OPI New Orleans Collection Swatches and Review, Part 2!

*Sent for review*

Well it's the last day of February! I start to feel like spring might actually happen around this time every year, and our weather has been pretty warm in CT over the last few days, so it definitely seems like spring. That makes me want to start wearing spring colors, like the gorgeous ones I'm going to show you today! The first one I plan on wearing is this shimmering periwinkle, OPI Show Us Your Tips!. This polish pretty enough for me to give OPI a pass for the dumb name. It's a beautiful soft lavender blue with silver teeny glass fleck-like shimmer. It's definitely a stand out in this collection and among recent OPI releases as well.

This is three thin coats of Show Us Your Tips!. It is easy to apply and had a really perfect consistency. I found the first coat to be a bit sheer, but if you do thicker coats, two might be just fine for you.

OPI Got Myself into a Jam-balaya is a lovely melon pink creme. It's one of those shades that reminds me of pretty spring flowers. I think this is pink enough to flatter lots of skin tones, but it does have that nice hint of orange melon to make it a bit more different than a standard pink creme.

This is two coats of Got Myself into a Jam-balaya. It applied well, though I did let the first coat dry fully before applying the next to avoid possible streaks.

OPI Humidi-Tea is a pink nude with pink shimmer. At first, I thought this was similar to OPI A Butterfly Moment (from Mariah Carey), but A Butterfly Moment has a lot of gold shimmer and Humidi-Tea does not. So if you liked the idea of A Butterfly Moment, but can't do gold shimmer, this one is for you! It's a very pretty blush shimmer and I think it will come in handy when I want a nude shade that has some interest.

This is three thin coats of Humidi-Tea. There was a little tendency towards visible brushstrokes, but I think you can avoid it with thin coats and waiting for each coat to dry before applying the next.

A spring collection wouldn't really be complete without a bubblegum/cotton candy pink creme. OPI Suzi Nails New Orleans is a blue-pink creme. Not neon bright, but definitely not pastel either, it's a great standard shade for spring and summer.

This is two coats. This one didn't seem to level as effortlessly as most OPI cremes. I could see some unevenness in person and obviously in these pictures. It was nicely pigmented though.

OK I freaking love this purple!!!! I'm not sure why I'm so enamored with it, but OPI I Manicure for Beads has captured my heart! One thing I love about it is that it is not your typical blue-based purple. It has a more more red/magenta base, but it is still definitely purple, not pink. I can't think of a purple creme exactly like this in my collection and I am really happy with it! It seems to me that red-purples are usually a lot darker or neons, so I appreciate having a nice medium creme. If you love purple and are always looking for unique shades of purple, I Manicure for Beads is for you!

This is two effortless coats (yay!). This was beautifully pigmented, has a great consistency and was easy to control. Love!!

Speaking of love, OPI Spare Me a French Quarter? is another winner in my book. This is a great bright raspberry creme. It is a pretty nice mix of red and magenta, with maybe a dash of blue in there.  It's nicely bright and juicy looking, while also being rich. I can't wait to wear this on my toes in warmer weather (when someone else might actually see my toes LOL).

This is two flawless coats. Great pigmentation and consistency. It was lovely to apply.

*Sent for review*

Now that I have swatched the whole collection, I think it is a really great bunch of polishes. There are 12 polishes in this collection and I have 6 that are my top favorites. Whenever that happens, I know it was a good collection! My top picks are: She's a Bad Muffuletta!, I'm Sooo Swamped!, Rich Girls & Po-Boys, Show Us Your Tips!, Spare Me a French Quarter?, and I Manicure for Beads. Some of the others are nice to have in the spring too, depending on what you already have. What polishes are you getting/have you gotten from this collection??

The OPI New Orleans collection is available now at fine salons and Ulta.com.

Lynnderella Friday... On a Saturday!!!

*Sent for review*

Hey everybody! I hope you had a great week and have plans for a fun weekend! I meant to finish up this post and publish it when I got home from work last night, but totally blanked, so we are having Lynnderella Saturday this week haha! I have some more beautiful Lynnderellas for you today, starting with the adorable Lynnderella Sea the True Porpise of Life. This is a really complex little gem that looks purple-y taupe or steely gray depending on the lighting. It contains these great silver holo micro flakes that add peeks of rainbow throughout the polish. I love this one!! It's a more interesting alternative to a boring gray creme. 

This is two coats of Sea the True Porpise of Life. It was pretty easy to apply, maybe a little thinner in consistency than some Lynns, but not in a bad way. The flakes are nice and smooth, and easy to remove as well!

This is a test version of Sea the True Porpise of Life that Lynn sent me because she knows I like my warm-toned polishes! I don't think this one will actually be released, but I am so enamored with it that I just HAD to show you!!! This one is a warmer gray/taupe and it seems even more shimmery than the other one. It has the same pretty silver holo micro flakes.

