OPI SoftShades 2016 Pastel Collection Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Today I have the latest OPI collection to show you, SoftShades 2016, the Pastel collection! There are six shades all in light, fluffy pastel tones. The formulas on these is almost crelly-like, thinner but creamy and pretty easy to apply. Not really streaky, just less opaque than a typical crème. They all dry very shiny as well, which is always a plus. Let's take a look!

Press Sample

It's a Boy is a true baby blue pastel crème. This covered for me in just two coats. This is now my go-to pale blue polish, such a stunner!

It's In The Cloud is an off white crème. The lightest shade in the group, I needed three coats to totally cover my nail line.

I Am What I Amethyst is a bluish purple pastel crème. Two coats for opacity. I'm in love with this shade! It seems to be a favorite for a lot of folks.

One Chic Chick is a buttery pastel yellow crème. This was opaque for me in just two coats, surprising for this type of shade!

This Cost Me a Mint is a pale green mint crème. Almost two coats on this guy, but I used three here.

Stop I'm Blushing! is a demure pastel peach crème, almost a neutral shade it's so muted. Another one that was almost opaque in two coats, but needed a third for total coverage.

These are available now wherever OPI is sold, such as Ulta, Sally Beauty Supply, and professional salons, for $10 each. What do you think about these dreamy pastels? I think they are just fabulous, my favorite of the SoftShades selections in a long time!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Nail Envy Strength In Color Collection Swatches & Review

Good day to you my friend! I hope your week is starting out well! Today I have some new products from OPI to show you. They have taken their popular nail treatment Nail Envy and added a twist by giving them color, calling them Strength In Color. This is a great idea for anyone who wants to have a strengthening protective treatment and polish color without an extra step. Let's see what shades they chose!

Press Sample

Bubble Bath is an iconic SoftShade from OPI, a soft delicate milky pink. I have the original version and I enjoy it very much. This is three coats for a more opaque look, but you can stop at two for a more natural take. I didn't use topcoat because it retains shine quite nicely.

Next is Hawaiian Orchid, a creamy neutral pink mauve. I love that they chose this shade for inclusion in this collection, it's very popular and so wearable. Great formula, I only needed two coats for full opacity.

Pink To Envy is a new 'shade', a slightly pink tinted clear. The original Nail Envy is more milky so I get them wanting to make a clear version of it. You probably can't tell other than the shine, but I've got one coat on here.

And last is Samoan Sand, another much favored SoftShade from OPI's core collection. This is a pale sandy beige. I actually can't believe I didn't have the original version of this, it's a great neutral! Three coats here. Dries a bit darker than it looks in the bottle.

These new Nail Envy Strength In Color shades are available now at places like Ulta, JCPenney Salons and Sally Beauty Supply, retailing for $17.95 in the US and $22.50 in Canada. What do you think of this twist on a nail treatment? Do you use Nail Envy? I know lots of gals who swear by it!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Soft Shades 2015 Collection Swatches & Review

Hey babes! Are you into nudes?? The colors I mean ;) Neutrals? Bridal shades? Then this collection is for you! The OPI Soft Shades 2015 collection brings us six new light and soft lacquers for the tail-end of Spring/beginning of Summer. Let's see how these stack up shall we?

Press Sample

Act Your Beige! is a milky pale slightly beige cream color. This was pretty streaky for me on the first two coats. This is three, and while you can still see my nail line I'd call this pretty opaque. I like this, even after having to kinda finesse it. I never think that I like the demure nail look until I am wearing it, then I don't want to take it off.

Next is Make Light of the Situation, one coat over Act Your Beige!. It's a stunning crystal-like shimmer and glitter topper, it's iridescent nirvana! This would be such a great bridal manicure, it's a very dainty and delicate look but with that somethin' somethin'. You could build this up on it's own if you wanted to, it's got great glitter payoff.

This gal is called Chiffon My Mind, a shimmery white. The shimmer is sorta duochromey from silver to blue and purple in certain lights but it doesn't really translate to the nail as well as I had hoped. This was quite streaky for me, I used three coats and it still didn't self-level very well. It's kind of a fail for me.

Put It In Neutral is next, another sheer milky shade, but this one is a pinky nude. I love this color, it reminds me a little of some shades in the Color Club Shift Into Neutral collection I showed you not too long ago, maybe a little more feminine. This was a little streaky, better than Act Your Beige! but I still had to use three coats to even it out.

