OPI is pretty amazing. I can’t claim that this is an actual fact… but I’m pretty sure that they release more colors per year than any other nail polish brand. Imagine their color archives! It’s gotta be incredible. I picture an endless hallway of bottles placed on shining pillars protected by glass, like in a museum.

OPI recently released their Euro Centrale & OZ collections. I’ll cover off on those in depth later, but for now I wanted to show you a pairing I fell in love with. It’s perfect for spring!

You’re Such a Budapest* stole my heart the moment I saw it. I love a good lavender to begin with — and YSAB is a little richer and deeper than the usual pastel purples. It hovers between purple and lavender and leans on the blue side. It’s technically a creme, but has a hint of jelly to it. That element of translucency adds a delicate touch to this color.

You’re Such a Budapest

I contemplated wearing YSAB solo… but then The Lights of Emerald City* were twinkling at me and I couldn’t resist. TLOEC is fantastic. Tiny pieces of square metallic glitter sparkle green, peach, pink and gold, suspended in a clear base. Mixed among them are larger squares of pearl white glitter.

The Lights of Emerald City

TLOEC closeup!

I carefully applied TLOEC so that the white glitter pieces were concentrated toward the middle and tips of my nails, leaving the area near my cuticles clean. I was going for a slightly gradated look.

Here’s some indirect sunlight for you. Look at that glitter gleam.

This is how I was driving the whole time. Gotta check out the nailzzz, lol

These nails felt very My Little Pony, Pretty Pretty Princess-y, in the very best way possible. These are two new bottles that I am thrilled to have in my collection.

These nails just scream “Blossom” to me.

LOVED this game. Anyone ever heard of the lesser-known “Tales of the Crystals?”

xxo, Francesca

*product provided for honest review

You gals (and guuuuuys) know that I am a long-time reader of Allure magazine. I love Allure because they cover a great spectrum of beauty brands, from drugstore staples to department store indulgences. It’s also one of the few magazines that doesn’t give me some kind of complex after I’ve finished reading it, so there’s that.

I was thrilled to be chosen for an Allure-sponsored product trial for Sally Hansen — Salon InstaGel Strips.

I went in with a personal bias. I love the normal Sally Hansen Salon Effects. Seriously, seriously LOVE. If I didn’t blog about polish and have tons of colors to try out… I’d probably wear Salon Effects at least half of the time. They’re fast, easy, dependable and have a great array of on-trend colors & intricate patterns. I just love them.

Allure sent the starter kit, which included a very demure shade of pink called Shell We Dance, and a more experimental snakeskin option called SSS-Snake Eyes.

APPLICATION

The strips enable you to sport a gel manicure with an intricate design for a much cheaper price than you’d pay for a professional for such artistry. If you already own a traditional gel kit and enjoy solid colors (which Sally Hansen also offers), then I cannot honestly say that this kit will save you an outrageous amount of time. You still need to sort out which applique is the right size for which nails… and it still never seems to work out perfectly, so you’d got to franken-nail things up here and there.

It’s essentially a 5-step process. Prep (file, shape, buff, wipe with alcohol pad). Apply strips. Apply gel top coat. Cure with the UV light. Wipe with alcohol pad. Done!

A normal gel manicure means: Prep. Apply base coat. Cure. Apply color coat. Cure. Apply second coat of color. Cure. Apply top coat. Cure. Wipe with alcohol pad. And, finally, done. Depending on what kind of lamp you’re using, that can be a bit of a time investment. But I don’t think doing your nails is a very speedy process to begin with.

WEAR & TEAR

Fantastic. By the end of my two-week trial, I had maybe three tiny chips, and they were only noticeable upon the very closest of inspections. And the look stayed shiny for all 14 days. Love that.

One bummer was the grow-out. Like the other appliques, these strips have a very defined edge that lies near your cuticle. As your nails grow, that sharp edge becomes exposed and you can get things caught in between the ridge of the applique and your cuticle. And by “things,” I mean strands of your own hair. Eugh.

