Sunday 22 September 2013

Hey, Swatch It! - OPI Fall/Winter 2013 San Francisco Collection

Hey y'all!

Don't you love getting a package from Amazon in the mail?  I think it may be one of the top ten simple pleasures in life, for me.  Specifically to irritate my hubby, I'm not going to list the other nine.

So anyway, I recently ordered in three shades from the OPI Fall/Winter 2013 San Francisco Collection.  I looked long and hard at the rest of the shades and decided these were the only ones I needed.  I ordered Muir Muir on the Wall, Peace & Love & OPI, and Incognito in Sausalito.




Muir Muir on the Wall:
This is a rich, dark chocolate base with plum shimmers that needs two coats for full coverage.  The swatches below have no top coat on them, so you can really see how brilliant the shine is naturally.  It's a very vampy shade but it may be a bit too early in the season for me to wear something quite so dark.  I have a few nail art ideas in mind for this shade, but they'll have to wait until after our Texas trip next month (where several new shinies are waiting for me!).
Indoor, natural light

Indirect sunlight, under a bit of cloud cover

Direct sunlight
Incognito in Sausalito:
This is a deep, inky blue that looks almost black indoors.  I got full coverage in only a single coat.  When I bought it, I thought it might be the resolution of my quest to find the perfect TARDIS blue, but alas, it's a bit too dark for that.  However, I think it'll be a great shading/outlining color to go with that bottle, whenever I find it.
Indoor, fluorescent lighting

Direct sunlight
After I applied it, I thought it would make a great background to a not-black galaxy nail design.  I played with it a little bit, not wanting something too much light a galaxy, but with all the elements.  I used Barry M Foil Nail Effects in Gold (NP320), and Maybelline Express Finish in Silver Streak (which is totally discontinued, but any silver polish would be a good sub) to sponge on some constellation-y clouds.  Then I sponged on ELF's Fairy Dust for some sparkle (this shade may be discontinued, but is still available on Amazon for now, as well as in their 14-piece cube).  A word of warning:  if you sponge on glitter rather than painting, it will give you a HUGE payoff.  Be careful with this powerful technique!
Indoor, natural light
Direct sunlight

And here are some closeups of a couple of the individual nails:
You can see here the sponge piece I used was too big to make concise galaxies, but I wanted an overall effect.
See that glitter on my skin?  The universe is constantly expanding, people.
Peace & Love & OPI:
This color is HANDS DOWN my favorite.  It's a teal/plum duochrome with a metallic finish that just looks like a beautiful foil once applied, which requires two coats.  Pictures can't EVEN begin to do it justice.  After I swatched the color, I couldn't stand to take it off, so I'm still wearing it.  I might even wear it until it starts chipping.  I MIGHT EVEN SAVE IT ONCE IT STARTS CHIPPING.  I love it that much.
Indoor, natural light

In direct sunlight, the color shift comes alive.

My only problem here is that the teal color won't capture the way the plum does.
So yeah, I mentioned that I kept wearing it, but you know I wouldn't just wear a straight color, right?  I was torn, though, because I didn't want to take anything away from this gorgeous color, so I settled for blinging out an accent finger with some holographic flakies, out of the "candy" side of my Revlon Moon Candy duo in Milky Way.

Bottom line?  Love these polishes.  There's a reason OPI is among the top contenders in the nail polish game.  They make beautiful shades that apply dreamily and have great wearability.  They're also Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde and Toluene free (known as the Big 3), for those who are concerned about toxic chemicals - and shouldn't we all be?  If you'd like to know more about "the Big 3", AllLacquredUp has a great post on the matter.

So what do you think?  Are you interested in any other shades from this collection?