Are you guys ready for the newest trend in nail polish? We’ve seen matte, crackle, glitter crackle, 18 Karat Gold and glitter galore over the last couple of years. The fad for 2013 appears to be the liquid sand/matte glitter phenomenon. OPI was the first to brand the new texture and put it on the shelves, but Zoya has their Pixi Dust collection launching in February, and China Glaze has had glitters with a similar texture in their last couple of collections, but hasn’t launched anything with an official name, aside from just “glitter.”
For their first set of matte glitters, OPI paired with Mariah Carey for the colors and inspiration. Aside from the liquid sand, the set also features a glitter, two shimmer/metallics and a creme, but my Ulta display didn’t have the full set when I got these. I’ll update if I snag the others.
And, yes, I am rocking out to some vintage Mariah as I’m typing. Rando is less than impressed with my vocals. True story, Music Box was my first CD. I owned the MTV Unplugged EP on casette tape, and it still resides in my car. My car has a tape player.
On to the polish.
Get Your Number Get Your Number is a bright blue jelly base full of glitter and some holographic bits for extra bling. I had to use about three coats to get the bottle color, and this one has a little rougher finish than some of the other shades. It’s really fun and pretty, though. Here’s Get Your Number with top coat. Can’t Let Go Can’t Let Go is a sheer, moody purple base filled with various shades of purple glitter. There are larger purple hexes in this one, too. This was one of my favorites. I love a good purple and this one has a lot of dimension. Can’t Let Go with top coat. The Impossible The Impossible is a coral pink jelly with pink glitter. This one was my biggest disappointment. The larger hex glitters were pretty sparse and the stars I was so excited about? What stars? I know I got a mini bottle, but no matter how much I shaked, rolled, turned upside down and fished…no stars. The color is pretty, but the thing that made it really special and unique was missing, which made me sad. The Impossible with top coat. Stay the Night Stay the Night is a sheer black base and black “sand” glitter, filled with little pink glitters. This one is so pretty in person. I don’t even know what else to say about it. Just…pretty. Stay the Night with top coat.
I realized that my swatches didn’t show the difference between with- and without topcoat very well. Here’s a little better comparison. Matte on the left, glossy on the right. Pink Yet Lavender Pink Yet Lavender is exactly what I expected from a Mariah Carey inspired collection. It’s feminine and delicate…and blingy. I used one coat over Nails Inc Black Taxi, which I thought showcased the sparkle quite well. I also tried it over Zoya Nikki, which made me think more of that era when MC released Daydream and hooked up with Boyz II Men for One Sweet day. I don’t know why, but my swatches on my actual nails wouldn’t photograph as matte as the polish actually dries, but my nail wheels showed up okay. I my camera was grabbing the jelly base and not the glitter. So…here is a nail wheel with all of the above colors, to show more of the texture. The second shot is with flash. Some tidbits I’ve discovered in playing with these:
- They take a lot longer than some glitters to dry fully. You can and will smudge them if you’re not careful, since you’re not setting them with top coat.
- They to look extra shiny with top coat, but they eat it up fast. The “with top coat” shots above are with two coats of Gelous, and still looked textured.
- Some people seriously dislike the gritty texture. I didn’t think these were bad, but tested them with Essie Matte About You to see if they would retain the matte finish and smooth out. They do a little, but mostly you just loose all the sparkle and depth.
- I also noticed it took a few coats to get the bottle color, since the bases are sheer so the glitter can shine through. I tried layering over other colors, and I found Can’t Let Go over Zoya Julieanne is amazing and Stay the Night over Black Taxi was a lot more dramatic and really pretty, and somehow added some silver sparkles to the mix.
Overall, I think this is going to be a fun fad. Not sure how it’ll stick around, but if you’re not sure you want to invest a lot, you can actually grab all four Liquid Sand shades in the mini set for around $12-13. I will probably end up going back for full size on Can’t Let Go and Stay the Night.
Honestly, these swatches show the texture of the polishes better than any of the other swatches I’ve seen. I like Stay the Night the most.
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Erm… I actually only like them with topcoat, which kind of defeats the object I think. Plus, two coats of Gelous equals, what, four of Seche? I’d be there forever. Gorgeous clear pics as always though, sweet! x
Powdered Almond recently posted..Hermione Granger’s Dressing Table (Sort Of…)
I don’t even know how many coats of normal top coat this would take, but I do like them glassy and smooth, so probably a lot. I think the concept is cool, but I don’t know how much I’ll love the sandy feel once the newness wears off.