CND Vinylux & OPI Spring 2014

I’ve been reading a lot of nail related blogs lately, and it’s been quite enjoyable!  Most of them swatch polish/lacquer lines and give the readers their opinions on wearability (difficulty to use, how many coats it took to get the correct color, etc.).

Considering all of the spring collections are out, I thought I’d share a couple of links I enjoyed.  I decided to go with the 2 most popular brands that are carried in the local salons.  After all, why recreate my own when these lovely ladies have already done a beautiful job?!

• First up there’s Cynthia at Of Life And Lacquer.  I really loved all the swatches that she did of the new OPI Brazil Collection Spring/Summer 2014.  It contains not only the full 12 shade in the regular collection but the 4 liquid sand shades as well!  We currently have the 12 color display at No. 7 Salon and Spa, but my mini liquid sand set is still unfortunately on backorder from my local supply store.  Grrr
• Next I have Karen from BeautyGeeks with her swatches of The Open Road Collection of Vinylux by CND.   Although I find her swatches and the colors themselves to be beautiful, I disagree with her review of wear that she did in a different post.  As a Nail Professional for almost 16 years and a user of CND Vinylux since day 1, I have consistently had amazing results on my clients!  For a review similar to my results with Vinylux, check out Michelle from All Lacquered Up!

So what do you think of the OPI Brazil Collection and the CND Open Road Vinylux Collection for spring 2014?  Will you wear any of them?  Which are your favorite?

Feeling Blue on a Wall of Color

Right now I’m happily having a pedicure by my co-worker, Vanessa.  But thanks are actually due to my client who canceled on me at the last minute! 😉 Now if you are in the salon world, you are well aware that YOU are the last one to have your services done.  That being said…I was well overdue!  Of course the hard part is always picking out the perfect color that I will be able to live with for the next month (if not longer).

As you can see there are too many options, and the pic above only depicts 2 racks out of the 3 in the salon.  And I can’t forget the fall OPI collection titled San Francisco!  I usually pick one of CND’s Vinylux colors because they stay on soooo well, but today I am torn between 4 shades from the OPI San Francisco collection…

(From left to right) Incognito In Sausalito, Keeping Suzi at Bay, Dining at Al Frisco, and Haven’t the Foggiest

I still haven’t quite determined which to live with for the next month, but I’m leaning towards blue apparently!   Does anyone else have this problem of the ‘life or death’ polish decision???

Discontinued Color Fun #2

Sorry it has taken me so long to move on to another post in this series!  Tomorrow will actually be 1 month since the first post in this series, which is extremely sad.  Now for my excuse…My husband and I just bought our 1st home on May 31st!!!  So you can imagine that I’ve been a bit preoccupied with moving, organizing, changing my address on EVERYTHING and definitely not polishing my own nails!  lol

BUT I did happen to have #2 done before I signed the papers.  The problem was having internet installed at the new house to be able to utilize my laptop!  With that being said, lets get on with the polish…

I decided to use OPI’s Do You Think I’m Tex-y? from their Texas Collection.  Several of the colors from that collection were discontinued after the first year.  Supposedly, they were to have a ‘sorbet’ look instead of the regular look that we all know and love.  I assume, being that they were short lived, I was not the only one out there who wasn’t a big fan of this concept.

To get my nails to look the way that they do in the above picture, I had to use 3 coats of Do You Think I’m Tex-y? so that I could not see through it (the ‘sorbet’ look).  Next I wanted to do some polka dots on a couple of my nails with Cina’s black nail art pen. ( My main concern with that tool is that the paint floods out once you get it to start!)  This would be why you can see only 1 nail with polka dots.  I had fill my ring finger nail in completely!  😉  Actually I like the way it turned out better than my original plan.  What do you think?

Discontinued Color Fun #1

I decided that the giant bin of discontinued nail polish in my daughters’ bathroom was being neglected. Sooo, I’m going to try to “play” with them once a week to prove…they may not be good enough to still be on the shelves, but they haven’t lost their shine! 🙂

For today’s experiment, I used the following…
Mermaid’s Tears from OPI’s Pirates of the Caribbean collection on all but my ring fingers.
OPI’s Cuckoo For This Color on my ring fingers.
Then I polished 1 coat of I Juggle…Men from OPI’s Cirque Du Soleil collection over all of them for an ever so slight shimmer.

What do you think?

Christmas Nails

OPI Nail Polish Names…How Do They Do It???

If you’ve ever wondered how OPI comes up with all of those fun polish names…then you MUST read this article!!!

An interview with OPI’s Suzi Weiss-Fischmann | LOULOU Editors Blog.

OPI Changing Owners & Possible Fallout?!

Here are a couple interesting links from a man who is part of the family that created CND.  He was still working there 5 years after Revlon acquired them.  These links are his opinions (based on past experiences) on what may happen with the recent acquisition of OPI by Coty…

http://www.famousnamesproducts.com/News/Jims-Thoughts-on-the-Aquisition-of-OPI-by-Coty

http://www.famousnamesproducts.com/News/Jims-Thoughts-on-the-OPI-Aquisition-by-Coty-Part-Two

Please share any comments or concerns you have over this interesting purchase!  I for one have a bad feeling about it!

How Do They Come Up With These Names???

My clients love to ask me, “How do they come up with the names of the nail polish?”  Well here are some excerps of an article on that subject from NAILS Magazine May 2005…

At Essie Cosmetics, Essie Weingarten and her team come up with six new polish shades every 90 days.  “Clients always want to see something new,” she explains.  Her team comes up with a theme for the collection and she comes up with the innovative polish names.  “We let the colors dictate where we’re going (with the theme).  It can be a city, musical instruments or flowers,” she says.

Over at CND (Creative Nail Design), they work on the company’s collections at least a year in advance!  They’ve worked on as many as four collections at once!!!  Their director of marketing, retail brands, says that fashion plays a key role in what each color collection will be like.  “Whatever the styles, fabrics and colors that are going to be popular or designers are showing help dictate our collections,” she says.

At OPI, their collections begin with a map and a vivid imagination!  First an exotic geographic location is selected that captures the season and spirit of the collection.  Then the shades are chosen.  These shades must capture the essence of the region, as well as the time of year.  OPI employees are invited to help come up with names for the shades.   As many as 500 polish names are added to a list.  A small group of people then decide on the final names!

The marketing assistant for China Glaze says she’s always looking for ideas to inspire her.  “We’re inspired by fashion trends, movies, maybe an article we read.  We probably work six months to a year in advance…it’s an ever-evolving process.”