China Glaze Cords stamped over OPI Mrs O'Leary's BBQ

We're having a BBQ tomorrow, so I wanted to wear my untried OPI Mrs O'Leary's BBQ. Sadly by itself it looked really dark on me, so I decided to lighten it up with a little stamping using China Glaze Cords.

I used one of the new Bundle Monster plates, BM19. Unfortunately, the full nail designs are a bit smaller than the Konad ones (which already are a tad small for me), so I had to stamp each nail twice (the thumb even four times!). This was quite tricky.



I'll be using my right hand for a while in pics, since my left hand suffered two casualties during a work related incident -- two of them broke while moving my desk :(

China Glaze Nail Wheels

Here are the first China Glaze wheels. 3 coats each, no base or top coat. In order of purchase :)

Zoya Nail Wheels

Today I'm posting my Zoya nail wheels, I figured this would come in handy with the ongoing nail polish exchange. Again, these are 3 coats, no base or top coat, and in order of purchase. Click for larger size.

OPI green label is not B3F

As I was doing research on the whole B3F subject, I found an old newspaper article about the use of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in nail polishes. The European union has banned the use of this chemical in 2004, and has forced OPI to remove the chemical from their formula on the European market. However, OPI stated that they would not change the formula in the US, since the chemical at the time was not banned by the FDA.

This sparked my interest in the differences in formula between the different markets. Being from the Netherlands, I used to fork over 13.50 euros for one bottle of OPI. Now that I live in the US, I only pay $8.50. I always thought this was just a clever marketing strategy, the result of exchange rates, and export costs (since OPI polish is made in the US). Now I am actually thinking there might be more to it.

I wanted to compare the ingredients between the US nail polishes, and the European ones. Luckily I still have a bottle of one of my favorite colors, Rosy Future, which I bought in Helsinki, Finland in 2006. I also have a backup bottle of this color, bought here in the US just last month. Both of them have the green label, which always was thought to be B3F. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that it in fact was not!

On the left is the US version, on the right the European version:


As you can see, the production code on the label is different:


And the ingredients are quite different too -- toluene is the top ingredient in the US version:


Might it be that the difference in formula has something to do with the dramatic price differences? And how come the green label in the US has toluene? OPI you have some explaining to do..

OPI Nail Wheels - Part Two

Part two of OPI. I used no base or top coat, and layered each polish three times. All images are clickeable for larger size.

OPI Nail Wheels - Part One

For my own sanity, I decided to swatch all my current colors on nail wheels since I kept losing track, and forgot how different some colors look on the nail vs in the bottle. I'll start with posting the first four OPI wheels for now. I used no base or top coat, and layered each polish three times. All images are clickeable for larger size.







Oh, and in case you're wondering what order these are in: I thought long about this and first wanted to sort them by color, but I didn't want to have to change them all the time. So I decided to sort them by order purchased, this way I have a nice overview of my color progress. The colors on OPI wheel A were all purchased in 2006 and 2007 :)

Stay tuned for more OPI, China Glaze, Zoya and other nail wheels over the next few days :)

Gorgeous Glitters Giveaway! [CLOSED]

Thank you all for participating, this giveaway is now closed. The winners will be announced soon.

It's time to celebrate my return to bloggerland (and the launch of my side-project, the OPI database), so I am giving away three of my favorite (unused and brand new) glitters!

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (ok, technically not really a glitter)
OPI Absolutely Alice
Zoya Mimi



These are the rules:

1. To enter the giveaway, you have to be a follower of my blog.
2. You can enter only once by replying to this post, and tell me you are a follower.
3. Leave your e-mail in the same post, so I will know who you are and how to contact you.
5. Tell me which of the three polishes you would like to win.

To earn extra (one time only) entries, you can do each of the following, and tell me about each of them in a separate comment:
- Follow me on Twitter (@ainnir), tweet about the giveaway, and post a link to your Twitter page (one entry)
- Blog about this giveaway and post a link to your blog (one entry)
- Put my blog in your blogroll and post a link to your blog (one entry)
- Tell me what your all-time favorite polish is and why (one entry)

The giveaway ends June 3, at noon pacific time. Three winners will be selected, who each will receive one of the three polishes. I will contact the winners via e-mail, and announce them on this blog by June 6. If you do not respond to this e-mail within 48 hours, I will select an alternate winner.

That's it, good luck! :)

OPI Nail Lacquer Database

As some of you might know, I am a collector of OPI polishes. To make my life easier (and yours), I have been working on a database that contains all known shades, collections and bottle codes. It's still a work in progress, and still a lot of information is missing, but if you guys want to check it out you can find it here: OPI Nail Lacquer Database

Let me know what you guys think :)

And if you have any additions or corrections, please use the contact form on the bottom of the database website, thanks!

Polish storage?

For a long time I was searching for the best way to store my growing collection of polishes. When I hit the 250 mark last month, I decided to get one of the highly recommended Helmers. While it did fit all my polishes, I didn't like how the polishes were hidden away in drawers and I had to rummage through them to find the right color.

So I decided to order four of the acrylic 90 polish display racks from Allure Nail Supply (free shipping!), and combined them with some bookcase lights from Ikea:


In the end I will probably end up storing only OPI and China Glaze in the wall display, and all the others in my Helmer (tucked away on the right side of the bed).

I always like to look at pretty collections and I'm always curious to see how everybody stores their stash, so please, do post pictures/links to your collections!

Anyway, I haven't updated my blog in quite a while, life has been pretty busy with my new job and all. But I will start posting again soon, and show more of the old OPIs I've managed to get my hands on :)