NOTD: Dark Plum

I honestly didn't think I would find anything in the new OPI collection 'Touring America' that was worth buying - but I was wrong!

While out shopping yesterday, I fell in love with the new shade I Break for Manicures, a gorgeous dark plum-burgundy. I also picked up a fun shade called Its My Year (not from the Touring America collection); in the bottle it's a duo-chome grape purple with gold and grape shimmers.

It was no surprise to me when I picked both shades as the colors I would paint my nails this week! I did all of my nails in the I Break for Manicures color, and then used Its My Year as my accent nail color for my ring finger.

I love the look of dark nail polish on short nails - it makes them 'pop'. I also love the shade because it is very fall appropriate - and fall is my favorite season!

Two coats of I Break for Manicures was all I needed to get a completely opaque finish on my nails. I only used one coat of Its My Year on my accent nails.

I'm really hoping that when I go to take this color off, I don't end up with burgundy staining on my skin - but we'll see!

Here are some better pictures of my nails:

NOTD: Strange Tides

Months ago when OPI released the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection, I knew immediately that there were only two polishes in the entire collection that I wanted: Skull and Glossbones, and Strange Tides.

The polish I will be sporting this entire week is none other than Strange Tides. This shade if polish is like a dirty mint green. Think Clinique green with a bit more brown thrown in. When I first put it on, I knew I was either going to really like it, or I would be horribly disappointed in it and would take it off my nails immediately. It turns out, the color works well with my skintone. Depending on the light, the green can also look brighter or darker. Yesterday when I did my nails, it was sunny - so the color was brighter. Today it's overcast and looking like rain, and the polish has taken on a stronger brown tone.

This is a color that not everyone will like. I think it's one of those shades that you really have to try for yourself before you make a decision about it.

I also noticed when I applied the polish that it looks really great on my short nails.

What do you all think of this color? Would you be game to try it? Those of you who own it already - what do you think about it?

NOTD: Sandy Beaches

This week's NOTD is decidedly more demure than what my nails have looked like the past two weeks.

I decided to go simple rather than bright or crackled.

My nails are currently painted with Essie's Buy Me A Cameo, a very pretty metallic, shimmery, sandy brown. The shade is very pretty - it reminds me of a Maybelline nail polish that I wore once or twice before accidentally dumping it all over a pair of new capris. I ruined them, and consequently had wasted the bottle of polish.

It's a bit too neutral for toenails - so I will stick to wearing this on my fingernails.

Anyway, Buy Me A Cameo is very basic - very neutral. Here is what it looks like on my hands:




This polish will compliment a bronzed or neutral makeup look very nicely!

What do you guys think of this color? Is this something you would wear?

Have a great day!

NOTD: Back to Black & White

I do not know why I call these 'Nail of the Day' (NOTD) posts, when it is very rare that I wear my nail polish for just one day. Typically it's on for a week (Sunday to Sunday), so it should really be NOTW.

Anyway, I originally had wanted to have white nails this week with a super shimmery white glitter accent nail. After two coats of white polish I decided it was not going to look very nice, so I put black crackle over top of it. I didn't want to waste the white.

This is what I ended up with:





The simplicity of this, as well as the awesome contrast between the black and white, makes me love it. This is what crackle polish shoud look like, lol! I find I don't have as much luck with applying the shimmery crackle shades as I do with the solid crackle shades. The shimmery ones tend to be thinner in consistency and apply pretty sheer over your base color.

I did decide to give the accent nail another try...I put the glitter polish I had wanted to use on my ring finger nail - you can barely tell in these photos, though!

For this nail look, I used:

- Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Shade 4860-21 White Out
- OPI Nail Lacquer in Black Shatter

What do you think of this NOTD? Do you like the look of white polish - or does it scream 1980's a bit too loudly?

Have a great day!

NOTD - Ivy Green

If you follow me on Twitter, you will likely have seen a recent tweet from me about how I am not sure I like my current nail color. Really, I think it has more to do with my 'accent nail' - I don't like one nail on each hand being different from the rest.

This Sunday, I decided to paint my nails with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in shade 4860-17 Ivy League - which is a bright metallic ivy green. I chose to paint my accent nail (ring finger nail) with OPI's Turquoise Shatter.

Here's what the nail colors look like:



and here's what my hand ended up looking like:



and here is a close up of my accent nail:


I think this attempt at my nails was an epic fail. I wanted to try something new, thought my color combination would work, and I think I ended up with a hot mess. I will keep it on my nails for the rest of the week, but I won't be wearing this combination again. Who would've thought that blue and green would look bad together?