OPI New Orleans Collection Swatches and Review, Part 2!

*Sent for review*

Well it's the last day of February! I start to feel like spring might actually happen around this time every year, and our weather has been pretty warm in CT over the last few days, so it definitely seems like spring. That makes me want to start wearing spring colors, like the gorgeous ones I'm going to show you today! The first one I plan on wearing is this shimmering periwinkle, OPI Show Us Your Tips!. This polish pretty enough for me to give OPI a pass for the dumb name. It's a beautiful soft lavender blue with silver teeny glass fleck-like shimmer. It's definitely a stand out in this collection and among recent OPI releases as well.

This is three thin coats of Show Us Your Tips!. It is easy to apply and had a really perfect consistency. I found the first coat to be a bit sheer, but if you do thicker coats, two might be just fine for you.

OPI Got Myself into a Jam-balaya is a lovely melon pink creme. It's one of those shades that reminds me of pretty spring flowers. I think this is pink enough to flatter lots of skin tones, but it does have that nice hint of orange melon to make it a bit more different than a standard pink creme.

This is two coats of Got Myself into a Jam-balaya. It applied well, though I did let the first coat dry fully before applying the next to avoid possible streaks.

OPI Humidi-Tea is a pink nude with pink shimmer. At first, I thought this was similar to OPI A Butterfly Moment (from Mariah Carey), but A Butterfly Moment has a lot of gold shimmer and Humidi-Tea does not. So if you liked the idea of A Butterfly Moment, but can't do gold shimmer, this one is for you! It's a very pretty blush shimmer and I think it will come in handy when I want a nude shade that has some interest.

This is three thin coats of Humidi-Tea. There was a little tendency towards visible brushstrokes, but I think you can avoid it with thin coats and waiting for each coat to dry before applying the next.

A spring collection wouldn't really be complete without a bubblegum/cotton candy pink creme. OPI Suzi Nails New Orleans is a blue-pink creme. Not neon bright, but definitely not pastel either, it's a great standard shade for spring and summer.

This is two coats. This one didn't seem to level as effortlessly as most OPI cremes. I could see some unevenness in person and obviously in these pictures. It was nicely pigmented though.

OK I freaking love this purple!!!! I'm not sure why I'm so enamored with it, but OPI I Manicure for Beads has captured my heart! One thing I love about it is that it is not your typical blue-based purple. It has a more more red/magenta base, but it is still definitely purple, not pink. I can't think of a purple creme exactly like this in my collection and I am really happy with it! It seems to me that red-purples are usually a lot darker or neons, so I appreciate having a nice medium creme. If you love purple and are always looking for unique shades of purple, I Manicure for Beads is for you!

This is two effortless coats (yay!). This was beautifully pigmented, has a great consistency and was easy to control. Love!!

Speaking of love, OPI Spare Me a French Quarter? is another winner in my book. This is a great bright raspberry creme. It is a pretty nice mix of red and magenta, with maybe a dash of blue in there.  It's nicely bright and juicy looking, while also being rich. I can't wait to wear this on my toes in warmer weather (when someone else might actually see my toes LOL).

This is two flawless coats. Great pigmentation and consistency. It was lovely to apply.

*Sent for review*

Now that I have swatched the whole collection, I think it is a really great bunch of polishes. There are 12 polishes in this collection and I have 6 that are my top favorites. Whenever that happens, I know it was a good collection! My top picks are: She's a Bad Muffuletta!, I'm Sooo Swamped!, Rich Girls & Po-Boys, Show Us Your Tips!, Spare Me a French Quarter?, and I Manicure for Beads. Some of the others are nice to have in the spring too, depending on what you already have. What polishes are you getting/have you gotten from this collection??

The OPI New Orleans collection is available now at fine salons and Ulta.com.

OPI New Orleans Collection for Spring/Summer 2016 Swatches and Review, Part 1!!

I have been looking forward to the OPI New Orleans Collection for quite some time now! I am absolutely DYING to to go to New Orleans! I will finally be going next summer (2017), so until then, I am happy to have this great collection to tide me over.

*Sent for review*

First up we have this great orange melon creme, OPI Crawfishin' for a Compliment. This is a great peachy-leaning pale orange creme. It has less pink than your typical peach, more orange, but it has that soft feeling of a peach. It's definitely a great spring color and makes me long for warmer weather.

This is three thin coats. The opacity was very good, so you can probably do two regular coats and this was happily not streaky at all like some peach cremes can be. It was easy to apply, with a nice consistency.

