OPI Go Goth Mini Set for Halloween 2010

This year's Halloween mini set from OPI is pretty sweet. Except for one thing... it comes with a stretchy lace bracelet instead of cute pumpkin and ghost decals! I love decals. Oh well. It's not like I don't have a stockpile of Halloween-themed nail decals at home. Oh yeah, no Glow In The Dark this year either! But the colors are really nice at least. The set is called "Go Goth" so of course I like it.

Nevermore. Inky, sparkly, gorgeous blue/purple duochrome. Impossible to photograph. You may be thinking this looks familiar... that's because it's OPI Ink. (I will post comparison pictures below.) So, if you have OPI Ink, you know what this picture is supposed to look like! OPI Ink is in my top five favorite polishes of all time, I have backup bottles I love it so much, and I wear it every chance I get. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get a good picture of it, and I must have taken over 100 pictures of it.


Obscure. Soft matte black creme. This isn't a super dark black like, say, KO Knockout Flatte Black? This is a softer, more faded looking black. Almost more of a dark grey than a black. The rest of the polishes in this set correlate to existing OPI or Nicole shades, but I can't recall a plain matte black OPI... Perhaps the closest color to this is Sephora by OPI What's A Tire Jack? Matte?


Sanguine. A deep, rich, shimmery, vampy burgundy red. Incredibly hot. Very sexy. My pictures don't do it justice. It's extremely rich looking and it has a lot of depth. I'm pretty sure this is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, so if you missed out on the original India collection release, you might want to pick this up! It is not a color to be missed! Which reminds me... the India collection was great. I don't think I've ever posted it. I will add that to my project list!


Unripened. This is definitely the most fascinating one to look at in the bottle. It's a black base with large teal/aqua/blue shimmer particles that have a strong pink duochrome. On the nail the duochrome is rarely visible- seems most apparent in low light and at sunset, but the effect is much more subtle on the nail than in the bottle. Regardless, the black with blue shimmer is still pretty.


These all looked so familiar to me when I was swatching them so I decided to pull out some old bottles to compare:

Left to right (ring to index):
Nicole Party At 3 AM
OPI Nevermore
OPI Ink

I think it's pretty safe to say that this might be OPI Ink. The formula's been updated but the color looks the same to me!

Left to right (pinkie to index):
Nicole By OPI Black Cat-Cha Later
OPI Midnight in Moscow
OPI Sanguine
OPI Royal Rajah Ruby.

What do you think... looks similar? I couldn't really tell the difference in real life. Someone suggested to me that it also looks like OPI Romeo and Joliet, but I couldn't find mine to compare.

Left to right (pinkie to index):
Nicole by OPI Party at 3 AM
Nicole by OPI Blues in the Night
OPI Unripened
Jessica Casablanca

I threw the Jessica in with the OPIs because it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw Unripened. I'm thinking Unripened is Nicole Blues in the Night re-promoted for Halloween. Which is cool, because it's discontinued and really pretty!

The formula on these was excellent. The shades seem to have received a pretty nice formula upgrade since their original releases. These are all very opaque- two coats for complete coverage and that is what is pictured here. Very smooth, even, not runny, not thin, nice and on the thick side of medium. The only problem with these is that the mini brushes don't hold much product so you really have to try to get a big bead on the brush to ensure smooth application. Drying time is very fast.

Overall, awesome collection. I think most of OPI's Halloween kits have been minis of re-promoted colors plus one unique color like Ghostess with the Mostess or Glow-Ink In the Dark, so I'm not surprised to see some familiar faces here. All of the colors are drop dead gorgeous, Ink and Royal Rajah Ruby were always favorites of mine. In fact, if you haven't picked up the originals of these colors and they are interesting to you, you really might like to give these a try. I'm really pleased at the improved formula and application- the originals are on the thin and slightly sheer side (even though they are 3-free), but these re-promotes are really opaque and perfect in the formula department. Makes me kinda wish I had regular sized bottles of the new formula.

