Shelby's Swatches: shimmer

Showing posts with label shimmer. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Essie Summer 2013 Picks!

Hello again, surprised I'm back so soon? Well, I just couldn't stay away because I've been eager to try out a different camera for my nail photos and I am loving how great the photos are with the switch! Let me know what you guys think of the photo quality :)

Last time I was at CVS, I came across Essie's summer collection- full of shimmers and brights with nautical names. I couldn't resist and picked up 3. There's either 4 or 5 in the collection, but I passed on a couple of the shades.

Lots of photos in this post! All swatches are without topcoat.

Essie Rock the Boat

First up is Rock the Boat, a light cornflower blue with silver shimmer. The shimmer is only noticeable in the sunlight, but I love the shade nonetheless! Its formula was decent; at first it was uneven and streaky, but 3 coats seemed to do the trick to create full, smooth opacity.

Essie Sunday Funday

Sunday Funday is a bright coral/pink with the same silver shimmer that the whole collection has. The application was better on this one; it only required 2 coats for opacity. This color was really hard to capture on camera! In person, it's a little more pink-leaning.

Essie Naughty Nautical

Naughty Nautical is a sea green/muted teal with the same silver shimmer. This may be my favorite from the collection because it's so unique! The application was similar to Sunday Funday and only required 2 coats. I must say the name drew me to it as well; I can't resist polishes with cute names!

What do you think of Essie's new summer collection?

-Shelby

Thursday, December 20, 2012

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

Hello ladies! I hope you all are having a great week- excited for the holidays? I know I am!

I am finally getting around to trying all of the OPI James Bond polishes that I received for my birthday in October.

Yesterday I tried out The Spy Who Loved Me, which I used 2 coats of below

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me is a fiery bright red with a ton of gold and red shimmer. This polish has a great formulation and went on it 2 easy coats. It is very "glowy" and I like the look a lot!

Do you like The Spy Who Loved Me? Do you have any of the polishes or want any of the polishes from this collection?

-Shelby

Monday, December 10, 2012

Revlon Midnight Affair and NYX Turks and Caicos

Good evening ladies! I am just beginning my finals week, so life is a tad stressful at the moment! I still have time to destress and paint my nails, though :)

Tonight I have for you a glitter gradient using 2 untrieds: Revlon Midnight Affair and NYX Turks and Caicos!

Revlon Midnight Affair
NYX Turks and Caicos

Midnight Affair is a dark navy blue with subtle navy shimmers that just add the right amount of dimension to this polish. It became opaque in only 1 coat! Seriously? That's crazy and makes a polish 10x better in my book :). It's a bummer this shade is discontinued, but I found mine on eBay for a great price. Turks and Caicos is an iridescent glitter suspended in a clear-blue jelly base. The polish was a bit thick and hard to work with on the sponge, but I made it happen. Unfortunately, the polish gooped and din't want to dry properly, making my manicure not last too long.

What do you think?

-Shelby

Monday, December 3, 2012

Butter London Big Smoke and China Glaze Liquid Crystal

Hello ladies! Another late post for me- the night time just seems to be when I have the time for posts. I could schedule it for the following morning, but I like seeing it display right away :)

I wanted to try out a couple of untrieds of mine- Butter London Big Smoke and China Glaze Liquid Crystal. I wasn't sure how these would look together, but I like the outcome :)

Let me apologize for how orange I look in these photos! The polishes are pretty color-accurate, but for some reason I look like I just fake baked :/ Kinda funny since I am extremely white haha

Butter London Big Smoke
China Glaze Liquid Crystal
Sephora by OPI Indi-go with the Flow

Big Smoke is a dark navy shimmer leaning to the gray/green side. It isn't a true navy for sure, its tones make it look unique. I don't have any other shades like this! Unfortunately, the polish didn't wear amazingly. I had chips pretty quickly after it completely dried. Originally that is why I added Liquid Crystal- I didn't want to repaint a badly chipped nail! Liquid Crystal is a predominantly blue glitter with larger pink, green and silver glitters throughout. The blue is supposed to shift purple in certain lights, but I found that effect to only truly appear within the bottle. On top of that I added $OPI Indi-go with the Flow, a periwinkle blue glitter in a clear base. The last glitter was somewhat unnecessary, but whatevs!

