OPI Designer Series Fall 2014 Swatches & Review

Howdy, good to see ya! OPI has brought us two more shades in their Designer Series, formulated with diamond dust, for Fall 2014. They say these two lacquers have a "polished quartz" formula, a semi-matte finish with intense three-dimensional sparkle.  Let's take a look at these two semi-precious stone inspired shades!

Press Sample

DS Titanium is a medium/light charcoal jelly with holographic and iridescent glitters. It does dry down to a satin finish, but I prefer it with a shiny top coat. It was pretty thick, I used three coats here. I could've stopped at two but the charcoal seemed like it should've been darker to me so I used three. The sunlight flattens out the glitter a bit so I showed you a shade picture as well, to show the depth.

full sun

shade

DS Tourmaline is a rosy pink jelly with the same holographic and iridescent glitters as the previous shade. Also dries semi-matte, but I used a top coat here. Also quite thick but the color built up nicely in two coats for me. I really like how sparkly it is in the sun.

full sun

shade

DS Tourmaline and DS Titanium are available at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Chatters, Dillard’s, Regis, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 ($14.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

These two shades remind me of Zoya's summer Bubbly collection, the jelly base with the holo/iridescent glitter mix seem very similar to me. I like both of these polishes, but I'm not wowed like I hoped to be. I might try to layer them over similar base colors if I wear them again. What do you think of these DS shades?

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Fall 2013 DS Shades

Hi friends :) Today I have the new OPI Designer Series shades to show you. The two new DS colors are texture polishes, they call them Raw Granite. They are somewhat like OPI's Liquid Sand polishes but they are much smoother, not as gritty. They look very matte by themselves and with top coat they shine with a blingy effect.

First is DS Lapis. It's a midnight blue opaque jelly filled to the brim with teeny silver glitter. It is very "night sky" looking. This is two coats. It's on the thick side, but not hard to work with at all. With texture polishes I always make sure to let them dry very well before I put another coat on for the best results.

Press Sample

I love Lapis with top coat, it's very sparkly. It smooths out with only one coat, where I've found most texture polishes require at least two. I've been using Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat recently and it's flippin' amazing. Expect a review soon.

And second is DS Pewter, which has a black smokey jelly base, the same tiny silver glitter as Lapis and larger silver glitter that's roundish-hexagonal shaped. I found it really easy to apply, like regular glitter polishes. This is two coats.

This is Pewter with a coat of HK Girl top coat. It's a toss up which way I like better, matte or shiny, because they're both really pretty. Which do you prefer? The base is darker when shiny and the glitter makes it really blingy.

These are available now at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 ($14.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

Product samples were provided for consideration.

OPI Designer Series Shades for 2012

Hi there! Today I have the two new Designer Series shades from OPI for 2012. These are formulated with diamond dust and are a few bucks more than regular OPI shades. In the past they were primarily holographic but in the last few years the releases in the DS range are mostly glittery. The two new shades are foily, glitzy, glowy and fabulous.

Luxurious is a sunshine orange glowy bomb of hotness. It reminds me of China Glaze Riveting from the Hunger Games collection, but this is slightly warmer and more red. This applies like a dream and it's really an unbelievably gorgeous shade. I am UBER into oranges this year and this is like my fantasy polish come to life. Two coats.

Indulgence is in the same league as Luxurious, this time in autumn apple red with gold. The base is on the cool side but the firey gold glitz warms it up. The shimmery flecks really bogart this photo, but in person it perfectly compliments the red base. Seriously perfect formula. Two coats.

I can't explain how freaking hot these are. I am in love with both of them. By far the best DS polishes released in YEARS. Do you have them? If not, do you want them? If not, what's wrong with you?! They are unbelievably awesome.

P.S. The winner of my Misa Wanderlust giveaway has been randomly selected and contacted. Congratulations!!

Products provided for review.

OPI Designer Series 2011

Hi friends :) Today I have the two newest OPI Designer shades, released in 2011. These are straight glitters, and unlike a lot of the Designer Series lacquers, not holographic. I think a lot of people aren't happy about that because the DS line has "diamond dust" in them so that equates a higher price and for that people expect something a little extra. However, just because these aren't holo doesn't mean they aren't lovely.

