OPI Alice In Wonderland Collection Swatches & Review
 After last winter’s TV show themed 90210 collection, OPI has entered the entertainment realm again with the launch of an Alice in Wonderland collection inspired by the upcoming Disney flick, directed by the brilliant Tim Burton. OPI’s knack for clever polish names makes this collaboration a perfect fit for such a whimsical story.
The collection includes limited edition polishes Absolutely Alice, Mad as a Hatter, Off With Her Red! and Thanks So Muchness! in shades of red, blue and a multi-colored glitter that made me say “WOW!” Check them out after the jump! |
 Ever since images started popping up on the internet, I’ve been curious which makeup brands would launch collections based on the movie. I mean, Anne Hathaway could sell boatloads of red lipstick with this promo image alone. And have you seen Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen? Her fiery red locks would make Magenta from Rocky Horror jealous. When is an accompanying at-home color coming out?
So I have to say I was a bit surprised that OPI created two red polishes rather than a white for this collection. Wouldn’t a white with red glitter (maybe even tiny heart shaped glitter) look amazing? Yes that’s a bit childish but you must admit it would be fun and Alice In Wonderland deserves some fun. Though to OPI’s credit, there is plenty of fun in the two glitters they did include. You may have picked up on my love/hate relationship with glitters in the past. If they’re truly unique I’m in love but I HATE removing them. Like it’s worse than the tingles I get from the thought of wet wool mittens. BLECH! Unfortunately there are no short cuts where glitter removal is concerned. It’s all about patience and soaking the polish with acetone remover BUT the glitters in this collection are totally worth the pain. |
Absolutely Alice did absolutely nothing for me in the collection promo pics but on the nail, WATCH OUT!! Mingling amongst the eye catching royal blue glitter are pops of gold, the color of Alice’s blonde locks. It adds a whole new dimension to what would otherwise be just another blue glitter. It’s truly dazzling although because this is just a whole mess of glitter suspended in a clear base, you need three coats to achieve opacity and at least one thick layer of Seche Vite to avoid a grainy finish.
I tried very hard to show you the actual color but these images are still a little off. I went looking for a similar base shade in another polish for reference and the closest I can find is Color Club Sexy Siren glitter though Absolutely Alice is a touch deeper and more blue.
Mad As A Hatter is one big confetti party encapsulated in polish. Think Lippmann’s Happy Birthday but with smaller, round micro-glitter. As I roll my nails in the light, I see a rainbow of colors that come together to make me think of New Year’s Eve. In fact as I was staring, mesmerized by the effect, all I could think was how I HAVE to wear this on NYE next week. What impressed me is the density of the glitter. With three coats I had no bald spots.
I took this photo under artificial light hoping to capture even a hint of its sparkle factor but this is definitely one color that benefits from being seen in person.
Thanks So Muchness! is a berry red metallic shimmer. As you apply it, you can see those telltale lines that indicate the shimmer is pearlized. Though flecks of red micro-glitter that are randomly dispersed throughout the polish, hide that from the casual observer. The formula is smooth and well pigmented requiring a standard two coat application.
Off With Her Red! is a tomato red creme. It applies well and is completely opaque, achieving bottle color in two coats, but it doesn’t stand out. I get that red is an integral part of the Alice in Wonderland color story but I personally feel this one is a throwaway. It’s a fine color and all but I would rather see something based on the Cheshire Cat or Caterpillar.
OPI’s Alice In Wonderland collection launches in January. The polishes retail for $8.50/ea and can be purchased at professional salons nationwide including Ulta, Regis, Trade Secret, JC Penny, Beauty Brand, Beauty First and of course certain e-tailers will have the line as well.
Is anyone else geeked up for the release of Alice In Wonderland in March?? With Tim Burton putting his twist on the classic tale, I know it will be a hit. Which of these AIW polishes will you be rushing out to buy?
Disclosure: A product sample was furnished to me by OPI. For further information view my Disclosure Policy.