Hope you enjoyed!

-Shelby

Sunday, November 11, 2012

China Glaze Purr-fect Plum and Elephant Walk

Good afternoon! A couple days ago I experimented with my dotting tools and liked what appeared on my nails; thought I'd share it with you!

I used 2 colors from the China Glaze On Safari collection; they looked great together :)

What I used:
China Glaze Purr-fect Plum
China Glaze Elephant Walk

China Glaze Purr-fect Plum
China Glaze Elephant Walk

I used a large dotting tool to make a row of dots and then used a smaller tool to put dots in alternating spaces compared to the larger dots. I like how it came out! I've never used Elephant Walk before; I love the subtle shimmer/sheen it has :)

What do you think of this dotticure?

-Shelby

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Butter London Wallis

Good afternoon! Today I have for you a widely talked about polish here in the blogosphere: Butter London Wallis. I was very excited to get this polish and was hopeful that it'd live up to the hype!

Below I used 2 coats of Wallis

Butter London Wallis

Wallis is a dark olive green with tons of gold shimmers. So gorgeous!

The application was pretty good. 2 careful coats for full opacity. Wallis is a stunner in the light or in the sunlight. Also, it was a hit with my boyfriend :) Definitely lived up to the hype!

What do you think of Wallis?

-Shelby

Monday, October 22, 2012

31 Day Challenge, Day 22: Inspired by a Song

Good afternoon ladies! I put a lot of thought into today's challenge- I had plenty of ideas, but not the correct stamping plates to do most of them. I decided on the song I'm Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado; this song is special to me because I sang it for karaoke one of the first few times I went over to my boyfriend's house :)

What I used:
2 coats Revlon Vixen
Essie Penny Talk (stamping)
OPI Live and Let Die (dotting)
Cheeky jumbo plate B

Revlon Vixen
Essie Penny Talk
OPI Live and Let Die

I am head over heels for this manicure! This was my first time using Revlon Vixen- a gorgeous, easy to work with wine creme. I was very impressed and plan on using it a lot this season! I thought that Live and Let Die was the perfect accent dot color- a shimmery forrest green. I also had never stamped with Penny Talk before- it worked great! No complaints about this mani :D

What do you think?

-Shelby

Check out the other lovely ladies:

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa
-Mari at Nailista
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
- Robin Sparkles

Sunday, October 14, 2012

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

Hello ladies! I know it's been a few days, but I've had quite the busy weekend! Tomorrow is my birthday and in celebration, I went out to dinner last night with my family. My parents so generously gave me the full set of the new OPI Skyfall collection! I was so psyched! The first polish from the collection I have to share with you is Tomorrow Never Dies!

Below I did 2 coats of Tomorrow Never Dies

OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies is a gorgeous "blurple" shimmer! It has both purple and blue shimmers, causing it to look both colors, depending on the light. The application was pretty good and the dry-time was quick! I think this could've used another coat; in the sun you can see some vnl.

What do you think of this shade?

-Shelby

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Swap With "Little J's Nail Corner": Swatches

Good evening ladies! Tonight I have a very exciting post for you guys!

About a month ago I did a polish swap with Jennifer from Little J's Nail Corner; Jennifer is such a sweet person and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her these past couple of months. She is extremely generous and thoughtful, so I want to say thank you, Jennifer! You guys should check her out (if you haven't already!) :)

She has excellent taste in polishes, so I knew I was in good hands! We mostly bought one another polishes off of a "wishlist" that we sent one another, but we also swapped 2 polishes that we already owned. I was able to get my hands on another indie through her :).

She also sent me some candy, but those are long gone by now :P Oh, and also some loose glitters! I can't wait to figure out how to use those for some fun manis!

Anyway, below I did some swatches of each polish! I definitely will be doing more detailed posts on the polishes later on, so let me know which ones you're interested in seeing!

