OPI Touring America Fall Collection Part One!!

Honk If You Love OPI

I have been SUPER excited for OPI Touring America ever since we first saw the promo pictures. It just seemed like a collection aimed right at my tastes, lots of vampy colors, a few bright shimmers, some ugly/pretty gray greens and camouflage type colors. Just the very things I love! So, it shouldn't surprise you that I do, in fact, LOVE this collection! The formula on all 6 polishes in this post was lovely. No trouble at all. Get In The Expresso Lane left one single odd patch on my pinky nail, but other than that everything was beautiful. Even the shimmers, Are We There Yet? and Color to Diner For, were lovely to use, even though I read that one blogger had difficulty with them. So, onto the swatches!

Honk If You Love OPI

Honk If You Love OPI

Honk If You Love OPI is a really deep, dark plum creme. This is the darkest purple creme I own ( I have some dark purple shimmers, but no cremes). I love this because it is very dark, but doesn't look black, even inside or in the shade. This will definitely become a regular pedicure color for me in the winter. I also can't wait to wear it under the Gold Shatter that OPI is releasing in the holiday collection! This is two coats to a nice opaque finish.

Honk If You Love OPI

Honk If You Love OPI

Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet?

Next I tried one of the shimmers, Are We There Yet?. The name of this cracks me up. Who didn't constantly ask their parents, "are we there yet?" on a long road trip when you were little? I know I did! Are We There Yet? is a pretty coral pink shimmer with a healthy dose of orange. The shimmer in this is kind of hidden when you are inside or in the shade. But it really pops out in full sun. This is three coats for the camera, but two would be perfect for wearing.

Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet?

French Quarter For Your Thoughts

French Quarter For Your Thoughts

French Quarter For Your Thoughts is a nice medium gray creme. This is nicely neutral, so if previous gray cremes have been too cool or warm for you, I think this should work. It's not too pale or too dark. It's like the perfect gray creme. This is just two coats also and I found the formula to be particularly nice on this one.

French Quarter For Your Thoughts

French Quarter For Your Thoughts

French Quarter For Your Thoughts

Get In The Expresso Lane

Get In The Expresso Lane

Get In The Expresso Lane is a dark brown coffee bean creme. As a coffee and espresso lover, I love this one. It reminds me of really dark Starbucks Extra Bold coffee. This was two coats, and the formula was great, except for that weird patch on my pinky. That's what happened with another polish the other day though, so maybe my pinky just objects to wearing polish LOL. Or maybe I'm not cleaning the oils off of my pinky as well as other nails. In any case, I love the color of this polish!

Get In The Expresso Lane

Get In The Expresso Lane

Color To Diner For

Color To Diner For

Color To Diner For was a tricky color to photograph. It's a deep berry red shimmer, but it kept looking like a bright red in my pictures! Please keep in mind that it really is deeper, and more of a berry tone. The shimmer in this is pretty gold shimmer and more visible than the shimmer in Are We There Yet?. It's still not in your face shimmer though, so if you're looking for an understated berry shimmer, this one's for you! This was just two coats. Nicely pigmented and very smooth to apply.

Color To Diner For

Color To Diner For

Color To Diner For

A-Taupe The Space Needle

A-Taupe The Space Needle

A-Taupe The Space Needle is officially my new favorite taupe polish. It's kind of a dirty, grungy taupe with some green in it. Very cool, and I love the ugly/pretty vibe it has. A-Taupe The Space Needle looked TOTALLY different indoors and out, as you can see from my sun/shade pictures. Indoors, it looks more of a gray-taupe. Outdoors, the brown and green in this polish really become visible. Either way, I love this color and will be wearing it all fall. I also can't think of any dupes in my collection!

A-Taupe The Space Needle

A-Taupe The Space Needle

Overall, this is my favorite fall polish collection! I love all 6 of these colors and their formula. I can't wait to wear them and I also think they'll look great with some Silver or Gold Shatter on top! I give the first half of the OPI Touring America collection an A. These should be available starting August 3 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA.

The polishes in this post were sent to me for review by a PR agent for OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

China Glaze Cracked Medallion: A Lemming Satisfied

After trying China Glaze Oxidized Aqua and Tarnished Gold, I decided it was necessary to purchase China Glaze Cracked Medallion. Cracked Medallion was one of my favorites based on the promo pictures, and it did not let me down in person. It was not easy for me to find Cracked Medallion, unfortunately. It was nowhere to be found at my useless Ulta, and not at the Sally's in my town either! Luckily, I found a display of China Glaze Crackle Metals in a Sally's a few towns over. The display was completely empty except for this one, lonely bottle of Cracked Medallion!



Cracked Medallion is very easy to apply, like the other two Crackle Metals I tried. It cracks very nicely as well. I used kind of thick coats for this look. This is one coat of Cracked Medallion over two coats of China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald. What a perfect combination this is!! This may be one of my favorite crackle combos I have done so far. I can also see this being amazing over a vampy red. The bronze-y tones of Cracked Medallion would look great over any dark color in the fall.

I found this lone bottle at Sally's, so check your local Sally Beauty Supply for this collection! Don't forget that I'm giving away China Glaze Oxidized Aqua and China Glaze Tarnished Gold!

