OPI Lincoln Park After Dark: Swatch Picture

I love a vampy creme, and there's a reason OPI Lincoln Park After Dark is considered to be a classic! 2 easy coats to dark evenness.


Forgive the lack of commentary on some upcoming posts: I just came across a ton of old pictures in my Photobucket and am trying to get them up as quickly as possible, since the new school year is just around the corner and I have tons of things to do! I just know that I'd rather see swatch pictures with minimal commentary than no posts at all, and I hope you guys feel the same way!

OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It: Swatch Picture and Review

From the OPI Australia collection:


Bright, super-orange-toned red! Easy application and nice pigmentation, but for orange-toned reds my heart belongs to OPI Monsooner or Later.

OPI Monsooner or Later: Swatch Picture and Review

I think this is my very favorite red creme. RBL Bangin' and OPI Girls Just Want To Play are up there, but at the end of the day my tan skin makes me prefer my reds orange-toned.


Super bright (maybe too bright for some, but perfect for me), warm-toned, and a dream to apply! What more could I want?

OPI Gift of Gold: Swatch Picture and Review

This was one of Ulta's OPI holiday exclusives from last year. I don't have an Ulta anywhere near me, so my friend Dia hooked me up!


OBSESSED. A super-sparkly mix of bright gold and darker gold glitter, with some red-copper glitter speckled in! What I love about this glitter is how opaque it was for glitter in a clear base (this swatch is just two coats) and how brilliantly it twinkled in the light. My pic unfortunately looks a bit dull and bumpy, but my pinky gives a hint of this polish's true glassy gleam.

Zoya Tiffany, OPI Silver Shatter, and Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper: Swatch Pictures and Review

The other day, I was in the mood for a blingy manicure, so I came up with this!

I began by applying 2 coats of Zoya Tiffany, a peach-copper foil that was released with Zoya's Fire & Ice Collection. Tiffany applied pretty well; the foil particles made it less smooth to apply than say, a creme, but overall the polish had a good texture.


Next, I applied 1 coat of OPI Silver Shatter. This was my first time using Silver Shatter (or any shimmery crackle polish, for that matter) and it took me a few nails to get the application right. In order to make sure that the polish cracked well and my base color showed through, I was doing pretty thin coats of Silver Shatter, but unfortunately they were too thin to crack properly. Once I started using slightly thicker coats, however, the polish "shattered" well.

I really liked that Silver Shatter was more of a foil than a straight shimmer, and I'm looking forward to using it over other polishes (I think it would make for a pretty look over dusty pastels, similar to those in the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection it was released with). The only downside to this polish is that it has a tendency to get goopy pretty quickly when it's exposed to air, so if you wipe off your brush on the bottle neck like many of us do, you'll probably need to wipe the bottle neck down with remover before you put the polish away.


Finally, I topped the whole manicure off with 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper, which I bought after seeing kittytokaren's beautiful manicure of TSC over a nude. Traffic Stopper Copper features both small copper glitter and larger, hexagonal copper glitter in a clear base. The glitter in TSC isn't too densely packed, which makes it perfect for layering, and I though it providing a great finishing touch to this shiny silver and copper mani!

swatch: opi the show must go on!

the day after thanksgiving i wore opi the show must go on!, which quite frankly, i hated... screamingly bright pink-orange foil is so not my scene:


this polish applied smoothly (two coats are shown above), and i know many people love this shade, but again, the color really just isn't for me. i'm actually somewhat relieved, as i bought mac bad fairy right when it was released but never wore it because i was disappointed by the murky/muddy quality it had. at the same time, however, i was hesitant to jettison something so highly coveted without even a cursory swatch. but now i can safely assume that i won't like bad fairy either and can feel comfortable offloading it!

boy says: "that looks finely textured, like pink aluminum foil."

swatch: opi girls just want to play

i love this! from the 2008 holiday in toyland collection:


girls just want to play is brighter and more pink-toned irl and has a totally fabulous formula (two coats seen above). i can see myself wearing this again and again!

comparison swatch: opi mrs. o'leary's bbq and opi vampire state building

opi mrs. o'leary's bbq is widely reputed to be a dupe for the htf opi vampire state building. in my opinion, however (and unfortunately for those of you seeking a more easily accessible alternative to vampire state building), the two polishes aren't actually identical.

in the following photos, i have vampire state building on my index (leftmost) and ring fingers and mrs. o'leary's bbq on my middle and pinky (rightmost) fingers. i did three coats of each polish, although mrs. o'leary's bbq (owner of one of my favorite polish abbreviations ever, "molbbq") only needs two if you let it dry a bit longer than i did.


