OPI NICKI MINAJ METALLIC 4 LIFE SWATCH AND REVIEW!!!!!

I wanna start by saying I LOVE NICKI!!! My favorite song is probably Save Me off Pink Friday, and then Romans Revenge with Eminem. :DDDDD

Ok now on to the nails.... My sister brought home 2 of the polishes from the Nicki collection last night. To say I was excited would be an understatement. Lucky for me she bought the one colour I've had my eye on since the press pics, Metallic 4 Life (named for her song Moment For Life) so here are some pics.

Packed with sparkles!!

idk some people take pics of the labels

Up close 

under artificial light

This colour is AMAZING. If you could bottle rockstar this would be it. 

Metallic 4 life is semi transparent black jelly, jam packed with all different sizes of silver glitter, from tiny sparkles, to medium hex. It was totally opaque with 2 coats no base colour, and it is almost blinding its so light catching. The formula on this is thick, but i liked it MUCH better than any of the Muppets Collection glitters. It painted very evenly considering how glumpy it was from all the sparkles, and I got no bare spots.

My only complaint is that because its got so much glitter in it, the tips of my nails were scratching and snagging everything, and I needed at least 2 coats of top coat to smooth it out. On the plus side of that, the top coat added even more dimension.


All in all this is a definite win for me and I am not disappointed in the least. I can't wait to grab a few more colours from this collection.

Snowy Fail

I get so inspired by other peoples nail art, I often attempt things that are far beyond my skill set. Well today I thought I would try a wintery sponge gradient. As you can see it was a biiiiiiiiiig fail. I probably should have looked up a tutorial or something but that's not how I roll :p

 I had to mix the baby blue since I only own one blue. So I mixed Color Club Pure Energy with Loreal French tip white, and sponged it on first. I then sponged on some Orly Au Champagne which really did nothing, then I sponged on the Loreal French tip white on the edge of my nail waited 5 mins and gave it another go. Topped it off with a coat of OPI Last Friday Night for a snowy feel, and added some dollar store jewels. In retrospect I would have done this completely differently, and I was such a dope to use Last Friday night cause it made the white blue, but ugggghhhh! overall this was a total fail for me :((

SHC #50

Since my favorite black nail polish came from the dollar store, I am constantly on the hunt for more hidden nail treasures. I found this one at Everything For a Dollar Store, SHC #50. I have no idea about this company or anything about the polish, but for a dollar, I can't really complain!

sunshine!

inside natural light

Gun Metal silver, one of my all time favorite colours for just about anything. The bottle looks like it is filled with liquid metal, and I love it. Its not sparkles but has that speckly foily shine too it. This will definitely been in my go to pile! Anybody else have any go to favs the found super cheap??

Julep Shania Swatch and Review

I recently purchased my first Julep Maven Box, and this was one of the 2 nail polishes I received in it. The colour, called Shania, caught my eye immediately. I have no silver nail polishes in my collection, so I was super excited to try this one out.

Outside cloudy day

Now, as I said, I was loving this colour in the bottle, its a light whiteish creamy silver. No sparkles, which is a change from most of my other polishes, and no real shimmer, it dries shiny, but not super glassy, more velvety.

With 3 coats the colour was true to the bottle (indoors)

Next day you can see it still looks thick and goopy and you can see all the smudges and smears.

Now for the review part....

The formula on Shania was a nightmare. It's thick and goopy, and it pools at the edges. It was too sheer to swatch one coat, so I ended up doing 3. That was a big mistake. Even letting it dry for a minimum of 15 minutes between layers, this just ended up one big mess. After letting the third coat dry for like half an hour, it was still gooey, so I threw on some China Glaze Fast Forward to see if that would help..... it didn't.
I don't know if it was my bad nail painting that was the cause, or if you really need a light to cure this polish but I wasn't impressed.
I am really sad that this was such a fail, because I do really like this colour, so I will  try it again.  And on the plus side their polishes are all big 3 free, and a dollar from every polish sold goes to various women's charities.

Julep Polishes are available on their website www.julep.com  and retail for $14 for a .27oz/8ml bottle.

Mels nails of the day

Mels latest Konadicure.

Shes always such a bword about taking the pics

OPI Sparrow me the drama, stamped with China Glaze Devotion, and Konad Plate M65.

Overall neither of us were very happy with this one, I really need more colour variety in my polishes I think.

Julep Maven Intro Box

I recently came across a Google Ad for the Julep Maven Program, they were advertising a $5 sneak peek box which boasts $40 worth of hand and nail products. Of course being the nail junkie that I am, I couldn't say no.

Julep is a Seattle based nail salon, which has transitioned into making and selling their own products, and they are all about girl power (cue Spice Girls music). When you sign up for the Maven Program, you take a style quiz to find out what type of Maven you are. I am an American Beauty, funny of course cause I'm Canadian. Well after waiting forever for the delivery (customs fault) it finally arrived!!

Loved the red shipping box

Inside everything was packed in a little black Julep bag

My American Beauty Intro Box.

Julep Facial For Hands: Glycolic Hand Scrub

 I love the Hand scrub, its a non foaming glycol based gel with apricot seeds for double exfoliating action, which doesn't make me rashy. YaY for that since my skin is annoyingly sensitive.

Shania: So excited to try this creamy silver.

Lindsay - No matter how I tried I could not get a proper pic of this colour. Its a very deep plum colour.

 I am super excited to try the polishes, especially the silver since I have NONE in my collection, and I have to admit these are both colours I like, so I guess their little quiz really did peg me. :D

The regular cost of the Maven program is $19.99 a month, and every month you will receive a new box based on your Maven Style with over $40 worth of products. I have to say the December Boxes looked awesome, and I wish I had joined in time to get one of those. Another bonus for joining the program, is a  20% discount off any individual products, and Mavens always get free shipping.

You can get your own intro box for just $5 using Coupon Code WELCOMEMV5.

The polishes both retail for $14 for a .27oz/8ml bottle and the hand scrub retails for $32. All products are available at www.julep.com

Amandalandish Giveaway

Check out this great giveaway from Amandalandish. To celebrate her 230(ish) followers, she is giving away 3 Duri Nail Polishes.

 You can find all the details here: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/2011/12/230ish-follower-giveaway.html