Here we have Petal Soft, a clear based topper with matte pale pink and white hex glitters in different sizes and large matte white flower shaped pieces. I got a good amount of the hexes out upon swiping my nail, but I had to fish to get any flowers. This is two coats over Put It In Neutral. This got a little thick for my taste because of all the coats. I might layer this over something different if I wear it again.

Last is This Silver's Mine, a silver leaning pewter frost metallic. In my notes for this color I have in capital letters "BRUSHSTROKES!" haha. I don't necessarily think brushstrokes are the final word in a polish being crap, at all. This however just doesn't work for me. I like the idea of it, but if only it were smooth! You have to paint your last coat on super perfectly and straight or else it's going to look bad, no buts about it. Two coats.

This collection should be out in stores like Sally Beauty, Ulta and professional salons now, retail price is $9.50 each. I usually end up liking the Soft Shades a bit more than the ones in this collection, but I would say Make Light of the Situation is an absolute MUST have. Seriously, you need it. Let me know what you think of these and if you are into collections like this or if you crave bold colors more.

Love ya!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Soft Shades: Oz The Great and Powerful Collection Swatches and Review

OPI has coincided their release of the yearly Soft Shades collection with the new Disney movie, Oz the Great and Powerful, making it a whimsical fairy tale themed collection inspired by the movie. The collection includes three milky soft jelly cremes and three blingtastic glitter toppers.

Press Sample

Don't Burst My Bubble, I Theodora You, Glints of Glinda

Lights of Emerald City, Which is Witch?, When Monkeys Fly!

First up is Don't Burst My Bubble. It's a classic OPI Soft Shade, demure and classic. The color is an almost white milky palest pale pink. Beautiful and a great "palate cleanser" if you're looking to take a break from loud bright shades like I do on occasion. Or it's a perfect work-appropriate shade for you folks who want/have to keep it conservative. This is two coats.

Over the base of Don't Burst My Bubble, I layered Lights of Emerald City. A unique and still delicate glitter topper, it is made up of white glitter squares and iridescent mylar squares in a clear base. It's quite dense, this is just one coat! I love the way the mylar hits the light and changes colors.

The next jelly creme is Glints of Glinda. I loved this in the bottle, a milky peach nude. On my nails it isn't my favorite, maybe because it's too close to my skin tone? I bet it would look amazing on someone with a dark complexion. This is two coats. It was less streaky and easier to make opaque than Don't Burst My Bubble but still very jelly-like.

I layered When Monkeys Fly! over Glints of Glinda. This is probably the most unique and fantastical glitter I've ever seen from OPI. It is made up of large mirror-like gold hex glitter and smaller holographic silver hexes. Unfortunately it came to light than many customers were experiencing warping and curling of the giant gold hexagons. They addressed this on their Facebook page, if you're interested. I didn't have a problem with my glitters in the least, and I really am in love with this mani. Two coats of glitter.

This is I Theodora You, a more opaque and less jelly but still squishy pale pink. I absolutely adore colors like this. I feel so feminine and classy when I wear such clean shades. This is two coats.

And last is glitter Which is Witch? A clear base filled with tons of micro holographic silver bits, bars, and hexes. Super dense, this is one layer over I Theodora You. Another hit in my opinion, yet this is probably my least favorite out of the three glitters I swatched. Maybe I need to try it over another color for it to really wow me.

This collection also included a Liquid Sand polish which I will show you in another post, as I didn't care for the way my swatches of it turned out at the time of this post. I loved this collection, and even though I haven't seen the movie it's based upon yet, I can imagine myself in Oz whenever I see these beautiful soft shades ;) My favorites would have to be When Monkeys Fly! and I Theodora You.

This limited edition promotion is available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCP Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

Product samples were provided for consideration.

OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection

OPI's Soft Shades collection this year was inspired by the New York City Ballet. The collection features five sheer shades lightly tinged in hues of beige, pink, white, lilac and gray, as well as a silver sparkly topper. I was expecting these to be creams from the promo images but I was pleasantly surprised to find them to have a jelly finish.

First is Barre My Soul, a soft beige peachy shade. It's a nice flesh tone that still retains it's jelly-translucency. This one seems to be the least opaque but I like the effect. This is three coats.

Next is Care to Danse?, which I always say with a fancy-pants accent in my head. It's a lilac tinted sheer that pulls more milky pink on the nail. This is three coats.

