OPI Flutter Collection (Part I)- Wing It! and Catch Me In Your Net / Zoya – Charla – Summer 2010

Sunday, 6 June, 2010

Ok, so…I’ve got some colors here that are a part of OPI’sÂ Summer 2010 Collection called Flutter.

So the first color I’m showing is called Wing It!

I’m not a fan of this shade. It’s a bit too sheer for my taste…to make matters worse, I feel this pink is a bit too youthful for me. Like Fairy Princess kind of pink for a little girl. What may camera failed to capture was the pretty iridescence of the glitter. It’s actually prettier than the actual base color! So while I was disappointed in this color, it was a bit too pink/too close to coral for my taste.

Look carefully at this color…isn’t it gorgeous? It is, isn’t it? Scroll down for the reality.

So here we are…literally dupes. You can’t see how gorgeous this (these) color(s) is(are) – it’s like mermaid scales. There is a slight green shimmer and gold glitter that runs through it. Absolutely gorgeous. What a pity that it’s a total dupe of Zoya’s Charla.Â So…surprise! If you weren’t able to get a hold of Charla, grab OPI’s Catch Me In Your Net.

Heck, here are the ding dang bottle shots!

The formula on this was runny and hard to work with. Both of the colors above were 2 coaters.

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Contest – OPI and Misa: Damone Roberts 1968, Shrek Collection and Dirty, Sexy, Money

Wednesday, 26 May, 2010

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED — Thank you to all for entering. Winner will be contacted today, Wednesday, June 2, 2010 and will have 24 hours to respond.

When Damone Roberts 1968 came back up for availability, I grabbed it…and a few extra bottles for my nail polish girl friends. It turns out I’m the only one who loves it. My other girl friends? Not so much. They passed. Now I have 2 extra bottles available to give away. Yay!

First Place Winner gets a bottle of OPI’s Damone Roberts 1968, a bottle of Misa’s Dirty, Sexy, Money AND ALL SIX BOTTLES of OPI’s Shrek Collection

Runner Up wins a bottle of OPI’s Damone Roberts 1968

There are two ways to enter, you can do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment

2. Follow me on Twitter and Re-Tweet (RT) the following message @carinaeletoile OPI Damone Roberts giveaway – http://wp.me/pJShv-kr

This contest is open to EVERYONE inside and outside the US.

Contest ends on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 3:00pm (15:00) PST.

Good luck.

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OPI – Damone Roberts 1968 / Nubar – Knight’s Armor and Nubar 2010

Friday, 14 May, 2010

I didn’t know where to begin. I got a box and a puffy padded envelope full of nail polish in under 24 hours. I was squeeing with glee.

I couldn’t make up my mind, so I ended up just trying on Knight’s Armor, then deciding to swatch it. So it’s a sloppier than usual application for ALL these swatches. I just got a little too excited.

As for the Damone Roberts one, I had originally been wearing Knight’s Armor on my left hand and DR1968 on the other. Hah. I liked how DR1968 looked on my right hand, so I took off KA (as you might see some glitter in the DR1968 swatch) and now all my fingers are sporting DR1968…with one lone exception: my thumb. That has Nubar 2010 on top of it. I was all over the place today.

Thumbshot – Damone Roberts 1968 with Nubar 2010. Regular Shade and Sunlight shots below!

I was fully prepared to NOT like this color. I put it on…and I really liked it. I bought a few extra bottles because I plan on having a give away here soon, so stay tuned. Anyway, this formula was slightly thicker than the usual OPI but what I liked most is that it dried fast, which is unusual. This is 3 coats because I suck at applying nail polish.

I think my really bad photography skills came into play here. I feel like I made this polish look ugly. It’s not. It’s so gorgeous. I wanted to compare it to Orly’s Goth, but it wouldn’t be fair to either of the polishes. This glitter is all one size and the base for this is a bit more dark grey. Also, there is more glitter in this than Goth. Orly’s Goth is a black base with different sizes of the glitter. This was truly fabulous. Knight’s Armor is part of Nubar’s Fortress Collection.

The formula dried quickly and wasn’t as gritty due to the glitter. I have the Sparkles collection as well and that glitter collection is beautiful, but it’s so dense that when I applied a top coat, it never was a full glossy shine. You’d end up seeing and feeling the texture of the glitter underneath.

