OPI 2012 Skyfall Collection Swatches

I don’t think I’ve ever swatched a full collection out of the gate. Usually I try to incorporate the shades into nail art. But with all the holiday collections coming out that I MUST have…I’d be sporting holiday manis through May. So I decided to try something new – show them all to you first – and then follow-up with some bedazzlin’ if the mood strikes. Let me know what you prefer.

I was excited about the OPI Skyfall Collection even before it was released. There’s a little bit of everything here…cremes, shimmers, metallics and a glitter…all inspired by 50 years of James Bond films. I’ll be showing you 10 of the 12 colors. I couldn’t bear to buy another shimmery red (see yesterday’s post!) so I skipped Die Another Day. And I’ve never been a fan of thick, metallic, frosty silvers, so I skipped Moonraker. The Collection is divided into “The Seductive Shades” and “The Dangerous Shades”. Let’s start with the Seductives.

First up is Goldeneye, the obligatory gold metallic that most fall/winter collections are sporting this year. This is more glitter than foil. And the glitter is definitely on the warm/coppery side. The formula was quite thin so I used three coats. This really is unlike any gold I have in my stash – so it’s a good add (even though I own Zoya Ziv already). It may be a little too warm for my skintone, but it’s still beautiful!

Next is You Only Live Twice. It’s an ultra-fine sparkled blue red that only required two coats. I LOVE this one. Which is no surprise since I love China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I didn’t do a formal comparison but You Only Live Twice seems to be a cooler red with finer sparkle. Both are stunning in my opinion. But I do like the OPI formula better in this case.

This next one was like deja vu. I took You Only Live Twice off and immediately applied The Spy Who Loved Me. The Spy Who Loved Me is definitely more orange…but not by a ton. The finish on these two polishes is so similar. I’m suprised both were released in the same collection. I suppose they are trying to appeal to the masses that prefer a warm red over a cool red (or vice versa) and not trying to appease the “polish collectors” like myself who will likely buy the whole collection because they can’t help it!

Here is Casino Royale, a plum-berry creme. This color is really more vampy purple in indirect light (versus my photo below). I had to use three coats because it was a bit runny for me. Casino Royale is not a super original shade. But the closest thing I had in my stash was Zoya Ciara, which is just a touch brighter.

The last Seductive Shade I have to show you is another creme, Skyfall. It’s a brown brick-red. It also required three coats. Again, this color isn’t unique, but I don’t have many brown cremes in my stockpile…so I’m happy with it.

Both polishes I skipped were part of The Seductive Shades. Here’s all six of The Dangerous Shades.

Tomorrow Never Dies is an inky, purple/blue that really stands out against the other colors in the Collection. I really like this one. It has a touch of shimmer to it and even though it’s very dark, it still reads “purple” in low light. The formula was hard to control on the first coat. I just polished veeeeery slowly. But the second coat went on very creamy and thick (???) so I stopped at that. Looking at the pics, you can see a few bald spots at the cuticle…so if I were you, I’d go for three.

The Living Daylights is the lone glitter topcoat in the Collection. I like the combination of turquoise, salmon pink, gold and silver hexes in a clear base. It’s unique. I’ve shown one dabbing coat over Skyfall and Goldeneye.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service reminded me of Zoya Fei Fei in the bottle AND on the nail. I find it amazing how color trending is so ahead of the world and yet so in sync. Obviously both the Zoya and OPI versions were in development simultaneously. And yet it’s possible for two major polish companies to release something so similar at the same time. Dupes are no surprise when it’s a staple like a variation on a red creme or a version of a pink. But On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Fei Fei are both such complex polishes: metallic/shimmer/glitter/duochrome/blue/green/purple/grey. And I love them. Really, I do. But you don’t need both. The formula is similar too. Both required three coats. So really it just comes down to which one you bought first.

Live and Let Die is a blackened forest green with gold shimmer. It’s really pigmented, like if you added gold particles to Essie Stylenomics. There must be something in the green sauce that thickens the formula because both Live and Let Die and Stylenomics were practically one coaters. I used two coats here.

And finally we have The World is Not Enough. This is very similar in finish to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. As a matter of fact, those two polishes are “sisters” just like Zoya Fei Fei and Daul. However The World is Not Enough is different from Daul. I was pleasantly surprised that it came out more of a neutral taupe with rosy tones. This is one of those rare snazzy polishes I could actually wear to the office! So big win here. My swatch is three coats.

So that’s it! I also skipped the 18K gold topcoat because I have the Zoya version (which, don’t forget…you can WIN! Just a few more days to enter!) I did pick up one of the Skyfall Magnetics, Bond…James Bond, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

Thanks for reading!

Leslie