Friday, April 24, 2015

OPI ~ Infinite Shine

Recently, I had been given the opportunity to do some swatching and nail art with the new Infinite Shine line from OPI. These polishes are supposed to last 10-14 days with a gel like shine! This opportunity came from being a member on Preen.me. These were provided free of charge in return for the stated reasons above. First of all, HOW COOL!!!! OPI is such a huge brand and I am beyond honored to get to do this! Second of all... no, just the first one!!! OMG! Ok, now that I freaked a little let me warn you how picture heavy this is: 3-4 pictures per polish and a few others for artsy purposes :)  I will make this as simple as I can by letting you know that the 10 colors I received all had the same wonderful, pigmented formula! The dry time was insane! Like a fast dry topcoat! All of these polishes were 2 coaters. However, all of my swatches are 3 thin coats. This is only because of the base coat, Infinite Shine 1 Primer, which is part one of this system.  I happen to have very ridgey nails. Is that a word? Either way my nails need a thick self leveling base coat. This base coat was thin and seemed to soak in a little. I am guessing that is part of what makes these last longer. There was nothing wrong with the base coat and it dried super fast. It was just not the best for my nails. If you buff your nails smooth or just have naturally smooth nails this would be great! Step 3 in this process is the topcoat, Infinite Shine 3 Gloss. For me this was the only part that was just eh. It dries fast and is so very shiny! The problem I had was that it left awful streaks in my polish. Even after the polish was totally dry. You will be able to see what I mean in the macros of each polish. My other issue was that no matter what type of art I tried to do the topcoat smeared it. I also made sure my art was totally dry so I could find out if it were just user error. Not the problem for me.  So, is the system worth it? Absolutely! Even if you use another base and/or topcoat the colors are still amazing and so bold. As for the streaking, it can only be seen up close so its definitely not a deal breaker. Art may be an issue but most of us nail addicts have different topcoats for different reasons anyways! Lets take a look!
How cute is this box that the OPI's came in!! I keep this on my desk :)

These silver caps are so fancy!


 
Staying Neutral

Staying Neutral

Brains & Bronze

Brains & Bronze

Strong Coal-ition

Strong Coal-ition

You Can Count on It

You Can Count on It

You Can Count on It

Raisin' the Bar

Raisin' the Bar

Raisin' the Bar

Raisin' the Bar

Unrepentantly Red

Unrepentantly Red

Girl Without Limits

Girl Without Limits

To Infinity & Blue-yond

To Infinity & Blue-yond

Endurance Race to the Finish

Endurance Race to the Finish

In Pursuit of Purple

In Pursuit of Purple

Staying Neutral

Brains & Bronze

Strong Coal-ition

You Can Count on It

Raisin' the Bar

Unrepentantly Red

Girl Without Limits

To Infinity & Blue-yond

Endurance Race to the Finish


In Pursuit of Purple
Overall, these polishes are 4.2 out of 5 stars! I hope you all go out and try some of these! I know that out of the 30 beautiful colors available there are at least 5 more that I NEED!  Make sure you are following OPI and Preen.me for all updates and info! Thanks for stopping in!
 
 






 

Sunday, April 19, 2015

RocksBox

 Happy Sunday! Did everyone enjoy their weekend? So, recently I was contacted by someone from RocksBox to try out their subscription box, which is $19USD a month, in exchange for pics and honest review. Usually I am not really a jewelry fan but, with the pics I take of my nails, I was excited at the idea of getting some dainty midi rings! I agreed and got to adding to my wish list right away! They ask some questions to get an idea of what you like. I was paired with a personal stylist and she chose my first set based on what I picked. They even ask if you have any upcoming events! My first box got to me very quickly! Great shipping on these boxes. I NEVER TOOK PICS OF MY FIRST BOX!! If you read my blog often then you know how busy March is for me. I just totally flaked. My first box had a statement necklace, very dainty bracelet, and small spike hoop earrings. I really liked the bracelet a lot. I kinda liked the earrings and I didn't really like the necklace at all. It was just too big for me. I did try on the earrings and they were nice but I have a little bit of an issue with sharing pierced style earring. I sent the box back the next day. I got my second box very quickly! Guess what??? I TOOK PICS!!! This will be much more detailed because of that. 


 Packaging: This box comes in a bubble mailer that you reuse to send your box back in. It has a pretty bow that keeps the box tied closed.
 
 
 When you open the box there are these cards inside with information and a quick survey to see what you thought of your box. It also comes with a return postage sticker to apply to the envelope when you send your box back! Look at the pretty tiisue paper with the Rockbox "R".
 
