Inc Warwick Way





Polish Revolution Oh My Goth!


Polish Revolution Oh My Goth! - 3 coats on its own. Again, since the base is jelly, it's the base colour is a bit deeper than the pictures show. I got a heart out by chance, but you might have to fish around for them since heart glitters are pretty heavy.





Polish Revolution Scared of Clowns


Polish Revolution Scared of Clowns - 3 coats on its own, the base is a little deeper than it photographed here (think something like BBC Dragon's Breath)





Polish Revolution Surprise


Polish Revolution Surprise - 3 coats on its own, I rushed the application a bit so there is some balding going on!




Polish Revolution Surprise - 2 coats over NARS MIdnight Express - this is BANGIN'





Polish Revolution Underground Movement


Polish Revolution Underground Movement- 3 coats on its own - It is impossible to photograph this one accurately, lol. The base is much warmer, similar to SH XW Purple Pizzazz, and the glitters are more distinct IRL (distinct shades of blue/aqua, purple, holo, etc)




Polish Revolution Underground Movement (2 coats) over Orly Plum Noir - I tried to layer it over a really warm purple so it would show up a bit better, but it still looks wrong -_-





Polish Revolution Vegan Zombie


Polish Revolution Vegan Zombie - 3 coats on its own, the base is quite a bit sheerer than the other jelly ones, but I think it works well for a "neutral with a twist" look




Polish Revolution Vegan Zombie (2 coats) over OPI Skull & Glossbones




Any of these interest you?

I just got a bunch of new Pam's Girly Bits yesterday and I can't wait to swatch them! :D Have a great weekend, guys!