Hard to Find OPI's, Part IV

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have the last of the hard to find OPI swatches for you for a little while.  They're all black labels, and most were two coaters, with the exception of one.  I took the pictures in daylight at a reasonable hour using my brand spanking new camera, which I'm still adjusting to, and the light was coming and going to some extent.  All six pictures are swatches.

The first is a classic, Blue Moon Lagoon, a light blue holo.  Since it's a little sheer, I used two coats over SpaRitual Full of Life, a light blue creme.

OPI Blue Moon Lagoon Nail Polish, Two Coats over SpaRitual Full of Life

Greenwich Green, and olive green shimmer, is also a classic.  It's close to At Your Quebec and Call, but not a dupe for it.

OPI Greenwich Green Nail Polish, Two Coats

Nordic Nights is a warm red creme.  The bottle had separated a bit leaving pigment on the inside of the neck, so I have a few pigment bits on my nails which I didn't notice until looking at the magnified picture.  Since I just wanted to show you the color, I decided to use the picture anyhow.

OPI Nordic Nights Nail Polish, Two Coats

Ulta-mate Ruby was an Ulta exclusive red shimmer.

OPI Ulta-mate Ruby Nail Polish, Two Coats

I Love the Holidays is a pinky coral shimmer, and it was the three coater.

OPI I Love the Holidays Nail Polish, Three Coats

I Love the Holidays has a corresponding glitter top coat, and I added one coat of it to I Love the Holidays.

I Love the Holidays Glitter Top Coat, One Coat, over I Love the Holidays

That's the end of this round of the hard to find OPI ebay extravaganza, and there's a much, much smaller one still to come.

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

OPI Pink Me I'm Good & EL Ultra Violet

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have anti-greens for you: OPI's Ulta Exclusive Pink Me I'm Good and Estee Lauder's Ultra Violet, also a limited edition nail polish.

Pink Me I'm Good is a pink jelly with lots of gold glitter. It was the only one of this year's OPI Ulta exclusive pinks I wanted, which is fortunate as I no longer have an Ulta nearby. Since it's a jelly and I didn't want to use a zillion coats, I used one coat of Essie Walk Down the Aisle under it, and two coats of Pink Me I'm Good.

Walk Down the Aisle seems to be my new go-to base for jellies - it whitens the nail, masks VNL, one coat is sufficient, and it doesn't have the stark look of completely opaque whites.

Ulta Exclusive OPI Pink Me I'm Good Nail Polish, Two Coats

The other color I have to shake off the greens is Estee Lauder Ultra Violet, also limited edition. It's a rich violet purple with shimmer bits that border on being tiny glitter. It's opaque and even in two coats.

Limited Edition Estee Lauder Ultra Violet Nail Polish, Two Coats

That gargantuan bottle is hard to get a hold of, and it only contains 0.3 ounces.

I hope you had a great Saint Patrick's Day, and are as relieved as I am to be done with the theme. I think I managed to shake it a little today!

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Dazzled by Gold

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I went and picked up a package, and guess what was inside? OPI's Dazzled by Gold, one of the Ulta Exclusive Holiday 2009 colors. I was all excited about it and wanted to try it out, so I did.

It took three coats, but applied well and is surprisingly smooth for such a glittery polish. I am indeed dazzled by gold.

OPI Dazzled by Gold Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's all for now, Dear Reader. I may have more for you later, but until then, love and nail polish to you!

As Exclusive as OPI Gets: Euro Exclusive Cherry Much in Love & Ulta Exclusive Merry Holly-Days!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

The exclamation point in the title is courtesy of OPI, not me - it's part of the name of the second nail polish.  I've been a day or two behind in showing you my manis for a while, but just got some pretties I really want to show you this weekend that prompted me to catch up with an extra post today.

Yesterday I finally got the OPI European Valentine's Day Exclusives I've been looking for since January.  My local post office is not the most efficient in the world... In any case, the OPIs are sparkly and beautiful (I only got the two glittery ones), and I broke into Cherry Much in Love this morning.  From what I've seen in pictures, I knew I need to layer something under it lest I have wicked VNL,  and the OPI red closest to the base color of Cherry Much in Love that I had handy was the Ulta Exclusive froom Christmas 2008, Merry Holly-Days!  (again, that's OPI's exclamation point, not mine).  The result is an ultra exclusive OPI mani!  This is three coats of Merry Holly-Days! and two coats of Cherry Much in Love with a top coat.

 

 

Nice and sparkly, isn't she?  The only down side is that my nails feel like coarse grit sandpaper with top coat.  That's not very nice.  So as long as no one (including me) touches my nails, this is a great manicure - one that's meant to be admired from afar...

That's what I have for you this evening, Dear Reader.  The things I have to show you this weekend are really fun.  I haven't heard a peep about them otherwise, and I've hunted for info, so I'll have to hurry up and get some pictures for you!

Until then, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Gotta Get Pink: OPI's Ulta Exclusives for Valentine's Day 2009

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today has turned into the rare three post day!  I thought I was done with the last post, and I'm sure you did as well.  A little happy surprise came up that I thought I'd share with you, so three posts it is!