Note the grow-out. And the cat toy.

REMOVAL

Hmmm. Removal. I mean, if a mani’s going to stay pretty indestructible for two weeks, it stands to reason that it’s not going to be incredibly easy to remove. That’s just like, a law of physics or something, lol.

I gently scuffed up the surface of the gelicure with a nail file to break through the hard shiny shell that the top coat made. Then I used The Foil Method, of course. In the end, there was still a lot of soaking and a bit of scraping off carefully with a cuticle stick, but these were pretty standard gel manicure issues

OVERALL

If you’re someone who loves gel manicures but doesn’t want to drop that kind of cash twice a month or so, this is a great product to consider.

For those of you that already own a gel manicure kit, I am not sure that you need to replace it with this kit. In fact, I suspect you could probably skip the starter kit and just buy a pack of the gel nail appliques. As long as you already have a gel topcoat and a UV lamp to cure it, you should be good to go.

Don’t wear gel manicures often, or only really get them for special occasions / vacations? I might suggest skipping at-home kits entirely and continue going to your favorite salon. If you view a gel mani as a treat, then you’ll miss the whole salon experience when you use an at-home kit. They are pretty utilitarian, after all.

xxo, Francesca

Pshiiit’s gift for photography and playful pairing of colours is truly magnifique. Nailside basically invented the tape manicure and she continues to come up with creative designs. And Chalkboard Nails is incredibly talented. She made a holiday mani with a string of Christmas lights… that glowed in the dark. Genius.

Love this? Click the pic to explore Pshiiit.com. Warning: it’s en français.

Nailside is to thank for the use of scotch tape in manicures. She’s a visionary. Click the pic to check out more Nailside action!

Chalkboard Nails paints the most amazing manis. This isn’t even her most complex! But it’s one of my favorites due to the masterful use of glow-in-the-dark polish. Click the pic to dive into her designs.

If you guys are like me, after checking out such amazing nail art (and I do mean art) your first thought is, “What the… How did they do that?!” And your second thought is, “I’ll never be able to achieve such wonder…” And then you stare sadly down at your poor, solid-colored nails.

And it may be true. Some people are gifted with steady hands. And for others, it’s cause for celebration when we manage to paint our right hand half as well as we did our left. I totally get it! But there’s no need to feel inadequate.

Nowadays, there are tons of options for those who want the nail art look, but don’t have the painting chops to make it happen. There are appliqués, like Sally Hansen Salon Effects. There’s Konad stamping. There’s even Kleur Custom Nail Art if you live in the Los Angeles area.

And you know what else there is? The simple nail.

That’s right. No nail art. No glitter. Just plain and simple, eye-catching color. It’s always been my standby and still remains one of my favorite looks.

Sometimes a color’s just so pretty, it needs no embellishment at all. Why gild the lily, amirite? Or perhaps you’re going a bit daring with a neon or a nontraditional shade like green. Add some nail art or glitter and it can take a wild color into trashy-looking territory. But a pure, glossy finish can never be wrong.

Turns out I’m not alone in my love for simple color! Allure wrote a blurb on the return of the classic mani. Have a look-see.

“Crazy, elaborate nail art is everywhere — so go in the opposite direction.”

dowhatyouwannado, Francesca

1. These pics are usually the closest I’ll come to them because they’re just too expensive for me to feel comfortable with. 27 dollars, whaddya think I am, Chanel, madea money? (Shout out to Kevin and Katie for feeding my addiction these past couple of birthdays, <3 you guys…)

2. This is the brand that gives birth to trends. We must maintain constant vigilance.

Here’s CHANEL’s latest colour: Taboo.

