Tuesday, July 19, 2011

OPI Touring America Collection Fall 2011 Swatches and Review

OPI's fall collection is a different take on their usual theme. Instead of focusing on one specific location (Russia, Spain, Chicago, et cetera), they're going on a coast-to-coast road trip across the States (well, I guess America is a specific place, now that I think about it). This is also a really different collection color-wise than their usual fall collections. I have mixed feelings about it, to tell you the truth... But let me post the swatches before I start rambling.


Are We There Yet? This is a really dusty light salmony-coral orange with a hint of shiny pink/gold duochrome shimmer. It reminds me of of a much lighter, less saturated Essie Brazilliant, but with less shimmer. The shimmer is extremely subtle and only comes out in bright light.


A-Taupe The Space Needle. This looks much more green toned on my skin than it does in the bottle. In the bottle it's a warm light brown, taupe really, and doesn't really look green. On my skintone (cool/pink undertones) it seems olive-based and the color does dry at least a whole shade darker than it appears in the bottle. I like this one, it's very camouflagey!


Color To Diner For. This is a murky-looking medium warm cranberry with some really cool shimmer in it. The shimmer seems almost holographic- it shifts colors a lot and it is very shiny. However, the shimmer is very fine and subtle and only really comes out in bright sunlight.

French Quarter For Your Thoughts. This is another one that seems to dry a whole shade darker than it looks in the bottle. In fact, almost every shade in the collection is like that. The color of this is a light smoky grey. In the bottle it seems to have a yellow tone to it, but on my nail it seems more neutral. Very cement looking.


Get In The Expresso Lane. 'Expresso'... I know it's supposed to be a pun (express lane, espresso brown polish), but that word bothers me! I know... irrelevant. The color is a nice one- a dark vampy neutral espresso brown with a distinct muddy/dusty/smoky look to it. Lighter than Zoya Codie.


Honk If You Love OPI. Another nice vampy fall shade- this one is a red purple creme. Too warm to be eggplant, too cool to be wine... I'm going to go with grape. Dark grape. It looks a little darker here than it does in real life; it looks distinctly purple and not black on my nails.


I Brake For Manicures. I'd certainly hope so... Because it's really tragic when you don't brake for manicures. In fact, I'd say don't mix vehicles and manicures at all! Anyway... This is not as similar to Honk If You Love OPI as it seems in my picture. It's a very dirty smoky purple. Very greyed out, dusty and faded looking. Reminds me a bit of Rescue Beauty Lounge Recherche.



I Eat Mainely Lobster. I have great memories of eating lobster in Maine, so perhaps I'm a little biased, but... This is the best of the shimmer shades. I'm really not particularly crazy about any of them, but this one is at least pretty. It's a bright coral (makes me think of My Chihuahua Bites) with duochrome pink/gold shimmer. Like the other shimmers shades, the shimmer in this one is super subtle and only comes out in sunlight. When it does, it's pretty, but otherwise it's nearly unnoticeable.



My Address Is "Hollywood". Ack. What is this? Dusty rose? Mauve-salmon? I can't even... It's just... Dare I say it? Ugly. Sorry guys. Please don't take that personally if this is a color you like. It's just not my thing. It's that sort of dated dusty rose matronly granny color that I thought we had abandoned for good in the 80s. In its defense, it does have a really pretty duochrome shimmer in it, but it's so subtle you don't really notice it. Next...



Road House Blues. Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel... This color is so hard to photograph but it's so pretty. It's a dark dusty indigo creme. It appears pure blue in my pictures, but it's actually in between blue and purple. Perhaps what one might call "blurple"? It reminds me a whole lot of OPI Sapphire In The Snow and from pictures I've seen, perhaps even the super-rare OPI Madewell To Order.


Suzi Takes The Wheel. The name of this one cracks me up. The color is interesting as well. It's a very, very grey light green... Or is it actually a green light grey? It's blue toned and closer to Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow than it is to Essie Da Bush.



Uh Oh, Roll Down The Window. Haaahahahaha! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my juvenile sense of humor can't get past this one. Seriously. Excellent name. Good color, too. Murky, smoky olive green. Darker and more blue toned than Zoya Dree.


The formula on these was good but not perfect. Some shades were pretty streaky (the shimmers), some were a little thinner than I'd like. Otherwise, they were fairly easy to apply but not as thick and opaque as I expected. I used three coats of each shade; each one needed it. A couple had defective brushes with uneven bristles, but not as severe as they were back when India was released. Drying time was excellent, lightning fast. Another formula-related note: Lots of unmixed pigment in the camouflage creme shades. I had some streaks of pigment during application because I didn't shake them well enough.


