OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons & Stamping

I got OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons from a nail polish friend for Halloween and I wore it before but didn't blog it. I've been loving nudes lately so it made another appearance!

"Natural" Light

I used three coats of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons over Orly Bonder and sealed with Out the Door.  For the stamping, I used plate BM-323 with the Born Pretty black stamping polish. I was sooooo close to not smudging the design! Every time I do topcoat over stamping, I smudge it. I've bee able to avoid it somewhat by waiting extra long for the design to dry and by sort of "floating" the topcoat on top by waiting for a droplet to fall on the nail and smoothing it out without touching the brush to my nail; sometimes I mess it up anyways though )=

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

OPI Nude Comparisons

We all have those days, going through our stashes and you realize you have possibly three of the same polish. And you keep trying to get a certain one but you grab a near-dupe instead.  That inspired me to do a comp between three OPI polishes: Samoan Sand, Don't Pretzel My Buttons & Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

The bottle shot sort of washes them all out and makes them look nearly identical, however, on then nail and nail wheel they're a bit different.

Shown above is enough coats of each to make them opaque. Samoan Sand was nearly 6 coats or so, while the other two were three coats. I wanted to show their color; Samoan Sand appears closer to Don't Pretzel My Buttons in the bottle than it does on the nail wheel. Don't Pretzel My Buttons reminds me of band-aids, haha.

Samoan Sand, Don't Pretzel My Buttons & Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

Samoan Sand, Don't Pretzel My Buttons & Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

Nail photos are three coats of each over Orly Bonder and sealed with Out the Door.  There was some VNL with Samoan Sand that didn't quite pick up as obvious as it seemed in real life.  The other two are straight up cremes with standard application and coverage, Samoan Sand is what I'd call a sheer jelly.

Two Holo NOTDs: Chainmail Charm & All Hail the Queen

Holographic polishes make me so happy. So so so happy.  They're so pretty, eye-catching and unique.  I have two holo NOTDs to show you from this week.  Nothing fancy, they're spectacular on their own.

The first is Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm.  This is my first Diamond Cosmetic polish and I am thoroughly pleased!  I know nothing about the company or its reputation but I received this in a swap.  I basically told my swapper friend to surprise me since I didn't care what I got, I just didn't want a double. It's a beautiful charcoal almost black holo.  It may actually be black, I'm going by what my eyes see.

Two coats of Chainmail Charm over WnW Black Creme.

Stunning!

Since returning to school and having night classes, I've become semi-nocturnal and don't have much free time during daylight hours.  The beauty of this polish is surely stunted by my 'natural' light bulb but it does show most of its beauty.  Formula was great; no complaints.

My second holo NOTD is Butter London All Hail the Queen.  I had no idea this was even a holo until I put it on.  The lights at Ulta washed this out so bad in the store, and it just looked like a pretty sandy shimmer to me.  Butter London is another brand I know nothing about; I've never looked up swatches or anything.  These were simply a compulsive whim purchase on my birthday when they were having their BOGO sale. I'm glad I took the plunge!

Three coats.  The lighting does NO justice.

A lovely sandy holo. Yum!

All Hail the Queen is so unique in its own right.  I have nothing that compares and if you were going to make the $14 plunge for a Butter London, I suggest this one wholeheartedly!  This was 3 thin coats and the formula is INCREDIBLE.  No streaking, it dried fast (as most holos do) and probably could've been a 2-coater but I usually apply 3 out of habit.

Happy Happy Holos!

*This is definitely a click-to-enlarge-for-detail kind of post.