Here is You Callin' Me a Lyre? I was confused when I heard the name of this one, not knowing what a lyre has to do with ballet off the top of my head. I found out it is a symbol representing NYCB. This is a sheer baby pink, very femme and bridal. This is three coats.

My Pointe Exactly is a baby grey jelly, which is really unique and beautiful. I don't think I have another polish quite like this one. Three coats here as well.

Don't Touch My Tutu! is a sheer bright white jelly. I really like this color, it's very flattering. There are plenty of white sheers out there, but this one seems to have more pigment and a better formula than most. This is also three coats.

And the pièce de résistance of the collection, glitter topcoat Pirouette My Whistle. Terrible name haha, but absolutely beautiful glitter. It is similar to Nubar's White Polka Dot, the big hex glitter pieces are satin finish light grey/opal/white and it has tons of silver microglitter that makes this extra twinkly. Here is two coats by itself.

I also layered one coat of Pirouette My Whistle over Don't Touch My Tutu!. I love how ethereal and dainty this looks!

I am super impressed with the formula on these, they are all fantastic. You could get away with one coat even if you like, the streaks issue is almost non-existent. These should be out officially in April. Let me know what you think about these pretties!

Products provided for review.

OPI Femme de Cirque SoftShades

I am super down for OPI SoftShades. I love light pinks and milky sweet colors that are just pure femininity. Sometimes I get overdosed on bright shimmers and vibrant foils or blingy glitters and I just need a good detox. SoftShades are the perfect thing for a "color cleanse". The new Femme de Cirque collection includes four colors that exude delicate tenderness.  I adore the OPI Pro-Wide brush too so this collection is a winner in my book.

In the Spot-light Pink is a sheer "pop" of pink jelly. It is a great color for making your nails look ladylike but still youthful and fresh. I always complain that my nail beds are too pink, but then I love wearing shades like this that make them a shade pinker haha, I'm weird. This is four coats because I like it to look squishy.

Step Right Up! is a pale creamy pink crème. I painted on three-ish coats and it was pretty fair, considering these colors usually streak pretty bad. This would be a great color for a wedding mani or pedi.

I Juggle...Men is an iridescent shimmer topcoat that glitters in colors of blue, purple, and pink. The micro glitter is subtle but smashing! Very pretty and my photo doesn't do it justice unfortunately. This is three coats.

So Many Clowns, So Little Time is a nude toned pink that is a little more on the squishy sheer side than the other pale crème in the collection. I tried this as a tip color for an American Manicure and it worked very well, but I messed it up before I could get a picture of it haha. This is four coats.

These were provided for review.

OPI Nice Stems! collection Sneak Peek

Summer Pinks in Bloom!

Nice Stems! by OPI Revamps Nails with Vibrant Pink Hues for Summer 2011

Stop and see the flowers with summer’s Nice Stems! by OPI, a limited edition collection featuring four new nail lacquers in stunning shades of pink. With whimsical names based on their floral inspirations, these vibrant, flirty colors range from pale, frosty pink to rich fuchsia. Nice Stems! offers fingers and toes a perfectly pink shade for all of summer’s looks.

“These vibrant, feminine hues complement 60’s ladylike fashions, 70’s glam looks, and bold color-blocking, which are the season’s staples,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “The Nice Stems! collection also offers an interesting contrast and feminine accent to the punk and biker looks on the runways.”

Nice Stems! by OPI shades include:

Play the Peonies

We’d put our money on this lovely soft-pink.

Come to Poppy

Surrender to shine with this shimmering coral-pink.

Be a Dahlia Won’t You?

Give the gift of fabulous fuchsia—to yourself!

I Lily Love You

Fall head over heels with this light pink sparkle.

“Using different micas and glitters can give lacquer a 3-dimensional look,” adds Weiss-Fischmann. “I Lily Love You is a glitter coat that can be layered over any of the other three shades to add a bright sparkle; or, it can be worn on its own for a subtle tint of pink with strands of glitter.”

The Nice Stems! Nail Lacquers by OPI contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application.

This limited edition Nice Stems! collection will be available beginning June 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

This information was provided from the manufacturer.

OPI Femme De Cirque Sneak Peek

Four new shades will join the OPI SoftShades collection in April with the introduction of Femme De Cirque.

I Juggle...Men - iridescent shimmer coat

So Many Clowns, So Little Time - creamy nude pink

In the Spot-Light Pink - pop of pink

Step Right Up! - light pink

These should be out around April! I personally love nudes, soft shimmers, and light pinks so I'm excited for these babies!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo