China Glaze Optical Illusion: Mermaid Nails

China Glaze Optical Illusion is a beautiful glitter duochrome from the Prismatic collection. It is pretty sheer on its own so I decided to use China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise as a base. Turned Up Turquoise was one of the first China Glaze polishes I owned, and I highly disliked it. It dries to a dull matte finish so I only use it with a pretty topcoat. If you would like to see a really fun bright manicure I previously did with Turned Up Turquoise click here. I love this combination and I will be definitely purchasing more Prismatic polishes with my next swagbucks gift cards.

Essie Da Bush & Shine of the Times

This is a beautiful, subtle manicure that is perfect for spring. This is two coats of Essie Da Bush from the Resort 2011 Collection with one thin coat of Essie Shine of the Times. I have read that OPI Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection is an exact dupe for Da Bush. Dull green is not normally something i am drawn to but I love this combination.

Layered: Pink & Green

I purchased OPI Sit Under The Apple Tree last month on sale at Ulta. It is a beautiful, but VERY sheer lime green with shimmer. I wanted to find a use for this polish so I decided to try it for layering. Today I used two coats of Essie Pink Parka as a base, then one coat of Sit Under The Apple Tree on top. The lime green helped tone down the neon pink creating a beautiful manicure. I love the results!

I love Essie Pink Parka for layering because it dries so quickly. If you would like to see Pink Parka layered with White Cap click here, and if you would like to see it layered with China Glaze Lighthouse click here.

Nail Striping Tape 2 Ways

I have recently been trying out Born Pretty striping tape for my manicures. I am pretty impressed with their striping tape. It comes in a dozen colors, for a very low price. The tape was flexible, which made it easy to place, and it was also easy to remove in case of error.

There really weren't any issues with using the tape except that the second manicure had some lifting at the free edge, but it was easily fixed by adding more top coat. I would also recommend getting a variety of colors for your manicures, the white tape is a little sheer. The polishes used for these two manicures were Essie French Affair, China Glaze White Cap, and China Glaze Merry Mistletoe.

*product sent by company PR for review*

Turned Up Turquoise & White Cap

Turned Up Turquoise is one of the first China Glaze polishes I owned, and I highly disliked it. It dries to a plain dull finish, so in my opinion it is pretty boring. However I LOVE this polish when I use China Glaze White Cap on top. I rarely stray away from pink polishes but when I do this combination is one of my favorites!

Essie Absolutely Shore

Essie Absolutely Shore is a pretty pale green from Essie's Summer 2011 Collection. Absolutely shore is a dusty pale green that required three coats for opacity. I also used Absolutely Shore with China Glaze White Cap as a top coat and it was gorgeous (I can post pictures later).

Mermaid's Tears & Silver Stamping

I love OPI Mermaid's Tears, it is the perfect creme base for stamping. I also love Sally Hansen Celeb City, which is perfect for stamping. This also happens to be one of my favorite Konad plate images. I think this is my favorite non-pink manicure I have tried so far :)

Pirate Skittles

I purchased the small OPI set from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection awhile ago and finally decided to use them. I wanted to test all four polishes out, so I painted my nails like this. They only stayed like this for a few hours, but it was fun to have rainbow nails for once. I love all of the Pirate colors, but I think in the future I will stick to the full size bottles and not the minis.

I Love OPI Mermaid's Tears

I was interested in all of the colors from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection but only ended up purchasing Mermaid's Tears and Sparrow Me The Drama in full size. I am surprised to say I like the dusty green Mermaid's Tears better than the pink Sparrow Me The Drama. I love creme finish polishes, and have no negative things to say about the application for Mermaid's Tears. This polish was easily opaque in two coats. I have always stayed away from the pricy OPI, but I am now convinced their polishes are worth every penny.

Gumdrop & Lighthouse

I have been loving China Glaze Lighthouse as a top coat. Today I tried Lighthouse on top of Orly Gumdrop. Gumdrop is pretty on its own, and is pretty with Lighthouse as a top coat as well. I think this is a fun combination and I have had several people ask me what nail polish this is.

Orly Gumdrop

Orly Gumdrop is a turquoise creme from the Sweet Collection Spring 2010. This is a blue/green that reminds me of China Glaze For Audrey. It is a gorgeous color that was easily opaque in two coats.

Turned Up Turquoise & Lighthouse

I am not a huge fan of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, but when it has a special top coat I think it is gorgeous. Today I used China Glaze Lighthouse and I love this combination. I think Lighthouse is a prettier top coat than Jesse's Girl Fire Fly for Turned Up Turquoise. If you would like to see Fire Fly with Turned Up Turquoise you can read my post here.

Coral With Teal Glitter

I tried another unnamed Dollar Tree NYC polish. The NYC was a bright coral that was pretty but was also sheer. For something different I added L.A. Colors Treasure Island as a top coat. I am surprised how much I liked the coral with the teal. This is two coats of NYC with one coat of Treasure Island.

Here are a few images of the coral NYC on its own.

Oh Cabana Boy & Turned Up Turquoise

For this mani I began with two coats of Orly Oh Cabana Boy. I then used four skinny pieces of tape to create the cross marks. I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise on top and removed the tape. After one coat of Seche Vite this was the result. I think it is a fun mani that is especially pretty from far away. I need to find a stamping plate with this design, using the tape one each finger was very time consuming.

Re-Fresh Mint, Caribbean Temptation, Squiggle Scissors

I played around with my mom's squiggle scissors again. This time I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint as a base, and used China Glaze Caribbean Temptation on top. I love both of these polishes, and this combination.

Untamed Luxury, Tape, Scissors

I tried again to use craft scissors and tape to make a fun mani. You can see my other scissors mani here. I am not in love with this, I think it looks best from far away. I used Color Club Untamed Luxury as a base, and used a black Wet n Wild polish on top.

Color Club Untamed Luxury

Color Club Untamed Luxury is a teal base with tons of blue and green micro-glitter. It is a nice polish if you love glitter. I am already dreading its removal though, glitter polishes are a pain to take off. I used three coats and could have probably used another. I think it would look really cool layered over something else.

Bright Water Marbling

I experimented with bright water marbling. This was fun to do, but I think I will stick to more subtle water marbling like this from now on.

China Glaze Turned Up Tourquoise, Flip Flop Fantasty, Beauty and the Beach, NYC French White, Light My Tiki, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

Nubar & Maybelline & Envy

I quickly became bored with Ulta Envy so I decided to try a few different topcoats. This is Maybelline Salon Expert in Rock Out. This polish must be pretty old. I purchased it last year 2 for $1 from the Dollar Tree. This polish is pretty worthless on its own, but it makes for a pretty topcoat.

On my other hand I tested Nubar 2010. I purchased this polish online last year after failing to find Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. Nubar is a clear base with red/orange/gold/green duochrome flakies. It is a very pretty topcoat, but I think it looks even better over a black polish.

Which topcoat do you like better for Envy?

Ulta Envy

A few months ago I purchased four Ulta polishes when they were buy one get one free (normally $5 each), and I had a coupon for $3 off of $10. That made all four polishes $7 total! I decided to branch out and purchase a color other than pink. Ulta Envy is a beautiful dark green shimmer polish. This is two coats, no topcoat.

I like the square Ulta bottles, and the tiny brushes. I would purchase more of their polishes if they had this deal again, but I do not think I would pay $5 a piece for them.