Are we stuck in some kind of 2007 nail polish flashback? Did Chanel Blue Satin just launch? First we talked about grey nail polish, now we’re moving onto blue. Those of you who have been reading ALU since way back in its infancy will remember that blue and grey were big nail trends for Fall 2007 and as I approach my fifth year of blogging, it’s like it’s all coming full circle.

The past couple years there has been a greater focus on greyed slate blues and teal but this time around we’re looking at a more true blue range that varies from denim to sapphire to indigo. And as brands have continued to evolve their mixing techniques we are being treated to more unique finishes and sparkle combinations than we’ve seen in the past.

The Bold & The Beautiful of Blues (Fall 2011 Release) – all polishes (except two noted below) are shown using two coats

From left to right - NARS Night Flight (bottom), OPI Road House Blues (top), Dior Denim (laying down), CND Midnight Sapphire, Color Club Blue-topia, Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso (laying down), Sparitual Blue Moon, Nubar Elegant Indigo, China Glaze Skyscraper

China Glaze Skyscraper ($3, Head2ToeBeauty, TransDesign. $6, Sally Beauty) is a blue ball of fun. It’s a semi-sheer glitter jelly polish with a softened midnight blue base. It reminds me of a twilight sky, before it darkens to an inky navy. It’s one of the two polishes that required three coats and that’s so that the glitter can be properly suspended. What intrigues me about this color is how the finish can look similar to a glass fleck at one angle and like a foil-ish metallic from another.

I used my cell phone to take this shot so the color isn’t as accurate but I thought the slight bluriness showed the finish off well.

CND Midnight Sapphire ($9, CND.com for locations or GoIndulge.com) is part of CND’s “Look” for Fall 2011 and it’s a densely pigmented creme that I showed you as part of my Cleveland Indians themed manicure. It applies beautifully and barely needs two coats. In fact I only used one coat in this shot and I like that it looks a bit lighter than the two coats I used in my Indians mani.

Color Club Blue-topia ($8, ShopColorClub.com) is a deep navy jelly polish. As much I love the idea of jellies, they are hard to do with darker colors. They tend to be pretty streaky as was the case with Blue-topia. I used three coats with this one and it’s still pretty uneven.

Dior Blue Denim ($22, Dior.com & Nordstrom stores) is part of the emerging sub-trend of denim inspired blues. This faded sapphire creme effortlessly blends comfort and chic. I love that even though it’s really pigmented, it has a jelly-like finish.

NARS Night Flight ($17, NARSCosmetics.com & NARS counters nationwide) is part of the Night series of sparkle polishes and in spite of its inky blue base, the tiny light blue and purple glitter particles lighten it up to a glorious mid-tone navy. You really have to see this one on the nail to appreciate the depth of its glitz.

OPI Road House Blues ($8.50,OPI.com for locations) is a lush navy creme that leans towards indigo. Makes me think of blueberry juice. I have a LOT of navy cremes but none are quite like this one. OPI Sapphire in the Snow from Holiday ’09 looks downright purple next to it.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso ($18, RescueBeauty.com) is an unusual flower combining fiery orange shimmer with a blackened blue base. As I mentioned in my initial review, it’s a challenge to bring a complimentary shimmer to the party without it affecting the base color but RBL’s Ji Baek achieved that with ease. It’s definitely one of my favorite fall colors this season.

Sparitual Blue Moon ($10, Sparitual.com & AveYou.com) is hands down my favorite of all the blues that have come out for fall. I wasn’t sure what to expect based on the bottle color. It looked pretty murky, more purple than blue, with this odd rose gold-ish flake glitter. On the nail it’s electric. Imagine Essie Aruba Blue being jolted to life with a defibrillator then injected with flakie goodness. The picture really does it no justice. I had this one for a full week and it looked smashing the full seven days. It pained me to take it off. In short… BUY THIS!!!

The Old School Blues

You don’t have to buy new colors to be on trend, just shop your nail polish wardrobe for these classic sapphire blues.

Click the names to view swatches: ULTA Moody Blues, China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway, Barielle Berry Blue (laying down), Essence Just Rock It.

