OPI Holiday 2016 Breakfast at Tiffany's Collection

When I first saw this collection, it didn't scream winter or holiday to me. Not that I'm complaining because this collection has some major winners for me. It is definitely red heavy, but its OPI holiday so that is to be expected. Luckily, even though these are pretty dupable shades they have awesome formulas so it makes it worth it to me. With the glitter polishes in this collection, it seems like OPI is trying to match create some indie like polishes. But I really wish OPI would get the memo and stop making those opaque metallic polishes with metallic mixed in, they just don't work.

Swatches
Meet My "Decorator"

I did 3 thin coats, because I like to not because this polish needed it. This color isn't revolutionary by any means but the formula is wonderful. I love bold orange toned red shades so I'm always happy to add another to my collection.

Got The Mean Reds

2 rich, creamy perfect coats. When OPI nails it, they really nail it. This polish is a bright, luxurious looking red that is perfect for fall and holiday time. Even though I have a near dupe for this shade, I'm a huge red polish fan so I'm happy to have this one.

Can't Read Without My Lipstick

I did 3 thin coats of this rich oxblood polish. The formula is pretty thin, almost in to crelly territory and was slightly patchy. I do absolutely love the color so I think the extra work is worth it.

I Believe In Manicures

I did 3 thin coats to reach even opacity. I don't understand why this polish wasn't named Breakfast at Tiffany's as it is very close to the classic Tiffany blue. The formula was a little thin, but not difficult to apply.

Sunrise... Bedtime

This is pale, rosy pink holographic glitter in a clear base. 3 coats for opacity, but next time I wear this I will be using the sponging method to get better coverage. Even with top coat, this polish dries down really bumpy.

Champagne for Breakfast

This polish is made up of small silver holo glitter particles in a clear but cloudy base. It isn't super densely packed so it can easily be used as a topper polish. It took 4 coats to reach this opacity. Next time I wear this, I will definitely sponge it on because the base is weirdly thick. I think this polish looks really light and etherial, but I have so many better versions of this from Indie brands that I don't see myself using this very often.

Above is 1 coat layered over Can't Read Without My Lipstick. Even though I topped this swatch with a thick coat of HK Girl, you can see the texture that the weird base has.

Comparisons

Meet My "Decorator" vs OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It vs OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where?

Decorator on middle and pinky fingers, Devil on pointer finger and Red Lights on ring finger. These are all very similar, but none are exact dupes. Decorator has the least white in it, while Red Lights leans the most pink. Red Lights also has a much thinner formula than the other two.

Got The Mean Reds vs OPI Having A Big Head Day vs OPI Love Is In My Cards

Mean Reds on pointer and ring fingers, Big Head on middle finger and Love on pinky finger. Love is a much cooler toned red, and is slightly deeper. Mean Reds and Big Head are incredibly similar, if I'm going to be nit-picky I'd say Big Head is just slightly warmer/more orange toned. But seriously there two are so similar, I don't think it is necessary to have both. All 3 of these polishes have amazing formulas, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these shades.

Can't Read Without My Lipstick vs OPI Malaga Wine vs OPI Guys and Galaxies

Lipstick on my pointer and ring fingers, MW on my middle finger and GG on my pinky. These are definitely not dupes, but I'd call them all shades of the same color. You could get a really smooth gradient from using these 3. I think I like Lipstick and MW best because of the creamier formulas, while I love GG as a color it has a more crelly like formula so I like it less.

I Believe In Manicures vs OPI Sailing and Nailing

Believe on my middle and pinky fingers, Sailing on my pointer and ring fingers. While I'm glad OPI has released so many blue polishes this year, I wish there was a bit more differentiation between the shades. In the bottle these look almost identical, but on the nail the differences are more apparent. Sailing is lighter and has more white in the base.

I don't have anything close to Sunrise.... Bedtime, but I think it is close to OPI Teenage Dream and Painted Polish Plastered In Pink.

Champagne for Breakfast vs OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse vs Painted Polish Drunk On Holo

Champagne on my pointer and ring fingers, PP on my middle finger and Norse on my pinky. Obviously Norse and Champagne aren't dupes but they were my closest OPI options. The PP and Champagne are very similar in concept, but the PP glitter is much more holo and sparkly.

Any other comparisons you would like to see, let me know in the comments. Also, let me know which polish from this collection is your favorite :)

Stay Sparkly,
A

Saturday Spam Disney!

I'm feeling very Disney deprived lately, so I thought I would put together a spam post of some of my Disneyland themed manis. I almost always match my nails to my ears/outfit for Disneyland days.

First up is the mani I did this week for Disneyland. I wanted it to match the 60th anniversary Minnie Mouse ears I was wearing.
The base is Colors by Llarowe Come Dance The Hora, and the black is OPI We're In The Black.

Here is one of my first (and favorite) Disney manis- a Halloween mani from 3 years ago. I still love this little Jack Skellington/Mickey Mouse combo. This was also one of the first times I attempted free hand nail art :)

And a few more recent Disney Manis. I always theme my outfit/nails for Disneyland.

Disneyland is one of my favorite places to be, and I love dressing themed for the days spent there. 

Stay Sparkly,

A

OPI Washington DC Fall 2016 Collection Swatches and Comparisons

OPI fall collections are pretty much always my favorite. I was pretty disappointed by the 2015 fall collection, but this most recent collection is really stunning! I love a classic cream polish, and this collection was full of that kind of perfect polish. I didn't pick up all of the polishes, but I did grab my favorite 6 shades from the collection.

