OPI California Dreaming Collection Poppies in Infinite Shine

California's where I grew up. It was a small town in South East California, but it shaped me as a person, and I'm glad that's where I grew up. California is a colorful state from all angles, so OPI's California Dreaming collection is unsurprisingly full of bright shades! This summer collection boasts lots of pinks, corals and reds. Growing up in California, I associate the bright orange California poppy with the state, so after seeing Santa Monica Beach Peach, I knew the nail art I wanted to do.

A Poppy of Color

A Poppy of Color

I call this nail art "A Poppy of Color" and it's all drawn freehand! Apparently California poppies are popular tattoo designs, so I used tattoo sketches as inspiration and guidance for the nail art. But it was all truly inspired by the color, so let's see the swatches on their own.

Each of the swatches below is in the OPI line called Infinite Shine, which is a hybrid polish that's not a lacquer, but not a gel. Though you don't need a light to dry the polish like a gel, it wears longer and dries more quickly, unlike like a lacquer. So it's a hybrid polish. The line definitely lasts longer than a regular polish, and it definitely dries more quickly.

OPI - Barking Up the Wrong Sequoia

Barking Up the Wrong Sequoia (2 coats) is a sandy pink creme shade. It's a beautiful semi-nude that covers nicely but still feels feminine like some of the sheers.

OPI - Don't Take Yosemite for Granite

Don't Take Yosemite for Granite (2 coats) is a dark purple-d slate grey chrome with glints of rainbow shimmer - it's more unique than it initially appears in the bottle. Plus it has the best name, hands down. OPI must've hired more dads, because the dad jokes are out of control!

OPI - Excuse Me, Big Sur!

Excuse Me, Big Sur! (2 coats) is a muted, fleshy pink creme. It's the color of my skin when I'm healing from a sunburn.

OPI - Feeling Frisco

Feeling Frisco (2 coats) is a light, skin-toned beige creme. I've been wearing it on my toes, and it beautifully tans my feet in an optical illusion.

OPI - GPS I Love You

GPS I Love You (2 coats) is a bright hot pink creme, very similar to an OPI classic, Strawberry Margarita. In fact, I've held the colors up next to one another, and couldn't find a difference.

OPI - Malibu Pier Pressure

Malibu Pier Pressure (2 coats) is a hot bubblegum pink creme.

OPI - Me, Myselfie & I

Me, Myselfie & I (2 coats) is a bright orange-coral, soft creme, though it's not a harsh bright.

OPI - Santa Monica Beach Peach

Santa Monica Beach Peach (3 coats) is a tangerine peel, bright poppy orange creme. However, it is a little patchy, so I needed 3 coats for this effect.

OPI - Sweet Carmel Sunday

Sweet Carmel Sunday (2 coats) is a bronze chrome with great, full coverage.

OPI - This is Not Whine Country

This is Not Whine Country (2 coats) is a very royal magenta jelly. It's meant to show the nail underneath, so I didn't layer more than 2 coats to give it the effect it wanted.

OPI - Time for a Napa

Time for a Napa (2 coats) is a light coral creme polish. It's beautifully warm.

OPI - To the Mouse House We Go!

To the Mouse House We Go! (2 coats) is the last color - a semi-sheer orange-red jelly. I like to see reds in jellies, because it's not so harsh, freshening the whole idea of a "classic red".

California Dreaming is a summer collection, but since the colors are so versatile and classic, they can be worn any time of the year. I see this collection becoming OPI staples for years to come!

The products in this post were given for review purposes. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Nail Care and Caviar

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month to much of you readers, so tonight's post falls in line with the draw to provide health to women all over. Tonight I'm sharing Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Nail Care with you.

Dr.'s Remedy is a completely non-toxic, vegan nail polish enriched with organic ingredients that highly benefit nails including:

• Tea Tree Oil: a potent essential oil known for its exceptional antiseptic and antifungal qualities
• Garlic Bulb Extract: a powerful antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral agent that works synergistically with Vitamin C to help kill harmful germs
• Vitamins C & E: nourishing antioxidants, known to help strengthen both skin and nails
• Wheat Protein: a vegetable derived, high quality protein with stellar moisture-binding capabilities that helps to naturally boost your nail’s natural shine

Dr.'s Remedy was created by two board certified Podiatric Surgeons based in New York, Dr. Adam Cirlincione and Dr. William Spielfogel. Though they currently only offer 40 colors, these benefits might outweigh color selection for women with health concerns, children, or anyone looking for an alternative to classic lacquer formulas. 

