OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection

Monday, April 30, 2012
Today I have the OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse collection to show you. The collection contains three pink/red polishes and one glitter top coat that Minnie Mouse herself would approve of. Before I write something else silly, let's get to the photos...


I'm All Ears - a fuchsia jelly with pink/purple fleck shimmer. Very nice easy to apply formula. It is fairly sheer so I ended up using three coats for full coverage. Swatches are without a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: OPI
Collection: Vintage Minnie Mouse (Summer 2011)
Color Name/Number: I'm All Ears, NL M14
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: No

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

If You Moust You Moust - a bubble gum pink creme. Formula and application are great. This was only two coats for full coverage with no visible nail line. Swatches are without a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: OPI
Collection: Vintage Minnie Mouse (Summer 2011)
Color Name/Number: If You Moust You Moust, NL M15
Number of coats: 2
Top Coat: No

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

The Color of Minnie - a bright fire engine red with a red shimmer. This is the classic red with the added twist of a shimmer. Application was good, two coats for these swatches. No visible nail line in real life although I can slightly see it in these photos. Nothing a third coat of color wouldn't fix. Swatches are again without a top coat...





Swatch Details
Brand: OPI
Collection: Vintage Minnie Mouse (Summer 2011)
Color Name/Number: The Color of Minnie, NL M16
Number of coats: 2
Top Coat: No

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It - a pink jelly base with pink with small fleck glitter and large heart glitter. The formula on this is a bit thick. The hearts had to be deliberately placed, but this was not difficult to do. The flecks shift color between gold, pink, purple and even some holo. This is with a top coat...





Swatch Details
Brand: OPI
Collection: Vintage Minnie Mouse (Summer 2011)
Color Name/Number: Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It, NL M13
Number of coats: 1 (over The Color of Minnie)
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I would love to know what your thoughts are on this collection. Are you a fan of pinks?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)


** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **
** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Born Pretty Store Dried Flowers Manicure and Review

Friday, April 27, 2012
I received an offer from The Born Pretty Store to review their nail art Dried Flowers. I have been wanting to try these flowers for a while so I couldn't resist. The package contains 12 different flowers, each one in it's own little plastic jar.


Six of the jars contain small five-petal flowers. Each jar contains five flowers of one color. I got lucky and got six yellow flowers in one of the jars. All the rest had five flowers...


The other six jars contain cluster flowers, two flowers in each jar. These flowers dyed so they are a bright color on one side and mostly while on the other. I think they can be used on either side. Depends on the desired effect...


I chose to use the purple cluster flowers for my manicure and applied them over Color Club Secret Rendezvous. Because there are only two flower clusters of each color and I didn't want to mix colors in my manicure, I cut the flowers apart to have enough for each nail. I applied about one third of the cluster on the ring finger as an accent. The rest I separated into individual little flowers and applied on other nails. I am really impressed just how perfect these tiny flowers are...



A flower I stole from my mom's garden... :)


The flowers were very easy to use and are so pretty for spring. I only wish that there were more of each flower in this package... :D

Have you tried these dried flowers before? I would love know what you think of them.

I have a few other ideas to try out with these flowers so I will hopefully be showing those soon :)

You can find these Dried Flowers at The Born Pretty Store. They were kind enough to send a 5% off code that you can use on any purchase.



Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)


** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **
** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Curious Puppy Prints...

Thursday, April 26, 2012
I often get the urge to try a gradient with similar colors within a collection. Just as often it doesn't work out as I imagined since the colors are too similar. Such was the case with Color Club Incognito and Give Me a Hint. Give Me a Hint turned out to be too light and sheer to create a nice gradient. Rather than give up and start over, I added Barielle Tight Knit into the mix to darken up the tip of the gradient.


The puppy and the paw prints were stamped using Barielle Unraveled Rust and Shany plate SH08. The puppy was just what I need to cheer me up. He is so cute. What shall we name him? ;)



I would love know what you think of this!
Do you ever create a silly manicure just to cheer yourself up?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

One Stroke Flowers over Color Club Get a Clue

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
I decided that Color Club Get a Clue would provide a lovely background for my first one stroke flower attempt. I have seen lots of tutorials on the technique, but have been hesitating to actually try it. Turns out is it not as scary as one might have imagined. I used white and periwinkle blue acrylic paint along with a flat angled brush to create the flowers...


The first attempt is a basic one, but now that the ice is broken I will hopefully be playing around with one stroke flowers a lot more...



I would love to know what you think of this! Have you tried the one stroke technique before?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Color Club - Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery Collection

Monday, April 23, 2012
Thank you so much to everyone that stopped by this weekend to wish this blog a happy 1st birthday. It means so much to me!

Today I have for you swatches of half of Color Club Alter Ego collection. The collection consists of two sets of six colors. One half are the light colors in a set named Reveal Your Mystery. The other half are dark colors and the set is named Keep it Under Cover. I only own the Reveal Your Mystery set of the collection and it is what I'll be sharing with you today. The collection was released in Spring 2011 and just like all of the other Color Club collections that I own, I'm about a year behind in getting to play with them, but better late than never...


Get a Clue - a dusty pink with a hint of lavender. The formula was OK, but slightly streaky. It did even out with the third coat. I added a top coat which helped even it out further. Aside from the formula problems, this is a lovely color...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Get a Clue
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Revealed - a soft peach with a hidden pink shimmer. I couldn't get the shimmer to come out for the camera, but it is ever so slightly there in real life. This polish reminds me a lot of Sally Hansen Sweet Pea. You can see the shimmer in the sun on those photos. The application was patchy, formula tended to drag. Three coats for full coverage. This is with a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Revealed
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Incognito - a sheer beige jelly. Application was good, but this took four coats to build up to what you see in the swatches. The nail line is still slightly visible. This would be a perfect "mannequin hands" polish for me if it were not so sheer. However, I do like that this is a jelly formula...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Incognito
Number of coats: 4
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Give Me a Hint - a mushroom taupe color. This is a cross between a jelly and a creme. I had no problems with application of this one. This is three coats with a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Give Me a Hint
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: No

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Sheer Disguise - a dove gray with a hint of blue. This again is a cross between a creme and a jelly. I like this finish since it is provides the good coverage of a creme and the shine of a jelly. My top coat, however, hates this finish. It seems to bubble every time without exceptions. I wish I would have skipped the top coat (as I did for Give Me a Hint). This is three coats with a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Sheer Disguise
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Secret Rendezvous - a sweet lilac creme. This was probably my favorite color out of the set. It is just perfect for spring and seems to put me in a happy mood. This again is three coats with a top coat...




Swatch Details
Brand: Color Club
Collection: Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery
Color Name/Number: Secret Rendezvous
Number of coats: 3
Top Coat: Yes

Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Overall I think this set has a lot of lovely colors for spring. Some had formula issues, but nothing that didn't get evened out with enough coats. It just depends how patient you are. The set also came with a Milky White base coat which I used as a base for all of these polishes. I don't tend to be picky with my base and have a hard time judging them since I only wear my manicures for a short period of time. I had not problems with this particular base coat. It worked well and I had no staining with any of the colors.

I would love to know what you think of this set. Did you get it last year?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)