OPI James Bond Collection

OPI updated their Facebook page on Thursday with some details of their Holiday 2012 collection which is a James Bond inspired collection.


OPI James Bond Collection - Picture from OPI Facebook page

 Colours left to right are: The Spy Who Loved Me, Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Die Another Day, Skyfall, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough, Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Live And Let Die, Tomorrow Never Dies


Apparently the collection will be available from 1st October in both the US and the UK. I love the idea of a James Bond collection because it makes for great polish names, although why no Goldfinger?? Possibly OPI are avoiding confusion with that one because as James Bond himself says -

 "Auric Goldfinger. Sounds like a French nail varnish"*

*geeky face

This will be the third year OPI have done a movie collaboration as their holiday collection (after Burlesque - 2010 and Muppets - 2011) and it's worth noting they've also done summer collections like Pirates of the Caribbean that were tie ins. I guess it must generate interest from both nail polish and film lover perspectives (of which I am both) but I'm not sure I'd normally buy a polish just because of a film tie in. I am susceptible to having a lemming for a shade when I've actually seen it worn on screen (take a bow Why Don't you love me video, Beyonce and Chanel's Nouvelle Vague!).

Colour wise I'm a bit undecided on these, they are very James Bond friendly - lots of gunmetal grey, red and the unavoidable gold - which is also kind of holiday/Christmas appropriate. Nothing hugely inspiring here though at first glance but I'm always hopeful swatches will show up something more unique. Currently it just feels very much like a rejigged OPI Switzerland collection. I love the fact the Living Daylights is a glitter but if it's another Rainbow Collection dupe I won't be bothering. Tomorrow Never Dies is the standout for me but again doesn't look terribly unique. Funnily enough I think in this case it is the names that will get me buying. I can just see myself wailing along to "Nobody does it better"** whilst painting my nails with "The Spy who Loved Me". So what do you think? Will you be swept away by James Bond this Christmas?

**Second best Bond theme ever, after We have all the time in the World - FACT

UPDATE !

OPI have added an update to their Facebook page with an additional shade "The Man with the Golden Gun" an 18-karat gold leaf top coat that will also be included in the collection in celebration of James Bond’s Golden Anniversary. 

OPI The Man with the Golden Gun - Photo from OPI's Facebook page 

Apparently this is the first time OPI has released this kind of polish. I think it looks great and provided it's cheaper than the Rococo Gold Leaf polish which retails at the princely sum of £35 (Space NK stock it) I may well pick it up. If it's the same or more then I might be frankening my own version with art supplies! No details of the base colour are given but if they are keeping with the James Bond Collection I'm assuming, based on the top photo, that it's Casino Royale maybe at a push Skyfall. I think it'll look great over the non glitter shades in this collection and it's both Christmas and James Bond friendly so I think this is probably a smart move by OPI. Plus it's a special effect polish that is NOT A SHATTER!! Well played OPI, well played....

Rainbow Polkadot Nail Art

Rainbow Polkadot Nail Art

I don't know about you but I find if a magazine is giving away free nail polish I can very rarely resist buying it.    That generally means I end up with at least a couple of copies of the same magazine as I try to collect all of the shades. It's as a result of this that the majority of my Nails Inc collection are magazine freebies, given that they cost £10 retail and the magazines only really ever cost £5 max it always seems like a pretty good saving to me....


Anyway, I wanted to do some simple nail art that used some of my freebie stash so I did some quick polkadot nail art using some of my Nails Inc shades and come other brands. I always feel better using these kinds of shades for nail art as it's less likely I'll be wasting any of my more expensive polishes. What about you, do you have a weakness for freebies? Or are you happy to use your most prized polishes for your designs?





Base - Nail Inc Teal


Spots (Red to Blue) - Nails Inc Beach, Nails Inc Candy Orange, Mavala Acid Yellow, Barry M Spring Green, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream

Chanel Le Vernis Collection



Chanel Le Vernis Collection



So that Chanel problem I mentioned? About that....

