OPI and Nicki Minaj

I know, I know. It's been a while. I'll blog more about this soon, but right now I'd rather focus on something that has me excited! Maybe this is leading into a better time...

You may have heard something about this... OPI is joining forces with Nicki Minaj to put out a fun, vibrant collection of polishes that are absolutely screaming my name! Honestly, I'm not that much of a fan of Nicki Minaj, mostly because I don't like the music she does. But I have to say, I respect the hell out of her as a businessperson and an artist!

Nicki is known for her vibrant, colorful style, and these polishes really do match perfectly. From the vibrant blue of Fly to the holographic gorgeousness of Save Me, these are all stand-out brights that call attention.

Ok, I have to admit, I'm not exactly jumping up and down over the idea of holographic bar glitter. Really? Hairy rainbow nails? But apparently, I'm in the minority, because it looks like bar glitter is coming back in a big way this season. Yippee.

I know, I know, quit yapping, Laynie. Show the colors!!

 

You can click each of those to make 'em bigger if you like. Is that blue insanely gorgeous or what? Also, notice that Super Bass is a shimmery shatter, sort of like Sally Hansen's Vintage Violet shatter polish. I'm not sure how alike they'll be in person, but they do remind me of each other! I really like what I'm seeing of Metallic 4 Life. It's got an almost Deborah Lippmann vibe to it! And I'm just not sure how I feel about Save Me...

Nicki Minaj by OPI nail lacquers contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application. This limited edition promotion will be available beginning January 2012 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. For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

What are your thoughts? Do any of these colors excite you? Are you planning to rock Pink Friday on your nails as well as your iPod? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Press release was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.
Graphic adapted from original at http://mypinkfriday.com.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Cracked Up Flowers- a fun floral manicure using crackle polish

I'm an experimenter, and sometimes my experiments turn out a little scary or just downright sad.Today, however, I've got an experiment that I actually like the end result! The best part is that it's super simple!

I do wish I'd used a different base color for this, but overall I still think it turned out really cute. This would be perfect for an accent nail, since placing all the stones does take a bit of time. Still, it's definitely something people can accomplish without a lot of stressful painting!

It's easy enough to create. While I'm going to mention brands, keep in mind you can use any color or brands you like better. I just happened to use what I have and what I like. Use what you have, and what works well for you.

First, I used a base coat. I can't repeat this enough: a good base coat and top coat are the most important part of your manicure. They protect your nails from staining (some, at least) and protect the polish on your nails. If you're going to splurge on something, splurge on top coat! Even the 98 cent Wet n Wild polishes can wear like iron if you use a good base coat and top coat!

... woops, I seem to have landed on a soapbox! How did that happen? Getting back to the manicure, it's simple. It goes like this:

1. Base coat.
2. Background color. Use 2-3 coats, whatever it takes to have a nice, solid background. I used a somewhat dusty metallic pink.
3. Once this is totally dry, I painted China Glaze Broken Hearted (pink) crackle polish in a rough triangle on the top half of my nail. I then used Sally Hansen Vintage Violet (purple) crackle polish on the bottom half trangle. 
4. After the crackle polishes have dried, I used my white Art Deco striper to paint a somewhat thick line separating the two crackles.
5. After everything had dried for a few minutes more, I placed the various rhinestones into place, using my clear topcoat as a glue to keep them in place. These rhinestones came from the Fingrs Flirt package, which I absolutely LOVE!
6. Finally, I added a coat of top coat to seal everything into place and protect everything, and we were done!

Let me know what you think of this one. I think it'd be fun to have pink crackle on my thumb and first two fingers, the accent nail, and then purple crackle on my pinky. Weird, but fun!

Ah well... til next time!

Some polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

The Fun of Frankening- Frankencrackle!

This entire entry shows what happens when I get to talking on Twitter. It started out simply enough- I was goofing off, working on photos while I talked to some friends online. Then someone mentioned wondering if she could mix regular shimmery nail polish into crackle polish, and I realized I'd been wondering about that myself. Could you actually franken your own crackle polish colors?

