OPI Alice in Wonderland Collection

Meh. Not much else to say. After the winter's incredible reds, these are lackluster and boring. Winter's glitters were more interesting too. I love glitter, especially microglitter, and these are nice ones but they just don't wallop me over the head. Dunno why. Maybe I am over glitter tossed in clear polish unless it totally covers the nail? Who knows.

The OPI Alice in Wonderland Collection is small, and I bought the mini set.

OPI Thanks so Muchness! is red. It's a nice blue red shade. It's no world shaker.


OPI Absolutely Alice is a neat dark blue that seems somehow to have black in it. It has gold micro glitter mixed in with the blue, for interest and dazzle.


OPI Off With Her Red! is oranger in person than the picture. It reminds me of burnt carrot casserole or something.


OPI Mad As a Hatter is a mainly dark purple microglitter with opalescent/pastel rainbow microglitter. If it had better coverage I'd probably be in love. This is four coats.

OPI DS Mystery and DS Glow, Where I Have Been and My Nails

SO! Where have I been? Well, I did say I'd be gone most of December. The Winter Holidays are a time of much celebration and stuff to do in my life. Then on December 31, I had some surgery. I recovered just in time to start school, then get sick. Eyeroll and sigh. I am all better now, for the most part. But since I started clinicals in Nursing, I will be much busier. I have also run out of stuff to do daily polish posts about. I'll be posting stuff I buy, and most new collections, but I probably won't be posting daily any more. To top it all off, I have to keep my nails 1/8th inch from now on, so pretty much everything you are going to see from now on is fake nails. Eh, no biggie. I have one more collection to post, possibly tomorrow, then get ready for the POLISH MAYHEM 2009 POLISH COLLECTION AWARDS. My Top 5 Favorite and Least favorite Polish Collections of 2009!!!

So anyway on to OPI DS Mystery and DS Glow. I've been waiting for these a while, and I am sure most other blogs swatched these ahead of me. I like these. Same great DS formula, so very easy to use and so pigment rich. The shimmer in these is intense, pinpoint, and packs a nice punch. Your typical OPI DS. Great quality.

DS Mystery is a nearly black deep royal purple jelly with a bronze/old gold shimmer. Really nice. I expected a lighter shade, but this is lovely.


DS Glow is the same bronze/old gold shimmer as in DS Mystery, but that is all there is to this. I really love this. So many golds are frosts, or cremes with a lot of shimmer in them. This is slightly sheer, and is gonna look INCREDIBLE in the summer, next to a good tan. Wearing this is going to make you look like a summer goddess, trust me. Believe me you will be seeing it on my hands!


Nice. OPI DS polishes seem to disappoint me very seldom.

MollyHell's Grab Bag! - China Glaze Wagon Trail

So I finally got China Glaze Wagon Trail! So let's compare it to MAC Seriously Hip and OPI At Your Quebec & Call, shall we? I will probably do an on-finger comparison too, later, but for now we can compare photos.

China Glaze Wagon Trail, olive brown shimmer with pinpoint rainbow shimmer:

MAC Seriously Hip is a black jelly, though, with olive shimmer, whereas Wagon's has a brown tone added. So similar, but not exact:

OPI At Your Quebec & Call - much lighter, but same color as Seriously Hip, if you get me. Has the pinpoint rainbow shimmer, maybe not as much as China Glaze Wagon trail?


All in all my fave is still OPI At Your Quebec & Call.

OPI Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection!

OPI's Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection consists of two parts. One half is six reds called the "Glamour Reds", and the other six polishes are the "Dark & Neutrals". First let's get the formula out of the way - this was uniformly easy to apply and non-staining, and easy to remove, though the large grain shimmers took a bit more effort. I love OPI's wide brush. It does make the curve at the top of the nail a bit difficult, but it allows for such easy application otherwise. So formula is no problem here.

Let's start with the Darks & Neutrals. I'd say this part of the collection was pretty damned terrific.

I'll start with what I consider the weakest polish of these six, OPI All A-Bordeaux the Sled, and it's only the weakest because this is simply a standard dark wine vampy jelly. So given that it's unoriginal, you have to admit it's incredibly hot. I got the mini set which included this (only $6.11 at TransDesign) and feel no need for a big bottle, but I wouldn't be surprised if you do. It's a year-round great vampy.


