Nicole by O.P.I Nude & Neon Stamped Gradient (+ Video Tutorial)

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 A while back Nicole by O.P.I shared this awesome gradient that went from nude to neon. This girl right here fell in love with the look pretty hard and decided I need to try the combination for myself :D. The contrasting geometric stamp was an impulse add. I had been wanting to play with this Red Angel plate. The design is really interesting and eye-catching. Tutorial after the jump ♥.

Nicole by O.P.I Seize the Summer- Negative Space Chevron Nail Art

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 Why, yes... I still wear pink on Wednesdays :D. This look is a simple "negative space" look I did using the standard single chevron nail vinyls and some shades from the NOPI Seize the Summer Collection.

Pink Wednesday! Happy 10th Mean Girls!!!!

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Happy Pink Humpday!! 

  Seriously though.. where did 10 years go? I highly dislike reminders of how fast time is flying by haha. It certainly does not feel like 10 years since I first saw "Mean Girls" in theaters with my mom. I remember, we had made a mom-daughter date out of it. We left the theater with sore sides from laughing so much. Today I am celebrating 10 years of "Mean Girls" by rocking some cute pink nails, pink clothes... you get the picture ;D.... You better be wearing some Pink too.. or you can't sit with us.  

 For this look I used shades from the Nicole by O.P.I 2014 core expansion. I started with a base of NOPI I'll have the Salmon. I waited for my base to dry off and the applied striping tape in a random fashion to create fat and thin stripes. The hot magenta shimmering shade is NOPI Always a Flirt. 

 I accented my pink nails with some tiny gold beads. I topped these off with a coat of Seche Vite. Of the three "mean girls", I can picture Gretchen wearing nails like these :D.

Hilarious timing note: I was watching Mean Girls while working on this post. It is ending as I am typing this very last sentence ;). Happy pink humpday beauties!!

Skittles in "Roughles" ♥

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Good morning!

 Yes, it is a "Roughles" Skittle mani :D. These make me a happy girl; and here is why... A few weeks before these were announced I was bitching to my husband about how I wanted some cute pastel textures. Yes, these are things we talk about.. I've ruined him lol.. Anyhow, I was talking about all the awesome bright, and sparkly textures and how much I love them and my disappointment in the lack of cute pastel textures.
 Enter the Nicole by O.P.I "Roughles". I was DELIGHTED when I saw the press release for these and even more excited when I started seeing swatches. This collection is made up of Four entirely adorable pastel- toned textures that have no sparkle, but a neat "speckled egg" effect.  Get ready for another raving post about these, because I just love them so much! They really filled a gap in my collection. 

Index nail- Nicole by O.P.I I'm Stucco on You; a beautiful lilac pastel texture with blue, magenta and Violet "speckles". 

Middle nail- Nicole by O.P.I Rock the Look; a perfect pastel bubblegum pink texture with vivid pink and dark pink speckles. 

Ring nail- Nicole by O.P.I On What Grounds?; an AMAAAZING aqua pastel texture with blue, dark blue and black speckles. This shade stained my nails a little.
Pinkie nail- Nicole by O.P.I Sand in my Shoe; a greeeat shade of "Easter chick" pastel yellow texture with orange and red speckles.

  All of these shades have amazing formulas. They are very dense and pigmented. Even though they are dense they have a really good, even spread. If applied carefully, I could have gotten away with one coat. I used two coats of each color. I love the finish on these. They have that awesome "stucco" look to them when fully dry. Of course it goes without saying that these wore like iron. I wore the O.P.I "Glitter-off" peel off base coat, and they still wore until I decided to peel them off Four days later. I could have worn them longer, but I was ready to a change.
  I am madly in love with these and can't wait to wear them again and again and again. They are just precious and have filled a void in my collection. They came at the perfect time.. SO.. I will take this opportunity to mention that I would REEEEEEEEALLY love some neon textures... Sparkly neon, "stucco" neon... Neon texture all the things please ;).

Have you been lusting after these Roughles? I can't pick faves, they are all just perfect!

Friday Swatch Spam

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Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey! 