As I talked with my husband, he made a quick joke and I realized that not only would I do some research, I would have to make a mascot. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce my new frankening mascot- the Mysterious Mr. Frankencrackle!

 

Cute, isn't he? And yes, in the interest of full disclosure, the above image is a photo illustration based on nail art I did last night. You can see the original nail on my yfrog account. Since he's a mascot I may use again, I wanted  to make him a little cleaner, a little cuter.

So, the experiments. I wondered several things: 

• Can you thin crackle polish with regular nail polish thinner? 
• Can you mix colors of crackle polish together? 
• Can you mix regular nail polish into crackle polish?
• Can you mix pigments or glitter into crackle polish?

The results were interesting, but to spare you the long, very wordy description, I'll simply let the photos speak for themselves. :D

 So, to sum up:

• Can you thin crackle polish with regular nail polish thinner? 
• Yes! Regular nail polish thinner does thin crackle polish, but thinning it too much makes it look a bit odd. It still crackles nicely, though.
• Can you mix colors of crackle polish together? 
• Absolutely! It helps to add a drop or two of thinner to give it a bit more open time, before it dries out too much to apply.
• Can you mix regular nail polish into crackle polish?
• Absolutely NOT. It turns everything into a goopy, sludgy mess. NOT attractive at all!
• Can you mix pigments or glitter into crackle polish?
• Yes, you can! Pigments and glitter do mix nicely into crackle polish. However, you may need some thinner so you don't end up with a total gloppy mess that's too thick to apply!

Check back later today, I'm hoping to finally get my Fourth of July polishes up! I know they don't help much today, but hey, you still have time before tonight, right? :D

Crackle polishes were provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Simple Fun Nail Art: LSU Nails!

Hi guys! This is just a super quick post to share a look I did over the weekend. It was so fun and so easy I wanted to share! It's perfect for any sporting events you may want to attend, or just for the fun of it!

I'm from south Louisiana, so of course LSU pride is thick. We're brought up to know purple and gold before we know our own names, almost! While I was digging through my polish box trying to figure out something to wear, it hit me- purple and gold!

I used Maybelline Express Finish Matte Gold as my base color, because it's one of my absolute favorite golds. Also, it's one of my only golds... I need to remedy that! Then I added a layer of Sally Hansen's new Crackle Overcoat in Vintage Violet. I love this one because it's got a gorgeous blue shimmer in it.

These polishes did a pretty good job of showing Tiger Pride, imho! They were lots of fun and they made me want to spend some time on campus at LSU, maybe lunch on one of the indian mounds or just tossing the frisbee at the student union. Talk about fond memories...

One thing I love about this look is that it's not polish dependent. You can use any color pair you like, and with crackle polishes being so popular you can find lots of them! I even found some crackle polishes at Walgreens last week for $5 each! There was a great selection of colors too, from metallic gold and silver to basic black and white to fun colors like orange and green! All in all, I think there were 8 or 10 colors total. It's definitely worth a look!

So tell me, are you enjoying the crackle trend? I wasn't that interested in it at first, but it definitely seems to be growing on me. I'm dying to find a way to incorporate it into more elaborate nail art! Maybe this weekend I'll get a few minutes to work on it... :D

Til next time!

Crackle polish was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

China Glaze Cracked Concrete and Couture Cupcakes: What I Did On My Saturday Night

Oh my dog, I had an absolutely wonderful Saturday night! First off, I finally seem to be reaching the end of my might-be-mono/glandular fever episode. This has made me absolutely euphoric. There just aren't enough words to describe how wonderful this is!

Then a couple of days ago I got a wonderful surprise in the mail- I got three China Glaze crackle polishes to review! This is wonderful, because as much as I wanted to experiment with these (and as excited as I've been about them) I've been on a no-buy with no end in sight. Getting these means I get to play with them and then share the finished results with you! I'm so happy with the three colors I received- Cracked Concrete (grey), Broken Hearted (pink), and Lightning Bolt (white). There's so much potential with these!!