vampire state building and mrs. o'leary's bbq have completely different undertones, and the difference between the polishes is visible in regular natural light. vampire state building's undertones are brown, while those of mrs. o'leary's bbq are purple. the two shades are closer on the nail than in the bottle, though.

vampire state building and opi a man in every port-ugal look closer in the bottle than vampire state building and mrs. o'leary's bbq do (leaving aside a man in every port-ugal's subtle shimmer); i'll comp them at some point.

here's a lighter (albeit slightly washed out) pic to better show the different tones of the two polishes:


btw, for those of you who are interested, i posted a full mani with molbbq here.

swatch: opi miami beet

when changing my polish yesterday afternoon, i had my roommate pick my mani. she suggested a "bright, red-toned purple," and the closest thing i had in my untrieds was opi miami beet!

here it is in the sun:


and since this polish darkens considerably in dimmer lighting, here it is in regular natural light (it's darker still indoors):


when i was placing the etailer order in which i got miami beet, i idly wondered to myself how i'd managed to do without this shade for so long, considering the number of people who rave about it. once the polish had arrived and i had unpacked it, though, i remembered why i'd avoided picking it up in the past - it's reputed to be a dupe for zoya moxie, which i already own. the two polishes do look slightly different in the bottles, so i'll need to do a comp at some point to figure out their precise similarities and differences.

by the way, with regard to formula miami beet is like the vast majority of the opi cremes i own - pigmented, smooth, and opaque and two coats.

swatch: opi dazzled by gold

dazzled by gold was an ulta exclusive during last year's holiday season. i was luckily able to score this polish through a swap, as there's no ulta here. this is my very first real gold polish (i.e. one that isn't a glitter topcoat)!


i'm a big fan of chunky, over-the-top rings and bracelets, but yesterday i thought i'd wear the bling on my nails for a change! i wasn't a huge fan of this polish at first, but it grew on me, and by the end of the evening i couldn't stop admiring my nails. btw, i think this would look totally striking on someone with a darker skin tone!

dazzled by gold does go on quite sheer at first, but as you build up the layers the big shimmer particles come together to create an awesome foily finish. this polish was pretty much opaque in three coats, but i did four just to make sure any bald spots were fully covered.

p.s. happy mother's day to all you moms out there, especially mine! ♥

swatch: opi paint my moji-toes red

i got this on sale for $1.99 at ricky's... hurray!


two coats. this polish was an absolute dream to apply - it glided on soooo smoothly. the color of this photo unfortunately varies a bit from browser to browser, so if it looks salmon or quite muted to you please know that that isn't an accurate representation. irl, paint my moji-toes red is a pink-red that's quite vibrant.

swatch: opi cajun shrimp

this is my all-time favorite nail polish! my bottle's like... one-third gone, which is a huge deal considering the absurd number of polishes i own.


(some browsers wash this pic out, apologies!)

i don't even know how to describe the color... i hesitate to call it a coral because it's so red, but i think that's technically what it is. i just think of it as an amazing, super-vivid blend of red, orange, and pink, which i especially love in the summer. the application is great too - two easy, pigmented coats, and you're good to go.

swatch: opi mrs. o'leary's bbq

totally gorgeous, easy to apply, and opaque in two coats. although the name is a little odd... i told my friend i was wearing "mrs. o'leary's bbq" and his response was "wtf? you're wearing a nail polish inspired by the great chicago fire?"


molbbq is reputed to be a dupe for the htf opi vampire state building... i purchased the former and then was actually able to get my hands on vsb just a couple of weeks later. a comp post is in the works!

update: i've posted a comparison between opi mrs. o'leary's bbq and opi vampire state building here.

comparison swatch: rescue beauty lounge bangin' and opi red my fortune cookie

if you missed the recent rbl surf collection pre-sale or didn't want to shell out the big bucks for those polishes, you're in luck... because opi red my fortune cookie is pretty much a perfect dupe for rbl bangin'.


in this photo, i have bangin' on my index (leftmost) and ring fingers and red my fortune cookie on my middle and pinky (rightmost) fingers. please note that some browsers distort colors and that rmfc and bangin' are both bright warm reds... neither is orange at all irl.

in terms of color: in indoor/dim lighting, these two polishes are perfect matches. in bright lighting, bangin' appears to be just a hair more vividly red than red my fortune cookie, but i had to really look to make out this tiny difference.

in terms of formula/application: i would describe the formula of red my fortune cookie as great, and the formula of bangin' as absolutely perfect. both of these polishes went on very smoothly and had great pigmentation (requiring two coats for total opacity), but the formula of bangin' is just… sooooo unbelievably buttery smooth.