 Happy Friday! This is my first official blog post from my new home. I am so excited about our new place. Many of you have been asking about California. What happened? Did I ever make it? etc... Long story short; we made it to Cali and were there for about Three days. We had an emergency and had to head back to Sarasota, Florida (i.e "home").

  Finally, back in January, my husband got an amazing job offer in Boca Raton, Florida so that is where we ended up. LTHP is now an East Coast Florida gal :D. I am VERY excited to sample the beaches in the area. Back in Sarasota, we were really close to Siesta Key. Which is amazing beyond words.. But I miss the Atlantic, being from Puerto Rico and all ;). 

 So, since I've yet to actually unpack and set up my polishing area... I've got some swatch spam for you today. My nails have been nekkid for about a week and a half now. Thankfully, there were no breaks during the move. 

 To find out more about these shades just keep on reading after the jump. 

Friday Fun with Nicole by O.P.I Nail Color

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Happy Friday!! 

  I'm sorry this has been such a quiet week around here. I'm just starting to feel slightly better from that nasty little cold I caught. It could not have come at a worse time. I was supposed to be packing up stuff for our move this Saturday. LTHP and husband will be relocating to the South East coast of Florida. However, it is not a huuuuge move as we are only relocating from Sarasota, FL; from coast to coast... exciting stuff... 

  Anyhow, I wanted to check in and share these looks I've worn recently. I've been slacking some this past week since I was so sick... But, my nails were looking FAAAAAB! Sometimes I really dig manis that are really simple, with just a hint of something sparkly to make it special. 

 This first look is just a simple sparkling gradient with Nicole by O.P.I Sweet Surrender as the base color and Fab is my Middle Name sponged on the tips for a sparkling gradient look. Both of these shades are part of the Nicole by O.P.I 2014 core line expansion. Sweet Surrender is a beautiful mily off White. The formula is nice, very smooth and surprisingly opaque. I used two coats of this color. Fab is my Middle Name is a re-release. This glitter was originally created for the core line back in Spring of 2012 [original review can be found here]. I finished this look off with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

One can never really go wrong with a nice chunky glitter, now can they? These two pretties also come from the Nicole by O.P.I 2014 Core expansion. The awesome diamond- shaped topper is called Be Awesome. It definitely lives up to its name. This glitter is just so much fun. The diamonds are Pink, Blue and Coppery shifters. There was no fishing or troubles with the pieces. What you see was completely random :D. A video on my glitter application technique can be found [HERE]. Finished off with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

 Last but not least is this Nudey- with- a- pop- of- Teal cloudy look. These shade also come from the same collection. The base color is Nicole by O.P.I That's Putting it Mild. I only needed two coats of this beautiful Almond toned creme. For my pop of Teal I used Emerald Empowered which is a beautiful shade of shimmery metallic.... TEAL. Definitely not Emerald. Still gorg though. The final cloud is Nicole by O.P.I Taupe of my Class. Which is your classic shade of brown-tone Taupe-y goodness. I finished these off with KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

Thanks for stopping by today my painted beauties!! I hope I can be back up and running very soon. Our move should be a smooth one since we don't have much to move, or a very long way to go.. Still, send some good vibes our way ♥. 

Have a beautiful weekend everyone! 

#NailArtFeb Californails Challenge Day 14: Match OOTD

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Good evening loves!! 

 I'm trying to catch up on the prompts for the "Totally Doable- I have a life challenge" so I decided to post my OOTD prompt today as well. I won't even lie, I've been wearing my PJ's all day, every day for like Two weeks now... So I matched my nails to my PJ pants... yes, I did.

 I started with a base of Nicole by O.P.I  This Blue is so You. This beautiful shade of Navy Blue creme was a great match for my PJ pants. I freehanded some horizontal stripes using Nicole by O.P.I Sweet Surrender. I finished my nails off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Ta-dah!!!! PJ Nails :D hahaa. This is quite possibly the most lazy mani I've ever done haha. That said, I king of dug it a lot. My next prompt is "Studs", which I am excited about :D. 

Have a good night my lovelies and I will see you soon!

#NailArtFeb Californails Challenge Day Seven: XOXO

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Hello and happy Friday! 

