OPI Holiday In Toyland Darks & Neutrals
Toy land, toy land
Li-ittle girl and boy land
While you dwell within it
You are ever happy there
-Toyland lyrics by Victor Herbert
Blocks, Nutcrackers, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs. Visions of old school playthings dance through my head at the mention of the word Toyland.
I think of the workshop from Santa Claus The Movie starring John Lithgow and the late Dudley Moore. Tell me, I’m not the only one who remembers it. How I wanted to play in that toy shop with all the wooden handmade presents. And who didn’t want to be one of the elves? Living off sugary treats, spending their days singing, dancing and playing. What a life, no?
However, even though OPI’s Holiday in Toyland collection has an old time-y theme, the colors are anything but. Suzi has totally hit the mark with the Darks & Neutrals. So on trend with the grays and metallics. Totally “me” right now!
You’re A Doll! – Is a pinkish nude shimmer with very subtle reddish sparkles sprinkled throughout. Not really my deal.
“Sheer” Your Toys! – Is the color I was most excited for. I’m on board with any light gray and this one, with it’s slightly pink tint, is pretty neutral. The only issue, the application. Hello problem child! It was kind of thick and didn’t flow very well. For a polish with the word “sheer” in the title I’m sure this baby wasn’t meant to be worn opaque but I wasn’t feeling it. So three coats later and you get a great opaque, slightly silvery gray.
Glamour Game – is champagne metallic duochrome. In the bottle the shade looks more pewter and on the nail, more gold. Unique but, like most metallics, not the easiest to apply.
Brand New Skates – is an oddball gray sparkler. Its jelly-like formula spreads like the China Glaze glass flecked polishes though it isn’t overly opaque so you need three coats. The micro-glitter give off a warm cast to what would normally be a smokey gray.
Play ‘Til Midnight – well what would an OPI collection be without a dark blue? It seems like Suzi just can’t resist the blues. This one is a jeweled burple with fine pink, purple and blue shimmer. Very similar to Russian Navy. The only difference is in the base color. While RN’s base is blue-green like Glacier Bay Blues, Play ‘Til Midnight is a deep cornflower.
Baby It’s “Coal” Outside! – is my 2nd runner up for best of the collection (behind “Sheer” Your Toys!). I was expecting it to be just another black/gunmetal shimmer. But there’s something about how opaque and pigmented the color is despite the high level of shimmer and multi-colored micro-glitter that attracts me.
The OPI Holiday In Toyland Collection hits shelves tomorrow, October 1st. You can find OPI in salons and stores like JC Penney, ULTA, Trade Secret and online at 8ty8Beauty.com and Head2ToeBeauty.com
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Ha! Santa Claus: The Movie is one of my all-time fave holiday films. I read the novelisation of it to death when I was a kid, too.
I love Baby it’s Coal Outside, Brand New Skates, and Play til Midnight!
Not to be snarky, but Brand New Skates is pewter. Pewter (the color) is a dark metallic gray, and has nothing copper or goldish about the hue at all. Chanel’s Kaleidoscope and OPI’s Sheer Your Toys are not in the pewter color vein.
As always, your swatches are the best!
… and I totally meant Glamour Game and not Sheer Your Toys.
The Rotund – Yay, another SC: The Movie fan!
Firepail – I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. Pewter is made of tin (a light silver metal), copper and antimony which makes it a lighter metallic with a slightly warm/worn feel. A dark metallic gray would be considered gunmetal.
I know what pewter consists of, but what it is made of is not what defines the color. Sterling silver has copper in it but it doesn’t look copper-like at all.
[not for anything, but I am a metalsmith by trade]
Sheer Your Toys is beautiful! I’m an NC35-40 so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pull it off.
Do you happen to know if “Baby it’s Coal Outside” is similar to Sephora by OPI’s “Never Enough Shoes”?
Thanks!
I really want the Brand New Skates polish..so pretty!
I know I'm overthinking this… but after the somewhat somber "France" collection and now this one – a HOLIDAY collection of mostly subdued shades – are OPI's latest colors at all influenced by ( or reflective of) the current economic conditions in the U.S? Or do they just reflect current fashion?
