Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Fair and Square

At first glance, the entire OPI Oz Collection was pure eye candy to me. Pink, beige and nude sheers with iridescent, feminine glitters. Yes please. Upon closer inspection, a lot of it seemed to be colours I already had, and at any rate, I usually only allow myself one polish per collection (usually a glitter or metallic shade, as I find them more "special" than ordinary cremes). This time around, my pick was Lights of Emerald City. I was initially drawn to When Monkeys Fly!, but the huge gold hexagonal glitter looked like it would be a nightmare to work with if my experience with Essence Evil Queen was anything to go by. I wish OPI were more affordable in Australia (I believe they're about $8 in the US, compared to $19.95 here), as I would've loved to have picked up a couple of the sheer neutral shades and maybe Which is Witch? just to experiment with layering, nail art ideas and jelly sandwich combinations.





Lights of Emerald City is a clear base with iridescent square glitter and larger white squares. The squares are a little odd, but are definitely the defining feature of the polish. At first they reminded me a bit of white-out tape, but the white colour isn't that stark. The squares have a subtle sheen and glossiness and look more like they've been cut from white ribbon. The iridescent square glitter is the star of the show in my eyes. I love how whimsical and dreamy it makes the polish look. A random scattering with the brush, mixed with the white squares, gives the illusion of glitter being suspended on your nail, kind of like a snow globe when it's been shaken. I think Lights of Emerald City works best with a relatively light base, as the lack of contrast keeps with the soft, pastel theme. Here, I used Revlon ColorStay Longwear Nail Enamel in Pale Cashmere (020), as it was the closest thing I had to I Theodora You from the collection.

What's pictured is actually my third attempt at wearing this polish. The first couple of times the polish bubbled like crazy because I was too impatient with waiting for the base colour to dry, and piled on the glitter too thickly. My previous two attempts were with Scandal Pretty Pink (029) and Revlon Cotton Candy, but Pale Cashmere gave the best result. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri really helped to speed up the drying time of the base coats, then I made sure to use thin coats of the glitter, loading up the brush with enough iridescent squares and 1-2 white squares to coat the nail. It does need a second coat so the glitter isn't too sparse, but I ended up fishing the white squares from the wand with a toothpick and positioning them manually on the nail. It sounds tedious, but in the end it was the quickest way to get an even distribution. The final look is almost like a deconstructed gingham pattern with these gleaming, iridescent flecks over the palest, airiest pink.

47 comments:

  1. Ahh this actually looks amazing! Need to get my hands on some (or all???) or them

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  2. This polish looks so pretty! It's definitely my pick from the collection also!

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  3. Ohh this looks so pretty! Definitely need to get my hands on that one :)

    Your pictures look great too.

    Laura's All Made Up ♥

    xx

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  4. This is pretty nice :) I don't own any opi nail polishes other than Nail Envy and a top coat I got with it, I'm quite impressed with both.

    I'd like to explore the brand more. The price difference is crazy, cannot believe it.

    Also, thank you for the kind comment you left me earlier :)

    Amy xx
    A Little Boat Sailing

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  5. This looks so pretty :)
    I'm glad you figured out why it bubbled and it wasn't the polish :)

    xoxo

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  6. That looks so nice and pretty :)
    cutenquirky.blogspot.com

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  7. Looks like a work of art and the glitter sure looks lovely in the bottle but the application process is a bit too complicated for my taste : / I don't have any glitters this big, though I have several of such polishes on my wishlist for my next lacuqer crazy streak ^^ xx

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  8. This looks really unique :) I love the look of the liquid sand polish from this collection but I am currently operating on a one in one out policy on nail polish, so I'll have to use up a couple of bottles before I can delve into this collection.

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  9. omg that's so cute!! :D Love the colour and the square flecks.

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  10. Ooh love! what a gorgeous and unique glitter. the thing I hate the most about these types of glitters are what u said about pretty much having to pick them up separately to position them otherwise it gets thicker and thicker and then takes forever to dry. x

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  11. I didn't initially gravitate towards this but you've changed my mind! I really like how it looks over the lighter polish. I can't believe how expensive OPI are in Australia though, that's crazy!

