On a recent trip to Ulta, I found the new and exciting Liquid Sand polishes recently released by OPI! I was so excited to try them out because I LOVE texture. I know texture is an acquired taste (or feel, rather :) ) but I probably would have tried these even if they weren't texturized. The Liquid Sand polishes dry matte but the glitter in them shines like no polish I've ever owned. When you make a glitter polish matte it completely changes the look, but the Liquid Sand doesn't look like mattified glitter at all. It's extremely sparkly and awesome (and very hard to capture in photographs)!
Ok, onto the texture. It really feels like sandpaper. Even Mr. I Feel Polished agrees. It's a very fine sandpaper feeling, but sandpaper nonetheless. I happen to love the way it feels! If, however, sandpaper isn't your thing, I've read that you can use 2-4 (yes, 2-4!) coats of top coat to smooth it out. If you aren't going to use a top coat, the only suggestion I have is to gently smooth the edges of your nail before the polish dries so you don't have any sharp pieces scratching you. I used the flat edge of an orange stick and gently pressed it against the edges of each nail after each coat of polish.
Now I couldn't just polish on the Liquid Sand and have a plain manicure for a few days! You know how much I love nail art and that just wouldn't sit well with me! :) So, I decided to play with some striping tape on my accent nail. I began with one coat of OPI Love is a Racket, which I would describe as a hot pinkish red with flaky glitter awesomeness in it. Then, I just created a pattern with striping tape over it, once it was thoroughly dry. I was concerned because Stay the Night did require two coats for opacity on my other nails and I normally pull the tape off as soon as I've polished over it. I ended up doing two coats over the tape without any ill effects. Liquid Sand dries slowly enough so I figured it wouldn't be an issue.
That being said, you will have to allow longer than usual for these polishes to dry. I would say dry time was 5-8 minutes. Not too bad if you're watching TV or something like that! All in all, I LOVE this polish. The effect is stunning and sparkly, the texture is wonderful, and the striping tape accent nail took the whole thing up a notch. I would highly recommend the Liquid Sand polishes. Enjoy! :)
P.S. One more thing: I'd love your opinion on the second to last photograph. I've been playing with lighting and want to know which one you'd prefer. If you could comment and tell me one or two, I'd appreciate it! Thank you! :)
I wore Stay the Night for four days before removing it to redo my nails. I took a photograph before removing it so you could see how it wears since you don't use top coat with it. After four days, there was visible tip wear, but nothing too bad. However, I found it funny that some of the pink glitter appeared to have worn down to silver! Interesting, huh? I think it still looked great; silver, pink, and black? Fine by me!
that accent nail with the taping is tdf!
ReplyThanks, Karine!! :)
looks great! http://kati-kz.blogspot.com/
ReplyThanks!
While I only notice very subtle differences between photos 1 and 2, I think I prefer photo 1. I think your skin tone looks more natural (less of a yellow undertone and more pink) in that one!
ReplyThank you for your opinion! My skin tone was the biggest difference I noticed, too!
After seeing this post yesterday, I booked it to Ulta and picked up the blue and purple liquid sands! I couldn't wait to get it on my nails. I have had the blue on since around 3PM yesterday... and it is very rare that I keep my nails the same for more than 24 hours. But I LOVE this polish so much that I'm keeping it on all day tomorrow as well! I haven't been this obsessed with a polish in I don't know how long!
YAY! So glad you got some! I just love them, too! I didn't want to take it off at all! :)
I love the accent nail!
ReplyThank you!