OPI "Alcatraz.... ROCKS"

Top Coat on index and ring fingers

I was really excited to try this polish from the OPI Fall 2013 San Francisco collection. It's one of their 'Liquid Sand' textured polishes. I'd never tried a liquid sand polish before, but the swatches of this one were so pretty that I couldn't resist! 

"Alcatraz...ROCKS" is a medium navy jelly that is just FULL of sparkle - gold, purple, even a little green. It is almost hypnotic. You aren't supposed to add a top coat to this, but I did anyway. It wasn't really as 'matte' as advertised, the sparkle was SUPER prominent and the texture wasn't as gritty as anticipated (I guess I was expecting sand paper! This was very fine). I did use one coat of Seche Vite top coat, and the color became darker and deeper. There is literally TONS of sparkle on this color. It's unlike anything I've ever tried. Really a dizzying color. A+ : totally unique, gorgeous color, easy-peasy application. 

Close-up of the shimmer

Top coat on index and ring fingers. Ignore the messy application, it cleaned up easily, I swear! 

OPI "Pink-ing of you" and Butter London "Rosie Lee"

This is a very similar manicure to one I did last week - pink and glitter combo! This time I used OPI "Pink-ing of you" and Butter London "Rosie Lee."

Let's start with the OPI. It's from their 'soft shades' collection, but it really is quite pink. Not very subtle, but very girly. I actually had this done on a professional manicure (courtesy of the SO), and loved it so much I had to pick this color up for myself. A lovely basic pink, perfect application in 2 shades. A+!

Argh - sorry for the lopsided shot! :)

Butter London has kind of been a hit-or-miss company for me. Nice formulas but their colors are... weird. "Rosie Lee" is nice though, all pink glitters. Smaller glitter size than the Essie "A Cut Above", similar color. A pain in the butt to remove though. Lovely rose-goldy shade. A- for difficulty in removing it. 

Butter London "Victoriana"

Oy. Where do I start with this one. I picked up this shade at my local Ulta because of all the rave reviews their polishes get, this one in particular getting a LOT of attention. I love teals, I love glitter, how could this not be a winner?

Somehow, this shade totally falls flat for me. It reminds me of this horrible pair of blue jeans I had in middle school that had this awesomely horrific glitter sprayed all over them, that left a trail of sparkles like pixie dust wherever I went. Don't judge, it was the '90's. Anyway, this nail polish reminds me of them. I couldn't even get through a day wearing this. It applied beautifully, and removal was a breeze despite the large silver glitter, but this color just doesn't work for me AT ALL. B+ : awesome formula, but I can't stand this color, despite the hype it got.

Also, HOW ON EARTH did this company find it appropriate to describe this color as "A textured twinkling vintage pale blue nail lacquer. Things reminiscent of the Victorian era, such as corsets, top hats and Syphilis. " -- syphilis? Really??

Essie "A Cut Above"

Ooh la la! I knew as soon as I saw this lovely that I HAD to have it - my inner magpie absolutely freaked out. Glitter. And pink. Hallelujah. 

I tried a few different techniques in applying it. I layered it over Essie "Pop Art Pink." There is a single glitter layer on my thumb, three layers on my ring finger (let me tell you, that REALLY sparkled in the sunlight! Totally blinged out!!), and just a glitter gradient on my index finger. Haven't had a lot of experience with glitter, but I LOVED this. I was a little nervous about the removal, after reading about it on other folk's blogs, but it really wasn't any harder than normal polish to remove.

This polish had big pink sparkles (like sequins!) as well as small sparkles, creating a really beautiful multi-dimensional look. I can bet I'll be using this a lot in the future. ;)

Gorgeous pink!

Artificial light