I was expecting a little more from this, but oh well. At least 2 will be mine.
I hear ya. What can you do. OPI tends to include a red in just about every collection.
LOVE the first two…and you said exactly what I was thinking…a Chesire Cat or Caterpillar nail polish would be great. And wet wool mittens makes my skin crawl ughh! Thanks as always for the great swatches!
Sorry, to make your skin crawl. It’s the only image I could think of that would compare to removing glitter. Maybe the franken queens out there will come up with some mixes inspired by the characters skipped in this collection.
My jaw just dropped! I’m so excited about the glitters!! ESPECIALLY the blue
Yeah, the blue is really unique. I don’t own a ton of glitters but compared to the ones I do have, it’s knocks them out of the water.
You are so cruel! I’ve been seeing promo pics for weeks and I didn’t want any of them, now I must get those glitters! Great swatches!
Sorry about that. I really wasn’t jazzed about them either until I saw them.
I’m a little disappointed by the 2 reds, but Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter are GORGEOUS! gotta have em!
I hope they launch online before January. As Sassyjeni mentioned, beautyofasite.com has them on sale now.
I ordered them all! Theyre available now at beautyofasite.com (not affiliated) theyre scheduled to arrive today and i cant wait! I think the glitters are soooo nice! Esp MAAH, which will be my christmas mani.
Thanks for the info! I’ve never ordered from them before but I know they tend to have the collections up for pre-sale before any other e-tailer.
I soo love Alice in Wonderland and I would have expected more colors as there are so many different opporunities for shades in this movie, the crazy movie it is. But the two glitters were beautiful, and I love your idea of the white with red glitter!
Exactly! From the pics I’ve seen the Cheshire Cat isn’t purple but how cool would a purple with pink glitter be to represent him?
I’m not interested in the reds, but the other two? OH YES PLEASE!!
Even though I curse their removal, I love ‘em
If there were a blue glitter war, I think Absolutely Alice pwns Dorothy Who, going just from pics. I was kind underwhelmed by the Ooh Ahz collection, maybe hype overload, but this is the opposite – like you said, the promo pics are kind of meh but your pics make this my newest lemming =)
You know, I hate to say it but I agree with you. The bits of gold glitter really make AA a standout. And the new Dorothy Who? just doesn’t live up to the original.
When I first saw the promo picks, I thought “Off with her red” was MY color, but now “Mad as a hatter” and “Thanks so muchness” are definitely MY colors! Love the pearl action in “Thanks so muchness”…drool!
Yeah, Off With Her Red! is just meh. It’s a well made color but it doesn’t do the collection justice.
Thanks so Muchness! reminds me of Don’t Toy With Me! from last years holiday collection, but all of these are quite nice. I do agree that they could have done more though, given the overall vividness of the story.
Oh crap, I just got rid of that one in my charity beauty sale. I wish I could remember if they are twins.
Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter are just gorg gorg gorg. Thanks for posting these. Do you know how AA compares to Reflecting Pool? Thanks.
I never got my hands on Reflecting Pool so I’m not sure
Girl, I am BEYOND stoked for Alice In Wonderland! I have been anticipating this movie for FAR. TOO. LONG. I mean, fantastic casting, one of my favorite books evar, I’m all over it! Haha.
Thank you for the great swatches – and I totally agree about the white polish! Why two reds? Meh. But I LOVE the two glitters and will definitely be snagging those. I had pretty much thought that, but then, seeing your swatches solidifies that for me. I would have loved a Cheshire Cat polish!
Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know. Why two reds? Especially since Tim Burton’s version will undoubtedly be darker than the technicolor cartoon version.
hmm for some reason despite the glitters and stuff, this doesnt float my boat, i preferred the wizard of oohs aahz…i dont know why, the glitters look a bit too busy to me, and the other colors were just meh..
I do like the glass flecked formula of the WOOA’s like Ruby Pumps and Dorothy Who? These are a more traditional glitter in that respect.
wish you could compare absolutely alice and reflecting pool! THANKS!
