Friday, May 31, 2013

Studding up my nails

Hi ladies~ I was in the mood for an excessive 3D nail art look but I wanted it to be a little more different than my previous attempts (see here and here). So I pulled out some studs to play with instead! ;)

Pinky & index: Three coats of OPI Here today...Aragon tomorrow and then applied a glitter gradient with Alanna Renee Golden snitch.
Ring: Two coats of OPI Live and let die.
Middle: Three coats of Here today...Aragon tomorrow and some square studs.
Thumb: Two coats of Golden snitch and then I taped off my nails and applied Live and let die. Finished the nail off with some bullion beads and a tear drop stud :)

studding up

studding up

It's not as excessive as I had initially felt like putting on my nails but I really enjoyed the studded look ♥ I used the studs from this stud wheel available on Born Pretty Store. I believe some of the studs I received were different to the ones shown in the photo. As usual, you can use my discount code PIJ61 for 10% off your total purchase.

Have you caught onto the stud nail art trend yet? :)

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

An OPI San Francisco breakfast event

Hi ladies :D You have no idea what it means for me to able to even type this post up! In fact, I think it is every nail addicts dream to be able to have the opportunity to attend product launch events and in this circumstance, I had the distinct pleasure of going to OPI's breakfast event. To make it even more memorable, George Schaeffer, founder of OPI, was present and gave us all an insight into the brand.

OPI George Schaeffer

I actually arrived at the event pretty early (paranoia hit me and I kind of over-estimated travel time) so I actually walked around the area a bit first and took some photos of the scenery. The breakfast was going to be at The Sailors Club in Rose Bay, aka gorgeous sea views. It was a pity the day was overcast and although the rain held off (obviously it wouldn't rain, because I took the time to lug my umbrella around), it was a rather cloudy day. Still, I was able to catch the sun before heading indoors for the event.

The first person I met was the wonderful Lisa from OPI's Australian PR company. It was fabulous getting to meet her in person and I totally regret not being to snag a photo with her! After getting my name badge I was warmly invited to get my nails done. With shades from the upcoming collections, of course ;)

Oh choices, choices, so many choices! Again, I didn't manage to snap a shot of the table set up - so many nail polishes! - but you get to see what nail polish I decided to go with instead. I was actually torn between OPI Alcatraz...rocks and Peace & love & polish but in the tend, I decided to go with Alcatraz....rocks. In hindsight, I should have just asked for an accent nail like Michelle did, but oh well! You may see one in a future post instead :)

OPI Alcatraz...rocks

Afterwards, lots of mingling happened as more ladies trickled in. It started to occur to me at that point that many of the ladies attending the event represented magazines or salons, making this opportunity even more special for me. I heard that there were a few other blogger ladies present, but I only had the chance to meet Michelle in person, and it was great getting to know her in real life!

In this time, I also took the chance to go around the room and take as many photos as I could of the upcoming product launches. Prepare to drool, ladies! ;)

I'll start with the recently released Bond Girls collection. Seeing the bottles in person are even better than swatches online! They're all utterly amazing and I know I will especially adore Jinx ♥

OPI Bond girls collection

Next up is the cute Couture de Minnie collection, which will be available in June.

OPI Couture de Minnie

OPI Couture de Minnie

Of course, the namesake of the breakfast was also prominently featured and displayed throughout the room. The San Francisco collection is a huge collection consisting of 15 nail polishes.

OPI San Francisco collection

I also discovered OPI's Holiday collection for 2013 displayed and trust me, I almost literally drooled over this one! Having not heard or read any information of it yet, it was an extremely pleasant surprise to see it featured for all to see. It looks like OPI will be collaborating with Mariah Carey once again and will provide an additional 6 Liquid Sand nail polishes in the collection. I have to admit, I didn't even realise the collection was filled with reds until I looked at my photos again. I was too drawn to the glitters, shimmers and darker shades along the left, as well as the liquid sands to even give the reds my attention!

OPI Mariah Carey holiday collection 2013

OPI Mariah Carey holiday collection 2013

OPI Mariah Carey holiday collection 2013

And omg, there is going to be a GOLD AND SILVER leaf top coat! Can the Holiday collection look any better already? :D

OPI Gold and silver leaf top coat

Outdoors on the verandah, I made another small discovery of product launches. Really, this morning just couldn't get any better :P There was also a small display of the Matte top coat, along with some fine gold and silver glitter pots. I loved the display nails which showcased some shiny and matte top coat nail art designs :)

OPI Matte top coat

OPI Matte top coat

OPI Matte top coat

OPI's annual Breast Cancer Awareness Pink of Hearts 2013 collection reveals another glitter bomb. The multicoloured glitters remind me of a pastel version of Rainbow connection.

