Swatch & addition: OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

My parents went a bit mad on the James Bond collection for Christmas 2012! (May well have had something to do with my telling them all about Severine's nails when we went to see it to be fair...) I got the mini Bondettes box as well as another box with full-size bottles, a bottle of Moonraker and of course The Man with the Golden Gun! My bestie also got me a bottle of this so I have a backup too, what a lucky girl.

On to the polish - OPI have done themselves proud again and this is an absolute stunner. Glass flecky red goodness.

Lots of pictures of this to try to capture the shimmer. Here's a good one I got, outside my lightbox:

For New Year's Eve I added an accent nail with some different sized rhinestones I got from Hobbycraft.

Unfortunately I managed to knock the wheel of these rhinestones on the floor while I was putting them on! This is a look I've wanted to try for ages as I see it loads on Instagram, particularly by Nails by Regina (check her out if you haven't seen her work - an amazingly skilled nail tech in the US). I need some sparklier rhinestones to get the look right but I think this wasn't bad for a first try :-)

NOTD: Essence Make it Golden & OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons

For this NOTD I started off with OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, a great nude shade from the Germany collection. 

I teamed it with Essence Make It Golden, which I picked up on a trip to Berlin last year. This combo was soo pretty and sparkly!

I'm going back to Berlin this spring - in about 20 days to be precise! I've been on a no-buy since the new year began but I will definitely be breaking this to pick some new polishes up while I'm over there. I've been watching all of the amazing new European polishes very closely over the last year and seriously regretting the fact that I lived in Germany before my major polish obsession began! So I can't wait to get my hands on the new design Essences, more Kikos, or any of the other great brands I've read about on lovely blogs. Watch this space for a major haul post after my trip! :D

OPI Mermaid's Tears and Bows

I did this nail art recently when I fancied doing something freehand. I looked for some inspiration in my WAH Nails Book of Nail Art (I will post about this at some point!) and settled on the 'Polka Bows', without the polka!

I started with a base of OPI Mermaid's Tears. I then used a white (can't remember exactly which but probably China Glaze White on White) to make a bow shape, before finishing them off using a Models Own nail art pen. These were reasonably easy but I still need a bit of practice on straightening out my lines, especially on my right hand! Nonetheless I got a load of compliments on these and spent a lot of time staring at them myself!

Bling appliques and OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons

I picked these appliques up from Sallys for about £7 (I think...!), made by a company called Bling. Their range are like nails wraps but mainly seemed based around rhinestones of various types. These aren't actually rhinestones, they actually seem to be clear blobs of something... But they were very sparkly and pretty in real life and looked like them, anyhow! I put these over OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons from the Germany collection. The application was okay, usual 'file over the edge' instruction which was a little difficult when the blobs were right on the edge of the nail. There was a little bit of wrinkling at the edges but it wasn't too noticeable in real life. I was left with probably just about enough wraps left over for another full application - the packet also suggests cutting them into smaller shapes which could be interesting.

I absolutely loved the look of these in real life, they looked so sparkly and pretty when they caught the light but sadly this didn't transfer to the pics! Trust me, these were gorge.

OPI Just Spotted The Lizard and Bundlemonster BM-212

Chanel Peridot was a long term lemming* of mine despite myself; this is one of those polishes with a colour and finish that I know I wouldn't have liked in my nuggle days but I now find mesmerising. My mum came home with Jessica Iridescent Eye one day (also a dupe) and that only made the lemming worse. So when OPI brought out dupetastic Just Spotted the Lizard of course I snapped it up immediately!

I used BM-212's 'peacock' design with this but on reflection that would work much better with a pinky purple! Anyhow, the OPI is beautiful and has definitively killed my Peridot lemming (leaving me free to get one of my number of other Chanel lems instead!)

*A note on lemming... I HATE this word. But there's really no better way to put it is there? x)

Ciaté Strawberry Milkshake, OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips and OPI Planks a Lot with zebra Konad stamping

In this NOTD from June I tried out a 3-colour gradient (The Nailasaurus and Kayla Shevonne have both written excellent tutorials on doing gradients). The gradient was a little shaky so of course I covered my shame with a bit of stamping! I used Konad plate M57 and Ciaté Strawberry Milkshake (light pink), OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips (bright pink) and OPI Planks a Lot (purple), all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. For stamping I'm currently using a gloopy old bottle of Barry M black.

OPI Nicki Minaj - Fly and Metallic 4 Life

For this mani I teamed two polishes from the Nicki Minaj collection, using Fly as a base and Metallic 4 Life as an accent nail on my third finger. When the collection came out I only picked up these two colours, but I now regret not getting Pink Friday as well! I've since got a bottle of Did It On 'Em on clearance at Sallys and a mini bottle of Save Me in a Lena White sale. 

OPI Planks a Lot and China Glaze CG In The City

For this NOTD from March I matched pastel Planks a Lot with a glittery accent nail. I absolutely love all of the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, such gorgeous colours! The CG is from a mini set and the coverage is great.