Weird collection, right? I really don't like the shimmers- I think the pink and coral shades are boring and don't feel like fall to me. If they had more of that delicious duochrome shimmer, I might feel differently. But, they don't. Snore.

I do like the camouflage colors and the vampy purples. Smoky, murky, dirty, nasty muddy shades are some of my favorites and these are all excellent ones. They're edgy without being bright and obnoxious. Grunge colors. And vampy purple is always one of my go-to manicure shades. The only problem with them is that they're not unique. We've been seeing these colors all over lately and I'm sure there's probably a dupe for each one somewhere out there.

I like the names, I like the color selection on the creme finish shades and I like the theme... I'm disappointed by the choice of colors for the shimmer portion of the collection and I'm also a little bummed that there's nothing glittery or un-dupable here. Great names, though. Nothing too cheesy and I got a chuckle out of a few of them.

So, that's why I have mixed feelings on this collection. I like (most of) the colors and the names, but I think I expected something... different? But if you asked me, I couldn't tell you what I would have done differently! Maybe not chosen mauve-salmon-coral-cranberry shimmers, but that's a given. Oh well. Camouflage colors are cool.

(These were sent to me for review.)

44 comments:

  1. I think I'll only be getting I Mainely Eat Lobster.. only because I don't have a lot of corals. This collection is booooooooring and more than a little disappointing. Thanks for the swatches!

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  2. I was so excited to see this post!! I've been looking forward to this collection because of all the dark murky colors =)
    After seeing them all swatched, I will probably only pick up 4 of them.

    Thanks for the always amazing pics!
    xx
    Bethany

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  3. Uff.. I don't like any of these. I don't think there's any new and exciting colors amongst.. :(

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  4. So many wonderful swatches! I like most of them, can´t decide...

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  5. I didn't think I was going to like these as much as I am now that I'm seeing swatches. I'm not really a vampy polish kind of girl, but I am really loving these. I like the shimmers, too. ;)

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  6. hahaha Uh Oh, Roll Down The Window is great :D
    (the color and the name ;D)

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  7. Your swatches are really great, but this collection is just... blech. I've only been a polish-aholic for six months or so, but even *I* feel like these shades have already been seen a million times over. Even within the collection itself, there's not enough of a differentiation between shades for me.

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  8. Honk if You Love OPI is lovely :)

    Also really like the Maine-inspired one! Since I live there ;) It really looks awesome though!

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  9. i watched that whole video about the lady painting her nails at the wheel. who does that??! beautiful swatches :)

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  10. I want the army green "uh-oh roll down the window" and the dark blue and the dark purple :)
    the others are not calling to me.
    the greys are nice, but since I own some of Nubars Fortress Collection and a few other greys, I think I'm gonna pass on these.
    But the army green is a must have ;) and as a long-time blue lover the dark blue as well.

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  11. I have a feeling we will see these sitting on retail shelves for a LONG time and retailers not re-ordering as these rush out their doors. I had hoped when the first bottle shots came through the swatches would perk up. Nope! I am still bored big time by this collection. As you said, cute names - the olive one will be the most popular is my guess, both for the shade and the name. But this has to be one of the real dog of OPI collections in some time.

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  12. I'll proably pick A-Taupe The Space Needle, Suzi Takes The Wheel,and I Eat Mainely Lobster!
    Thanks for your nice swatches ;D

    I like the collection but I can understand what you say about uniqueness and lack of stronger shimmer...
    Anyway, I still like the overall collection!

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  13. Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window! LMAO I love that name for a green polish!

    But yes, it feels like a very eclectic collection, other than the names it doesn't really feel like they should be grouped together.

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  14. I love French Quarter For your thoughts and Suzi takes wheel!

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  15. I see a lot of dupes but somehow I still want them all ...almost all.

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  16. I've got my eye on Suzi Takes the Wheel and Road House Blues.

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  17. Hi, Scrangie!
    I think that My Address Is Hollywood is a dupe for Essie Your Hut Or Mine... What do you think? Could you show them together if you ever have the time, please?

    I also think that A-Taupe the Space Needle is more khaki than taupe... For me the reference of "taupe" is Over the Taupe ;)
    (I have already compared them one beside the other...verdict: two different colours!)

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  18. I'm loving Road House Blues. And I'm so glad you mentioned My Chihuahua Bites. I've been wearing it on my toes all summer!

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  19. I like the cremes but I'm not wild about any of the shimmers. I am really really disappointed that OPI is choosing not to release anymore sorbets, though. Sure, I knew that before seeing the swatches, but this seems like a good time to express my disappointment. I would love to see some sorbets in more interesting colors than pinks and oranges, too. The sorbets are some of my favorite jellies. Want.more.NOW.