 
 
When You open the tissue paper everything is nicely wrapped with bubble wrap and/or in nice cloth bags





 
 
 
First up are the earrings. I really don't know what to say about these. I like them on the card. But that is where they stayed because they just were not me.

 
 
 
The bangle. I have very small wrists so this was a bit too big but it was nice and heavy duty. Not too sure how I feel about the quality. 

 
 
 
Last, but actually my favorite, the necklace. So pretty and simple. This is the kind of jewelry I can wear daily! 2 interlocked squares just looks so cute!

 
 
 
Overall, I am not totally convinced that this is something for me. If you like jewelry and want to change styles and looks as often as possible for a low monthly cost with no strings attached this is most definitely for you! All of the jewelry is insured and the shipping is included in your monthly fee so feel free to switch it the day after you receive it! I cannot wait to get my next few boxes so we can do this jewelry journey together! If you would like to join me with your own subscription please use my code: jstmynailsxoxo. This code will get you 50% off of your first month!!  Make sure you follow Rocksbox on all social media below so you can #wishlist all the stuff you like!! See you next box!



RocksBox, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Nia's All Natural ~ Berry Girly

                                                                                                                               *PICTURE HEAVY

Hey polish friends! It has been such a long time since I even have looked at my blog. It has been such a busy time for me and my family. Things are calming down now and getting back to somewhat normal so posting should be more regular. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I hosted dinner at my house and I enjoyed it tons! My family is fun lol. Today, I bring you a thermal polish called Berry Girly from a new to me indie brand, Nia's All Natural Cosmetics for Girls. I had no idea this polish was thermal until I checked out swatches from other ladies. This polish goes from a very deep plummy purple to an almost neon pink! My husband noticed this right away because he loves thermals that have a huge difference in colors. This polish also has a very fine shimmer and a light amount of small square holo glitters. It lives up to its name perfectly! It's a crelly strongly leaning jelly like formula that applies like butter. No streaking or bald spots what so ever! It also dried pretty quickly. For this swatch I used 3 thin coats and a glossy top coat. I did a little stamping with a similar color polish as the cold state. That way it "appears" when warm! I also added some swatches with matte top coat because my shine was just too shiny lol!! **All of my cold shots appear brown. I am not sure why because it was like this in person not just in photos. I assure you it is not brown in the bottle!!! You will see what I mean, check it out!

                                                                                    
                                                      COLD WITH WARM TIPS:
 
 
                        Can you see the difference in the color from the nail to the bottle?! COLD:

                                                                              

                                                                          WARM:
 
 
 
                                                           WARM WITH COLD TIPS:

 
 
                                                           MATTE:

 
 
 
                                                                     TRANSITION:






 
So, what do you think?  I love this one a lot. Make sure you check out the shop for more info and availability!
 
Follow Nia's All Natural on Instagram and Facebook!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Influenster ~ Temptations VoxBox*

Hi all!! Tonight I am super excited because I bring you my first YouTube video!!!! It is the unboxing of my Influenster Temptations VoxBox!  I definitely plan to do lots more videos, mostly nail stuff, so please subscribe to my channel while you are there and leave any feedback!! I am totally open to any and all criticism as long as it is constructive and not rude!!
 
 
 
And in case you would rather watch it on YouTube click here! Hope you enjoy!!


*Everything in the Temptations VoxBox was provided by Influenster for testing and review purposes!

Sunday, March 1, 2015

OPI ~ Umpires Come Out At Night

Good morning! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and continues to have a nice relaxing Sunday! As usual here in Connecticut we are expecting snow later today. We have had snow once a week (at least) consistently for 6 weeks now! I am so over it! I have to do a post to help me forget about it so today I bring you, OPI Umpires Come Out At Night. I also added a shimmer topcoat from Orly just because it was a great match! Lets start with UCOAN. I went to the OPI site and it says that this is a crème polish. I really thought it was a crelly by the super smooth way it applied. It is so creamy and shiny. I picked this up because it reminded me so much of Revlon Royal. Turns out its darker and not as bold. That's fine with me. Who doesn't love blue polish?! For this swatch I used 3 thin coats plus topcoat. I didn't need the third coat at all. Not even to even out the polish. I'm just weird like that lol. Look how gorgeous!!!

 
Here I have 1 coat of Love Each Other from Orly Over UCOAN. To me, it looks like very fine pink and blue shimmers in a clear base. Now, because of the mix of color shimmers, it flashes violet. I love it!  I used glossy topcoat for all but the ring finger. I used matte on that finger so you could see the shimmer!


 
What a standout combo!! Hope you enjoyed my random Sunday morning swatch!!