OPI Take a Right on Bourbon is a metallic frosty pale silver. I would describe this kind of silver as platinum and it even has some of the warmer tones that platinum has as well. I do think OPI has done shades like this pretty recently and I would have loved to see a metallic gold or even a gold glitter in this collection, because gold is a really important Mardi Gras color. 

This is three thin coats. This one definitely has visible brushstrokes, though I tried to avoid them.

Ahhhh, now this shade is fantastic!! OPI I'm Sooo Swamped! is a great bright, yet swampy, green creme. It is a bright green, but I think it has enough yellow in it that it still looks a little murky on the nails. It reminds me of a deeper, more saturated and WAY better formula version of an old favorite OPI of mine- Greenwich Village. If you liked that one, you will ADORE I'm Sooo Swamped!.

This is two super easy coats. It is really nicely pigmented and has a great formula. I can't wait to wear this as a full mani! Or maybe on my toes for St. Patrick's Day!

I knew that OPI Rich Girls & Po-Boys would be an instant new favorite and I was right! Rich Girls & Po-Boys is a richly saturated bright blue creme. It is brighter and lighter than a lot of the blues we have seen in the past (Pacific Blue, yada yada...) and it is nicely bold, without being neon. It's darker than most sky blues, but doesn't go into royal blue territory. Gorgeous!!

This is two easy coats. Great coverage and excellent formula. A winner for sure!

I will forever be a huge sucker for OPI's pinkish-red corals. I can't help it. Once summer hits, I only want to wear coral and neons, so I do actually wear them a lot. This summer, I will get a lot of use out of OPI She's a Bad Muffuletta!, a gorgeous pink-toned red coral. The color of this is very interesting, it's red, but there is a strong pink glow about it, so you can't say it's just plain red. And usually pink-toned reds are cool-toned, but this seems warm-toned to me, like a coral. Very interesting and way better on the nails than in the bottle!!

This is two effortless coats. This one was like butter, just perfect.

OPI Let Me Bayou a Drink is a pale whitened pink shimmer. It's very pastel and soft looking and the shimmer is princess-y, very pretty. I like this one, but I'm not sure it screams "New Orleans" to me. It's a very nice shade for spring though! Like little baby flower buds peeking out before the snow has really gone.

This is three thin coats. The opacity was pretty good and the consistency was good, but it was a little brushstroke-y. Not as noticeable in person as in the photos, but if that is something that really irks you, you will notice.

*Sent for review*

My top picks from this half of the collection are I'm Sooo Swamped!, Rich Girls & Po-Boys and She's a Bad Muffuletta!. I can't wait to show you the second half!

The OPI New Orleans Collection is available now at fine salons and Ulta.com.

OPI Venice Mini Set Swatches!

*Sent for review*

Happy first day of fall!!! Time to break out all the fall nail polish, the pumpkin everything and start raking leaves! Today I have the OPI Venice collection mini set for you, a great little selection of polishes from the big OPI fall collection.

OPI A Great Opera-tunity is a melon-tinted beige creme. OPI calls it a "lush melon", but it has much more of a neutral tone to it than a bright orange melon. 

This is two easy coats of A Great Opera-tunity. It was easy to apply and opaque in two coats. The formula was a great consistency, it just glides on the nails.

OPI Amore at the Grand Canal is a ruby red creme. It's a great red, very rich looking for fall.

This is two coats of Amore. It was easy to apply and nicely pigmented. This isn't a jelly, but it has some of that squishy feel to it.

OPI Worth a Pretty Penne is a shimmery pale copper. It's more of a soft burnished rose gold, not a bright copper penny color. I love this shade of polish, so this was one of the colors I was most excited for in this collection!

This is two coats of Worth a Pretty Penne. It was easy to apply and nicely opaque. It also was pretty smooth, not too brushstroke-y, so that was great news!

OPI My Gondola or Yours? is a black creme. I think there might be some hidden shimmer in here, but it's pretty well hidden. For all intents and purposes, this looks like a creme when it's on the nails.

This is three coats. The first two were still a little patchy looking, so I did a third for full coverage and a smooth look. With a color this dark, I was hoping for a one coater, but no dice.

*Sent for review*

The Venice mini set is a cute selection of some of the useful, basic shades in the collection. If you're looking for a new red creme, neutral creme, and black, this is a good option. And who doesn't love a rose gold shimmer?! I might have to buy a full size bottle of Worth a Pretty Penne!

The OPI Venice collection is available now at Ulta, Ulta.com and professional salons.