Review: OPI x Mariah Carey Holiday/Winter 2013 Collection – Part I (Cremes & Shimmers)

Product Review

My favorite time of year is here, and ’tis the season to be jolly—and load up on festive nail polish! Why should the decorations get all the shimmer and glitter when you have a set of nails that need some holiday cheer? Mariah Carey, who knows a thing or two about celebrating Christmas, teamed back up with OPI to create a beautiful Holiday/Winter 2013 line filled with shades and gleaming textures to make sure you take a bit of the holidays everywhere you go.

The OPI crew sent me the collection to review, and after I did an elf-tastic happy dance, I got to work on swatching it–while jamming to Mariah’s Christmas albums, mind you. This collection has 18 polishes (Note: Not including the Pure 18K Gold & Silver Top Coat – $30, Ulta), which proved to be too hefty to fit in one post without overwhelming you all, so I broke it into three.

First up: the CREMES & SHIMMER formulas, but make sure you check out the GLITTERS and LIQUID SANDS!

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Sleigh Ride For Two – Described as a “dark hot chocolate”, I’d say it’s more of a shimmery maroon. While the shimmer seems to be more in the bottle than on the nail, I LOVE the color. The formula was great, and could almost be a one coat polish.

All I Want For Christmas (is OPI) – Another great red for this time of year, a classic really. The formula was a bit thin but great coverage with almost only one coat. However, I used two coats just to even them all out.

Visions of Love – Is a vampy burgundy crelly, which is basically a jelly creme polish. It’s great if you’re into dark colors. The formula was pretty thin, and because of that I used almost 3 coats. Warning: This one stains a bit, so use a good base coat.

Cute Little Vixen – OPI describes this as a “deep red violet”, but I don’t see it at all. I’d say it’s more of a magenta than red. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful color with great shimmer–but, it’s not red.

In My Santa Suit – I love, love, LOVE this! The perfect ‘holiday red’, and has just the right amount of shimmer to wear during the season. The formula was wonderful and went on completely smooth and even. However, just like with all reds, there was a bit of staining with removal.

Warm Me Up – This was nothing like I thought it would be, and I love it! It’s almost a ‘chocolate charcoal’ with a pearl like shimmer, if you can imagine that. Seriously, it’s very beautiful.

VERDICT: Overall, my favorites of the creme and shimmer shades would definitely be “In My Santa Suit”, which I think is a MUST red for every collection and “Warm Me Up”, because it’s one of the most unique shades in the bunch and it’s very pretty. My least favorite would be “Cute Little Vixen”, mostly because I know that while many try to incorporate different colors into the holidays, this isn’t the best shade to get a ‘Pink Christmas’. I could think of other colors that would better fit in with a holiday-winter theme, a blue creme for Hanukkah or a ‘Blue Christmas’, a green or shimmering vivid tan-brown as a nod to gingerbread.

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OPI is available at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer.

Product Review