Entity Blue (bottom), China Glaze Up All Night (top), Nubar Sapphire (bottom), NYC Skin Tight Denim Creme (top), OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It, Zoya Indigo (laying across), Essie Aruba Blue (laying down), Sparitual Surreal

Best colors to pair with Blue – Grey, camel, pumpkin, ruby, silver, gold

Thoughts on the resurgence of the blue nail color trend? Do you prefer straight-up blues to the greyed and green tinged tones? Which new colors do you plan to pick up? What are your favorite blue nail polishes?

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for China Glaze, CND, Color Club, Dior, NARS, OPI, Rescue Beauty Lounge and Spatirual. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

From olive to hunter, military inspired designs and colors dominated the Fall 2011 runway shows. Those shades came straight off the models and into nail polish bottles in a number of the fall collections.

Over the next couple weeks I’ll be walking you through the big nail polish trends for the season, showing you the newest shades to hit the market and the old school colors you may already own that will get your nail style ready for fall.

The New Class (Fall 2011 Release) – all polishes are shown using two coats

Laying down: MAC Fatigues & Deborah Lippmann Billionaire. Standing: China Glaze Westside Warrior, Color Club Artsy Crafty, Finger Paints Military Green, Butter London Wallis, OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window & Cult Nails In A Trance. Top Row: Zoya Yara & Zoya Dree

Butter London Wallis ($14, butterLondon.com, Beauty.com, ULTA, Nordstrom) is a metallic olive green that leans heavily towards gold. The base is a dark olive but the green-gold flakes floating on the surface give this colors a foil-like finish.

China Glaze Westside Warrior ($3, Head2ToeBeauty, TransDesign. $6, Sally Beauty) reminds me of castelvetrano olives. I only recently discovered these buttery gems through a friend and I’m obsessed. My only complaint with Westside Warrior is that the formula wasn’t up to par. It was pigmented but a little goopy and hard to work with.

Color Club Artsy Crafty ($8, ShopColorClub.com) is a lush forest green with a greyed underbelly that gives it some grit.

Cult Nails In A Trance ($10, CultNails.com) is a browned olive green shimmer. The satiny finish and old world charm hearkens back to medieval tapestries or royal gowns.

Deborah Lippmann Billionaire ($16, DeborahLippmann.com, Barneys, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom) is the darkest of the fall green offerings. It’s as if you took a vivid hunter green and drabbed it out with a touch of brown and black. The color was used at the Lela Rose F/W 2011 show and it’s got this great jelly consistency that is packed with pigment.

Finger Paints Military Green ($4.99, SallyBeauty.com) honestly looks terrible in the bottle. It was kind of yellowish, like baby poo or something but on the nail, LOVE! It’s reminiscent of Essie Sew Psyched or Chanel Khaki Vert and applies flawlessly on the nail.

MAC Fatigues ($15, MACCosmetics.com) is part of the MAC Me Over! collection and what I love about it is that it’s not as yellow based as the other colors in this category. It’s more cool tone friendly.

OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window ($8.50,OPI.com for locations) is a vivid olive hue. I know the words feel wrong together but I’ve been calling it a bright drab. The name is the only thing that bothers me. Even though, at my core, I’m a 12 year old boy with a love for potty humor, mixing that with something in the beauty world doesn’t sit right with me.

Zoya Dree ($8, Zoya.com) is the darkened version of OPI Uh-Oh. They definitely live in the same neighborhood, go to the same school and may even share some classes together.

Zoya Yara ($8, Zoya.com) – Okay so I have this sweater that I refuse to get rid of even though it’s so out of style it’s not even funny. The reason I keep it, it looks exactly like Yara! It’s this yellow-based green knit hoodie that has small golden threads woven throughout. Now that I have a polish to match it, why would I donate it?

The OG’s – The “Original (Military) Greens” in my stash

Not all of these shades are still available but if you have them in your nail wardrobe, now is the time to rock ‘em.

Laying down: NARS Mash & Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War Standing: Essie Sew Psyched, Chanel Khaki Vert, American Apparel Hunter, Zoya Gemma, Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow, Illamasqua Hectic, NARS Platoon

Best colors to pair with Military Greens – Berry, gold, pewter, camel

Thoughts on the Military Green nail color trend? Did your faves make the cut? Which new colors do you plan to pick up? Are there any readily available shades that I missed that we should know about?

