OPI Collection: Glam Slam England, official product photos and promo info

OPI Glam Slam England, Grape...Set...Match and Servin' Up Sparkle

The OPI Glam Slam England collection officially launches in June 2011. This is split into two pairs: Grape...Set...Match paired with Servin' Up Sparkle, and Your Royal Shine-ness paired with Servin' Up Sparkle.

OPI Glam Slam England, Your Royal Shine-ness and Servin' Up Sparkle

Press Release:

Serena Williams has received the World Number One in singles ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association on five separate occasions, along with being listed as sixth on the all-time greatest champions list. Additionally, she has won two Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles and has earned 27 Grand Slam titles to date. Serena is the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so.

OPI is available at professional salons, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA.
Suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer is $8.50 ($10.95 CAN).
OPI is a 3-Free brand.

Sigma Makeup Brushes + my Damask Makeup Brush Roll

I've only ever had MAC brushes until today... Well, I guess that's not really true. I had some cheap brushes in high school that I threw away the moment I bought my first MAC brushes. Anyway, earlier this week I ordered the shorter travel sized makeup brushes from Sigma because I thought they'd be useful on trips. I'm also a little annoyed sometimes when I'm using MAC's long-handled brushes super up-close in a mirror. I'm always afraid that I'll hit the mirror with the end of the brush and my eyeliner will be all crazy as a consequence. That's the only complaint I have about MAC's brushes though. I adore them.

I purchased the Sigma Travel Kit Naughty in black for $49.00 which included seven brushes, plus it included a "free" travel sized F50 brush with the kit. I also received their silver-handled blending brush E25 as a free gift.

When I opened the package, I immediately smelled their brush roll. That might not be something you would do or would even think to do. It has a chemically kind of artificial smell to it. Maybe it's supposed to smell like leather, but it's bad. Honestly, it's not pleasant. I washed the brushes immediately because they had the same unpleasant smell. I know the smell will eventually disappear, but it's really off-putting. Sorry Sigma, but that's my opinion. Plus, it has seven slots but they gave me nine brushes...

I'd like to also say that I think it's false advertisement to say USA in bright letters on the front and P.R.C. barely visible on the reverse side. They're made in China, not the US.

I create handmade travel makeup brush rolls and sell them on Etsy under the name asoftblackstar. This is my small size brush roll with a 3.5" tall pocket and 8 slots. I can fit all nine Sigma brushes in the roll. Pictured is the strawberry pink & chocolate brown damask fabric. These brushes fit perfectly! I designed my brush rolls with a flap that's flexible to the size of the brushes in the roll. I can use it with my long-handled MAC brushes or with the short-handled Sigma brushes or both at once.

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Lotus

NOTD: The One That Got Away & Paris Couture For Sure top coat

I'm in love with this glittery top coat from OPI. First I applied the berry-colored OPI The One That Got Away and then I took an OPI nail brush along the tips with OPI Paris Couture For Sure top coat.

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Lotus

Earring Organizing Options

For several years now I've been on the lookout for the perfect way to display my earrings. I have a wall display for all of my non-beaded necklaces, which you can see here. My beaded jewelry stays in a box inside my jewelry/accessories drawer. I have a few different boxes for my bracelets and one small box for rings. I've kept my earrings in a variety of different boxes over the years and was never quite satisfied with any of them. Currently I have them separated into two boxes. One is a black cameo jewelry box by Growing Veip (discontinued) that I bought from Plasticland and the other is a small, flat, square, black box. They're a tangled mess!

So, what I'm asking you, dear reader, is your opinion. How do you store your jewelry? There are three options as far as I can see: box, wall, and table. I'm saying no to the box option. I think a table display would be knocked over by one of my cats. I've been poking around on Etsy for something I like and I'm sharing with you what I have found.

Bluebird Heaven on Etsy.com

Jessica from Bluebird Heaven is a genius! She takes old antique printer drawers and gives them a new purpose. Since each little box is different, they fit a wide variety of sizes and some even have spots for necklaces and bracelets. They cost anywhere from $68 to $216 depending on what you're looking for.

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Lotus

OPI Serena Glam Slam France: Rally Pretty Pink & Red Shatter, photos, swatches, and review.

This new polish was released on May 1st as part of the Serena Williams Glam Slam collection. This combination is Rally Pretty Pink & Red Shatter, which retails for $14.95. When I picked this up I was really excited for the Red Shatter polish and thought I probably wouldn't like the Rally Pretty Pink because it looked bronze in the bottle. It's not bronze. It's a pink/gold/plum/brown that changes under different lights. Surprisingly I like the Rally Pretty Pink better than the Red Shatter. I'm not crazy about the combination though.

