OPI Just Spotted the Lizard - $8.50

OPI's new The Amazing Spiderman collection is about to be released in store and there has been a lot of noise about this polish. Not only because it's a pretty rad multi-chrome, but because it's a Chanel Peridot (see my Peridot review here) dupe. With Chanel polishes now fairly assaulting wallets at a price of $26, it's nice to see a less expensive alternative to a popular shade. I've got several photos of OPI JSTL, and then below I have a couple comparison photos.

As far as this polish, It's pretty much a dead-on dupe of Peridot. It's somewhat sheer, but with three thin coats you get full coverage. The color in most lights is pre-dominantly an amber gold with a seafoam green and light turquoise showing up from time to time. The wear was pretty average, I tested it for two days and didn't have any tip wear or chipping. It doesn't show stroke lines as much as Peridot, which really didn't have much in the way of stroke lines in the first place; it's just mainly more metallic whereas Peridot does have some foil-like flecks which scatter light a little more. JSTL doesn't really have that and so it has a more linear light  reflection.

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I recently found Nails Inc Fouberts Place on clearance at Sephora, and was really excited to use it, but I just found myself not in the mood to wear anything too dark or drab no matter how pretty the color. So I decided to make it part of a design. I paired it with a much lighter polish in the same color family and a gold to add a little bling. Fouberts Place is a gorgeous olivey taupe and it's very pigmented, almost a one coater by the way.

Products used:

• OPI Skull & Glossbones
• Nails Inc Fouberts Place
• Orly Luxe
• Seche Vite Topcoat

I'm still in the process of figuring out how to do a gradient to my own satisfaction and it's not turning out like I'd prefer, however I did like the final product that resulted here, even though it's not how I originally pictured it. I think a lot of the reason I liked this despite my technical failure is the color palette. I really loved these colors together. I added some gold to the edge and the result sort of reminded me of a cool cabochon on a vintage cocktail ring or something, hence the name.

Products used:

• Sephora by OPI XOX Betsey
• Illamasqua Jo'mina
• Nails Inc Belgrave Place
• Orly Luxe
• Seche Vite topcoat

I did a little nail art inspired by the fletching on arrows. The little things at the back end of the arrow that stabilizes and improves the aerodynamics of the arrow in flight. I've been really into tribal sorts of things recently, and arrows are sort of an extension of that fascination for me right now. I added an ikat nail and also a Swarovski element to one of the "arrow shaft" nails for some interest.

Products used:

• Essie Go Overboard, Greenport
• OPI Skull & Glossbones
• Orly Luxe
• Seche Retain as base coat
• Seche Vite topcoat

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For this manicure I wanted to get the look of antiqued and distressed metal so I used several metallic polishes and sponged them on to make a sort of textured look. The addition of a holographic teal to the tips was an afterthought, but I thought it made it look better. The whole thing was inspired by CND's recent spate of "acid-washed" colors on pointed almond nails with a really deep smile line for the french. I basically went with that theme, but changed up some colors and added texture, which I think makes it look neat. The holo at the tips is subtle but it makes it a bit more interesting.

Products used:

• China Glaze Millenium
• China Glaze 2030
• Orly Luxe
• China Glaze Techno Teal
• Seche Vite Topcoat

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The nail stylists at CND who do fashion week, yeah they're awesome. They are undoubtedly the masters of interesting nail looks engineered for the runway. And with the big leap forward that nails are taking as concerns being viewed as almost an accessory, the runway looks are becoming much more acceptable on main street in a way that wacky runway makeup never could. Luxury nails, be it luxury art like this or luxury polish such as Chanel or Dior, are a very accessible way to add a designer label to your wardrobe in the form of an almost-accessory. Whether the country in the midst of a recession or not, you may not be able to afford that Chanel bag, but you sure as hell can afford to buy a Chanel polish, or to go out and get a fancy manicure that was worn down a fashion week runway.

Anyway, enough preaching about the godliness of nail art, let's get on with the manicure... I came across this manicure on BellaSugar, and immediately wanted to recreate it. CND stylists used CND Gold Chrome and BlackJack and some gold leaf to create a look that they call ‘Treasured Antiquities’…meets ‘New Rock N’ Roll.’ . I don't have those polishes... yet, but I used what I had and it looks just about the same.

