OPI Casino Royale and Sinful Colors All About You

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I hope everyone is having a spectacular holiday season! I hit the polish motherload. I'm usually exceptionally difficult to buy gifts for so when I told my family I wanted nail polish... they went overboard. I couldn't be happier! I've also been checking out sales. Sally's had the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection clearanced and 50% off. How could I pass that up?

I received the entire OPI Skyfall collection and Casino Royale happens to be my favorite movie ever so picking a first new polish to use was a no brainer.


I used a base of Orly Bonder, as per usual. Then painted on two coats of OPI Casino Royale to get opacity. I love the color. Casino Royale, which is part of the OPI Skyfall Holiday 2012 collection, is an earthy/purple tinted burgundy creme. Casino Royale went on perfectly, no streaks or gloopiness. I coated it off with a single coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.

Artificial lighting

I kept just the Casino Royale on for about a day before deciding I needed to try out another new nail polish. I got a lot of new glitters so I attempted a glitter gradient. I didn't have enough time to sink a lot of effort into it but I liked the result.

I used one 'coat' of Sinful Colors All About You. All About You is a tiny gold glitter with a some orange glitters in a clear base. I can't say much about the formula since the way I applied it purposely let it partially dry before dragging it down the nail. It's jam packed with glitter though.

Natural lighting

The glitter really didn't want to photograph. I used a ton more than it looks like based on this picture. I loved the combo though and hope this lasts for a few days!

China Glaze Make a Spectacle and Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter

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This December has been so much busier than I anticipated! I didn't find much time for nail considering how long it takes me. I ended up keeping my China Glaze Roguish Red mani for a few weeks then switching to another color for another few weeks but forgot to take any pictures.

These are my first winter nails though and I'm so pleased with how they turned out. I don't have a Christmas green (all of my greens are neon lime) so I went with a snowy look. My fingers are crossed that Santa brings me lots of polish :)


As per usual, I used Orly Bonder as the basecoat. I'm so pleased with it as a basecoat. It's definitely going to remain a staple with Seche Vite.

I then painted on Sally Hansen Ivory Skull on all but my ring finger/accent nail. Why is white such a difficult color?! The third coat finally got rid of the streaks and visible nail but I'm still not crazy about this white. The brush for this polish looks like it was cut with silly scissors too. None of the bristles were even.
Edited to add: After about 12 hours the white has shrunk like crazy. It looks terrible. Because the tips now show a lot of nail then bump up to the polish, it makes the glitter I used on top look more like tons of little dings or bubbles in the paint. Guess I will be searching for a different white and using this one for stamping.

I did a swatch of Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter in another post and I went with that color for my accent nail. It looks gorgeous next to the white and went on just as perfectly as before.

I used a single coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat before layering China Glaze Make a Spectacle over the white nails then another coat on after. I only used one coat of Make a Spectacle which is part of their Wicked Collection for this past Fall. Holy freakin' cow. Make a Spectacle is gorgeous. I feel like a winter fairy princess with it on. It's made up of small hex holo glitters (in a blue to pink spectrum) as well as tiny glitters of the same color.

Artificial lighting

Guh, so pretty and perfect for winter.

Artificial lighting

If you see this glitter layered over everything in the future... don't be surprised.

China Glaze Roguish Red

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I have red nail polish prejudice. Whenever I think of it my mind conjures up skanks and those old ladies who wear tons of makeup. Despite this I bought all of the China Glaze Wicked Collection which included a red, Roguish Red. This color doesn't bring to mind either of the classy gals I mentioned. Instead it reminds me of Merida from Pixar's Brave. Roguish Red reminds me of her hair color and it sounds like a cute nickname for her.

Left to right: Orly Bonder, China Glaze Roguish Red, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

My previous manicure used Orly Bonder as the basecoat and had a Finger Paints polish on top lasted for a whole week with minimal chipping! I couldn't believe it. I used a coat of Bonder after taking all the previous polish off.

I then swatched on China Glaze Roguish Red. Roguish Red is part of the Wicked Collection for this Fall. It is a bright orangey red creme. This was my first time using a China Glaze nail polish (shocking, I know). I loved the formula. Roguish Red could have easily been a one coater, it's that pigmented. It's really thin but not watery though so I went ahead and did a second coat. Love it.

I then painted on a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. There was no change in color or gloss.

Artificial lighting with flash

Definitely haven't been converted to a fan of red nail polish but I do like this one. I might do a little stamping in white in the next few days over it but I'm undecided how long I want to wear this color. We shall see!


I'm really eager to start holiday and snow type manicures after having the first snow of the year last week. :)

Cheeky Vibrant Nail Plates Collection - CH15

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To spice up yesterday's Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter swatch I decided to do a little stamping. I used Wet n Wild French White Creme as my stamping polish. It's a white creme, as the name suggests, but it isn't nearly as opaque as my beloved Wet n Wild Black Creme which is the perfect stamping polish. French White Creme was a little watery and looked sheer on the plate. I typically use Sally Hansen White On when painting my nails white and hadn't tried Wet n Wild French White Creme. I guess I'll be using Sally for painting and stamping from now on!