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  12. Super pretty love polishes with sparkle detailing especially over a plain base coat love it! x

    www.krystelcouture.co.uk

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  13. I don't know how I feel about this polish. It is very, very pretty but I think the squares are too big for my liking - I'll stick with the Indie polish world's offerings. Plus, I'd get too irritated with the manual toothpick application thing. (;

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  14. Absolutely lovely - gives a very fairytale feel! xxx

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  15. ohh it is so beautiful! I think I need it in my life:)

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  16. I can't believe you actually used a toothpick to evenly distribute the sparkles, but anyways the base coat you've chosen looks really nice with the glitter!

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  17. I've never really been a big OPI fan but I do usually end up liking at least one polish from each collection so I guess I can also say I only allow my self to one each collection :)
    I love the way this one looks & It's probably the one I will end up buying If I can find it :)

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  18. This polish looks lovely! I also get impatient and pile on too many layers without letting the base layers dry - so you're not alone! It makes me sick how much they charge for certain brands in Australia. $19 for a bottle of OPI! That's highway robbery!

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  19. Looks lovely! But tbqh, those big squares are a bit odd for my taste. Also, $19 for OPI? Here in my country the price is quite nice, however we never get LE stuff :(

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  20. I love how quirky this polish looks with the square bits!! Shame that these are so expensive in Australia (as I think I say on most of your blog posts haha... I really do feel for you though!) but at least you picked up one from this collection as I think it looks really special :)

    Cassie
    thriftthick.blogspot.com

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  21. Oh, the bottle shots capture the ethereal beauty of the polish so well! I'm not a big fan of the large square flecks, but it looks stunning on you. :)

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  22. You have very amazing blog, dear! Love it! :)
    I hope you wanna follow each other on GFC & Bloglovin. Please let me know? ;)

    Join my GIVEAWAY for winning $30 Chicnova voucher!
    HERE : sausanhanifah.blogspot.com/search/label/Giveaway

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  23. What a gorgeous glitter! I need this polish!

    MyMakeUpCompulsion

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  24. It's too beautiful..need it x oh! I used to be Maybelater on blogger x

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  25. How interesting! I'm a little ambivalent about large size glitter pieces but it looks great on you!

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  26. oh this looks gorgeous! it is something unique and different, def not just another glitter nail polish ;)
    the white square bits add some edgy touch to the whole look ;)

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  27. Cute combo! It's definitely an interesting glitter! :-)

    ~ Yun

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  28. It looks perfect with a nude base color!

    Sandra - The Puzzle of Sandra's Life

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  29. The squares are different, but it looks cool. I've never seen that in a polish before.

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  30. this is so stunning! x

    http://thebeautyvisual.blogspot.co.uk

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  31. so pretty! the squares do remind me a little of the white out tape as well, but i can imagine that these would be easier to remove than usual glitter polish :)

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  32. Besides the trickiness of getting glitter bits on evenly, I really do like the finish, worn on its own, I'm sure itd look great on top of other shades too!

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  33. Wow the square flakes make this look so much more geometric than other sequin polishes. It's just much cooler, like the Helmut Lang version of chunky polish.

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  34. This is definitely a really unique polish, just look at those square glitter pieces! It does sound a little troublesome to apply though- manipulating the squares and attempting it a few times (I wouldn't even have the patience at all!). The base coat is perfect for it and this is a polish that reminds me of winter! The photos you take of your nails are absolutely stunning too :)

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  35. This honestly looks amazing! :)
    xx
    www.zdevania.blogspot.com

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  36. Oh so lovely and cute nail polish, is really sweet and I have asweet touch of glitter squares.

    xoxo

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  37. The squares just look so whimsical! I dig it. :D

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  38. I love the look of this, but realistically don't think it is the kind of glitter I would wear often so chose not to get it. I do like the look of the other glitters from this collection, so darn tempting and I really want to see the film as well.

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  39. II only had When Monkeys Fly! on my wishlist from this collection but after seeing your swatches, i might have to add this one too! i actually love the look of the square glitter more than i thought it would c:

    à la foliee

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  40. This is such a unique shade!! I love the look of the square glitters. All the shades in this collection are up my alley but I am debating which ones to get since OPI polishes are overpriced where I live as well.

    Liz
    chewylove.blogspot.com

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