Review: OPI Holland Collection

I will freely admit that I have an unhealthy addiction to nail polish and I very rarely manage to use up an entire bottle.  For this reason, I love purchasing the mini bottles that are often brought out by OPI and Essie, plus it gives me a reason to purchase several different shades from a new collection!

The Dutch Treats selection consists of four separate shades, inspired by Holland:

I Have A Herring Problem - a shimmering greyed blue

Red Lights Ahead... Where? - a bright coral orange/ red cream

Kiss Me On My Tulips - A rich, almost purple toned pink cream

Pedal Faster Suzi - A shimmering pink with silver sparkles.

From the four shades, I found I Have A Herring Problem the most unique, as I don't own anything else similar.  Pedal Faster Suzi was the colour I found the least interesting, mainly as I prefer more vibrant, punchy shades and I just don't feel it fitted cohesively with the rest of the collection.

Red Lights Ahead...Where? is a gorgeous orange / red hybrid.  However I have several dupes for this polish, as seen in the swatches above, and they are all very similar, with subtle nuances only visible when examined very closely in person. 

Kiss Me On My Tulips is another shade where I had some similar ones in my stash.  OPI's Dim Sum Plum is a touch darker whereas Essie Super Bossa Nova has a pearlescent sheen and is pinker.

As with other OPI polishes, I get several days wear without any chipping and very minor tip wear.   I find OPI's formula to be of medium thickness and very easy to apply.

Verdict

Whilst not offering any particularly new or earth-shattering shades, I do like this collection and it offers a mixture of cream and shimmer finishes.  The stand out shade for me is I Have A Herring Problem,  whilst the noticeably weaker shade is Pedal Faster Suzi as it requires at least three coats for opacity and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the collection.  Red Lights Ahead... Where? and Kiss Me On My Tulips are both strong shades but you may already have dupes in your collection as they are not particularly unique.

3.5/5

Price - £12.95

Where to Buy - Lena White, HQ Hair   Beauty Bay, John Lewis

Review: OPI Muppets Mini Collection

Unless you have been living with your head in the clouds over the last month, you can't have failed to notice that there is a new Muppets film coming out shortly.  Mac has brought out a very small Miss Piggy collection recently which didn't really introduce anything new, apart from a new pink eyeshadow, but OPI is going the whole hog (if you excuse the pun!) and has brought out a collection of 12 polishes, consisting of glitters and cremes themed around the new movie.  

L to R: Wocka Wocka!, Excuse Moi!, Designer... De Better!, Waarm & Fozie

OPI often bring out themed collections, and I have previously purchased the minis of the Pirates of the Caribbean collection and the Alice in Wonderland minis.  I particularly like the mini collections as I very rarely finish a polish and they are super cute in mini form!

I have swatched the polishes in the mini collection below.  Excuse the slightly blurry photo but it was the most accurate photo I could get of the colours. All swatches are 3 coats  -Wocka Wocka! would have been fully opaque with 2 coats but I did an extra coat for consistency.

L to R: Wocka Wocka!, Excuse Moi!, Designer... De Better!, Waarm & Fozie

Wocka Wocka! is a lovely pink-toned red creme with a faint shimmer.  I am not normally a huge fan of red polishes but this one is very pretty and festive.  I do find it very similar to 'Thanks So Muchness' from the Alice in Wonderland collection, as the shimmer is there but barely noticeable.  I've been wearing it on my toes for the past week and it looks very sophisticated (in my opinion!)

Excuse Moi!  is one of the three glitters in the collection.  It consists of multi-coloured glitter in a pink jelly.  After 3 coats it was not fully opaque so I may try layering it over another pink or red polish to really make the glitter 'pop'.  Unlike many other brands, I don't tend to find OPI's glitters a huge pain to remove and this is no exception to the rule.  

Designer.... de Better is a cool silver with fine shimmer.  I did find this was probably the sheerest polish of the mini collection, but it is good for when you want a more subtle polish.

Warm & Fozie is my favourite of the bunch.  It is a bronze / gold fine shimmer which is not gritty on the nail and almost seems to have red shimmer running through it when you look at it in a certain light.  This is very festive and will be great for Christmas parties.  Again, it does take 3 coats to build up the intensity of the polish but it is a very unique colour which is completely unlike anything else I own.   

Verdict

If you are looking for a good mix of festive colours which doesn't just include 4 shades of red, this mini collection is worth a look.  If you are only looking to buy one polish from the collection, I would recommend Warm & Fozie, purely because it is the most unique and multi-faceted of the bunch.

4/5

Price - £12.50
Where to buy - Beauty Bay, Lena White(full sized products only, not mini)