OPI I Only Drink Champagne is a very light frosty champagne gold. This is 3 coats plus top coat. It’s a very flattering color, I’d say… neutral with an oomph. It’s been recently discontinued along with a few other colors from the Night Brights collection so grab it while you still can.

OPI Don’t Know… Beets Me! is a vibrant mid-range hot pink. I bought it because it’s sort of the half way point between OPI Koala Bear-y and OPI I’m India Mood for Love. I’m a little baffled by the name… beets… are dark red? If the people at OPI have access to genetically altered hot pink beets, personally, I’d like to know. I believe this is 2 coats (I forgot to write it down haha) plus top coat.

I’m back-tracking a bit to show you guys the collections of yesteryear. Color Club released the Haute Browns collection a few seasons ago. In my eternal search for wearable browns, acquiring this collection was a no-brainer. The collection is composed of what I would consider three professional work appropriate colors and three colors with a little more pizzazz.

Color Club Urban Edge is a pinkish tan. It’s not hard to apply but it has a chalky consistency and it’s definitely a thee to four coater. Three of the six colors in this collection are pink toned tans that get incrementally darker and less pink. When I saw the three colors (the other two are pictured below) I immediately thought of OPI Dulce De Leche. The difference between these tans and Dulce de Leche is the pink tone, which Dulce de Leche does not have.

Color Club Diva in Brown is slightly darker and deeper than Urban Edge. The application was better than Urban Edge but it took four coats to reach opacity.

Color Club Out and About is slightly darker and deeper than Diva in Brown. This one had excellent application, it’s a two to three coater.

Color Club Golden Girl is probably my favorite from this collection. It’s a gorgeous tannish gold with a slight pink undertone and very complex shimmer that flashes mostly gold and green but you can see bronze as well. I think this color would work really well for people who feel that they can’t wear true golds. It’s very flattering. This is three coats.

Color Club Black-ish is a deep plummy reddish brown with the same complex shimmer found in Golden Girl. This is three coats but it applies very well, I think most people could get away with two coats.

Finally, Color Club Haute Couture is a vampy plummish brown. Gorgeous. This is a 2 to 3 coater, this swatch is 3 coats.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Color Club.

Some of you might not know this but I do take requests. If I have the color you want to see, I’ll get it up as soon as I can, even though I’m not as speedy as Scrangie is with her requests. Lippmann Nefertiti was recently requested by a woman looking for a good gold. Nefertiti is slightly lighter and less foil-like than OPI I Get a Kick Out of Gold. It’s very appropriately named. This shade of gold is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sarcophagi. The texture is antique-ish, fairly unique. It’s not rough to the touch but it has a rough looking texture, almost matte. As far as application – I was impressed. Very easy to apply, perfect in two coats.

For this manicure I used one coat of Color Club Stuck on You, two coats of Lippmann Nefertiti, and one coat of Lippmann Addicted to Speed. Ever since Lippmann included a mini Addicted to Speed in the very popular Party Like a Rock Star mini set, everyone has been raving about it non-stop. All the hype made me decide to cheat on my Holy Grail, Seche Vite. Addicted to Speed dries *alot* faster, amazingly so. All the other common seche beefs were absent as well, no bubbles, no tip pull even with no tip wrapping. Addicted to Speed has a no fuss application that might be easier for people who have not yet mastered the application of Seche Vite. It’s not as glossy as Seche, which might actually appeal to some people. It’s worth the money though I admit that it’s a bit of a splurge. I’m going to hoard my bottle for as long as I can.

I feel silly covering winter collections already when, in Florida, we’re still having 90 degree days. Honestly, the winter collections sort of crept up on me. In actuality, I haven’t even finished covering all the fall collections yet. In any case, here are swatches of the Essie Winter 2008 collection.  It’s a solid collection with several purchase worthy colors, but there’s nothing ultra extraordinary or ground breaking. Most of these colors dried fairly matte, and as always, my swatches don’t include a top coat. No major application issues with this collection but I had to use 3 coats with all of them in order to get full coverage.

Essie It’s Genius is a light tyrian purple with complex green to gold shimmer. Essie calls it a ‘violet quartz shimmer’. This color applies pretty sheer, so I used 3 coats for this swatch. I know I will love this one madly when I get over my purple discrimination phase. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Shift Power is a gold frost. It’s not what I would consider a true gold, to me it looks like there is a slight coppery tinge to it. Like It’s Genius, Shift Power also applied pretty sheer so I used 3 coats for this swatch. The name of this color is a little perplexing to me… is it supposed to evoke car imagery? or elicit the idea of a powerful business woman? I don’t get it. I don’t have Chanel Gold Fiction so I wonder how close these two are to one another? (Paging Scrangie.)

Essie Damsel in a Dress is a deep reddish purple (apparently the name for a reddish purple is currant – you learn something new everyday). Vampy lovers will dig this color. I probably could have gotten away with 2 coats on this one, but I used 3. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Sexy Divide is a dark purple with bright violet shimmer. We’ve had several similar colors released this season, all of which haven’t made any significant impression on me – Sexy Divide is different. It’s less flat than the others, definitely brighter. The shimmer gives this shade depth. My image doesn’t do it justice, it was taken with flash.

Essie Rock Star Skinny is a vampy brownish red with very subtle shimmer. I used 3 coats but I probably could have used two and still achieved the same depth of color. A lot of girls are not a fan of the name, but I don’t find it offensive.

