OPI DS Sapphire

This week I've been wearing OPI DS Sapphire (DS 010). This is part of OPI's older DS series, which has a bunch of rare-ish holos. I found my bottle randomly at the CVS near my school. It was priced just like any other OPI ($8.50) even though it sells for double that or more on eBay. Yay for surprise discoveries!

DS Sapphire is a very light steely blue linear holo. In the shade, it has a slight pink duochrome. In direct sunlight, the holo explodes and makes it look silvery. The formula was a bit sheer but smooth and easy to work with. I used only 2 coats but probably could have used a third for complete opacity...oh well. Another note: this smelled pretty chemical-y since I think these were made before OPI went 3-free. Oh well, again. It's a happy color. And as with all holos, it's better in person!

4th of July Skittle Mani

Double post! Today (or rather yesterday) I decided to try a skittle design for 4th of July. I knew I wanted to use red, white, blue, and silver but the other details were pretty hazy. In the end...I came up with this amalgam.

I painted two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on all my fingers as a blank canvas. Snow Me White is a basic stark white creme; the formula is okay but pretty chalky/not self-leveling. The polishes I used for the designs are: Forever 21 Silver glitter (I don't think this has a real name...), OPI Russian Navy, a mystery red OPI mini, and Zoya Trixie. Using Scotch tape as a guide, I made the chevron design on the ring finger. Using striping tape, I did the red and white stripes on the middle finger. The index finger is a coat of Russian Navy plus a very thin coat of the Forever 21 glitter. The thumb is a solid coat of Trixie. And finally, the pinky has a gradient tip using the Forever 21 glitter.

The colors used

It didn't turn out as neat as I would have liked. First, I guess I globbed on too thick of a layer of the OPI colors since they tended to pool out after I removed my tape guides. In other words, those crisp lines weren't so crisp anymore :(. Second, my CND Air Dry top coat caused the red OPI polish to streak. Uuuugh. It looks alright from far away at least? So far, I do like my CND Air Dry, but I have to keep in mind that it tends to cause my polish to streak, especially red pigments it seems. Overall, it looks messy and random. I probably should have done one or two types of designs, rather than having all five nails be different.

Coral Sparkle: Zoya Cassi

Last week, I chose to go with the pretty and feminine Zoya Cassi, one of the first Zoyas I ever got. Cassi is a coral pink with very fine whitish silver shimmer. In some lights, the shimmer even looks gold. I love corals, and I know they look good on my yellow-toned skin. It's perfect for summer (even though it's been raining here for literally 2 and a half weeks straight).

Cassi's formula was good, but not as good as what I've come to expect from Zoyas. It's slightly sheer so I needed 2-3 coats for full opacity, depending on how thick the coats are applied. The polish glided smoothly so I didn't find the sheerness to be a huge problem.

I'm into rings lately.

Dots Gradient Rainbow Skittle Mani

A few days ago, Vivs and I were hanging out again, which means nails fun as always! I tried out dotting tools for the first time and came up with this dotted gradient look. The colors used here (from thumb to pinky) are: Sinful Colors Boom Boom, Sinful Colors Big Daddy, Sinful Colors Innocent, China Glaze For Audrey, and Sinful Colors Aquamarine. This was all over a single coat of OPI Don't Burst My Bubble. I started off by putting on a section of densely-packed and large dots on the tip of the nail so that it's completely covered. As I moved towards the cuticle, I gradually switched to smaller dots that were spaced further apart. The end result is a gradient made from dots. Quite adorable, if I say so myself. This might be hard to do on yourself, but maybe I'll try it someday.

Cool Minty Mani

Under Vivian's influence, I've been doing extra stuff to my nails aside from a basic, solid-colored mani. Here I have on China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, topped with a coat of China Glaze Snow Globe, and finally a coat of OPI Matte Top Coat. Re-Fresh Mint is a true mint green and lies on the very light and green side of the spectrum (compared to Essie Mint Candy Apple, at least). The formula was okay, opaque but watery and hard to control. I got complete opacity in two coats but there was some unfortunate cuticle-flooding. Snow Globe is an iridescent glitter with large and small hexagonal pieces. It flashes green, orangey-gold, and blue. The formula was nice too since I didn't have to work too hard to spread the glitter around. Along with the matte top coat, Snow Globe makes this mani look very cool and icy in a way. I am obsessed with the matte top coat, by the way. I must get my own bottle!