Gwen Stefani by OPI Collection 2014 Swatches and Review

This is a small collection of mostly standard, mundane colors (red creme, pink creme, vampy burgundy), but with one really special standout shade.  Quick overview of the collection from the press release:

"OPI joins celebrity partner Gwen Stefani in announcing seven new limited edition nail lacquers for 2014, featuring standout color in breakthrough finishes. Highlights from the collection include a bold red lacquer that pays homage to Gwen’s signature lipstick, a new semi-matte satin finish in shades of gold and black, and a mirrored chrome paired with a special base coat. 

Inspired by the 2013 Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Gala that featured the theme “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” OPI Executive VP and Artistic Director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann decided to create a collection of lacquer celebrating the role of music as a major influence in fashion. “With her expertise as a singer, songwriter and designer, who better to collaborate with than Gwen Stefani?” asks Weiss-Fischmann. “Known for her trademark red lips, bold eye makeup and nail art, Gwen uses beauty to accessorize her style.” 

Gwen’s signature red OPI hue – Over & Over A-Gwen – is available in a boxed set, which includes Swarovski black crystals and silver, gold and pewter studs in bar, square, diamond and circle shapes for creating unique nail designs, as well as nail glue for easy application. Love.Angel.Music.Baby. and 4 in the Morning feature a new, semi-matte satin finish designed to be worn without top coat. Push and Shove, a bold chrome hue, is also worn without top coat but requires a special complimentary base coat – Lay Down that Base. One thin coat of Lay Down that Base topped with two thin coats of Push and Shove yields an intense, mirrored finish. The collection is rounded out with two glossy crème lacquers and one sparkly glitter shade: Hey Baby, I Sing in Color, and In True Stefani Fashion.

“OPI wanted to create a collection as dramatic, diverse and glamorous as its namesake,” adds Weiss-Fischmann. “With crème and glitter hues, new satin matte texture, a mirrored chrome and SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Gwen Stefani by OPI presents the latest in pigments and finishes, while combining elements of haute couture and street fashion.”

Gwen Stefani by OPI Collection

 OPI 4 In The Morning

Very slightly shimmery dark charcoal/faded black satin matte.  Intended to be worn without topcoat.

 OPI Hey Baby

Blue-based hot pink creme.

 OPI In True Stefani Fashion

Sparse holographic silver glitter topcoat.  Shown here with three coats and still not full coverage. Nice feature of this polish: square glitter.

 OPI I Sing In Color

Vampy brown-burgundy creme.  Leans more jelly than pure opaque creme.

 OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

Light gold shimmer with a satin matte finish.  Intended to be worn without topcoat, but it looks pretty great with topcoat as well.

 OPI Over and Over A-Gwen

This is only sold as a set (pictured below) that includes some Swarovski Elements nail art pieces.  The color itself is a bright cherry red creamy jelly. 

OPI Over And Over A-Gwen Boxed Set

OPI Push and Shove

This is the special standout in the collection.  It's a mirrored chrome silver, and without resorting to Minx or other similar nail coverings, it's the most reflective, mirror-like silver out there.  It needs to be worn over a special basecoat, but that's included with the polish.

The formula on every shade was perfect.  Literally nothing to criticize in the texture or application of any of these.  Push And Shove can get streaky if you apply the coats too close together or on top of still-wet basecoat, but it's minimal.  All shades except In True Stefani Fashion only needed two coats for full coverage (and that's how they're worn here).  Push and Shove is very fragile on the nail and doesn't wear for very long.  It doesn't chip on me, it actually wears away as if it's being wiped away.  Wearing topcoat makes it more durable. 



Most of the colors in this collection seem too bland to have Gwen Stefani's name on them, don't they?  Nothing unique in here except for Push and Shove.  It's not a true mirror reflection, but it's the closest I've ever seen.  I am completely in love with it.  It's even more reflective in person.  Only downsides are that it gets damaged easily and that it shows every single flaw on your natural nail (call me Ruffles.) Gently buffing your nails before applying the basecoat should make any ridges or flaws less noticeable.

