Click Here To Buy OPI Miss Universe Collection

It is September and that can only mean one thing….The Miss Universe Pageant is right around the corner. Soon women from 89 countries around the globe will come together in Sao Paulo Brazil for a night of competition with one of these lucky  women being crowned Miss Universe 2011. While the majority of us women will never be given the opportunity to compete to become a Miss Universe, we can all pretend with the help of OPI nail polish. OPI has teamed with the Miss Universe Organization and created a 4 color nail polish collection inspired by the pageant.

Since the closest I will ever come to the Miss Universe contest is with the OPI nail polish I decided to review it in the order of the events of the pageant.

The first live round is the swimsuit competition. OPI h created a great color called Swimsuit…Nailed It. This is an electric blue foil that is absolutely gorgeous. I love the vibrancy of the blue and all the micro glitter infused in the polish. It looks great inside but even better in natural sunlight. The only drawback to the is that it stained my nails a bit even with a base coat. Be sure to use a quality base coat unless you want to scrub your nails. I will give you a hint to remove the blue stain, or any nail polish stain for that matter. After you remove the polish the best you can, pour some baking soda in the palm of your hands and add just enough water to make a thick paste. Now rub your hands together pretending the baking soda is soap with an emphasis on rubbing your finger nails. Most of the stain should come off. Even a better way to remove the stain is to use lemon juice in place of the water. Your nails should look good as new!

Click To Enlarge Swimsuit...Nailed It Inside

Click To Enlarge Swimsuit...Nailed It Outside

After the swimsuit round the contestants move on to the evening gown round. While there is not a OPI polish that is directly tied in terms of a name to this round, I figure each girl is thinking It’s My Year so that is the OPI polish that I associate with this round. It’s My Year can be described as a duo chrome meets foil. The purple with a golden shimmer is my favorite color from this collection. The shade of purple has some pink tones to it but the best part is the micro glitters in shades of gold and mauve. The flecks from the micro glitter are best seen in sunlight, though you can get a good view of them indoors as well.

Click To Enlarge It's My Year Inside

Click To Enlarge It's My Year Outside

The third round is the final question round where we find are introduced to each woman’s views on a variety of topics. This is the time when the contestants can make it or break it, though there is always the consolation prize of best smile, best hair, etc… OPI kept the “back up” prizes in mind when naming the third color in the collection. Congeniality Is My Middle Name is a berry wine color with micro shimmer blue, pink, and purple  shades infused in the formula.This is a great fall shade to wear and I think I will get a lot of wear with this color all fall and winter long.

Click to Enlarge Congeniality Is My Middle Name Inside

Click to Enlarge Congeniality Is My Middle Name Outside

After going through all the preliminary rounds a few of the girls remain for the final round….the crowning and I am sure the number one thought going through all of their heads is Crown Me Already. The OPI shade is the perfect shade and look for this name. The over saturated clear jelly polish has silver glitter, micro-glitter, and hexagonal glitter in it . Much of the glitter is suspended in the polish giving it a lot of dimension but due to all of the glitter the polish does not dry as smooth as other colors.  The polish reminds me not only of the shimmer of the Miss Universe Crown but of the silver confetti that drops from the ceiling on the winner. This color looks great on its own but  you can wear it over any of the other colors in this collection to add sparkle to the already great colors. This was the hardest color to photograph due to all the sparkle and shine but I assure you this is a great color that you should buy.

Click To Enlarge Crown Me Already Inside

Click To Enlarge Crown Me Already Outside

All of the polishes were swatched with with two coats and they all gave great coverage. Crown Me Already probably could use a third coat to give even more sparkle and less of the clear base showing through but I am happy with the two coats. Since all of the colors have some sort of glitter to them it is a bit of a pain to fully remove the polish completely but if you remove the polish, wash your hands then do another go around with nail polish remover, you should be able to get most of the glitter off of you.

Click Here To Buy OPI Miss Universe Collection

Click Here To Buy OPI Serena Glam Slam Pros and Bronze & Love is a Racket duo Pack

Back in June I mentioned  that the last OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam Nail Polish would have two colors tied to the US Open. Well the time has come and the nail polish has been released and the tennis tournament is at full swing.

The first color in this collection is Pros & Bronze. This is a glass  micro glitter infused golden bronze. This color reminds me of a late summer suntan that has built up for many months. It is the perfect shade to be released for the end of summer as a reminder of all the great summer memories that have built up the past few months.

While the color itself is so gorgeous and in the sunlight even more sparkles and glitter  in gold, amber, and pink can be seen, Sadly this is not the most ideal color for my skintone. I am quite pale and the shade is way to orange for me but that does not mean that it will not work for me. I really wanted to wear this color and tried so hard to convince myself that I could wear it but sadly it just is not right. I may have to wear it on my toes when the weather cools off so that it can remind me of summer.