Check out this closeup; looks like we’ve got some beautiful sapphire & ruby microglitter, all suspended in a navy-copper-purplish base:

Oh, I just love that second shot. It’s like a fuchsia-hued galaxy. And may I point you to fellow nail blogger Weekend Ramblings for a set of gorgeous swatches. Check out her post, she was pretty impressed…

If I make it to Nordstrom anytime soon, I’ll paint a little Taboo on a crumpled old receipt or something classy like that — then I can judge this polish freely. Until that happens, I can only speculate based on these photos. But Taboo looks lovely. Spellbinding, even.

My one complaint: why is this coming out in Spring/Summer? Just when we’re wanting to wear brights and pastels… just seems like an odd choice. But that doesn’t mean I’m not drooling for Taboo…

taboohoohoo, Francesca

It occurred to me that some of you may be waiting on tenterhooks for news about the Selena Gomez winners! I usually announce them but this time I just reached out to the winners themselves. Didn’t mean to leave you hangin’!

Congrats to:

The rest of y’all, stay tuned because I have a few more giveaways up my sleeve. I’m thinking… a The New Black / Digital Underground Kit. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

“Picture me paired with your Spring wardrobe.” — Seine: The New Black / Digital Underground

xxo, Francesca

Here’s a great swatch of Essie Go Ginza. I really encourage you to check out Beauty Junkies Unite; they’ve got swatches of the entire Essie Spring 2013 collection. I’m loving Bond With Whomever, too…

Gorgeous Essie Go Ginza!

Oh, Essie. I have a soft spot for Essie mainly because:

1. When I got my first professional manicure at the tender age of 14, my glamorous stepmother took me to a posh salon — in Darien, Connecticut, no less. Bouge to the bouge. It was at this salon that I encountered bottles of Essie for the first time. I liked the square bottles, I loved the logo embossed in glass along the side and…
2. My childhood nickname was Chessie. Never Fran, and certainly not Frannie. Oftentimes Chess. So I liked to pretend that it was (Ch)essie nail polish. Still do.

But despite these legitimate and heartwarming reasons, I hate painting with Essie. Love the colors, love the logo, love the name… hate the brush. I absolutely hate it. So tiny, barely spreads… It’s enough of a disappointment to steer me in the direction of a dupe whenever I can.

So if there are any readers who also hate the Essie brush, may I suggest OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender? You’ll get a very similar color (albeit not exactly a dupe) that will go on much more smoothly.

Click the pic to check out Tabechan’s nailtastic Flickr!

xxo, Francesca

Back in January, I stumbled upon the Ciaté “Very Colourfoil Manicure™” kit on Sephora.com. And I was fascinated.  At the time, nobody had swatched them, so I was left to my own musings. Until now.

What can I say… I splurged! May I present the photo evidence of my first foray into foil manicures. Allison, this one’s for you!

Yesssss. It’s mine. Miiiine!

Very well-packaged! Quite the assortment here.

I still have no idea why this was included, lol

A new full-size Ciaté is always welcome!

This is a little bottle of “Foil Fix.” It reminded me a lot of watered-down Elmer’s Glue.

The instructions were a little intimidating (and charmingly British), but the process was actually very simple. You paint the Foil Fix where you want the foil to stick; the entire nail, just a section, just a dot, etc. Let the Foil Fix dry for 60 seconds or so… Press the foil down on the nail, shiny side up… Rip off and VOILA.

Speaking of foil… look at these awesome colors! The sheets of foil were incredibly thin. Even thinner than a Listerine Strip. (Anyone remember those??)

The foils came in this cute little envelope. It comes in handy because you’ll find you have a ton of foil left! I only used one sheet of each color for my look. I could do at least 6-7 more foil manicures with the materials included in the kit.

Since there was no legitimate reason to only use the color of polish that came with the kit, Ciaté Kiss Chase, I decided to add two colors to the mix; OPI The IT Color and Essie Pretty Edgy.

Bam! The finished look.

I had a lot of fun looking at this mani. I did mine a little crazy, but you could do a much more subtle look by limiting yourself to a base color and then using just one / two colors of foil for a simpler approach.