I know it's a minority opinion, but their colors lately have just been too murky & somber for me (for the most part).
Just a thought.
I agree with firepail about Brand New Skates. That looks like pewter to me too (I own a lot of pewter).
I have to say Cincy, the few times you have responded to people’s posts, you tend to do it to make yourself look smarter than others. I used to enjoy your blog, but after months of self promotion, and the fact that you don’t respond to most of your readers’ questions, or respond with a defensive tone, I won’t be following your posts any more.
I am totally UNDERwhelmed by this collection. Period.
Brand New Skates & "Sheer" Your Toys look fabulous!
I also love the toy block display theme
I have already placed my order and am most excited about “Sheer” Your Toys and Baby It’s “Coal” Outside and after seeing your pics I am even more excited, thanks!
You’re not the only one that remembers Santa Claus: The Movie. It’s my favorite holiday movie. In fact I SEARCHED for it on DVD. Love it and watch it every year!
i’ll be getting you’re a doll, “sheer” your toys!, and brand new skates.
I love how critical comments (I don’t mean you, firepail) are always left by “anonymous” commentors.
Patty – I looked at BICO next to Never Enough Shoes and NES has gold shimmer and BICO doesn’t. They base colors are different as well. I’ll have to look at them a little closer for you.
Tammy – Great choice
Laundry – That’s a unique way of looking at it. I agree, the color palettes have been more subdued. Though considering how fun the Mod Brights were this past summer, it could just be a fashion thing. But you never know how Suzi’s mind works.
Anon #1 – You’re entitled to you opinion. If you don’t like my blog or how I respond, then you shouldn’t waste your time reading it. I post for the people that enjoy what I have to say. But you could at least bother to ID yourself instead of hiding in anonymity. I’m happy to hear criticism from people that aren’t afraid to say it to my face.
Katee – Maybe the reds will appeal to you instead
Palacinka – Aren’t the blocks adorable? I would totally put them on display in my polish room
VampyVarnish – Oh fun choices. I hope you love them. BICO may be my next pedi.
Anon #2 – I’m so glad the reference wasn’t lost on everyone. I really should get it on DVD. I love holiday movies, even the cheesy ones.
AshleyDanielle4 – Excellent picks. BNS is unique.
The Rotund – Isn’t that always the way? What can ya do?
thank you so much for the response!
BTW, ever since I’ve discovered your website, I’ve become more of a polish addict! So, much that I hunted down Chanel’s Kaleidoscope and luckily, they found ONE (around the Bay Area), so that’ll be coming to my house soon!
Thanks again for your great reviews and input on all the new collections!
Baby it’s coal outside looks just like Pure Ice’s Electric to me :S
Pure ice is $2 tho…
I want *Give Me the Moon* and *Brand New Skates*.
oh my, you have just made my night! knowing they'll be available at B&M stores tomorrow means I will own them by the end of the week! woohooo! great swatches, I already know I want just about all of them just by your photos!
Do you know when the Essie winter collection will be released?
Since this seems to be “Hate On Cincy Day” I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for your tireless work and swatching. I have never felt that your responses were “self promoting” and I gladly defer to your wisdom, especially when you are looking at the bottle and I haven’t seen it first hand yet.
And I also think that if a person feels strongly enough about your blog to post a nasty comment, the least that person can do is own it – leave a name and maybe a way for you to contact him or her personally and privately.
Thanks again, Cincy! Rest assured, Head2Toe is glad I found your blog. And so am I.
Melanie in NC
It must be something in the water. A few days ago someone took The Polish Addict to the mat about her stand against “eBay scalpers.” So you’re not alone in the trenches!
I got Baby it’s coal outside on Friday last week and it arrived Monday morning. I too thought it would be just a gunmetal/sparkling black but it’s so much more, it just shimmers endlessly and is really deeply pigmented, which I love
I also got Emerald Sparkle, finally (I blame you for this diseased craving of Emerald Sparkle!! 
) LOVE your blog, your nails are so nice!