Click For Larger Image of OPI Pros & Bronze Indoors

Click For Larger Image of OPI Pro & Bronze Outside

The second color in this collection is Love Is A Racket which is a red pink glass micro glitter shimmer that sparkles in the light, especially when in the sun where blue, gold, and pink flecks can be seen. I personally am not a fan of red polishes but this one leans enough to the pink side and the micro glitter pushes this from a basic red to such an interesting shade that I really like it a lot.  This is a great polish for late summer / early fall but come winter you may find it too much of a warm weather shade to wear and have to put it back on a shelf until spring returns.

Click For Larger Image of Love is A Racket Inside

Click For Larger Image of Love is a Racket Outside

The best way to wear these colors, and the solution to my trouble wearing Pros & Bronze is to wear the colors together. If you wear Love Is A Racket with Pros & Bronze on top you get a really unique color that looks perfect for fall.

The formulas for these polishes are  jellylike and not thin at all so you should be able to get great coverage with two coats. The only drawback to the formula is that due to all the micro glitter removing the polish is a bit of a challenge because tiny pieces of the glitter spread and stick to your fingers and nails. I have found the best way to get it off is to remove the polish, wash and dry my hands then use another cotton ball of nail polish remover and most of the glitter is gone.

To read a recap of all of the Glam Slam Polishes click here

Click Here To Buy OPI Serena Glam Slam Pros and Bronze & Love is a Racket duo Pack

Recently I had the chance to swatch the three colors from OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam England Collection. There are three colors in this collection broken down into two sets. Your Royal Shine-Ness is a metallic silver that is paired with Servin’ Up Sparkle, a glitter packed silver polish. The other set has Grape…Set…Match which is a metallic purple which is also paired with Servin’ Up Sparkle. Each of the metallic polishes can be worn on their own and they look great as is but when topped with the glitter packed Servin’ Up Sparkle, these colors go to the next level with shimmer.

Click Photo To Enlarge

Click Photo To Enlarge

Your Royal Shine-Ness looks best with two coats of polish, one coat is too sheer and three coats looks the same as two coats so there is no need to wear more layers than needed. One coat of Servin’ Up Sparkle gives a great amount of glitter but I personally prefer two coats because I love glitter polishes.

Click Photo To Enlarge

Click Photo To Enlarge

Like the previous color, Grape…Set…Match needs two coats of polish to look its best. Also, again I prefer two coats of Servin’ Up Sparkle because of the amount of glitter but one coat does look great as well.

Click Photo To Enlarge

Click Photo To Enlarge

I only went up to three coats of Servin’ Up Sparkle and I do like the amount of glitter but as time passes and I look at the pictures I kind of wish I tries 4 coats because I think I would really like the amount of glitter an additional coat would provide.

If you are interested in any of these colors you can purchase them by clicking the links below.
OPI Serena Glam Slam England, Your Royal Shine-ness & Servin’ Up sparkle
OPI Serena Glam Slam England, Grape..Set..Match & Sevin’ Up Sparkle

The end is near for the OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam Series.

We have seen some great nail polishes from OPI for the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and soon the last of these polishes will be released to coincide with the US Open which takes place August 29th to September 11th of 2011 in Queens, New York.

For the Australian and French Open we were introduced to some great crackle nail polishes and one of a kind nail polish colors: Black Shatter and Simply Smash-Ing for Australian Open, Rally Pretty Pink and Red Shatter as well as Spark De Triomphe and White Shatter for France. When the Wimbledon colors came out there was a shift from shatter polishes to great glitter and mica infused polishes. Three colors were released for this series : Grape…Set…Match!, Servin Up Sparkle, and Your Royal Shine-Ness.

Now that The US Open is just months away OPI has announced the polishes that will be tied into this tournament. There will be two colors : Love Is A Racket and Pros & Bronze. Love Is A  Racket is a super shimmery red that appears to be Mica infused so it will glisten even when not in sunlight. The shade of red looks to be hinted with a bit of an orange-pink so it should complement most if not all skin tones. Pros & Bronze is a glitter and mica infuse bronze that will look great with that summer tan you worked on all summer. Months after that tans fades it will remind you of your summer and bring a bit of that summer sun back into your life.

This collection has only recently been announced so many details are still not available. Be sure to come back and find out when the collection will be released and to see more images and swatches.

