My Favorite Gem Is The Opal

Every girl has that one jewelry piece or gem that blows her mind and makes her happy when she sees it.  My wedding set is tied for number one (and not all because of sentimentality, I have to admit) with any variation of opals.  Dark, light, encased in rock or set in gold, this gem has been my go-to love for a long time.  I love the flashes of color each stone can throw, and in all the colors!  It's a dear.

So when a new pile of polishes came in the mail for swatching, I knew that I wanted to make China Glaze Smoke and Ashes a base for all of my flakes.

Smoke and Ashes is this gorgeous inky black with the tiniest flashes of blue and green.  It displays much better in the bottle than on the nail, but it's there.

Taking advantage of all of the super bright sunshine we've had, I created an opal look that I could enjoy until the next day, when I knew I'd be losing it to try something else.

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, topped with Zoya Chloe and Zoya Opal (!!)

I don't want to sound forward, but...I love you more than anything.

This manicure got quite a few compliments, and I only had it on for about eighteen hours.  In the sun, you could see red,gold, green, blue, orange, yellow, everything except purple.  MUST.FIND.PURPLE.FLAKE.

It exactly represented what I was looking for, and the opalescent color junkie in me loved the layering.