NOTD: OPI 5 Apples Tall (Hello Kitty collection)

I don't know what happened but the last few weeks (or even months) I lost my nail polish mojo.  Somehow nail polishes didn't really fascinate me anymore.  It wasn't that I felt like I had all the colors, it felt more like I had enough all of a sudden.  I even went a few weeks without painting my nails, can you imagine?  Me?  Not painting my nails?  It was weird, even my man told me to put some color on my nails because I didn't look myself without it.  Maybe it was because of the Make Up Forever course I took that my interest somehow shifted to other products ... I don't know.  All I know is that this little OPI polish managed to get me out of my funk.

I'm no Hello Kitty fan, not even when I was younger.  She just doesn't appeal to me, to be honest I don't even know what she does.  Is she funny or just cute?  I have no clue.  And I saw the OPI Hello Kitty collection on a few websites but I really didn't find the colors that interesting, until I went to got my eyebrows done.  I only had to wait 5 minutes but that was all it took ... I looked at the display and my eye immediately fell on this color.  I picked it up and decided to put it back, only to pick it up again and place it back again.  You see, OPI polishes are not a quick buy for me.  They're €15 so I don't buy OPI very often, it's just too expensive if it's not a special type of polish.  But while the girl was doing my brows all I kept thinking about was this color and I knew I would regret not buying it.  And after all, it had been weeks since my last nail polish buy ... enough reasons to justify buying it.

I truly love this color.  It's not really red, it's not pink, it's not coral ... it's actually all of that, a nice corally pinkish red.  I know I'll be wearing this one a lot, it gives me a summer feeling looking at my nails. 

As usual with OPI the polish applies easily and without streaking.  It did take me 3 coats to get it totally opaque but this kind of color tends to need that.

If I'm being totally honest, there were a few other colors of this collection that sparked my interest and I'm hoping for a good ebay seller to buy them cheaper.  If you know a good ebay place to buy nail polish (that ships to Belgium) please let me know in the comments.

As for now,  the day after buying this one I took home 5 more polishes and I'm actually looking forward to all the spring collections that will be launching in the upcoming weeks.  Looks like the spark is back again.

Where to buy:

I bought mine at Instant Spa in Leuven, Belgium but you can buy OPI online at several places like feelunique, sephora.fr ...

NOTD: OPI Center of the You-niverse

I used to be really into OPI.  I loved their polishes and always knew exactly what colors I wanted when they came out with a new collection.  But this past year or so I feel like OPI has lost its mojo a bit.  The Fifty Shades of Grey collection, the Hawai collection, the Venice collection ... I looked at them and didn't really feel anything.  Partly because of the pricing I think.  €14,90 is a lot of money to spend on a polish, well maybe not if you don't buy that many polishes but a person like me, a person who likes a lot of polishes, I just can't spend €14,90 on a polish that doesn't wow me.  Especially since there's never a sale or promotion on OPI polishes so you almost always have to pay full price.  Almost always.  Because last month I spend some money at Planet Parfum and because of their loyalty program I got a €7 discount I could use without restriction.  

The great thing about fall?  The sparkles are back!  And I just happen to be a sparkling loving girl.  So when I saw the OPI Starlight collection, I just knew there would be something in there for me.  Turns out there's more than one thing in there for me but I managed to restrain myself and just buy one and so I brought home Center of the You-niverse.  It's a black polish with a silver sparkle in there.  

It's a great quality polish and I was surprised that it came off so easy (which isn't always the case with sparkling polishes.  I already know I will be wearing this one a lot this fall/winter.  

I think OPI did really well on this collection and it's been a long time since I've had a OPI wish list but No more Mr. Nice Sky and Ce-less-tial have made it on there.  

Where to buy:

In Belgium you can buy OPI at Planet Parfum for €14,90.  I haven't been able to find the Starlight collection on feelunique.com, hq.com or lookfantastic.com but I'm sure it will be available there soon. 

NOTD: OPI Dulce de Leche

I love it when thing I love get credited by make-up products.  I've already told you about this once and here it is again.

This time OPI pays tribute to one of the most delicious things out there: Dulce de Leche.  So easy to make, yet so heavenly.  So when I learned that OPI had a nail polish called Dulce de Leche, I just had to have it.  

