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Saturday, 8 December 2018

OPI The Nutcracker And The Four Realms Collection - Swatches & Review


The holiday season is in full swing and it really isn't the holidays without the OPI holiday collection.  I know that this collection has been around for a little while now and you have probably already seen plenty of swatches and read lots of reviews but I thought I would share my thoughts on the Nutcracker And Four Realms Collection anyway.  This collection contains fifteen polishes with various finishes and is limited edition.  For my Aussie readers, I believe the glitters aren't available here.  I ordered all of the polishes from a US site.


Berry Fairy Fun is a medium purple with pink and purple shimmer.  This is one of the polishes that spoke to me when I first seeing this collection.  I think the colour is so beautiful.  The formula iseasy to work with, however it does apply a little unevenly.  I used three coats for my swatch, but you can get away with two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
Black To Reality is a blackened red shimmer.  I think that this is such a great shade, especially for winter.  I do wish that I had some better lighting to show off the shimmer in this one.  It is really pretty.  The formula is great and is opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box (with flash)
Candied Kingdom is a bright red creme.  This is one of those expected shades when it comes to a holiday collection.  I think it's good shade if you like reds (especially for the holidays).  The formula is great and applies beautifully.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box
Dancing Keeps Me On My Toes is a pearly white.  I found that this one is quite sheer so I decided to layering it over black.  As expected, this one does have visible brush strokes. My swatch shows one coat over black.

Picture taken in light box
Dazzling Dew Drops is a gold metallic with gold shimmer.  This one is quite sheer, especially on the first coat.  It's easy to use and applies evenly.  I did find that this one was quite slow drying.  For my swatch I used three coats.

Picture taken in light box
Dreams Need Clara-fication is a light periwinkle blue creme.  Now this shade is right up my alley.  Surprisingly I don't have anything in my OPI collection remotely similar to this.  Do OPI not do periwinkles or do I just not own any?  Anyway, this colour is gorgeous!  The formula is a little uneven on the first coat but evens out on the second coat.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Dreams On A Silver Platter is a mix of silver and white glitters of various sizes in a clear base.  I'm not sure if this polish can be built up to be opaque - I think that this will come down to a personal preference.  I think it makes for a great glitter topper though.  I used one coat over Dreams Need Clara-fication.  I really like this combination. 

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
Envy The Adventure is an emerald green creme.   The formula of this one is awesome.  You could easily get away with one coat.  This one isn't a type of colour that I would normally wear, however I think it would be great for nail art.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box
Ginger's Revenge is a deep red creme.  Now if I was to do a red creme, then this is the type of red that I go for.  This one is also really glossy (even before applying top coat).  The formula is great and it is opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box
Gold Key To The Kingdom is a mix of gold and white glitters of various sizes in a clear base.  Like with Dreams On A Silver Platter I'm not sure if this one can really be built up or not.  I used it as a topper (one coat) over OPI March In Uniform.  This isn't a favourite glitter of mine but as you can see it has a great glitter payoff.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
I Pull The Strings is a mix of rose gold and gold glitters of various sizes in a clear base.  I do like the mix of the golds over the deep red.  I think it's quite pretty.  Again, I'm not sure if this one will build up to be opaque or not.  I used one coat over Ginger's Revenge.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box
Lavendare To Find Courage is a light lavender creme.  I love this one!  It's such a great colour.  It also looks awesome mattified (you'll see that mani at some point in the near future).  The formula is great and is opaque in two coats.

Picture taken in light box
March In Uniform is a navy blue creme.  I love this one too.  I think I would prefer it on shorter nails, but either way the colour is still pretty.  The formula is also fantastic.  You could easily get away with one coat.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box
Tinker, Thinker, Winker? is a silver holographic glitter.  I love, love, love this one!  It's soooooo pretty and so holo!  My pictures don't do it justice at all.  I'm not sure if this one is meant to be a topper or not but I did find it quite sheer on the first coat, so I decided to layer it over black.  My swatch shows one coat over black.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken in overcast sunlgiht

Picture taken in overcast sunlight
Toying With Trouble is cool toned pink creme.  I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I really like this one.  I think it is a really nice pink and the formula is fantastic.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box
Wow!  This is definitely one of the biggest collections that I have swatched and reviewed in quite some time.  It's a great collection though.  While there are a few shades that I personally don't care for, overall the formulas are great and the colour range is good too.  My personal favourites are Tinker, Thinker, Winker?, Berry Fairy Fun, Dreams Need Clara-fication, Lavendare To Find Courage and March In Uniform.  There is also a few more that I really like as well but I'm not going to name them all.

What do you think of OPI's Holiday Collection for this year?  Which shades did/are you going to pick up?

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