There are 4 major tennis tournaments a year : the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.  For each of these tournaments OPI and Serena Williams have collaborated to create at least one set of nail polishes that tie into each of them. All of these polishes make up the OPI Serena William Glam Slam Series. For the Australian Open, back in January, there was the release of Simply Smashing and Black Shatter. The French Open which is currently going on and runs through the beginning of June has two collections, Spark de Triomph with White Shatter and  Rally Pretty Pink with Red Shatter.  The next tennis tournament will be Wimbledon and that will run from  the end of June through the beginning of July. For this there will be two more collections released.

The first duos for Glam Slam England are Your Royal Shine-ness, a metallic silver and Servin’ Up Sparkle, a shimmer packed silver glitter. The second duo is Grape…Set…Match, a metallic purple paired with Servin’ Up Sparkle.   You can wear the silver glitter alone or over either of the metallics. The concept behind these color choices is that England, and Wimbledon for that matter, is seen as regal, full of glitz and glamour so the polishes must fit that idea.The timing could not be better since there is still leftover Royal Wedding hype around and everyone is clamoring to have a piece of it somehow.

OPI also believes that the next big trend for nail polish is 3D finishes and of the best ways to create this look is with polishes with added micas and glitters which when applied to nails will create nail “jewelry”.  Serena Williams herself says that she loves experimenting with glitters so it is perfect that this collection not only has colors approved by Serena but that she is has a glitter in it as well.

For More Information on any of the individual polishes or sets please click the links

Your Royal Shine-ness, Servin’Up Sparkle, Grape…Set…Match!

OPI Serena Glam Slam England, Your Royal Shine-ness & Servin’ Up Sparkle

OPI Serena Glam Slam England, Grape..Set..Match & Sevin’ Up Sparkle

As much as I am a fan of the shatter polishes that have been part of the 2 previous Glam Slam collections, I am very excited to see that this collection has a different look to it. Stay tuned to see what is in store for OPI  and the US Open which takes place in August. Also be sure to come back and check to find out how to buy this great collection. You will not want to miss out on it and remember all the previous Duos have all sold out quickly.

Click here to see swatches of all of the OPI Glam Slam England Polishes

The wait is over and there are finally images of the much anticipated 2nd Glam Slam OPI Serena Williams French Open Duo. The previous duo Spark de Triomphe has had information and images released for about a month now but there has been little information anywhere about the other combination, Rally Pretty Pink paired with a Red Shatter.

When I first heard that a red and a pink would be paired together I was a little skeptical of how they would look together. I mean you do not to wear the red shatter over the pink  but obviously OPI thinks that this is a good combination otherwise they never would have paired them together.  I was pleasantly surprised though that the pink was not a true basic pink but rather it is a somewhat deep metallic pink  that has has gold and yellow undertones to it. I am not sure whether or not the pink would catch my eye on its own but it really does look great under the red shatter. I am really excited though about the red shatter and will definitely by it on its own and possibly as the duo.

The colors together look like they should have been released for perhaps Valentine’s Day but they are tied to a tennis tournament which in this case is the French Open so I understand why they could not be releases in February. I then had a train of though go through my head: red/pink= valentine’s day= love=paris aka city of love= French Open so maybe that is the connection between the colors and the event.

Look for the color to be released in Late April / Early May but in the meantime you can find other great shatter polishes from OPI or even some Crackle Polishes from China Glaze Here

OPI has teamed with Serena Williams for the 2011 Tennis Grand Slam Tournaments and releasing a duo of polishes for each event. The first event was the Australia Open and the nail polishes that went along with that were Simply Smash-ing! & Black Shatter. The next Grand Slam event is the French Open and OPI has recently released the polishes that are being tied into this event. The colors are Spark De Triomphe and White Shatter. The Spark De Triomphe is a shimmery gold with different size flecks of gold glitter in it. This is a great color to wear on its own but looks amazing with the white shatter on top of it.  The exact release date for these polishes has not been announced but they do say that it will be in April. The opening matches for the French Open are May 22 so my guess is that the OPI colors will come out mid to late April.

If you can not wait for the White Shatter by OPI to come out you can always buy the China Glaze version White Crackle (Lightning Bolt) which is for sale now. You can also read more about shatter polishes here.

****WHILE NOT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED THERE WILL BE 2 MORE GRAND SLAM FRANCE POLISHES. RALLY PRETTY PINK ( A Metallic Pink)  AND  RED SHATTER. KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE DETAILS, PICTURES, AND WHERE TO BUY. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THESE COLORS

**** NOT ANNOUNCED EITHER….THE REMAINING GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENTS WIMBLEDON AND THE US OPEN WILL HAVE A NAVY SHATTER, A TURQUOISE,SHATTER , AND A BLUE SHATTER RELEASED AS PART OF THE DUO COLLECTIONS. KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE DETAILS, PICTURES, AND WHERE TO BUY. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THESE COLORS.