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for butter LONDON, China Glaze, Color Club, Cult Nails, Deborah Lippmann, Finger Paints, MAC, OPI and Zoya. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. What day is it? What time is it? I seriously have no clue at this point. The time change from Cleveland to Vegas has me in such a tailspin that I honestly have no idea if it’s Monday, Tuesday or Sunday. I rarely have this type of reaction to flying outside my own time zone but this trip is really throwing me off. Maybe there’s something in the air because Deborah Lippmann mentioned this morning that she’s all out of sorts. That her typical spot-on sense of direction is so off that she keeps getting lost in the Mandalay Bay, a hotel she has stayed in many times. At least I fly home tomorrow night (gotta love the red eye) and will hopefully be back on track asap. So far I have met some amazing people and seen lots of fun products and colors at Cosmoprof (more on that to come) but I had a major fangirl moment when I met Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, EVP & Executive Artistic Director of OPI. I’ve had the privilege to speak with some incredible people in this industry but Suzi has always been at the top of my nail bucket list and today I can finally cross her off. It seems only fitting that I meet her the day I delve into OPI Sparrow Me The Drama from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection as part of my commitment to inject more pink/red into the 365.

Formula & Application: OPI is a 3-Free brand but some (not all) of the PotC polishes are 4-Free including Sparrow Me The Drama. They made the switch to 3-Free in 2008. You can identify an OPI with the 3-Free formula by the green lettering on the label. Bottles with black lettering have the old formula. The new 4-Free formula doesn’t have a different color writing on the label so always check the labels to be sure.

The OPI Pro Wide brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

The formula is thin and easy to work with but I found that the pigmentation was lacking some and it looked a little streaky/patchy in person. I ended up using three thin coats just to make sure I had proper coverage but someone who applies their polish a little thicker could probably get away with two coats.

OPI Sparrow Me The Drama is a nice middle-of-the-road pink creme. I appreciate that it’s a bit cool but not so much that people with warm/olive skin tones can’t get involved. You’ll have to forgive me for not presenting comparisons. Due to time constraints before I left for Vegas, I just wasn’t able to make it happen.

Of course I couldn’t leave a sleeping dog lie. I had to pump up the volume on this color with a little Shatter Attack. Since the creme shatters don’t do much for me and Silver Shatter was released to be worn with the Pirates hues, I went for it. I was honestly curious if there would be enough contrast both colors to make it interesting and while I’m steadfast in my anti-pink-ness, I do appreciate the funky flavor of this combo.

Remember: When working with Shatter, apply to a COMPLETELY DRY nail or else it won’t crack properly. You will get the best effect when the polish is dry.  Thin coats = more cracks and make sure you apply a top coat to prevent the Shatter from flaking off.

Bottom Line: Sparrow Me The Drama’s name is more entertaining than the actual polish. I mean, the color is fine but would you want to be described as “fine?” Neither does this pink lady. Regardless of my personal feeling on the color, I wish the formula was a little less streaky for all my pink lovers out there. The nice thin flow of the polish held such promise.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m just not feeling it… SHARE

OPI Sparrow Me The Drama from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection is available now in limited edition at salons and spas nationwide including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50/ea for one .5oz bottles.

Thoughts on Sparrow Me The Drama? Do you like it better with or without Silver Shatter? How many of you love pink polish over all the other color families? Do you have a favorite pink that you think I would just FLIP over?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by OPI. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. Essie Da Bush was released in late spring/early summer as part of the Essie Resort 2011 collection. Shortly after its launch I kept hearing raves for the color that left me staring at my bottle, thinking, “What the eff??” What’s with all the hype over this bland looking, neutral grey/green/cream concoction. I’m all for odd colors but in the bottle, Da Bush, did nothing fore me. Even the name turned me off. So all this time it’s sat in one of my untrieds bin, taunting me. I could almost hear it saying, “Just give in. You know you’re going to love me.” Well, we’ll just see about that!

Formula & Application: Essie is a 3-Free brand. The square bottles are embossed with the essie logo and the smooth plastic caps include an embossed e on top. The brushes are thin, round and shorter than most. The bristles are very flexible, allowing you to easily fan out the brush to cover your nail width.

