OPI Brazil in dots

So the new OPI collections landed in Swedish press hands the other day, and who am I to keep myself from wearing them? I have already tried out a bunch from the Brazil spring and summer collection, by doing the little dotted skitlettes I love wearing so much. As per usual, light has now partially escaped Sweden, and shooting in low autumnal lighting conditions isn't exactly favorable, but better than nothing, right?

Let's first look at the manicure I'm wearing today. I have I Just Can't Cope-acabana and Live, Love, Carnaval on.

I Just Can't Cope-acabana is a taxi cab yellow creme, and Live, Love, Carnaval is a reddish coral creme - my camera hates red hues and here it looks more orange than it is in reality.


And here's a monstrosity of topcoat bleeding: Red Hot Rio, Don't Bossa Nova Me Around and Taupe-less Beach.

Red Hot Rio is a warm red jelly-ish creme - this is three coats. Don't Bossa Nova Me Around is a beige-pink creme, slightly chalky. OPI describes it as a nude, but I can't really see who this is going to look nude-ish on. Taupe-less Beach is ...well, a taupe creme. And yes, the Re Hot Rio dots bled lots when topcoating, like reds tend to do. It looked better in reality though, just not very macro photogenique.

There, five colors from the Brazil collection in two photos. And now for some quick notes on the collection as a whole, despite not being presented in this post. There's mainly one reason for my choices of usage, namely that this collection is like many OPI collections have been recently: a bunch of colors that match together, but just aren't that interesting separately. I did the same with the Euro Centrale collection, though the colors in that one were a wee bit better individually. There are little color groups that match very nicely like this, using dots that blend them, but I would probably die from boredom if I wore for example Taupe-less Beach by itself. Mostly because there's nothing really new about them. And, only one shade in this collection is a shimmer, the rest are cremes. Taupe cremes, brown cremes, yellow, coral, orange... Summer staples mixed with subdued basic colors. But nothing revolutionary.

This aside, I'll probably use most. So stay tuned for more.

Re-insta OPI

Let's have yet another bulk of manicures that only ended up on instagram... This time all OPI.

OPI All I Want For Christmas (is OPI), with black and OPI All Sparkly and Gold leopard spots (there were some on the thumbs as well). Both OPI shades from the Mariah Carey holiday collection.

More leopard spots: OPI In the Cable Car-Pool Lane with OPI Goldeneye, black, and own mix of coral pink spots.

OPI Oy - Another Polish Joke! with OPI Black Spotted.

OPI Oy - Another Polish Joke! on its own.

Strawberry meringue water marble as requested by the boyfriend. ("Can you please pick my nail color?" -"Do those meringues with pink strokes in 'em." -*...*) The marbling was hell and I'll never do it again. Colors used  were OPI My Vampire is Buff, I Theodora You and Don't Touch My Tutu!.

Sorta skittles with dotted details, with OPI colors Goldeneye, Suzi's Hungary Again! and OPI... Eurso Euro.

And the well known sh*it disaster OPI It's All San Andreas's Fault. But actually it's way better looking when it's completely dry and not on photo. I think I wore it for three days!


Stay tuned for more of my terrible insta photos!

OPI Germany - a quick look

The other day I went to one of those nice press events that the Swedish distributor of OPI holds every now and then to present the new collections. This time we got a peek at the fall Germany collection, and a generous box with samples of it. Here's a quick look at it - I hope to be able to swatch these in full when I get some more time and sun!

Berlin There Done That (taupe creme), Danke-Shiny Red (red shimmer), Deutche You Want Me Baby (rusty orange-red shimmer), Don't Pretzel My Buttons (nude creme).

Don't Talk Bach To Me (light pea green yellow with silver shimmer), German-icure by OPI (red-brown shimmer), Every Month is Oktoberfest (red shimmer in dark blurple base), My Very First Knockwurst (pink leaning nude creme).

Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! (blackened, muted green), Schnapps Out of It! (dusty orange with silver shimmer), Suzi & The 7 Düsseldorfs (medium purple shimmer), Unfor-Greta-bly Blue (blue shimmer in teal green base).

I have four comments:
1. The colors are very fall appropriate
2. The names are more ridiculous than ever
3. Bad porn seems to have been influential at the name creation party
4. Only one red!

Yes, very fall. But also... Rather boring. Three very neutral cremes. Standard red, purple and blue shimmers, not very inventive. The shimmer in most of these are of the finer variety that can be prone to brush strokes if you're not careful enough, although it's not that bad. However, I'm not a fan of the silver shimmer found in Don't Talk Bach to Me and Schnapps Out of It, and the shade of the latter is not that exciting at all. Actually, OPI describes it as a mauve, but I can't figure out why. Don't Talk Bach to Me could have been good, but the shimmer ruins this to a certain extent. At least I'm drawn to the name, since Bach is my favourite classical composer.