I don't normally love browns, but I like Ginger Bells!. It's a great orangy brown creme which absolutely gives me a Fall feeling. It's sleek and shiny, and could go with so many outfits. I used this as the base color for my Migi Nail Art gingerbread man. I think OPI did a great job capturing that kind of fall baked goods feeling with this one. Mmmm, spicy!


Holiday Glow is a prune-like brown/purple with small silver glitter. It's fun, but it's not the standout of this collection.


OPI Sapphire in the Snow. I want to stab someone in the face I love this polish so much. I wish on the finger it was the same color as in the bottle (I found it a bit darker), but it's so cobalt it almost glows from within. It's incredibly gorgeous even if it is so dark. I LOVE this!


Even with the beauties we have already seen, OPI Shim-Merry Chic and the next polish are the real stars of this collection, in my opinion. Shim-Merry Chic is a bronze shimmer/frost just jam-packed with soft pink/gold/bronze flakes, and tiny rainbow flecks. The picture doesn't begin to do justice to its beauty.


OPI Merry Midnight is a wonder. It's a violet jelly also chock full of that gorgeous soft-shade jewel tone flakes that Shim-Merry Chic has, and also the same pinpoint rainbow shimmer. It's so festive, so pretty, so mesmerizing!



The other half of the Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection, the Glamour Reds, well, it's a whole lotta red. I love reds and even I think this is too many. Luckily they are all gorgeous.

Comet Loves Cupid is kinda like All A-Bordeaux the Sled, in that it's been done, so I don't quite understand it's inclusion. I think it's a bit too bold for most people, but it is very sizzling stuff.


OPI Meet & Jingle is a yummy bluish red cranberry-colored frost. Luckily it's only minimally streaky. I like it well enough.


OPI Glove You So Much is a kind of blackened burgundy. It's in that strange place where could be a slight frost, or a subdued shimmer. I kinda go with frost, but it has very little streaking and damn what a color!!! This color is stunning.


Smitten With Mittens is a new top ten entry in My Favorite reds. Deep, rich, and packed with huge shimmer, this just screams fancy party. It makes me feel like I am putting on my best to go celebrate. The color is great and the shimmer is eye-popping.


The last two Glamour Reds are Crimson Carol and Dear Santa. Despite the pictures, Dear Santa and Crimson Carol are quite similar in real life. I kinda don't see the need for both. So pick one, they're both very, very pretty. Dear Santa is slightly darker, Crimson Carol is slightly bluer.



TransDesign sells a mini pack I already mentioned with Comet Loves Cupid, All A-Bordeaux the Sled, Holiday Glow and Shim-Merry Chic, for $6.11. It also has three other polish boxed sets consisting of two full sized Holiday Glow polishes with a bracelet for $9.98. Nice gift! Enjoy these. I think it's a wonderful collection.

*Note: All but Holiday Glow are photographed with glue-on nails!

Halloween Leftover: Ulta Glow Get a Treat OPI Mini Set

Halloween is over, but I picked up this little mini set at Ulta for a whopping $2.99. It has three polishes, a white glow-in-the-dark, a light blue glow-in-the-dark and an orange creme. I have always wanted Boo-Berry, the blue one, so I snagged this set. Now I don't have to pay eBay prices! An added bonus to this pack: these two glow-in-the-dark polishes are by FAR the brightest I have tried, including Sally Beauty, other OPIS, Wet n' Wild, and China Glaze.


OPI Ghostess With the Mostess, the white GITD:


OPI Boo-Berry, the blue GITD, is very sheer but I LOVE the color:


OPI Pumped Up Pumpkin is darker orange creme than the Tattoo Ta-Boo orange, and I like it better.

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI My Private Jet

Absolutely one of my favorite OPIs of all time - but they have changed the formula, I think it is the same basic shade but they toned the glitter way down and it isn't a holographic anymore, just kind of a shimmer. Screw that noise. WHY? So now my alternative is Color Club Revvvolution.

So you'll see I did some glue ons again. I highly prefer photographing my own natural nails, and all of my pictures are natural nail except this one, a few I will be taking here soon of OPI Holiday polishes, and the ones I took recently that I labeled as glue-on nails. It doesn't really make that much of a diference, I guess, but I want you to be able to evaluate how the polishes will look on you, and I feel letting you know which pictures are glue-on nails is important. Glue-ons suck. they damage my nails.

This is the last in a two month Daily OPI series, next month will be MollyHell's Grab Bag. I hope you enjoy!

OPI My Private Jet:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Light My Sapphire and OPI DS Vintage

You get two today because I realize I somehow did OPI DS Chiffon twice. WTF!?


