Thursday, March 21, 2013

OPI I Theodora You + Lights of Emerald City

Hi friends!  I've been so excited for OPI's Oz The Great and Powerful Softshades collection, and I recently snagged the mini set and the Lights of Emerald City glitter.
Last year's NYC Ballet collection is my favorite of all time, so I've been curious how this year's jellies compare to those.  Today I'm wearing I Theodora You, a cotton candy pink jelly that is brighter and pinker than anything from Ballet.


 I Theodora You is just the fluffiest, pinkest, girliest thing I've ever seen, and reminds me of  fluffy slippers, ruffly bathrobes, feathers from pillowfights, and Pink Sugar perfume.  All things pink, sweet, frivolous, and light-- that's I Theodora You.  It's the unsubtlest subtle color I've seen.  It's super pretty and *close* to opaque in three coats, which might be a draw to some of you who like the color and the texture but not the sheerness of polishes similar.  I found it to be a little streaky, even after three coats, but that could be because of the mini brush proportions. 

Something happened with this collection that I didn't even notice until, well, just now typing this, really.  I got excited about a glitter.  I blame Amy for this.  Here's Lights of Emerald City over I Theodora You.


Lights of Emerald City is a not too densely saturated mix of small, square twinkly holographic bits and larger matte white squares in a clear base.  I've seen it over Theodora the most, and indeed, it was the duo that spoke the most to me.  It's lovely and delicate, and somehow manages to tone down the in-your-face sugariness of Theodora while maintaining a high level of total girliness.  This may be a case of a glitter actually making a color more demure... either that or I'm just getting used to wearing glitters, lol.

I used one coat of Lights and I want to say something about my experience with this and what I've read about that other glitter causing all sorts of buzz right now.  Lights is an extremely difficult glitter to work with.  Even after manipulating the brush to grab some of the white squares, it's difficult to actually place them on the nail.  They like to stick to the brush.  The end result is subtle and sparse; very pretty, but not very evenly distributed.  My point is this.  When Monkeys Fly, that curling glitter, is absolutely stunning in real life, maybe the prettiest of the collection, but so many people are up in arms about the curling, and I'm not going to say I blame them.  Apparently OPI has come out and said that the remedy to that is to place the curling pieces just so on your nails so they follow your natural curvature.  Nobody wants to work that hard for a glitter to look nice, BUT I feel like I had to work just as hard to get Lights on my nails, period.  So take your pick, I guess... I'm inclined to think difficulty in application is just the nature of the glittery beast.

One more shot, Essie-style, because I love how light pink looks with grey....


...and speaking of Essie, our giveaway winner has been chosen by la Rafflecopter and she's accepted her prize. Congrats, Aurélie R.!  Thank you to all y'all who entered and I do hope you stick around ♥♥

Thanks for reading!

29 comments:

  1. I Theodora You looks lovely next to your skin tone, To be honest thats the only shade that caught my eye in this whole collection, none of the glitters really spoke to me... which is good, because I guess they are not that fantastic. I love the WoOZ theme, but not most of the collection. I usually love OPIs Bright spring collections.

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    1. and I just realize my comment was so much about me! Sorry!!! Lovely swatch Liesl, Thank you! LOL!!!!

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    2. No apology necessary, girlie :) I like reading your thoughts, compliments are certainly not required, lol... But thanks ;) This isn't the hit for me that Ballet was, but it's still a really pretty collection. I do agree that WoOZ maybe wasn't the best choice for a Softshades collection.

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  2. Beautiful! And when I saw this collection I thought of you because of how much you loved the Ballet Collection:) Looks perfect!

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    1. Thanks, friend :) The Ballet collection remains unchallenged, lol.

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  3. eeeee I can't wait for this glitter topper to get to meeee! I adore this!

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    1. Yay, you got one, too! It's a really pretty, delicate glitter.

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  4. Ooooh I love love love your swatches! I have my eye on Lights of Emerald City for sure but I Theordora You is so pretty too.