Upon first sight I couldn't find one really appealing color, but as I examined them more closely, I found one that actually got me slightly excited. More on that soon. 

Formula seems to be of standard to OPI, which is good, and pigmentation is better than it's been for a while, I think. Most of these are good in two coats, and anyone who reads this blog more frequently knows I usually do three.

Here's my favourite:

German-icure By OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest. Two coats. At first coat, it's more a dark purple with red shimmer, at second it transforms in a red with a dark purple base - if you follow me on this. The shimmer gets more pronounced as you add coats. The base is dark enough to not show as purple, but it's still there, and when the sun hits it just right, it's awesome. I think purple lovers will want this one.

Every Month is Oktoberfest German-icure By OPI has the same shimmer, but in a brownish base. But this one... Nice. But original? OPI has previously released for example Black Cherry Chutney, which gives a similar impression, even though it may be different on a particle level.That aside, this shade really is nice.

As far as the rest goes, well, what do you think of these? Do you find anything exciting? Do you, unlike me, feel that these scream Germany? (Because I don't.)

The names of German-icure by OPI and Every Month is Oktoberfest were initially mixed up in this post! This was due to mislabeled bottles, something that happened to the entire batch of bottles that went out to Swedish bloggers and journalists before the release. I'm sorry about the confusion, the mislabeled photos above, and hope you'll still like both.

Swedish name of the day:
Tyskland Germany
We have a slightly different take on the name.

Depend summer 2012 + giveaway

Finally, some bottle photos and quick wheel swatches of the new Depend summer collection!

This little bunch is a rather cute set of tutti frutti like shimmers. 305 is a warm bubblegum pink with fine green shimmer that dries semi matte, 306 is a yellow, fine shimmer on the cooler side with a green cast, 307 an orange with gold shimmer, and 308 a red with gold shimmer. Sorry about the rather dark photo here.

309 is a red with fine, somewhat frosty shimmer, 317 a sheer pink with a pearly violet or pink shimmer, 311 is your average semi bright raspberry pink creme, and 316 a lilac creme with green shimmer.

314 comes out wonky in photos, but is really a bright green creme in a sort of cross between apple and warm mint kind of shade, if that sounds weird it's just because I haven't had enough coffee yet. 310 is a blue foil with particles on the more coarse side, 312 is a taupe creme with green shimmer, 313 a blurple with green shimmer, and 315 is a peacy nude with green shimmer.

Let's take a closer look at 313:

Rather nice!

And now the wheel - this is with flash, polishes in number order:

Close up shots of some of my favourites:

312 and 313.

305-308. It's not that they are so damn unique, but they look so cute together.

So, what's cool about this collection? It's got green shimmer all over, in different sizes. That makes some of the colors one would expect to be more standard, just a little less standard. I've also been trying to figure out if that shimmer could have any duochrome properties, but I can't really tell, which means that if it does, it's not that obvious anyway. Still, I rather like a bunch of these shades. It's definitely a huge step up from the spring collection, which was infinitely boring. Some of these I don't think I would wear myself, but I can see why people will buy them. For instance 307 and 308, which are cute, but not my personal style. I have tried to figure if those also has the same green shimmer the rest of the shimmers do, but if it does, it's eaten up by the base colors.

My favourites are of course the collection standout 313, and also, perhaps a little unexpected, the taupe 312. It's not just another taupe - it has green shimmer dammit! Lately, as I'm accepting this aging thing going on with me, I've grown more fond of neutral and classic colors with the small, sometimes unexpected twist. These shades sort of allow me to be the obstinate me I've always been, but with less noticeable nails. The edge is there, but only if you look closely. And sometimes knowing is enough.

Also, I would like to add that the pale lilac 316 at a distance looks a whole lot like Essie To Buy Or Not to Buy, though the shimmer is different. This is even more so because it has the same general problem the Essie does: the shimmer pretty much drowns in the creme base. It's just not that visible. But if you're in an area where Depend polishes are sold, and you wanted to get the Essie, you could do with this one instead.

For Depend polishes, these are sheerer than usual. Many of these will require three coats if you're like me, but maybe only two if you're more normal. The typical Depend one coaters aren't found, except for perhaps the blue foil 310.

Definitely one of the better collections from Depend in quite a while. I can see 313 becoming a classic, and I think most of these shades will sell well for summer. Some are pretty bland and less interesting, but adding the little extra to classic and neutral colors is great.

And now for the twist: Depend accidentally sent me two packages with this collection, so we decided together that the extra set would be a great offer to my readers. If you would like to receive AAALL the above colors at once, just leave a comment on this post with your email address. Open to all, until Sunday evening, June 3rd, 8 PM CET (GMT +1, summertime).