Swatches

Shh... It's Top Secret

Two creamy perfect coats. In the bottle it looks like a pretty basic deep brown, but on the nail it becomes a deep vampy brown with cool toned purple undertones. Its like the vampy older sister to classic OPI polishes like I Sao Paolo Over There and You Don't Know Jacques. I can already tell that this polish is going to become one of my new favorite fall vampy shades. 

Stay Off The Lawn

Two creamy perfect coats. I absolutely adore this polish! Potentially taking the place of OPI Christmas Gone Plaid as my favorite green polish ever!

Madam President

This isn't a super exciting color, but the formula is amazing. This is opaque in one coat, and I didn't even do a thicker coat than normal. If you have a lot of pink shades maybe you can skip this one, but my collection is seriously lacking in pinks so I'm glad to have one with such a perfect formula. 

By Popular Vote

This is a pretty color. It is a basic color. Do I think you need this? No. It has a perfect formula so if pink is your thing then you should pick this color up. I did 2 thin coats for depth of color, but if you do thicker coats this would probably be a 1 coater. 

We The Female

2 thinner coats were all this polish needed for opacity. I love this color, it is perfect for fall! Unfortunately the formula was kind of meh for me. It wasn't thin or runny at all, but it was kind of gloopy of the second coat and when it dried I had some bubbling :(

CIA=Color Is Awesome

2 perfect creamy coats for this stunner. I love this color. 

Comparisons
OPI Shh... It's Top Secret vs OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

 

 Shh on middle and pinky fingers, LPAD on pointer and ring fingers. It is hard to tell in the pics, but I promise these are not dupes, but they are so similar that if you aren't a huge fan of deep vampy colors you definitely don't need both. LPAD is much more plummy, while Shh has more grayed out or taupey purple undertones.

OPI Stay Off The Lawn vs OPI Jade Is The New Black vs Essie Off Tropic vs China Glaze Exotic Encounters

Lawn is on my middle finger, Jade is on my pinky finger, Essie is on my pointer finger and ChG is on my ring finger. These are clearly not dupes, but I love how they look all together. Something worth noting is that all of the comparison polishes have major pigment settling/ugly bottle syndrome. I'm curious to see if Stay Off The Lawn will develop the same ugly bottle syndrome the longer that I have it.

OPI Madam President vs China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic

OPI on pointer and ring fingers, ChG on middle and pinky fingers. Admittedly I am not the biggest hot pink fan, so I didn't have much to compare it to but I think this is a very dupable shade. These are clearly not dupes, and I much prefer the OPI for color and formula.

OPI By Popular Vote vs OPI Just Beclaus vs OPI Amore At The Grand Canal

Vote is on my pointer and ring finger, Beclaus is on my middle finger and Amore is on my pinky. Definitely not dupes, but all 3 are nice, fall appropriate shades with awesome formulas. 

We The Female vs OPI Just A Little Rosti At This 

Female on pointer and ring finger. Rosti on middle and pinky. These are straight up dupes, if you have one you really do not need the other. I think Rosti has a slightly better formula, but they are dupe city. 

Also because the berry/red shades in this collection are pretty similar, here is a comparison of all 3. 

Female on middle finger, Vote on ring finger and President on pinky. They are thankfully not dupes, but they do look like a pretty gradient all together. 

CIA=Color Is Awesome vs OPI Ski Teal We Drop vs Painted Polish Tide Pool Teal

CIA on pointer and ring finger, Ski on middle finger, and PP on pinky. Ski has more blue in it, even though in the bottles they look very similar. I don't usually include indie polishes in my comparisons, but Tide Pool Teal was a limited edition shade from the summer so if you missed that one, CIA is a dupe. 

What polishes did you pick up from this collection? Let me know in the comments :)

Stay Sparkly,
A

#31dc2016 part 2

I tried my best but I wasn't able to finish the challenge. Even though I combined some prompts and posted late, I still couldn't finish :( Here is what I was able to complete.

If you don't follow me on instagram (@sparkleandpolish), then you haven't seen these yet. I split this post so that it wouldn't be massive and picture heavy, if you missed part 1 you can see it here. I also gave the inspired by artwork prompt its own post, which you can see here. 

Day 15- Delicate Print

Day 16- Geometric

Day 17 and 18- Glitter and Half Moons

Day 19- Galaxies

Day 20- Water Marble

Day 21- Inspired by a Color

Day 22, 23 and 24- Inspired by a Song, Movie and Book

Day 25 and 26- Inspired by a Pattern and Fashion

Day 27- Inspired by Artwork

What was your favorite mani or prompt from this challenge? 

Congrats to everyone who tried this and everyone who finished!! 

Stay Sparkly,

A

#31dc2016 Day 27 Inspired by Artwork

I hadn't planned on dedicating a post to any individual mani from the 31 Day Challenge, but I loved this mani and it is so different from anything that I have ever done that I decided it needed a bit more attention. I love painting and making art, but I'm not a huge fan of museums so I wasn't sure what to do for this prompt. Even though it is technically autumn, here in Los Angeles the 90 degree weather made me want some lighter, brighter colors on my nails. I used all nail polish for this mani and a little paint brush from Michaels. I did not use top coat for this mani because I really wanted it to look textured like an actual oil painting would.

Here is the original painting that I was inspired by:

My rendition:

Polishes Used: 

OPI Stay Off The Lawn

OPI Rich Girls and Po-Boys

OPI I Am What I Amethyst

OPI The I's Have It

OPI We The Female

OPI That's Hula-rious

OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid

OPI It's In The Cloud

OPI Steady As She Rose

Hope you enjoyed this mani as much as I did.

Stay Sparkly,
A