Random Swatches Continued

Next up is OPI Be A Dahlia Won’t You?  This bright fuchsia shade is part of their Summer 2011 Nice Stems collection.  It flashes a shimmery light blue and purple under some lights!

I don’t recall having any problems with the application.  I believe this is all 2 coats, which was all I needed to reach opacity.  I really like this polish!  Of course, I love all shiny pink polishes in general, so I suppose I’m a bit biased.

Even in the shade it still appears bright and doesn’t lose any of it’s brilliance!

OPI Ogre-The-Top Blue

There are a lot of shimmers, metallics, foils, and glitters in my collection, but not a lot of crèmes.  I’m not a huge fan of crèmes for 2 reasons:

1. My eye is more attracted to shiny, sparkling colors in general – just my preference.

2. My application of crèmes is never perfect and sometimes it can be downright bad.

When I had the opportunity to purchase OPI’s Ogre-The-Top Blue from the Shrek collection, it was such a stunning color that I couldn’t pass it up, crème or not.  

The formula on this was pretty opaque after 2 coats and it didn’t really turn out too streaky like other cremes.  I’m a sucker for blue polishes and this one didn’t disappoint.  I love how bright but sort of soft it is at the same time, if that makes any sense.  Before I tried it I thought about swapping it.  I’m glad I decided to wear it at least once because there’s no way I’m letting go of it now! 

Zoya Yara

Zoya releases some great colors in the fall.  I’m rarely dissatisfied with their selection of colors in any of their collections.  Yara is from their Fall 2011 Smoke & Mirrors collection.  Of course I purchased only polishes from the Mirrors range, due to my previously mentioned apathy toward cremes.  Yara is a pretty olive green with tiny gold shimmer particles.  I tend to gravitate toward colors with golden shimmers or glows.  I have a lot of those types of shades, like OPI Love Me Tender and Oh So Glam, Zoya Neeka and Zara, etc.  Take a gander at this gorgeous sucker:

Yara is a great color to sport during autumn!  I love how olive greens look on me – I’m guessing it’s the Italian heritage.  I think Zoya’s formula is one of the best and easiest to apply.  This shade was almost opaque in just one coat!  I applied 2 just to even if out though.  I rarely have difficulty with streaking or bald spots when I use Zoya.  And their polish remover is really good too! 

That's the end of the swatches I have for now.  Hopefully it won't take me more than a few days to bring you another post, especially because there were 2 reader requests that I need to get to!

OPI Skull & Glossbones

I wanted to thank you girls for all of your birthday wishes and for all of your kind comments about my blog.  I love how the polish community is so friendly and generous to other people who are just as passionate about nail polish as they are.  You girls are great and I couldn’t ask to be part of a better community!  My birthday giveaway has sparked a huge response so I’m very excited about it!  Keep those references and comments coming, and if you just stumbled upon this blog and haven’t entered my contest yet, you can do so here.

Before I get too busy, I wanted to share a quick swatch with you.  I’m a little late to the OPI Skull & Glossbones party.  I bought it when the Pirates of the Caribbean Stranger Tides collection was first released, but this is the first chance I got to wear it.  I was hesitant to pick this polish up because it looked kind of boring in the bottle and I was worried it wouldn’t look great with my skin tone.  But I got it anyway and I’m so glad I did!  It didn’t clash with my skin like I thought it would.  It’s a perfect shade if you need a subtle, conservative color for work but you’d also like it to be noticeable.   

All of these pictures were taken inside with artificial light - first 2 without a flash and last 2 with flash.  As usual with OPI polishes, the name describes the shade perfectly.  It definitely reminds me of bones, as morbid or weird as that might be.

I'm sorry if my posts will be few and far between for the next 2 weeks or so.  I will try to update when I have some downtime, as I have an idea for a series of posts that I think you'll enjoy.  Until next time...Happy Polishing!

Elvis Is Alive!

Howdy all!  Before I post my first polish sale, I wanted to share some photos of an awesome shade that I recently came across.  This is OPI’s Love Me Tender from the Elvis-inspired Summer 2005 collection “All Shook Up.”  I tried it last night for the first time and needless to say, I love it!  It looks gorgeous, especially in the sunlight.  Just so you know, I braved the 95 degree weather with a sweltering heat index of 105+ degrees to capture this unique polish for you.  I hope you realize how much you all mean to me.  Now onto the goodies!

Love Me Tender consists of the old, non 3-free OPI formula with the non Pro-wide brush.  It’s a peachy pink coral color with a gold shimmer prevalent mostly in the sunlight, but under brighter indoor lights as well.  It looks like a light peachy pink when the gold isn’t highlighted.  These pictures were taken in the sunshine to capture its awesomeness.  Any pictures I took inside turned up blurry and useless.   

I’ve heard people say the old OPI formula is easier to apply than the new 3-free formula.  I have several black label OPI’s but I haven’t used them enough to come to my own conclusion on that front.  However, Love Me Tender applied pretty flawlessly and without any streaking!  I got full coverage with just 2 coats - I didn’t have any trouble making it opaque.  For myself, I prefer the non Pro-wide brushes because I have small, stubby hands and nail beds.  Therefore, I make a lot less of a mess on the surrounding skin polishing with the thinner brush.   

If you ladies ever want me to try to find you a discontinued color (or any color for that matter!) I'd be happy to help.  I love the thrill of the polish hunt!  Just send me an email at amsherbles at gmail dot com and let me know what shade you're looking for and I can try to track it down at a reasonable price.  I know I can get Love Me Tender for you if you're interested.  I love finding coveted, retired polishes for people - it makes me happy!

Hopefully I'll get around to posting my first polish purge within the next day or so, so stay tuned!  Thanks for reading and happy polishing!