OPI Liquid Sand: Quick Pics & Review

The latest trend in nail polishes is the textured polish, which seems to translate into "makes your fingernails feel like they've been covered in sand paper".  This might partially explain why OPI decided to make their new finish Liquid Sand.  For me, I really like how this type of polish looks but I don't particularly like my nails feeling so gritty and scratchy that I'm afraid to rub my eye for fear of cutting my corneas.  Here's some photos of what I've picked up so far:

Stay The Night from the Mariah Carey Collection

Never a fan of the singer's music but at any rate, I still very much like this polish with it's glitter that lacks all the sparkles which usually comes with a glitter polish.  If they made a version of this with orange glitter in it, I'd buy it in a heartbeat because it would like the the lava and ash from a volcano.

Jinx from the 007:The Bond Girls Collection

I hadn't planned on buying Jinx but when I saw it in the store, I couldn't resist it.  Its coral/orange/gold tones are a perfect summer shade and I'm going to be keeping this one on my toes for a while.  Mainly because Liquid Sand polishes take more time to remove than the more traditional polishes and I've found that using pure acetone is the best way to remove them.

Vesper from the 007:The Bond Girls Collection

This one was the shade I had originally stepped into the store for.  It almost looks like mud in the bottle and lacks reflective properties but I'm still found of it.  I love a deep dark purple.

What Wizardry Is This? from the Oz: the Great & Powerful Collection

You know what other colour I like?  That's right...Green!  What Wizardry is This? is more of a khaki and despite being a dark colour, it has lots of sparkle to it.  I took a purposely blurred photo to emphasis that fact.

What Wizardry Is This? from the Oz: the Great & Powerful, Out of Focus

I've noticed a few nail bloggers have found the dry time on Liquid Sand polishes are very long but I've found my experience to be different.  These polishes dry to a matte like finish which usually dry quicker than a more traditional polish does and that made these my "go to" polishes during tax season when I worked a lot of overtime and did have much "me" time.  I also like that they stick to your nails like glue and can wear them for up to a week at a time and not see a single chip.  Tip wear, yes but no chips!

So I'm not sure how long this trend will last. It wasn't long ago every polish company was rushing out "crackle" polishes that are now heavily populating clearance bins or magnetic polishes that are collecting dust on store shelves.  I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts....

The Amazing Spiderman Colours from OPI

Ahem...Glad to get that off my chest, again.  The Amazing Spiderman could turn out to be a perfectly acceptable movie but it's going to take me a really long time to find out if it is because of Andrew Garfield and his yucky behind...he just turns me off so damn hard...

Thank Goodness I didn't get turned off by OPI's Amazing Spiderman Collection though.  I wasn't looking too forward to the latest of the movie polish tie-in's since I found the quality of OPI polish in the past year to be significantly lacking.  It appears to be turning around because this collection seems to have gotten back to the kind of polish quality I'd come to expect from the company.

Call Me Gwen-Ever is a bright coral creme that is so pigmented that it went on streak free and almost opaque in just one coat.  And that's exactly how many coats I'm wearing in the photo above...one!  How's that for a big step back up to quality?  Now I've got to admit that Orange is not my favourite colour by a longshot:  I don't enjoy looking at it but I actually look fantastic in the colour so I've got a lot of it in my closet and in my makeup drawer. The one thing that I don't like about CMGE is it's name.  Considering the fate of Gwen Stacey in the Silver Age comic, well, Call Me Gwen-NEVER if that's what you consider "saving" some one's life...

WHOOPSIES!!!

Number One Nemesis is a dark green shimmer that needs at least three coats if you want to achieve a smoother and even coat.  It's pretty but it's way too thin and sparse that I can't really say that I'd recommend it highly.

But Into the Night is another story all together.  I absolutely love this colour!  A dark blue shimmer that otherwise defies a more detailed description for it.  It has the same kind of application issues as NON but it's so damn pretty I couldn't stop looking at my nails when I was wearing it.  That's hardly productive but come on, look at it.  I did not expect to love it so much.

Yeah, so I'd probably see the new Spidey if that Garfield guy didn't make my ladyparts dry up.  But if you read this blog, you already know what I like...Hey everybody!!!  What's green, has two horns coming out of his head and touches himself whenever I think about him?

Yeah Baby...Just Like That!

Prescott Coral C by Elizabeth Arden

If there's a brand that I never hear anyone blogging about, it's Elizabeth Arden cosmetics.  They've been lingering around department stores and pharmacies for years now doing nothing except conjure up visions of your Grandma's dresser, all stocked up with some of the most run of the mill or "classic" items like Chanel #5 or Red Door.  Not to say these are bad things (grandmas are awesome!) but let's just face the fact that nobody thinks of Elizabeth Arden products and says to themselves "Boy, that brand is really fresh and current!"

I could also say the same thing about the polish that my sister is sporting in this photo, Prescott Coral C.  It's a bright coral creme that looked a lot pinker in the bottle than it did on my sister's nails.  She had really liked the polish in the bottle but once it was on her nails, she hated it!  Of course, loving or hating a colour is pretty much subjective and depends on what your tastes are.  However, there's nothing subjective about quality and our experiences with  EA polishes isn't turning out too great.  I've recently discovered that the macro function on my camera is not working anymore but that doesn't disguise the rampant bubbling that this EA polish had.  Honestly, if you saw her nails in the flesh, you would have thought that her nails had a rash!  I've got a few more EA polishes in my collection that I haven't tried out yet but considering the strike outs that we've been experiencing so far, I'm not that eager to get around to trying them at this point.  They're like the Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of nail polish:  You may think your getting Harrison Ford & Cate Blanchett but you're really just getting cold, leftover LaBeouf!

Audience Expectations...

Actual Results...

Actual Audience Reaction!