Coral-Reefined with Striping Tape

I wanted to play more with the striping tape I received from Born Pretty. This time I used the silver tape and did accent nails with horizontal stripes down the entire length of the nail. It was very tedious, but totally worth it!

The polish I used is Coral Reef-ined from the Balm's line of "Hot Ticket" nail polish.
I picked it up on Hautelook last month for $5.

I switched up what nails were the accents on each hand.

This was my first Balm nail polish to try and I was really impressed. The formula was great! 2 easy coats and the coverage is perfect and self levels to this. :)

The striping tape did start to lift at the edges after 8 hours or so. I lost a few pieces of tape, they just curled up and came off. (Despite the fact that I had put a layer of Seche Vite over the accent nails) Every couple of hours a new piece of tape would come off, but I just keep going about my business. After 24 hours of wear-time, all of my tape was gone. Either it had curled up and off, or I picked at it and peeled it off. I can't seem to get striping tape to last too long. Does anyone else have similar issues?

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China Glaze - Flirty Tankini

I got a few of the ChG summer neons and we'll start off with this one. A bright coral with shimmer. I don't know that it's entirely neon because it dried with a shiny finish.

 This was 2 easy coats.

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Lynnderella - Connect The Dots

Hey everyone!
I neglected posting all day today just because I'm lazy so I decided to do a quick little post before I go to bed so I don't feel guilty for not posting 2 days in a row... Haha!

A few weeks ago I got a bottle of the infamous Lynnderella's Connect The Dots.
Black and white glitters are all the rage and there is really no questioning why. They're just so freakin' cool on your nails!

I layered CTD over two OPI polishes I wore just to try some layering combinations! I'll show those to you tonight along with one small comparison.

Lynnderella - Connect The Dots over OPI - I Don't Give A Rotterdam!
I loved this combo, the muted blue color really looks nice with the crazy glitter and added shimmer of CTD. I think CTD is best over bright colors but I like seeing it over more soft things for a change. It's versatile.

Lynnderella - Connect The Dots over OPI - Paint My Moji-toes Red
I tried out CTD over a coral red, seeing as coral/tangerine is supposed to be the color of the year, or whatever that nonsense is. As usual, it looks great.

My one complaint about Connect The Dots is the bar glitter. Good grief, the bar glitter likes to poke out of topcoats and annoy the crap out of me. I end up picking most of them off with tweezers in a few hours. They lie flat at first... And then go rogue.

You may remember my post before about Cover Band - Sticks 'n Stones, an amazing creation made to resemble CTD.
If you're not crazy about polish, you would probably think these are identical. But for us polish lovers, you can totally see how these are different when they're next to each other. and I love them both in their own way. I don't think I could part with one, like I previously thought I might.
Here's a quick comparison I did:

CTD has some pretty shimmer going on and overall more glitter, but overall smaller glitter. I also found my CTD to be pretty heavily white.
SnS has no shimmer, lots of big glitter pieces, and a pretty even black/white mix.

They give two different looks. You know, if you've got polish-eyes. I can't pick a favorite.
I saw this picture on Pinterest earlier and thought it would be appropriate for this post:

Photo from Like A Candy Shop. Soooooooooo true.

If this black-and-white-glitter-post wasn't enough to fill your glitter appetite, please head over to Chalkboard Nails and check out her massively huge comparison post.

Tomorrow I'ma be posting a neon CTD mani I wore last week sometime. It's a good one. See you then!

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super random OPI swatch spam

Hey everyone! I've got some big, random OPI spam for your viewing pleasure today!
The last time I was doing a swatch marathon I hauled out my OPI drawer and swatched pretty much everything inside it that I hadn't already done.

There's some super old stuff, some Touring America polishes, a shatter, a Christmas polish... All thrown together. Enjoy!

OPI - 18K Ginza Gold
Here's an old black label OPI that I found in a clearance bin. This stood out to me in a bin full of neutrals and pinks, so I decided to take it home. It's not the prettiest, but it's decent! It's really thin but it covers in 2 coats. I wouldn't pay full price for it but for $2 on clearance, okay. 

OPI - Chicago Champagne Toast
This is another $2 clearance bin find (hence why the label has been ruined) which I had to buy because of the name. I'm a Chicago Blackhawks fan for life, so of course a polish with Chicago in the name came home with me. (I want all of the Chicago Collection too!)
This is a pretty awful color... Streaky nasty pink frost. But hey... Chicago.

OPI - Comet Loves Cupid
Another clearance bin find, a beautiful one! This polish comes from the 2009 Holiday Wishes collection, the same collection as the hard-to-find Merry Midnight. It's a great red creme. It's actually a creme, not a jelly. And it covers completely in one coat. Amazing! And so vibrant. I love it! New fave red.
(The visible nail line you see in the photos is not noticeable in person.)

OPI - Eiffel for This Color
Another gem from ye olde clearance bin. A beautiful shimmering dark purple. Vampy and gorgeous. Just 2 coats! Adore this one.

OPI - French Quarter for Your Thoughts 
A medium gray creme from last year's Touring America Collection that covers in 2 coats. I picked this up thinking I would love it the way I love Skull and Glossbones, because it's a similar color, but this one doesn't do it for me. I don't know, it's okay. But not my favorite of my grays. But hey, it was another $2 find.
Also, the pigment is all settled weird in the bottle:

See? Strange! I shook the crap out of it and it doesn't want to mix back together fully.

OPI - I Eat Mainely Lobster
Another color from Touring America, again, $2. Not the hugest fan of this kind of color on my fingers but I adore it for toes! A bright coral with subtle shimmer. 2 coats.

OPI - Paint My Moji-Toes Red
Yep... clearance bin. A very similar color to the last one but without shimmer. Again, I can't love it on fingers but I do love it for toes. Moji-toes! Great formula, almost one coat, but you need two.

OPI - Heart of Gold
A sheer golden shimmer that came to me via my aunt who - you guessed it - got it for me on clearance. I hoped it would be a little bit more intense than it is, it's quite subtle. I've shown it here over black to try and show it as best as possible! It just adds a subtle gold shimmer. I bet it could be very pretty with the right combo!

OPI - Lemonade Stand By Your Man
Another polish that I bought just for the name. I adore the name of this one, it's just so silly and cute. I'm not a big yellow polish lover but hey, that didn't stop me.
This is three coats and it's still a little sheer but I think it's a fun color.
I bought this one at a Trade Secrets in Toronto, on clearance, but for like $7 I think instead of my usual $2. Haha!

OPI - Not Like The Movies
Yep... clearance. $5 this time. I picked this up because I decided that I want all the Katy Perry polishes. (I still don't have The One That Got Away... I guess it's the one that got away!)
A gray/purple/green duochrome with some slight holo sparkle. I don't love this color. It's interesting but not my thing. Maybe someday I'll wear it and like it! My tastes have been changing, so you never know.

OPI - Red Shatter
Hey look, a polish I didn't buy on clearance! ... I got it for free. HA! A local beauty supply is giving away free shatters with any purchase of a full-price OPI. I got this one when I picked up Shatter The Scales (which didn't count as a free shatter where it is brand new.)
I was pleasantly surprised at how well this shatter worked and I really liked the look! I layered it here over Essence's Nude It.
I really like the look of shatter over nude. I might have to try that again!

Phew! There you have it! I hope you enjoyed my random OPI spam. Which one is your fave?

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