OPI Glitter-Off Peelable Base Coat Review

Every now and then you come across a beauty item that makes your life hell of a lot easier. Luckily this happened to me about a few weeks ago. I was just looking at the OPI nail polish stand in the store when I saw something that caught my interest: the OPI Glitter-Off peelable base coat. Could it be? Could it be that I found a solution?

I am a big fan of glitter nail polish, but unfortunately I never wear it all that often. This is because, and I’m sure if you’re a glitter lover you will understand, glitter nail polish is such a freakin’ hassle to remove. If I want to remove glitter nail polish I need several cotton pads that will fluff all over the place or I ruin my nail polish remover sponge trying to get the glitter off. And, when all the nail polish is removed, there is still tons of glitter stuck to my nails that I have to scratch off, which in turn damages my nails. But, lucky fellow glitter gals, OPI has offered us something that will change our lives from dull to sparkly.

How it works

It works just like a regular base coat. You apply a thin coat of this on your clean, bare nails before you apply anything else and wait for it to dry completely. It is completely dry when it becomes transparent. If you want to remove your nail polish, you simply push your nail under the edge of your nail polish et voila, it entirely comes off in one peel. There is a side note though, I’ve found that this doesn’t work on gel nails, so if you get your nails done, this doesn’t work properly. But glitter polish is easier to remove off of gel nails anyway.

Consistency

This base coat nail polish is a thick, white, glue-y kind of nail polish. It applies like a sheer white polish that will dry up to a semi-matte transparent.  It does take a couple of minutes longer to dry than a regular base coat though. And when you apply it too thick, it takes even longer to dry, about 10-15 minutes. Some parts might not even dry completely if you apply it too thick. It also smells like glue by the way.. I don’t really like the scent to be honest, glue makes me a little bit nauseous.

Because this nail polish is easy to remove in one peel, it does have a poorer lasting power. Glitter nail polish is usually known for its sustainability, but this nail polish was especially formulated to come off easily. Make sure your nails are entirely clean before applying this, preferably by cleaning them with nail polish remover. This strips the nails from any greasiness.

Should I buy it?

If you like to amp up your manicure with a little something something, like chunky glitter nail polish or liquid sand, I definitely recommend you buy this nail polish. I am not kidding if I say this has made my life lot easier. It has revived my relationship with glitter, it’s just so nice to look at. Plus it saves me a lot of time, cotton pads and nail polish remover sponges.

 If you’re not really a glitter kind of gal, you can totally skip this. Though it might still be a good base coat if you hate to remove your nail polish with remover, for example because it gives you a head ache or you’re lazy. I'd like to thank OPI for bringing this base coat on the market!! 

When SEPHORA dumped me

When SEPHORA came to the Netherlands in 2008, I knew that it would be love at first sight. And my gut feeling was spot on. When we first met, I just felt that awesome connection you know? When you just feel like everything is right and every time you see each other you get butterflies in your stomach. That’s how my relationship with SEPHORA was like. We had a wonderful time together and it was like nothing could stop us.There was not a shopping day that went by without me paying a visit to SEPHORA. And we had some pretty amazing times together. Sephora was the only store that could fulfill my Benefit, Makeup Forever, Urban Decay and Too Faced needs. It was just what I needed at the time.

Then 2 years ago, when I was surfing on some blogs, I read the most dreadful thing I had ever come across in my entire  life. "SEPHORA will leave the Netherlands!" No, no no this can´t be happening! Why? How could they do this to me? I thought we had something special, and I couldn’t think of anything I had done to screw this up. (I am not kidding, I was actually heart crushed and my eyes were watering you guys…) Reading on I saw it had something to do with: ‘the Dutch market not being ready for a store such as SEPHORA’. That’s what really hit me the hardest. What we had was about money all along..  and I got so infuriated with SEPHORA. 

Thinking about this still makes my heart ache, and to be honest, I still feel resentment towards SEPHORA. Though I can’t really act on it because every time I go to another country the first thing I do is check to see if there is a SEPHORA store nearby. And whenever there is a SEPHORA store nearby, I HAVE to visit it. When I see SEPHORA I just feel so excited and filled with joy.

It’s still my number one love when it comes to shopping and if it would ever decide to come back to me, I would accept SEPHORA back in my life with open arms. Until then, I guess I just have to wait until SEPHORA realizes that life without me sucks….

My Wishlist

So for my first “official” blogpost I decided to make a post about ma wishlist <3. Wishlists always make me so excited, especially when I add pictures of the products I so badly want to buy. I usually just write my wishlists in my notebook since I love to write lists about makeup. (I can’t be the only one, right?) But every once in a while I want to visualize my wishes and make a collage of all the products I am lemming. (When I’m done with my collage it never looks as good finished as I had imagined it though, but that’s a side-issue ^^)  

Now, for this post, I decided to divide my lists into separate topics because there are just too many things I want. This list is going to be on 5 products I can’t buy in the Netherlands and want to buy online or when I’m in a country where I can buy these brands.


1. Too Faced Chocolate bar palette

Out of all the palettes I want, I want this one the most. I don’t even think the palette is all that expensive. It costs €43 on Beautybay.com, a web shop that ships free worldwide! (Oh my gosh) If I were to buy it on the Sephora website I would have to pay €67, like what is that? The reason I want this palette is because I love neutrals, especially dark ones. From what I saw on the pictures online, this palette has a lot of deeper colors to define the crease with. Plus it smells like chocolate, hellooooo no further explanation needed, I need to know what the fuss is about :) Oh side-note though I don’t fancy the packaging.. I would have liked it if they designed a wrap instead of the bar itself. 

