The Gwen Stefani for OPI Holiday Collection consists of 12 nail polishes plus a 6 piece nail effects collections (mainly glitter toppers) AND a special 18k Gold Top Coat. Now that is a lot of money to buy all of those polishes! The overall collection is quite boring with a few that are similar to other OPI shades (released in 2014) plus a lot of reds. I picked my 6 favourites that I believe to be unique... at least to my collection!

Overall Comments: My Picks include a mix of shimmers, cremes and even a glitter topper! Like most OPI polishes, the formulas were amazing and fully opaque in just 2 coats! I like to think that I picked some of the unique shades in this collection. Surprisingly the glitter topper was my favourite... I usually hate wearing glitter!

Nail Polish Review - piCture pOlish October 2014 Collaborations (My Picks)

Today I have swatches and a review of the piCture pOlish October 2014 collaboration shades... well only 3 out of the 7 that were released. I love how piCture pOlish gives bloggers a chance to create their own shade and of course every single blogger is so creative in coming up with a beautiful concept!

Overall Comments: I really love the signature scatter holographic nail polishes by piCture pOlish and I was happy to see that formula used for cyan and Paris! I also love a good glitter crelly and I was happy to see a beautiful mint green version.

Stamping Plate Review - Bundle Monster CYO 2014

Hi Everyone!

You may remember that I recently shared some amazing news... 2 of my submissions were selected by Bundle Monster for the 'Create Your Own' 2014 stamping plate set. Bundle Monster sent me two sets and so I am hosting my very first giveaway at the end of this post!

Golden Bows Nail Art

Another look featuring the essie Winter 2014 Collection?! Yes, because I am really loving these pink-red girly shades paired with the white gold foil. I am loving the gradient that is the base for this otherwise simple stamped nail art.

Princess Roses Nail Art

For today's nail art post, I tried a new-to-me technique! I have really been working on improving my stamping skills and for this look I decided to try stamping with more than just 1 colour! I selected polishes that were similar in colour but ranged in terms of lightness to darkness to create the gradient stamping.

I knew right away that I wanted to use polishes from the essie Winter 2014 Collection as they are perfect for creating a beautiful gradient! And the white crelly from the same collection is the perfect base for my gradient stamping.

Nail Polish Review - Essie Winter 2014 Collection (Part 2)

PART 1: Click HERE for Part 1 of the Essie Winter 2014 Collection.

I am really excited to post these swatches today! I have been waiting for the second half of this collection for a few weeks and I have also prepared a few nail art looks using this collection, which I will be posting later this week! Part 1 contained all the lighter crèmes and the one foil shade in this collection. This half focuses on the brighter and darker crèmes.

Overall Comments:

I am going to repeat what I said in Part 1... I don't immediately think of Winter when I look at this collection. However, I think that it is a beautiful collection of crèmes and very chic! These shades can be used not only during the holiday season, but whenever you are dressing up for any occasion. There is a shade of peach/pink for everyone, ranging from a barely-pink white to a dark-red with strong pink undertones. In terms of formula, all three crème shades had the perfect buttery-smooth formula with easy application, great self-levelling properties and a glossy finish.

Nail Polish Review - Essie Luxeffects 2014 - Summit of Style

The luxeffects line is a collection of glitter top coats that can be worn over any essie nail colour to add some sparkle and dazzle! This holiday season (2014), essie is releasing 2 new luxeffects shades (press release here)... 1 that is yellow gold and another in bronze.

Click HERE to see my swatch and review of rock at the top, the other 2014 Luxeffects shade.

summit of style: a bronze glitter top coat

Colour: Bronze | Finish: Glitter | # of Coats: 1 | Topcoat: No | Rating: 10/10

Layered Over: tuck it in my tux (swatch and review) from the essie Winter 2014 Collection

Comments: I have always loved the luxeffects glitter topcoats and I am super excited to add this bronze version to my collection. I only applied a single coat and you can see that the glitter payoff is great. I can see myself layering this over other shades to bring some sparkle and interest especially with the upcoming holiday season. I wish I had swatched it over black... I think it would have been easier to see the contrast in colour.

The glitter top coats in the luxeffects line all have the same formula and glitter composition in terms of shapes and size and what I love most about these is that they usually just feature one glitter colour.

What do you think of this beautiful bronze glitter? Will you picking up a bottle? I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments!

- Hetal

My WINNING Designs - BM "Create Your Own" 2014 Collection

I have some very exciting news to share with you today! A while back, I heard from Bundle Monster one or more of my submissions had been chosen to be included in the 2014 "Create Your Own" nail stamping set and I was very excited to find out which one(s)!

This past weekend they released their entire collection and I am so happy to find out that TWO of my designs were selected. I still haven't received my sample sets but once I do, I will definitely host a giveaway for the extra set.

So do you want to see which ones were chosen?

So both my designs are on plate BM-605 which you can purcahse individually here for $1.99 or as part of the entire collection here for $12.99.

The design on the top is inspired by traditional Kenyan War Shields... for those of you that don't know, I grew up in Kenya and lived there for 13 years before moving to Canada. Here is my hand-drawn submission of the design:

The design on the bottom is inspired by a popular nail art technique... stained glass. I wanted to make it simple to add those shapes onto your nail and use the leadlight technique or reverse stamping to colour each of the shapes. However, I blocked off some of the shapes with lines to add a graphic quality to them. Here is my hand drawn submission of the design:

Hope you like my designs and I'd love to see how you use these stamps in your nail art! So don't forget to tag me either on Facebook or Instagram (@mylifeinturquoise) or send me an email!

- Hetal