OPI Holiday 2013 Polish Collection - Mariah Carey

I am hot on the holiday nail polish collections right now and we are going right from Butter London to the newest from OPI.  The new collection from OPI is much larger and contains nearly every shade of red known to man.  Red is my favorite lip and nail color so I want to pick up some more shades from this collection however I have so many reds already that I don't know if any of these shades will fill any holes in my polish collection.  There are eighteen shades in total so I can't wait to see how many shades I will want from this collection.  I already have a list from the new Butter London collection and now I will be making that list even longer...

The newest OPI holiday collection is designed around and for Mariah Carey.  I am already singing "All I Want For Christmas" as I type this and eating Halloween candy at the exact same time.  I can't say that I am pumped about the collaboration with Mariah Carey as that is one of the most overplayed Christmas songs of all time but I do bet I will get some great new shades out of this collection.

"The most-asked-for brand in the industry! With a superior range of shades and the hottest special effects and textures, OPI is the go-to brand for nail fashion. From elegant classics to eye-popping brights, OPI has your color! Formaldehyde-free.", states the Ulta website in describing the polish formula.  This is one of the best selling polish formula and one that I converted to later.  I like the formula but the color range was always a bit more limiting than many other brands.  OPI isn't my favorite polish line but I do find many shades that I like and their nail hardener is my standard at this point.

Here are the Mariah Carey holiday shades...

- All I Want For Christmas - classic red-blue cream
- All Sparkle and Gold - dense gold microglitter
- Baby Please Come Home - bright lilac microglitter
- Cute Little Vixen - deep magenta shimmer
- Emotions - charcoal black microglitter
- I Snow You Love Me - large circular silver glitter suspended in a clear base
- In My Santa Suit - classic red-blue shimmer
- It's Frosty Outside - bright silver microglitter
- Kiss Me At Midnight - pale bright blue microglitter
- Make Him Mine - rose gold microglitter
- My Favorite Ornament - light champagne microglitter
- Silent Stars Go By - cool rose microglitter
- Ski Slope Sweetie - pearly iridescent white with gold shimmer
- Sleigh Ride For Two - deep burgundy shimmer
- Underneath The Mistletoe - classic red-blue glitter
- Visions Of Love - deep burgundy cream
- Warm Me Up - deep charcoal shimmer
- Wonderous Star - large gold glitter suspended in a clear base

This is like any other OPI collection for me, there are always shades that I like but never any that I really fall in love with.  There is nothing in this collection that I am dying to buy but there are quite a few that I would like to add to my collection.  If I had to pick a favorite, Warm Me Up will be a great charcoal neutral for the cold weather months.  Emotions is my second favorite shade, this charcoal glitter will also be great for me. 

My other choices are: All Sparkle and Gold, It's Frosty Outside, My Favorite Ornament, Silent Stars Go By, and Visions of Love.  I mostly like the shades with the Liquid Sand finish, which is surprising since I hated this finish when it was first introduced.  I think I am warming up to this finish when it is combined with neutral glitter shades that I can wear all year long.  I might actually be the most excited about the fact that I can wear a few of these shades all throughout the year and a few shades in this collection break with the tradition of reds and greens.

photo courtesy of Google

OPI and Mariah Carey Nail Polish Collection

OPI has released a very early first spring nail polish collection, I still believe that there is another full color collection coming out later for spring.  I have heard rumors that the full spring collection is another travel collection, with all the polishes being inspired by major cities and landmarks all over the European Union...how many will I buy just because I love the city or the place?!  The Holland collection from last spring is still a favorite of mine from them and I know that this spring's collection will end up being another favorite of mine.  Nail polish storage is going to be an issue this spring (even more than it already is!)...

