Saturday, March 5, 2011
A few OPI Designer Series Swatches
Like the rest of the nail polish world, I've recently found myself lemming holo (and duo/multi chromes, but that's another post) polishes like nobody's bidnez. With OPI Designer Series polishes being the main objects of my affection. :)
What's funny is when I first started reading nail blogs, I picked up a few holos and just didn't like them (*gasp*). I even had OPI Exclusive and gifted away to my sister (*gasp* again), though she said doesn't use it and I can have it back. Nowadays, I can't get enough of them. But (and this is a big but), they can't be sparse scattered holos. I recently saw ChG Tronica at Sally's and the holo was so scattered and so hidden that I immediately put them down. I like a holo, that even in low light, you can tell what it is. That's what I love about the older OPI Designer Series polishes.
Here are 2 of the old DS holos I picked up last week...
Chiffon - rose pink holo. I loved this one since the moment I saw a swatch of it, which was probably a year ago. Unfortunately, even back then, it was already d/c'd and being sold at ridiculously jacked up prices on eBay. So I passed. I picked up OPI DS Opulence in hopes that it would be a good substitute, but unfortunately, it wasn't as bright as I wanted. So I continued to lem Chiffon. I was finally going to pull the trigger on eBay, and then I found it for $8 on Amazon (unfortunately, they've since sold out :( ). Unfortunately, I think the pink may be a tad too warm for my skintone, but I think it's still a beautiful polish. The formula was thin, but that's okay, because you want it to be buildable. Pic is 4 coats.
Desire - Smoky, golden holo. This one is such an unusual shade. At some point last year, TransDesign happened to put a bunch of older Designer Series polishes on their site. Maybe they found a box hidden in a corner. Dunno? Anyway, I'd waffled on this one a few times. I obsessively looked at Scrangie's picture (which is amazing, btw) and read as many reviews as I could find, and when I finally decided that YES, I wanted it... it'd sold out. :( I was bummed, as the only other place I could find it was jacked up on eBay. I'd do a search for it ever-so-often, and I finally found this one, about a week ago, at Beauty Clutch. It was retail ($12.50), but I'd pay retail over jacked-up, eBay prices anyday. When I first put this one on, I was a little disappointed. It was more golden than I'd seen in pics. Then I started adding on the coats. With each subsequent coat, the base color deepened. By 4 coats, it was a beautiful smoky, blackened gold. I seriously think this is tying OPI MPJ holo as my favorite polish of all time. Sigh.
In addition to holos, it seems that OPI, especially recently, is using their Designer Series line to showcase duochrome-y shimmers, like this one...
Magic - royal blue shimmer with purple/pink duochrome shimmer. I knew I would love this one as soon as I saw it in the bottle. The royal blue is so pretty. I kept thinking "this is what I wanted ChG Dorothy Who to look like". It's so amazing. Formula was perfect. Pic is 2 coats. This one is a new release (came out end of last year), so it's easily available. I got mine on Amazon for $4+ shipping.
Hope you guys like these. I'm still lemming on OPI DS polishes (Illuminate and Coronation to name 2), but they are going to have to wait awhile, taxes are looming. :\
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12 comments:
I love them all!
This collection is so awesome!
I TOTALLY want DS Desire now! Thanks for the swatch!
-Katie
PS - I'd like to be included in your "Blogger Round-Up"! Here's the link to my blog:
www.pawstopolish.blogspot.com
Since I seriously misspelled something in my first try:
Aaaaah, looking at your pic of DS Desire seriously makes me want to go buy it immediately. I wish I had a store here that sells something as nice as this! Sadly, the OPI polishes available in the stores in my city are pretty basic.
Love the other two too :)
I really like Chiffon! I'm still a little undecided on Desire. Is it more coppery or brown?
Is your Blog Sale list current? I sent you an email for some of your polishes!
Thanks girls! I apologize for any lemmings I may have created. LOL.
myownkatiebug, it's kind of hard to describe. I wouldn't think of it as copper, more of a blackened gold base. If you wanted it more golden/tan, just do 1-2 coats. It's when you do more coats, 3+ that the base darkens.
My blog sale list isn't updated. I was planning on doing that tonight. I will check my email and get back with you.
I also wanted to add that if it's a golden/tan holo you wanted, you may want to go with something easier to find. IMO, it's the effect that comes with 3+ coats that makes Desire so special.
Love these shades!
I know where you can get Coronation and Illuminate- http://nailvibe.com/category/opi/designer-series/
(Not sure if they ship overseas, but if you want I can always order it and ship it to you.)
Thanks, Cheryl. Coronation and Illuminate are still pretty easy to find. I'm just having to hold off on getting them because I've been a little spendy lately. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick them up around my birthday. :)
I have a brand new bottle of Illuminate that I'm willing to swap for if you have anything lying around that you don't want!
I ordered DS Glow a couple of months ago and got sent Illuminate instead and they let me keep it, which was very nice. But I don't really like it and haven't used it at all... so if you're interested in a swap, let me know and I'll send you my contact info! :)
joanna, thank you so much for your offer. however, at looking at more pictures of illuminate, i have a feeling it will look rather funky on me. LOL. i like it in concept, but i don't think it will actually end up wearing it all that much.
thank you though! i really appreciate you thinking of me.
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