OPI Rally Pretty Pink

OPI Red Shatter over Rally Pretty Pink

I seemed to have missed out on the Glam Slam Australia Simply Smashing shimmering green polish! I'm looking forward to the Glam Slam England Grape..Set..Match (pretty metallic purple) and Servin' Up Sparkle (silver glitter) duo!

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Lotus

OPI Collection: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides for Spring 2011, product photos and promo info

 

The OPI Pirates of The Caribbean collection will be available May 2011.

Press Release:

OPI captures the bright colors and breathtaking escapades seen in Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with six limited-edition Nail Lacquers and a new Silver Shatter! Disney’s highly-anticipated fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise is directed by Rob Marshall and features an all-star cast, including Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz.

To celebrate the new film, OPI launches its Spring 2011 BRIGHTS Collection, which features a groundbreaking new color addition in the Shatter coat formula– Silver. Inspired by graffiti art, this shade leaves behind a crackled, two-texture silver finish when painted over any dry OPI hue.

"OPI is thrilled to celebrate the latest film in this beloved series,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides lacquers were inspired by a world filled with mythical mermaids, gleaming treasure, and high-seas adventure. With shades ranging from sage and lavender to khaki gray and pastel pink, these colors are evocative of a warm, tropical setting, with a classic nautical influence.

The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection includes:

Skull & Glossbones - Best light gray ever, no bones about it.
Mermaid’s Tears - Few have seen this magical green.
Steady as She Rose - This gorgeous pink is your final destination.
Planks a Lot - Dive into style with this lustworthy purple!
Sparrow Me the Drama - This cool, collected pink means business!
Stranger Tides - Explore this uncharted sea of sage.
Silver Shatter - A shimmering sea of silver with a two-texture finish.

OPI is available at professional salons, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA.
Suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer is $8.50 ($10.95 CAN).
OPI is a 3-Free brand.

NOTD: OPI Designer Series Reserve

OPI's designer series is made with real diamond dust. This dazzling color is called "reserve." It's a soft feminine pink made with tiny multicolored flecks. I can see specks of pink, gold and green in it. It's much finer than any glitter polishes and is described as holographic. I paid $6.25 for this little beauty, but I think retail price is around $12.50.

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Lotus

Hello Kitty Nail Polish from Sephora, photos, swatches, and review.

Back in January, Sephora released a Hello Kitty line that included nail polish, nail stickers, makeup brushes, lip gloss, and some other goodies for makeup junkies. The nail polish bottles are shaped like Hello Kitty's face! It was released in eight colors, five of which are Sephora exclusives. Two of these are glitter polish. I personally wasn't that interested in the plain pastels, but I had to have the glitter.

In retrospect it was a terrible idea to use my iPhone for photos. They came out blurred and discolored! I used two coats of the purple glitter. The left photo is without flash and the right photo is with flash. See all those sparkly different colors? Beautiful. It's less opaque than the pink glitter so it looks fine on its own, but the pink needs another polish beneath it or it just looks like topcoat with glitter.

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Lotus

NARS Angelika Blush, photos, swatches, and review

Ever since my friend Lauren showed me her NARS Angelika blush, I've sort of been obsessed with it. I went out straight away and picked one up for myself. It's the most glittery blush I have and the quality is fantastic. Usually when I get ahold of something this glittery, the texture tends to be very hard, but this is silky smooth. It applies well and even though there is some fallout, I feel it's to be expected with something this sparkly! It's a beautiful blue-based bright pink perfect for cool skintones. Since it's now one of my favorites, I highly recommenced this!

NARS blush retails for $28 for 0.16 oz. You can find it in Sephora and on the NARS website.

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Lotus

OPI Collection: Glam Slam France, official product photos and promo info

OPI Glam Slam France collection

The OPI Glam Slam France collection officially launches in May 2011. This is split into two pairs: Spark de Triomphe paired with a White Shatter and Rally Pretty Pink paired with Red Shatter.

Press Release:

Serena Williams has received the World Number One in singles ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association on five separate occasions, along with being listed as sixth on the all-time greatest champions list. Additionally, she has won two Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles and has earned 27 Grand Slam titles to date. Serena is the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so.

OPI is available at professional salons, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA.
Suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer is $8.50 ($10.95 CAN).
OPI is a 3-Free brand.