I’ll be swatching Nubar’s Fortress Collection soon, but in the meantime, I just had to get this pretty color out there and into my swatch blog.

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OPI Shrek Forever After Collection (2010)

Thursday, 6 May, 2010

This is a limited edition collection OPI released that is based on the new Shrek movie that is due out on May 21. I could be wrong on the date, but I can’t be arsed to look it up. Sorry. I’m too involved with the nail polish!

I was able to swatch these yesterday and I pretty much fell in love with all of the OPI Shrek collection. I like kind of odd, close to putrid colors…plus, these were crÃ¨mes, how can anyone not love crÃ¨mes?! Formula wise it was a dream – went on well with minor problems and dried fast. Yay! It’s a win, win all around.

OPI Shrek consists of 3 dark colors (blue, purple and green) and 3 not-quite-pastel, but I felt they were to complement the darker colors. Like a mani/pedi combo for the summer thing. Very tips and toes! Come and see what I’m rambling about.

Indoors and in the shade, this color didn’t look so bad on me. I loved the fact that it wasn’t like Sally Hansen’s Yellow Kitty. I thought it might be, but it wasn’t. This is definitely far more opaque and not at all hard to work with.

This is the sister color for Fiercely Fiona…well, at least I thought so. Shrek and Fiona should always be together, right? I love this type of green. It reminds me of a sweater I bought way back in the day. It’s this color. My cousin hated it. Hated it. Hated that shade of green. Made sure I knew it everytime he saw me wearing it. Yet he’d get so incensed when people would compliment me on it, always asking where I got it. When he died, I was tempted to throw that sweater into the casket so he’d spend eternity with it. How wrong am I? Thing is, everyone in the family understood and thought it was funny I was tempted to do that. Then again, that’s just my family’s twisted sense of humor. Some day I’ll share those with you, but for now I won’t.

This color wasn’t so bad on me, but it’s a pastel and pastels hate me. It’s ok. I hate them back. Yet I still try to wear them thinking that I look good in them. NOT.

A very pretty purple crÃ¨me that’s come a bit too late in the purple game. Sorry, OPI. I mean, I still appreciate it, but Nubar, Rescue Beauty Lounge and China Glaze have beaten you to the punch on this.

Out of the entire collection, Who The Shrek Are You? and What’s With The Cattitude? are my favorites. This isn’t quite as deep a turquoise as it could be, but it’s still pretty darn beautiful. The correct shade that I can really associate it most in terms of gem stones is called Sleeping Beauty Turquoise. Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is mined in Arizona. What makes it different from regular turquoise that is prevalent in Native American jewelry is the lack of intense color. It has a slight shade of purple that runs through it making it less bright, bringing it to a muted shade of turquoise that works well with my skin tone. When set in silver and gold, Sleeping Beauty Turquoise doesn’t look as ‘plastic’ as some other turquoise can. Ok, sorry, digressing. I love jewelry and making jewelry and I shouldn’t pull that into a nail polish post!

Not quite electric but not exactly dull, either. This was the first color I applied and had some issues in application because my brush’s bristles were a little on the uneven side. It took me a few minutes to get used to application and it shows. However, it doesn’t detract from the blue goodness of this color, does it?

OPI Shrek collection is out now…grab the colors while you can. I’ve a feeling they will go pretty fast.

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OPI Update

Friday, 30 April, 2010

First off, a million thanks to my friend and her husband for getting a copy of the complaint to me.

So all the drama that went down can be found below. The information below is from the actual complaint, so this is not my speculation, but the real court filed documents:

In the complaint OPI alleges that TransDesign infringed on their copyright…which TD did.

So, if you ever look at some bottles of OPI, do you notice that it looks like someone’s filed some part of the glass bottle away? That there’s a rough spot on the bottle where it should be smooth? I have and I thought, “WTF was filed away from here?” Now I know!

In the complaint, OPI alleges that TD (as well as other companies) have done that. But here’s where it gets ugly…

The infringement? It’s the pictures we’d see on TD’s website. They (TD) make it sound like they are authorized sellers of OPI. They are not. They have no contract with OPI to sell. So yes, their pictures are an infringement because OPI has no contract with TD, TD can’t get any legit OPI products from OPI. In the complaint, OPI alleges that “Defendants resort to deceptive, fraudulent, and illegal trade practices as well as false pretenses in order to obtain OPI products.”. OPI even has distribution policies and contractual mumbo jumbo on their website under “Anti-Diversion Policy”.

