SNEAK PEEK! OPI's brand new San Francisco collection!

I managed to get a sneak peek at OPI's brand new San Francisco collection a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to wait until after the release date to show you guys and make sure that you could all rush out straight away and find these gorgeous shades in your Myer and David Jones stores!

I was sent 4 of what I consider to be the best shades to try out and show you guys, and the video shows you some great ideas for nail art, as well as some awesome swatches. This collection is quite jam packed with real winning shades, from garnet reds to teals and browns, and even a holographic type of colour that I found to be really unusual and particularly appealing.

The colours, as OPI describe them, are as follows:

A-Piers to Be Tan – a chocolaty caramel tan

Dining al Frisco – feast your eyes on this fresh shade of blue

Haven’t the Foggiest – it wouldn’t be San Francisco without this misty grey

Peace & Love & OPI – an unusual holographic blend of eggplant and sage – very funky

Keeping Suzi at Bay – an assertive navy blue

Incognito in Sausalito – keep this almost-black blue under wraps

Lost on Lombard – you will get all dizzy with the glorious shade of garnet

I Knead Sour-Dough – a warm toasty brown

Muir Muir on the Wall – a trailblazing shade of plum, just ask the magic mirror

In the Cable Car-Pool Lane – get taken away with this rich burgundy.

Embarca-Dare Ya! – a marvelous magenta

First Date at the Golden Gate – a shimmery ruby

It’s All San Andreas’s Fault (Liquid Sand) – a textured earthy taupe

Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! (Liquid Sand) – a textured rich matte blue

Alcatraz…Rocks.  (Liquid Sand) – a textured shade of grey

Which one is your favourite? Is there a shade you're just dying to get your hands on? Let me know in the comments section.

OPI Special Breast Cancer awareness pack

Every year, I can't wait for the special OPI pack that finds its way into stores in September or October for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Pink of Hearts is a pack of two nail colours, full sized and in the pink theme, this year with bonus nail stickers and crystals, which you can find in David Jones from September 13 at $24.95.
100% of profits from the sale of these packs is donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, a cause close to my own heart, as I have several family members who have fought and won the battle with breast cancer.

Pinking of you

More than a glimmer

My mum's older sister, my Paternal Grandmother, my Dad's younger sister, and my "adopted" mum, who is my close friend's Mother, have all done battle with the dreaded Breast Cancer beast, and I am particularly mindful of checking myself out regularly. Early detection is our greatest weapon in the fight against Breast Cancer, while the research continues in hopes of finding a cure or prevention. OPI are continuing to help out with that every year, and for that, I applaud them.


Quite aside from the awesomeness of their cause, who needs an excuse to go and buy a couple of new nail polishes!?!?
I will definitely be out to get mine when they hit the stores next month, make sure you keep an eye out for them too.

In the meantime, here are some pics of last year's Pink of Hearts colours, "I think in pink", and "You glitter be good to me", and some arty ideas I had for their use.

Eye of the tiger: Nails with a little extra..grrr...

I know it's been a really long time since I have done a nails post, and I tried doing the natural nails thing for a while, but this weekend, I went to a wedding and I wanted to look my best, so I got my acrylics re-done and I feel like myself again!


For the wedding, I wore a black dress with some ruffles and draping detail, so I wanted to keep the nails quite simple, but at the same time, add just a little pizzazz to them, so I decided on a nude base with tiger stripes, and a swarovski crystal accent on one nail.

I can't remember where I got my swarozski nail art crystals from. I know that you can pick up something similar in most stores that sell nail polish, and most definitely online. EBay have some really great options.
I started with my favourite nude polish, Glints of Glinda, from OPI's Oz the great and powerful collection. Two coats is enough for an opaque base, and I let that dry completely before going in with my nail striper to create the tiger stripes.

I've done a tutorial on my youtube channel about how to make the tiger stripes, so go check that one out (tigger nail art tutoral).

Last of all, on the ring finger nail, which I covered entirely in the stripes, I placed a swarovski crystal accent, attaching it with a tiny bit of clear polish. Once the stripes were completely dry, I coated everything with clear polish, working from side to side so as not to streak the stripes the wrong way up the nail.

And that's it, it's a really simple look, with lots of personality. Try it out for yourself!