For the look shown here, I first did a quick coat of Sally Hansen Color Quick Fast Dry Nail Color Pen in Silver Chrome. I love silver, so I thought this would make a fab base for Cracked Concrete.

Applying the crackle polish was so much fun! I'm going to need to experiment with it a bit more, but it seems like the amount of polish you apply affect the type of crackling you get. Thinner coats seem to give more crackling with almost feathery-looking cracks, while thicker coats end up with big chunky cracks. At least, so it seemed with my brief experience!

And of course, being the magpie I am I wasn't able to leave this alone. I applied a coat of topcoat of course (China Glaze Fast Forward, how I love you!), but later on that day I added a coat of Love My Nails Dazzling. Unfortunately, while Dazzling did give a bit of sparkle to the look, it also seems to have made the crackle less obvious. Ah well, live and learn, yes?

Still, the best part of my evening came after my manicure. My husband decided to take me and our son out for a bit of adventure! (Ok, we were jeans shopping at the mall for our son, but I was out of the house for the first time in what feels like AGES... humor me here!) We parked in front of the bookstore at the local mall, and as we were walking to the mall my husband made a detour to the most adorable little cupcake shop!

I'd wanted to visit Cupcake Couture ever since I'd noticed it was open, but it seems like every time we're there, the shop had already closed for the night. Saturday was perfect timing, though, because not only was the shop open but they were having buy two get one free special! How perfect is that- three of us, so one of us got a free cupcake!

I was absolutely amazed at the choices. I've seen all the special flavors you can get, but you're usually stuck with the usual same-old same-old here. But Cupcake Couture really did go above and beyond with their flavors. Although I have to admit- even with all the amazing choices, I still stuck with my favorite red velvet. I'm so uncreative!

Now, let me make this clear: cupcakes are a big deal to me. I absolutely love them, but I'm picky. I don't want your typical cupcake with a splodge of frosting smeared on top. To me, a cupcake should be an experience- it should be beautiful to look at (or cute, or adorable, or whatever... but special to look at), it should be moist and tasty. What's the point of going to a cupcake shop if I'm going to get the same old thing I can get from home? I want it to be special!

Honey, these cupcakes more than met my expectations! The shop was very sweet, with a gorgeous display of the various cupcakes. The design of the cupcakes was wonderful. I wish I'd gotten a shot of all the cakes with their little decorations. It truly was a visual feast. Unboxing the cupcakes made me giggle in excitement, and I couldn't wait to start nibbling.

Once I did, well... let's just say I was a happy girl. My cupcake was dense, extremely rich, with a creamy frosting that was crusted on the outside a bit. Absolutely perfect frosting, and while I'd prefer the cake to be a touch moister, they were end-of-the-day cupcakes that were on sale. I imagine that probably had a bit to do with it. Still, they were top-notch cupcakes that took me back to my childhood, or maybe back to the childhood I wish I'd had- you know, filled with awesome cupcakes!

They didn't last all that long. All too soon we were left with a scattering of crumbs and a few sad little wrappers. But let me tell you... the happy feelings lingered for quite some time!

If you're in the Baton Rouge area, I would absolutely recommend visiting Cupcake Couture. You can eat in the shop or you can step outside to eat in the open air at the tables outside Borders. If you do happen to stop by, tell them you read about them here!

Polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Coming Soon From China Glaze- Crackle Glaze!

Oh my goodness, are you ready for this? China Glaze is joining the list of brands with a crackle-finish polish available, only they're going above and beyond the rest. Instead of having just black, they're offering six fab colors to suit all your crackle needs! Just look at this display!

Is that teal gorgeous or what? I'm the edge of my seat here, and I wasn't feeling the crackle finish at all. But that teal sold me on it. You get to choose between six lush colors... how great is that?

I'm already thinking of manicures I could do with these... I might have to suck it up and break my no-buy if I can find these in my area. Also, I need to find a spot that sells Nails Magazine...

So what do you think of these? Are you going to get any crackle colors? Which ones? Talk to me, people!

Image was provided by the China Glaze.

See my disclosure statement for more information.