CND Brilliant White

I realized that I use this color a lot but have never dedicated a post to it.  CND colour Brilliant White is a core color - a nice bright white.  For this, I used a base of CND Stickey, 2 coats of polish and a top of OPI Top Coat (it's all I could find at the moment).

Okay, so ignore the huge nick in my middle finger.  I bumped it right when I walked out the door.  Now I've had my bottle for quite some time, so I'm not sure if the formula has been affected, but I noticed that this color was a bit patchy for me.  Not what you'd hope, but pretty typical for whites.

Here in the shade, the color looks a bit dusty?  I think it's just the reflection of the light off my roof that I was shooting under.  It's still a good base but I have to layer something over it to feel better.

Oh the flash.  It tells how streaky this color is, and uneven - patchy as I explained before.  I still love it and am glad I have it, but I'm still on the search for a "perfect" one coat white. :]


CND is available for $9 per colour, and $11 per effect and you can find locations to buy here.

TransDesign and Head2ToeBeauty has the colours for $4.50 and effects for $5.50.

OPI It's My Year

Continuing with the Miss Universe collection - here's It's My Year, a purple base with gold microglitter.  It's like the sister of Rally Pretty Pink.  I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail, 2 coats of polish, a top of OPI Top Coat.  Formula was great but as you'll see in my pictures, not as opaque as I thought.

Here in the sun, you can see what I was talking about as far as the opacity of this polish.  While I love the color, not a huge fan of seeing my nails.  A base coat of white would help cover your nails and make this color pop.

I had to snag a picture in some indirect sunlight (semi-shade).  Seriously, this purple slays me.  It's just a nice beautiful orchid like color.

Shade picture - the gold isn't nearly as strong here, which is interesting because on my swatch card, all I see is gold.

And finally indoors with the flash - lots of visible nail for me.  Boo!

OPI is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and Ulta, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. Please visit their website for details [official website].  

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name

Remember this lovely OPI Miss Universe collection?  Seems like a lifetime ago for me, but that's because I've been seeing swatches of OPI Holland pop up on Tumblr and wow, I'm in love with some of those shades!  But back to the swatch at hand (hah).  Today is Congeniality Is My Middle Name, also called "CIMMN" by many bloggers, although I have no idea how to pronounce it.  Maybe it's like "cinnamon" but you just run the last syllable into the n sound at the end.  Works, right?  This is a beautiful wine-berry shimmer that looks like a creme in the bottle but sparkles on the nail.


Side note, back in 2006, I was in a "scholarship pageant" and won Miss Congeniality.  I hold dear to that title and trophy.  A few years prior, Eva Longoria was in the same scholarship pageant and walked away the winner.

Oh the good ole days.


Back to the polish.  I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail, 2 coats of polish and a top coat of OPI Top Coat.  The formula was nice and smooth.

Here in the sun, you can see how this is a great red/purple (rurple?) shimmer.  It's not too red but definitely not too purple and the shimmer is nice and subtle.

I was pretty obsessed with this color in the shade, especially the bottle!  It's just such a little chameleon - almost duochrome like!

Finally indoors with the flash and you can see the shimmer a bit more and a huge "hot spot" of light where my flash really hit the nail.  Lovely color!  OPI has always been great with reds.


I'd like to wish all my readers a great holiday season!  Today is Christmas Day and I'm having my family all to my house later today.

OPI is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and Ulta, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. Please visit their website for details [official website].  

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

FingerPaints Drummer Boy

Today I have FingerPaints Drummer Boy, a blue glitter in a clear base.  I originally was hoping for a blue base but the good thing with clear bases is that you can use it over anything.


I used a base coat of CND Stickey, 2 coats of polish, and a top of Seche Vite.  On my index and middle fingers, I started with a coat of CND Stickey, then 1 coat of Winter Sky, and finished like the above.  (In case you're wondering, I paint my nails from pinkie to index finger.)

Okay, apologizes for this blurry picture.  My camera freaked out in the sun and just couldn't handle it.

It did much better in the shade.  The glitter could probably have used more than 1 coat of Seche Vite to keep down the bumps in the glitter.

Finally indoors with the flash - I'm a bit iffy on this color.  While I love a glitter, I don't know how many uses I have for a blue glitter.  I think this would work well over a white to give you a punch of color without the overpowering blue theme going.  By itself, I just can't deal.  The glitter didn't stain my nails any, but I just don't like seeing so much VNL underneath.  Maybe a nice nude under?  I can't think of any other blue glitters in clear bases that I have off the top of my head, so this could be a keeper on that fact alone.


FingerPaints can be found in Sally's Beauty Supplies stores and online for $4.99 USD each.  They are a Sally's Beauty Supply exclusive brand, so you can follow Sally's on Twitter and like them on Facebook as well as follow their blog.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

FingerPaints Special Effects Collection

How freaking cool are these?!  FLAKIES.  And flakies at an affordable price!  Now these are a Sally's Beauty Store exclusive, available in stores only starting in January.  I was able to purchase an advance copy from my local Sally's on behalf of the corporate office - many many thanks to Sally's for making that possible!  Price on these are $5.49 a bottle but with a Sally's Beauty Club card, they are $4.99.  I paid a total of $27.01 which included Texas sales tax at 8.25%.

Twisted, Flecked, Flashy, Motley and Asylum