OPI Pink of hearts 2013

OPI Pink of hearts 2013

And of course, the annual Halloween 2013 collection was also sighted. Rolling bones looks the most interesting of the four.

OPI Halloween collection 2013

OPI Halloween collection 2013

After all this, I finally sat down to gobble down some fruit from the fruit platter before listening to George Schaeffer speak about OPI.

fruit platter

George is a super funny guy and made the atmosphere really light-hearted. He gave us an overview of the upcoming products OPI would be releasing and the influence OPI has on creating trends. It was absolutely amazing to hear the influence all women have on OPI.

OPI George Schaeffer

There was a chance to ask questions afterwards and this question really stood out - "How do you coordinate the colours in a collection to match the seasons for us down under?" And of course, George being his witty and humorous self answered, "Well, women don't really care about seasonally appropriate colours, they care more about being up-to-date with the current trends."

Lightbulb moment! How many times have ladies in Australia been frustrated with the fact that current collections available in the northern hemisphere were not going to be available until 6 months later? *ding ding ding* Yep, I certainly have been! I found George's answer to be so simple and straightforward - simply provide current products worldwide regardless of seasons because in his words - "Seasons don't exist". I presume not in nail polish land, at least.

I really got to mull over this as I dug into my yummy breakfast - sugar cured ocean trout on brioche with dill dressing ♥ I'm actually not a raw fish kinda gal, but even I found this delicious!

Trout breakfast

All in all, this has been the most amazing opportunity for me. For a small blogger in the most minute corner of the interwebs to be attending an event from such a large and well known brand, this event has really humbled me. The morning ended with a fabulous goodie bag from OPI, of which I am itching to dig through and admire ;)

Of course, be on the look out for my swatches of the San Francisco collection, as well as the Bond Girls and Couture de Minnie collections in future posts!

-edit- Swatches and review of the San Francisco collection can be found here! :)

Thank you for reading through this unbelievably long post!
~Sharon

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Autumn inspired nails

Hi ladies~ With Autumn finally settling in now and waking up to the chill in the morning, I felt compelled to pull out some very neglected brown nail polishes in an attempt to make my nails look more chocolate-y, and hence feel warmer. If that even works :P

I applied two coats of OPI Suzi loves cowboys onto my pinky, middle and index fingers. For my middle finger, I took China Glaze OMG and a dotting tool to create the dots. On my fourth finger and thumb, I have two coats of Picture Polish Demeter.

brown skittle

Under artificial light to bring out the holo goodness :)

brown skittle

What do you tend to wear for the cooler months of the year? For the southern hemisphere ladies, has the cold hit you yet?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Shimmer Polish Nichole

Hey everyone! Here is a quick post featuring the beautiful Nichole - another of Cindy's brilliant creations! When I first saw Nichole, I thought it looked rather patriotic due to the combination of glitters. This is one easy coat of Nichole layered over Bourjois 1980 Boite Ronde.

nichole layered over 1980

nichole layered over 1980

nichole layered over 1980

nichole layered over 1980

What do you think of the glitter combination in Nichole? :)

Thanks for reading as always!
~Sharon
Product provided for consideration.

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Monday, May 27, 2013

Swatches and review: Bourjois mini nail enamels (Part 2)

Hi ladies! Here is the second post featuring the nail polishes in Bourjois' new mini nail polish collection, released in celebration of their 150 year anniversary. You can check out Part 1 here.

1980 Boite Ronde - "The year of colour! Little Round Pots made their way onto eyelids with their broad range of colours" This is a really pretty and bright sky blue :)

Bourjois 1980

Bourjois 1980

1995 Grains de beaute - "The 'Beauty Spot' shower gel line brightened up bathrooms"

Bourjois 1995

Bourjois 1995

2001 Coup de Theatre - "The new act on the mascara scene: Bourjois invented the first double-ended mascara" I wish the shimmer in this was denser.