Da Bush has the watery, squishy texture we’ve come to expect from Essie cremes only it’s pretty well pigmented. I probably could have gotten away with two medium coats but I like to apply my polish as thin as possible to avoid chipping so three thin coats did the trick for me. Plus I nicked two of my nails while they were still wet with the second coat so a third layer was necessary to prevent starting from scratch. Call me lazy but it worked.

Essie Da Bush is a soft artichoke green creme. It’s what I imagine artichoke soup would look like. It’s a bit greyed but with a pale lightness that feels spring/summer appropriate. It’s definitely a unique flower, or so I thought.

After I was done being wowed by how cool and different this color is I went on the hunt for any type of comparison. I started with MAC In The Buff which I remember being described as “avocado” though it’s more like a browned avocado and NOTHING like Da Bush. After searching through my permanent stash I started in my untrieds and came across OPI Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection and surprise, surprise, surprise we have a match!

Now I don’t know who spied on who here but how much of a coincidence is it that the two biggest nail brands on the planet came out with the EXACT SAME SHADE at the EXACT SAME TIME? I don’t say dead-on dupe very often but there is no other way to describe this pair. I almost mislabeled them in this photo because I forgot which polish was which. And they both have the same pigmentation and consistency.

That’s too many “sames” for me not to suspect a little industrial espionage. Intriguing, no? Now I wish I had purchased the Sinful Pirates dupe to see if it’s a match as well. I smell a Rite-Aid trip in my immediate future.

Bottom Line: Da Bush and OPI Stranger Tides may be identical but it doesn’t make the color any less unique. It’s certainly not a shade for everyone as it’s kind of dirty and odd but that’s what I love about it. Give me a green that I don’t have anything even remotely similar to and I’m a happy nail polish fanatic. Of course you don’t need both polishes but if you’re at all into funky neutrals, I suggest you pick up one of them.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: It’s a toss up as both colors are great so I flipped a coin and decided to STASH the Essie and SHARE the OPI.

Essie Da Bush is available as part of the Essie Resort 2011 limited edition collection. Essie nail polish is available at professional salons and spas and also in the retail version at drugstores and grocers nationwide. Online shoppers can head to Essie.com, Head2ToeBeauty.com, and TransDesign.com. Essie nail polishes retail for $8/ea for a .5oz bottle.

Thoughts on Da Bush? Do you love quirky colors like this or is this too funky for you? Do you have a preference between Da Bush and Stranger Tides? Has anyone compared either one to the Sinful version? Do you have any other polishes with this type of hue? The last artichoke polish I can recall is CND Okie Dokie Artichokie and it was much darker than these two.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by Essie and OPI. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. After I posted about the OPI Glam Slam! England duo with Grape…Set…Match quite a few of you requested that I also share my thoughts on Your Royal Shine-ness. To be honest, I wasn’t even planning to talk about this polish because it looked like just another silver foil in the bottle and I have more than my share of those. Turns out I have to thank you all for prodding me into giving it a whirl because it ended up being one of those “Don’t judge a book by its cover” kind of moments. And isn’t that the whole point of this series and my blog in general? Keep reading to see what I mean.

Formula & Application: OPI nail polishes are now 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. This is a new development as OPI’s pre-Texas were only 3-Free. I just wish OPI had changed the color of the print on the labels so buyers can identify 4-Free polishes like they did when they made the switch to 3-Free.

The OPI Pro Wide Brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

As with most foil metallics, this polish gives great coverage in two coats and unlike traditional metallics, it doesn’t leave you with brush stroke madness on the surface. The formula is smooth and workable, which is great for amateur polishers.

As I mentioned above, I didn’t expect much from OPI Your Royal Shine-ness. I ASSumed it to be a twin to some of the other great foil metallics I own; China Glaze Cheers To You, Orly Shine and Sonia Kashuk Smoke & Mirrors. As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is more unique than that. YRS-ness actually has a bit of a tarnished feel thanks to the mix of silver and gold foil particles. That allows the color to look both silver and slightly pewter depending on the light. To me, this is like the foil version of Spark de Triomphe with its mix of silver and gold glitter.

Adding a layer of OPI Servin Up Silver amps up this look to full-out disco ball dance party. The fine holographic micro-glitter particles light up your nails like multi-color twinkle lights while the larger holographic sequins create bursts of color whenever the light hits them. This would make an amazing NYE manicure and an eye catching summer pedicure. But you better make sure your feet aren’t busted if you wear this on your toes because everyone will be looking down to check out this combo.

