flashback friday: shattered mint

Hey everyone! Hope you're doing fine on this Friday evening.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the handy app TimeHop, and how it sends you down memory lane basically every day. Two days ago, it reminded me of this post and how obsessed I was with OPI's Black Shatter (and every other shatter for that matter.)
It gave me the sudden urge to play with that old forgotten shatter again, and I decided to go full-flashback and recreate the mani!

This is OPI - Black Shatter over China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint.

When I pulled out my main bottle of Black Shatter, it was a sad sight because it had dried up into one little piece inside the bottle. I'm not sure if it'll come back to life, but I put in a bunch of polish thinner and had my boyfriend shake it for a while. I'm still letting it sit, but hopefully it can be revived.
I happened to have an untouched backup that was totally fine, and all the rest of my OPI shatters were fine as well. (My China Glaze ones bit the dust two years ago).

I totally still dig the look, its edgy and easy.
How long has it been since you played with shatter? Shake those babies up and give it another go!

dan likes nails

...And now for something completely different.

Lately you may have noticed that there are some nail blogs written by men. Not to be outdone, Rebecca Likes Nails will be featuring a man today. Today you are visiting Dan Likes Nails.

Truthfully I cannot remember how this collaboration was decided upon, but it was with lots of laughs and excitement and the idea that my friend Dan just wants to appear here on my blog because he is jealous of my internet stardom.
Dan has an unhealthy obsession with reading my blog and I think he secretly reads it just to make fun of me but he assures me that he is truly interested. (And when he does make fun of my nail polish collection, I remind him of the money he spends on video games and video game related items and we call it a truce.)

At first I tried to convince him to paint his own nails because I'm sure we would all like to see that mess but in the end we agreed that I would paint his nails however he desired.
He went for leopard print. (Which is clearly why we are soulmates.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Dan Likes Nails.

Dan needed very little coaching to get the hand position correct because he studies my photos so intently.

When Dan sat across from me at my manicure table the first thing he said was "I don't know how to do this."
I told him that essentially he just had to hold my hand for a few minutes while I was painting and then he had to try not to smudge his nails when we were done. Simple. Who wouldn't want to hold my hand, right?

We started with a base coat of China Glaze - Sun-Kissed from the Summer Neons collection because this was his favorite from my post of all the swatches.
On his accent nail we started with OPI - Did It On 'Em because he remembered liking the colors from the Nicki Minaj collection. (I'm not kidding here, he remembered this from months ago when I posted them.)

When I painted his accent nail we discussed how the two colors were not very different. This is when he repeated the quote from this photo I reposted from Like A Candy Shop:

It was around this time in the manicure where I had to stop what I was doing and remind him of how much I love him. Boys talking about nail polish. It's too much.

He wanted blue inside his leopard spots so we used OPI - Fly to keep with the Nicki Minaj love.
The black was done with Essence - Black is Back and a dotting tool. Dan was fascinated with how I put polish on paper and dipped the tool into that to then paint onto his nails. He thinks I am a genius and I will let him continue to think that.

His accent nail also features OPI - Shatter The Scales because that is from the Spiderman collection and boys like Spiderman, so it must be appropriate for him to wear. Right?

Of course we also did a bottle-holding-shot. He likes that neon yellow.

Dan declined my suggestion that he could write the post as well but he did want to mention that he doesn't really like the shatter polish but he can "see why other people would like it." And perhaps he would like it better if it wasn't a "sparkly" shatter.

Now, be honest girls, are you impressed with his man-cuticles? I was. 
A lot of people think it is "wrong" for guys to wear nail polish but hey, it ain't no thang. Spread the polish love.

Maybe Dan will fall in love with nail art and continue to have me paint his nails. (I doubt it.)
Perhaps he would like it if I painted his thumbs glittery so they will sparkle while he is playing Mortal Kombat. (Also doubtful.)

Either way - this was a fun adventure and it has brought me many laughs. I hope you guys liked it too!

prom nail wheel

Hi everyone! Sorry for being so inactive this week - I've been working a lot at a new job but after this week it'll slow down! (Thankfully because if I keep working this hard I might die! Haha!)

I don't have time for a long post so I'm gonna show you guys an awesome nail wheel that I made for my cousin Megan who was having me do her nails for her prom. Her dress was black and her shoes were red, so I stuck to those colors and added some silver and gold for accents. Before she came over, I made this wheel so that when she came, she could easily pick what she wanted!

