OPI

Lou-Lou-Louche

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What’s your vice? My vices are painting my nails (somewhat messily at times), finding comfort in the bubbles of a diet coke and hoarding lotions and potions of all sorts on my make up counter. I guess I could open a spa and teahouse from my room, there’s enough soap and varieties of herbal tea in here to last a lifetime (…or at least a couple of years).

I’m not doing anything wildly exciting at the moment, just preparing for exams. Hence the pictures of nails on my blog instead of wild tales of adventure and discovery. However, it’s still possible to find delight in little things. This morning I went to the library at ridiculous o’clock in the morning (around five am) with a pal, and then we watched the sun rise whilst sat on a gnarled tree in a nearby wood. We didn’t have a camera, but imagine if you will, two students surrounded by bluebells and library books scattered across a carpet of greenery…

We walked back through the Botanic Gardens, stopping en route by a large pond near the Psychology building to look at baby tadpoles wriggling in the shallows. It was such a lovely start to the day…

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Iridescence – Glittery Polishes and the Beauty of Vanessa Paradis

Iridescence - Glittery Polishes and the Beauty of Vanessa Paradis

The sparkliest of nails. Natural lighting, with a vignette added. This is 2 coats of OPI “What Wizardry is This? with 2 coats of OPI “Which is Witch?” layered on top. Potentially a tad excessive but there you go. I have tried a few other combinations and will post them sometime in the future, when my hands look less ravaged! “What Wizardry is this?” is best on its own, but I felt like spicing it up a little anyhow! “Which Witch” has big chunks of glitter that have a wow factor, with little pieces of bar glitter also visible if you hold your nails up close! I apologise for the quality of the photo, it would be interesting to get a macro shot, but alas my decent DSLR is in Guernsey – the overdue library books had to take precedence in my luggage. Such is life! I have a lot of revision to do, and I’m listening to a lot of French music. I’ve only just managed to get “Bonnie and Clyde” by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot out of my head.
Currently I am listening to Vanessa Paradis:

I am a big fan of Vanessa Paradis – I think she is extremely elegant and classy. The thought of listening to her today actually occurred to me after having painted my nails…. I think the look of the glitter that I used on my nails is very similar to the look/effect of the lighting used in another of her music videos, “Divinidylle”, in that the glitter is striking (almost blinding) and reflects many colours… just like the spotlight on Vanessa.

Both these songs date from a few years ago! However, Vanessa Paradis’ new album called “Love Stories” will be out on May 13th. I just find her voice sultry and captivating and I wish her every success with her new album.

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Magpie Nails

Magpie Nails

Today, I present to you a photo of the Glitter polishes from the OPI Oz collection. I initially wanted to buy them from Duty free in the airport but there ended up being no time in between my flights. When I had got to Durham, the only scrap of collection left was one bottle of the Liquid Sand polish as the glitters had sold out… My poor little bottle alone as all her pals had deserted her*… so I resorted to ASOS, which gave me a student discount. Thank you ASOS.

When these colours are worn, it looks as if a Unicorn has exploded all over my nails. Not the easiest look to pull off, but glittery nails do make me smile every time they catch the light. My two favourites are “Lights of Emerald City” and “What Wizardry is this?… the latter is is a liquid sand polish and I am impressed with the textured effect. In my opinion, it’s a lot more stylish and wearable than the liquid sand polishes featured in the ‘Mariah Carey’ collection.

Congratulations if you have read this far, I know not everyone likes polish, but I do like to document what I’ve bought from time to time! I didn’t buy any of the OZ ‘Soft Shades’ because none of them overly appealed to me, however the glitters work well over OPI Bubblebath and OPI Don’t Pretzel My Buttons.

*Personifying the bottle reminds me of a story I wrote once with my Dad about a lemonade bottle who was left alone on a skip and longed to be recycled. Green conscious from a young age or too many reruns of “The Brave Little Toaster”? You tell me!

Les Ongles d’une James Bond Girl!

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My favourite manicure of the moment! This is OPI Man with the Golden Gun (18k gold flecked top coat) layered over OPI Bastille my Heart (a glamorous burgundy colour from the OPI French Collection). Maroon, Burgundy and in particular, Oxblood, have been a big trend during this winter period… I’m not entirely sure how to differentiate exactly between the shades in this spectrum of deep reds, but I have noticed that these colours have been everywhere in the past few months! They have also been gradually infiltrating my wardrobe, starting with the purchase of a burgundy peplum coat in September. I can now count  leggings, tops, socks, ribbons and oversized hair bows amongst my burgundy cachet, although they are not to be worn all at once, of course! Call the colour what you will,  it has clearly been the shade of the season  – I reckon it’s been the colour most worn in lecture theatres across the country throughout September-Feburary 2012-13. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a colour trend being so popular before.  Students swanning around nonchalantly in burgundy chinos and artfully draped scarves, have meant that I am greeted each morning by a veritable sea of these rich hues on my walks around the city…

Back to the manicure!

OPI Bastille my Heart is a great way of adding an on trend accent to your outfit without blending into the crowd too much… It also feels luxuriously smooth if you run the fingers of one hand along the nails of the other hand. I know that textured nails are in, and I love glitter polishes (possibly too much), but you can’t beat a smooth and sophisticated finish. I’m glad that it is not a limited edition polish because I will definitely be replacing it when I reach the end of my bottle! If I had to describe this manicure, I would say that it is a perfect blend of two OPI collections – the French collection and James Bond Skyfall collection – culminating in a decadent look, reminiscent of the tones of a rich french wine. When peppered with gold flakes, you are left with a warm look which will brighten up the cold and drab early months of the year!