Last night of one of my message boards, a cell phone picture was posted of the OPI Gotta Get Pink display from an Ulta store, which is the OPI Ulta Exclusive Valentine's Day Collection.  The displays are never too big, so if you want 'em, you gotta snatch them up while they're available.  I have four Ultas within reasonable travel distance here (on the CTA, since I'm carless now).  I called the first three with no luck - they didn't have them in yet.  I had to wait an hour for the fourth, the new, giant State Street store to open, called, and was pleasantly surprised with the news that they just got them in this morning.  I took a little walk, hopped on the Red Line, and before I knew it, I was at the giant three-story Ulta with the new pink pretties in my hot little hands.  As soon as I got home, I swatched them for my friends on the message board, and I have the pictures  here for you now.

The good news is that the colors are better than they've been in the last two years.  I got mine last year at The Ulta That Time Forgot, and they had a 2007 display next to the 2008, and it was very difficult to see a difference between the sets - each had a sheer shimmery pink good for layering, a mid tone pink creme, and a bright pink.  This year, they have a super pale greyish pink, a slighly lilac jelly pink, and another bright pink, a bit different from the brights of the past two years (which had to be held side-by-side to see a difference).

The bad news is that the formula's a bit gluey to work with, and two out of the three bottles I used had wonky brushes.  Not unusable brushes, but wonky nonetheless.  Given that at least two of the colors really are unique, I'll forgive the crazy brushes - I was able to work with them and get good application without having to snip off any bristles.

On to the pictures!  Each is three coats over a base (as all green-label OPIs are three coaters for me) with no top coat photographed under artificial light.

First up is Gotta Get Pink! (I accidentally left the exclamation point of the title in the pic), which is a very pale greyish pink opaque creme.  This one's completely unique.

 

Next in line is Don't Think... Just Pink, which is slightly lilac and somewhat jelly in texture.  It's unique to my collection as well.

 

Closing in at the end is In Sync with Pink, a hot pink creme.  This is the least unique of the bunch, but a very striking shade.

 

So those are the OPI Ulta Exclusive offerings for Valentine's Day 2009.  I'm quite pleased with them, particularly the first two since they're different than anything else I own.  I'm sure I'll be using them in the next eleven days as I continue the Valentine's Day theme.

This time, Dear Reader, I really am done for the day.  I promise.  I have fun things planned for you tomorrow, and am looking forward to taking the pictures for the morning's post.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!

Ulta Season's Sparklings OPI Minis and Random $OPIs

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have swatches of Ulta's Season's Screenings OPI Minis for you, as well as some Sephora By OPI polishes. Since I'll be lucky to get three manicures out of the minis, I just did one-nail swatches of each for you. Here they are in the package:

And here they are on the nail:

The Sephora by OPI colors I swatched (or wore) were Run with It, which you've seen before but I can't get too much of,

A True Romantic, which may just be the sheer I've been looking for,

and Arm Candy, a hot pink jelly.

That's all for now, Dear Reader. Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Essie Holiday 2008 Ulta Exclusives

Hello, Dear Reader! Did you think I was going to go a day without posting? Never!

I've been out and about today, and my travels took me past an Ulta store, where I found all kinds of goodies. The first of them I'll show you now, Essie's Holiday 2008 Ulta Exclusives.

Each is two coats over a base coat phtographed under artificial light.

Private Bash is a berry red creme.

Formal Dinner is a bright true red, slightly jelly, with a fuchsia shimmer.

Cocktail Party is a mauve-y red with a strong shimmer.

Now you've seen them, and it's up to you to decide whether you can live without them... I have more holiday goodies to show you tomorrow, Dear Reader. Until then, love and nail polish to you!

OPI's Holiday Ulta Exclusives

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I called a local Ulta this afternoon to inquire about the OPI exclusives for the holidays, and was lucky enough to speak to the SA right as they were being delivered! I hopped on the subway (well, I didn't really hop, that would have gotten stares) and went right over to pick them up. I needed a happy little surprise today, and this was just right! I'll stop yapping about them and just get to the pictures... Since they're OPIs, I did three coats of each, and they're under artificial light.

Merry Holly-Days! is scarlet red with a subtle gold shimmer.

Merriest Mauve is more of a pink than a mauve, and has a moderate shimmer.

Think Merry! Think Pink! is a baby pink shimmer that's chock full o' microglitter, and is my favorite of the three.

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Love and nail polish to you!

Essie's Ulta Exclusives for Fall 2008

Hello again, Dear Reader. I said nothing but football could make me change my mani, yet here I am... It turns out that running errands that took me by an Ulta where they had the new Essie Ulta Exclusives, plus an afternoon with sun, could do so also. What can I say? I'm weak. At least I had a coupon...

I was going to present these in order of my least to greatest liking, but I can't figure out which is second or third. In order to keep my stand out favorite last, I'll do them in reverse alphabetical order.

First up, we have Retro Red, which is an aptly named creme. It's the shade of red that makes me think of 1950's red lipstick. It's *really* red, and surprisingly opaque in two coats. I'll be wearing this one this winter.



Next we have Plumski. Although aptly named, I think the good folks at Essie could have been a little more creative in naming this plum creme. This one's also a winner, which is why I couldn't decide between it and Retro Red for second place of the three.



Finally, the luscious Groovy Grape. This one is by far my favorite, and ultra-vampy purple with a strong shimmer. I love, love, love this one, and will be wearing it for the rest of the day (although I may play with the Konad on it during football...). I could go on and on about it, but I'll just let the picture do the talking.



Now you've seen them, Dear Reader. Now go run out to Ulta and get 'em while you can!

Until morning, love and nail polish to you!