{Mad About Nails} Sparkly Birthday Nails!

I've had quite a few people comment on my nails in the past ask what I was using or wish I'd done a close-up so they could see better, etc., etc., and had a realization: Why not do a feature on nail polish? It's not book-related (Unless you're wearing the new HUNGER GAMES-inspired line from China Glaze, but I'm not even going into how wrong that is...), but it's fun. Plus, if I do this feature, I'll be more likely to re-paint my nails this week and less likely to let them chip their way to the bare bones (which would mean that I could see my nails...and if I see them, I want to bite them!).

Welcome back to another edition of Mad About Nails! 

This past week, I've been sporting lovely purple nails because it was my birthday and I wanted to wear whatever I wanted. And I chose purple, my favorite color! I also chose some sparkly glitter, so it looked like my nails were having a party!

I've been wanting to wear this combination since OPI's Euro-Centrale collection came out this past spring and The Polishaholic blogged about the new line and wore the two together. It was too close to my brother's wedding, though, and I was only doing cream-based colors that were easy to remove in order to have long, strong nails for the event!

For my birthday, I finally treated myself, and this was the result:

I don't have a video for you this week because the weather's been bad on the days I could film, and I've actually gone and re-painted my nails orange now, so sadly, you can't see the way this sparkles in the light. ;_;

But here's what I did:

These two are POWERHOUSES for
long-lasting manicures!  One lasted
1.5 weeks, the other for 2!!!

I started off with a basecoat of ORLY "Bonder."  Many of the professional nail studios use this as a basecoat when doing nails for their clients.  It's a rubberized coat that helps polish adhere to the nail.  It stinks, but it's great!

I finished everything with a top coat of Revlon's "Quick Dry Top Coat."  I'd heard it was a rival for the legendary Seche Vite, but with fewer harsh chemicals.  It also doesn't go bad in the bottle or shrink when used.  I was intrigued, and so far, this stuff is FABULOUS.

Together, this combo has made my nails last, on average, 1.5 to 2 weeks. They're both awesome!

These are stock images from online because even today,
the weather isn't good enough for photography.
It's a shame, because you can't see the sparkle in either color!

For my base color:

I started out with three coats of OPI "You're Such A Budapest" from this spring's Euro-Centrale Collection. This polish is sheer and streaky unless you build it up, so the formula wasn't perfect. It took three coats to look good.
On the surface, this is just another spring pastel lilac, but in bright sunlight, there is a subtle shimmer to the polish that adds some intrigue!

For my design:

Next, I added one coat of OPI "Polka.Com" from this spring's Euro-Centrale Collection.

This glitter is so much fun! I also only needed one coat. You get a lot of glitter on the brush. There were a couple of nails where I went back and added a little more, but that's because I was initially stingy with the brush.  The glitter is a nice mix of complimentary blue and purple, and looks great over the pale purple base.

My only quibble with glitter is that I always hate taking off, even though I use this great Acrylic Ridged Remover Pot from Rite-Aid that I'll have to post about sometime!

 Is anyone else obsessed with nail polish? What are you wearing right now?