I think this set would also make a really cute gift. I know that personally I'd be thrilled to bits to get a gift like this from someone... Maybe in Halloween party gift bags or something? I don't know, I'm not Martha Stewart-y enough to come up with cute interesting ways to give gifts and stuff. But yeah, would totally make an awesome gift for someone!

(These were sent to me for review.)

Oh yeah, Nubar Sale!

Burgundy Velvet

I almost forgot! I got enough emails from them about it... hahaha! Anyone else get multiples?

But here it is:

"nubar offers our retail customers 20% off retail orders of $30 or more with code AUG2030 August 6 through August 7, with free shipping on orders of $75 or more after the discount is applied. Visit us at www.bynubar.com to take advantage of this offer!"

Shortest email ever. But that's okay! It's concise! You can always use the Nubar tag to the right or search bar above to look for Nubar swatches on my blog if you need help deciding.

More from Diamond Cosmetics (with foils!)

Another post I have been meaning to do for quite some time... I find myself saying this a lot lately, but better late than never!



182 Metallic Blue. Bold blue shimmer. I don't know if I'd call this as metallic as much as I'd call it a frost- it is kind of frosty but not in the unflattering, brushstroke showing way. The color is bold and bright, sort of a medium blue shade that reminds me a bit of Essie Aruba Blue.

192 Hi-Ho Silver. Purple silver grey shimmer. This is a weak duochrome effect color, the duochrome is definitely there but it isn't dramatic or visible in all lighting. Just a nice, subtle change at different angles. Makes it interesting to look at. This is a little frosty as well, but not bad frosty, though brushstrokes are slightly visible when the polish is dry.


231 Party Hearty. Champagne foil. This is a really cool color. It's a champagne type color, not quite silver but not really gold either. Maybe white gold. Pale neutral. Party Hearty has a metallic foil finish that sparkles like it's on fire when it's outside. It gleams and glints, it shimmers and sparkles... It's super reflective and completely distracting.
232 Sparkling Sherry. Dark pink foil. This is a must have. I don't even like pink and I love this. It is too beautiful for words. The closest thing I can compare it to is Hard Candy Scam. It's the same type of foil metallic finish, but this one seems much more sparkly. This thing is insane.


235 Decadence. Chocolate metallic foil. Noticing a trend here? Diamond Cosmetics does foils extremely well. They are rich and flashy and sparkle like crazy. This particular shade is a rich chocolate brown with hints of gold. I have a feeling I'll be wearing this a lot when the leaves start changing colors.

256 Seafoam Spray. Light seafoam green pearl. The color of Seafoam Spray is so pale and beautiful, it makes me feel relaxed looking at it. It's tranquil. Not the best color with my skin tone, but that won't stop me from wearing it. On top of the soft seafoam green base, there's an overlay of white pearl finish. It looks like the white is floating on top of the grean, and it looks smooth and pearly. So dreamy.

295 Hue Are You? Warm golden burgundy foil. Hey, look! Another foil! This one is different from the other ones, it's mostly a dark red burgundy base with gold flakes making the foil finish. The other foils seem like silver flakes with a colored sheer base that lets the silver shine through while adding tint. This shade screams fall to me. I love it.


302 Dirty and Flirty. Metallic taupe shimmer. The name of this one cracks me up. Taupe doesn't really scream dirty or flirty to me, but hey, maybe it does to someone! Anyway, beautiful smooth metallic pearl shimmer, borderline frosty. Nice soft color. Lots of sparkle.


The formula on these was perfect. I had no application problems. The brushes were consistent and the texture of the polish was smooth and even. I applied all of these using the Diamond Cosmetics Base Coat and Quick Dry Topcoat. The basecoat provides an even yet sticky surface perfect for the polish to adhere to and the topcoat is smooth and glassy and is comparable to any good quick-dry on the market.

Since their online color chart is nameless and sort of nondescript as far as swatches go, you'll have to go by the numbers when ordering.

Diamond Cosmetics polishes retail for $2 each (excluding the neons, which are $2.50) and as far as I'm aware, can only be purchased from their website. Shipping is a flat rate of $4.95 for ten bottles or less, orders of more than ten bottles are charged exact shipping.

