OPI Infinite Shine Spring ’16

Today I have swatches and nail art using the OPI Infinite Shine Spring  ’16 shades…

(L to R)

It’s Pink P.M. is a soft warm pastel pink creme , opaque in 2 coats.

Rose Against Time is a medium pink creme, opaque in 2 coats.

Reach for the Sky (said in Woody’s voice) is a dusty slate blue creme, opaque in 1-2 coats (2 coats shown).

Sunrise to Sunset is a warm peach toned orange creme, opaque in 2 coats.

(L to R)

Olive for Green is a rich dusty olive green creme, opaque in 2 coats.

Half Past Nude is a warm pink based nude beige creme, opaque in 2 coats.

In Familiar Terra-tory is a warm terracotta creme (appears deeper IRL), opaque in 1-2 coats.

Don’t Provoke the Plum is a slightly muted, slightly red based plum (appears darker IRL), opaque in 2 coats.

Overall: This collection is so nice and the colors are perfect for Spring. The formula is great, it applies smooth and self- levels beautifully. The colors are opaque and while you may need a 2nd coat to make it rich and even you could really get away with one coat on these. And probably the best part is they dry very glossy, no top coat was used on these swatches yet they have so much shine!

To create this look I made a stamping decal using all of the shades from this collection: I started with It’s Pink P.M. and BM S114 for the stamp then filled it in with the remaining shades, alternating colors for each finger. I have to say I think this is my first really successful stamping decal that I’ve created and I figured out some tricks that might help you if you have troubles with bubbling and other issues:

• After you pick up the stamp let it set for a minute or two to dry, if you start painting right away you may smear the design.
• On a piece of paper or other disposable/cleanable surface apply a small pool of polish to work with. Then using a small detail art brush dip into the polish and fill in your design. Using the brush straight from the bottle can sometimes be too large for detail work and it can be hard to control how much polish is applied.
• Be generous with your polish application! For this look I did NOT use a base color, the finished look is just the stamping decal by itself. You don’t want a super thick layer of polish, but you want to apply enough to equal roughly 2 coats of polish. This will not only give you better coverage, but prevents cracking and breaking that can occur with thin coats.
• Let the stamp dry. I have multiple stamping heads (more than I have fingers), which makes it easy to continue creating decals while the previous one is drying.
• Now I’m sure you’re thinking, “But why not stamp onto a stamping mat to avoid using multiple stamping heads?” The answer is: in order to remove the decal from the stamping matt it needs to be fully dry, with the method I used you only need it to be dry to the touch (if you can touch it without it sticking to your finger, or leave a fingerprint). What this means for the decal is you get better adhesion to the nail, if it is fully dry you would need to apply a base coat or color for the decal to stick, this can lead to bubbling (and since it needs to be fully dry can also lead to cracking).
• Once you’ve finished all the decals for one hand the first decal should be dry. Now take your stamping head and firmly press it down on top of your nail. I highly recommend squishy stampers  so that you can really press your nail onto the design. Then you slowly lift your finger away, if it’s not sticking to the nail re-press and try again. Once you lift away the design should be fully covered on the nail with no bubbles (if you see wrinkles the polish may not have been dry enough, and you might want to wait a bit longer before doing the rest of nails). Trim away the excess decal from the cuticle using cuticle nippers.
• Once the excess has been trimmed away, use a small brush (a size 6 shader brush works well) dipped in pure acetone to clean up around the cuticle. This also helps to “melt” the polish around the edges and seal it on.
• Finish with top coat, make sure you have a nice sized bead of top coat on the brush so that the bristles of the brush do not come in contact with the nail, this causes streaking and will ruin your design.

Hopefully those tips help you create beautiful decals! I also want to share some excited news… I recently bought a house! If you’re like me and need visual tutorials I will now have a dedicated space for videos, so I hope to start making more tutorials!! If this is a tutorial you would like to see let me =)