  Today is day Seven of the Californails "Totally Doable- I have a life" challenge. Today's prompt is XOXO. Initially, I had intended to attempt a freehand look. I must admit that my attempt did not go at all how I had envisioned. I'm still very intimidated by freehand nail art. So.. I went with an open interpretation of the XO theme. XO= kisses and hugs, right ;)? For this look I chose all Nicole by O.P.I shades from their 2014 core expansion. 

Index and Pinkie nails: These nails started with a base of I Shop Mintage. This dreamy shade of Mint Green is Spring perfection. For my "O's" I used That's Just Grape then I went back and dotted with I Shop Mintage to create little "O's". I topped my nails off with Seche Vite, followed by Twee & Honey This is Matte-ness top coats.  

Middle and Thumb nail: For these nails I started with a base of Teal me Something New, this shade is a fantastic shade of vivid Teal. This sucker stains badly. It is crucial to prep properly before wearing this shade. On these nails I did a stamp with Pueen plate Pueen41 and Konad White special polish. I topped these off with Seche Vite, then INM Northern Lights. 

For my Ring nail I started with a base of Something About Spring, which is a lovely, classic Hot Pink creme. I then accented with an all over kiss stamp from Bundle Monster plate BM303 and Konad red Special polish. I then added a little Black Kiss with Bundle Monster plate BM03. On top of my little Black Kiss I did a bit of INM Northern Lights to make the kiss stand out. To finish it off I did a coat of Seche Vite.

 Even though it is an "abstract" interpretation of the XOXO theme, I quite like these :D. They are so cheery and playful. The next prompt in the challenge is Hearts, which should be fun. 

Thanks for coming by and happy Friday! 

Nicole by O.P.I- Carnival Cotton Candy & Goodbye Shoes Broken Lines Nail Art Tutorial

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Happy humpday! 

  Today I have an odd color combination nail art look for you guys. These two Nicole by O.P.I shades come from the Carrie Underwood Collection. For some reason the odd mix of Cotton Candy Pink and muted smokey Green kept jumping out at me, so I decided to combine them into this quirky look. 

 This look started with a base of Carnival Cotton Candy. This shade is a lovely soft Pink with slight Blue undertones. Once my base color was dry I added some "broken line" accents on my middle and ring nails using striping tape and Goodbye Shoes. Goodbye Shoes is a muted shade of smokey, mossy Green. On my pinkie and index nails I did the spun sugar technique. I top coated my striped nails but left the sugar nails as they were to avoid altering the effect. 

 Here is Carnival Cotton Candy before any nail art was added. I only needed Two easy coats of this color for my swatch. The formula on both of these shades is fantastic and easy to work with. 

And just for shigs, I actually did a mini pictorial on how to achieve the broken lines look with scotch and stripe tape. It is a pretty straight forward process, but if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments ♥. 

 I hope you guys enjoyed this look and tutorial. Even though it was a weird color combination, it really did something for me. They remind me of vintage decor for some reason. 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Nicole by O.P.I Carrie Underwood Collection Pinks & Corals Sparkling Ombre with Party Bus- Nail Art Look

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Happy Thursday!! 

 For today's post I want to share this adorably girly obre look featuring the Pink and Coral shades from Nicole by O.P.I's Carrie Underwood Collection. For this look I also used the glitter topper from this collection. Sometimes less is more, right? 

 Even though there isn't much to say about this I just love how girly and fun these nails look. This ombre features (from Index to Pinkie): Some Hearts, Color me Country, Sweet Daisy and Southern Charm. These are all beautiful cremes with beautiful formulas. On my Pinkie and Thumb I did a dotted gradient using the Three Coral and Pink shades over Southern Charm. I topped the other Three nails off with Party Bus. Party Bus is a fun glitter topper made up of Silver prismatic hexes in varying sizes, and even some Flower shaped glitters. 

 I did have to do some fishing for the Flower glitters. I picked them out with a toothpick and placed them, then did a second coat of the glitter. To finish off my nails I did a top coat of Seche Vite. 

