Now that it’s officially Summer, one thing is for sure….brighter shades of nail polish are pretty much a guarantee. If you aren’t a fan of wearing bold colours on your nails, an alternative is to sport a flashy pedicure. To help celebrate “flip flop season” OPI recently introduced their first full-sized NEON Collection for Summer 2014. The collection features six bright, vibrant polish shades, all of which have joined the permanent lacquer collection. Neon shades always look better when they are layered over a solid white base colour, so it’s no surprise that OPI also chose to introduce a special colour-boosting base coat called Put a Coat On! with this collection.
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| Neons by OPI Summer 2014 |
Shades:
Juice Bar Hopping
Life Gave Me Lemons
You Are So Outta Lime!
Push & Pur-Pull
Hotter Than You Pink
Down to The Core-al
In addition to the regular polishes above, there is also a mini set available, called Little Bits of Neon, which contains small sizes of each of the 6 shades. The set is a great way to try the entire collection without having to invest in full-size bottles. The white Top Coat is sold separately.
.JPG "OPI Neons Collection Summer 2014") |
| OPI Little Bits of Neon – Summer 2014 ($24.95 CAD) |
First Impressions & Swatches:
To compare polish performance, I tested each shade on its own and with a regular white polish layered underneath since I do not own the colour-boosting base coat.
Juice Bar Hopping can be described as a bright tangerine cream. The vibrant orange intensifies over a white base and looks its best in 3 coats. It has a rubberized finish and jelly-like texture.
A citrusy lemon-lime creme, Life Gave Me Lemons has a slightly thicker formula than the others. The shade leans a touch more green than yellow but it is still super fun for Summer. I don’t have anything quite like it in my collection and suspect that I’ll be reaching for it quite often this Summer.
You Are So Outta Lime! is another really unique shade. The cool-toned lime green has a nice formula that looks noticeably better when paired with a white base coat. It’s such an interesting green…. not exactly neon but pretty. Looks great in 2 coats!
Push & Pur-Pull is a rich purple jelly that applies bright on the nails but doesn’t resemble a true neon. The colour of this one intensifies and deepens in 3 coats and when worn with a white base, however I much prefer the shade seen in the bottle to that which applied on the nails.
Hotter Than You Pink is not your traditional pink neon. The hot pink jelly is frosted and has slight blue shimmer undertones. I didn’t think I’d like this shade when I first saw it in the bottle, but surprisingly I really liked it once I applied it to my nails!
Down to The Core-al
A brilliant hot coral, this shade had the best formula of the bunch and is definitely sandal worthy!
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| OPI Neon Collection – $8.95 USD/$10.95 CAD (full-size pricing) |
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| OPI Neon Collection (L-R): Life Gave Me Lemons, Juice Bar Hopping, Push & Pur-Pull, You Are So Outta Lime!, Down to the Core-al & Hotter Than You Pink |
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| OPI Natural Nail Base Coat – Put a Coat On! |
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The swatches below are of 3 coats. No white base was used as I wanted to reflect the shade’s natural colour as much as possible. I also did not apply a top coat. Unfortunately, the photo below does not do any of these shades justice as it was difficult to photograph the true vibrancy of each shade. But… it gives you an idea of what to expect. The collection is not what I imagined the neon collection to be but Down to the Core-al is beautiful and there are also a some unique shades that I’m sure many of you will enjoy. Just remember…all neon formulas are tricky, so patience is required when working with the formula.
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| OPI Neon Collection (L-R): Life Gave Me Lemons, You Are So Outta Lime!, Down to the Core-al, Juice Bar Hopping, Hotter than You Pink & Push & Pur-Pull |
OPI polishes are available at professional salons and spas worldwide. If you do not live near a store that carries the brand, Nail Polish Canada is a great online retailer that offers good pricing as well as free shipping within Canada.
What do you think of this collection?
Will you be passing it up or checking it out?
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