In November 2009, OPI asked TD to stop selling OPI Products on the Internet and to stop using images of OPI on their site (intellectual property).

TD did not comply.

Remember what I said about that filed part of the glass bottle? Well, that filed part of the glass bottle is the OPI Serial Number. That number is crucial to OPI in terms of quality control and detection of fake OPIs. TD knowingly and willfully sold these OPI Products with the missing OPI Serial Numbers.

Why is it important? Because if OPI ever had to do a recall and you had a bottle that was in the recall, how the heck are you to know when there is no serial number on it? Ultimately, OPI doesn’t want lawsuits.

Last, but not least, TD sold OPI products internationally where there was already a distribution setting put in place. So basically, OPI didn’t like TD undermining their distribution set up or their quality control. In TD’s case, it’s a lack of quality control. I can see why OPI would be pissy about it.

After all of this, I wonder if all the bottles I got from VNS and TD are legit OPI colors…hm…

However, sucks to be TD because OPI stated in the complaint they want financial recompense from TD for selling the non-legit OPI. No number was mentioned, but I figure it could be ugly.

You can click icomplaint2 below for a full copy of the complaint. It’s 87 pages long and it has pictures!

ipcomplaint2

Below is me weighing in on the issue.

What do I think? I feel like OPI’s being a bit like the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) corporation in tracking down fake Louis Vuittons. It’s all about quality control. But in the grand scheme of things? It’s nail polish. It’s not purses/wallets/suitcases that sell for over $1,000 per item. Relax, OPI.

That’s it. That’s the drama. That’s why our fave cheapie e-tailers don’t have OPI any more.

PS I’m lifting my OPI ban. They weren’t in the wrong for wanting to protect the integrity of their products. If anything, it makes me admire and like them even more.

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OPI – you disappoint me

Thursday, 29 April, 2010

OPI was the brand that brought my love of nail polish back to life after 10 years of not purchasing anything.

Now OPI is disappointing me – badly. To the point where I thought I’d only buy and not swatch, effectively putting a ban on them pictorially. I’m still searching for the court documents, but it seems that OPI has brought a lawsuit against one of my favorite e-tailers (www.transdesign.com) because the e-tailer sells OPI at a lower price than the suggested retail price. If you go to Trans Design, they are liquidating ALL of their OPI products. Seems OPI has won, but have they really?

Here is a link to the suit that was filed in California, but I am looking for a free version of the documents. http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=56040

OPI, I’ve purchased the last lot from you. So unless you come and give me free products, I will not be posting or mentioning you ever again. You’ve made your last dime off me when I made my final purchase. I was going to buy then swatch and post the new Shrek collection you have coming out on May 1, but I won’t now. I’ll be allocating that money towards Nubar’s Fortress Collection.

My followers are not as prolific as Scrangie, the Swatchaholic or any other popular nail blogger, but I am fortunate enough to have a small loyal following. I’m prolific enough on other social network sites where my friends actually purchase colors and brands of nail polish I’ve recommended.

I’m putting out a ban on you…No more OPI products for me and I will strongly encourage my friends to purchase other brands such as China Glaze, Essie, NuBar, Misa and BB Couture.

I’m saddened by how OPI has handled this. I’m even more saddened that OPI’s made me go to this length to show my displeasure because all this blog was really ever meant for was to display my love of nail polish.

I’ve always disliked companies that play bullies. It’s why I don’t shop at Wal-Mart.

UPDATE:

I was able to find the court documents and as far as I can see it really is all about copyright infringement…and the only copyright infringement I ever saw on www.transdesign.com was the images and some of the wording they took off of the OPI displays. OPI could’ve been less – pardon my french – cunty about it, but they decided to take TD to court and OPI won. But a lawsuit? Maybe OPI asked them, TD refused, and OPI’s only alternative was to take them to court. Who knows? But for OPI to do this to e-tailers like Victoria Nail Supply and Trans Design, where people from all over the world, not just the US, purchase OPI polish is ridiculous. They’ve shot themselves in the foot.

