Layering Fun!

Alright, if I was smart I would have shown you all of the steps one by one... but due to a ridiculous amount of life-crazy, I forgot. Either way, I love this mani. It's squishy and sparkly and I like it. I'm gonna keep this post short because I'm sleepy. But here's a few notes.

The formula on OPI Metallic 4 Life made me want to punch things. It was a PITA, but opaque in two coats. After M4L, I added a coat of Love & Beauty Violet, which is AWESOMMMMEEEE. To the extreme. Super pigmented jelly goodness. So much love. You can find Love & Beauty at Forever XXI stores, this one was only $1.50! Then I added a sheer coat of Sinful Forget Now (pink w/ glass fleck).

Squish!
*edit, as I'm writing this post and waiting for my nails to dry for tomorrow NOTD, I'm watching the "Goodbye, Michael" episode of The Office, and crying like a baby. *sniffle*

NOPI A Million Sparkles

Nicole by OPI has been coming out with some gorgeous polishes lately. So far this year I've picked up at least 3 of the Kardashian NOPI's (eww). Even associated with stupidness, the colors are gorgeous on their own. A Million Sparkles doesn't appear to be related to any of that nonsense, I found this treasure at CVS, but it is not a CVS exclusive shade.

A little pricey at $7.99, but so much prettiness and uniqueness in one bottle. The colors in it remind me of one of the OPI Burlesque glitters, the blue one, and also of the NOPI that came out this past winter that was similar. A Million Sparkles contains round gold glitter, small blue glitter, teeny blue bar glitter, and red/pink holographic medium sized bar glitter. Walmart has an exclusive NOPI that's similar, but it's more pinkish and didn't appeal to me.

I'd recommend this one as a layering polish, but as it was pretty concentrated, so you could probably eventually get this opaque. The formula is a little thick, but not too unruly, just added some extra thinner for ease of application. I tapped down the bar glitter at the tips so I would have little scratchy bits hanging off. I layered this polish over a no-name dollar store black/navy pearl. Well, it does have a name: The Color Workshop Professional Nail Polish, but no shade name, so I'll refer to it as "dark navy".
This is one coat over dark navy:

Two coats over dark navy, tons of topcoat:

And the no-name polish on it's own. This came in a 3-pack that I originally bought to salvage the balls, but was fascinated by the pearliness.

A Mermaid's Gradient

Ahhh, this manicure feels so refreshing to me for some reason. Lately I've been trying to use all of my untrieds, but after awhile it feels more like a chore than it does a treat. I know I need to swatch all my new Wet n Wild Color Icons... but I wanted to give some love to some of my older stash. Since turquoise and gold are one of my favorite pairings, I decided to use my bottle of China Glaze For Audrey, and spice it up with some Essie As Gold As It Gets.

For Audrey has an awesome formula. Even after a year of not using it, it went on smooth and full coverage. It only needed two coats! It's core, so you can pick it up at Sally's or Ulta easily. I think everyone should have this polish in their collection because it makes an awesome spring pedicure, is awesome as a nail art base, and it's opaque enough to use as a stamping polish!

As Gold as It Gets is part of Essie's Luxe Effects collection, and is part of their core collection as well. This one is easy to find at even Walmart, Rite Aid, and most beauty supplies. The Luxe Effects collection is great because it brought the world an easy to find flakie in the same style as Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure!

My layering glitters for some reason I hoard and rarely use, so I did a gradient with Hard Candy Break Up. Break Up used to be easy to find, and available at Walmart, but was discontinued last year when Hard Candy cut their polish line in half (jerks). I love Break Up because it reminds me of the flakes in Hidden Treasure or China Glaze Luxe and Lush, but nice and uniform hexes with a little teensy weensy silver specks make it a less dominating layering polish.

This is two coats of For Audrey, with a gradient of As Gold as It Gets and Hard Candy Break Up. People at work told me it looked like mermaids.

This is probably a few too many pictures, but I'm in love with this mani!