Swedish word of the day:
färglada -adjective pl. colorful
Summer collections should be.

China Glaze II: Beatnik

Only one photo today, because... Guess what? No sun. Actually, I know I've already failed this theme week a bit, but I blame this on the fact that I accidentally fell asleep after breakfast yesterday and woke up just before dusk, and the photo below is all I got of my new China Glaze manicure - this is Beatnik, from all the way back in 2003.

I did three coats, and the color is a warm grey with a sort of metallic pearly frosty finish. The finish isn't s horrible as it sounds, it's just hard to define. You may also label it a fine shimmer, I suppose, but it's not that kind of yucky frost we all love to hate, but still fine enough to create a very shiny look. In lower light it looks like yet another steely grey, but as soon as you get a better look at it, it's brownish enough to lean sorta taupe. I don't know, does it really matter? It's more than 8 years old (released in the fall 2003 collection Bohemian Chic), and I highly doubt anyone will be trying to hunt it down after seeing this photo of it.

Beatnik, I'm sorry I couldn't do you justice. On the other hand, you're not all that good. So I guess we're even.

Swedish word of the day:
konformitet -noun conformity
Not for the Beatniks.

Depend fall 2011

Breaking for another new collection. Just in - Swedish Depend's latest offerings. Check them out.

253: Greige type of color with pearl/frost finish. 254: Blue creme on the warmer side. 255: Bright turquoise with pearl/frost finish.

256: Muddy taupe creme. 257: Nude-ish creme. 258: Washed out plum purple with pearl/frost finish.

259: Dark forest green with pearl/frost finish. 260: Army green creme of the cooler variety. 261: Pink creme.

262: Black with pearl/frost finish. 263: Pig like pink nude sorta creme. 264: Berry creme.

Here they are on wheel, two coats each, first in sun:

...and in the shade:


Noteworthy: this finish that recurs in this collection is... Weird. It's not a frost, nor is it really a pearl. Maybe closer to frost, but still not. The interesting thing about this finish is it dries semi-matte, like it seems all Depend's polishes with this finish have done lately. I think these will be better without a topcoat (like they're presented here), but with ...not so much.

In the press release, Depend uses color descriptions as lilac purple and jade green. I can't see any of that here, but we all perceive and refer to colors differently. I do believe they think of 258 as the lilac (the flower, syrén in Swedish, comes in different colors of course), and 260 as jade, but it really is too greyed and dark to resemble the stone most of us think of. I'd say it's a camouflage - it's too cool toned to be olive. Depend also mentions a powder pink. When I hear that, I think of a light, slightly warmer, but pastel, pink. I can't find that either, though I'm thinking maybe they're aiming for that with 263, which I find to be a terrible shade, and can't imagine it actually flattering anyone's skintone - it's really pig like. No, that's an insult to pigs, they're dears.

If you're looking for good one coater staples, then I may point you to the dark, muddy taupe 256, which has that odd badly mixed pigments close to the bottle glass that some of the fall OPI's did, but it seems blended in the middle and ...yes, covers in one coat. The green 260 and the black-weird-finish 262, as well as the berry 264 covers great as well. All other need two coats. Some of the cremes were really thick, even thicker than usual, and don't level out as well as I'd like them to, so the thinner bottle may come handy when using those.

Overall, very little color for a Depend collection, but probably going well with the fall trends - as usual. Nothing really new or fantastic, but may make some great staples or just new colors to the average person.

Are you feeling any of these? Me neither. I'll use these as safe colors when needed. But holler if you'd like to see full swatches of any.

Swedish word of the day:
skitväder -noun crappy weather
It's closing in on us.

As soft as I get...

After I had Misa Mega Margarita on last week, my nails were a disaster, color-wise. They were green. Even after the polish was gone. Even though I was going to work, where nail polish is a big no-no, I just had to cover my nails to stand the sight of them. I reached for the most neutral untried I could find... And it was Color Club's Wild Orchid.


I believe this was two coats, and of course the sun escaped while I was doing my painting.

Of course I wrecked my manicure while still wet, because I was trying to get my shoes on - not for work though, as I was going to the Viking park with my daughter and niece first! So, since I just wasn't very impressed by this grey, subtle shimmer, I pulled out another "neutral". Which was also another Color Club - Soft as Cashmere.


Three coats. Somewhat sheer, especially for a creme, but here's the thing... I've noticed that Color Club polishes very seldom bubbles when coated excessively. For this manicure, I did one coat on the thinner side, and two thick ones. I had about two bubbles on one of my thumbnails, one that happens to be very ridged and uneven - the rest of my nails were good despite the massive amounts of polish. This impresses me.