I freely admit to not purchasing OPI in a retail setting where bottles cost anywhere from $8 to $10. So it looks like I won’t even be purchasing OPI from e-tailers because OPI has cut them out of the market. I could be tempted to buy from my local nail suppliers who have sold me bottles for $4 or $4.50, but OPI’s overall attitude towards not paying full price has pretty much soured me towards anything OPI related. I’ll be honest in saying I don’t mind paying $12 or $20 for a nail polish so long as it’s department store type of nail polish. NEWSFLASH OPI – you aren’t Chanel. I refuse to pay more than $6 for a bottle of OPI because it’s a mid-grade polish I can find in any nail salon. Exclusive and high end you are not. Don’t ever think that you are. Ever.

What has OPI lost in all of this? Instead of one customer who won’t buy OPI at full price, I’ve decided I won’t buy OPI at all. I wonder when/if OPI will start to go after my favorite nail polish suppliers here in AZ and CA now. “We don’t like that you’re selling OPI for below market price.” Does OPI worry about them suddenly becoming discount nail polish? What gives OPI? What made you become a scheming shrew?

I wonder when physical storefronts will be hit with the OPI Copyright Infringement Bitch Stick.

UPDATE #2:

…and OPI is no longer on any of other fave etailers. OPI, you suck.

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China Glaze Holographic

Purple! (and a green)

Tuesday, 27 April, 2010

Not quite keeping up with my self induced promise of mostly green, I present PURPLE! I have more than 18 shades of purple polish between here and Arizona. The colors on this wheel are partially here, but mostly in our desert home.

It was a pain in the butt trying to take a pic of that color wheel and I realized I should’ve broken it up into 4 separate parts, but I was feeling kind of lazy and I hope that when you click on the pics, they become huge and you can see the difference in the colors.

You’ll find lots of shimmer, creme, a matte and a couple of holographics.Â Enjoy!

Outdoors – Shade

1. China Glaze – Octa Gone Wild (holo)Â 2. China Glaze – Grape PopÂ 3. China Glaze – Midnight RideÂ 4. OPI – Catherine The Grape 5. OPI – Eiffel For This Color 6. OPI – A Grape Fit!

7. China Glaze – Light As Air 8. OPI – Sapphire In The Snow 9. OPI – Visions of Sugarplums 10. Zoya – Savita (matte) 11. Zoya – Pinta 12. Barielle – Grape Escape

13. China Glaze – Grape Juice (Shimmer) 14. Orly – Cashmere Cardi 15. Orly – Midnight Star (slight shimmer) 16. Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) – Mismas 17. RBL – Scrangie (shimmer) 18. China Glaze – LOL (holo)

Outdoors – Shade with flash

1. China Glaze – Octa Gone Wild (holo)Â 2. China Glaze – Grape PopÂ 3. China Glaze – Midnight RideÂ 4. OPI – Catherine The Grape 5. OPI – Eiffel For This Color 6. OPI – A Grape Fit!

7. China Glaze – Light As Air 8. OPI – Sapphire In The Snow 9. OPI – Visions of Sugarplums 10. Zoya – Savita (matte) 11. Zoya – Pinta 12. Barielle – Grape Escape

Outdoors – Sunlight

1. China Glaze – Octa Gone Wild (holo)Â 2. China Glaze – Grape PopÂ 3. China Glaze – Midnight RideÂ 4. OPI – Catherine The Grape 5. OPI – Eiffel For This Color 6. OPI – A Grape Fit!

7. China Glaze – Light As Air 8. OPI – Sapphire In The Snow 9. OPI – Visions of Sugarplums 10. Zoya – Savita (matte) 11. Zoya – Pinta 12. Barielle – Grape Escape

The Promised Green!

What I love about this gorgeous green with a slight yellow undertone is that it has a gorgeous micro glitter that contains more green than gold. One has to literally have it up close and very personal to see it. My camera didn’t do it any justice in capturing the glitter. The very faint yellow in this (heck, it could’ve been the gold micro glitter come to think of it!) wasn’t very strong and didn’t look awful on me. Quite the opposite – it was very flattering! Another stellar choice on my part from BB Couture. This color is from their Men’s Collection. Love it.

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