Bottom Line: I know better than to trust a bottle yet I completely ignored my own advice and thankfully I listened to all of you and gave Your Royal Shine-ness a try. It turned out to be quite an original metallic. If you happen to shy away from silvers because they are too cool for your skin tone, this may be the perfect solution for you. The gold really warms up what could be a very cold color.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: No doubt about it… STASH!

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness and Servin Up Silver from the OPI Glam Slam! England collection are available now at salons and spas nationwide including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret and ULTA. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50/ea and the Glam Slam! duos retail for $14.95 for two .5oz bottles.

Which of the two OPI Glam Slam! England duos do you prefer? How are you feeling about Your Royal Shine-ness? Do you know of other foil metallics that mix silver & gold like this one? What nail polish have you tried lately that looked unimpressive in the bottle but ended up winning you over on the nail?

Disclosure: For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. The other day when I shared The Painted Nail’s Legendary Lavender I received a few questions asking how it compares to the latest OPI Glam Slam! England release, OPI Grape…Set…Match. At the time I had played with the color a bit but hadn’t taken it for a full test drive so I figured today was a great day for that. Released to coincide with Serena Williams’ next big Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, the newest OPI Glam Slam! releases take us to England and add a new top coat element to the party. Rather than a new Shatter, the Glam Slam! England duos come with Servin’ Up Sparkle, a holographic glitter top coat. According to OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, “England’s premier tennis tournament warrants colors with extra glitz and glamour. The next big trend in nails is making lacquer look 3-dimensional by adding different micas and glitters, turning fingertips into jewelry. With two bold metallics and a sparkling glitter, these colors are fit for royalty.”

Formula & Application: OPI nail polishes are now 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. This is a new development as OPI’s pre-Texas were only 3-Free. I just wish OPI had changed the color of the print on the labels so buyers can identify 4-Free polishes like they did when they made the switch to 3-Free.

The OPI Pro Wide Brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

Each of the polishes in this set apply with a slightly different texture. Servin’ Up Sparkle is a clear based glitter so it is squishy and very jelly-like to suspend the glitter. While the smaller particles are evenly dispersed you may find yourself having to intentionally place the hexagonal sequins to get them on the nail. Grape…Set…Match on the other hand has a texture that falls somewhere between a jelly and a creamy opaque. I would call it a semi-opaque polish since I needed three coats to get full coverage. People who are more heavy handed with their application can get away with two coats.

OPI Grape…Set…Match was well named not only for the tennis reference but because it has a red grape hue to it. It’s a highly reflective sparkle polish with a reddish-purple base and tons of fuchsia and blue smooth micro-glitter though the blue is a bit more prominent on the nail.

Adding a layer of OPI Servin’ Up Silver turns it into one big holographic party. Just to be clear, the glitter doesn’t create a prismatic effect but the individual particles light up in different colors like Lite-Brite pegs. The holographic sequins are kind of few and far between so you really have to work to get a lot of them on the nail. Now while I don’t own China Glaze Shooting Stars, based on pics of it I have seen, the two seem awfully similar.

The second I saw Grape…Set…Match I thought of OPI Ink. They both have the same kind of glitter and finish. GSM is the redder version of OPI Ink and it lines up on the color wheel somewhere between it and The Painted Nail Legendary Lavender. OPI Ink. is so much darker and bluer than GSM that I didn’t include it in my comparison swatch below.

As you can see both colors have similar red grape bases but it’s LL’s brighter hue that makes it pop a bit more in comparison. And GSM’s blue glitter definitely makes it a bit cooler toned.

Bottom Line: Of all the Glam Slam duos we have seen thus far, this may be my favorite in that  both colors are keepers. Don’t get me wrong, Spark De Triomphe is still my hands down winner for best individual performance but this set gets the best group/duo award from me.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m STASHing both for now but I’m only hanging on to GSM for comparison purposes as I personally prefer Legendary Lavender and don’t really need both.

The OPI Glam Slam! England duos are available now at salons and spas nationwide including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50/ea and the Glam Slam! duos retail for $14.95/set for two .5oz bottles.