You can look forward to lots more nail tutorials and look-books now that I have my beloved acrylics back. They are costly to maintain, and they are so damaging to the natural nail underneath, but I do love them, and I feel like it's a worthwhile investment.

Trendsday: Textured nail polish.

Last week, I showed you a sneak peek of OPI's new Great and Powerful Oz collection, and I touched on the awesomeness of their new Liquid Sand technology, which essentially leaves a texture on your nails like very fine sandpaper, with a matte finish.

As you can see in this first picture, the Liquid Sand polishes also have a kind of shimmer to them, making them truly unique and really awesome to look at.

These two colours are "Can't let go" and "Get your number" from the Mariah Carey collection that was recently released. They have chunks of glitter in them (of course!) and the Liquid Sand matte finish. I'm kind of in love with these Liquid Sand polishes. There isn't a bad shade, and there are lots to choose from, so you'll find a colour to match any outfit or occasion.


The next colour I've shown here is actually not done justice by the picture. The polish is an almost-sheer black with red glitter, and of course that awesome Liquid Sand matte finish. This polish is going to feature in my birthday OOTD video on Friday night (Which I'll post on Saturday for you guys), because it's the perfect accessory to my gorgeous black ruffle tunic from City Chic (which I'll be wearing as a gorgeous dress, all dressed up with some sexy shoes, it's perfect for summer special occasions!).

This is another colour from the Mariah Carey collection, called "Stay the night".

Last of all, we have the gorgeous bronzey-gold Liquid Sand polish from the Great and Powerful Oz collection called "What wizardry is this?". I've teamed it up for a funky geometric look with the nude from the same collection, called "Glints of Glinda".

I actually think this is my favourite "everyday wear" colour in their Liquid Sand polishes. It's got a shimmer, rather than a glitter, and it is just a really great allrounder colour, it goes with any outfit, so you can wear it all week to work before you let your hair down with one of the glitzier colours on the weekend. Definitely my pick of the bunch.

The last thing I want to tell you about this polish is that, unlike other glitter polishes, it's really easy to remove! I know a lot of you steer clear of glitters because they are so notoriously difficult to remove, but you need not be scared of this one.

So... what do you think of OPI's LiquidSand polishes? You can get some for yourself from leading salons and David Jones nationwide.

Full disclosure: The awesome people at OPI sent me these polishes to try out, but of course my opinions are always my own, and I was not paid for this review.

Sneak peek: OPI Great and Powerful Oz collection.

 I have loved all things Oz since I was a little girl, so when OPI released their new Great and Powerful Oz collection, I will admit I did a little happy dance and made  little squee noise.

Even better than the fact that they are Oz inspired, is the fact that every shade in the collection is classy and wearable with pretty much everything.

From white, to nude, to pink, silver, gold and all the sparkle of confetti polishes, it's a really lovely collection.

These are the kind of colours you could make work for any occasion, so for me, they are a must-have collection for any nail polish lover!









 The two confetti polishes feature in silver and gold, and would add just the right amount of sparkle to any party outfit.

The best part is the very last colour you see here, "What wizardry is this?", which is one of OPI's new Liquid Sand polishes, which provides a matte finished, 3D "sand" look on the nail and is a really awesome feature. Stay tuned for some great looks I'll be putting together very soon with OPI's Liquid Sand polishes.

OMG product: OPI Skyfall - the man with the golden gun

After some internal debate over whether to actually buy this, I'm so excited that I did, because now I can share it with you guys!
So... why am I so excited about this nail polish that arrives in its very own special box, with special gold packaging?

Because it's freakin' 18k gold top coat, that's why!

I've loved glitter top coats, I've loved shatter top coats, I've played with every kind of nail polish you could imagine...but I've never loved anything like this before. It's absolutely stunning in its effect.

This little gem is going to set you back quite a bit more than the regular OPI polishes (I buy wholesale from a beauty supply place, so I got a discount on the RRP which I think is around $40 in stores), but it's SO worth every cent.

Everyone is doing the swatching it over dark colours thing, so I thought I'd be a little bit different and do it over a cloudy blue/grey colour here:




What do you think? Are you loving this as much as I am?

Trendsday - Mattify your nail looks!

Matte nail polish is becoming a craze everywhere I look, and in my explorations on the interwebz this week, I came across some amazing ideas for nail art that mix trends, products and techniques, so I decided to give one of them a red hot go.


