Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains - two coats over OPI My Pointe Exactly (two coats), with top coat

Sometimes you come across a truly special polish that makes you go WOW, and Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains is definitely one of those. Large white hexes, holographic silver bar glitters, and pastel pink, blue, purple and silver small glitters suspended in a light sheer grey jelly, Gotta Love Brains is so soft and delicate looking, it makes you want to stare at your nails all day.

Application requires some fishing and dabbing of the glitters, but it is a small price to pay for such a gorgeous polish. Since it is very sheer on its own, I layered two coats over OPI My Pointe Exactly, which turns out to be the perfect undie for Gotta Love Brains!

Gotta Love Brains is one of the older Lynns (pre eBay days), and is it just me, or are the old Lynns better than the new ones? I can't help but think that some of the new Lynns are very similar to her old ones, and some are just a mixture of glitters put together without much thought or creativity. I hope I don't get burnt by the Lynn lovers out there, I am merely sharing what I think with you girls!

Gotta Love Brains - macro bottle shot

Girly Bits Heirloom, and a comparison to Lynnderella and Enchanted Polish

Happy 2013 my dear readers! Today I have a special post for you, I hope you will enjoy it!

Girly Bits Heirloom - one coat over OPI I Brake For Manicure - topped with SV topcoat

Girly Bits Heirloom from the Season of Sparkle Collection. A clear base polish with dusty pink, purple and silver glitters, or as Pam the creator describes it, 'all the vintage shades of a Victorian era holiday'. The glitters are so dense you only need one coat to achieve a very blingy look! The glitters are also extremely sparkly, so girls you better put your sunglasses on! I got quite a few compliments from wearing Heirloom, it is just oh so gorgeous!

I thought I might have some similar glitter toppers in my stash, so I pull them out and did a quick comparison.

L-R: Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, Lynnderella Common Sense, Girly Bits Heirloom

L-R: Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, Lynnderella Common Sense, Girly Bits Heirloom, all one coat only

L-R: Girly Bits Heirloom, Lynnderella Common Sense, Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, all one coat over black 

First of all, I am happy to report that there is no dupe. Although Heirloom and Witchful Thinking appear quite similar at first glance, Heirloom has silver glitters whilst the latter has gold/brownish glitters and micro holo glitters. Common Sense is more of a pink glitter than the other two, and is the densest of the three. Which one is my favorite you ask? I'm sorry but I'd have to give you a cliche answer and say I love them all! :)

Epic Swatch Spam! *photo heavy*

Sorry I have been MIA for awhile! I have been slacking off a bit, so today I am going to spam you with all my mani swatches while I was away! I hope you will enjoy this massive post! (some of these photos have already been posted on my Instagram account, you can follow me there @cacanails :D)

Hits Suspiro over Essie Smooth Sailing - a periwinkle jelly base with blue, pink, purple and silver glitters

Sonama Nail Art Custom Polish - three coats. A beige pink milky base with silver, pink and green square and hex glitters 

Innisfree #105 over Zoya Neeka - #105 is a clear base polish with matte white hex/bar/square glitters, along with rose gold and copper hex glitters

Innisfree #111 over OPI I Don't Give A Rottendam. #111 is a clear base polish with matte black and white bar/square/hex glitters, sprinkled with the random pink hex glitters.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie - I might be crucified by the polish world for saying this, but I don't particularly love this much coveted polish. Yes, the shimmer is pretty, but there is something about the shade that just doesn't look right to me

Girly Bits Visions of Sugar Plum over Zoya Tru. The undie choice is a fail, I tried to find something that is similar to the base color of VoSP, but it turns out Tru is much darker. Nevertheless, VoSP is a lovely jelly berry packed with pink, silver, orange and blue glitters 

Enchanted Polish Awesomeness with OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous as French tips. Awesomeness is a metallic purple holo. I apologize for the poor quality of the swatch, I just cannot capture the true awesomeness (pardon the intended pun) of this polish and holo to save my life! 