But until the European collection releases in the next few months, the Mariah Carey collection is nw.  Mariah Carey is not a musical artist that I am a big fan of, I loved the song "Butterfly" several years ago but I haven't really listened to her since then so this collection doesn't hold the appeal for me that it will hold for her longtime fans.  I can see this collection selling really quickly, her fans will buy every single shade no matter what they look like.  I will always thank Mariah for her influence on Deborah Lippmann though.  Mariah is the person that suggested to Lippmann that she should start her own product line and polish formula and I have been using Lippmann products for years now...

This collection introduces a new finish to the OPI polish line up, the Liquid Sand finish.  This is one of the first (if not the first) textured polishes from OPI, it reminds me very much of the Velvet Manicure from Ciate however this formula does not require more than one step.  I would be likely to buy one shade in this finish just to try it out (assuming that there is any shade that I like that comes in the Liquid Sand finish that is).

"Mariah Carey by OPI introduces 8 new Limited Edition shades, selected personally by Mariah Carey."  So far this collection is only available on the OPI website so I imagine that it will come to Ulta and most major salons very soon. 

First we will look at the traditional finish polishes in this collection and then go onto the Liquid Sand finish shades.  Anti-bleak is the first shade in this collection, it is a deep magenta cream that would be great for the fall or winter on pale skin hues but would only work for the spring months if you have a deeper skin tone.  I like this shade but don't love it enough to purchase it so I will put this shade on the backburner for now.  The next of the traditional finish shades is Sprung, a deep copper metallic shade.  This shade will be awful on me, it is too warm for me to pull off and this looks nothing liek the shades that will be in style this spring.  This shade would be very flattering on a skintone like Mariah's but since hers' in nothing like mine, this shade will go on the "no" list for me.  A Butterfly Moment is the third shade, this obviously was named after her hit "Butterfly" and is a pale pink with a shimmer finish.  This is the only shade that would be flattering to my skintone so far and therefore is the only one that I am even considering buying.  Pink Yet Lavender is the last shade without the Liquid Sand finish and is the most unique shade in the collection.  This shade is a clear base with huge pieces of pink and lavender glitter suspended in it, this would be a great top coat for any pink, purple, blue, or even gray polish shade.  This is the only other shade that I would even consider buying from this set, this shade would really compliment many of my current polish hues but I run very hot and cold with glitter top coats, I own a few but don't use them very often.

Now onto the Liquid Sand finish part of the collection.  Liquid Sand dries to a matte finish that has the texture of small sand grains on the nail.  Get Your Number is a medium blue polish with a jelly finish that is spiked with all sizes of silver glitter.  I like this shade but everything will depend on my thoughts on the Liquid Sand polishes.  I love blue nail polishes and normally I would be all over this shade (if it was a traditional finish from OPI).  The second of the Liquid Sand polishes is Can't Let Go, a grape purple shade with the same style of multiple sizes of silver glitter in the mix.  I don't like the grape purple shade anyway so this one is off the shopping list already.  the Impossible is a bright warm pink jelly finish with huge pieces of silver star glitter mixed in, I hate this shade.  The pink is too wamr for me and the star glitter just pushes it into child territory, I cannot see any grown woman seriously wearing this polish...  The last of the Liquid Sand finsh is Stay the Night, a deep black cream spiked with bright pink glitter.  I am not a fan of this shade either so I will be skipping over this one too.  The only shade that I find attractive in the Liquid Sand line up is the Get Your number shade and this is the only one that I would consider buying...

But I HATE the Liquid Sand finish...I find it so ugly.  My description of this finish is "what happens when your nails are still slightly tacky and you accidently press them up against a cloth".  Basically, this finish just looks like an accident, if my manicure looked like this, I would be redoing it since I would never wear it out in public.  Therefore this pretty much kills me buying the Get Your Number shade. 

Since I hate the Liquid Sand finish, I would only consider buying shades from the traditional finish part of the collection.  The only shade that I considering buying from this group is the pale pink shade, I don't love the shade, I like it and I know that I will get lots of use from it but I won't die without it.  This is not a collection for me and I will be looking forwward to the full spring collection from this company instead of shopping now.

photo courtesy of OPI