2. Too Faced Sweetheart Perfect Flush Blush

When I first saw these blushes at SEPHORA I had to control myself not to buy them right away. Oh Em Gee did I fall in love with these blushes the minute I saw them. I shouldn’t even have to explain why you should want these blushes. They’re heart shaped, super soft, multi colored blushes! And the packaging looks really feminine and romantic. When I was in the SEPHORA store in Barcelona the lady from Too Faced dusted the Peach Beach one on my cheeks and I just felt so good every time I looked in the mirror. This is the shade I would buy first, but to be honest, I just want them all. I just think one is enough to start with ^.^

3. Lime Crime Velvetines

Same story as with the blushes, when I saw these babies I just knew I had to buy them. The texture is what caught my eye, velvet textures just fascinate me. When they were released they only had two shades, which were both reds, so I was eager to wait for more hues to come out. For the color range right now I would have to say I have 3 shades on my wishlist; Pink Velvet, what looks like the perfect warm toned, in-your-face-but-not-too-much pink. Utopia, which is a bright purple. I’m not too sure if I am comfortable wearing this color outside a lot but I still want it. I like purple lips and it’s becoming more common so it might work out. The last shade I want is Red Velvet, what looks to me like a cool-toned deep red that reminds me a lot of Mac’s Ruby Woo. I think a lot of skin tones would suit this color. Oh and these lippies are supposed to be waterproof so I’m very keen to see if they will live up to the expectation!

4. Hourglass Ambient Blush Palette

I've heard a lot about these blushes around the internet but was never really interested in them. I not too fond of the swirled look some blushes have. I know that’s shallow but hey, I want my products to look good! However, when I saw these blushes also came in a palette, I became interested, given the price was not too high for 3 (supposedly) high quality blushes. I looked up the swatches and that’s when I knew. The colors really spoke to me, and the way these looked on these ladies’ cheeks just made me glow inside. I know it sounds corny but that’s what makeup can do with me! I am lemming the Hourglass Ambient Lighting palette as well, but I like to approach these things one thing at a time.

5. Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

I am a sucker for two types of makeup products; lipsticks and foundations. Now lipsticks a girl can never have enough of, there is always this one shade we don’t have or this one shade that would suit even better with your everyday makeup look. With foundation this isn’t exactly the case. I already have like 6 foundations and even though for some ladies that number sounds like a joke, I feel bad for every foundation that isn’t being used. There are so many makeup products I have that I don’t use but somehow with foundation, I feel bad about it. I still don’t have the feeling I have found my holy grail foundation though. I want coverage, suitable for oily skin, something that doesn’t look like I have too much foundation on but will also add a glow to my face. After some research I think this foundation might do the magic. I know it’s called sheer glow but I’ve heard ladies saying this isn’t sheer at all, so I hope this will do. The shade I think I need to get is ‘Deauville’, with both pink and yellow undertones.

So I’m really interested to hear if you have good or bad experiences with these products because of course I want to spend my money wisely!

A new Beauty Blog is born

Hi Everyone! 

I finally decided to just do it; I’m just gonna start my own beauty blog. I have been fascinated by makeup since I was 14 and not a day goes by without me thinking about it. I tried to start my own Youtube channel for four times now and every time I just stopped making video’s after a while. Thinking “What the hell am I even doing, I feel stupid talking in front of a camera and telling about my makeup because I’m not even sure if somebody will even be interested in what I have to say..” So I lost my motivation and just felt silly. But today, four failed attempts later, I still want the same things. I still want to start a beauty channel, I still love talking about makeup.

“If you so badly want to start a makeup channel in Youtube, then why start a blog?” one might think. Well, I have also been wandering with the idea to start a blog for some time, but that never really seemed like it would be something for me. It takes a lot more time and effort to run a successful blog. I didn’t think I’d have the patience and dedication for that.

However, when I reconsidered, starting a blog was actually just the perfect thing to do for me! 

To start with;  I love to write. I'm not talking about entire novels or anything like that, but just short articles for for example a school essay or about my thoughts. I have heard too many times that my style of writing is appealing, so I was sure I  had to do something with it.

Second, I love makeup. I so badly want to share my thoughts about makeup with somebody, but never really have had many friends who are interested in makeup on the same level as I am. The fact that I could be able to share it with the whole world is very exciting for me.

 And third, given the fact that my Youtube channel didn’t really work out for me, but I still want to start a 5^th time, I thought to myself: “This is more than just an impulsive desire”. I still want to make this into something successful, I AM dedicated and I AM patient. So it might be a good idea to start with a blog first. I can get comfortable ‘talking’ (or writing) to people I don’t know, and who can judge me for whatever I have to say. When I feel like I’m ready to start a 5^th time, I can just post my video on my blog. I won’t give up!!

I feel like, if you want something so bad that even after you have tried for four times and you still cannot let go of the thought of having a Youtube channel, you should just continue to try it! I’m only 20 years old, I still have so much time to figure it all out, my channel but also my blog. On this blog I will mostly post articles about makeup and reviews about product, but I would also like to post articles about stuff that’s on my mind. I already have a bunch of ideas written down so I can’t wait to get started with this new project! I have a lot of free time on my hands right now so I would love to see how this works out! :D