I don’t have Reflecting Pool to compare it to. As much as I would love to be able to compare every polish that ever existed, I don’t have that much space. The BF already shakes his head at the amount of polish I own.
Reflecting Pool is not as bright blue and it has more of a shimmer or frosty feel instead of a glitter. They are nothing alike.
Honestly I thought RP was hideous in person. A grandma polish except it’s blue. Ugh.
Mad as a Hatter might be my new obsession. I NEED it for New Year’s Eve. But beautyofasite.com is already sold out!
I am crazy excited for Alice in Wonderland to come out. The cartoon was my favorite growing up and I can’t wait to see what Tim Burton does with it!
Sold out already??? Bummer! I’m sure TransDesign or one of the other e-tailers will have them soon enough.
I was seriously hoping for a fun Cheshire Cat color, maybe a purple glitter in a pink base? Oh well….
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Though I remember when I mixed a dc’d MAC pigment into a polish it had that look but more subtle. It was purple with tiny pink flecks of glitter. Now I want to have some franken fun of my own.
YAY! Thanks for getting swatches up! I’ve been waiting to see these for what feels like forever. I love the two glitters and the red creme. The red shimmer looks like it might be a bit boring, but I may get the whole set of four bottles for this collection, because yes, I am totally geeking out over this new movie. I love Tim Burton (ok, and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter)–Beetlejuice is still one of my favorite movies– and I’m super excited for this one. I even just downloaded the original book to my Kindle so I can reread it before the movie.
OMG.I absolutely have to have Absolutely Alice! such a wonderful blue! though, glitters can be a pain to remove………. sigh, the price one pays for beauty XD Thanks for the swatch!
I am honestly completely disappointed with these. Bad OPI! The glitters are pretty, the blue is nice, but nothing about this made me think I HAD to have it. This is such a creative story and you KNOW Tim Burton’s take will be visually stunning! These just seem to me to be a poor attempt at jumping on the bandwagon.
My God! Mad as a Hatter is perfect! I’ve been searching for something like OPI’s Seasons Sparklings (ULTA exclusive, of course, so it’s tiny and I’m terrified to even use it outside of December), and Mad as a Hatter is even better than Seasons Sparklings.
Absolutely Alice is just as beautiful, but I was just so shocked to see what I’ve been searching for for so long. Thank you for the marvelous swatches!
Wow, I have been curious about these and I will def be getting the glitters!!! I’ll skip the reds, I don’t really see the point. You can do red without just, you know, doing just another red polish. LOVE the idea of the white polish with red heart glitters!! Hmm, do I sense a franken coming on???
Thanks! I have been dying to see these swatches! I thought Mad Matter was a must have, but I’m not sold. I definitely will be getting Alice.
OK I wasn’t really excited about this collection but now I NEED Mad As a Hatter!
Thanks for swatching these!
Really love the look of MAAH from your swatch! I know you like opaque looks, but what did this look like after you applied just the first coat? What is the base colour of it, and how dense was the glitter?
Thanks and happy holidays
Does Mad As A Hatter need major top coat to be smooth? Is it a chunky glitter? I love the color but I can’t stand gritty nail polish! I actually love all the colors but Off With Her Red! That’s probably the only one I’ll pass on. I too wish they did a purple instead of one of the reds.
I want “Absolutely Alice” and “Mad As A Hatter”. Such a good idea wearing “MAAH” on NYE! You’re gonna look amazing! The reds are basically like every other red, I think I have OPI dupes for both or atleast pretty close. I’m thinking “An Affair In Red Square” as a pretty close match to “Thanks So Muchness!” and “Monsooner Or Later” as a dupe for “Off With Her Red!”. Thanks for the beautiful swatches! I love your blog!
Do you know when exactly these are going on sale? I have searched everywhere and everyone just says “January”. I am going back to school in the Caribbean January 15th and I NEED those glitters before I leave!