A few days later, my foils really started to fade.

If you compare this photo to earlier shots, you can really see the disappearing foil.

Although the kit was an indulgence at $19, I’ve decided it’s actually a great deal. You get a full bottle of Ciaté “Paint Pots” polish, which retails for $15. You get the bottle of Foil Fix. And then you get tons of foils. Again, I have to stress how generous this kit is with the foil.

Overall, I loved the Ciaté Very Colourfoil Manicure™ Kit, but I’ll admit it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The DIY feel of the kit was awesome — doing my nails totally felt like an art project! I really enjoyed getting a feel for working with the foil. It’s an imperfect exercise, so there’s that element of the unexpected when you rip the foil off. You hope for the best and just try again if you didn’t get what you wanted the first time.

The downside is that the foil doesn’t last very long. You can count on this looking for for about 2 days, and after that the foil just begins to wear away. Another issue I encountered was an area of Foil Fix that never had foil properly adhere to it. The nature of Foil Fix is that a top coat won’t really stick to it. Meaning, if you’ve got a patch of Foil Fix on your nail that doesn’t get covered with foil, it will stay gummy. Gross.

Any questions on the Very Colourfoil™ Mani? Hit me up in the comments! And if you’ve liked what you’ve seen, then may I suggest you act soon? I’ve only seen the kit at Sephora and the website days it’s limited edition!

foiledagain, Francesca

Bonjour! Word of a new limited-edition collection from les artistes at CHANEL arrived in my inbox today. This time it’s très chinoiserie.

Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying “Chinese-esque,” refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences.

It is characterized by the use of fanciful imagery of an imaginary China, by asymmetry in format and whimsical contrasts of scale, and by the attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain and the use of lacquer-like materials and decoration.

This is an eye-catching bright green cabinet painted a la chinoiserie.

“The uniquely modern elegance and glittering beauty of Hong Kong inspire a luminous colour collection. Exclusive creations for eyes and nails are infused with a metallic glow, evoking the lights of the city as they reflect in the waters of the China Sea.” – CHANEL website

This is a toughie. The creamy white, Eastern Light, is pretty basic. Since these bottles are running for $30 each (quelle horror!) I don’t think you guys should feel tempted to drop that kind of cash on something so vanilla. Literally.

“This exclusive, limited-edition nail colour evokes the modernity of Hong Kong with a bold shade of opaque white.” – CHANEL website

But Western Lights shows great promise. It’s easy to pass over first; the shot of the complete collection did little to pique my interest. But when I went to the product page to get a closer look at the bottle, I read the description and got a better look at the shade’s unique shimmer. I’d love to see this live! That said, a bit of an odd choice for springtime, eh? Could have been a great fall / winter release.

“This exclusive, limited-edition creation makes a contemporary statement with a sophisticated shade of deep chocolate, burnished by a heart of pearly red.” – CHANEL website

To check out swatches and a fantastic post on this new CHANEL duo, head over to fellow nail blogger Ommorphia Beauty Bar’s site. She’s got some great dupe suggestions and really beautiful shots.

yearofthesssssnake, Francesca

P.S. Click here to read more about 2013, the Year of the Water Snake, aka Junior Dragon. My Chinese Zodiac sign is a Rat. ;_; Wish I’d been a Tiger or a Dragon. Any other Rats up in here?

An opportunist with an eye for a bargain, Rats tend to collect and hoard, but are unwilling to pay too much for anything.

Hahahahaha. Collecting? Hoarding? You don’t say.

The two I had to try ASAP; Stars at Night and Heavenly Angel.

Look at these two beauties!

I was particularly excited to try out Stars at Night, a silver holographic bar glitter in a clear base. My friend Laura (who’s guest posted here before) once painted a similar glitter by Sally Hansen over bare nails. The bar glitter would flash out in little bursts of holo, but the overall effect was far from bling-in-a-bad-way. It was more of an effortless sparkle. I loved it and was dying to recreate it. I used a cream-colored polish from a Digital Underground / The New Black set I had on hand and applied one coat of Stars at Night.

