China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out

This is China Glaze's Kaleidoscope Him Out from the Kaleidsoscope collection. This is three coats and you need it. It applied very unevenly for me, same as Sexagon, but as you can see, the end result is worth the hassle :)

OPI Ink

What a fantastic present from Santa, OPI Ink. Ink is from OPI's Night Brights collection, I am not too sure with what they are doing, being discontinued or what... But I have seen Ink in almost every store, so easy enough to find :D

I found Ink's application to be really good, definitely one of my better OPI's. This is what it looks like on coat number two. Insta-awesome-blurple-shimmerness.

Ink's base colour is a navy blue with a hint of purple, most people call it a blurple. The shimmer in Ink is really something special, it's almost like it has 'layers' of shimmer. At first you can see purple and pink in the bigger pieces, then if you look deeper you can see a fine dark purple shimmer! :O

I think I can confidently say that OPI's Ink is a keeper :D

OPI Cool in the Pool

Cool in the Pool from the Summer Splash collection 2005, a very nice baby blue for summer :D

This took three coats to achieve the bottle colour, Cool in the Pool is a little sheer. You can still see my tips at three.

OPI Curry Up! Don't Be Late

This is OPI's beautiful gold Curry Up! Don't Be Late! from their India collection released earlier this year.

I really hope this gets added to their Classic collection, Curry is a pure gold at four coats. It takes four coats to make it completely opaque.

OPI Tangerini Bikini

I needed something to brighten my mood today, so I picked Tangerini Bikini. I had completely forgot I had this, found it in my bedroom when I was cleaning...

Tangerini Bikini is from the Summer Splash collection 2005. Some great colours in that collection, sadly the two I sought after most are the hardest to get. You will get to see Cool in the Pool shortly :D

This is three coats, very easy to apply. Went on so smoothly and it looks so pretty in the sun, the gold and orange shimmer really comes out. It makes me want a fruju every time I look at it....

OPI Day at The Peach

This is Day at the Peach, a peach holographic with iridescent gold shimmer. Beautiful! Day at the Peach is from the Summer for Shore collection released in 2003. I am so kicking myself for not being into nail polish earlier!

This is two coats, very similar to Bay Bridge Sunset and Vintage. I will have to do a comparison when the sun comes out! The holoness in this polish is like nothing I've seen before. The holographic pieces are finer than what OPI usually does.

Day at the Peach also has a beautiful gold iridescent! If its got gold, I love it. Also a similar characteristic to Bay Bridge Sunset.

Zoya Richelle

Here is the lovely Richelle from Zoya's Flourish collection.

I love love love looking at Richelle in the sunlight, well even indoors! It looks like gold bullions :D I think this may be the closest colour to those Minx nails, for that chrome look.

This is two coats. The first coat is a little sheer so you need the second to build up the colour and a third coat wouldn't really be any different, unless you do really thin coats of course :) The application of Richelle was really nice, the brush, the formula, everything was just extremely easy to use.

There is HOPE

I kind of feel like an idiot posting this because I know Katee just posted something like this already...

I did have this planned for you though because on Christmas day it will be one year from the first day I started to care for my nails, Santa got me a nail kit in a flash silver box with my first OPI.

I use to keep ALL of my nail stuff in this box, it could fit 8 OPI's down the bottom and my nail stickers/treatments/base coats and top coats on the two shelves. I now use this box for travelling LOL. I have come a long way from being a chronic nail biter to where my nails are today.

I was a chronic nail biter for almost 17 years, but I had always wanted long and beautiful nails. My sister always had these wonderful nails, she hardly has to try. Well, six months ago when my family was on vacation in Australia, we came across a huge chemist that stocked heaps and heaps of Sally Hansen treatments. We stocked up, and the strong nails began to grow.

I also found Burning Love in the chemist, as you can see in this picture I was thrilled with how my nails were coming along (they always used to be quite a bit shorter, never had tips before).

• If you would like some quick tips:

- Use cuticle oil at least once a day, and just whenever you remember throughout your day.

- Use a strengthener as your base coat, one that suits your nails. For example; peeling, soft, brittle etc.

- Always wear gloves when doing housework using chemicals, they can dry out your cuticles making your nails dry in the long run.

- Alot of places/people will tell you not to use remover more than twice a month or something ridiculous like that. I use it sometimes six times a day when I am swatching, but always at least once a day I use acetone remover. I don't think it really matters how often you use it as long as you are pumping the moisture back in that you are taking out with the remover.

- Buffing: Only do this once a month, otherwise you will make your nails thinner and thinner causing them to break. If you have minor ridges, just use a ridge filling base coat :)

- Last but not least, use a fast drying top coat. Seche or Poshe work wonders, but do need thinning when they are less than half way. This will save you alot of anger after waking up to find sheet stains all over your pretty manicure :)

I know they aren't perfect yet, but it shows that anyone can have pretty nails n_n

Zoya Nina

We have a different type of photo today.... Lol, this is what Nina reminded me of when I was making my toast this morning, Marmite.