**sigh** another fab OPI collection that probably won’t make it to New Zealand’s shores and I will be forced to hunt them down on Ebay
I knew that I would love AA, but I was staggered by just HOW much I love it, and MAAH is also a must-have.
I don’t wear reds *ever* but I think I will be getting them all just because they’re alice. I agree OPI really could have gone over the top with this one and it’s pretty disappointing, but I’ll take what I can get!
Goodness, Mad as a Hatter is GORGEOUS! Thanks for posting, I’ll have to find that one somewhere.
Yes polishes are nice but I WANNA LOOK LIKE ANNE HATHAWAY!!
Probably will get the glitters, and I might try and franken the white w red hearts glitter tonight 
LOVE the two glitters! Hate that out of four polishes, two are red! That’s like Holiday Wishes, half of the collection was red!
I’ll be buying the glitters, passing on the reds.
I read “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” repeatedly as a child. (Along with the “Oz” books) So, I wanted these reds to be really unusual and as original as the story is… Instead, they’re feh. It’s a pretty psychedelic story, and those reds just don’t do it justice. I agree totally that Caterpillar or Cheshire Cat would have been inspired choices instead. (At least OPI did a good job with the glitters.) For the Caterpillar I envision a kind of medium green duochrome, trichrome, or holo (or a combination thereof!) with gold, turquoise and/or red as the accent colors. Caterpillars have such wonderful colors in nature, you’d think they could have easily found some inspiration… not to mention whatever Tim Burton has come up with! And your idea for the Cheshire Cat is grand! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
As much as I hate removing glitters the first 2 will have to me mine! Mad as a Hatter reminded me of NYE as soon as I saw it as well.
Nailetc has Mad As Hatter in stock so if you’re desperate to get one ASAP, that’s one place to find it…
Thanks for the swatches! *cough* enabler *cough*
I love Mad as a Hatter! It’s so pretty and a perfect color for NYE!
I am definitely getting Absolutely Alice and Mad as a Hatter. They are gorgeous!
I also agree that there should be a Cheshire Cat inspired polish. I would suggest a densely glittered polish in silver, pink and purple. The Caterpillar should be silver, gold, emerald green and chartreuse glitter.
‘Mad As a Hatter’ is gorgeous!!
Mad as a Hatter as ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I really, really, reeeealllyyy want it!
What a shame it’s not out yet – this colour would work so well with my NYE outfit!
Wow, these are the first swatches of this collection that I’ve seen. I was really looking forward to seeing the glitters, and it was worth the wait. I’ll definitely be getting Absolutely Alice and Mad as a Hatter based on your swatches. But…they should’ve come out with a purple for sure and ditched one of the reds.
What a great collection! I must agree though, instead of the red they should’ve put a more extraordinairy color in it..
I just bought “Too Good for Him” from Sephora by OPI. How does this fuchsia/blue/silver glitter compare in consistency to “Mad as a Hatter?”
[...] Lacquered Up falls down the rabbit hole and discovers OPI’s Alice in Wonderland [...]
I cannot wait to try Absolutely Alice and Mad as a Hatter, they are so fun and not typical of OPI. I can for sure pass on the reds though, seen them both a million times.
i LOVE the mad hatter! i am SO HAPPY that glitter polish is in again because there is nothing i love more than sparkles and shine
xoxo
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[...] All Lacquered Up falls down the rabbit hole and discovers OPI’s Alice in Wonderland collection. * The Beauty Stop explains why the Dinair airbrush foundation kit is a wise investment. [...]
[...] All Lacquered Up falls down the rabbit hole and discovers OPI’s Alice in Wonderland collection. * The Beauty Stop explains why the Dinair airbrush foundation kit is a wise investment. [...]
[...] All Lacquered Up falls down the rabbit hole and discovers OPI’s Alice in Wonderland collection. * The Beauty Stop explains why the Dinair airbrush foundation kit is a wise investment. [...]