This is DS Temptation, the definition of a glitterbomb! Purple in overall shade with some blue tonality. This has lots of large and small glitter pieces. Really a gritty glitter, you definitely need the Seche Vite for this one to create a smooth surface. Thick but not terribly hard to work with like I've heard from others. This is three coats plus topcoat.

And this is DS Bold, a jelly red base with medium silver and red glitter. This is less dense than the previous glitter but still nicely packed. Very pink at some angles. This is a basically a dupe of China Glaze's Mrs. Claus from their 2010 Christmas collection. This is three coats.

What do you think of these two glitters? How do you feel about the Designer Series in general? Are they worth the price hike?

Products provided for review.

OPI Exclusive & Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Hi folks! Happy Memorial Day :) Today I wanted to show you another gorgeous polish I got from my fab friend Scandalous. OPI Extravagance (oops!) Exclusive is one of the last Designer Series polishes that I wanted that I had yet to acquire and now it's mine! This one is a fab magenta purple with awesome linear holo that jumps out like 3D. I freaking love this. Two coats.

Here is Exclusive with two coats of Max Factory Fantasy Fire, the Clarins 230 dupe! Also a present from my girl :D I freaked out when I saw this in my package from her, how generous can you be my Southern Suga? I love how it looks over this OPI, so fab and color-shifty and holo!

And just because, here are some more shots of Fantasy Fire over Nicole by OPI Di-Vine is Divine, a deep berry purple smooth metallic. Gaaaaaahhhhh, amaze-a-balls!

Hope you all had a great day and will have an even better week!

Gingerkitty Design Shatter Ring

In case you haven't heard, there is a lovely lady I know who makes deliciously gorgeous jewelry out of nail polish. WHAAAT?? Yup, nail polish. Idk how she does it haha, but it's awesome. GingerKitty was holding a contest for a new design of hers, a "shatter" design in a ring, aaaannndddd I won! I got to choose the size of the ring and the base color. I picked the smallest she had, about nickel size, because I don't wear a lot of jewelry. I chose my favorite polish, OPI DS Glamour as the base, because we all know holographic shades ROCK under shatter polish right?! The result is completely beautiful, better than I dreamed.

You can visit Gingerkitty and see all her other designs, her earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and keychains, at her etsy store or on her blog. She does custom pieces I believe too! Thanks again GK, I will cherish my ring forevs!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

opi ds reflection

this polish i got in a swap from the lovely and talented miss gildedangel of naive nails. go check her out if you haven't already, cuz she's AWESOME possum and super sweet. i felt like maybe i was pulling the wool over her eyes a bit when i fished this out of her swap bag when we met up last winter (although there is still snow on the ground here, so it might still technically be winter). did she seriously put an OPI DS series polish in a swap bag??! seriously? dope! i even double checked and yes indeed miss samantha did not care for the polish so it quickly became my little treasure. idk about you kids, but $12 for an OPI is a bit much. and i freaking love OPIs. i will pay it for a really spectacular amazing DS polish (a series OPI calls "designer" and has diamond dust in it) but honestly i could really pass on a lot of them. so yeah i felt special and lucky to get this pretty lady!

ds reflection is a beautiful berry coraly pinky reddish color with tiny holo glitter sparkles. there's also a hint of gold duochrome in the bottle, but i couldn't see it very much on the nail (however the flash pictures pull it out a bit). very smooth, even and opaque coverage! this is two coats.

sun to show more sparkles

more direct sun

this mani was very glam in my opinion, very old hollywood. which usually seems more dark red or whatever, but this looked really classy against my skin. i adore it, thanks again samantha!

opi designer shades 2009

opi's designer series put out some new shades this past fall, glow and mystery. i didn't purchase these, i borrowed them to swatch, although i loved them both so much that i will probably have to get my own sooner or later.

glow is full of bronzey gold shimmery goodness. it's kind of a chunky metallic flake kind of polish that i've never really had before and it wore like IRON. i swear this stuff would not chip or budge! i dare say it wouldn't be that flattering on many skin tones unfortunately, but i liked it on me haha.

mystery is the perfect name for this deep dark purple. i thought it was black but the first coat shows that beyond a shadow of a doubt it is purple. the golden sparkles in it show the depth. gorgeous gorgeous. i loved it (as evident by the amount of pictures i'm showing you!)