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    1. It's a must have for any self-respecting pink lover, Kelly.... ;) And thank you :)

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  5. I love love I Theodora You. It's the only Oz polish I've tried so far, but I have 2 of the glitters and the rest of the minis to test out.

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    1. I really like it, too. Kind of wishing I'd gotten th regular size of this rather than the mini set, lol.

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  6. This combination looks great on you! I had some trouble distributing the glitters evenly in Lights too, but I think yours came out great. :-)

    ~ Yun

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    1. Thank you, Yun :) It sriously took forever to get it to look like this, lol.

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  7. Whoa sis, this is beautiful!!! And how wonderful that you joined the Glitter Band!!! I was reminded of myself when starting out using glitter - I got close to an OCD attack in trying to get bigger glitters evenly distributed on my nails. These days I like them a bit more randomly spread on the nail (mind you, I loath clusters), and I usually have a toothpick or my rosewood stick close by when applying glitter with chunkier pieces. I simply pick them with the toothpick from the brush and apply them where I want them. However this still doesn't save me from fishing ;-) xxx

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    1. I was having trouble getting any of these on myy nail at all. I don't mind clusters too much, at least it's something. I do think this needs the ol' stick to optimize glitter visibility. It's amazing to me how there's a learning curve to everything in his hobby, including using glitter polishes. xxx back atcha :)

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  8. I really, really love I Theodora You! It's the next one I'd pick up from this collection. But Lights of Emerald City seems a bit too off for me, and too much work. I have When Monkeys Fly - haven't used it yet though, but I know if I'm just wanting a quick and easy mani, I don't want to go and fish for glitters and place them correctly.

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    1. I'm tempted to pick up When Monkeys Fly and just deal with it, lol. It can't possibly be any more difficult to work with than Lights. But yeah, I'm not going to reach for it unless I really, really want to wear it.

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  9. I saw a swatch of OPI's "I Theodora You" and "Witch is Which" on another blog and knew I had to have both. I'm not a glitter lover at all, but this particular swatch made me head straight to Ulta the next day and purchase both. I'm wearing that combo today and I am slam in LOVE with both of them! Dare I say, I may be opening up to glitters because of "Witch is Which?"

    I really like your swatch of "I Theodora You" and "Lights of Emerald City." I don't feel compelled to get "Lights of Emerald City" though because I like "Witch is Which" so much.

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    1. I almost got Witch is Which! I honestly think all the glitters in this collection are really pretty, and that one's the only one that hasn't received any complaints. Manicurator swatchd it over What Wizardry is This with a topcoat and it looks really cool. Worth checking out, and makes me want it even more, lol. I wish the mini set had included a glitter and not all three jellies.

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  10. Oh man I've been on the fence about the glitters in this collection. They're unique and pretty but I feel like I would hardly ever use them!

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    1. Yeah, I'm not sure how versatile this one is. I think it's probably best over jellies, but that's where experimentation comes in, I suppose, lol, and I don't have much patience for things I don't already know will look good.

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  11. These are gorgeous together! I Theodora You is just so delicate and beautiful anyway!

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    1. I know :) I kind of wish I'd gotten the full sized ITY instead of the minis.

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  12. This was the one glitter I really liked from the collection (though I still haven't picked it up) but it's not really surprising that it's sort of a pain. Love the look you have here-- delicate and unique.

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    1. Thank you! I definitely want to use it again, when I have the time to dedicate to fishing and delicate placement, lol. i think you should get it. ;)

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  13. I love this delicate pink and the glitter! I don't have any sheer or even light pinks in my collection and I was just thinking the other day that I need one.
    This one looks so pretty on you that I'm pretty sure this is the one I will get!

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    1. Oh, I hope you get this one! It's definitely a standout in this collection. I bet you'd rock it :)

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  14. Perfect combination! Why don't I have this glitter? It's so lovely over that soft shade!

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    1. I think it might be a surprisingly versatile glitter, too! Like, it might be kind of pretty paired with the Zoya Gloss colors.

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