This is Zoya's Nina from their autumn collection, Vibe. Two coats were needed for complete opacity. Very easy to apply, like butter! Also Nina is a very glossy polish on its own, but it is coated with Poshe here because I didn't want to ruin it before I was able to take pictures this morning :)

I have only tried two colours from Vibe and I am very impressed, can't wait to try the others!

Zoya's Gossip Collection 2008: Audrina, Lo, Elodie, Heidi, LC, Whitney

These colours are super bright, excellent for summer. Almost neon, but not quite... The polishes in the Gossip collection are all cleverly named after the girls from The Hills.

Audrina - Quite possibly my favourite Zoya and character from The Hills, but most definately my favourite of the Gossip collection. A bright purple with pink undertones. Opaque in two coats, super glossy and it dries quickly.

Whitney - My second favourite from Gossip. A hot pink. This photo was taken when my nails were little nubs :) Opaque in two coats, super glossy also. Very similar to OPI's In-dia Mood For Love.

Lo - A very cute peach-pink. Opaque in two coats, very glossy without top coat. Very similar to OPI's Elephantastic Pink.

Elodie - A bright peach with orange undertones. Opacity and glossiness is the same throughout the Gossip collection. Very close to OPI's Cajun Shrimp, maybe a few shades lighter.

Heidi - The slightest bit more orange than Elodie. Opaque in two coats, super glossy like the others. Similar to OPI's Mod-ern Girl. A tinge oranger.

LC - My most disliked character on The Hills, but I do love this shade of red. Nothing really unique though, similar to China Glaze's Revolution, OPI's Lunch at the Delhi and a whole ton of Essies.

Zoya Cyma

I love how Cyma has magenta shimmer throughout out, it makes the red seem to be brighter and warmer. Cyma is also from Zoya's Flourish collection. A very festive red from Zoya.

OPI South Beach 2009

Here are the promo pics for OPI's Summer/Spring collection 2009, South Beach.

I will be getting my hands on all of these as soon as I can! They will be released on the 4th of February.

Click on the pics to see them better :D

OPI Yokohama Collection!

Here is a good reference if anyone wanted to know what some Yokohama's looked like, their names, numbers etc. I made this up today :D I am very pleased with it hehe! 

Included in the swatches are Blush of Adrenaline, Penny For Your Thoughts, Starbright Sparkles II, Baby Blue, Swirl of Euphoria, Bay Bridge Sunset, Cherry Blossom, Sweet Love at Ferris Wheel, and Yokohama Twilight.

INCOCO Soho Chic

These are stickers of nail polish, little tabs that you place onto your base coat free *shudders* nail. Every time I get a wiff of these, it keeps reminding me that there is nothing protecting my nails from this horrible sticker thing :(

Moving on, I found these at Smith and Caugheys at New Market the other day. The SA wouldn't stop praising the product, "one lady bought four this morning!", they were $12 a pack and the colours looked pretty cool on the display wheel. Sadly, Soho Chic did not transfer its coolness on to my nails.

Lets talk about the application - It says to start from your pinky to your thumb, I didn't do that, I usually like to start from my middle finger then pointer, ring, pinky and lastly thumb. I'm a free spirit on the order I do my nails in LOL. Ok, so it comes with a little test packet of two sizes, completley different colour to what you get, which isn't that great. You have to peel off the plastic covering the colour, then you have to peel the sticker off the tab and line it up with your cuticle.

The SA tried showing me how they work in the store, she couldn't get it to stick on her nail, didn't give me much confidence but she explained that she had been showing oil to a previous customer....

Once you have lined the flimsy sticker up with your cuticle you need to push it down with a free finger. Once it is stuck on you need to rub all over your nail to make sure it is stuck down firmly. Lets add another feature to the Con list - if you have ridges, damage, bumps etc. it WILL show it. It showed me ridges I had never noticed before. After it is stuck down, you bend it over your tip to cut off the excess. I don't see how this would work well for people with shorter nails...

Your done, no top coat, no clean up needed and it has lasted throughout my day of shopping without one chip. Which makes me kind of worried, what are in these things?

Lets do a list.

Pros:

No clean-up needed afterwards

Makes your cuticles look perfect

No chipping after one day, supposedly suppose to last 14 :S

Cheap

Cons:

Hard to apply - I only did my right hand, I'd hate to even attempt to doing my left.

Stinks (literally)

Not good for people with different cuticles other than round

To much size jump between sizes, there are big gaps on some of my nails

Would not suit wide nailed people, thin sticker sizing

Brings out all your imperfections

Only enough for two manicures, thats if you use different sizes each time :S

I have another pack to try of these, a bright sparkly fuchsia, well thats how it looked on the wheel anyway...