Last but certainly not least, we have Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking. A clear base polish packed with dusty rose glitters and micro holographic glitters, Witchful Thinking is definitely as enchanting as it could be! Here it is layered over Zoya Pinta

The "Exclusive" post! OPI DS Exclusive and the search of dupes

OPI DS Exclusive - two coats with top coat

Finally I was able to get my hands on this elusive lemming, OPI DS Exclusive. Like many of its holo siblings, this DS has been long discontinued, but I'm lucky enough to get it via a swap, thank you MJ!

DS Exclusive is a berry/magenta linear holo. Formula is perfect with two easy coats, and the prismatic effect is just blinding! To quote Rachel Zoe, I die!

You would think with so many holo polishes out there, there must be some close dupes of DS Exclusive, so I went through my modest stash and pull out a few holos in the same color family, and here they are, from thumb to pinky: Enchanted Sugar Spree, BSJ #02, Hits Atena, OPI DS Exclusive, and Catherine Arley #677.

Possible dupes of OPI DS Exclusive? I don't think so!

I am happy and sad to report that there are no dupes! DS Exclusive is a shade or two darker than the rest, with a strong purple undertone. BSJ might be the closest to the DS, but it has a red undertone. Enchanted, Hits and CA are all red holos with pink undertone.

It is interesting to note that BSJ #02 has the strongest linear holo effect out of all polishes, followed by DS Exclusive. Hits Atena and Enchanted Sugar Spree are very close dupes in terms of color and prismatic effect, with Catherine Arley being the weakest holo.

So there you have it, the search for DS Exclusive dupe continues. Do you know of any close dupe of this coveted polish? Which magenta holo do you like the most?

KBShimmer Cheerleader

KBShimmer Cheerleader over OPI Pamplona Purple

What a fun polish! A magenta berry jelly sprinkled with various sizes of matte hex in white, pink, blue and purple, Cheerleader makes me want to bring out the pom poms and do a star jump!

I layered one coat of Cheerleader over one coat of OPI Pamplona Purple, and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite topcoat. I didn't need to fish for the glitters from the bottle, but I did need to dab a little bit just to spread the glitters out. Apart from that, the formula is perfect!

I have a few more KBShimmers on my wishlist, and I cannot wait to get my hands on them! Do you love KBShimmer polish as much as I do?

Simple Nail Art with Mani Tape

Nail Art with Chanel Miami Peach and OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam

Today I have a simple nail art mani for you. My old mani (you can read the related post here) is getting some tip wear, but it is still too pretty to be removed, so I stuck some mani tapes on, then layered OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam over my nails to create a new look! I chose I Don't Give A Rotterdam, a dusky periwinkle to contrast with the bright and summery looking Chanel Miami Peach.

Do you like this look? It is such a simple technique, yet it adds an interesting twist to an other plain mani!

A Jelly Sandwich Good Enough to Eat

Glitter Sandwich w/ OPI Too Hot To Hold 'Em and Servin' Up Sparkle

I just can't get enough of jelly glitter sandwich, especially when removing glitters is no long a pain in the behind (more of that later)!

For this mani I did one coat of OPI Too Hot To Hold 'Em, one coat of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, and then another coat of THTHE and gave the mani some shine with SV top coat. Love how squishy and glassy this looks! Also love how the layering creates some sort of blue flash from the glitters, so gorgeous!

You may have heard about the latest glitter removal method with PVA glue, but if you haven't, Pretty Purple Polish did an excellent post on everything you need to know here. Personally, this method is by far the easiest way to remove those stubborn glitters! The first time I've tried it, I used base coat before applying the PVA glue to protect my nails, but when I tried to remove my mani, I really needed to push hard with my metal cuticle stick to get the layers off my nails. So I tried it without base coat the next time, and my mani came it almost too easily! I just simply used my fingers to get underneath the polish layers, and voila! The polish coat just peeled right off in one piece! However, just because the layers come off so easily doesn't mean the staying power is inferior. In fact, I wore my glitter mani for three days with the PVA glue method and experienced no chipping or tip wear! How awesome is that! I have steered away from getting many Indies because a lot of them are glitter polish, but now with this new found removal method, I will be wearing A LOT more glitters!