Thoughts on Grape…Set…Match and Servin’ Up Silver? Will you be getting this set? What has been your favorite Glam Slam! duo so far? If you have China Glaze Shooting Stars, how do you think it compares to SUS top coat?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by OPI. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. A couple weeks ago I was invited to a blogger event at Legacy Village, an upscale shopping center in my neighborhood. They asked some local fashion and lifestyle bloggers to come check out some summer trends from White House Black Market and Charming Charlie and learn more about the stores in the complex. I was super stoked to go when I found out that some of my blogging friends, including fellow nail blogger Steff from Short ‘n Chic, were going to be there. Steff has a great sense of style and perusing the accessory racks with her was a lot of fun. I ended up coming home with a cute bracelet that I can’t stop wearing and today I decided to polish my nails to match using OPI Done Out In Deco.

Formula & Application: OPI is a 3-Free brand. They made the switch to 3-Free in 2008. You can identify an OPI with the 3-Free formula by the green lettering on the label. Bottles with black lettering have the old formula. Always check the labels to be sure. The OPI Pro Wide brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

The formula on this one is nice and thin and easy to work with. The pigmentation could use some improvement but at least it wasn’t streaky. I ended up using three coats just to be sure it was completely opaque but if you apply your polish a little thicker you could get away with two.

OPI Done Out In Deco is a creamy pink based lilac. Now normally when I hear lilac I go running for the hills. Pink based purples are my skin tone’s worst enemy. They give me what I call an “alien hands” effect. Fortunately DOID isn’t too pink or too light and in indirect light it looks a lot cooler and more smoky as you’ll see below.

As I mentioned above, the event featured clothes from White House Black Market with accessories from our host Charming Charlie. Now even though I basically live down the street from Legacy I’ve never been in Charming Charlie. I didn’t even know what they sold. So you can imagine how overwhelmed I was by this giant store filled with every kind of costume jewelry you can imagine plus hats, shoes, bags, etc. And the genius part is that it’s all organized by color AND super affordable. Like most items cost under $20.

Shibani from CLE Shopaholic and Allison from Confessions of a Cohabitant model some hats while Steff from Short ‘n Chic had fun with a fascinator-esque hair accessory.

While they were having fun with hats I made a beeline for the green, blue and purple sections of the store. Surprising, I know. I love accessories but I tend to be the type of shopper who goes out looking for something to go with a specific outfit rather than just purchase random things that can go with anything. This was the perfect opportunity to change that.

Being that I have a lot of purple, gray, black and silver in my closet I thought the bracelet I chose would mix well with a lot of my wardrobe. As you can see, I’m so into purple it’s even on the accent wall of my polish room. As it turns out DOID isn’t a perfect match for my bracelet, OPI Parlez Vous OPI? is a better companion, but I’ve already worn that one and DOID feels more springy.

Bottom Line: Done Out In Deco ended up being much more flattering than I expected and a great spring color. The formula is great, the pigmentation is serviceable but at the end of the day I’m not jumping up and down over it.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: As much as I love purple this one isn’t giving me butterflies so it’s off to be SHAREd with someone who will love it.

Unfortunately OPI Done Out In Deco is discontinued. It was launched as a limited edition color with the South Beach collection for Spring 2009. I’ve seen bottles floating around online in places like eBay and Amazon but I haven’t found an etailer I know who is carrying it.

Did you snap up a bottle of DOIN when it first launched? Thoughts on the color? I’m not really a matchy-matchy type of person so I’d love to hear your suggestions on what polish you would wear with my bracelet.

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by OPI. PR reps for Legacy Village provided me with a gift card to use on merchandise at any Legacy Village store and I chose to use it on accessories from Charming Charlie. Posting about the experience was neither requested nor required. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

It’s time to play the music It’s time to light the lights It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight Oh.My.Gosh!! The Muppets are partnering with OPI. Let me repeat. THE MUPPETS ARE PARTNERING WITH OPI!!! I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I am over this news. I tend to love OPI’s Holiday collections more than any other in the whole year but with the Muppets involved I’m already calling it THE collection of 2011. As a kid I lived for Sunday nights when The Muppet Show would come on and I still have my Kermit and Miss Piggy puppets from way back then. I seriously worship the genius of the late Jim Henson and watched anything he was involved with; Labyrinth, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, Fraggle Rock. I seriously freaked out when I saw Bean Bunny at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Don’t judge I also cried when I met Tigger! What?

