OPI Oz Collection–When Monkey’s Fly, I Theodora You, Glints of Glinda–with hand painted stripes and Art Club studs over Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel

Oz Collection by OPI Nail Art

Oz Collection by OPI Nail Art

My beautiful sister Mandy stopped by yesterday for a real life official nail appointment. This is an amazing accomplishment for us because we constantly make nail appointments for her that we never keep due to kids schedules or random life interferences. We painted her nails last week and they actually lasted fairly well though, all thanks to the wonderful product Seche Vite!

After she had removed her own polish because I didn’t want to mess up my new navy and mustard yellow mani 🙂 I prepped her nails for her first Brisa Lite treatment. I am beyond excited for my sister to use Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel! Mainly because it is holding up so well for myself so I know she is going to love it! We are going to be able to grow her nails out into a perfect symmetrical shape and she is going to make one heck of a hand model after all! 🙂

I applied the Brisa Lite Base Coat, one thin coat of Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel, and then I did a thick coat of Brisa Lite top coat. When I do it thicker to smooth out any flaws becaue I don’t feel like the smoothing gel self levels as well as I would like it to but a thick coat of the top coat self levels perfectly. I’ll even turn the finger upside down once in a while to pull out a little more arch.

After we had cured the top coat for a full two minutes on each hand I wiped the sticky layer off the top coat and applied a base coat in regular polish. I alternate between OPI and CND base coats. I like them both.

Soft and neutral manicure with Oz Collection by OPI

Soft and neutral manicure with Oz Collection by OPI

I then applied one coat of Glints of Gilda, a sheer beige, to the middle finger and ring finger. I love the way this polish applied. It is very sheer but two coats seemed to cover enough, ecspecially because we did When Monkey’s Fly, a chunky glitter mix, on the middle finger.

I used I Theodora You on Mandy’s pinky and pointer finger. I did not love the way this color applied–it went on streaky and seemed overly thick for some reason. It took three coats to get the coverage necessary for this color. I LOVED the color though! I placed the gunmetal grey studs from ArtClub in a pyramid pattern on her ring finger. I bought these studs at Sally’s Beauty Supply and LOVE them! I used the white ones for my navy and mustard yellow chevron mani. I was impressed with Sally’s selection of nail art supplies when I was in there a few days ago just to let you know! I think you can probably find it cheaper online but if your an impulse shopper like me you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

I did Essie Good as Gold on Mandy’s thumb with When Monkey’s Fly. When Monkey’s Fly has big hex gold chunks in it. I hand placed a few of those and tried to make them look as random as possible. You could do a fun pattern with these glitters too.

I love the way these nails turned out! I did not have a clue what I was going to do when my sister told me what she wanted but these fit her personality really well and they are fun for spring. Also, I’ve been wanting to do these edgy stripes for a while but keep forgetting to try them…common nail tech problem…too many ideas running through our heads! Thanks for looking and let me know if you have any questions!

Tootles–Anna

by Anna

3 thoughts on “OPI Oz Collection–When Monkey’s Fly, I Theodora You, Glints of Glinda–with hand painted stripes and Art Club studs over Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel

  1. Mary says:

    Hi! I just ordered bridal smoothing system Bc of your post about using it with regular polish. I have never been able to get a manicure to look nice for more than 24 hours & am trying to grow my nails out. I was hoping to not have to use a gel system that requires filing off the surface of my nails! Please tell me more about your system of using brisa to grow out your nails. I also don’t own shellac, so would only be using regular polish!

    • Anna says:

      Hi Mary,
      I really like Brisa Lite Smoothing Gel. Have you applied it yet? My advice is to apply a thin base coat but make sure to apply the Smoothing Gel about 1/8″ thick. Not too thick but not too thin. After you’ve done the smoothing gel apply the top coat and cure. Now you can do your regular polish over the top coat. When you remove the regular polish, it will break down the Brisa Lite because of the acetone but you should be able to get a good 1.5-2 weeks wear out of it if you are quick with the removal process. As soon as you’ve removed the acetone wash your hands with soap and water to stop the acetone from breaking down the gel.

      Brisa Lite does not require filing on your natural nail. I would file the top coat rather generously when you soak with acetone to remove or it will take forever to soak off.

      Also make sure you cap your ends really good when you apply the base, smoothing, and top coats. I’v noticed this will separate from your free edge quickly if you don’t cap the ends well.

      Let me know if you have any more questions!
      Thanks,
      Anna

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