OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013 Swatches and Review

OPI San Francisco Collection

Fall/Winter 2013

(press samples)

In addition to the three new Liquid Sand shades, OPI's fall/winter collection is full of warm, autumn-like colors offset by a handful of bold blues, a shiny foil, and even a little duochrome.

 

A-Piers to Be Tan

I shore do like this chocolaty tan.

(Reminds me of one of the most notorious OPI shades of all time: OPI And Apple Pie.  More caramel than chocolate, really.)

Dining al Frisco

Just feast your eyes on this fresh-air blue!

Embarca-Dare Ya!

Betcha can’t pass up this marvelous magenta.

(Has a small amount of pink/red/gold duochrome shift. Subtle.)

 

First Date at the Golden Gate

You and me and this shimmery ruby make three.

 

 

Haven’t the Foggiest

Can’t tell you why I love this misty gray...I just do!

(The most perfect pewter foil ever. Has a strong charcoal/deep grey tone, not pure bright silver.)

I Knead Sour-Dough

Are you bready to wear this toasty warm brown?

 

Incognito in Sausalito

You better keep this almost-black blue under wraps.

In the Cable Car-Pool Lane

Good golly, Miss Trolley, this rich burgundy takes me away!

 

Keeping Suzi at Bay

There’s no holding back this assertive navy blue.

 

Lost on Lombard

Oh garn-et! I’m all turned around!

 

Muir Muir on the Wall

This trailblazing plum is the fairest of all.

(Very good duochrome effect on this.  Goes from plum to bronze to green.  Reminds me of some of OPI's best discontinued colors, namely Black Tie Optional.)

 

 Peace & Love & OPI

This holographic sage and eggplant is far out!

(Steel blue to purple to teal multichrome.  It's not a dupe of Not Like The Movies, nor is it a dupe of Lippmann Wicked Game.)

The formula on these was mixed, but generally good.  The creme shades were perfect.  A dream to apply.  The shimmers were more sheer and uneven than I was anticipating and took an extra coat for evenness and opacity.  I did three coats of each, but only the shimmer shades needed the third coat.  Dry time is fast.  

A couple ho-hum colors, but also a couple of very cool ones.  My picks are Muir Muir On The Wall, Peace & Love & OPI, Haven't The Foggiest, and Keeping Suzi At Bay.  Two gorgeous duochrome shimmers, my new favorite silver foil and a vibrant but not neon blue creme.  

Don't forget to check out the Liquid Sand polishes that are part of this collection!

(Collection provided for review.)

Jessica Bliss is This Bridal Collection for Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

Check out this little three-shade bridal collection from Jessica. Very different from the usual pale, washed-out pinks and sheer whites that usually make up bridal nail polish collections. The shades in Jessica's 2012 bridal collection, Bliss is This, are:

Jessica Desire. An odd light wine shade with a creme finish.

Jessica Flirtation. A medium dusty tea rose color with a creme finish.

Jessica Love Story. A light cantaloupe orange with a creamy jelly finish.

Formula on all was good. Slightly thick in texture, but easy application. Just be careful about applying thin coats and the formula shouldn't give you any trouble. Perfect brushes. I did three coats of each and all were completely opaque in three. Somewhat long dry time.

It's cool that they chose three very non-traditional colors for their 2012 bridal collection, but I can't say I really like any of them. Not much else to say about it!

 

Chanel Le Vernis in April, June, May

EDIT:  Apparently these three Jessica shades are dupes of Chanel's Spring 2012 Le Vernis collection!  I hadn't seen the Chanel collection, so thank you everyone for pointing it out! 

The Jessica Bliss is This collection is available in both regular polish and in GELeration Soak-Off Gel polish and can be purchased directly from Jessica Cosmetics.

(This was sent for review.)

Zoya Beach Collection Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

The Beach collection. Part one of a two-part summer color collection, this half has all the creme shades. The other half has all the shimmers. The colors in the Zoya Beach collection are:

Reagan - Lara - Shelby - Arizona - Tracie - Wednesday

Zoya Arizona. Arizona is a light orange creme. It's not pastel, but it is lighter than most orange creme polishes tend to be. It has a yellow tone to it so it looks more like coral than pumpkin.


Zoya Lara. This is a medium fuchsia creme. I know it looks neon here, but it's really not. In real life it has a soft but very pigmented look, just like the bottle color in this picture.


Zoya Reagan. This is a darker fuchsia, not quite purple but not berry either. Right in between. It's not particularly bright, but it is very colorful. Lots of pigment to this one.



Zoya Shelby. Another pink! This one is light, slight blue tone, slightly brighter finish than the others. It's not neon and it's not pastel, but it does really stand out on the nails. It dries darker than bottle color.


