OPI - Crown Me Already! Swatch and Review

Just like I have polishes where I wonder WHY I bought it in the first place, I also have ones where I can't figure out why I DIDN'T buy it immediately.

This is one of them. I passed it up in the store many times only to buy it on ebay about a week ago because I couldn't stand it any longer.

OPI - Crown Me Already

Crown Me Already is a mix of super shiny silver micro glitter and all different sizes of hex glitter. The biggest hexes are probably about 2mm wide and they look like tiny little mirrors or coins amongst the micro glitter. It is truly eye-catching and bling-tastic, and I love it. I have a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite over it and it's not completely smooth, but you can't really tell because of how extremely reflective the silver is. I'm so glad I got this one, and now I wish so badly that OPI would make a nice, rich gold version of this! The formula was great as well; it's opaque at two coats and not lumpy or thick at all. It's also not one of those where you have to "place" the glitter to make it look nice.

This one made me realize just how much I appreciate almost every brand of nail polish because each one has it's own "gems" that are particularly wonderful. I'm not at all an OPI fan girl (I can't stand all of the "Suzi" names... and I actually don't like the name of this one much, haha), but every once in a while they bring out a beautiful doozy of a polish that really wows me.

I was only able to find this one on ebay (at a reasonable, typical OPI price - $8 with free shipping), but it may be available at other online retailers as well.


Another quick question. Which do you prefer: pics with the bottle or without? I've automatically done them with the bottle because that's what a lot of bloggers do, but think I like how I can "pose" my hand a little better without it. Thoughts?

Mirror Nails: Day 4 Review

Well, I'm back from Disneyland and I wanted to let you know how my mirror nails are holding up!  (Good news - not one single nail came even close to popping off!)

Here is a picture on day 4:

Nail Bliss Silver nails w/ Elegant Touch Super Adhesive Tabs (Day 4)

If you remember, I applied them Friday mid-day and wore them throughout my Disneyland vacation. I must say, they still look nearly as perfect as when I first applied them. You can see a tiny bit of wear in the gel top coat on my middle finger near the cuticle, but I have a feeling I could touch that up with another layer of clear gel easily. Also, the gel has become a TINY bit scuffed on most of my fingers, but it's not noticeable unless you're looking at them up very close. Scrangie shows the chrome finish wearing off and being very scratched after five days of wear, so I think the gel top coat helped IMMENSELY. I would recommend ALWAYS putting some sort of protective top coat over chrome or mirror nails to protect the finish. It seemed to work wonders in my case!

The second half of my review is actually of the Super Adhesive Tabs that I bought at Ulta. They claim to be water resistant and can last up to 7 days. In this case, I've only had them on for 3-4 days, but I really don't see any deterioration at all yet. These nails are stuck on good! Granted, the fake nails I'm wearing are filed down to nearly my natural nails' lengths on most fingers, so there's not much of a "free edge." If they were longer they might have more of a tendency to pop off, I don't know. I also like that there is not much "give" in the adhesive. They pretty much don't budge, so you don't get that weird feeling of the nail getting pushed into your cuticle when you press on something (if you've ever worn fake nails, you probably know what I'm talking about). Right now as I'm typing, they feel like my natural nails to me.

So here is my overall review of this mirror nails effect:

Pros:

• Awesome quick fix for when one of my nails broke WAY down right before my vacation
• Mirror finish is super eye-catching and fun.  Very Star Wars or Tron -esque
• Super Adhesive Tabs by Elegant Touch are nice and strong and make the nails comfortable to wear
• Wore for at least three days easily - would probably be good for up to a week with no problems (perfect for a vacation!)
• Nails are long but can be very easily clipped and filed to your ideal length without any damage to the nails
• No glue needed!

Cons:

• Fake nails are still a bit "bulky" and don't look completely natural
• The adhesive tabs create a tiny bit of a gap around the edges (between your natural nail and the fake nail) where lint can get stuck.

I guess my only wish is that they could make both the adhesive tabs and the nails themselves a bit thinner to give a more natural look.  Other than that I loved these SO much and have ordered more because they were so fun!  I was surprised the adhesive lasted so well, even through showers and dishes and Splash Mountain!

Here are some tips for a longer lasting manicure that I picked up from trying these out:

• Adhesive that claims to be easily removed with "warm water" will NOT last and won't hold the nails in their proper place very long (they seem to "slide" around on the nail quite a bit).  Be sure to get ones that can handle multiple days worth of wear and are water resistant. An alternative is to use nail glue, but it can be more difficult to remove, especially if you'd like to keep the fake nails for future use.
• Mirror/chrome finishes are VERY susceptible to scratches and wear and it's very important to put a clear top coat over the nails to protect the perfect shiny finish!
• The adhesive tabs are somewhat long and can be trimmed with clippers to the length of the natural nail before sticking on the fake nail. This makes it so there's not too much exposed adhesive to gather dirt and lint, etc.

