OPI Gwen Stefani Collection
REVIEW
Colours Selected:
1. "Over and Over a-Gwen" -Signature Red
2. " I Sing in Colour" - Oxblood, Creme Gloss Finish
3. "4 in the Morning"- Black, 'no topcoat' Satin Finish
Recently I picked up a new polishes at sally's, including three from the Gwen Stefani Collection. I honestly had no idea that three... not just one polish, but THREE... of the nail polishes i bought were all part of the same collection. I know... its sounds pretty bananas that I didn't even realize what I was doing, but to be honest, I had absolutely NO IDEA until 2 weeks after the initial purchase... talk about wilful blindness. When you look at the colours, you wouldn't even be able to tell that they were from the same collection; let alone the Gwen Stefani collection. I know I keep saying collection ALOT, but theres practically no other way to sum it up.
Instead of the bright, fun, colours that I had pretty much expected, I found myself confronted with darks, and glosses instead of chromes. Other than the signature red and bright pink which are appropriately titled "Over and Over a-Gwen" (red), and "Hey Baby" (pink), Stefani's collaboration mainly plays with different textures and finishes... and lots of dark colours. Of course I HAD to buy "Over and Over a-Gwen" to add to my growing nail polish collection. It was hard not to, and the polish actually came with a pack of nail appliqués and glue... not that I'm making excuses or anything. However, the other two colours that that I chose just so happened to be ones that I would never have guessed to be part of the collection AT ALL. The first one being "I sing in colour", a dark and muted oxblood colour sold in a creme gloss finish, and "4 in the morning", which is a dark grey in a no topcoat satin finish.
Currently I am wearing "I Sing in Color" on my fingernails, and I must say that I am impressed with the appearance of the polish. I mainly bought the colour because I thought that it would look gorgeous in the fall... lets be honest, theres nothing like a nice oxblood in the fall to compliment your look, and it looks absolutely gorgeous on all skin tones any time of the year. The polish definitely lives up to my expectations. For starters, two coats will give you the exact colour on the bottle which is always a good thing. And the consistency, might I add, is absolutely to die for (but not literally) and comes on smoothly and easily without any streaks or dents to the colour. I would absolutely recommend "I Sing in Color" to beginners because of its no mess application and dark colour which easily hides any imperfections in the polish.
Im not actually done talking about "I Sing in Color" and I can't help be obsessed with the creme gloss finish. One of the reasons I love OPI is because of the daring, and often risqué finishes that they choose. Like shatter, which was huge a few years back, and their play on liquid sand, which still has yet to disappoint me to this day. The creme gloss is everything that I could have imagined, and it does not fall short of my expectations. The finish gives the colour dimensions without the result of a "gel look" application.
I know that Im getting carried away by blabbering on and on about "I Sing in Color", so lets change gears and talk about "4 in the Morning", which is a black 'no topcoat' satin finish. Although the colour is gorgeous in the bottle, I felt as if "4 in the Morning" failed to live up to my expectations when I applied it on my nails. For instance, the colour has a no top coat satin colour, which kind of took away from the beauty of the colour in a sense... and it actually looks more like a dark great as opposed to the black, Without the top coat, the polish looks a little streaky, and a little messy as well. Plus the satin look makes it difficult to concentrate on the actual colour. Furthermore, the satin finish actually looks more like a matte finish, which I find played out at thus point.
Now, me being the rebel I am, also tried the look out with a top coat, which made the base look as if it had been separated from the shimmer, similar to the way paint looks when mixed with water. It seemed diluted and tired, which completely changed my impression of the polish in comparison to how it looked without a top coat.
Lastly, I also bought "Over and Over a-Gwen", the signature Gwen Sefani Red which I am currently wearing on my toenails.. and might I add that I had no idea that "I Sing in Color" and "Over and Over a-Gwen" were part of the same collection when I applied them... both at the same time. But I have to admit that they definitely compliment one another.
OVER AND OVER A-GWEN + I SING IN COLOUR= A MATCH MADE IN NAIL POLISH HEAVEN.
Anyways, the bright red polish actually came in its own box which had also been mass produced to include Stefani's signature on it. In addition, the polish came with a little booklet overviewing all of the colours from the collection, and different ways you could wear them (potential nail designs, etc). As I mentioned before, "Over and Over a-Gwen" actually came with nail appliqués AND nail glue, which I thought was amazing, especially for future use on nail products. The appliqués mainly consisted of rusty colours pyramids and diamonds, which makes the collection unique in my opinion.
In conclusion, I would say that I am more of less satisfied with the Gwen Stefani Collection... although I'm leaning more on the satisfied side. Although I was disappointed with some of the colour selection, I would still recommend that EVERYONE check out the polishes. Like right now. I stand by the fact that there is a wide array of colours that would attract a lot of different people.
xoxoxoxxx, Fizza