Struggling to capture the sparkle here…

Imagine me waving my hand wildly to get the glow caught on film.

Can you see some hyper-holo action there?

I rarely ever make this comment about glitter but… Stars at Night had way too much glitter and not enough base for me. Usually it’s the other way around! The coverage was more complete than I expected. The next time I use this, I think I’ll choose a light gray or metallic silver base so that the bars of glitter are less obvious.

And here’s my favorite kind of aforementioned bon bon.

The second polish I had to try ASAP was Heavenly Angel. It’s a clear base filled with iridescent chunks; not flakies. Do not confuse these with flakies. These are thicker, coarser, very sparkly chunks. I realize “chunks” is not the most flattering descriptor, but let’s call it like it is! Chunks!

I put this on over a gorgeous deep emerald cream by Illamasqua called Kink. It was a gift from my friend Alison, so it made this manicure even more fun to wear. (Thanks, AliCat!) I wanted to make sure that the chunks would stand out, so I chose a dark base color for contrast; it looked awesome. No complaints on this one, I’d just caution you guys to be careful with the chunks, because sometimes one will get wayward and stick up, or even hang off of your nail. You’ll want to watch out for rascally ones like that before you apply a top coat.

There’s lots of gleaming green and blue, but I think the iridescent chunks are influenced by your base color. If you went for a peach, pink, or purple, I think you’d see different shimmers.

I know this has already been an action-packed post, but I have one more thing to say, and that is: I’m giving away three pairs of Selena Gomez polishes!

From left: PAIR ONE, Mi Fantasía & Kissed at Midnight; PAIR TWO Pretty in Plum & Inner Sparkle; PAIR THREE Scarlett & Confetti Fun.

Entering for your chance to win is easy — just leave a comment on this post! No duplicate entries, please.

The cutoff for entries is 11:59pm Pacific time on Thursday, March 7th. The three winners will be randomly selected through Random.org and announced on Friday, March 8th. For this giveaway, only winners with U.S. shipping addresses are eligible. (Sorry for the inconvenience, worldwide readers!) For the nitty gritty details, click here.

letthegamesbegin, Francesca

What a gorgeous shot, eh?

I wish I could tell you that my life consists only of swatching polishes, hanging with my cats and eating bon bons all day, but sadly that is not the case. Although I do eat a lot of bon bons. I got swamped with my Real Job recently, but I’ve come up with some good ideas to make sure I don’t go dark for as long as I did, ever again!

There are nailz to paint. Collections to ewww and ahhh over. Let us begin!

So, Selena Gomez. You may have heard of her. Bless her heart, she was one of those poor Disney girls and is slowly blossoming into a quite a nice young lady. Her songs are fun, she carries herself well and hasn’t gone down La Lohan Lane, so she’s a-okay in my book.

The full line up, and some mist-creature that looks a lot like Gomez. Unless… wait. Bwahahaha is that supposed to be Selena Gomez? What have they done to her??

In keeping with its younger demographic, Nicole by OPI teamed up with Selena to create 14 shades for her very own collection. Some celebrity nail polish partnerships make me scratch my head (note that I have never covered a Kardashian Kollection — and never will) but this one makes total sense. Selena experiments with nail color for events all the time.

Her collection is, holistically, one of the prettiest ones I’ve seen; we’ve got glitter, we’ve got brights, we’ve got pastels… shimmers, creams… well done, Gomez, well done.

Selena Gomez Collection, row one.

Selena Gomez Collection, row two. Like a kid in a candy shop, isn’t it?

I used two coats for each color.

The two I had to try ASAP; Stars at Night and Heavenly Angel.

Check back tomorrow to read my review of Stars at Night and Heavenly Angel!

missedyou, Francesca