OPI: Gwen Stefani Collection

Purchased By Me

Oh why oh why does the weekend pass so quickly?! I hardly feel rested! *sad panda*
On the bright side, I had been relatively more productive today and cleared some polishes from my to-swatch pile. My cuticles were protesting from the sudden wave of acetone assault but the weather today was too good to pass up!

Since I haven't been blogging much about mainstream polishes, let's start with some OPIs, shall we? After my brief but very passionate affair with indie polishes, I find myself increasingly drawn to mainstream polishes. Don't get me wrong... My magpie eyes still love me some glitters but they are also starting to appreciate solid cremes and subtle shimmers. Perhaps work has something to do with it - after all, I still don't quite dare to sport jewel-encrusted nails to work.

Anyhow, I caught wind of the OPI Gwen Stefani collection as I was scrolling through my Instagram feed. The pink, Hey Baby, immediately caught my eye and before I knew it, I got myself the whole collection, except the glitter o"o

In my defense, they were looking soooo yummilicious:

Hey Baby. 3 thin coats.
Oh this delicious pink! So bright it positively makes my heart soar! I know I have said a million times that I am not a fan of pink but this had me eating my words. I nearly didn't get this because my friends and I thought it might be similar to OPI's Suzi's Hungary Again (which I have also just got) but I am glad I didn't skip this because they are very different. Hey Baby is a truer pink while Suzi's Hungary Again is more salmon pink in contrast. It is certainly a bonus that Hey Baby applies really well too!

I Sing In Color. 3 thin coats; 2 on the pinky.
A vampy maroon with a crelly consistency. Although it looks sheer and uneven in my swatch, I swear it looked much more opaque and slightly darker in person. My camera tends to pick up and focus more on the jelliness than the richness of the colour. You might want to be careful with the application for this colour because clean-up isn't pretty.

4 in the Morning. 2 thin coats (added top coat on ring finger).
A shimmery black with a smooth satin finish. When dried, the shimmer is not very obvious but it adds a subtle highlight to the nails so the black doesn't look too flat. When you top it with top-coat, the shimmer comes back to life so delicately. Formula is fantastic for this one - it is pretty much self-leveling and dries quickly.

Love.Angel.Music.Baby. 2 thin coats (added top coat on the ring finger).
A shimmery gold with a satin finish. Super gorgeous! I don't usually reach for gold but this is so beautifully soft without being in-your-face. When you top it with top coat, the shimmers glisten and sparkle. It applies very smoothly and dries quickly on the nails too! I wore this as an accent nail with Over and Over A-Gwen (below) for Chinese New Year and it wore like iron for a week. It stamps beautifully too! Just last week, I stamped it over OPI Skull and Glossbones and topped everything with topcoat for a delicate sparkly look. I know I will be reaching for this very often.

Over and Over A-Gwen. 3 thin coats.
Gwen's signature shade of red. A classic shade of bright red that is a head turner. Very pigmented and unfortunately, a pain in the ass to clean up or remove so you might want to be extremely careful when you apply it. I am not a fan of reds (mainly because they are always so difficult to clean-up or remove) and neither am I a huge fan of Gwen but I got it anyway because I thought I should at least have a classic red in my stash. Of course, it was only after I bought it that I realised I have two other similar shades. -_- I really ought to revisit my reds so I am more familiar with them. Oh wells. At least, Over and Over A-Gwen came in a beautiful box together with these:

The little booklet on the left includes some nail art suggestions for you to try. I didn't plan to do anything with the studs for this post but since I had some time to spare in the afternoon, I decided to try a quick and simple combi:

Of course, I didn't use the nail glue that was provided. As always, I simply affix the studs on a fresh coat of top coat to secure it. If I were wearing these nails out, I would also top everything with a coat of top coat for good measure. I am not sure how things go with a nail glue but the studs come off easily with nail polish remover when I use a top coat so I can use them over and over a-gwen. Oops, sorry! Couldn't resist.

And the last polish that I got from the collection...

Push and Shove. 1 coat.
My very first chrome polish! I know I am super late on this. I nearly got myself some Laylas when they first caught the world by storm (both their holos and their chromes) but the price tag held me back. I took the plunge with OPI's Push and Shove and, boy, I love it! Push and Shove came with a special base coat (Lay Down That Base) which wasn't ridge-filling unfortunately so I gently buffed my nails for a better chrome effect (chrome polishes aren't known to be forgiving of imperfections). Once the base has dried after a few seconds, I painted one careful coat of Push and Shove. The brushstrokes become less visible as the polish dries to an incredibly shiny foil-like finish. It was almost like magic and it made my little magpie heart flutter so hard! I am very tempted to wear this to work and show my friends but I think my boss might have more than a few comments on it ><

Phew, that was a pretty long post from me! So, having seen the swatches, what do you think of this collection?
To be fair, the colours are not entirely groundbreaking but they are really good together (I love a cohesive collection). If you already have similar colours, you might not need to get these, save for the satins perhaps - especially Love.Angel.Music.Baby!