Bourjois 2001

Bourjois 2001

2002 Effet 3D Lips - "Lips become luscious and shiny from a new angle with 3D effect glosses" This pretty fuchsia has a pretty purple shimmer running throughout it. A surprise favourite of mine from this collection!

Bourjois 2002

Bourjois 2002

2006 Clubbing Volume Clubbing Mascara - "Lasts until the end of the night and marks the beginning of the Clubbing era!"

Bourjois 2006

Bourjois 2006

2007 1 Seconde Nail Enamel - "Bourjois created the 1 Seconde nail polish: quicker application means more time for fun!" I know I've already said that the formula in these nail polishes are top notch but this one, this one deserves a special mention. It literally flowed onto my nails and I didn't even have to try. And the gorgeous purple shade makes this one jump way up on my favourite purple nail polish list :)

Bourjois 2007

Bourjois 2007

2013 Bon Anniversaire! - "150 years old and hasn't aged a day...Happy Birthday Bourjois!" I kind of wish there was a little more to this nail polish than just a simple crème. Maybe some more of the pretty shimmer some of the other nail polishes had? Or why not end it with a bang with some glitter or holo? Can't complain too much though, because this was another dream to apply.

Bourjois 2013

Bourjois 2013

These Bourjois mini nail polishes are now available in stores across Australia. Each bottle retails for $5.
Which one is your favourite from these nail polishes? :)

Thanks for reading.
~Sharon
Products provided for consideration.

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Swatches and review: Bourjois mini nail enamels (Part 1)

Hello everyone! Today I have a new to me nail polish brand to share with you all :) I received some mini Bourjois nail polishes awhile ago in the mail and after I tried the first nail polish on, I was instantly reminded to never judge a book (or nail polish) by its cover. I think a lot of us nail enthusiasts associate mini nail polishes with "annoying, small and hard to apply". Or it may be just me ;)

The release of the following 15 mini nail polishes is in celebration of Bourjois' 150 year anniversary. And rather than repeat myself over and over again below, here are a few things I found with the nail polishes:
  • They're super pigmented and thus you can pretty much get away with one coat. My swatches show two though.
  • The brushes are actually quite easy to use, despite the miniature looking appearance.
  • Absolutely fantastic formulas!
  • They're too tiny - I want more of them in each bottle! :)
Since there are so many nail polishes, I will be splitting this into two posts. Part 1 will feature the first 8 polishes and Part 2 will showcase the other 7 polishes.

1863 Les Theatres - "Bourjois was born in the age of the theatre and the scenic arts" What a classic red shade to kick start off the collection!

Bourjois 1863

Bourjois 1863

1879 Java - "Java rice powder was an essential product at the time" The shade of green looks absolutely horrendous on me but when paired with another nail polish, it looked simply divine! I'll try and get that pairing up asap in a post in the near future.

Bourjois 1879

Bourjois 1879

1890 Manon Lescaut - "Bourjois created a new chapter with the first compact complexion powder, Manon Lescaut" Please excuse the glitter on my pinky, I somehow managed to get it onto my top coat and it transferred onto my nail. The shimmer is subtle but still apparent in this one, too bad my camera didn't pick it out too well.

Bourjois 1890

Bourjois 1890

1913 Cendre de roses - "The key Cendre de Roses shade joined the range of iconce Little Round Pots"

Bourjois 1913

Bourjois 1913

1928 Soir de Paris - "The 'Night in Paris' fragrance was a dazzling success by Ernest Beaux" Loveeeeeeee this blue ♥ And of course, it makes the most beautiful combination with Alanna Renee Milky way layered over it!

Bourjois 1928

Bourjois 1928

1938 Mais Oui! - The feminine and elegant Mais Oui fragrance marked the start of the love affair between Bourjois and 'bourgeois'"

Bourjois 1938

Bourjois 1938

1950 Bourjois avec un J comme Joie - "'Bourjois with a J for Joy' - a poetic invention to avoid confusion of Bourjois and 'bourgeois'" This is a pretty bright orange, although not quite neon. Definitely super appropriate for summery manicures :)

Bourjois 1950

Bourjois 1950

1956 Le Rouge Fidele - "The legendary, brilliant and long-lasting 'Faithful Red' lipstick was born"

Bourjois 1956

Bourjois 1956

These Bourjois mini nail polishes are now available in stores across Australia. Each bottle retails for $5.

Are there any you know you'll be needing to pick up?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon
Products provided for consideration.

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