First of all, I want to show you how I found matte nail polish. I went looking for an actual black matte polish, and instead left the store with ChiChi matte top coat, which means that any solid colour nail polish that I have in my collection is now potentially a matte polish too! You just paint on your normal colour. I used the black from OPI's so so skullicious collection, and just used the matte top coat like I would any other top coat. It's super fast-drying and super effective, giving me exactly the effect I was after.

On my ring finger, I painted a blue and purple coloured glitter polish, as I am going for a stand-out one nail different trendy look.

Then, on top of all of my nails, I used my BYS nail art polish in black to create a criss-cross pattern.

Last of all, a coat of regular top coat over the ring fingers to seal the glitter. DO NOT use regular top coat over the matte top coat because you will make it shiny and undo all your hard work.

Here's what the finished product looks like:


What do you think? Do you like the subtle nail art?

The new OPI Skyfall collection has arrived!

I'm so excited! I've been waiting for the new OPI collection to arrive in Asutralia and it's finally here! With colours based around the new James Bond 007 movie, Skyfall, and with an extra special 18carat gold leaf top coat, it's sure to be a winner!

 I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pack of "Bondettes" minis before they sold out and I just adore the colours! Here I am wearing a very "wonderwoman-esque" combo of The spy who loved me, and Goldeneye (not the 18carat top coat). I really, really like The world is not enough, too. It's a shimmery rose-tinted silver colour that looks really awesome over the top of a blue or purple.

I can't wait to get my hands on some more colours! Get out to your OPI counter today and pick some up!

Trendsday! Ombre makeup.

A big trend out at the moment is Ombre. Whether it's eyes, lips or nails, or even hair, everyone seems to be getting in on the Ombre trend.

So first, a little bit about the history of Ombre. The word itself means "shadow" in french, and has long been used to describe gradual colour change dyeing processes. Since the 20's, it has been a popular effect used in dyeing fabrics for dresses, skirts and all sorts of things.
It made a comeback of sorts in the 1960's and 1970's, with the introduction of tie-die, and morphed into a changing of colours on a brighter and more contrasting level.

These days, Ombre can be anything from a gradual fade of shades in the same basic colour, as you can see with my lips and nails here, or a combination of colours next to or opposite each other on the colour wheel, as seen with my sunset-inspired Ombre eye.

However you decide to do it, the key is to blend everything together really well so that you don't have an obvious line separating your colours. Even if they are real opposites, they should still be blended together in the edges, to create that effect.

Here,  I've created my look with nail polishes by OPI (way too many colours to list), OCC lip tar and NYX pearl pigment, and various colours from my 120 Pro palette.

What do you think? Do you like the Ombre look? Do you hate it? Let me know your thoughts.

Review: OPI Texas collection

 I definitely have a soft spot for all things Texan, so when I saw that OPI have a collection dedicated to the Lone Star State, I just had to get my hands on it....or is that... it on my hands? Either way, I spotted green and turquoise, and several pinks and I just had to have a try of this collection.

I already have the green (Don't mess with OPI), which I used recently in a costume party look with some black and silver nail art to make it look kind of tartan-ish. It's a look I'm planning to recreate with some different colours soon, so stay tuned for that.

Today, I got my hands on the "lil shooters" mini range, which included Austin-tatious Turquoise, I vant to be a Lone Star, and Do you think I'm Tex-y, along with a gorgeous little sample bottle of rapidry top coat.

As you can see here, I've used the turquoise and the sky blue to create a cute little multi french look, using my silver nail art brush to soften the edge a little bit. Super simple and really quick to do, it's a really fun way to step away from the everyday....for any day!

I'm still growing my nails, so the ends are rounded, a look that I don't really favour. I'd much prefer a more square tip, but one cannot be picky and choosy whilst one is growing out her damaged nails. My nails really benefit from having the extra protection of a coat of nail polish, so I love to jazz it up every once in a while and make my nails really fun. It seems to do the job cheering me up, no matter how crappy the day.

There are some really great colours in this collection and I'm looking forward to picking up some more soon!

 I joined a beauty blog hop, which helps bloggers get their content seen by lots more people... Really want to thank the organizer, and the best way to do that is to send you guys to the blog! http://mimikaayu.blogspot.ca check it out!