The last time I made an order from Sephora, I decided that it was time to branch out a little from drugstore brands of nail polish, and give OPI a try.  I’d read a good deal of positive things about the brand on the web, and it ended up living up to it’s rep.

While I seriously toyed with getting Leaf Him at the Altar (metallic vine green), I kind of wimped out and played it safe in the shade selection. I gravitate toward burgundies, and I stayed true to that by going with Because I Said So (metallic burgundy).

You’ll have to overlook the sloppiness around the edges; I am far from being a nail pro.  I really liked the shade, it has a depth to it, but not so deep that the metallic effect gets lost.  Though I probably could have gotten by with one thick coat, I went with two medium ones.  I’m not the most patient person in the world when it comes to letting polish air dry, but this had a reasonable dry time.  The coverage was good too, and it went on smoothly.

The day that I applied this, I didn’t have time to put a top coat on, and by Day 3, when I remembered, I decided it was too late.   By Day 4, I had chipping, so the next time I use it, I’ll try doing the entire  base and top coat routine to see how it lasts.

Pros:  Great color depth and saturation.  The applicator brush was on the long and slender side, and I liked that.

Cons:  I had a little sticker shock, but compared to drugstore brands, $9 a bottle isn’t bad.  It was enough to push me over the $50 free shipping mark, and I am always in favor of that.   I would have liked to have seen it last a couple more days without chipping.  Granted, I did not top coat it.  But I wear gloves to do the dishes, so other than showering, it wasn’t  exposed to any harsh treatment.

Bottom Line:  I would buy this shade again, and will be trying some of the other shades.

I’ve had some requests to do some swatches of my MAC pigment collection.  It’s a small-ish collection, but still growing.  I have kind of become addicted to them, and I love dabbling around, trying different ways of blending them.

Since I will never use a full jar in this lifetime, I keep some for me, and sell the rest in 1/4 teaspoon sample sizes.  If you want to see what each shade looks like in the container, the description, collection, etc,  you can check them out here.

I tried keeping the lighting consistent from picture to picture; hopefully I was successful with that.  This is my first attempt at doing swatches, so comments and constructive criticism are very welcome.   You can click the image for a slightly larger version.

I can tell you that sometime between now and the end of the year, I will be giving a lucky someone a sample of each of these shades.  So keep an eye out for that announcement.

Cocomotion and Aire-de Blu are a couple of my personal favorites.

Fairylite is gorgeous, but hard for me to really capture in a picture.

Here’s a close-up that will maybe help give you a better idea.

Golden Lemon is very versatile, and I use it a lot when playing around.

From just looking at the jars, I didn’t think that Kitschmas and Helium were as close shade-wise as that they are.  I think Helium is prettier, but Kitschmas could certainly dupe for it.

Mmmmmm….Pink Opal.  It’s soooooooo prettiful!

This batch has a couple of glitters.

Vanilla seems to be a very popular shade, based on the orders I get for it.

And here’s the last of the lot…

That’s it for now.   Talk soon, and remember to Celebrate Beautiful You!!!