Opallac Gel Polish Mixed Swatches & Review

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Today I have a completely different post for you.  Well maybe it's not completely different as it is still nail polish, but today I have gel polishes from Opallac Gel Polish to share with you.  I was sent a seventeen polishes to swatch so I have decided to split them into two posts.  The second part I'll post probably in a couple of weeks, as I'll need the time to swatch them still (gels definitely take me longer to swatch than regular polish).  Today I have nine of the polishes to share with you.

I haven't ever tried gel polishes that require a lamp to set them so this has definitely been a bit of a learning curve for me, and a very steep learning curving at that.  I spent the first three days (and countless hours) trying different ways of applying the polishes so that they didn't bubble on me.  From shaking the bottle (which you are instructed to do to ensure the polish is mixed) and not shaking to bottle, I tried thin coats, medium coats and thick coats and it was nothing but frustration.  I asked around and apparently no one had experienced this so I emailed Opallac to see if they could help.  Turns out there must have sent a faulty top coat so I used the back up bottle I had.  Did that help?  Yes, kind of.  I still do get bubbling in the polishes (including the top coat) but not as bad as the original few days.

As I mentioned using these gel polishes has definitely been a learning curve for me.  If you apply them like a regular polish they pool and slide off the nail and are an absolute pain to clean up.  I found if you applied them too thin then they bubble like crazy and you have to use multiple brush strokes to try and get the bubbles out.  From what I can gather I seem to be the only person who has experienced this issue, so I am going to guess that it must be a body chemistry thing that is causing them to bubble on me.

Each of these polishes need to be cured for 90 seconds under the UV lamp.  I did notice that the lamp does cause the polish to shrink/move a little so I definitely recommend wrapping you tips so it's as bad.  Once the polishes are cured you can't do any form of clean up (which personally was driving me nuts!) so I do apologize that I don't have nice clean lines on some of my swatches.  

Right I think that about sums up my experience so let's take a look at the swatches shall we?

24 Carats is a gold glitter in a clear base.  This polish didn't come with a label attached so I am taking a bit of a guess that this is the name.  Now I am not sure if this is designed as a glitter topper or is meant to be worn alone.  I decided to swatch it by itself, because why not?  This is super sparkly so I would suggest avoiding driving with sunlight because you may get blinded.  My swatch shows three coats.

Appletini is a pastel green creme.  This one does apply quite unevenly and needed three coats to even out.  I think it is a pretty colour.  I used three coats for my swatch.

Babes In Bondi is a pastel peach creme with a very subtle shimmer.  I used three coats for my swatch.

French Affair is a white creme.  You can never go wrong with white nails. This one is nice and opaque and only needed two coats to be opaque.  I did notice that this one came off slightly when applying the top coat (you could see white on the top coat brush).

Go Gaga is a fluro pink.  This one is quite sheer in colour.  I used four coats for my swatch and still had a slight visible nail line.  I think this one would be better over a white base.

Popsicle is a bright purple creme.  I think this is such a pretty colour.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Scarlet is a watermelon creme.  This one actually surprised me.  I thought it was going to be a red (the labelling looks red and the name suggests red to me).  I used three coats for my swatch.

Strawberries & Cream is a thermal polish that shifts from a cream colour to a pink.  This definitely quite interesting to watch.  When you apply it, it starts as pink but immediately changes to cream once it is on the nails.  Even with my long nails the polish remained in the warm state.  To get to show the pink I needed to ice the tips.  I should point out that it wasn't particularly hot when I swatched this one either.  I think they are just very reactive.  My swatch shows three coats.

True Blue is a blue creme.  I really like the colour of this one.  My swatch shows two coats.

I haven't actually worn any of these polishes for more than 24 hours so I can't comment on their wearability.  They are designed to last up to fourteen days which is great if you don't switch up your polish often.  For someone like me who switches up their nails on a daily basis, I don't think these are worth the extra effort (especially seems I get some bubbling as well) it is to apply these and then to remove them.  My nails and cuticles certainly aren't liking how drying the remover is either.

Opallac Gel Polish are available at Priceline and from the Opallac website.