Essie School of Hard Rocks

Essie Like to be Bad

Essie Size Matters

Joe Fresh Merlot

Joe Fresh Starry

Joe Fresh Teal

OPI My Very First Knockwurst

Candeo Colors Orchid

Joe Fresh Twilight

Wet n' Wild Poison Ivy

Wet n' Wild Toxic Apple

Thank you again, Jennifer!

& in case you didn't catch it, you can find Jennifer's blog HERE

-Shelby

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

31 Day Challenge, Day 13: Animal Print

Good morning! Today's challenge is animal print, which I'm usually not a fan of, but I decided to to a fall-inspired take on it!

Earlier yesterday evening I painted my roommate's nails along with my own (she is wearing Orly Rage :) ), but decided to add the stamping last minute to fit the challenge!

What I used:
2 coats OPI Rising Star
Sally Hansen Unbreakable Heart (for stamping)
Bundle Monster BM-223

OPI Rising Star
Sally Hansen Unbreakable Heart

OPI Rising
Sally Hansen Unbreakable Heart

I like how this is a subtle animal print! Not too in-your-face :)

The subtle shimmer in Unbreakable Heart really complemented Rising Star!

I adore Rising Star on its own, so here it is before the Zebra!

OPI Rising Star

Rising Star is the perfect Autumn color! It's a gorgeous copper/orange color. Reminds me of Thanksgiving :)

What do you think of this zebra mani?

-Shelby

Check out the other lovely ladies:

Monday, September 10, 2012

31 Day Challenge, Day 8: Metallic

Good morning! Today's theme for the 31 day challenge is metallic and to be honest, I don't own a lot of straight up metallic polishes! I own far more foils in my collection, so I figured it'd be okay to cheat a little and use a foil today!

I decided to do a tape mani with China Glaze Loft-y Ambitions and China Glaze Icicle!

China Glaze Icicle and Loft-y Ambitions

I started off with 1 coat of Loft-y Ambitions, a wine color with subtle silver shimmer veining, and used striping tape with Icicle, a classic silver foil. I like the concept, but I wish all my stripes were as close together as my pinky! I like how that finger turned out the best :) The formula on both polishes was good, no issues!

I hope you guys enjoyed!

-Shelby

Check out the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

31 Day Challenge, Day 5: Blue

Good afternoon! For the blue challenge today, I decided to swatch 5 mini polishes I got in a Quo by Orly ombre set, rather than do a blue design! The polishes don't have names on them, but the pack probably isn't too hard to find! Quo is only sold in Canada; I purchased this set off of eBay through a Canadian seller.

Below I did 2 coats of each polish! I'll be going from lightest to darkest, like an ombre :)

Quo by Orly Ombre Nails

This is a gorgeous bright light blue creme! This happens to be my favorite color of the bunch, but also my least favorite formula! I painted my hand twice with this polish because the first time, my nails looked too uneven. This polish didn't want to smooth out, but the color makes it somewhat worth it!

Quo by Orly Ombre Nails

This second shade is an ocean blue creme. I really like this color! The formula was a little better than the last, but still a little streaky, unfortunately.

Quo by Orly Ombre Nails

This is more of a denim blue creme. The formula on this was maybe the best out of the whole set! It was a little bit on the thinner side, but I didn't experience any streakiness :). I think this color would look really good in fall!

Quo by Orly Ombre Nails

This shade is a gorgeous royal blue with barely-visible green shimmers running throughout. As you can see, this polish didn't dry glossy, but it also isn't matte! It's somewhere in between. The application was pretty good; I had no issues with it. It was also on the thinner side, like the last!

Quo by Orly Ombre Nails

This is a blackened blue with the same color shimmers running throughout! Indoors, this color looks almost black, but the shimmers add a little bit of flare to it. In the sun, I like how the shimmers make it glow :). The application was pretty good. Not a lot of cleanup considering it's a darker shade!

What do you think of these minis? Do you like the swatches for the "blue" challenge day?

-Shelby

Check out the other participants:

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

Kat at Hooked On Polish

Diana at Nails By Diana

Aly at Wonderland Beauty

Meredith at Perfectly Polished

Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

Cee at Absolutely Cee

Sam at Polished Art

Nail Narcotics