OPI Neutrals Swatches & Nail Art

I am trying to get all of my nail polishes swatched. I don't have an 'untried' pile as I've tried probably 98% of all my nail polishes, but I probably haven't swatched 50% of them. I use a lot of polishes for nail art, and some colours I buy exclusively for nail art.

Since my collection is quickly expanding, I thought it was time to destash. I easily got rid of about 30 polishes, including 10 OPI's and 8 Essie's. Now it's time to swatch the rest and see which ones I really like and actually use.

I have already gone through all my Kester Blacks... I'm keeping them all! And my second favourite brand is OPI.

OPI has a fantastic range of nail polishes and constantly have new collections coming out. It's very tempting to buy all the nail polishes that come out, but they also release a lot of dupes (within their own brand) so realistically, I don't need them all...

I decided to start with my neutrals. I'm obsessed with nude nails and I have quite a large range from OPI. I wanted to try something new. Instead of just swatching the polishes I wanted to add some nail art.

I'll start off with the pinky shades. First up is Tickle My France-y.

This is a very pink toned neutral mauve.

I bought this because I saw so many beautiful swatches of it online, but I'm not sure if this really suits me.

I've put it in the maybe pile.

More info, swatches and nail art after the jump!

Glimmer By Erica - Twilight Sky

About a year ago I was introduced into the indie nail polish world. I bought a couple nail polishes from different indie nail polish brands including KB Shimmer, Lush Lacquer (which is now Polish Me Silly) and Glimmer by Erica. At the time I wasn't really much of a glitter bomb polish lover, but slowly I have started to get into glitters more and more and decided to try them out again. I started off with the beautiful Twilight Sky by Glimmer by Erica. It's so much better than I remembered! It's packed with small metallic hexagonal glitters in orange, hot pink, blue and light pink. It also includes larger metallic hexagonal glitters in cyan blue, royal blue and purple. It's such a beautiful colour combination and that's why I bought it in the first place!

I created a glitter gradient over OPI Steady As She Rose. It's a gorgeous pink nude that really makes the glitter pop. I started off mattifying it for two reasons. The first is because mattifying the glitter loses its metallic shine so the colours become more apparent in the photos. The second reason is a tip thanks to @gingerelfie on Instagram. I was having a problem with glitters that I need to add 3 coats of Seche Vite top coat to smooth it out, she told me that if you add a matte top coat first and then apply a shiny top coat you shouldn't need as many! This definitely worked and I only needed one coat of shiny top coat to smooth it out!

The photo to the left is a macro shot of the glitter gradient. Since it's mattified you can really see the different colours. It's so beautiful!!

To create the gradient I used a sponge - mine are the cheapest from Primark, they work great! - and added one line of glitter, then dabbed it onto my nail focussing at the top and then slowly making my way down.

I then added my Seche Vite top coat. It's so beautiful glossy! The colour in real life is obviously the same as the mattified photos, but the colours don't look as vibrant in the photos. It looks like an elegant party on your nails!

I'm so impressed with this glitter polish, especially because I'm still not the biggest glitter fan. I literally don't want to take it off!! I've had the bottle for a year and the glitter hadn't settled whatsoever. Before using it I put the bottle upside down for a bit and I didn't have any problems fishing for larger pieces.

I don't know too much about the indie world, but this is a super unique glitter combination as far as I know...!

You can find her Facebook page here and her Etsy here!








What do you think of Twilight Sky? Will you be picking it up? Do you have any indie nail polish suggestions?

xx Elaine