Nicole by OPI Fall 2011 Target Exclusives!! (Part Two)

Today I have the other two polishes from the Nicole by OPI fall Target exclusives. I was going to say that Part Two was the better part of this collection, but I actually can't decide. I really like all four of these! These two polishes, It's Not Me, It's Blue and I Love You Cherry Much had nice formulas for the most part. I Love You Cherry Much was near perfect, very nice. It's Not Me, It's Blue applied nicely, but was maybe a tad more sheer than I would like. HOWEVER, I would apply 8 coats for that polish because it's so amazing. Read on for more!



It's Not Me, It's Blue was described in the press release as a "pretty periwinkle". That's all fine and dandy, but it seriously does not do this polish justice! This is a gorgeous steely blue-gray, with maybe a tad of the aforementioned periwinkle, with a TON with shimmer. This is another cool polish where you can practically see all of the individual shimmer particles. The shimmer particles seem to be all different colors. I can see silver, blue, maybe something like pink or red, and like a purple-y color. I don't own anything like this beauty.





Now, I would wear It's Not Me, It's Blue at three coats. However, this is the kind of polish that looks sheer on camera, so I did four coats for these pictures. Unfortunately, it still looks sheer in some of these. It was absolutely opaque in person. And gorgeous. I believe you all need this when it hits stores in August!





I Love You Cherry Much is a very interesting cherry red shimmer. It's like maraschino cherries really, not plain cherries. The fine people at Nicole by OPI really like their prominent shimmer, and I am glad they used it again in this polish! The shimmer particles are very large and iridescent. They are all the same shape and size, but they are iridescent like flakies. Basically, they remind me of toned down flakies. Which is TOTALLY cool.





I used three coats of I Love You Cherry Much for these pictures, but again, I would wear it at only two. Great formula on this one, no complaints at all.





Overall, these Nicole by OPI Target exclusives are really pretty and also relatively unique in my collection! I definitely do not own any exact dupes for any of the four polishes. The press release said these will hit stores in August, so definitely go check them out then.

These polishes were sent to me by a PR agent for Nicole by OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

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COLOR CLUB PRIDE COLLECTION PREVIEW!!!

From left to right: P is for Pride, Polish For All, Dress For The Parade, Not Just For Kelly, Green, Boys Wear Blue, Express Yourself, 0-60 Speedy Topcoat

This is so AMAZING! I had to post immediately. I lovelovelove that Color Club is doing this collection. Love the rainbow theme and the rainbow tops on the bottles! Read more:


"New York, NY – July 2011 - What makes us proud: Being bold. Making a statement. Living life to the fullest. Equality for all. From New York-based Color Club, the new PRIDE Collection—vibrant polishes in every color of the rainbow, from red to violet—captures what it means to live your life in color and express your true self (or just your mood du jour). Seven formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, and paraben-free shades celebrate equality with cheeky names like “Not Just for Kelly, Green” and “Boys Wear Blue,” while a portion of proceeds from the sale of the collection benefit New York-based AIDS-related charities. Life comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and preferences. At the very least, shouldn’t your nail polish?

Ready for the most spirited manicure in town? The PRIDE Collection is available at shopcolorclub.com."

AWESOMENESS. That is all.

Nicole by OPI Fall 2011 Target Exclusives!! (Part One)

I have to say... I have a few Nicole by OPI polishes and love all of them. I'm not sure why I don't own more of them! But, thankfully, that changed a little bit this week when I received the Nicole by OPI Target exclusives for fall! I love the slightly edgy take they did for fall, and I think you will too!



The first polish I tried from this set was Green Up Your Act. You might be thinking, "this looks like some of the gray polishes we've been seeing lately". But, no!! Green Up Your Act is FINALLY the green with gray tones that I've been looking for. The other grays I've tried have been just that, gray. Some of them contained some green, but not nearly as much as Green Up Your Act! If you are looking for a grayed out green that still actually looks green, grab this baby.



Now, the formula. I had a weird problem on two nails (you can see in the pictures, my ring finger and pinky) with some bald patches. My other two nails applied beautifully. It's possibly that I didn't fully clean my nails before applying this, so I will definitely test this again with clean nails. It did apply perfectly on my first two nails. In any case, I really love this color!





Next I tried Sounds Grape To Me. When I was swatching indoors, I totally missed the "grape" in this polish. Indoors, it looks like an amazing chocolate shimmer with a little red undertone. Really gorgeous chocolate. And yummy looking. But, when I moved outside to take some outdoor pictures, I saw the grape! It does look like a deep red grape color outside. The shimmer particles in this are really cool. They are extra prominent.





I thought the formula on this one was great. This is only two coats and in real life it looked nice and even. I am now noticing in the pictures that it looks a little uneven in parts, but I'm going to blame the macro setting for that one. I will definitely be wearing this all fall. Can you imagine how this will look with the Gold Texture Coat from Nicole by OPI??!!?? Gahhhh!





I also received the other two polishes in this Target exclusive release and will have those for you tomorrow. They look really pretty as well! My mom already stole one and is wearing it haha! That's how you know it's good. Edited to add: The press release states that these will start to appear in Target stores in August. So no worries if you haven't seen them yet!



Check out this GIANT hibiscus flower in my yard! This is the coolest plant to have. The whole bush gets filled with these massive flowers. I took a picture with my hand in it so you can see the size. These flowers are HUGE! My mom and I call them "dinner plate flowers" LOL.



Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

The polishes in this post were sent to me by a PR agent for Nicole by OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.