I was sent 5 colors, but first I'll show you the simple nail art I did with one of them, Kinetic Khaki. 

I call this look "Doctor Stud". I layered some caviar beads in black and gold onto a gel top coat over Kinetic Khaki. I used gel so I could place the beads without cementing any top coat or leaving any dents until I cured it. It turned out pretty cute that way!

Here's the 5 colors I was sent on their own.

Dr.'s Remedy - Altruistic Auburn

Altruistic Auburn (2 coats) is a beautiful warm brick creme, leaning more orange than red. It applied smoothly, as did all the others in the bottles I was sent. I did a layer of Seche Vite on top (not the Dr.'s Remedy top coat, though they do have nail treatments in addition to polish colors.)

Dr.'s Remedy - Amity Amethyst 

Amity Amethyst (2 coats) is a grayish dark lilac creme shade. Look at how smooth the finish is!

Dr.'s Remedy - Bountiful Blue

Bountiful Blue (2 coats) is a sparkly blue denim creme. 

Dr.'s Remedy - Kinetic Khaki

Kinetic Khaki (2 coats) is the color I used for the nail art. It's a muted tan-gray creme that I actually adored once I got it on. It's not a nude for everyone, but on me I love it!

Dr.'s Remedy - Positive Pink

Positive Pink (3 coats) is a light bubblegum pink creme, like Barbie from my mom's generation. 

If you're looking for an alternative to the widely available, but often chemically-laden polishes, Dr.'s Remedy might be for you. If you're a curious client like me, you'll also appreciate the Dr.'s Remedy website, which offers answers to countless questions, toenail and foot care tips, and even supplements that help rebuild nail and hair. Polishes retail for $17 each here.

The products in this post were given for review purposes. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

nail & bone Swatches with Paisley Puppies

What's better than polish? Some would argue that puppies would answer that question. I may not disagree with them on that.

But what's better than polish or puppies? Polish AND puppies! 

Today I'm reviewing a few colors from a new nail polish line called nail & bone. What makes nail & bone so different and great? Well not only are their polishes cruelty-free and 8-free, 20% of all their proceeds go straight to pet rescue and adoption organizations. Currently, the list of organizations and rescues they support is:

• Best Friends Animal Society
• Greater Good Animal Rescue
• Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation
• SPCALA Friends for Life
• Ace of Hearts Dog Rescue

As an animal lover and rescue dog owner, I'm touched by the idea that selling polish (and good quality polish at that) can bring both awareness and support to wonderful foundations like these. 

This purpose also made nail art inspiration easy. I wanted to do something beautiful that would get lots of shares, but I wanted to tie it into dogs. So I googled "dog collars" and noticed a lot of paisley print. Then I remembered how cute our pup, Riley, looked with a bandana around her collar, so here's my paisley puppy print for nail & bone.

Paisley Puppy Cowdog

Besides the white accents, I only used nail & bone colors for this look. Aren't they beautifully rich?! Even the smooth nude on my ring and middle fingers is stunning. I can't decide if I like that one (Maliboo) or the beautiful blue (Baylor) more!

Before we get into the swatches, it should be known that the polish names each have their own story about a famous rescue dog or dog owner. See if you recognize any before reading the captions below them.

nail & bone - Baylor

Baylor (2 coats) is the best navy I've ever worn on my nails. The luxurious deep navy leans a little purple, but the creme finish is so beautiful it can almost be a one-coater. The name Baylor comes from Selena Gomez's rescue husky.

nail & bone - Cher

Cher (2 coats) is also a beautiful creme. I can't get over the application perfection for these nail & bone colors, although Cher seemed a little more thick than the others. Cher is a lovely bubblegum pink creme named for Miranda Lambert's little chihuahua.

nail & bone - Giggy

Giggy (2 coats) is a sparkly lilac creme, perfect for the prince of purple, son of the queen of pink, Lisa Vanderpump.

nail & bone - Maliboo

Maliboo (2 coats) is the nude of my Fall season. Gorgeous, smooth, and semi-sheer, this fleshy nude polish is named after a maltipoo of Mackenzie and Abby Ziegler on Dance Moms.

nail & bone - Ruby

Ruby (2 coats) is (shockingly) another super smooth creme, in a cool red shade a little different than bold cherry pie reds. Sweet Ruby is Sandra Bullock's two-legged chihuahua rescue.

I highly recommend nail & bone, not only for its amazing cause, but for the polishes' smooth application and beautiful finishes. Spend your money this season on polish with a purpose.