swatch: opi that's hot! pink

earlier this week, i decided i wanted a bright pink mani to match the warm weather we were having and the flowered dress i was wearing:


opi that's hot! pink is a very bright blue-toned pink - normally i stay away from such colors because of my warm undertones, but i think the brightness of this shade makes it work even on my yellow-toned skin. this polish is more sheer than most of my other opi cremes (which generally go on well for me in two coats), but it was pretty much opaque in three coats and its application was otherwise good. the accuracy of this photograph is off in some browsers, so please note that that's hot! pink is an *extremely* vivid/saturated pink irl.

swatch: opi red my fortune cookie

here's another polish i picked up from opi's recent hong kong collection - red my fortune cookie:


i love warm, bright reds, so rmfc is a great addition to my collection (please note that while this color looks orange-toned in some browsers, that isn't accurate). its application is good as well: not only is it thin yet pigmented enough to be opaque in two coats, but it also has opi's awesome pro-wide brush, which helps me to do a neat mani in just a few minutes.

this polish is also a nearly perfect dupe for rbl bangin' - i'll post a comparison later.

swatch: opi suzi says feng shui

from opi's recent hong kong collection. from the same collection i also got jade is the new black, panda-monium pink, and red my fortune cookie, all of which i'll hopefully be posting in the near future!


i'm not normally the biggest fan of medium blues, but i do like this one more than i like most others, probably because of its dusty/darkened quality. application on this was smooth, and the polish required two coats to reach opacity.

bf says: "IDEAL BLUE!"

swatch: opi absolutely alice

from opi's recent alice in wonderland collection, tied to the movie of the same name. i edited this photo to make the color of the polish more accurate, so please rest assured that my skin isn't actually red in real life.


i didn't expect to have the reaction to this polish that i did. normally i avoid all but the darkest blues and steer clear of glitter in a clear base, but i'm absolutely in love with absolutely alice! and i'm thrilled that it pairs blue and gold glitter - not only do i find the combination of blue and silver to be a bit played out, but gold also works much better on my skin tone than silver does. photos can't do justice to how incredibly sparkly this polish is; for example, when i wore this it was gray and snowing here and yet my nails were still twinkling.

while i chose to do four coats, this polish was all but completely opaque in three. for maximum glassy shine, i then topped aa with a thick coat of wet 'n' wild clear polish as well as a thick coat of seche vite.

bf says: "is that a lot of coats? it seems like a lot of coats."

swatch: opi lincoln park after dark suede

hi everyone! sorry for my absence this past week - i got caught up in helping a friend with a cross-country move, yikes! today i'm headed back to california to spend the holidays with my family; while i won't have access to my full stash during my trip, i did prepare a few swatches so that i'll have something to post for the next couple of weeks. and since for the next few weeks i won't be living on the sixth floor of a walk-up apartment building, i may actually be able to do a few outdoor photos as well!

here's a polish i wore as my notd recently, opi lincoln park after dark suede:


imo, opi's suedes are far better than their mattes (which just look like gloppy dried paint to me); their chunky shimmer gives them a unique appearance, and they look very smooth on the nail. they apply smoothly as well - the above swatch is of two coats that went on quite effortlessly and dried very quickly.

unfortunately, when it comes to wear time these polishes fall short. my manicure above was absolutely destroyed after a day and a half - we're talking huge chips and polish rubbed off in swaths on at least half of my nails. boo!

comparison swatches: avon golden twilight, china glaze wagon trail, and opi ds mystery

a friend on the nb was planning an avon order and was curious how golden twilight compared to some similar polishes from other brands, so i took the opportunity to do these swatches:




from left to right:

china glaze wagon trail (on my index finger) is a black base color packed with fine gold shimmer, giving the polish an overall olive appearance. it's a well-done polish, but the shimmer is too fine to really appeal to my taste these days.

avon golden twilight (on my middle finger) actually has a very deep blue-purple base (captured well by steph's closet), but it looks pretty much black on my nails. the gold shimmer in golden twilight is chunkier than the shimmer in wagon trail yet doesn't shine through the base color well, giving this polish a muddy appearance. i wish i'd passed on this one!

opi ds mystery (on my ring finger) is my favorite of the bunch. while it's not the deep purple holo i had imagined when i first heard that a purple ds polish was in the works, i still love it. this polish has a base color that's much more strongly purple than golden twilight's (although to be fair, it's still quite close to black) as well as very chunky gold shimmer that stands out nicely. i'll definitely be doing a full notd with this one soon.