I still have more Diamond Cosmetics swatches to come :)

China Glaze Fall 2009 Retro Diva Collection

China Glaze's fall collection this year is all about retro, hippie, frosty, bohemian type shades loaded with shimmer.


Cords. Metallic warm grey shimmer. This one reminds me a lot of China Glaze Stone Age and also perhaps Beatnik. I call this a warm grey because it seems to pull out the warm tones in my skin.

Cruisin'. Sheer golden orange shimmer. This one gave me problems. Four coats. This is sort of an orangey, coppery golden frosty shimmer. The shimmer in it is very fine. This color is quite sheer and watery.

Drive-In. Red shimmer. I really like the shimmer in these, it looks like little pearls. This is a red shimmer, it seems to be on the cool side... Not much else to say about this one!

Far Out. Warm golden tan mauve shimmer. This is an odd color. It's mauve, but it's also brown, but it has strong gold shimmer. It reminds me of something from last year's Rodeo Diva, but I can't remember what.


Free Love. Bold orange shimmer. Ooh, I love it! It's a bright, punchy, fiery orange with gold shimmer. A lot of the colors in this collection have that 'lit-from-within' look where they seem to be glowing in the center and darker on the edges- this is a light version of one of those shades.

Let's Groove. Deep purple shimmer. This picture is pulling much more blue-purple than it really is. It's a Zoya Yasmeen type purple. Extremely gorgeous. It doesn't look like much in the bottle, but once it's on your nails it really shines.

Short And Sassy. Deep vampy cranberry shimmer. An unexpected favorite! It's deep and velvety looking, very vampy. Another lit-from-within color, this one really does look like it's glowing.


Skate Night. Magenta shimmer. This is magenta, right? If it's not magenta, I'd call it a light toned purple that leans waaaay red.

Stella. Warm purple shimmer. Another amazing purple! I love it! I can never get enough purple. This one is lighter than Let's Groove and also more red toned. Really nice. I love purple so this one really appeals to me.


Street Racing. Nearly duochrome reddish rose gold metallic. I say nearly duochrome because it doesn't really flash between two colors, but it does show two distinctly different tones when exposed to different lighting. It's mostly that light red/orange/copper color but also has a lot of cooler gold in it.

Stroll. Deep burgundy with golden shimmer/glitter. Four coats. Glitter!! This glitter is really different, it's not traditional glitter. It's like paper thin little flakes of gold. Very reflective golden glitter in a rich wine-like sheer (but not really jelly) base. I still had visible nail line at three coats, so I did four.

Thunderbird. Glowing blackened red. One more lit-from-within shade. The edges look black and the middle looks like molten red metal. Beautiful.


The formula on these was so-so. It was pretty three-freeish, thick and watery at the same time. These shades weren't as thick as the past few China Glaze collections, so the formula seems to be improving, but they were still runny. I didn't get a chance to gauge the drying time on these. None were dry by the time I was done taking the pictures, so I'd say that based on that observation alone, these have a slightly longer dry time.

These aren't really the type of shades I was expecting when I heard about the Retro Diva collection! I was thinking... Avocado... Orange... Chocolate... Almond... Brady Bunch type colors. This seems to be a more 70's themed collection, but I'll admit that I all I know about 70's colors, I learned from my in-laws' kitchen. So, maybe there was a lot of red stuff in the 60's and 70's... But, I also think of disco and glitter and outrageous hair and makeup and outfits. I feel like they could have ditched half the reds and oranges and added in a little more variety.

But, overall, not too bad. I really love the purples and the glowy vampy wine shades. My favorites are Let's Groove, Stella, Stroll, Free Love, Short and Sassy and Street Racing. While there are a lot of really nice interesting colors in here, I feel that they're very safe and not 100% unique. I would wear almost all of these, but I would have liked to see some ugly 1970's appliance shades in here!

What do you think? Does it say 'retro' to you? I didn't exist in the 60's and 70's so I have no insight into how truly retro this is. But hey, I love purple, glitter and vampies, so I can't complain too much!