40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Brand Reviews

Day 28, OPI

Cavewoman: I was 13 years old when I received my Confirmation at my parish, and I don't remember much about it other than the perfect, long, red fingernails of my Sponsor, a kind and sweet family friend named Florence. I loved her elegant hands and I always wanted long, red nails for myself. I visited Florence in the hospital a few years ago when she was very seriously ill. She's lost her hair to her chemotherapy, but she still had her beautiful red manicure. Every time I reach for a red nail polish, I remember her with great fondness.

When it comes to red nail polishes, nobody does red better than OPI. For pales, go to Essie, for weird colors go to China Glaze, and for fun one-time-use, just head to the drugstore. But reds, reds are special, and for reds, nothing but the best will do.

OPI has a red for everyone. Warm lush reds, cool icy reds, shimmers, sparkles, and creams, a red for every skintone and occasion and whim are available with OPI. I'm Not Really A Waitress is the most successful, popular, best selling OPI color, a very dark sultry burgundy-red with beautiful shimmer. My favorite OPI red is a long-discontinued hot warm red called Louisiana Hot Sauce, it has a bit of gold shimmer to keep it warm, and it does look like a bottle of red-hot sauce! It's a tasty shade, to be sure! I love the cool cream red shade called Wanted, Red Or Alive, it borders on a fuschia. And for fun, You Rock-A-Pulco Red, super shimmery and bright. I always have the basic OPI Red on my toes during the Winter, even though they never see the light of day. I just like knowing that underneath socks and boots, I have red tootsies. Whenever OPI brings out a new collection, I hope there will be more reds to love. I think Florence would approve of my OPI reds.

Dramaqueenie2: I have hundreds of bottles of polish. OPI has become the standard to which all other salon formula polishes are compared to in my collection. In the 25 plus years that OPI has been producing polish, some remarkable colors have come and gone. Some are memorable for their cute names and others I collect for their complexity.

Ones I collect for the name include:
Ladybug - a true red creme with red microglitter
Black Magic Mountain - a deep bing cherry shimmer
Kinky in Helsinki - a a magenta shimmer that reminds me of canning beets at my grandmother's house as a child. Ever see beat juice bleed onto a white tablecloth? This is the color.
Lincoln Park at Midnight - This is a surprise recent release that is a deep plum shimmering sister to OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark creme polish.
Vampire State Building - a deep saturated blood red creme
Who Needs a Prince - a sheer milky pink with pink microglitter.
Others I admire for their color complexity include:
La Boheme - a deep berry with amber and green flashing
Sand-arella - a light purple holographic polish that mesmerizes
Day at the Peach - a delightful light peach polish that dances with prisms
Rainforest - a jungle green shimmer that captures the deep saturation level that all other green polishes seem to miss (although Nicole Jaded is a color twin and the new Rimmel Play Fast Camouflage is divine, too).
What's Dune - a whitish blue holographic polish that can be layered on top of any other polish for a holographic effect
The colors that I wear the most from this brand are Prune Danish (my favorite vampy red creme), Rose Petals (a pale pink creme that flatters my skin tone), OPI Designer Series Design (reminds me of diamonds in the sand--my favorite neutral pedi color), Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ (a deep plummy red creme), Wyatt Earple Purple (a classic neutral taupe shimmer), and Miso Happy with This Color (a ballet slipper pink opaque creme).

What are your favorite OPI shades? List your favs in the comments.

Photo: Cavewoman and Blogdorf Goodman

Disclosure: The products were purchased by the reviewers.