The products in this post were given for review purposes. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Dr. Dana Nail Color - Swatches and Spot Treatments

Nail polish gets a bad rap. It's either too full of chemicals, causing skin cancer, discoloring nails, or any other number of terrible things that make people unwilling or uninterested to try new ones. If you're someone who has worries about what's going on your nails for the ingredients, you might be interested to learn about a new nail line, Dr. Dana.

Dr. Dana Ingredients

Dr. Dana products are the "first and only dermatologist developed nail care line" clinically proven to improve the appearance of your nails with a variety of high quality ingredients shown to provide several benefits to better looking and stronger nails. These ingredients include:

• Phyto Crystal Complex (in Dr. Dana Joil products) - reinforces delicate nail cells, and creates a stronger nail that is less prone to breakage, peeling, and brittleness.
• Glycolic Acid (in Dr. Dana Glycolic Prep) - Glycolic Acid (commonly used in the skincare industry for fine lines and wrinkles) removes surface damage to rejuvenate the nail, revealing a beautiful, healthy, youthfully lustrous shine.

By combining the Dr. Dana treatments with the colors they currently offer, your nails should be looking, feeling, and growing better and stronger. 

Color Collaborations

Each of the Dr. Dana colors has a unique story behind its name. Though the collection currently only has 6 colors, each one is created through collaboration with strong and accomplished women who inspire us. 

Dr. Dana - Gayle

Gayle (2 coats) is a semi-sheer flesh-colored nude polish. For all of the following swatches, I used Dr. Dana top coat as well. The brushes on the colors are big and fat, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but slimmer nails are more tricky to paint. Its namesake is Gayle King, co-author and editor at large of The Oprah Magazine. 

Dr. Dana - Hannah

Hannah (2 coats) is a bright, almost neon, orange creme. It's almost a sheer (if you look at my ring finger you can see my free edge line just a bit), but I'd still call it a creme if anyone asked. It's named for Hannah Storm, an award-winning journalist, producer, director and author well-recognized for her work in the field of sports. 

Dr. Dana - Judy

Judy (2 coats) is a beautiful and classic cherry red creme. Judy is named for Judy Joo, a Korean-American chef patron, cookbook author, television personality and entrepreneur. 

Dr. Dana - Kelly

Kelly (2 coats) is a hot pink magenta creme polish. It was created in collaboration with Kelly Ripa, who is considered to be one of the most accomplished women in media as a television producer, actor, and host of the Emmy award winning morning show Live! with Kelly. 

Dr. Dana - Quincy

Quincy (2 coats) is a beautiful soft pink. Its milky, semi-sheer finish is inspired by the effortless and organic style of Quincy Davis, a professional surfer and influencer who broke barriers for female surfers early on by competing as the only girl in her division when she was young. 

Dr. Dana - theSkimm

theSkimm (2 coats) is a soft and cool teal creme polish named for Carly and Danielle, who created The Daily Skimm, which is the fastest growing email newsletter on the market (which I personally subscribe to and find super helpful in the daily deluge of news flooding every outlet of media I see every day).

Results

I personally have not tried the Joil (a combination of gel and oil) treatments or the glycolic prep, but reading about them and knowing how women struggle with nail health every time I see them in the spa intrigues me. It would be interesting to do a home-grown case study on one hand, using the other as the control, to physically see the difference the treatments and polish make over time on the nails. Dr. Dana did a few Before & Afters, but they're immediate results versus results over time. A hand that's dry will obviously look immediately better after oil application, so a longer time period would interest me more. All of the Dr. Dana treatments can be found here, and all the polishes are here. Dr. Dana also has a base and top coat. Again, I used the top coat for the swatches shown.

Nail Art

Now for the best - and let's be honest, most anticipated - part...the nail art! I was a little stumped for design ideas because most of the colors (aside from theSkimm) are relatively neutral and similar to one another. So I took to Creative Market, and stumbled upon Marigold Studios' Mini Color Pop collection of social media images. The 80s vibe of the pack lent itself well to the Dr. Dana colors, and I created some pretty fun nail art from it.

Spot Treatment

I call this nail art Spot Treatment and I love it. My ring finger reminds me of retro Trapper Keepers from early elementary years. The Dr. Dana colors I used for Spot Treatment were Hannah, theSkimm, and Kelly (plus some black and white I had on hand from other brands). Per usual, I did this all freehand. 

I'd love to get feedback from readers who've experienced Dr. Dana treatments first hand, whether your stories are success, failure, or neutral. If I get my hands on the treatments, I'll be sure to share my tale as well! 

The products in this post were given for review purposes. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.