Anyway, I know this is a LONG time out but I just had to post about it. The reported color names are:

Animal-istic
Meep-Meep-Meep (can you even stand how cute this sounds?)
Wocka Wocka!
Pepe’s Purple Paassion
Designer…de Better!
Warm & Fozzie
Rainbow Connection (We sang this in elementary school)
Excuse Moi!
Gone Gonzo!
Fresh Frog of Bel Air
Divine Swine
Gettin’ Miss Piggy With It!

Please tell me there are others as excited over this news as I am? Who is your favorite Muppet character? And where’s the love for Janice?

***EDITED TO ADD – While I do not have an official release date, based on previous OPI Holiday launches, I would expect to see these on shelves no later than November 1st, 2011. Burlesque was pushed up to October 1st so that is a possibility as well.

info and image credit: neglelakkmani

365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to. I’ve received a few questions lately regarding “jelly” polishes. About what makes a polish a jelly and more specifically about the OPI “sorbet-like” finish nail polishes from the Texas collection and if/how they are different from a jelly. I found a great reference picture on Tumblr that helps explain jellies better. Today a follower on Twitter asked for a spring nail polish recommendation and stated that she is a loyal OPI Bubble Bath user but is looking to branch out into brighter colors.  My suggestion was to try one of the sorbet-like polishes, like OPI Big Hair… Big Nails, since they are less in-your-face than a traditional bright. It makes for an easier transition from pale neutrals.

Formula & Application: OPI nail polishes are now 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. This is a new development as OPI’s pre-Texas were only 3-Free. I just wish OPI had changed the color of the print on the labels so buyers can identify 4-Free polishes like they did when they made the switch to 3-Free.

The OPI Pro Wide Brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

OPI’s “sorbet-like” finish is for all intents and purposes a jelly. It’s just their name for it, the same way they call their crackle polish “shatter.” Of course they claim this type of finish is “new” but we know better. Anyway, for those unfamiliar with the jelly concept, think of them as lip gloss for the nails.  They are semi-sheer polishes with a squishy texture that dries super glossy. They have a lucite appearance or as I like to think of it, it’s as though you coated your nails in Jello.  The color is rich and vibrant but translucent.

OPI Big Hair… Big Nails was described by OPI as a rosy peach but I think of it as a coral.  It’s red with a lot of pink undertones.  I applied two coats and as you can see, the coverage is pretty good and not at all streaky.  Because I intended to apply a third coat, iI didn’t use top coat which is why the polish isn’t as glossy as it should be.

What this photo also reveals is why I don’t wear sheer polish. Even though my nails are short, they are so detached that my free edge is SUPER thick and fake looking. What I wouldn’t give for long nail beds!

With a third coat we are getting close to opaque. The color is also much more intense. The camera picks up on my smile line more than the naked eye so even though it looks somewhat transparent here, the VNL (visible nail line) is minimal.

For those of you who love the texture and finish of jelly/sorbet polishes but hate the dreaded VNL, lay down a coat or two of white nail polish as a base. I used CND Brilliant White and two coats of Big Hair… Big Nails. Now while the color looked pretty even with just two coats, my photo clearly shows some patchiness. I threw on a third coat later and it’s utter perfection. It can be tricky to layer over white so I suggest polishing just inside the lines with your base color to avoid any white peeking out from underneath.

Bottom Line: If you love jelly polishes, you’ll dig the “sorbet-like” colors from the Texas line. Jellies can be fun for layering or for a sheer wash of color if you’re a bit too timid for full-on bright cremes. Personally I would have loved to see a wider range of colors in the Texas sorbets. A bright green jelly along the lines of Lippmann’s Rehab would have been fabulous. I would trade Don’t Mess With OPI for a “sorbet-like” version.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Since I really like how it looks over white and I can be a sucker for corals in the spring/summer, I’m going to hold on to this one. STASH!

OPI Big Hair… Big Nails is available now as part of the OPI Texas Collection which can be found at salons and spas nationwide including chains like Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA. Online shoppers can purchase OPI at TransDesign.com. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50/ea for a .5oz bottle.