 I used Three coats of each color. The formulations on each shade is very buttery smooth and self- leveling. Some Hearts is a bright hot Coral creme. Color me Country is a sweet shade of Pink with slight Coral undertones. Sweet Daisy is a gorgeous shade of muted Coral creme. Southern Charm is a classic shade of Beige creme with slight Brown undertones. I am just in love with these shades. 

 Thanks for stopping by today my loves!! 

Stay sparkly my beauties. 

Nicole by O.P.I Carrie Underwood Collection- Sing you Like a Bee & Backstage Pass- Elegant Half Moon Nail Art Look

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Good morning and happy Tuesday! 

 I am so in love with today's look.. I think I will let the photos do the talking for me :D. Anything more seems like rambling. 

 This simple, yet classy look started with a base of Nicole by OPI Sing you Like a Bee from the Carrie Underwood collection. Once my base color was dry I did half-moon details on my thumb, ring and pinkie nails using Backstage Pass. Backstage Pass  is a beautiful shade of deep Oxblood with sultry shimmer. To accent my half moons and "blank" nails I used Copper stones from Cult Nails set into my wet top coat (Seche Vite). The stones brought this look to life for me. 

 Sing you Like a Bee is a stunning shade of dense White shimmer with a strong Golden duochrome. This shade is just beautiful. I used Three easy coats to build the shade up to opacity. That said, this color can also be layered. I'm not sure if this shade is meant to be a texture... But if left without top coat, it dries a bit gritty and cool looking. I did top coat it for my look though. This is one of my favorite shades in this entire collection. 

 Thanks for stopping by my loves! 

Nicole by O.P.I Carrie Underwood Collection Sweet Glittering Gradient Nail Art Look

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Good morning! 

  I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was pretty mellow, and reeeeeally warm. Florida is hell bent on making me sick with all these weird and sudden climate changes haha. Anyhow, today I want to share this sweet look using Three of the shades from Nicole by O.P.I's Carrie Underwood collection. Something about these colors brought together like this seems very Valentine's to me. That was purely accidental :D. 

 For this look I started with a base of Love my Pups. Once my base color was dry I proceeded to work on my gradient using Love my Pups and American as Apple Pie. American as Apple Pie is a beautiful shade of bright Red with some slight Pink undertones. It is definitely more on the Blue toned family and it has a really nicely saturated formula. When sponged on for my gradient it created a gorgeous blushing effect on the tips of my nails, which is exactly what I wanted. 

 To give my gradient some pizzas I then went back and lightly sponged Lips are Dripping Honey over the Red portions of my gradient. Lips are Dripping Honey is a beautiful glitter topper made up of prismatic Gold hexes, soft Pink iridescent hexes and small prismatic glitter suspended in a clear base. I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with this glitter. To finish my look I off I added a top coat of Seche Vite. 

My base color Love my Pups is a delicate shade of soft Ballerina-tights Pink. The consistency of this color is really nice and crelly. I did not have any issues with application and had a good opaque base at three thin coats. This color can also make a great base for French manis if left at One or Two coats. I love this color because these are my go-to lazy colors. I just love how dainty and healthy colors like this make my hands look. 

 My birthday is right around the corner and I still have not the foggiest idea of what I will be doing with my nails for the occasion. I am definitely open to suggestions :D. 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Nicole by O.P.I Carrie Underwood Collection Ruffian Nail Art- Featuring Fisher Queen & Get Carrie'd Away

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Good morning and happy Thursday! 

 Today I have a quick and simple nail art look featuring some of the new Carrie Underwood collection shades from Nicole by O.P.I. I love the simple elegance of ruffian manicures. I knew immediately that I wanted to do a ruffian with these two shades. There is something about Gold and Purple together that looks so opulent and classic, it just felt right.  

  This look started with a base of Get Carrie'd Away. I used Three thin coats of this color to have a nice, sparkling base. For the Purple ruffian portion I used Fisher Queen. This shade is a beautiful deep Amethyst Purple shimmer. Ruffians are very easy and quick to achieve. I freehanded my ruffian with the nail color brush. To finish the look I top coated with Seche Vite.