This is three thin coats. It was easy to apply. Look at this shimmer!!

Lynnderella Shell Game is described as a "shimmer-microglitter hybrid made with beige and pink shimmer as well as silver pink holographic dots". The base is a pale nude pink shimmer with holo microglitter and lots of small iridescent and holo glitters. It also has pale silvery pink circle glitters scattered about. This is a great nude shade for me and is way more exciting than a creme!

This is three thin coats of Shell Game. It applied well. It was sheer on this first coat, but started building up nicely with the second. It looks pretty glittery, but it is very smooth and shiny with just one layer of top coat.

And we are starting to see the first St. Patrick's Day Lynnderellas now, woohoo!!!! I am so excited about this one, Lynnderella Fun with Leprechauns. It has my favorite circle glitters in various sizes in holographic gold, a couple shades of green and black. I love the gold in there, like leprechaun gold! The base is clear with lots of pretty gold shimmer and some holo green microglitter. This is definitely going to be my St. Patrick's Day mani!

This is one coat of Fun with Leprechauns over Lynnderella Vanilla Mint Cloud (from last week). It was easy to apply and a great consistency. Those circle glitters are so cooperative!

*Sent for review*

These pretties are all available on lynnderella.com now!

OPI New Orleans Collection for Spring/Summer 2016 Swatches and Review, Part 1!!

I have been looking forward to the OPI New Orleans Collection for quite some time now! I am absolutely DYING to to go to New Orleans! I will finally be going next summer (2017), so until then, I am happy to have this great collection to tide me over.

*Sent for review*

First up we have this great orange melon creme, OPI Crawfishin' for a Compliment. This is a great peachy-leaning pale orange creme. It has less pink than your typical peach, more orange, but it has that soft feeling of a peach. It's definitely a great spring color and makes me long for warmer weather.

This is three thin coats. The opacity was very good, so you can probably do two regular coats and this was happily not streaky at all like some peach cremes can be. It was easy to apply, with a nice consistency.

OPI Take a Right on Bourbon is a metallic frosty pale silver. I would describe this kind of silver as platinum and it even has some of the warmer tones that platinum has as well. I do think OPI has done shades like this pretty recently and I would have loved to see a metallic gold or even a gold glitter in this collection, because gold is a really important Mardi Gras color. 

This is three thin coats. This one definitely has visible brushstrokes, though I tried to avoid them.

Ahhhh, now this shade is fantastic!! OPI I'm Sooo Swamped! is a great bright, yet swampy, green creme. It is a bright green, but I think it has enough yellow in it that it still looks a little murky on the nails. It reminds me of a deeper, more saturated and WAY better formula version of an old favorite OPI of mine- Greenwich Village. If you liked that one, you will ADORE I'm Sooo Swamped!.

This is two super easy coats. It is really nicely pigmented and has a great formula. I can't wait to wear this as a full mani! Or maybe on my toes for St. Patrick's Day!

I knew that OPI Rich Girls & Po-Boys would be an instant new favorite and I was right! Rich Girls & Po-Boys is a richly saturated bright blue creme. It is brighter and lighter than a lot of the blues we have seen in the past (Pacific Blue, yada yada...) and it is nicely bold, without being neon. It's darker than most sky blues, but doesn't go into royal blue territory. Gorgeous!!

This is two easy coats. Great coverage and excellent formula. A winner for sure!

I will forever be a huge sucker for OPI's pinkish-red corals. I can't help it. Once summer hits, I only want to wear coral and neons, so I do actually wear them a lot. This summer, I will get a lot of use out of OPI She's a Bad Muffuletta!, a gorgeous pink-toned red coral. The color of this is very interesting, it's red, but there is a strong pink glow about it, so you can't say it's just plain red. And usually pink-toned reds are cool-toned, but this seems warm-toned to me, like a coral. Very interesting and way better on the nails than in the bottle!!

This is two effortless coats. This one was like butter, just perfect.

OPI Let Me Bayou a Drink is a pale whitened pink shimmer. It's very pastel and soft looking and the shimmer is princess-y, very pretty. I like this one, but I'm not sure it screams "New Orleans" to me. It's a very nice shade for spring though! Like little baby flower buds peeking out before the snow has really gone.

This is three thin coats. The opacity was pretty good and the consistency was good, but it was a little brushstroke-y. Not as noticeable in person as in the photos, but if that is something that really irks you, you will notice.

*Sent for review*

My top picks from this half of the collection are I'm Sooo Swamped!, Rich Girls & Po-Boys and She's a Bad Muffuletta!. I can't wait to show you the second half!

The OPI New Orleans Collection is available now at fine salons and Ulta.com.