Gwen Stefani by OPI nail lacquers contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application. This promotion will be available beginning January 2014 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for  $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer. The boxed set including Over & Over A-Gwen and SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS will retail for $14.95 ($18.95 CAN).

(collection provided for review.)

Nails Inc. The After Party Glitter Nail Polish Trio Holiday 2012 Swatches and Review

I noticed that the Nails Inc. After Party set has been on clearance for quite a while on Sephora.com and it's still not sold out. I'm actually kinda surprised about that. I bought my set right when it came out 'cause it looked so amazing with all that glitter and holo and stuff, I swatched it and even wore the colors a bunch of times, but for some reason never posted about it??  Whatever, it's still on sale and I'm posting about it now.  Look.  Glitter.

 Nails Inc. Covent Garden Market.  

A multi-size, multi-color glitter in a clear base.  Reminiscent of Lippmann Happy Birthday but not a dupe.

Nails Inc. Disco Lane.

A black creme base with tiny holographic glitter.  Dries rather gritty but evens out with an extra coat of topcoat.

Nails Inc. Soho Street.

My favorite of the three.  A red jelly base with medium-sized chunky red glitter.  I am always drawn to these jelly-glitter reds.  I can't help it, they're just so cool.  They look like lava!

And, just for fun:

One coat of Covent Garden Market over Soho Street.

The formula on these isn't great, but it's tolerable.  Not smooth and dreamy like the Nails Inc. creme formula, these glitter shades are on the chunky and clumpy side.  I needed to be careful to let each coat set before applying the next or I ended up with thick spots.  Three coats of each.  Dry time is average and all the shades need at least two coats of topcoat.  Soho and Covent chip quicker than Disco.

So, yeah, this is still in stock at Sephora, $19 marked down from $25, and they're full-sized polishes.  Pretty good deal for Nails Inc.  Not the best application or durability, but the colors are fun.

OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013 Swatches and Review

OPI San Francisco Collection

Fall/Winter 2013

(press samples)

In addition to the three new Liquid Sand shades, OPI's fall/winter collection is full of warm, autumn-like colors offset by a handful of bold blues, a shiny foil, and even a little duochrome.

 

A-Piers to Be Tan

I shore do like this chocolaty tan.

(Reminds me of one of the most notorious OPI shades of all time: OPI And Apple Pie.  More caramel than chocolate, really.)

Dining al Frisco

Just feast your eyes on this fresh-air blue!

Embarca-Dare Ya!

Betcha can’t pass up this marvelous magenta.

(Has a small amount of pink/red/gold duochrome shift. Subtle.)

 

First Date at the Golden Gate

You and me and this shimmery ruby make three.

 

 

Haven’t the Foggiest

Can’t tell you why I love this misty gray...I just do!

(The most perfect pewter foil ever. Has a strong charcoal/deep grey tone, not pure bright silver.)

I Knead Sour-Dough

Are you bready to wear this toasty warm brown?

 

Incognito in Sausalito

You better keep this almost-black blue under wraps.

In the Cable Car-Pool Lane

Good golly, Miss Trolley, this rich burgundy takes me away!

 

Keeping Suzi at Bay

There’s no holding back this assertive navy blue.

 

Lost on Lombard

Oh garn-et! I’m all turned around!

 

Muir Muir on the Wall

This trailblazing plum is the fairest of all.

(Very good duochrome effect on this.  Goes from plum to bronze to green.  Reminds me of some of OPI's best discontinued colors, namely Black Tie Optional.)

 

 Peace & Love & OPI

This holographic sage and eggplant is far out!

(Steel blue to purple to teal multichrome.  It's not a dupe of Not Like The Movies, nor is it a dupe of Lippmann Wicked Game.)

