Hi everyone!

I’ve been MIA the last few days and I apologize. My server was down for a few days and then it has just been CRAZY with a capital C! I always love this time of year when school is starting to wind down though and summer is on the way. The weather is starting to turn amazing and there are flowers blooming everywhere and the sun is higher in the sky…

Also, I am at 36 weeks now with my pregnancy which is insane! I had a OB appointment today and I am not dilated at all but am 50% effaced and baby boy is head down. 🙂 I had to get blood drawn because I have low blood platelets and they want to check and see if they have gone down, up, or stayed the same since the last draw two months ago. They were at 80 at my 28 week checkup and anything below 100 is cause for concern. If they don’t go up, there’s a very good chance I can’t get an epidural because it can cause me to hemorrhage in my spinal cord. I was planning on an un-medicated birth so I’m preparing for that anyway. I guess it happened with my 7 year old as well so the doctor’s not too worried but they still want to keep an eye on it…

Red Hot Rio GelColor

So about this beautiful red gel polish…I absolutely love it! Red Hot Rio is from the Brazil Collection that came out this spring. The application was flawless but I did notice a slightly better cure with my LED light. It really only needed two coats but I did three and noticed it darkened up a bit on the third.

I love, love, love red nails!

I had fun with this floral pattern but added a coral center to the flowers because I thought the yellow made the flowers look like fried eggs. 🙂

Here are some swatch comparisons of a few other OPI GelColor shades.

I only have these three red shades. I really want OPI Red which is a very distinct blueish red and then there are a few burgundy’s and mauves but I didn’t include them because I just wanted to show the true reds.

Thrill of Brazil and Red Hot Rio are very similar. I thought in person Red Hot Rio was darker but in this picture Thrill of Brazil looks darker. Big Apple Red is slightly lighter than the “Brazilian” colors. As I mentioned in the caption I really want OPI Red because it is a very “blue” red shade. I tend not to go overboard offering my clients a lot of red option though because I think two or three is sufficient. What do you think?

Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions about these colors! Thanks so much for reading! Have a fabulous week!

Tootles–Anna