Products used:

• China Glaze 2030
• Wet n Wild Black Creme
• Gold nuggeting foil

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I'm telling you, the best thing I EVER did was shape my nails differently. For my entire life I've had square nails, and I always loved them and could never imagine my nails in another shape, but I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to try it. As they're growing, I refine the shape often trying to coax the tips into soft points, and I'm really enjoying them. There are so many nail designs that suit oval and pointed nails that never look right with squares like half-moons for instance, but now I'm enjoying the experimentation.

Anyway, for this look I used Sparitual Paradigm for the base color. It's a very thin and milky cream color and it makes the nails look perfect, even when underneath they may look like total crap. Ahem. Like my stained little claws, for example. Believe it or not, beneath Sparitual Paradigm and a coat of Color Club Milky White Base Coat, my nails are a disturbing shade of ear wax. This color is awesome, it's like the Spanx of the nail world. Then I used CND Copper Chrome to highlight the very tips and base of the nails. The result is almost like jewelry for the nails. I loved this.

Products used:

• Color Club Milky White base coat
• Sparitual Paradigm
• CND Copper Chrome
• Seche Vite topcoat

I have to tell you, doing this series is so much fun so far. It's a fun challenge for myself. Though there's very little information in the books about some of the districts, which will make it a little challenging, I think it's fun to come up with something for each one. I plan on making my way through the districts in order and then I have some other designs based on The Hunger Games I'll be adding to the series. In the end, the series will hopefully be pretty sizeable. In the meantime, it's a lot of fun. On to the description!

District 4 in The Hunger Games is home to a ocean-based society. They make fish hooks, they use nets and tridents to fish, and overall it's a somewhat wealthy district. To reflect this rich ocean culture I painted the nails with sea greens, coral red for the, um, red coral, and gave it some gilded accents to reflect the fact that this district is a bit more rich.

Products used:

• OPI Thanks a Wind-million
• OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where?
• Sally Hansen Fairy Teal
• China Glaze 2030
• Seche Vite topcoat

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I've seen a few manicures over the last few weeks with this technique of outlining the nail, and I haven't found a name for it, so I'm gonna go ahead and call it "Vignette" for the sake of titling purposes and convenience. At first I wasn't very fond of the look, but it's really grown on me, so I decided to give it a try myself. This manicure was inspired by this manicure by MadelinePooleNails. I added a little color and some mixed metal action to make it more quirky. For this manicure I used China Glaze Electric Beat and Contrete Catwalk, and OPI Glitzerland, along with black, white and silver striping polish. The technique is pretty simple but definitely makes a statement, in my opinion. Despite the business of the look, the longer I wore it the more elegant it felt to me, which surprised me given the helter skelter nature of the manicure.

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I'm too impatient for Fall so I'm cheating and doing a Autumn-inspired design before August is out. I originally was going to do this look with China Glaze Brownstone from the Metro collection because it's perfect for this, but since I have already shown you Brownstone, and I have a ton of Zoya from last week I haven't posted swatches of, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and use Zoya Codie.

Codie is a deep chocolate brown creme with hints of murky, mossy green in certain lights. You may recall that Zoya Angelina is very similar, but it's quite a bit cooler than Codie and has a bit more of a jelly texture. Codie's application is a little strange; it's very streaky on the first coat but the second coat grabs on to the first and the second coat just glides on and fills in everywhere and looks perfect. It's super pigmented, so two coats is definitely enough for full coverage even when held up to a bright light. I'll have to put a comparison up later in the week between Codie and Angelina.

Aaaaanyway, this design is crazy simple; you just start by painting two diagonal lines into the shape of a V from the bottom corners of your nail, then fill the rest of it out with your polish, then apply some studs right at the point of the V then top it with your favorite topcoat. I used gold pyramid studs I got last year from dollarnailart.com, and my favorite topcoat; Seche Vite. The coolest thing about this design is that it will work with any nail shape; square like mine, or rounded or even (especially!!!) the trendy pointy shape that's so big right now.

Vive la Autumn!

Oh and PS all my stuff is in order for me to start my nail tech course on Tuesday. I am dying of excitement!

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