Nicole by O.P.I Get Carrie'd Away

 This color though! Get Carrie'd Away is a spectacular mix of bright Yellow- Gold and White Gold sparkling glitter/flecks. The particles are small, but SO reflective. The formula on this shade is nice and easy to work with. This shade could be layered or built up to opacity. I used Three thin coats for my base. This shade dries a with a slight texture, which looks pretty neat. I did use a top coat for my look though, as I wanted sparkle. 

 The Carrie Underwood Collection from Nicole by O.P.I should be popping up in retailers now, and retail for $7.99. I am very impressed with this collection. I was also very inspired by these colors and decided to do nail art looks with them instead of swatches. I can't say I am a Carrie fan. I only kept up with her during American Idol. But, I absolutely adore what they have done with this collection. The colors are adorable and cover a wide range of tastes. I was not expecting to love them as much as I do. This may be one of my favorite NO.P.I collabs to date. 

 Have you spotted any Carrie colors? Which sang to you (no pun intended)?

#31DC2013 Day 7: (Not So) Black and White Nails

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Yay for being able to get a post up!! 

  So all my photo editors I like to use decided that they were going to take a little nap over the past few days. I was not able to edit any photos until earlier today. I am one hot little potato haha. I just can't stand when I am held back by things that I cannot control.... Like photobucket deciding to take a crap haha. But.... Here I am, with day Seven of the #31DC2013. Day Seven calls for Black and White nails, I gave it a little twist and added some color too. 

 

 This look features Four shades from the Nicole by O.P.I Tinkerbell collection in gradients over Nicole by O.P.I Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. On my Pinky and Middle nails I did gradients in Sweet on Pete, Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary and Tink's in the Pink. On my Ring finger and Index finger I did gradients in Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary, Tink's in the Pink and Half Charming Half Alarming. I then topped off my gradients in my signature coat of INM Northern Lights to give the look some sparkle. To bring in the Black and White factor I topped off all my gradients in a generous coat of Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in Tweedy. I topped off the whole look with KBShimmer Clearly on top. 

 Below you can see my gradients before I added the fuzzy coat. 

 And for shiggles, here is a swatch pic of Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. This shade was perfect to gradient over, it really made the colors pop. I wanted to be bored with this shade, but I quite liked it. It is the perfect shade of violet leaning putty. This pretty has a great, Two coat, formula. Shown with top coat here. 

 Yay for playing catch up haha! I know I am SOO far behind from the rest of the gals that all started together. But I do have quite a few more prompts ready to go so yay for that!! I also have some swatchies coming your way soon. Mama is bustin butt over heah!! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

#31DC2013 Days 4 & 5! Green and Blue Nails

(**Most of these products were provided as press samples**)

Never go to bed angry... 

 And never try to nail art when you are sad... or you might end up with derpy looking cats on your nails lol. Now, lemme remind you of why exactly I don't freehand...

#31DC2013 Day Five- Blue Kitteh Nails 

 The base color for my moon is a custom made shade by Honeybuttons Nail polish. She made a beautiful memorial Periwinkle Blue shade for my Muffin called Muffin Picks Blue... It seemed fitting that I used my kitty inspired shade for my kitty nails. This look is a modified version of the owl nail look I did Two years ago. To give my kitties a fuzzy look I used a bit of Sally Hansen Wool Knot. For the eyes I used Nicole by O.P.I Sweet on Pete, and for the pink noses Barielle Smarty Pants Pink. All the Black details were done with Cult Nails Nevermore. I finished the whole thing off with some KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

#31DC2013 Day Four: Green Nails 

 I had actually attempted some more freehand over my Green base, but it was a failure... I shall keep trying.... I am determined to produce some blog-worthy freehand looks! So, for my green nails I give you Cirque nail polish in Erda, from the Arcus collection. This color alone is a work of art. This shade of rich Emerald Green is lit from within thanks to all the beautiful and fine microshimmer. I used Three thin coats for this swatch and a top coat to bring out shine. 

 And with that I am official caught up on the challenge prompts! YAY!! Though I am really pondering if I will keep going with the challenge. I was looking at my desk and I am REALLY backed up... Like ridiculously backed up and it is bothering the crapola out of me. We shall see... I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to take this beast on again lool!! I should have known better. 