OPI Light My Sapphire. Only a hint of blue.


OPI DS Vintage, a nice rich copper holographic!

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Kris Kringle Makes Me Tingle

I've heard this called many nasty names. Glad this year's winter polishes are better.

OPI Kris Kringle Makes Me Tingle:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Ruby

OPI DS Ruby is a nice medium red with a smattering of holo glitter.

OPI DS Ruby:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Treasure

It's orange.

OPI DS Treasure:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Chiffon

OPI DS Chiffon is okay, but not a big fave.

OPI DS Chiffon:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Divine

And it is.

OPI DS Divine:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Blue My Mind

OPI Blue My Mind is a very nice shade, refreshingly lighter than the usual navy blue shimmer.

OPI Blue My Mind:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Black Cherry Chutney

OPI Black Cherry Chutney is so perfectly named. It's so very, very black cherry, with a great little shimmer. A fave.

OPI Black Cherry Chutney:

FINALLY!!! OPI Suede Collection!!!!!

I was pretty scathing in my review of the OPI Matte Collection. I wondered aloud if OPI made the Suedes because they immediately realized how crappy their Mattes were next to other companies like Nubar and Zoya, and those brands' magnificent semi-matte velvety finishes. It appears I was right, because OPI completely redeemed themselves with Suede. Everything that was wrong with Matte is right with Suede. OPI, come back, all is forgiven!!!

They did as I tried to do with the Mattes, they raised the darker colors several shades so you could SEE them, and added a massive quantity of metallic powder to them so they would have some depth, shine and texture. These are about the texture of soft whipped butter. They spread well, and dry quickly. When they dry they look like your fingernails were professionally powder-coat painted. It's such an easy way to get manicured-looking nails within minutes. I would say try to get these in one coat, and not apply two, they can tend to ripple and clump if you use too much polish. I applied these over wet and dry base coat, had no shrinkage or rippling problems with either, they dried quickly and no matte finish was lost.

For those who hate and fear matte polish, I would reconsider. These are not flat. These are like velvet - they have a glow, or like the back side of satin. They have both texture and a mixture of matte and shine. As I said about Zoya's MatteVelvets, these look like velvet made with satin, they have a soft matte but glowing textured layer over a base of shine. They really do look a lot like suede, but if the lowest layer of the suede was shiny. These are terrific. I would have preferred a red instead of two reddish purples, and a green instead of two blues, but otherwise I am over the moon about these polishes.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, a much needed color lightening, and doing so made it such a gorgeous color!


OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees Suede is OPI's version of Zoya Loredana, or ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly. It's more the color of Fuggen Ugly, but the texture of Loredana. Needless to say I love it!


OPI Russian Navy Suede does lose a little bit in translation, but it's still pretty. It loses the characteristic purple shimmer, so it could have been tossed for a gorgeous dark green, imagine how great it would have been if they had lightened Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow like they did Lincoln Park and made it Suede!?


OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede is SO much better Suede than Matte. A boring taupeish brown becomes a sleek sophisticated brown. A real standout.


OPI Ink Suede is more successfully interpreted that Russian Navy. Love it! Somehow manages to keep the purple quality!


OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede, pretty but this coulda been lost for a red or a vampy burgundy.


Well took me a while, but worth the wait, saved a lot by buying these online. I seriously adore them!!

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Original

Silvery purple semi-holo, with all the great ease of application and finished look those wonderful DS polishes have.

OPI DS Original:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Ink

OPI Ink truly looks just like ink. The deep purple shimmer in it even looks like that purple "oil slick" effect on top of a spilled drop of ink. Really stupendous polish. Too bad I cannot get the purple shimmer to show up, just the blue. I hear it's very hard to photograph.

OPI Ink:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Firecracker Red

This came in a min-set for 4th of July. I really get the feeling sometimes they just rename polishes to put in these holiday theme sets, like the white currently in their Tattoo Ta-Boo set. I wonder what red this REALLY is.

OPI Firecracker Red:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Reflection

I dunno. I forgot I even had this polish. I need to redo this picture. It looks good so why don't I remember it?

OPI DS Reflection:

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI DS Passion and OPI Done Out in Deco

Skipped yesterday so yay! Another two-fer! I really like these two. Deco is maybe a dupe for Zoya Malia? Haven't tested them next to each other.

OPI DS Passion:


OPI Done Out In Deco: