I promised you Sephora by OPI's ($OPI's) Mermaid in the Shade Collection, and here I have it!
Let's start with what's on Sephora's site. Here's the promo pic for the collection.
There are five bottles in the picture, and if you click to order the collection, five colors go in your cart. However, on the $OPI page, there are six nail polishes listed as new limited edition colors, with the sixth one being Lagoon-a Beach. So I have no idea if Lagoon-a Beach is really supposed to be in Mermaid in the Shade or not, but I've got it here.
On to the swatches! Each of these is three coats over a base photographed under artificial light. Some of the pics have an odd angle, but it was the only way to accurately capture the polish, so we'll have to live with some odd pictures.
First up is Blue Grotto, which is much more of a plain blue than the promo dot from Sephora's site indicates. Nothing special at all, really, while the dot makes it look like an improved SpaRitual Solitude. This one arrived broken, the lid cracked off at the neck, but I was so determined to get it on camera that I swatched it anyhow (that explains the clearly different $OPI I'm holding). Know that I was working around glass shards when you judge the application of this one!
Next up is Just a Fairy-Tail, which is sheerer than I'd anticipated. However, the shimmer on this one is really striking and unique, so I like it. It doesn't really look like its dot.
Now we have the one that I don't know with certainty belongs here, but wth... Lagoon-a Beach is also sheerer than I'd thought, but also has a great shimmer. This one is pretty well represented on Sephora's site.
Water Baby, the other silver in this collection, is also sheer and has a good shimmer, but had more brush stroke issues. It's much lighter than it's represented on Sephora.
Now we're up to the last two, and you know I always save my favorites for last. My second favorite is Underwater Fantasy, not as periwinkle as its dot, and a surprise. On the first coat, this one looked terribly sheer, but the color built up quite well.
And my top pick from this collection (drumroll please!) is Mermaid to Order. It's opaque and has a great flash to it. None of these pictures have been PhotoShopped (other than adding text), but this one really looks like it has been. Nope, that's just the polish! Sephora's dot doesn't indicate how cool it really is. It also has brush strokes, but the color's good enough to suffer them.
Now you can say you've seen Sephorq by OPI's Mermaid in the Shade collection!
I mentioned that my Blue Grotto broke in transit - as long as it was broken and headed for the trash, I peeled a label (eek!). It turns out that $OPIs are indeed Big Three Free. I thought so when applying, both by the application and the smell.
They all applied quite well, and I'm a fan of $OPI's bottle and brush. They're nice for how I hold things while applying nail polish - I hold the bottle in the hand I'm polishing, and this bottle is well shaped for that, the brush handle is nicely shaped to hold, and the brush itself is good. I find I like $OPIs better than OPIs for the formula, as they seem more pigmented and less watery, and I prefer the $OPI bottle and brush.
Well, that's all for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!
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