Top Row: Riva, Nouvelle Vague, Mimosa, Miami Peach, Ming, Bengal, Mistral, Riviera, Particuliére

Middle Row: Magnétique, Pulsion, Marilyn, Fire, Fantastic, Tulipe Noire, Gondola, Rouge Noir, Paradoxal

Bottom Row: Pearl Drop, Jade Rose, Illusion D’Or, Peridot, Graphite, Black Pearl, Black Velvet, Blue Satin, Vendetta

There have been several additions since I took this so should probably do an updated one at some point. Sky Line comes out next Friday so I think it might be growing even more then....

I'm setting myself a bit of a challenge here - I'm going to try to swatch my entire collection. I'll be tagging all of these posts as "Chanel challenge" and updating the following list as I go, wish me luck...

Models Own Hedonist with Ibiza Mix and Disco Heaven



Models Own Hedonist with Ibiza Mix and Disco Heaven



Hedonist (the base colour) is a bright neon red with a hint of coral, it looks like it leans more towards the coral here but trust me it’s very definitely at the red end of the spectrum. It’s a true neon so it dries matte but obviously the glitter top coats meant that was lost, although I did add a coat of Essie Matte about You to try and show the colours of the glitter off better. Coverage is pretty good, this was two coats and I didn’t really have any issues with streaks but it has the typical neon application which can be a bit thick in places.

Ibiza Mix is the large multi coloured glitter you can see, it’s a blend of small turquoise, pink, copper and gold glitter and larger hexagonal glitter in the same colours with a bit of extra teal-green thrown in for good luck. Application on this was fine as a one coat top layer as shown here but you may need to move some of the glitter around to get the effect you want.
Disco Heaven is a fine gold glitter with a scattering of opalescent blue glitter. It’s actually really pretty and gives good scattered coverage on the nail with one coat.

Dupes? - I don’t have anything for these (which was why I felt ok splashing out!) but I’m pretty sure Hedonist has a match out there. There are some posts out there querying whether Ibiza Mix is a dupe for OPI Rainbow Connection. I have both and to my mind it’s really not. The effect in terms of sizes and shapes of glitter is very similar but the colour bases are different, I promise you. Rainbow Connection is the colourful, silver based sister with bright green, orange, yellow and cerise versus Ibiza Mix which is the pastel, gold based sister with the more subtle tones. I also think Ibiza Mix may have a very, very slight grey toned base but it makes zero difference on the nail. If I had to pick I think Ibiza Mix wins for me.

The only thing I have that’s even in the same ball park as Disco Heaven is the limited edition Chanel Illusion D’Or. The Chanel is much, much subtler (and prettier in my opinion) but DH is a possible substitute if you have a lemming that just won’t go away. I’ll do some side by side comparisons to show the differences when I get a chance.

All of these are part of the Models Own Hed Kandi collection that’s available now on their website and in stores now.

Disclosure: I bought this polish myself and have no involvement with the brand

Quick note on this post. My point and shoot camera had finally given up the ghost so had to take this with an Iphone hence the dodgy focus and slight lighting issues. I originally posted this review on my tumblr - http://www.theboxesunderthebed.tumblr.com/

Rainbow Nails



Rainbow Nails with Essie Mesmerize



In celebration of the fact that I have a camera again some quick rainbow nails. Base colour is Essie Mesmerize which is a deep cobalt royal blue. Great coverage on this one, you really only need one coat. Totally worth having the postman wake me up before 8:00am on a Saturday!

Essie Blue Rhapsody




Essie Blue Rhapsody

 

Essie Blue Rhapsody

This one is from the Mirror Metallics Collection which is available now. It’s a strong silver-blue chrome, one of the best I’ve tried. You really only need one coat but this is two. Application is great but like all chrome style polishes this will chip if you don’t use a top coat, although the quick wear test I did on this seemed to come off better than most.
When I saw the promo images for this collection I wasn’t that bothered but picked Blue Rhapsody up as part of a Boots haul as I liked the look of it. Having tried this one I definitely going to go back to get more from the collection. They are some of the best chromes I’ve seen with a true solid metallic finish. The others in the collection are Good as gold (gold chrome), Penny talk (copper metallic), Nothing else metals (lavender metallic) and No place like chrome (silver chrome)

In other news I finally have a new point and shoot on order so I won’t have to use am Iphone to take dodgy nail pictures any more, yay!

First posted on my tumblr - theboxesunderthebed.tumblr.com