I love the color, OPI describes it as a sweet creamy nude.  It is nude but not too nude for my skin tone.  There's pink in there but also some brown.  It's been a while since I've used one of my OPI polishes and somehow I got the idea in my head that they had a small brush (and I find that hard to work with) but they really don't.  The brush is smaller than an Essie or Catrice polish, but when you apply the slighted amount of pressure, it feathers out so perfectly that it makes painting your nails a piece of cake.

For me, it's one of those go to colors when I really can't decide what to wear.  And when I'm wearing it and I look at my nails, I can already taste the real dulce de leche in my mouth.

Where to buy:

In Belgium you can buy OPI at Planet Parfum for €14,90.

Playing nail polish nurse

While I was going through my nail polish drawers, I came across this little one.  My very first nail polish gone bad, Action by Essie (summer 2012 poppy-razzi limited edition).  I bought it while on vacation in the US at that time and I really can’t remember pulling it out ever since.  But seeing the shape it was in, my heart just broke.  Immediately I kicked into nurse mode determined to save my patient.

I don’t know why it went bad.  My guess is that it has to do with the formula, it is a neon polish and the formula is definitely different from other Essie polishes.

I don’t believe polishes can go bad the same way fluid make-up or skincare can.  They can become tacky or shift like this one, but when it comes to bacteria it’s a totally different story than with make-up or skincare.  So if you can solve the tackiness, you can use your polishes as long as you like.  

When my friends and colleagues hear about my nail polish problem, one of the first things they usually say is „you’ll never be able to use them all, what do you do when they go bad?” and ever so often someone will reply „when they go bad, you have to put in a few drops of nail polish remover”.  My heart always stops when I hear this and I just want to scream ‚NOOOOOO’.  You don’t have to be a scientist to see how wrong this is.  Nail polish remover dissolves nail polish, that’s what it’s made for and that’s why it does what it does.  When your nail polish gets tacky, you don’t want to dissolve it, you just want to make it thinner.  So please use the proper product for it: nail polish thinner!

I added 2 drops of the OPI Nail Polish Thinner to my Action polish and gave it some time to work it’s magic.  And it did!  An hour later, I gave it a nice shake and it was as good as new.  Oh, and before you frown your brows at me, yes you can shake your nail polish bottles.  I know this puts air in the polish which can result in little bubbles when using it, that’s why you shouldn’t be shaking it right before you put it on (it’s best to roll the bottle between two hands if you’re going to use it right away) but if you give it a little rest after shaking, no harm is done.

My first polish gone bad and my first polish I saved.  Job well done!

So while I’m at it, I might as well make a swatch of it I thought.  As soon as I put this polish on I immediately knew why I hadn’t pulled it out since buying it.  This is probably the only Essie polish ever I hate.  I can’t put it any nicer.  I hate the formula, I hate the color (I feel like it makes my hands look sick) and even after putting on 3 coats it still doesn’t give me full coverage.

And it’s an older Essie polish so it still has the smaller brush, which I’m not a big fan of.

Overall, I’m very pleased I managed to save the little one but that doesn’t mean it’ll hold a special place in my heart from now on.  It will however star in my next blogpost which will be on the blog tonight.  Stay tuned!

Where to buy:

I don't think you can still buy Action through the usual channels, but I'm sure you'll be able to find it on e-bay if you really search for it.  You should be able to find OPI nail polish thinner in the stores that sell OPI.  Currently theres a 10% discount on feelunique.com costing €16,20 instead of €18,00.

NOTD: OPI That's Hula-rious

I'm sorry it's been a few days.  Even though I thought it would be possible to post something every day, reality is proving me wrong.  Once again it's been a busy week, filled with a lot of quality time with friends and family but I have to say I'm absolutely exhausted right now.  It's 21h34 as I'm writing this and if I try my best I think I'll be able to stay awake for another hour.  An hour filled with lots of fun stuff like emptying the dishwasher, fold some laundry, do a bit of tidying around the house ... you know, all the thing no one ever talks about because they are  so exciting.

But in order to start the weekend off good, here's a swatch of OPI That's Hula-rious.  A really fun color that's just perfect for the summer.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend ahead.  I'm planning to do some writing for the blog (I'm always trying to make enough time sot that I can write ahead but so far time hasn't been on my side) and I have my parents in law 40th marriage anniversary to go to.  So weekend will probably be over before it has begun.

Where to buy:

OPI that's hula-rious is from the Hawaï collection that launched this summer.  You can buy OPI at feelunique.com , hqhair.com, beautybay.com ...