Anyway, I chose a dashed heart design from plate CH15 of Cheeky's Vibrant Nail Plates Collection. I bought it on amazon for less than $20. I'm quite happy with that purchase considering the collection consists of 26 plates with a variety of designs. A few designs are more shallow than I feel they should be but I've yet to encounter any real problem that couldn't be fixed with a change of polish. And considering it was less than $20... I definitely made out like a bandit.

Cheeky Nail Plate - CH15

I love all the designs on this plate.

Artificial lighting

I'm a really slow stamper so I only did my thumbs and ring fingers. I'm really happy with the overall effect.

Artificial lighting

As you can see the the polish didn't fill the spaces very well. I'm unsure if that's due to the design's shallowness (it was one of the more shallow designs) or if it was due to the wateriness of French White Creme. I think it still looks cute but wish it had been consistent one way or the other.

Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter

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Blue is my absolute favorite color but since my nail polish obsession started, I haven't worn it once! I can't believe it wasn't the first color I wore. I decided to try a new to me brand while I was at it too.

Left to right: Orly Bonder, Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter, Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

I mentioned in the last post that I was trying out Orly Bonder for the first time having used Sally Hansen Triple Strong and suspecting it of causing my nails to peel. When my Halloween manicure came off there wasn't a single hint of peeling. Sorry Sally, but it looks like Bonder is my new go to gal. Bonder didn't live up to it's two week claim but my nails were perfect for five days before chipping started which amazed me. I'm extremely rough on my nails and Sinful Colors is a cheap brand. I couldn't be more happy with my purchase.

I decided not to do anything special and just swatch Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter onto my nails. It took two thin coats but one thick one would have gotten the polish to opaqueness. Tiffany Imposter is a gorgeous robin egg blue creme... or, you know, Tiffany blue creme. The formula was thick but not gloppy and I had no problems with it.

I topped it off with a single coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat which darkened the polish just a tad.

Artificial lighting with flash

Natural lighting

Beautiful! I think I'm getting better about painting in the lines but ew, someone needs some hand lotion and cuticle cream.

I'm sure there are lots of dupes for this polish. I believe it's often compared to China Glaze For Audrey. Considering my collection is very small, this one is completely unique to me and I love it.


Tomorrow I'm thinking of either stamping something in white over this or doing a dotticure. I can't decide! :)

Orly R.I.P. and Sinful Colors Cloud 9

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My very first polish post! Hi there. I expect to be talking to myself for a long while, if not forever but that's completely okay. Cataloging my pictures is plenty fun. I do hope my posts can help someone else out though! I don't buy any polish without looking up swatches and reading thoughts.

I love Halloween but haven't done much for it this year. In fact, I haven't even carved a pumpkin or gotten anything costume-like! I remedied that a bit by giving my nails a Halloween look.

Left to right: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, Orly Bonder, NYC Black Lace Creme, Sinful Colors Cloud 9, Orly R.I.P.

This was my first time using Orly Bonder as a basecoat. I had previously been using Sally Hansen Triple Strong but I think it was causing my actual nail to peel. Bonder was probably the easiest 'polish' I've ever put on. It's a rubberized basecoat which is supposed to grip the polish for up to two weeks of perfection. Hmmm, we'll see. I'm exceptionally rough on my nails though and would be happy with 3 to 5 days.

Sinful Colors Cloud 9 is a shimmery orange that goes on fairly sheer. I applied 3 thin coats but I think next time I will go for a fourth since there's a slight hint of nail line still.

I choose to do a black, glitter accent nail but made the mistake of using NYC Black Lace Creme as the base black. This is how new I am to nail polish: I don't know if it's just because I purchased this in a Target where people like to paint samples everywhere (jerks!) or if it's typical of the NYC formula but yuck! Black Lace Creme was a sticky mess. It's incredibly opaque though, I'll give it that. I could have gotten away with only one coat if it hadn't gone on like old glue. I ended up doing two and getting away with it since Orly R.I.P. has a black tinted jelly.

Over NYC Black Lace Cream I applied a single coat of Orly R.I.P. R.I.P. is part of both their Flash Glam FX Collection and the Spellbound Collection. It is a clear black jelly with large hexagonal orange glitters and tiny slightly lighter orange glitter. I didn't do anything special when applying it, R.I.P. went on really easily and didn't need any maneuvering. It worked wonders on smoothing the NYC mess out.

I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. Love it, that is all!

Natural lighting

This is the finished product! Please ignore my messy paint job. I've never been an artsy person. 'Clean up' would result in half my nail polish being taken off so I'll leave it with the slight cuticle mess. Also, the accent nail looks a little wonky in this picture. It's just angle and reflection.


Are your nails painted for Halloween? Have a safe and sugary holiday! :)

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