Thursday, October 24, 2013

Nina Ultra Pro "Maple Syrup"


Continuing with the fall season color palette, I decided to go with a darker color this time. While keeping a bit the camouflage theme, going brown helps with my wardrobe selections a bit more. I found I had this color from last year, I got it for christmas 2012, so I went for it. 



This is Nina Ultra Pro “Maple Syrup”, It is a brown base with orange shimmer to make it stand out. Like, well.....Maple Syrup! I think the name is spot on. 



Like all shimmery colors, it stands out under direct sunlight. 
Under ambient lighting it tends to reflect less light, the shimmer is still there, but the color looks richer, more chocolate than maple, although not that dark. 



Under artificial lighting conditions though, the orange shimmer make the color take on a dark copper shade. 
To prove this, I took a picture on top of an orange colored rug, so you can look at the light reflecting on the toe nails and you will see what I mean. 



So in a sense, without being a holographic color, you can consider this like it is one of those 3 for 1 colors. 
I really like the thick brush Nina Ultra Pro uses on their products. Consistency is very good, two coats will do it, but as always, I go for three and top it off with Seche Vite top coat, my favorite. 



This color applies very nicely, it is not streaky. 
This color goes very well with gold, brown, beige, green, orange, brick red and all earthly colors. 
I absolutely love this color and would recommend it very much. If I had to rate it, I would give it 5 bottles. 



Even though it is a couple of years old, it is not that hard to get, you can grab a bottle at amazon for less than $5. If you are lucky, Sally’s might still have some. Reading some reviews on amazon I see that many people give it a bad rap, NOT SO. They probably don’t know how to properly apply nail polish. 
Remember to clean, file buff, prime, base, paint and top over for a long lasting beautiful non chipping application that will last up to 10 days. This is definitely a keeper. 
Happy Polishing!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

OPI - At your Quebec Night & Call


Fall is here and I have been yearning for some olive greens and some browns to go with the season. I love camouflage pants, and I also like military themes. 


Not a weekend goes by where I am not wearing camo pants, when it’s fall, I wear them with sandals, when it’s winter I wear them with boots, either way, I love the tones of the olive green, brown and black that the green camo has, that way I can paint my nails black or brown shades, but my favorite color has to be olive green.  

I had been looking for an olive green for some time now but did not find any color that blew me away, until now. 
Doing some research for this, I stumbled upon OPI - At your Quebec Night & Call, I only have one word to describe this olive green, WOW! This is an old hard to find color, 2011 if I am not mistaken, luckily I found it on ebay. Since it’s a discontinued color, prices tend to go up sometimes if there is demand for it, and for what I can see, there is demand. Amazon had it as high as $20, I payed $6 for mine but average price was $13. 

This is an olive green base that has a golden shimmer to it.
When direct sunlight hit’s it, you can perceive it more as a metallic golden color with green shimmer, It never looses its olive green tone, but the golden undertones really make it shine outside. When under artificial lighting conditions, the color tends to look more olive not so much metallic but the golden shimmer evens the color. 
OPI - At your quebec night & call is a keeper. I have other polishes with dark green tones but this olive green is just fabulous. Application went on really smooth, three coats did it for me. If you apply it well, it does not even steak. Of course I did a base coat first and topped it of with Seche-Vite for durability and shine. OPI makes wonderful formulas, If I had to rate this polish, I would definitely give it 5 bottles. 

If you like olive greens, this should definitely be in your collection.

Happy Polishing!