OPI - Bullish on OPI

From the autumn 2009 Collection de Espana. It's taken me a while to do a full mani with Bullish on OPI - I've swatched it onto one nail before while trying to choose a colour (anyone else do that and end up with 10 different coloured fingernails??) but it's never really called to me before so to speak. Today however I was trying to decide on a colour to go with a nutmeg coloured pair of trousers (Topshop's description not mine!) and decided the only way forward was a nice clashing red.

Bullish on OPI is pictured below with Nails Inc Kensington Caviar top coat.

natural daylight

with the nutmeg trouser!

Application was a doddle as with most OPIs and this shade has really grown on me throughout the day - not a complicated or outstandingly original shade.. it's just a nice, warm toned red creme that looks somehow a little retro to me too.Definitely worth checking out if you have warmer skin and like your reds...

OPI - I'm Suzi and I'm a Chocoholic

Hmmm... interesting. This was the most difficult application I've ever had with an OPI polish. It went on very sheer and unevenly, with some nails needing three coats. A bit surprising as I usually find OPI a dream to apply. And yet it lasted an amazing five days without chipping - go figure!

The colour I am faintly underwhelmed by. Normally I adore brown-red polishes, but I think I may have ODd on them - so I think I'm a Chocoholic may be my last foray into 'breds' for a while (well, it's better than 'blurple'!).

I was struck however by the similarity between this polish and my retro radio - so I thought I'd introduce that into the shots for a bit of interest (it's a bit dusty as our builders used it whilst working on our house - and clearly I haven't cleaned it since!).

Overall it's nice, and I think it suits my skintone, but I just don't love it as much as some of the other breds in my collection - Essie Downtown Brown for example. So probably eBay for this one (and funnily enough, that's where it came from!).

OPI Paint my moji-toes red - Perfect spring pedi

I really wasn't sure about this colour at first, I think because in the salon it looked like a bright coral, whereas in natural light it turned into a not quite red, not quite pink, not quite coral shade that I couldn't quite decipher. After a while however it really grew on me and now I am loving it.















It's a great shade for this in between weather and looks great with my new gladiators (which look a bit more S&M on camera than they do on my feet.. i hope!).

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Not quite opaque with two coats as the first pic shows. Overall prob wouldn't buy a bottle but I'm enjoying at the mo.

This was part of the South Beach collection which I think came out in 2009.

OPI Nail polish - A oui bit of red

Okay so I know my blog is a wee bit retro - I'm not blogging about new products, launches or even next season's looks, but I am focusing on things I like - products past and present that may not be completely new but that people mightn't have heard about or paid any attention to before.

I'm getting in to the habit now of photographing just about every time I paint my nails or try a new product, and thus here's a little picture of a red polish from OPI - A oui bit of red. This was from La Collection de France released last autumn so not too old.

This has hints of both orange and pink - you may be able to see a flash of fuchsia on the third finger. On the nails it's actually quite a true red - I think this would suit both warm and cool skintones.

IMO it's a sweet, chic red that's quite easy to wear, albeit not particularly unique. I like.

So what do you think will be the next OPI collection? We've had France, Spain.... maybe Great Britain?? (I think there's great potential there - a gorgeous purple for the Scottish thistle, an English rose red, daffodil yellow for Wales and a fab bright green for Northern Ireland??)

Anyone got any insider info???

OPI Nail polish - Can you tapas this?

I have kind of a love hate relationship with OPI. For me I definitely prefer quality as opposed to quantity when it comes to nail polish brands - e.g. I would prefer to invest in a well-considered, luxury polish released every so often, a la Chanel, rather than a few of fifty or so polishes churned out a month, a la Opi (well, so it seems), only one of which might be a 'stand out' shade.

I've purchased many OPI polishes unseen from the US, usually based on MUA reviews, and I've been disappointed in most as the colours just haven't done it for me, and I find the consistency can vary wildly (I guess when you're purchasing off eBay, there's always the risk you could be purchasing an older polish past its best). A prime example would be I'm not really a waitress, which seems almost universally raved about and which on my nails was a totally blah pink.

But OPI does have the ability to surprise and delight. Last time I had a pedicure at the wonderful Renata Brown salon in Crystal Palace, the beautician suggested a lavender colour Parlez Vouz Opi? Sceptical at first, I caved in after she insisted about how pretty it looked on toes, and she was so right. Parlez vous Opi is now one of my staples (I may post separately on this next time I wear it, though perhaps not as I think it's already been blogged about fairly extensively!)

Recently a couple of other OPI shades have caught my eye. Since my discovery of Parlez Vous Opi? I've been slowly getting interested in more 'alternative colours' e.g. not pinks, reds, browns or nudes. I've been hankering for a while after the black/green Here today, Aragon tomorrow - I love green but have never yet worn a green on fingers or toes, and HTAT is the most amazing shade, so I'm going to track that one down soon. But I did manage to pick up one of the other colours in the Spain collection recently - Can you tapas this?

Can you tapas this? although not necessarily crazy or exciting, is my kind of polish - the kind that makes my heart beat a bit faster at its sheer deliciousness. A few years ago, I had my first ever manicure at NYNC on South Molton Street (I still maintain they do excellent manicures, albeit a bit pricey). The shade was called something like 'Mid town brown' and it was a beautiful, classy red brown. I've been hunting for that or a similar shade since, and when I saw Can you tapas this? I knew I'd found a pretty close match.

I just love this shade (it comes up more of a maroon / burgundy in the pics but I do see dark chocolately undertones on my hands). I'd only wear it in autumn / winter, and wear it I will - lots. To me it conjures up images of Scottish castles, crisp autumn walks, and good red wine! Utterly divine, and I think this would look fab on toes too.

A few of my other OPI polishes are pictured below; l-r: Parlez vous OPI?, Crepes Suzi-ette (a really unusual warm brick red which I haven't yet tried but fell in love with after seeing it on someone else's blog), Fiji Weejee Fawn which is a bit of a boring shimmery nude and A oui bit of red, a classic orange-red, though one which I think has lots of dupes (Can you tapas this? on far right).

Would love to hear everyone else's favourite OPI polishes!