So have you tried the PVA glue method yet? How do you find it compared to the other glitter removal methods?

Biggest Lemming Killed: OPI Sanderella

Today I bring you a special polish, one of my biggest lemmings for a long time, OPI Sanderella!

OPI Sanderella - one coat over OPI Planks A Lot

OPI Sanderella was released back in 2003 as part of the Summer for Shore collection. It is a VHTF, and I was lucky enough to get it via a swap on MUA. Sanderella is a soft purple linear holo, and it looks just so dreamy and beautiful! It is a little bit sheer, so I layered it over OPI Planks A Lot here. The only complaint I have about Sanderella is that it looks a bit frosty when the holo goes hiding in dim light. Anyhow I still love Sanderella and hope you like it too!

A Love Jelly Sandwich

Lynnderella Liquid Valentine with OPI Houston We Have a Purple

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And when you have something as perfect as a Lynnderella Liquid Valentine jelly sandwich mani, it is best to just leave you to swoon over the swatch photos. If I did not fully understand the rage about Lynnderella before, I certainly do now! (I can hear my wallet is crying a little too)

How I did this mani:
2 coats of OPI Houston We Have a Purple
1 coat of Lynnderella Liquid Valentine
1 coat of OPI Houston We Have a Purple to complete the jelly sandwich look

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam and Quick Comparison

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam- two coats with no top coat

I Don't Give A Rotterdam is from OPI the Holland Collection 2012. It is a dusty cornflower blue packed with silver glass flecks. As you know I am a sucker  for shimmer polishes, so this one is right up my alley! The cool tone base also suits my likewise skintone very well!

When I first saw swatches of I Don't Give A Rotterdam, it instantly reminds me of Essie Smooth Sailin' (another favorite of mine), so I wanted to do a quick comparison. I also included OPI I Have A Herring Problem (also from Holland 2012) for good measure.

From L to R: Essie Smooth Sailin' vs OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdamn vs OPI I Have A Herring Problem

Wow was I totally wrong! Smooth Sailin' is a much brighter and vibrant blue than I Don't Give A Rotterdam, whilst I Have A Herring Problem has a strong teal base to it. Both Smooth Sailin' and I Don't Give A Rotterdam are filled with silver glass flecks, and I Have A Herring Problem is filled with gold flecks. Each polish is lovely on its own, and I am glad they are definitely not dupes! (my lame excuse for owning all three hehe)

New Year's Eve Mani

Happy New Year peeps! Here is to 2012, may the new year brings everybody good health, good fortune, and most importantly, more awesome polishes!

OPI Lucerne Tainly Look Marvelous (three coats) with Essence silver stamping polish

Just a quick post on my NYE mani. I used OPI Lucerne Tainly Look Marvelous as a base color, and did a simple stamping with Essence silver stamping polish to jazz it up. Although my stamping skill is still not the greatest, I like how it turns out, elegant and not over the top. I got quite a few compliments on my nails too! I am also in awe of how awesome Lucerne Tainly Look Marvelous looks! The tiny pink, green, yellow, blue and purple shimmers twinkle on the pewter base, stunning!

That's it girls, thank you for sticking around and showing your support for my blog. I look forward to sharing more gorgeous polishes with you in 2012! :D

OPI DS Couture

Apologies for being a slack blogger, but I hope today's beauty will make up for my lack of posts!

OPI DS Couture - two coats with top coat. Check out the crazy rainbow inside the bottle!

This is OPI DS Couture, a polish that I picked up from a small local cosmetic shop. My eyes popped out when I saw this (along with DS Vintage, which is still in my untried stash) sitting on the shelf! Needless to say that was a pretty successful polish hunting day!

DS Couture is a peachy coral linear holo. You gotta love the holographic effect, it is simply too pretty! The formula is perfect too! Although Couture is not 3-free because it is an old polish, it glides on my nails so smoothly. 

