OPI Grape...Set...Match Swatches and Stamping With Mash Plate 46

     I picked up OPI's Grape...Set...Match for free!  I am sure that you are asking yourself how by now.  Well, let me tell you.  Because I am such a nail freak enthusiast I follow many other nail enthusiast on Facebook.  When something cool pops up in the polish world every single one of them like to talk about it.  Turns out the website copius.com is kinda like an E-Bay thing.  People are allowed to list, sell, and buy stuff on there and when a new person signs up from someone else's link they get a $10 credit to use.  I actually paid $.59 for this polish because the asking price was $9.99 and of course they threw som $.60 fee in there.  But whatever, $.59 for a new OPI, great, SOLD.  I don't have a link for you guys to follow but if you follow a lot of nail bloggers on Facebook, trust me, you will see tons of opportunities to snag the $10.00 Copius sign up credit from them.

     Grape...Set...Match was released in 2011 as part of the Glam Slam! Collection.  It is a purple metallic duochrome that shifts from purple to blue.  It isn't a very big color shift, in my opinion it is more of a purple metallic with a blue shimmer to it.  Maybe the duochrome effect would be more noticed with three coats instead of two.

     Of course I had to add some stamping to my swatch because plain swatches bore me to death, lol, unless they are the perfect ones that come from Scrangie's blog, of course. 

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Base color: Grape...Set...Match by OPI - 2 coats

Stamping color: Stamp Me! White by Essence

Stamping plate: Mash 46

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Finished product

Taken outside in direct sunlight

Taken outside in indirect light.  The duochrome is most noticible here

Taken inside with out flash

What do you think of Grape...Set...Match?  Do you have it in your collection or did you pass on it last year?

Nicole By Opi Studio Mama Swatches and Sally Hansen Big Money Accent Nail

     As I mentioned in my previous post, I had gone to TJ Maxx and found those Sally Hansen nail wraps.  Well, I also found some Nicole by OPI duo packs and some Essie polishes.  I picked up a duo pack containing Studio Mama and I've Got Bieber Fever.  Both of these colors were relaease as part of the One Less Lonely Girls Collection, which if you haven't figured it out yet, was inspired by Justin Bieber.  The best part of these polishes, it was 7.99 for the both of them.

     I am not hugely drawn to light shades of polish I decided to try wearing it with an accent nail.  Which I am shocked I have never done before.   I wish I could have captured some better pictures but the Gem Crushes don't photograph well.  To much grazy glam!  Bam!  I love it.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Main color: Studio Mama by Nicole by Opi - 3 coats

Accent nail: Big Money by Salley Hansen Gem Crush

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Outside in direct light

Inside with no flash

Outside in indirect light

I applied the three layers very thin so they dried rather quickly.  I wish this was a little more pink looking but overall like it.  Do you have any of the colors from the One Less Lonely Girl Collection or did you stay away from them?

Sally Hansen Salon Effects: Are You Single? Swatch and Review

     A few weeks ago I stumbled into TJ Maxx searching for those $6.99 Deborah Lippmann polishes that everyone was waving in my face.  But of course, because my town is not so in the now with polish, there were none.  I did however find some Sally Hansen Salon Effects real polish stips for the great price of $3.99.  They were Valentine's themed but I knew that a) I was to cheap to pay the normal $8 price tag so why not at least try them, and that b) the next week I would be working like a mad women and this would be the way to ensure something was on my nails at all times.

     According to the Sally Hansen website these last up to 10 days, remove easily with polish remover, and are available in 40 fashion-forward styles.  The one that I picked up clearly is not one that you can still buy, but with 40 other great options, who cares, right?!  Applying these was just a tad tricky to me.  Everyone else says it's so easy to just file off the excess but I just struggled.  I ended up folding the excess over my nail and pretty much pulling it off.  But it worked so who cares, right?  I sadly had tip wear after only 1 day!  :-(  I honestly expected this because I work very roughly with my hands.

     After four days, I was ready to take these off!  For someone who is constantly switching their polish, wearing the same thing for four days is a bit much.  But I must say, I am glad that I had these over naked nails.  The removal also seemed a little more difficult then I expected.  I used acetone and it took a little scrubbing.  I wonder if I should have used regular polish remover?!  Hmmm.  Next time  I will try that.  One other thing I found odd was that mine seemed to have tons of little lines running through out the strips, as you will see in the picture.  This bugged me.  I looked up other ones online though and didn't notice this to be a constant thing, so I am wondering if this has to do with why I found them at TJ Maxx.

     Even with the tip wear, these did last a lot longer than normal polish for me.  I will more than likely try them again if I have another crazy work week or God forbid, a vacation, (I can dream, right?)  But I STILL struggle with the price tag.

Have you tried this or any other nail wrap yet?  Did they meet your expectations?

Sally Hansen Celeb City Swatches and Stamping With Mash 41

     Hello everyone!  Did you miss me?  I just worked an 80 hour week so I was unable to post to my blog, let alone paint my nails.  I did end up being able to try the Sally Hansen Nail Wraps though.  There will be a post on those later this week.

I have never been more excited to paint my nails!  My addiction has become clearer to me...

     Todays challenge in the Facebook group Adventures In Stamping was to stamp involving silver, gold, and bronze.  Celeb City has been in my stash since before my addiction began.  Meaning, it is a few years old, and it still applies like a dream!  I have always loved this color.  I think I bought it because I saw a soap operah star wearing a silver color and loved it.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Base color: Celeb City By Sally Hansen Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Stamping color: Let's Talk by Sinful Colors

Stamping plate: Mash 41

Taken in direct sunlight

Taken in indirect sunlight

Inside without flash

Sealed With A Kris from Nicole By OPI Swatches and Stamping With Mash Plate 28

  Todays Adventures In Stamping Challenge was for us to stamp with black and red.  When I picked up Khloe Had A Little Lam Lam from the Nicole by OPI collection a few weeks ago I also picked up this pretty red color titled Sealed With A Kris.  I figured what better time to try it out then for todays challenge.
  Sealed With A Kris is a beautiful deepish redish jellyish glossy color.  It is a thicker jelly which I liked because there was no visible nail line after two coats.  I love Nicole by OPI's formula and their brush.  It went on amazing, dried quickly and looks beautiful.
  I really need to invest in a stamping black.  Using Wet N' Wild's Black Creme is not cutting it for me.  It doesn't transfer well AT ALL.  That is going next on my wish list.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Base color: Sealed With A Kris from Nicole by OPI - 2 coats

Stamping color: Black Creme from Wet N' Wild

Stamping plate: Mash 28

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Taken outside in natural light

Taken inside with flash

Outside in natural light

Taken outside in indirect light

Taken inside without flash

Taken inside with flash

Isn't this such a pretty color!  What do you think?  I hope that you all had a great weekend!  Please feel free to leave comments, I love to read them.