Tada! It was a lot of fun making this wheel.
I'll put a list of the polishes I used, but if you have any questions about a particular nail, leave 'em in the comments and I will answer you later tonight after work.

OPI - Comet Loves Cupid (all the reds)
Essence - Black is Back (all the black)
OPI - Getting Miss Piggy With It (red glitter)
China Glaze - Blonde Bombshell (gold glitter)
Essence - Make It Golden (gold glitter)
Urban Decay - Superfreak (gold)
China Glaze - Millennium (silver)
Milani - Gold Glitz (gold glitter)
Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday (rainbow glitter)
Essie - As Gold As It Gets (gold flake)
Glitter Gal - Red Sparkle (holographic red)
Lynnderella - Connect The Dots (black and white glitter)
Color Club - Nomadic In Nude (nude)
OPI - Black Shatter
OPI - Red Shatter
Sephora by OPI - Blasted Gold Shatter

Phew! That was a lot of polishes.
Megan chose to wear Glitter Gal Red Sparkle and a black accent nail with a row of red rhinestones. It looked great!

Doing wheels like this really help get my inspiration going. I hope you guys like it!

super random OPI swatch spam

Hey everyone! I've got some big, random OPI spam for your viewing pleasure today!
The last time I was doing a swatch marathon I hauled out my OPI drawer and swatched pretty much everything inside it that I hadn't already done.

There's some super old stuff, some Touring America polishes, a shatter, a Christmas polish... All thrown together. Enjoy!

OPI - Shatter The Scales

You know, the new Spiderman movie kinda bums me out. I liked the old ones! Don't change my Spidey!
And sadly, I've gotta say, the OPI Spiderman Collection is a bummer for me too.
Only one polish interested me enough to buy it - the shatter! It's a pretty awesome polish in a collection filled with "meh."

OPI - Shatter The Scales
This is a dark green shimmering shatter polish that worked pretty flawlessly for me. Sometimes shatters can be a total pain (I'm looking at you, Turquoise Shatter) but this one is easy to use.
It dries matte, but really comes alive with topcoat!

I layered this polish over OPI - Skull and Glossbones to show off its green hue the best.
I wish the other colors from this collection had been more fun! Frosty pink... streaky blue... off-white... goldy-green over-done dupe... Bleh! At least the shatter is fun.

And now for a comparison!
I had some requests for a comparison of Shatter The Scales and Teal Scales from Funky Fingers!
In the bottle, you'd think they might be pretty similar. But over white, the real difference shows!

OPI Shatter The Scales / Funky Fingers Teal Scales
As you can see, the true color of these polishes is totally different!
That being said, when you layer them over certain colors, they can look more similar.

It's hard to see them over black, but what you can see is hard to tell apart.
So, depending on the color you layer them over, they can look pretty similar, but truly they are really different! And you can totally justify having both.

OPI - Nicki Minaj Collection - swatches and review

Yo!
Today I'll be showing you a collection that I have had since like, February, but kept forgetting to swatch.

Nicki Minaj has been one of the "it girls" this last year, and she's always so colorful and fun, it's no surprise that OPI did a Nicki Minaj collection.

There are three creme colors, two glitter shades, and a pretty shimmery shatter.

Originally I just bought the mini set and the shatter, and then a few weeks ago I found the last color for just $2.50 on clearance so I picked that up too.
Let's get to the swatches!

OPI - Pink Friday
This is a great pink creme that has a great 2-coat formula. Not a super original shade but I don't think I have anything else that is bang-on.  I like this, sweet and girly but still vibrant.

OPI - Super Bass Shatter
I wore this combo as a full mani and loved it! This swatch is shown with topcoat.
The first time I tried to use Super Bass it didn't work at all (seen here) but since then I have only had good results!
I love how it shimmers.

OPI - Did It On Em
Ah, what a gross shade on my skin tone. It doesn't look so bad in the pictures but in person I absolutely hated it! It's a pretty cool color but just doesn't look good on me. I would probably still use it in nail art but not alone. This needs 3 coats for full coverage and even then can sometimes have streaks.

Super Bass Shatter over Did It On Em
No topcoat in those photos to show that Super Bass Shatter dries matte, like most shatters, if not all of them. I really didn't like these colors together, but I'm pleased with how the shatter works.

