Simple Halloween NOTD: OPI It's a Piazza Cake

I really tried, you guys!  I tried to do an adorable placement glitter spider mani, I saw here on Instagram.  "I can totally do glitter placement," she says.  "I finally have a use for bar glitter and it will be adorable," she says.  

Um no, it won't.  Your spiders will turn into circles with hair, and you'll have bar glitter everywhere but on your nails.  Sigh....

I will keep trying, because in theory it can't be that difficult, right? Practice makes perfect...or at least acceptable!  I'll meet you back here next year!

In the meantime, I decided to use the only polish I picked up from the OPI Venice collection, It's a Piazza Cake.  I am not the biggest fan of orange, but this burnt orange color just spoke to me.  I love it and I'm still wearing it! It's very subdued and flattering with the brown undertone it has.

Shown is 2 perfect, creamy coats of It's a Piazza Cake that dried quickly but I added topcoat for extra shine.  I also really wanted to try the gold leaf topper from NYC I picked up at Target, Top of the Gold.  The flakies seemed a bit more 'gold' and vibrant than some of my other flakie topcoats.  This was just 1 coat and it's really lovely, especially for under $2.00!!

Both polishes are still available and will be easy to find.  I'd love to know what's on your nails this Halloween!  Let me know and link your Instagram posts for me to see!  

Happy Halloween! :)

~ Hayley ~

HPB presents/ Autumn Mani: OPI Kermit Me To Speak

Happy Friday!  I just love going hunting for polishes at TJ Maxx and Marshalls!  I don't always find something that will come home with me, but my most recent trip was a success.  I found Kermit Me To Speak from OPI's 2014 Muppets Most Wanted (soft shades) collection for $3.99 and since I have been duochrome crazed lately I had to wear it right away.  It's totally appropriate for fall, and reminds me of changing leaves. Take a look...

Happy November! Fall Worthy China Glaze skittlette

I hope everyone had a great Halloween with lots of chocolate involved! I cannot believe it's NOVEMBER.  The weather is still  in the 80s on my side of the country....but it's supposed to get cooler this week (finally)!

In honor of it fall, I wanted to do a simple skittlette and finally try my OPI Glitter Off that I had been pining away for.  It has been completely M.I.A. in stores, but I finally found it on Amazon. Also, China Glaze Boundary of Memory had been sitting in my melmer untried for too long, so I had to change that!

This is China Glaze Release (thumb, index and middle), Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ion (a Target exclusive from 2012), and China Glaze Boundary of Memory glitter (pinky).  Nothing super intricate, but I loved the color combination.  The China Glaze formulas were great...2 coats and easy to work with.  Ion was challenging, so you're not missing much if you don't have it!  The color is pretty (light warm grey) but was streaky, tough to apply evenly, and dry time was long even before I could topcoat for fear of pulling.  I don't know how it compares to China Glaze Five Rules or OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (let me know if you do!) but they might be close!

Indoors - Release has more grey undertones

I didn't know what to expect with Glitter Off...I figured after 2 days I would see wear.  I did use topcoat since Boundary of Memory doesn't dry super shiny on its own.  Maybe the topcoat helped, because around day 5 I worried that there was some super glue mixed into my bottle since it was still going strong.  I removed it on day 6, and it was very much like peeling an eggshell; little pieces came off.  I was still happy that no remover was needed, so I call it a win!  It is very dry right now in Arizona so maybe that aided in it adhering better to my nail?  Any ideas?

Indoors low light - love Boundary of Memory!

Lastly, (but not least) THANK YOU to all our new friends who entered our first little giveaway!  We hope you stick around. :)  Congratulations to the winner, Heather, and stay tuned for more in the future!

Forget Me Not: OPI Thanks a Windmillion

The OPI Nordic collection is all the rage right now, but I wanted to remind you all of another OPI that would also be great as a transition color into fall. This is OPI Thanks a Windmillion from the Holland collection.  I am so ready for fall, football, scarves and pumpkin everything! Side note: I am burning a new Bath & Body Works candle right now called Tailgate...and I am OBSESSED with the scent!  If you're a fan of their candles I would highly recommend checking it out! Anyway back to this lovely polish...

OPI's Holland collection is a few years old, so that's why I'm titling this as a 'forget me not'.  The formula for Thanks a Windmillion is perfect and this is 2 easy coats. I wanted to make a glitter sandwich but until I get a hold of a bottle of Glitter Off, I am hesitating using a chunky glitter.  I decided to at least try it matted, so these photos are all with one coat of Essence Soft Touch matte topcoat.  So, it's not the most intricate look but still super pretty!

Shade

I love the dustiness that Thanks a Windmillion has; it's very greyed looking in indoor light.  Really almost a sage color, but with just enough blue in it for me to still classify it as a borderline seafoam.  I would grab this, if you can still find it in store...OPI had transitioned this into their core collection.  Otherwise, I imagine it would be fairly easy to find on Amazon. 

I hope you all are enjoying fall where you are!  Thanks for stopping by :)

~Hayley

*All polishes and items in this post were purchased by me.

Spring Fling Challenge Day 5: Watermarble or Gradient

We made it to the last day of the challenge!  I chose to do a subtle glitter gradient for today's theme.  I used a few long time nail polish favorites that are still readily available at Ulta or Walgreens.

I chose Essie Turquoise and Caicos as the base for this manicure.  It's a slightly squishy, jelly finish and this was 3 coats on my nails.  Next I layered a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, which I am still loving as a glitter top coat.  To finish the gradient, I dabbed Essie Set in Stones around the base of my nails in a curved fashion.  What do you think?

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this sort of is reminiscent of a Tiffany look.  My bottle of Turquoise and Caicos ends up looking almost exactly the same as a Tiffany & Co. bag when it's on my nails. 

Outdoors - sun

Right hand! What?!?

I'm sorry this is a slightly picture heavy and not very descriptive post, but I'm writing this later than normal! So, I'll just let you decide what (if any) pictures you like! 

I've had fun with this challenge and a big thanks to Elena and Kelly for coordinating this!  It has been wonderful getting to know the other ladies that participated in this and I looked forward to checking their posts everyday!

Have a great weekend and I hope Spring weather is finally here for you!  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~

By The Way...'You're Blushing'

I'll be snapping out of these greyed, wintery pastels soon!  Before I do, I wanted to show you this combination of polishes that you can still easily find.  This is Orly's You're Blushing and I topped it with OPI's  Pirouette My Whistle.  We all know I love those greyed lavenders, but I love this one because most of the ones I own are blue undertoned and (to me) this has a red undertone.  I think it results in the polish leaning more to the lavender on me than grey, unlike some of the other lavenders of this type.

You're Blushing was part of Orly's Cool Romance collection in Spring 2012 but recently, after Orly updated their bottles, Sally's Beauty included this in their core line. It applied very easily and the pictures are two coats.  I love the name of it too, because it evokes that first stage of a spring fling when everything is new and you melt over every sweet thing they say.  I'm a romantic...it's not a surprise. 

Pirouette My Whistle was part of OPI's NYC Ballet Collection also in 2012, but is still at Ulta in their core line.  I just love how soft and subtle this glitter is!  I initially got the mini collection and loved Pirouette My Whistle so much I had to have a full size bottle!  The 'larger' glitters are sparse and I had to fish a few out of the mini bottle, so this is two coats also.

  
Thank you for stopping by and for the support so far, it means so much to us!  Have a great day!