OPI – Every Month is Oktoberfest

Well bless me. It’s colours like these that remind me why I love OPI so much.


OPI’s Every Month is Oktoberfest, from the 2012 Germany collection, is one of those OPIs with an old-school feel. It’s a beautiful inky colour with a deep purple-blue base, filled with subtle yet highly reflective red shimmer. The combination of the dark base with the intense shimmer makes this polish one of those “glowing from within” types. In the shade, it looks like a vampy creme, almost black. But when the light hits it, it positively glows. Shimmer aside, it also has a beautiful glossy finish.

The formula is also reminiscent of the old-school OPIs – smoothly flowing, liquid-y, never gloopy. Yet, it’s quite opaque – you should only need two coats with this. As always, the ProWide brush is fantastic and makes application a breeze. Definitely worth checking out for the fall season!

Deborah Lippmann – Ruby Red Slippers

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! In celebration of this special day, I’ve used my new, occasion-appropriate polish…

Deborah Lippmann’s Ruby Red Slippers. Sigh. Doesn’t Deb just do the best glitters? What with Across the Universe and Happy Birthday, I don’t think you can go wrong with a Lippmann glitter. Breaks the bank though, so I only purchase on special occasions. What was it this time? A special Shoppers/Murale promotion where I got an additional $80 from spending my points! It’s like I got this baby for free :p

I have the same issues with this as I did with Across the Universe. The base black colour is super sheer (which is necessary in order to allow the red hexagonal and round glitters to really pop). But it’s an easy fix – just start off with a coat of black polish (I used OPI’s Black Onyx here), apply two coats of the glitter polish and it looks perfectly opaque. As with most glitters, this polish is a bit thicker than usual, but again, this is necessary to suspend the glitters within the liquid.

I love this, I really do. Not as much as Across the Universe, as this one is a bit one-dimensional in comparison. But for what it is, it’s pretty badass. I’m not much of a mushy Valentine’s Day celebrator – I avoid the cutesy pink nail polish on the day at all costs. This is a much sexier and exciting option, don’t you think? ;)

Essie – Really Red

Are you looking for that little bit of va-va-va voom in your life?

Essie’s Really Red certainly fits the bill. And the name, while unimaginative, doesn’t induce cringes (which is always a plus)! This is a shimmerless, medium warm red jelly. It’s not one of those ridiculously sheer jellies though – two coats and nail lines disappear. I don’t really love medium reds on me for some reason, but this one I can get used to. Not really much to say about it. It’s a classic red, what more do you want?

Oh, the polish itself? Easy to apply. No streaks, no strange brush issues. :)

Belated Christmas mani: Nicole by OPI – Sensational Scarlet

Yet again, I have neglected this blog! Apologies all around. Previous term was pretty awful, but since it’s a new term and a new year, I though I’d start off fresh…by showing you what I wore for Christmas!

Nicole by OPI’s Sensational Scarlet. A beautiful jelly berry red full of small red glitters and rounded holographic glitters. So wonderfully festive! Got tons of compliments on this colour – it was just perfect for the holidays.

This brush was awful. Nearly unusable. I tried to cut off the rounded edge to make the brush perfectly straight in the hopes of making it like the OPI ProWide brushes, which sort of worked. The formula of this is not too bad to work with. It’s a bit thick, and the texture is something rough and goopy…I remember reading somewhere that it reminded someone of oatmeal? Not a bad description. It dries to a gritty finish and loses its shine as well, so make sure to follow up with an ultra-shiny fast-drying top coat!

OPI – Do You Think I’m Tex-y?

Just wanted to let everyone know first that I will be updating this blog less frequently over the next month, as I will be on exchange in Europe! No worries, I still have posts scheduled when I’m gone, but I’ve been busy packing and getting my stuff organized, so I haven’t had much time to write many posts in advance. Oh well. Here goes nothing!

OPI’s Do You Think I’m Tex-y?(CRINGE) is a “sorbet” finish polish from the Texas collection, just like the previously-blogged Guy Meets Gal-veston. What that means is that it’s a sheer, jelly-like polish. At one coat, it looks like a watery film of pink, with lots of your natural nail visible underneath. At three coats, it increases in opacity but still appears to look squishy…almost like a juicy berry. You don’t need a top coat with this one to achieve a high-gloss finish (yay!).

I actually quite like these new sorbet finish polishes from OPI, even though they’re not revolutionary in any way (no matter how hard OPI tries to convince me otherwise). Application was great, and they’re actually pretty opaque for jelly polishes. Three coats will be enough to get rid of a very noticeable nail line.

OPI – Guy Meets Gal-veston

SUMMER. PLEASE. It’s gotten to the point where I hope that typing in all-caps will make it true. Sigh. In the spirit of ineffectively making the weather cooperate, here’s another “summer” shade!

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston, from the Texas collection, is one of their “sorbet” finish polishes. OPI’s really pushing this as a new, ingenious finish, but come on now. It’s really just a glorified jelly that’s been around for years; that is, a very sheer, watery polish. The above photo shows three coats.

