Pink Wednesdays! "I had survived my first three way calling attack."

It's Pink Wednesday!

As you know, I'm in the middle of a wear test to find the best way to prevent chips, so I couldn't take off the polish for a new pink mani this Pink Wednesday. However, remember last Sunday I had reviewed the 2011 essie Resort Collection? Well, I just couldn't bring myself to take off Your Hut or Mine - which is a pink - and I ended up wearing this great color for a few days last week so I could try out some new layering ideas. So for this pink Wednesday, we're going back in time and looking at last week's pink manicures.

This was last Monday's mani:


(For the record: what a difference a week makes! My cuticles and nail beds are already so much healthier since these photos. I do love this color, though.)

On Tuesday I decided to layer on OPI Sparkle-licious to add a little glitter to the mani:

(No, I'm not four-fingered, just somehow cut off the pinky in this photo. I'm getting much better at taking photos since this, I promise!)

I'm not really a glitter person for 2 reasons. 1, glitters are an absolute pain to remove, and 2, there's just no going into a corporate office and commanding power when you have glitter on your tips. Not sure what I was thinking, but my boss was out on jury duty last week, so I guess I thought that gave me some freedom to play around with my manis. That being said, I have very few glitters in my collection, but I do really love Sparkle-icious. It's a great all-around glitter; there are flecks of blue, gold, yellow, and pink in this glitter, so it's a great glitter to have on hand as you can use it over a multitude of colors for a great accent nail or glitter-rific mani.

On Wednesday I decided to take my glitter mani and shatter it! I had picked up a cheapie brand of Purple Shatter over the weekend to test out. Here's what happened:


As you can see, by day 3 I had a little tip wear going on with the original Your Hut or Mine manicure. The purple shatter nicely canceled out the glitter mani so I felt a little more powerful at work, but then my nails were purple, and shattered, so it made me look 15 and all that gained power was lost again. I literally sat on my hands in one meeting for fear someone would notice LOL.

Lesson: layering is super fun, especially when you don't know what you're gonna get. However, as I already knew, glitter and purple shatters are not work appropriate, so let's save the fun manis for the weekend, okay?

What do you think? Have you picked up any colors from the essie Resort Collection yet? Are you into the current shatter craze? And just how crazy/conservative do you go with your manicures at work? Sound off in the comments!

OPI Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection - Swatches & Review

Hey Lacquer Lovers! How is everyone's week going? I am officially counting down until my London/Paris vacation in July - 44 days to go! I decided I'm going to definitely do some nail polish shopping while I'm abroad - any ideas on international brands that are hard to find in the US? Would love some ideas on what to pick up!

As I'm sure you know, OPI recently released its Pirates of the Caribbean collection! The collection includes 6 new colors and the amazing silver shatter. 3 colors are super pale and typically not my style - Stranger Tides, Steady as She Rose, and Skull & Glossbones. Since these colors aren't up my alley, I decided to skip on them, and instead am reviewing the 3 bolder colors from the collection - Mermaids Tears, Planks A Lot, and Sparrow Me the Drama, along with silver shatter. The formula on these was okay, only requiring 2 coats, but did look a little streaky, so not quite the buttery application we all love. Read on!

Up first is Mermaid's Tears. This was my least favorite of the 3 polishes. I would describe Mermaid's Tears as a sea foam green creme. I just don't love this pastel green color on me. I think this color would pop against pale and olive skin tones, but washes out on me:


When I added the silver shatter, I definitely liked the manicure a lot more:


Up next is Planks A Lot. This is a light purple creme with blue undertones that seems to be in the middle of of the color spectrum between OPI's Do You Lilac It? (which is a very pale lilac) and Funky Dunkey, which is a darker rich purple cream. I loved this color a lot in the bottle, and expected to like it a lot on me, but when I put it on, it just didn't pop. I think that when I want this color, I'll find myself reaching instead for Funky Dunkey for that richer, deeper purple.

Sorry for the messy cuticles - by hour #2 of swatching, they were so dry!!

And again, silver shatter makes everything better:


Finally is the gem of the collection, Sparrow Me the Drama. I. Love. This. Color! SMtD is a beautiful bright pink creme that really popped against my skin tone:


And adding the silver shatter just made this color sparkle even more!


Sparrow Me the Drama is definitely the winner in my eyes from this collection, but don't be surprised if Mermaid's Tears shows up in a future manicure - I will learn to love soft pastel greens if it's the last thing I do!


What do you think? What are your favorites from the POTC Collection? Did you try any of the murky pastels I passed on? And how do you really feel about green nail polish? Sound off in the comments!

Shatter - The Perfect Nail Fix

I like to think of myself as a girly-girl. I love doing my makeup and painting my nails. I have an impressive collection of designer handbags. And while I haven't mastered the 3" heel (my feet always hurt!) I can rock a hot weave with the best of 'em.

But here's a secret - whenever I go out I look amazing for the first 10 minutes - and then everything starts dropping. Curls drop out of the hair, I drop out of the cute pumps into flats, and my mascara on occasion races to my jaw line like it's the Boston marathon. When it comes to manicures, they're good for the first few minutes - but then I need to jump into jeans, hop in the car, walk the dog, etc., and the dings, dents, and chips start to arrive on my perfectly polished hands. I've found some quick-dry top coats that help, but it's always just a matter of time.

I haven't figured out how to keep my manicures perfectly chip-free, so instead I've found the only thing better than chips - shatters! Yes, I know that shatter/crackle nail polish is all the rage right now. OPI started this year by releasing black shatter nail polish with the Serena Williams Glam Slam and Katy Perry collections, and silver shatter recently released with the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. There is also a red shatter and white shatter dropping this month with the next two installments in the Serena Williams collection, and I've also seen swatches of a blue, navy and turquoise shatter. Shatter is great for vamp or funky nails, but I am all about using it to cover up chips and dents.

Silly me forgot to take a pic of my mangled hands after wearing Dating A Royal all day Saturday, but below is a shot of DAR with silver shatter:



Love this fix! As I mentioned, silver shatter released with the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection out this month. I'll be swatching the polishes for the next few days, so look for a post soon!