Essie Bold and Beautiful is a gorgeous vampy dark red crème with a jelly-like quality. This, too, was a three coater.

This collection hasn’t hit the e-tailers yet but it’s been spotted in brick & mortars all over the U.S.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Essie.

The fall blitzkrieg is mostly over and now we’re barreling towards the winter collections. The OPI Holiday in Toyland collection is composed of 6 very unique colors and 6 reds. I’m splitting this collection up into two posts accordingly. The Nailphile has swatches of the whole collection up right now in case you’d like to see the reds as well. (As a side note, I apologize for the lack of posting lately, this is my last year of law school and I’ve been swamped with the job search, etc.)

OPI You’re A Doll is a sheer muted pink with silverish frost-shimmer finish. The unique aspect of this color is the multi-sized reddish copper flecks that run throughout. This color is fairly sheer, I used 3 coats to get full coverage and bottle color. This is what I would like to refer to as a ‘sneaky professional color’, like Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge. It’s definitely professional and work appropriate but you can have the personal satisfaction of knowing you’re operating outside the status quo with your little coppery flecks. That might be something that only amuses me though, I know, I’m weird.

OPI Baby, It’s “Coal” Outside is probably my favorite from this collection. It’s slightly more gray than a pure black and it’s infused with silvery glitter. The glitter is potentially multi-sized. It’s hard to tell because the glitter is so small. This is 2 coats. The image above is without flash, below is with flash.

OPI Brand New Skates is silvery charcoal with irridescent glitter that flashes green and copper tones. This shade applies sheer but is buildable. This is 3 coats.

OPI Glamour Game, my second favorite from this set, is a gorgeous, chic… um… that’s where my powers of description end. It’s a very light champagne gold sheer with a finish that is both shimmery and frosty. Glamour Game has green to copper toned flecks of glitter similar to the ones found in Brand New Skates. This swatch is 3 coats. The image above was taken in indoor lighting, the image below was taken in direct sunlight.

OPI Play ‘Til Midnight is a deep blurple (more purple than blue, my picture is inaccurate as always) with blue and purple shimmer throughout. I used 3 coats because I tend apply very thin coats of polish – I think most people can get away with 2 coats. The ‘me’ of yesteryear would have loved the daylights out of this color but I think my collection has reached critical mass when it comes to purples. I can’t believe my fingers just typed those words.

OPI “Sheer” Your Toys! is another sheer, simultaneously frosty and shimmery subtly pinkish gray with multi-sized reddish copper flecks. This is 3 coats as well. I like the creative thematic design scheme present in this collection, the repeated use of green to copper toned glitter, combine frost and shimmer finish, and reddish-coppery flecks gives this collection that extra… oomph of uniqueness. I really love this set of colors.

This collection is up for sale now on transdesign.com.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by OPI.

Like I said before, I usually don’t buy Chanel nail polish *but* Chanel Kaleidoscope was so beautiful and unique, I just had to have it. The minute I saw a swatch of it taken by MUA’s Mrs_Brightside, I called Nordstrom and put a bottle on hold. That was incredibly out of character for me but it was totally and completely worth it. Even though I can honestly say that I love Kaleidoscope, I want to show you guys some possible alternatives to it. With the economy the way that it is right now, a luxury item like a 20 dollar bottle of nail polish, is probably not the most prudent way to spend money. Of course, some colors are must-have, recession or not, but if you can settle from something less extravagant, why not do so? (I’m a hypocrite, I know.)

First, here she is (are bottles of nail polish female? hmm) in all her glory:

*Heavy Sigh* In the sunlight, Kaleidoscope shimmers with ultra bling. Indoors and in the shade, it’s more of a subtle mirrored greenish platinum color. It’s beautiful but I have no idea why it’s called Kaleidoscope, neither does Scrangie. If the other shade is Gold Fiction, why not call this one Platinum Drama.

Essie Steel-ing the Scene is the closest thing to Kaleidoscope in my stash. These are actually fairly close color siblings. The main difference is that Kaleidoscope has the greenish tone and a lot more shimmer. However, if you really want to follow this trend but don’t want to blow the cash, Essie Steel-ing the Scene is a great alternative.

Here is Kaleidoscope and Steel-ing the Scene side by side. Despite several attempts, I couldn’t get the image to show the differences between these colors. I blame the inferior camera. While these colors are very close they really don’t look as similar in real life as they look in the image. Steel-ing the Scene has a smoother finish, less bling, less shimmer and is less mirrored.

Adorée Rockport Gray doesn’t have a mirrored finish. It’s a pseudo-metallic light silverish gray with some mossy shimmer throughout. Rockport Gray is not a dupe but it’s a pretty good alternative, especially for people who don’t want to go full out metallic. This is my NOTD right now, it’s subtle enough that I was able to get away with it at work. The application and wear is excellent.

I first lemminged Milani Key Lime Shine when I saw it on FiveZero. The polish doesn’t show the brush strokes, the lines on the surface are actually my nail ridges. If I did this as an actual mani, which I will soon, I would use Camo as a base to eliminate that issue. Key Lime Shine is a highly mirrored metallic light lime green. This is the only one of the colors exhibited here that is available at drug stores, although it is rumored to be hard-to-find.

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Disclosure: Adoree Rockport Gray was sent to me for review by Esther’s Nail Center.