OPI xPress/On Nails

For the second week of my trip, I wore a set of OPI fake nails, my first time trying this brand's offering. I chose 100% That Scorpio from their zodiac collection (I'll share other signs from that in a future display post). I'm not a Scorpio, but I really liked the purple/green/blue multichrome effect. This set's shape is Classic, which I'd call oval.

 

After I opened the package, I struggled to find sizes that fit my nails. The assortment was very much skewed toward the smaller end. Other brands I've used have had a more even distribution, and my hands are not small, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to make this work.

 

I did the best I could with the sizes, but it wasn't great, especially the over large nail I had to put on my middle finger. As with the Ardell nails I shared in my last post, these came with glue but I used adhesive tabs.

 

The shift in these was strong and fun to look at.

 

The shape of these at the tips did expose some of my natural nails, which wasn't ideal, but the shiftiness of the fakes was distracting enough that I could ignore that after a while.

 

These nails did not like the adhesive tabs. I had the first nail pop off only a couple hours in, leaving the adhesive tab on my natural nail. Fortunately I found the nail, which is important as it was one of the larger ones and I didn't have a replacement for it. A few more instances of that, and I started using glue between the adhesive tab and the fake nail. That helped them stay on longer, though I still lost several even with the glue. That issue and the sizing make me less excited about trying other sets of these, though they have a lot of attractive ones and other shapes so I'll probably give them another chance or two.

Orly x Kelli Marissa Witching Hour

I have slowed my stash expansion quite a bit from the dizzying heights they once reached, yet I do still have my weaknesses. When an online ad for the new Orly and Kelli Marissa Halloween collaboration came across my screen with three glitter toppers, I pondered for just a while before ordering the whole set, glitters and jellies both. They came in a nicely decorated box with skulls and snakes and other spookiness.

 

As you might have guessed from the dimensions of the box, there are six shades here. Left to right: Wild Card, Mystic Jelly, Spellbound, Oasis Jelly, Wing It, Smoke Jelly.

 

 

I started with Oasis Jelly, a deep blue-leaning teal. At three coats, it's pretty much opaque, though definitely still squishy.

 

 

I used one coat of Wing It on top of Oasis then added clear topcoat. Wing It has black hex glitters, black bat glitters, and small silver and gold glitter in a clear base. The bats did mostly come out of the bottle on their own.

 

 

I thought the bats got a bit lost against the darkish teal, so I also tried Wing It over Orly Pink Chocolate. The bats did pop more against that dusty rose base.

 

 

Mystic Jelly, a cool vibrant purple, was up next. I used three coats of this jelly as well, and it seemed just slightly less opaque but equally squishy. Also shiny even without topcoat.

 

 

I topped Mystic with Spellbound, which has black, white, and orange satin hexes plus tiny silver holo glitter in a clear base. I did one thick coat of the glitter and didn't think it needed topcoat.

 

 

Smoke Jelly came next. Three coats of this one as well, and it was opaque and squishy and shiny.

 

 

Wild Card finally got its turn over Smoke. This is a clear base with black, lime, and vibrant purple hex glitters in various sizes.

 

 

Obviously the black glitter in Wild Card got lost on Smoke, so I tried it over Orly Color Blast Mulberry Madness.

 

 

I did also try Smoke over this last combination, to see if this would work for jelly sandwiches. If one is careful and does a thin coat over the glitter it could work, but there are other jellies better suited to the task, I think.

 

This is a fine collection overall. I love the glitters, can see using Wing It year round, just putting the bats back in the bottle. I do with the jellies were slightly less opaque so they were more versatile, but I have others I can use for sandwiches and other layering.

Wheel I15: Blue Green Shimmers

More greenish shimmers for this Nail Wheel Wednesday. I really should sort some more categories so I can have more variety but there's been so much snow I've been skiing a lot and not going to my studio as much.

 

1. Girly Bits Cross-Eyed Bear (2 coats) [such a pretty matte finish]
2. Color Club Taurus (2)
3. Milani Key West (3)
4. Zoya Zuza (3)
5. Catrice Mermaid My Day (3)
6. Dare to Wear Majestic Wonders (3)
7. LynB Designs Cocktail Swag (3)
8. SinfulColors Palm Breezy (3)
9. Sephora Formula X Daredevil (2) [almost a one-coater]
10. Pop-arazzi Money Honey (2)
11. The New Black unnamed (2) [maybe this is a textured polish?]
12. Zoya Selene (2)
13. SinfulColors Sinful Shine Kryptonite (3)
14. Milani Racy Green (2)
15. Sally Hansen Insta Dri S-teal a Base (2) [almost a one-coater]
16. Finger Paints Vintage Vincent (2)
17. Finger Paints Winter Sky (2)
18. Me Me Me Goddess (2)
19. Bonita unnamed (2) [this has thickened; in its original state might have needed more coats]
20. Bonita unnamed (2) [from the All Summer Long set]

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheel D10: Dark Green and Blue Green Cremes

When the shades are as dark as the ones featured this Nail Wheel Wednesday, it almost doesn't matter if they're green or blue green or anything else. Many fall into the "may as well be black" area.