OPI - Fly
Fly is a really nice teal blue with a semi-jelly finish. Shown here at 2 coats, there's still visible nail line, but I think a third coat would cover that. Really pretty color, I dig it, but I wish it was more opaque.

Super Bass Shatter over Fly
Love this combo! Super Bass looks more red or purple depending on what you layer it over. I wish I had added topcoat to this combo because I bet the shimmer would be gorgeous!

OPI - Metallic 4 Life
OMG, love this polish. Like I said at the beginning of the post, I didn't buy this originally because I didn't think I'd like it. But when I saw it on clearance for $2.50, I had to buy it. I'll buy pretty much any OPI for $2.50. I'm so glad I did!
It's a black jelly base that is jam packed with silver glitter. There are large hexes and small squares!
For something so glittery, it's actually easy to apply, and looks good at 2 coats. Love! I have an urge to put this on my toes for some reason... I might go do that!

Super Bass Shatter over Metallic 4 Life
Okay, at first I thought this was a fail, because it looks pretty bad matte. But then I added topcoat...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Just look at that shimmer! Holy cow. I love this combo. Love!

OPI - Save Me
Save me is a glitter polish that can really only be used as a topcoat because it is not very dense. It's got silver microglitter as well as holographic bar glitter! It spreads nicely and the glitter is super blingy.
Here I've shown one coat over the 4 other colors from the collection. I like it best over Pink Friday!
You could wear 3-4 coats for a semi-opaque look but since I only have the mini, I didn't wanna do that!

Overall, this is a really cool collection with fun polishes. The cremes aren't mega original or exciting but they are cute, especially if you don't have others like them in your collection. The glitters are unique and satisfying, and the shatter is just awesome!
Nicki Minaj fans would for sure love the collection, I know my Nicki-lovin' cousin did, because I had to buy her all six polishes!

My must-haves in this collection are Super Bass Shatter and Metallic 4 Life! Totally pick those up if you don't have them already.
Which one is your fave?

Sephora by OPI swatch spam!

Second post from me today because I want to keep rolling out these swatch spam posts! I paused earlier for my Topbox review, but now we're back!

Tonight I'll be showing you the remainder of my Sephora by OPI polish collection, apart from the two new Betsey Johnson ones I got on vacation (which deserve their own post anyway.)

Let's get right to it!

Sephora by OPI - Hell to the No
This was one of my most wanted polishes for a long time! Until the lovely Rhonni found it for me in a blogsale and saved the day.
This gorgeous purple is from the Glee collection that came out last year. I wish I had all the Glee polishes! This is the only one I needed though.
It's a grape purple with gold shimmer! 3 coats to even out all bald spots.
The above photos are a little bit dark, check out the one below:

It's more the color of the bottle in this photo.
It's really amazing and I love it. A lot.

Sephora by OPI - Blasted Gold
As you can see, this is a gold shatter polish, I've layered it here over Hell To The No. It's interesting because it has some bigger gold sparkles amongst the metallic base, which are visible in the last picture especially.
I like the extra sparkly look, and it worked pretty well, so this is a winning shatter!

Sephora by OPI - Teal We Meet Again
Love love love. A deep dark teal shimmer. Great formula, just 2 coats for full coverage. 

Sephora by OPI - Blasted Opalescent
Here's something different, a sheer shatter! (Well, it was different, until they released the same polish in the Nicole by OPI range, too.) I layered it over Teal We Meet Again.
It has this awesome shimmery purple look to it, but still more subtle than usual shatters. It's cool as hell.
I found this one on clearance at the end of April in Sephora so take a look for it! (Or Opal Texture from Nicole.)

Sephora by OPI - Fancy Schmancy
I love the name of this one, it's silly. A sheer pearly white shimmer, shown at three coats. You could probably layer this too for a cool effect, but I think it would be kinda frosty.

Sephora by OPI - Go With The Flow-er
This is a hot hot red/pink glassfleck polish, which is super shiny and sparkly. It's kinda sheer and you need three coats to build it up.

Sephora by OPI - Mermaid to Order
Holy crap I love this. A teal/turquoise metallic that is so reflective, it freaked out my camera. It's a little bit streaky but I can totally forgive that for the color payoff! I adore it. Such a fun color! 2 coats to cover completely.

I'm a swatch spam machine! One day I hope to have every polish in my stash posted on this blog so I guess I'll have to do more swatch spam weeks in the future. I hope you guys don't hate these kinds of posts!
See you tomorrow with Nicole by OPI spam.