April 19, 2016

OPI SoftShades 2016 Pastels Swatches & Review!

*Sent for review*

It FINALLY feels like spring here in CT, woohoooo!!!! To celebrate, I finally swatched the OPI SoftShades 2016 colors. I just couldn't get in the mood for them earlier, you know? But now I am all about the soft pastel shades, like OPI I Am What I Amethyst. I Am What I Amethyst is a pale lilac, almost like a soft white creme mixed with hints of lavender. Depending on the light, it can look grey or soft purpley-blue too, and just one of those pretty hints of color, rather than a color that hits you in the face. 


This is two coats and the formula was good. I was surprised that it really wasn't streaky and it was nicely opaque. I let the first coat dry before applying the second, as I would recommend with all pastels (to avoid any possible streaks). The consistency of this was perfect, it made it so easy to apply.



OPI It's In the Cloud is an off-white creme, maybe a little crelly-ish. It's a little brighter than an eggshell white, but still soft looking. Definitely not a chalky or stark looking white. 


This is three thin coats for me, and I did still see a bit of streakiness. The coverage was nicely opaque in three coats, I felt two still had a bit of VNL. I have seen others describe this as having a perfect formula though, so it could be just me here!



Now we're getting into my territory here! OPI This Cost Me a Mint is a lovely pale mint creme. This is definitely one of the paler mint cremes I've seen recently and I am loving it. It's like the creamy color of a Shamrock Shake, yum! Or those pastel pillow mints. Mmmmm I'm just making myself want tasty treats now. I like this too because it is a true pale green, it's not too blue-toned.


This is two easy coats. The formula of this one was great- full coverage, no streaks, fabulous consistency. Love!!!



How could you have a really good pastel collection without a baby chicken yellow?!?? Luckily for us, OPI included a great one here, OPI One Chic Chick. One Chic Chick is a super pale lemon custard creme. Reminds me of when I make Alfredo sauce and start mixing the butter and cream! Yum (still hungry!)!


This is two coats again and same lovely formula as This Cost Me a Mint. I am so glad that my two favorite colors in this collection have great formulas! It will make me reach for them more this spring.



OPI Stop I'm Blushing is a very pale pink with hints of peach. It almost has some yellow-y tones to it, kind of like cream with a hint of pink. 


This is three thin coats of Stop I'm Blushing. I thought it was a bit less opaque than the last two, so I did want a third coat. It wasn't really streaky, but it did seem a little thicker and came out a bit lumpy looking.



Another hit from this collection, OPI It's a Boy! is a perfect pale baby blue. It's pastel and soft, but still has a good hit of that nice clear sky blue. In my mind, this looked similar to OPI What's with the Cattitude? (which I do not own), but a quick Google for swatches of that indicates that this is much lighter with more white in the base.


This is two coats. The formula is good, but I think I can see a stray streak on my pinky nail. It's pretty opaque though and the consistency was very nice.

*Sent for review*

Overall, I think OPI did a nice job with these. The formulas range from "excellent for any polish" to "good for a pastel". My favorites are This Cost Me a Mint and One Chic Chick, with It's a Boy! in a solid 3rd place.

The OPI SoftShades 2016 Pastels collection is available now at Ulta, ulta.com, and other fine salons.

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