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  20. The must-have for me is Uh Oh, Roll Down The Window! Lemming it hard!
    - Mary

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  21. Thanks for the swatches - love some of these colours like A-Taupe The Space Needle, Road House Blues and Uh Oh, Roll Down The Window (yep I love the name too) it's worth it just for when someone asks what colour you are wearing! lol

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  22. Gorgeous swatches, even though I'm kinda "meh" on this whole collection. I'm WAY too immature for "Uh Oh, Roll Down Down the Window." The color looks amazing, but that name!! I think I'll opt for China Glaze West Side Warrior, even if it's not a dead on dupe. :-)

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  23. Why is it that whenever a color involves Hollywood it is inevitably pink? I've been to Hollywood and pink is not how I would describe it. I don't really see a road trip in this collection; I see colors justifying the names to justify the collection, similar to what we saw with the Texas collection. Would you say the formula is also similar? I can see myself owning several of the creme shades, lol! Thanks for the fab swatches!

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  24. I'm SO EXCITED about Road House Blues, because it was inspired by my hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi. I'll buy that for sure, even though it looks a lot like China Glaze's First Mate. I'll have to think about the others!

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  25. Like the green and the blue. The rest look like stuff that I've seen before. They all look gorgeous but how much more can I have. Well loads but I'm trying not to buy more dupes.

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  26. wow! Great post but I am disappointed with the colors!

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  27. I don't think anything here really stands out for me. I feel bored by this collection. Roll Down the Window and Mainely Lobster are the only two I think I'd consider and even then I'm just not excited by them.

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  28. Well, I'm underwhelmed. It doesn't help that OPI isn't my fave brand, but after seeing these swatches I think my fave fall collection is still Zoya's Smoke. They have the dusty look I love but with a great formula.
    Thanks so much! You've save me a few $$.

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  29. Too many creams in the collection for me - I really like the shimmers and glitters and glass fleck polishes better. Oh well, guess I'll be saving some money on this one.

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  30. i adore Get In The Expresso Lane, Honk If You Love OPI and Road House Blues - very sexy shades!

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  31. OPI is really boring lately :<

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  32. I'm really not sure how I feel about this collection. I saw the bottles on display in a glass case with a sign saying when they would launch, and I looked at all the "uh oh roll down the window". I might pick up one of the corally ones just because in my area at the beauty supply they launch the first week of august so I could still wear it as a summer color although I don't really care what season it is, I'll wear whatever color whenever I want.

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  33. I don't know. I'm just not very excited for this collection, unfortunately. Maybe if I see them in person something will strike me...

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  34. "Suzi takes the wheel" looks like "Strangers Tides" and I never would buy "I Eat Mainely Lobster" because of the name (stupid, I know, but Lobster cooking is disgusting in my eyes).

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  35. Cristina, I noticed the similarity between the two colors, but when I held the bottles together, they were a lot different! The Essie is so much more colorful and has a lot of that pretty shimmer that keeps it from being boring. The OPI one is just so dull and faded and the shimmer is inadequate!


    Tahillia, I would love to see more sorbets from OPI! But, like you, in colors other than orange and pink! I like orange, but I want to see some more interesting colors!

    ANA, I noticed that, too! I'd say the formula is better on these than it was on Texas, but not too far off. Still on the thin side compared to other OPI polishes.

    Thanks for your comments guys! Most of you feel the same way I do about the collection, interesting!

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  36. Road House reminds somewhat of China Glazes Calypso Blue. Either way I love it !

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  37. Thanks for allowing us to link to your description of the OPI Touring America collection... Susan, the other of half of Finelypolishedfriends.com

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  38. Great swatches, just ordered UhOh Roll Down The Window, Color to Diner For & Honk If You Love OPI.

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  39. Okay so today I got Road House Blues and Honk if you love OPI. I just put on RHB and I freaking love it!!

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  40. Love this post! I'm headed for a manny & it's that in-between season whereby I know that in a week or 2 I'll be wanting a fall colour, as in Canada, we have very defined seasons. I wanted to know where to go post the oranges of summer.

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  41. This collection is a big snorefest for me. (And I'm a relatively new polish-aholic too) I like shimmers (but not these) more than cremes anyway and a lot of these colors just don't look good on me. It's ok though because it saves me money. :) Your swatches are beautiful and if my nails looked like yours I might consider one or two of these...

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  42. Hope you don't mind, but I linked to this post in my blog because your review and swatches ROCK!

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  43. I try not to take it personally after reading this, but I was the one loved My Address Is "Hollywood" so much that I just went to Ebay to shop myself a decent bottel of it after trying out a mini one (I won) it).

    The other shades in this collection seen tempting, too... I have also The Color to Diner for in my stash, but haven't tried that one out yet.

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