Why would you even want a sheer, watery polish, you ask? Well, I love jelly/”sorbet” polishes because they build up to look like yummy squishy jellybeans. They look so clean and fun! Guy Meets Gal-veston is an adorable, punchy red-orange-coral that would look gloriously summery on toes in toe-baring sandals. One can only dream of wearing such footwear in this weather…

I’ll leave you to your own fantasies of summer for now, and wish all the students out there good luck with their final exams! :)

OPI Katy Perry – The One That Got Away

Totally kicking myself for not getting this one the first day I saw it.

Yup, it’s OPI’s The One That Got Away, from the Katy Perry collection. A mid-to-dark berry purple/dark pink colour with this wicked shimmer. The shimmer has the same quality as OPI’s Tease-y Does It – I think this is called “glass-fleck”? Well either way, I LOVE IT. A friend I bumped into a few days ago commented that it looks like it would be gritty to the touch (I agree; probably because it looks like the shimmer floats on the surface), but it feels absolutely smooth. It glitters gloriously in the sunlight. The above photo, taken under incandescent light, captures this somewhat.

Another photo of it under a fluorescent light; see how the shimmer looks sort of like it’s packed on the surface?

Strangely this one doesn’t look very impressive in photos. I can assure you, though, in person…it is gorgeous! Oh yes, and since it was part of the Katy Perry collection, which I’m sure you remember to have contained Black Shatter, this colour is also meant to be worn under the shatter polish. I don’t know though, I don’t really feel like covering up the amazing shimmer with some black shards of goop. *shrug*

OPI – Just A Little Rösti At This

Can’t believe it’s been a whole week since I’ve posted! I’ve been incredibly busy, sorry about that. And can you believe it, I actually kept the last nail polish on for a whole week…that absolutely never happens for me. I’m happy to report that Essie Chinchilly is super resistant – a full week and not one chip. Even tip wear wasn’t that noticeable! I was kind of sad to remove it – I wasn’t even bored of it yet – but seeing as how I’m going to be really busy this week too, I don’t think I could live with the same polish for 2 straight weeks. So, change it is!

OPI Just A Little Rösti At This, from their Swiss collection last fall, is a surprise favourite of mine. I bought it because of rave reviews I’ve read on other blogs, but thought it was kind of a boring colour. It’s certainly not the most original colour in the world, but it’s just so versatile! It’s just the perfect deep cranberry creme that looks especially red under direct light, but a little brown under weaker lights. Goes with every outfit, and it’s a bit vampy without going overboard (i.e. looking like a black polish from far away). It’s just such a sophisticated colour  - I LOVE it on short nails.

Let me also say that I’m really picky about pink/red/coral polishes. For some reason, I absolutely hate medium bright neutral red cremes. I feel like I’m either kind of slutty or stuck in the 50′s as a pin-up girl – the colour oozes old-fashioned to me, and I try to stick with modern shades for nail polish (another example: I hate frosty nail polish with a FLAMING PASSION). Also, bright pinks. They don’t look bad, they’re just not colours I would ever choose to wear if presented my entire nail polish collection. But somehow Just A Little Rösti At This strikes a perfect balance – this will probably be the closest I’ll get to a red that I truly love.

When I’m stuck in a nail polish rut and absolutely NOTHING from my collection jumps out at me, not even the new ones I just bought, I usually revert back to a few old favourites, and OPI Just A Little Rösti At This is one of them. I always knew I liked this colour, but I guess its status as “all-time favourite” managed to creep up on me! Ah, love. What a strange and wonderful thing.

(Holy crap, how many OPI’s do I own? WAY too many, I’m sure. It doesn’t help that the closest mall to my house happens to sell them for the cheapest price I’ve seen out of every e-tailer and physical store!)

OPI – Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

Hope you’re having an awesome Wednesday! And not sick like me :( Ended up skipping two classes and went home instead. Sigh.

This polish though, is exquisite.

OPI’s Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not from their Fall 2008 France collection, has quickly made its way into my favourite purple polishes, if not my favourite of all time. Right now as I’m looking down at my nails, it looks like quite a dark neutral purple. But under more bright lights, the polish looks more like a mid-toned very red-tinged purple with tiny blue (or purple?) and pink shimmers. I love these kinds of polishes the most – they’re not so shimmery that they border on frosty and leave behind brush strokes. In low light they almost look like cremes, but in sunlight KA-POW, the shimmer really jumps out. The best way I can describe the look is “glowy” – like the shimmers are lit within. A bit hard to see in the above photo, but trust me on this one! :)

Two coats were needed – application was easy-peasy. And of course, topped off with a top coat.

Ah! I just love this so much! I’ve used Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not so much that you can actually see what level the polish is at – I know that sounds trivial but it’s super rare for me to use up a coloured polish that fast. It’s my go-to purple polish and I always get so many compliments on it. I think it’s because it’s very noticeably purple (not like the inky near-black purples), but muted at the same time. A perfect combination!

OPI – Russian Navy

And now for a classic!

(Taken indoors under incandescent light; click to enlarge)

OPI’s Russian Navy originally came out with their Russian Collection in 2007, and it’s a staple for me. It’s a beautiful deep navy with blue, purple, and red shimmer. The full-size image shows the latter especially well – I think it makes the polish quite unique. I have a Revlon polish called Midnight Affair which is similar in base colour and darkness to this, but lacks the red shimmer (IMO making it less interesting).

Applies wonderfully – no problems to report!

Overall, a great one to have in your collection – no girl should be without a dark navy polish!