OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Suede topped with CoverGirl City Lights

 OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Suede (1 coat)

topped with CoverGirl City Lights (1 coat)

I needed a quick mani last night and remembered that the OPI Suede line usually worked well, as they dried super fast and usually covered in just one coat. Sadly, LPAD Suede was a bit thick so I added some thinner, and I think I did't let it mix well enough because I wasn't very happy with the uneven mani I got.

As I have done in the past, I grabbed my old favorite CoverGirl City Lights for a rescue! LOVE this!

Sparkles Save a Bad Mani

Cover Girl Boundless Color in City Lights (1 coat) (sorry, discontinued!)

over

Sephora Formula X in Prophecy (2 coats)

 

Do you ever do a mani, and something just goes so so wrong? This mani seemed to be a lost cause (more on that in a minute), but just one coat of a holo glitter saved the day! I am sad that City Lights is discontinued, but there are two others that are easy to find and work in quite the same way: China Glaze Fairy Dust and Out The Door Northern Lights Silver Hologram Top Coat. Swatch and Learn has a great comparison post here.

 

Anyway, back to my failed mani. A few weeks ago I read beautygeek's review of the Sephora Formula X Brushed Metallics line and I knew I had to have Prophecy. You've got to check out her pic! It's amazing.

 

But on me..... it crackled! It was so very strange. I used my normal base of NailTek II, which I guess the Sephora X did not play well with. The first coat of Prophecy was very streaky but I figured the second coat would even it out. No! The second coat made it crackle! Just like the crackles of a few years ago. I was so frustrated, and I was late and I was tired and wanted to get to bed. I grabbed my trust bottle of Cover Girl City Lights, which has saved me before, and let it work the magic. I ended up loving how this mani turned out.

 

I'll have to try Prophecy again, I guess with a different base. Anyone had better luck with something else?

 

 

NOTD: OPI Dim Sum Plum topped with Cover Girl City Lights

OPI Dim Sum Plum (2 coats)

topped with Cover Girl City Lights (1 coat)

Cover Girl City Lights is a mani fixer! Saturday night I planned a mani using OPI Dim Sum Plum (an untried from a few years ago) but I think I've got a bad bottle of NYC Grand Central Station because when I applied GCS as a topcoat, the mani went bad. All of the sudden, there were brush strokes and bubble galore.

But I remembered that a nice holo glitter can cure most any issue, so I slapped it on there and was so happy with the result.

NOTD: Dermelect Renegade topped with Covergirl Disco Dazzle

Dermelect Renegade (2 coats)

topped with Covergirl Disco Dazzle (2 coats)

This glitter topcoat is at least 5 years old, and you can probably see that I had a hard time getting the hex glitters out. They had all sunk to the bottom...... After I did this mani, I turned the bottle upside down and left it for a few days and now it's mixed together better. Still, I liked it and it gave my days-old mani a new look, which is fun and a great trick when you are short on time.

 

Disclosure: The Dermelect shade was provided for review purposes.

Dr.'s Remedy PASSION Purple w/ Cover Girl City Lights

Dr.'s Remedy PASSION Purple

topped with Cover Girl City Lights

After my success last time I used City Lights over blue, I had to try it again. And I really like it over purple too!

Disclosure: The Dr's Remedy polish was sent to me for review purposes. The Cover Girl polish was purchased by me.

NOTD: Sephora by OPI Countdown to the Kiss plus bonus

Sephora by OPI Countdown to the Kiss

from the Glimmer Wonderland Collection

Oh, it was a blustery day yesterday! Absolutely no sun, ugly cloudy, and rainy. Absolutely no chance for a good outside pic. Such a shame because this was quite a pretty shade! It's an opaque royal blue with medium glitter that is a bit lighter blue.

I had some time last night before bed, and one of my nails broke a bit so I spent some time filing them down. Then I decided to try topping it with a Cover Girl sparkle topcoat that I picked up a few years ago, but hadn't had a chance to try.

Sephora by OPI Countdown to the Kiss

topped with Cover Girl City Lights

WOW! Isn't that pretty in the sun? This may be my new favorite topper. I can't stop staring at my nails! I added two coats of the CG sparkle topcoat and then topped it with SV.

A Little Topcoat Magic

OPI for Sephora How Many Carats?

topped with Cover Girl Boundless Color Ruby Dust Sparkle Topcoat

This Saturday there was craziness at my house and although I needed a new mani, there just wasn't time! I remembered that I had just purchased a few of the Cover Girl Sparkle Topcoats so I picked out the Ruby Dust one and gave it a try.

I think it turned out pretty and it gave my few-day-old mani 2 extra days of wear. That sparkle was tough to remove though- I am going to try the MUA nailboard method of using felt next time I use something that sparkly!