Tag Archives: dusty pastels

Beauty Spot: OPI Steady As She Rose nail polish review

Posted on January 3, 2012 | 4 Comments

Aharrr me hearties! Yes, you’ve guessed it; I’m still slowly making my way through OPI’s Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection and today it’s the turn of OPI Steady As She Rose to join her mates Stranger Tides, Mermaid’s Tears and Planks-A-Lot on-board the good ship Through The Looking Glass!

The Pirates Of The Caribbean set is one of my favourite OPI collections… well, ever, really. I know a lot of people out there weren’t impressed that the colours were so un-Jack Sparrow like, but its range of dusty creamy pastels totally did the business for me – pirate-appropriate or not!

Steady As She Rose is no exception – although I’ll admit I didn’t expect to fall in love with it quite as much as I did! Pink has never been my favourite nail polish colour and I assumed this would be yet another boring pastel designed for the French mani and blushing brides market… but instead, what I got was an unexpectedly-beautiful and delicate lilac-leaning pale pink that had me smitten in seconds.

The other reason Steady As She Rose made quite such a speedy pirouette into my heart was its formula. OPIs can be a bit hit or miss in my books yet there is no denying how wonderful Steady As She Rose was; a beautiful glossy smooth finish, a stunning self-levelling formula and a dreamy opacity in two quick and easy coats. It’s worth noting that this was pretty much the case with all the Pirates polishes – scarily streaky first coat turns into lush creamy even colour by the second… so don’t be fooled by first impressions!

This is absolutely the kind of nail polish I love encountering – one that not only looks utterly gorgeous but actually surpasses your expectations. It’s a versatile mainstream colour, but thanks to that pretty lilac-leaning hue and dreamy dusty quality, just a touch unusual too.

Steady As She Rose is a delicate dusty delight, the colour of purple sweet peas or phloxs blowing in the breeze. Feminine but not overly girlie, this is the kind of pink I could definitely get on-board with! Who’s a Pretty Polly, then?!

Looks good with: florals, dusty pastels, ballerinas
Drying time: 3-5 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: +5 days

OPI Steady As She Rose, Summer 2011 Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection, $70, Cher2

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Beauty Spot: OPI Stranger Tides nail polish review

Posted on September 29, 2011 | 3 Comments

OPI’s Summer 2011 Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection has to be one of my favourites of all-time. A cohesive range of dusty pastels, it may not have exactly screamed summer… or indeed pirates… yet it totally floated my boat – or should that be galleon?! And Stranger Tides was no exception!

Stranger Tides is a greyed-out pistachio, a soft pale ghost of khaki, a murky sorbet sea-foam. It’s a dreamy creamy love of a dusky pastel and there’s something about it that feels really breezy and spring-like, yet it can also feel cool and autumnal too. It’s really versatile, neutral enough to work well with other nudes (and be office-friendly) yet also as a refreshing palette-cleanser to bright pops of colours (I wore it with Essie’s Your Hut Or Mine, a bright honeysuckle, and it looked gorgeous). In short, it’s one of those interesting trans-seasonal transitional shades that are always a winner.

Not that this was a view shared by anyone. Whilst I keep studying my glossy creamy talons and screaming AMAZING every few seconds, my boyfriend thought it looked ‘plain’. Admittedly, this is probably because his brain has been addled by my normally wearing polishes like this or this yet he just didn’t get the appeal.

The formula was a dream. After an initially worrying thin and streaky first coat, the second applied like butter, becoming richly opaque and (in what is possibly my favourite aspect of OPI polishes) self-levelled out beautifully. [In that respect, OPI makes application really easy, although as you all know by now, I still find their brushes to fat for my diddly nails.] Smooth, glossy, creamy, gorgeous – it’s no wonder that it’s the third time I’m using most of those words in this review. The finish was as perfect for a crème as you could ever hope for.

What I love most about Stranger Tides – and trust me, it was hard to decide on just one factor! – is how it’s simultaneously modern yet retro. These kind of grungy dusty shades are still edgy in the polish-world and I adored this pastel take on the trend, yet it’s also a colour that probably exists as a Formica table-top in some 50s diner. Which just makes me love it more.

So Stranger Tides makes it for three for three hits in the Pirates Collection so far. It’s super-elegant, super-fresh and super-glossy… just super really!

Looks good with: other dusty shades, neutrals, bright colours (i.e. everything)
Drying time: 5-7 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: 3 days

OPI, Stranger Tides, Summer 2011 Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection, $70, Cher2

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