OPI Touring America - part I

Warning! Massive amounts of pictures ahead!

Some of you have already figured OPI was hosting another one of their famous PR parties, here in Stockholm, yesterday. Of course Cammi and I went, and as usual, we split the duties equally, so this is the first of two posts - Cammi's part coming up a bit later.

The girls working at the Swedish OPI distributor Kings Hair always go over the top to present the whole thing as genuinely as possible. This time, for that all American feeling, the event was hosted at TGI Friday's restaurant, where we were treated to fried chicken, mozzarella, chili cheese, garlic bread, and Margaritas - and of course manicures and the mandatory goodie bag of product samples. Or, goodie box, this time.

Cute tin box. And inside, the collection you all browsed here to see:

Now, I want to remind you I can't guarantee complete color accuracy. Though I'll confide in you and admit I've been working my ass off to get these as close to reality as possible - and bear in mind: sunlight has been somewhat moderate in Stockholm today, and some of the lacquers depicted are very dark, hence even more tricky to get completely realistic. The individual bottle shots are dead-on on my screen - however I have no clue what settings you are using, dear friends! So, here are six of the eight cremes. Notes and comments as you scoll along through this typical American road trip. All swatches are with no topcoat.

A-Taupe the Space Needle.



Three coats. My camera turned this one green, so these have been modified quite a bit. But think baby poo, and you're basically there. Supposedly taupe, but a tad too warm to be one, I think. Not crazy about this one, but you strange lovers of OPI & Apple Pie will probably find this one amusing. Even though I was born and have lived all my life in Sweden, I know the Space Needle is located in Seattle, Washington, but being a foreigner and all, I can't say the first color I think of when associating with Seattle is a warm taupe. I would have loved a dark, murky green, reminiscent of the Washington forests. But you can't have it all.

Get in the Expresso Lane.



Two coats. Really dark, slightly greyed brown. I find this to be a nice shade of brown, and I'm positive I'll wear it for fall. Maybe not something to write home about, but a wearable, appropriate vampy brown for that outfit with woolen socks and tweed you'll pick out in October, I suppose.

Honk if You Love OPI.



Two coats. Dark, vampy plum purple. What's there to say? We have all seen it before. Not really new or fresh. Nonetheless a great purple vampy. If you don't own one, get it, but if you own plenty, you probably won't need it. It's very nice though, both in application and pigmentation, so I will find use for my bottle.

I Brake For Manicures.



Two coats. When I first saw this bottle, I was pondering... Is it brown? Is it purple? No, it's a brurple! A sort of washed out raisin shade, also rather dark and vampy, and in low light you won't be able to tell what color it is. And I freakin' love it. We have seen so many greyed out purple and taupe and brown shades these last few years, but I honestly believe this one is quite new and unique. Unfortunately, it's not very evident in these photos. You'll have to see it for yourselves. But this one will be worn - I will brake for a manicure.

Road House Blues.



Two coats. Dark navy or midnight sort of blue. A vampy blue. Not overly spectacular, but a nice shade of blue. The name is great for being a newer OPI release. For a while, I believed they were out of short names. How hard was it, really? I immediately go back to Washington and think of Twin Peaks. Those weird road houses with melancholic blues singers, and weird kids doing weird stuff, and tired lumberjacks drinking beer.

Uh-oh Roll Down the Window.



Three coats, and the color you all waited to see, right? Anyone of my more frequent readers will know I can't resist a good olive creme, and this is no exception. I haven't yet compared it to any of my others, but it really doesn't matter - I can't get enough of them. If you're like me, this is a must have. However, labelled with the silliest name in OPI's entire history. Yeah, I want to walk into a salon and ask for the fart polish!


I'm happy to once again say I think OPI has improved their formula pigmentation wise. I was worried after the release of the Texas collection because so many was more sheer than I expect a good quality polish to be, but these are all sufficient for my taste (and patience). The lighter shades required three coats, but a more generous person will get away with two. The vampier ones are pigmented enough for two. All of these dry a shade or two darker than bottle color, though. Also, they do definitely need some topcoat.

Overall, I think this is a good collection for fall. The northern hemisphere just received its summer, and maybe most of us aren't in the mood for fall lacquers yet, but once it's getting colder I think any lover of a good, murky, greyed creme will dig these. The half I've been reviewing here have some hits and some misses, and some in between, which is what I expect from OPI, since they're supposed to fill the needs of many different women - some conservative and some not so much. I'm glad to see Suzi isn't afraid of dark stuff, and these do fill my needs for that fall feeling. The half Cammi will be reviewing is in some aspects quite different - but you'll see for yourselves later on.

Some of the shades are very close to each other, in a peculiar way. If you look really close, they're not, but being so dark, in most lightings they're similar. Maybe we could have used a more wide-spread palette, which would have been possible even in the darker spectrum. Still, I like these, but if I had to spend bucks, I wouldn't buy the entire collection. Now, if OPI could just quit the diarrhea colors, the ratio of a color wise qualitative collection would rise tremendously.

Comparisons at a later date, when we've had the time to. Any requests welcome.

Swedish word of the day:
bila -verb to take a road trip by car
not to be confused with
bila -noun blade, broad-axe
One is for vacations, the other is found in a guillotine.