 

(all two coats, except number 20, which was three; several of these would have been fine at one coat but I was on a roll with two coats so went with it) 1. Essie Satin Sister
2. Essie Go Overboard
3. Naturals Sparty Party
4. Elle Seaside Chic
5. Nails Inc Kensington
6. L'Oreal Bundled Up
7. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Jungle Green
8. SinfulColors On the Prowl
9. SinfulColors Blue Crushin'
10. China Glaze Well Trained
11. Essie Mind Your Mittens
12. Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam
13. Sonia Kashuk Tumultuous Teal
14. Joe Fresh Hunter
15. SinfulColors Calypso
16. Nuance Prickly Pear
17. Essie The Perfect Cover Up
18. The New Black unnamed
19. Pop-arazzi Don't Need No Romeo
20. Sephora by OPI Dark Room

Bottles 1 through 5:

 

6 through 10:

 

11 through 15:

 

16 through 20:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the Love of Polish Aurora Borealis Box

Today I finally have individual swatches of the three polishes I used to create my Northern Lights Nails look to kick off 2021: Tonic Euphorealis, Pahlish Solar Wind, and Polished for Days Polar Lights.

 

I started with Polished for Days Polar Lights. It's got a blue-leaning purple base with shifting flakes in turquoise, pink, and blue along with some silvery holo flakes.

 

I did three coats of Polar Lights for my swatch. Two might have been fine, but I got distracted by the pretty. I added clear topcoat for more depth even though the polish was self-leveled nicely.

 

 

 

Tonic Euphorealis is a warm purple with green to blue shifting shimmer.

 

I did three coats plus topcoat for this swatch as well, and again, two and no topcoat would probably have been just fine.

 

 

 

Here's the embarrassing part: I forgot Euphorealis is a thermal. Since it's winter, my hands weren't warm enough to make it change, so there was no visual indication of its thermal-ness, and the label doesn't say anything about it, so I went about my merry way without capturing the warm state at all. Between the time I did my swatching and the time I sat down to write this post, my nails have taken a beating from the winter weather, so instead of re-swatching, I slapped Euphorealis on a nail wheel to see the shift. Its warm state is a very pale lilac.

 

Pahlish Solar Wind is a dusty green-leaning blue shimmer with plenty of flakes to add even more visual interest: green shifty flake and holo flakes and microflakies.

 

Two coats of Solar Wind was plenty for full opacity, so I stopped there with this one. I did go ahead and add topcoat just because; it was smooth enough on its own.

 

 

 

Here's Solar Wind in direct light, showing off its holo:

 

Being me, I had to play around with layering, even though none of these are technically layering polishes. Why let that little detail stop me? First up I have one coat of Tonic Euphorealis over Pahlish Solar Wind. Euphorealis mostly covers up the flakes in Solar Wind, though one or two of the bigger ones do peek through at some angles. The dusty base of the Pahlish cools down the purple of of the Tonic, makes it softer.

 

 

I tried Euphorealis as a base under Polished for Days Polar Lights, leaving the Tonic on its own on my index finger for comparison's sake (should have done this with the above layering combination, but too late now). The warm purple of the Tonic used as a base does make the Polished for Days warmer, too, though the difference is subtle.

 

Then I was curious how much the base color could change the look of Polar Lights so I did Skittles with China Glaze Plur-ple (medium warm-leaning purple), Sally Hansen Insta Dri Purple Heart (deep blue violet), SinfulColors Roar (medium blue), and SinfulColors On the Prowl (teal), then topped those with one coat of Polar Lights plus clear topcoat. And yes, I'm calling this experiment a success, as the base colors definitely have an effect, pulling Polar Lights more to purple or blue or navy. Purple Heart on my middle finger changes it the least, which makes sense as it's the closest to the color of the base of Polar Lights.

 

 

I'm very glad I bought this box back in November. I'll have to remember the Tonic come summer and hope the thermal won't be dead by then (I don't think it will be but when you see this next Nail Wheel Wedenesday you'll understand my concern).