What a fool I had been, keeping this one in my untrieds drawer for almost a year, believeing it was too bland for me! I thought it was going to be just another greyish taupe, but hey, it has a greenish tinge to it, which makes it a really nice, wearable and subtle, yet still wicked cool khaki color. This one I did bring to work, and I got compliments on it by my coworkers. That made the alizarine a happy girl, and it only verified my own feeling of absolute love.

Both these were from the Untamed Luxury collection from last fall, and this is usually how long I wait before wearing colors... I know, I know. But I still firmly believe I'm more prone to liking them if I wait until the hype blows over, otherwise, I easily become full by all the photos circulating. And while Wild Orchid may not have fulfilled my needs, Soft as Chasmere certainly did, despite not being very new!

Swedish word of the day:
kashmir -noun cashmere
Obviously.

OPI Touring America comparisons

Finally, I managed a few comparisons of the Touring America lacquers. I worked my ass off today for these pictures, but they all turned out being shit anyway. Still, I think you'll be able to get a decent idea of how these compare to other popular shades in the same divisions. Some of these have been slightly, slightly, teeny tiny overexposed to better show the differences. The darker ones preferably shot against a black background to amp them up, the lighter against white background for added contrast. The science of physics working miracles for your photo objects!

First up: one of my favourites from the collection, I Brake For Manicures.

The closest in my collection is Essie's Smokin' Hot.

As you can see, they're not that close, as the OPI is darker and more red toned.

Next, I put the brownish shades next to a wellknown and widespread OPI:

A-Taupe the Space Needle, You Don't Know Jacques!, Get in the Expresso Lane. As I do not own terribly many brownish cremes this is probably the best reference I can give you, since I'm pretty sure many of you own You Don't Know Jacques!.

It would have been interesting to put A-Taupe the Space Needle next to OPI & Apple Pie, had I owned it. But I don't, so this is what you get!

Furthermore, this is one of the greys of the collection, French Quarter For Your Thoughts:

After a whole lot of searching and comparing, I found that Essie Chinchilly is closest to being in the same vein.

And this is how they do side by side - not that close, as you can tell.

And now for the purple I reckon we all feel to be somewhat dupey - Honk if You Love OPI:

Closest I could come up with: Jordana Hypnotizing, and to the right Give Me Moor! from the Espana collection from two years ago. In low light, many of my plum purple cremes look just the same, but with some added light, it turns out that there are no exact dupes:

However, I still think Honk if You Love OPI and Give Me Moor! are close enough to not own both. Though, choosing between them, I'd go for the new release, since Give Me Moor! has that strange hidden shimmer grain some of the shades in the Espana collection did, and Honk if You Love OPI is better pigmented, and also a tad lighter and cooler in tone.

Now for the blue creme, Road House Blues:

I felt that none of my blue cremes came close enough, so I ended up comparing to the slightly more blurple blue Sapphire in the Snow from the 2009 holiday collection.

And here is also a quick lesson in how the surroundings of your photographical objects will alter the overall appearance. As they just look dark and very similar against a white background, here's what they look like against a black one:

Blurry as ...damn, but you get the idea, right? It's much easier telling them apart this way. However, the difference isn't really vast, so if you're not a collector of blue and blurple cremes, perhaps you should settle for only one. And as I understand Sapphire in the Snow is now somewhat hard to find, maybe Road House Blues is a good option if you missed out. But of course, still not the same.

The other grey of the collection is slightly green toned, but as a lover of greens I prefer putting this one in an overall grey context:

For mere reference, to the left we have Stranger Tides from the recent Pirates of the Caribbean collection, Suzi Takes the Wheel, and to the right Nubar Barricade.

No dupes to be found here.

Last, the popular favourite among the cremes, the olive green Uh-oh Roll Down the Window:

I searched high and low for dupes among my olive cremes, but it turned out I had no dupes, but one very similar: the Viva La Diva mini 2. I also added two wellknown olives for reference: to the left Illamasqua Hectic, and to the right Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Swamp Thing.

As you can see from the slightly dark picture above, the Viva La Diva comes very close. This is of course good news for those of you who have previously been lemming the now discontinued Swedish special, but a little less good news for those who already own it - unless you're a collector like yours truly. Hectic is way more yellow, and Swamp Thing is a whole lot more brown.

As for the rest of the collection, namely the shimmers, I have no dupes. I don't own a lot of coral, and most are cremes, and for some reason I don't have many red shimmers either. Though, I can say that the shimmer in these, which is the same throughout, is somewhat special, as I perceive it to be a pink flash golden one. If you haven't yet peeked, Cammi posted swatches of those just a few hours ago, so be sure to check them out if you're into these kinds of colors.

Swedish word of the day:
turné -noun tour
Travelling far and wide.