 Have you seen many awesome Green and Blue looks? I'm off to stalk the interwebs for some Purple inspiration. ♥. 

Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops in My Cherry Amour & I Lilac Gumdrops

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Ew it's Monday... 

  But even that can't take away from how much I ADORE these two polishes from the Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops collection. These are some of the first shades to grace my newly rounded shorties. I had been pondering trying a new nail shape for quite some time, so last week I finally took the plunge and went for some squoval/rounded nails. I must confess that I looove them shaped this way. I loved my squared shorties, but I am loving my rounded shorties even more. I must also admit that they are MUCH easier to keep up with.They are also growing out past my comfort zone, but I am actually liking how they look. 

  So I put these Two colors on last Thursday (8/22), I am still wearing them this morning, and they still look perfect! The only sign of wear is the gap between my cuticles and the colors, where the nail growth is showing. I'm super impressed with these two pretties and thoroughly enjoyed having them on my tips. 

Nicole by O.P.I My Cherry Amour and I Lilac Gumdrops

 Let us talk formula first. Both of these shades have great formulas, I did not even need to clean up around my cuticles. I used Three thin coats of each color, both shades were dry within 45 minutes. My Cherry Amour is a beautiful, rich Raspberry matte texture base packed full of holographic micro-sparkle. This shade becomes more and more sparkly as it dries and the holographic sparkles really give it beautiful dimension and a sweet, twinkly look. 

  I Lilac Gumdrops is a gorgeous Lilac matte texture that has a really pretty metallic sheen to the base, even once it is fully dry and matte. This pretty is packed of glassfleck-y Silver bits that light up the metallic Purple base. From afar it resembles Zoya Stevie, but upon closer inspection, it is set apart by the metallic sheen to the base and the chunkiness bits of the Silver sparkles.  

  I really loved wearing these. My nails looked positively yummy and sparkly the entire time. I am actually kind of sad to take these off because the polishes are still looking so perfect after all these days of wear. One of these days I really want to do an experiment to see how long these babies can go if I leave them be. Did you pick up any of the Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops? Which were your faves?

Thanks for stopping by! Oh, and what is the longest you have had a texture mani last for you? 

Nicole by O.P.I Selena Gomez Collection Swatches

Happy Thursday! 

  Today I am sharing my swatches of the Selena Gomez Collection by Nicole by O.P.I. This collection is made up of Seven full coverage shades and Seven glittery toppers. I can't say I am a Selena Gomez fan, or that I know what her "vibe" is... Judging from the range of colors in this collection I'd say girly and sweet :D.

 To see closeups of each shade just continue reading.

Etsy Mania! Aphrodite Lacquers Peacock Earrings and VIP Room

Good morning my lovelies!! 

 Today I have a couple of swatches of some beautiful layering glitters by Aphrodite Lacquers. I really love Aphrodite Lacquers creations. They are all very unique but in terms of collections they are very cohesive. I also love that many of her creations do not require undie colors. These two glitters I'm showing today are meant for layering but they are AMAZING!

Aphrodite Lacquers in Peacock Earrings over Color Club Port-folio

 This combo was pretty much meant to be!! Peacok Earrings is a great blend of Black and Satiny White Squares in varying sizes. There are also small Teal and Silver prismatic hexes suspended in a micro shimmery base. This is just an awesome, fun layering polish. I really like the interesting mix of shapes and colors in this pretty.

Aphrodite Lacuqers VIP Room over Nicole by O.P.I Feeling Grape-ful

  VIP Room is a beautiful mix of opalescent squares and micro opalescent shimmer. This polish is just beautiful, ethereal, angelic? I layered it over many colors, but when I saw it over this medium Purple, I knew this was the combo I would show you guys.

 That will do it for today :D. My nails are finally evened out so I can start swatching again and finally start doing tutorials!! I am SO ready and excited to get going with tutorials for you guys. 

 Don't forget to check out Aphrodite Lacquers shop!! 

(**Some products provided for review**)