Are  you a jelly polish fan? What do you think of OPI’s version of jelly? Thoughts on Big Hair… Big Nails? Do you prefer to wear jellies on their own or layered?  If alone, do you layer them til they are opaque or let  your nail show through?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by OPI. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

Formula & Application: OPI nail polishes are now 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and free of camphor, which can be an irritant. This is a new development as OPI’s pre-Texas were only 3-Free. I just wish OPI had changed the color of the print on the labels so buyers can identify 4-Free polishes like they did when they made the switch to 3-Free.

The OPI Pro Wide brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.

Being that we’re talking about two very different kinds of polish in each duo, I will address the formulas individually. Spark de Triomphe is a clear based glitter. Because the glitter particles vary in size and are so densely packed into the base, it quickly builds to opaque with only three coats though I opted to use two coats as it doesn’t need to be opaque under the crackle.  I feel using three would just make the finished product too thick.  Rally Pretty Pink is a foil glitter that flows easily on the nail.  While the pigmentation is good, the two coats I used would probably require a third if I were wearing the color on its own..

OPI Rally Pretty Pink has a rosy pink base packed with pink and gold foil micro-glitter.  The gold is very predominant in this shade and it really pops under the shatter but the pink is definitely noticeable.  On the nail, the two colors combine to create a peachy duo-chrome effect.

Now when I saw this duo in the package, I thought OPI Red Shatter made absolutely no sense.  That it would look like a mistake.  Boy was I wrong.  Applied over Rally Pretty Pink, the gold foil glitter really stands out making for a gorgeous combination.  I’m showing Red Shatter without top coat on my middle finger because I loved the contrast between the matte shatter and gold. It gives the look an Old World feel.  I later added a layer of Essie Matte About You top coat and the effect is even more gorgeous.

OPI Spark de Triomphe is the bright shining star of this collection.  This clear based glitter is chock full of so many kinds of glitter; silver and gold micro-glitter, silver and gold foil pieces, gold hexagonal glitter.  It’s a cornucopia of glitzy goodness.  The overall effect comes off more gold than silver but the gold is more champagne than yellow. Adding the silver particles definitely keeps this one neutral.  One could use this as a topper but the glitter is SO jammed in the base that it really steals the show from whatever color you layer it over.

When the duos first arrived, I swatched them on a nail art wheel and all I could think was how OPI White Shatter was going to ruin the gorgeousness of Spark de Triomphe.  Covering it up seemed like a crime.

Inspired by an image I saw on Tumblr, that a reader told me came from a blog called Chloe’s Nails, I used a piece of scotch tape to block off the majority of the nail from the shatter hoping that would be a better option. Though as one follower commented it looked like dried sour cream. Not great.

So in an effort to find a better Shatter match for Spark de Triomphe I tested it with OPI Blue Shatter, OPI White Shatter and OPI Silver Shatter over top. While Blue Shatter pairs nicely with SdT, it makes the look feel heavy. White Shatter looks better than I thought but I should have used a lighter coat so more of the glitter would show through. Silver Shatter was a complete and utter fail. If SdT was more gold it would make for a better contrast but as is, it just looks a mess.

When using Shatters remember these tips:

• Use over COMPLETELY DRY nail polish.
• The thinner the layer, the more cracks you will get when dry
• Shatter polishes dry matte/satin and can flake off so use a top coat
• Shatters thicken faster than traditional polish and according to OPI you can thin them.  Just make sure you add the thinner slowly, rolling to mix well between each thinner addition

Bottom Line: Spark de Triomphe is my must-have polish of the four. It’s utterly gorgeous and back-up worthy (that’s saying a LOT). Rally Pretty Pink is so not my style yet I’m so attracted to it. I don’t see myself wearing it often but there’s no way it’s leaving my stash. Neither Shatter color is something I would opt for but Red Shatter does look good over Rally Pretty Pink. If you can find open stock of the polishes, definitely snap up the base colors even if you don’t like Shatter.

OPI Glam Slam! France is available now at professional salons and spas nationwide including national chains Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50/ea for a .5oz bottle.

Thoughts on the Glam Slam! duos? If you had to choose, which duo would you get? Which colors do you plan to buy? Would you put a Shatter over Spark de Triomphe or wear it on its own?

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by OPI. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.