For more info on the products reviewed in this post, see my original Mirror Nails post.

Mirror Nails

No, this isn't a polish. Yes, they are fake nails.

If you remember, I tried one of these fake "mirror nails" on the other day and compared them to other mirror-like finishes. These are actually a different brand than the one featured in that post.

Nail Bliss - Silver Chrome Nails

These are the same nails that Scrangie reviewed in her post here (although hers were the "Platinum" color, and these are the "Silver"). They are a bit thick, and don't look too incredibly natural (they're a little too wide), but I love them all the same. I also had the same problem I have with most fake nails which is that most of the sizes are too large, so I have to use the smallest sizes available and hope they look ok.  Because Scrangie remarked that the chrome finish was easily scratched, I decided to put a layer of my SensatioNail UV gel top coat over them to protect the finish and keep it nicer longer.

I attached these with Elegant Touch Super Adhesive Tabs because I didn't want to fuss with nail glue but still wanted them to stay on for a few days while I'm on vacation. I'll comment on the wear after I have them on for at least a couple days.

The nails featured in this post are here on this site, though not available for purchase. I found mine at Sally's, though I looked for them recently in the local store and didn't find them.

At Ulta I was able to find a similar brand (that actually fit my nails even better) called Elegant Touch. The metallic ones I found can be ordered from their site here. They are a little closer to the "Platinum" color of the Nail Bliss nails (the color in Scrangie's post).

Chrome Nail Comparison

I was looking for the perfect design to do on my nails for my Disneyland trip this weekend when I broke my middle fingernail... dang! The break was so far down is was barely even on the free edge, so I decided to try out some chrome false nails I got from Dashing Diva a while back. So while I'm doing the wear test on the falsie to see whether it will last for my vacation, I figured I'd do a little comparison of various "chrome" nail looks.

Chrome Nail Comparison

Obviously, the fake nail has the smoothest, brightest shine and the most "true" mirror-like finish, but it also has some drawbacks: it's thicker and less natural than the others, and the wear time on it is next to nothing since it just has the adhesive tab on the back. There's an another brand at Sally's that comes with adhesive tabs but you can also use glue (that may last a bit longer).

The silver foil (ring finger) actually looks more like the Dashing Diva chrome from a short distance. The wrinkles are not as prominent if you're not viewing it as an extreme close up. If my nail hadn't broken, I'd probably be opting for this method this weekend. It provides an ALMOST mirror finish and the foils are relatively inexpensive while enough to do MANY manicures.  A lot of the "flaws" that appear here are my own fault for not waiting for the foil glue to dry enough before sticking it on, btw.  The part towards the cuticle is more of an accurate representation of the shine.  I think this is my favorite of the four pictured.

It amazes me how dull the two polishes (China Glaze Millennium and Zoya Trixie) look compared to both the foil and the fake nail. Neither actually has a "mirror" appearance at all, but they both have the ease of regular nail polish.


The false nails are from Dashing Diva, but I don't see the silver chrome on their site right now. Like I said, there's an alternative available at Sally's by a brand called Nail Bliss (though it doesn't appear to be on their site).

The silver foil I bought at Dollar Nail Art. They have a $25 minimum purchase online (or you can order by mail with a check), but they have so many awesome foils, beads, glitter, etc. it was easy for me to find plenty that I wanted!

Zoya Trixie can be ordered from their website, and I'm not sure if China Glaze Millennium can be found easily anymore (it was from their Khrome collection a couple years ago).

Avon Mirror Shine - Glisten Swatches and Review

My awesome grandma knows how much I love nail polish and got me this beauty along with another Avon polish (Electric Purple - I'll probably swatch it later). This is part of their Mirror Shine line, which seems a lot like the China Glaze Khrome collection. This is Glisten, a beautiful sky-blue (slightly teal) that has a bright chrome finish. It really only needs one coat, but I did two here to try and make it perfectly smooth.

Avon Mirror Shine Glisten

The only issue with this one (and probably every other chrome) is that it shows any little speck of dust or dirt or fuzz. As long as you use a ridge filling basecoat and make sure your nails are nice and clean, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, brushstrokes are very minimal (yay!).

My sister got the purple one which is also awesome, and hopefully I can borrow it from her someday to swatch it as well.

I love this one so much - it looks SO cool on! Thank you, Ama!!