It is unfortunate that OPI does not make holos like these anymore. OPI could make a fortune (whilst I go broke) if they do! Although DS Couture is discontinued, you could still try your luck on Evil Bay if you want to get hands on this beauty!

A Blue French Manicure

French Manicure with OPI Absolutely Alice

Just a quick post today. I wanted to try OPI Absolutely Alice on, but since I don't think a full glitter mani looks good on me, I used it for French manicure tips instead.

What do you girls think? I think it looks quite good (even if my free hand skill is not perfect)! Absolutely Alice is a blue based glitter mixed with tiny gold and silver sparkles, and I am starting to get what the rave is all about.

What I use:
- Color Club base coat
- OPI Passion, 2 coats (base nail color)
- OPI Absolutely Alice (French tips)

Dupe Comparison: OPI Merry Midnight vs. Orly Fowl Play vs. Sasatinnie FCGL002

Hello girls! I am a bit late to the party, but nevertheless, here is a quick comparison between OPI Merry Midnight vs. Orly Fowl Play vs. Sasatinnie FCGL002.

Swatch Comparison: all three coats

As you can see (apologies for the lack of cleanup), MM is a shade lighter than FP and SS (to read about my SS post, click here). FP is also more opaque after three coats, and has more flakes than the other two. They are all very similar though, a dark purple jelly base with tiny pink, blue and silver glitters and large copper flakes.

If I could only keep one out of this lot, my pick would be Orly Fowl Play. I like that it has the most depth, and can be used on its own. The other two are best used for layering. Since Merry Midnight has long been discontinued and is now a HTF, Fowl Play and Sasatinnie are cheap alternatives that are easily accessible!

A Special Night Out - Glitter Gal Lizard Belly & OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

My friends and I will be visiting the HK Disneyland for the first time tonight! I have been to Disney in LA and Tokyo before, but tonight will be different, because the park will be filled with Halloween decorations everywhere!

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

To match the special night out, I decided to add a bit of bling bling to my mani by free-handing OPI Servin' Up Sparkle to the tips of my nails. This is a very easy way to glam up your nails, the only trick is to make sure each nail has its share of large hexagon glitters!

Here is Glitter Gal Lizard Belly on its own. I don't know if this is indeed the color of a lizard belly, but it is a gorgeous dark green linear holo! I would also say the base is almost jelly-like, making this polish even more spectacular!

Lizard Belly - two coats with top coat

Check out the holo-awesomeness!

The formula of Lizard Belly is a bit on the thick side, but it is still manageable with a careful application. I am never a green polish person, but Lizard Belly will definitely remain in my stash!

Awesome Holo Sauce! BSJ Burple Holo #13 & comparison to OPI DS Glamour

After impatiently waiting for three months, my OPI DS Glamour has finally arrived! Along it I also received a BSJ #13 blue holo, and since they look quite similar in the bottles, I decided to do a quick comparison for you guys.

Notice how similar the BSJ bottle design is to OPI? 

A quick introduction to BSJ polishes. It is the same as BK holos (i.e. the numbering is the same), and I believe they are made in China. China is infamously known for making fakes for everything possible, but I am not going to complain if they could make more awesome holos like BSJ/BK!

OPI DS Glamour vs BSJ #13 Holo, both two coats with no top coat

As you can see from the above swatch, they look quite similar. If you look more closely though, DS Glamour is a true dark blue holo, whilst BSJ has a stronger purple base, making it more of a burple holo. Both polishes are very strong linear holos, as you can see in the following photo:

The difference between the two polishes is minimal in this photo

I am absolutely blown away by the pretty rainbows shining through by both polishes! There are not too many dark blue linear holos out in the polish world, so I am delighted to own these two rare polishes!

I then decided to change my mani to BSJ #13 so I could show off a bit more of its beauty. The formula is a bliss, and I get complete opacity with two easy coats. The dry time is lightening fast too!

I think I have done enough babbling, so I will let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy!