OPI - "Love is a Racket"

Tonight's post includes a review and pictures of one of OPI's newest shades, "Love is a Racket". LIAR (Oh my! I didn't realize that was the acronym that would appear! Maybe I'll keep referring to it by it's full name!) is from the recent and final Serena Williams Glam Slam duo called Glam Slam USA. The other color in this duo is "Pros and Bronze". I bought this duo at my favorite local beauty supply store, but I've seen it at Ulta and Beauty Brands as well. They retail for around $14.25.


"Love is a Racket" is a bright reddish-pink glass fleck polish. If "Ali's Big Break" and "Let Me Entertain You" (both from OPI's 2010 Burlesque Collection) were mixed together, I *think* this is what you'd get. 


I have to be honest, this is just too "flashy" for me. I love a good glitter or a good glass fleck polish, but I just don't think bright reds/fuchsias look that great on me; kinda the same way I felt about another recent glass fleck polish by OPI, "Be A Dahlia Won't You?". I don't know, they just aren't "me". So, yet another bottle that will probably end up in the swap/blog sale pile! Man, this pile is really starting to grow! I've kinda been striking out these past few times, but I'm bound to find a new favorite one of these days!


After only wearing this a few hours and trying to take it off (with Remove +), I noticed some pretty bad staining. So, I'd recommend wearing at least a base coat (maybe 2 coats, just to be safe) before applying this.


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy, Soft & Thin Formula
2 coats of OPI's "Love is a Racket"
China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

Which Serena Williams duo has been your favorite so far? I'd have to say mine's been the one that included "Grape...Set...Match" and "Servin' Up Sparkle" (although, I have yet to do a full mani with either of these, but it's comin', I promise!

Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone! I doubt I'll be back any more this week, and the earliest I'll probably do another post is Sunday or Monday. So, enjoy the weekend! 

Katie

OPI "Be A Dahlia Won't You?" and "I Lily Love You"

Hey, kids! I'm back! It's been almost a MONTH since my last post! But I hope to be "back to normal" now! I've got a lot of catching up to do! 


Over the past weekend, I saw that my local beauty supply store had BOTH of the new Serena Williams' duos AND the Nice Stems! collection! So naturally, I HAD to  splurge! I ended up with both the SW sets and "I Lily Love You" and "Be A Dahlia Won't You?" The other 2 colors from the NS collection didn't do much for me.


My 1 day, 1 store haul over the weekend:

I know I over-did it, but I had SO much fun! :-)

So tonight, I wanted to share pictures of BADWY with you. After I was done with this mani, I decided to add 1 coat of ILLY just to see how the two looked together. To be honest, I wish I had left well enough alone! I LOVED the look of BADWY. I really think BADWY will be the PERFECT summer pedi color (next to Cajum Shrimp, of course!). I never owned "Kinky in Helsinki", but I've heard that if you loved it, you'll really love BADWY (apparently they're almost perfect dupes!). But then I had to go and add ILLY to it, and it just didn't work for me. I really think ILLY will look great over a dark polish, but it's just too "busy" over a hot pink. What do you think?


I'd describe "Be A Dahlia Won't You?" as a hot pink/fuchsia semi-foil polish. It was super-duper easy to apply. I was pleased with the results after 2 coats. What I also appreciated about this polish, was that it was easy to clean up. When I do my clean up, I use a small concealer brush and dip it in acetone to clean around my cuticles. Some polishes are a nightmare to clean up, but this one wasn't! 


"I Lily Love You" is kind of like "Teenage Dream's" big sister. A brighter pink clear jelly with TONS of glitter and glass flecks. Besides it not looking so great over BADWY (my opinion), it is a little chunky. It might be best to use a top coat over it (which I didn't in this mani).


Application:
Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
2 coats of OPI "Be A Dahlia Won't You?"
1 coat of CND Speedey
1 spritz CND Solar Speed Spray

Here are pictures of 1 coat of "I Lily Love You" added:

(The glitter and glass flecks in ILLY were very difficult to capture in pictures!)

Thanks for taking the time to read tonight's post! Hope you're all doing well and enjoying your summer so far!

-Katie