Zoya Tracie. Tracie is the only non-creme polish in the collection. It's a soft avocado shade with some very fine frosty shimmer. Not enough to make it sparkly, but just enough to give it a slight pearly finish.


Zoya Wednesday. This is a faded-looking beachy turquoise. It has a lot more green to it than my camera will pick up, and it's also coming out brighter in my pictures than it looks in real life. In reality, it's very soft and muted looking, not as crisp as it seems here. Refer to the group shot's bottle color- that's how it looks in real life. Love the name, but I'm somewhat disappointed that it's cheery turquoise and not black.


The formula on these was good. It's a little thicker in texture than the last two creme collections, so it's much easier to control without it running or pooling as much. The texture is very smooth, but it does still have a slight tendency to drip when you least expect it. Opacity is good- most looked fine at two coats, but I did three of all just because they looked that much better with the extra coat. Dry time is average.

Personally, I'm not sure I like this collection. Or at least half of it. The three pinks seem so overdone and not at all unique, plus they don't even feel like summer colors to me. They're not really very bright, but they're not faded enough to look like they fit with the retro/vintage vibe of the other half of the collection. The other three polishes, Tracie, Arizona and Wednesday, are great. They seem less easily dupe-able than the pinks, they're beautiful on the nails, and they definitely give off a retro-vintage-beachy feel to me. I really like the dusty/faded/antique look they have.

The Zoya Beach collection will be available April 1st on Zoya.com.

(This was sent for review.)

Duri 2012 Valentine's Day Collection Swatches and Review

Duri Cosmetics has a nail polish collection out for Valentine's Day this year. It's your standard pink-and-red Valentine's Day fare, but some of them are pretty nice.


Duri Breakfast in Bed. This is a pale, ever-so-slightly lavender-toned creamy pink base with a very subtle, very fine blue and purple shimmer. The shimmer is nearly invisible, but at certain angles it comes out as a blue flash across the surface of the polish.

Actually, maybe it's not actually breakfast in bed. Maybe it's Breakfest, like a festival where you go around smashing things and break dancing.


Duri Cranberry Crush. Medium berry-colored jelly. More mulberry than cranberry, slight purple tone.



Duri Every Day is a Valentine. A super bright cherry red jelly! This one I really like. It's a very glowy type of red, due to the depth of the jelly finish. Doesn't look flat or dull. The two bright reds in this collection are nearly identical; this one is the cooler-toned of the two.



Duri Forget Me Never. A warm pink creme. Not as bright as it looks here, but still what I'd consider to be a bright/hot pink. Reminds me of OPI Elephantastic Pink, actually. Dries darker than bottle color.



Duri Hot Date. This looks more red than it is in real life, but it's still a mauve-berry jelly. More purple-ish toned than pure red. I have a strong dislike for most berry polishes on me and this is no exception. Bleh. Plus, the name! Hot Date, really? I don't know if I'd really consider Bingo Night to be all that hot, but to each their own, I suppose...


Duri Sweetheart. If any of these colors say "hot date" to me, it's this one. This is a fire-eating belly dancer type of color! It's bright, the jelly finish gives it depth and it's very, very glossy. This is the warmer toned of the two bright reds, not quite a coral or an orange, but no blue undertone like Every Day Is A Valentine has.

The formula on these was varied. The two bright reds were unexpectedly thin/runny in texure, but had a really even application. The pink cremes were perfectly normal. The berry jellies were thicker and had a little drag to them. The brushes in these were all nice, so that helped application. I did three coats of all; they each needed all three. Dry time is average.

Not a particularly creative collection, but some of the colors are really nice. I didn't like the two berry shades at all, I liked the two pink shades well enough, but I loved the two bright reds. I am very fond of the jelly finish on the reds, and they're so bright and eye-catching, I can't help but love them. If you have a lot of reds in your collection (and I'm sure you do, as any nail polish enthusiast invariably ends up with way more reds in their collection than they ever intended to own...), there's nothing new here. All of these colors are pretty common and probably look like something you already own. The only one that I can't immediately think of a match for is Breakfast in Bed- the light pink creme with the blue flash.

These are all available from Duri's website, and I don't believe any of them are limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Vacation Spam: Revlon Edition

I'm on vacation! Have some spam! Woooo!


Revlon Berry Jeweled.

Revlon Blue.

Revlon Copper Gleam.

Revlon Gold Glaze.

Revlon Grape Fizz.

Revlon Magical.

Revlon Molten Metal.

Revlon Ocean Breeze.

Revlon Orange Pop.

Revlon Peach Smoothie.

Revlon Perplex.

Revlon Plum Attraction.

Revlon Potion.

Revlon Pure Pewter.

Revlon Tidal Wave.

Revlon Zippy.