Nicole by OPI Shades To Crave Collection Holiday 2010

Nicole's Holiday / Winter collection this year is really, really good. I never used to pay much attention to Nicole but lately they're making such amazing polishes that I can't ignore them! Now only if they would do something about that horrible bottle...




Call Me Classy. Only two colors in this collection that don't wow me and this is one of them. Not that it's bad, it's just very common. It's a very cool toned red or perhaps a very dark pink with some violet shimmer.




Fell From The Tree. Dude. Are you seeing this? Rich awesome amazing leafy green metallic! Not a foil, not really a frost, but a really nice metallic green shimmer. Very happy about this one!



Glitz and Glisten. Sheer fuchsia-purple glitter in a clear base. Very small delicate particles, not big chunky ones. This is three coats and there's a little visible nail line still. This is actually really similar to Nubar Petunia Sparkle, which was also gorgeous.





Grant My Wish. ...And stop making these wretched frosty granny mauves! This is a very frosty, silvery, shiny mauve pink. Moving on...




Midnight Snowfall. This is a confusing color. When I first wore it, it was night time and I saw it under artificial light and it was clearly purple. It was the most amazing vibrant blue-toned purple! But then when I saw it in the daylight it was totally blue. I'm not sure what color this actually is. Blue? Purple? Who knows. It's hot either way.



Mis-Magenta Me? I don't get this name. Is it 'Miss Me'? Where does the 'magenta' part come from? Mis-magenta? Anyway. This is a really pretty pink foil. I suppose I could call it magenta. Deep pink on a silver foil base.




Pitch-Black Glimmer. Amazing. I'm in awe of this one. You don't see many black glitters these days... I can't think of more than one or two current shades with black glitter. And for a color that is known for looking dull as glitter, this sure sparkles. It's great layered but I like it best alone. It's not pure black, though. It's larger black particles with some smaller, finer silver and holographic particles. Though I'm not sure if they're fully holo or just opal-iridescent, they're so small and subtle it's hard to tell.



Sensational Scarlet. Sensational is right. It's über-glitter. Red-pink tinted base, reddish glitter, iridescent glitter, all different sizes. This is a lot like Massini (now known as Studio M) Slamming Red but not as sparkly and iridescent. Same texture, too, like oatmeal.



Such A Go-Glitter. Medium sized round vibrant blue glitter and tiny silver and holo glitter in a clear base. This is a sheer glitter, great for layering, but can also be worn alone. This is three coats and you can see that it's still pretty sheer. Four coats would have been better, I think.



The Grape Debate. Very nice soft plum purple creme. Less blue toned in real life, as always. Actually looks purple on the nail, unlike the Ulta one I bought that looks like this but turns near-black on the nail.



Tip Of The Iceberg. Sheer silver glitter in a clear base. Nothing particularly noteworthy about this one. It's nice, but it's not unique. Good for layering. Nice and sparkly and shiny.



Twist Of Fate. Super dense gold plate glitter. Wow, I was not expecting it to look like this! I thought it would be another sheer layering glitter, but it isn't! It's really bold. Gives the most amazing gold-plated look on your nails. Really rich shade of gold too, it looks a lot better in real life.


This collection is a little glitter-rich, and glitters are nice for layering over other colors, so I want to show how they look layered:

One coat each over one coat of Illamsqua Boosh, with topcoat.
Left to right
Pitch Black Glimmer
Such A Go-Glitter
Twist Of Fate
Glitz and Glisten

One coat over one coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Underwear, with topcoat.
Left to right
Glitz and Glisten
Twist of Fate
Such A Go-Glitter
Pitch Black Glimmer

And here's how a couple of them look over shades from the collection:

Glitz and Glisten over Mis-Magenta Me?


Twist Of Fate over Fell From The Tree.

The formula on these was varied but good. The non-glitters were smooth and pigmented. The glitters were good except for Sensational Scarlet which is super thick and if you're not into that sort of thing you may need to thin it before use. I did three coats of all just for my own sanity, some didn't need all three, some did. Drying time was nice and fast.


Overall, awesome collection. I flipped out when I saw it. It has black glitter!!!! What more could I ask for from a holiday collection? Seriously, who does black for holiday? That scores major points with me. Great glitters, great 'other' shades, only one real dud (the gross frosty mauve).

I've been seeing Nicole at more and more places lately- Meijer, Target, Ulta, Wal-Mart... So it's becoming easier to find. I think this collection may be Target exclusive since that's the only place I've seen it. I could be wrong! But so far, only Target seems to have this in stock.

(These were sent to me for review.)