The formula on these was mixed, but generally good.  The creme shades were perfect.  A dream to apply.  The shimmers were more sheer and uneven than I was anticipating and took an extra coat for evenness and opacity.  I did three coats of each, but only the shimmer shades needed the third coat.  Dry time is fast.  

A couple ho-hum colors, but also a couple of very cool ones.  My picks are Muir Muir On The Wall, Peace & Love & OPI, Haven't The Foggiest, and Keeping Suzi At Bay.  Two gorgeous duochrome shimmers, my new favorite silver foil and a vibrant but not neon blue creme.  

Don't forget to check out the Liquid Sand polishes that are part of this collection!

(Collection provided for review.)

Sephora by OPI Spice Market Mini 4-Piece Nail Polish Collection Fall 2012 Swatches and Review

 

For some reason I'm really interested in Sephora by OPI polishes lately.  I used to really dislike the formula when they first came out a few years ago, but lately they seem to have a bunch of really cool colors.  Like these, for instance.  These are awesome.

Sephora by OPI Spice Market Mini Nail Color Set Fall 2012

I Think I Cayenne, Have You Met Rose, Mary?, Justa' Pinch of Glitter, S-Age Is Just A Number

 Sephora by OPI I Think I Cayenne.  Super rich, saturated, shiny rusty orange shimmer with iridescent orange micro-glass fleck particles.  This color is perfect.  It looks cool in the bottle, but it really shines on the nail.  It's very orange and colorful, but it's a rusty autumn orange instead of the bright Tangerine Tango-style orange from summer.  The shimmer glows in every type of lighting and the whole thing is just absolute autumn orange perfection.

Sephora by OPI Have You Met Rose, Mary?  Deep rose red shimmer with iridescent red micro-glass fleck particles. The glass fleck shimmer pearls in this and I Think I Cayenne are much smaller than most glass flecks in my collection, but they're just as shiny and light-catching.  I originally wasn't sure about this color when I ordered the set, but once I saw it in person, it was love.  Like I Think I Cayenne, this is a perfect fall color, but it could easily double as a Christmas poinsettia red as well.  The glass fleck sparkle gives it more depth than an average red shimmer.

Sephora by OPI Justa' Pinch of Glitter.  Black, grey and silver microglitter and medium round silver glitter in a clear base.  Interesting... I anticipated this being a dupe of China Glaze Some Like It Haute (and its dozens of clones), but it isn't.  Justa' Pinch of Glitter is not holographic like Some Like It Haute, but the size, shape, color (apart from the holo), and density of the glitter is similar.

Sephora by OPI S-Age is Just a Number.  Green/gold/blue chrome-finished multichrome.  I knew this was going to be a Péridot dupe when I ordered it, but I was curious to try it out regardless.  Good formula, nice strong color shift and excellent reflective shine, just like the original.

Full size (0.5 oz) Sephora by OPI bottle vs Mini size (0.12 oz) Sephora by OPI bottles

Just a reminder that these are mini bottles in this set, and Sephora by OPI's minis are quite small.  Usually mini versions of polishes are half the size of the full sized versions, but these are even smaller.

The formula on all four shades was good.  I had no problems applying whatsoever.  The brushes in all were decent and provided a smooth, even application.  Dry time was average.  The three glittery shades look best with a coat or two of thick topcoat, but I find that the chrome one looks best without any topcoat at all.

This set rocks.  I'm glad I got it.  Though, if I had the chance to do it again, I'd just buy full-sized bottles of I Think I Cayenne and Have You Met Rose, Mary?.  I like all four colors, but I have plenty of Péridot dupes and I can live without the grey glitter; the orange and red are the standout shades for me.  The only gripe I have about this set is the price- $19.50 seems like a lot for such a tiny amount of polish.  Otherwise, love it.  

The Sephora by OPI Spice Market set is limited edition and retails for $19.50 for four 0.12 oz bottles.