If I’ve got Zoya Freja, do I need Brand New Skates? That’s what I can’t decide.
just for the record, I wasn’t hating on anyone… I was trying to clarify color descriptions as we look to you for accurate descriptions of colors the rest of us have not seen yet so we know what to buy/covet.
as the pewter description was used multiple times in the wrong way, I was trying to help.
pewter, the color and the metal, is a warm metallic medium to dark gray. german silver is a goldish silver color (like Kaleidoscope). gunmetal is a dark, almost black metallic gray. I work with metals every day and hold degrees in metalsmithing and color theory, so I felt equipped to comment in order to help, not slam anyone.
TYFP the comparison of BICO to RW AND WOAS. My lemming was killed for RW, and BICO is diff enough from WOAS (which I already own) to justify purchasing BICO! LOL. I really want a light gray (already have MoM) but MoM is too light and ChG Recycle is too dark. SYT seems right where I want it to be!
Patty, I totally agree. This site has made me even more of a polish addict. At least it enables us to make better choices.
I really like Sheer Your Toys but the fact that you called it a problem child scares me. I’ve purchased WAY to many sheers that don’t work for me -poor application, streaking, etc.
Brand New Skates totally looks like OPI’s Mystic Moonshine that I puchased several yrs ago and still have in my collection.
oooh i love these! can’t wait til they’re up on 8ty8 so i can get like…4 bottles
Beautiful swatches! Would you compare “Sheer” Your Toys to the OPI Sephora polish Run With It?
Thank you for this! I always really appreciate your posts because the you do great comparisons with colors I usually already have :D. Are you planning to do the other half?
Also, I think of the color Pewter that same way you do Cincy, but what do I know. And if Pewter has a warm cast, then it must have some sort of copper or bronze in it, right??? Because grey alone can not have a warm cast. I could be wrong.
I would like to see Play til Midnight swatched near Who Are You Wearing
As always – AMAZING swatches! I have been looking forward to these SOOOO much!
The four I had ear-marked for purchase were Sheer Your Toys, Brand New Skates, Play til Midnight and Baby its Coal Outside.
The only one I am now slightly iffy about is SYT – I’m afraid it may be too pale for my skin tone. I had the same problem with Moon over Mumbai and ended up pouring in 1/4 of a bottle of Black Onyx to achieve the sort of grey I had hoped it would be!
Firepail said: I would like to see Play til Midnight swatched near Who Are You Wearing.
I would like to see that comparison too and also PTM next to Yoga-ta Get this Blue.
Oh, and on another note – what is up with the negative energy and mean posts?
I love this blog, sure I come here mainly for the swatches, but I also enjoy articles like NY Fashion Week, Celebrity Nail Watches and just how renowned this blog is becoming. I don’t feel it is self-promotion at all. Wouldn’t we all love it if something we created became a world-wide sensation? Kudos to you Michelle, for doing and achieving something we all dream about!
Thanks for sharing this awesome collection of nail polish. Specially, You’re A Doll, “Sheer” Your Toys and Stars in My Eyes are looking soo sweet.
Thanks for the pics, Cincy! Too bad about Sheer Your Toy’s consistency — it looks like a great color. I can’t wait to try Brand New Skates and Play ’til Midnight!
Brand New Skates looks so much like the old Mystic Moonstone to me!
Thanks for the fab photos!
Patti
I love your swatches, and as usual, many lemmings are born. I have been enjoying your blog for months now, and love that you post on anything nail-related, including the fashion shows. Keep up the great work and who cares what the haters say!
Laudry has got me thinking – OPI’s subdued colors this fall definitely suit the fashions, which are themselves rather somber – and the fashions, in my opinion, follow the current economic and political mood.
P.S. All Lacquered Up is my favourite beauty blog!
All colours from Holiday In Toyland are wonderful but could you post some photos also about Fall 2008 Designer Series?
Wow, we have the same thoughts about “Sheer” Your Toys!. To me, it looks ‘ugly’ sheer. I enjoy it being opaque.
P.S. Thinking of getting Baby, It’s “Coal” Outside. (:
this collection is by far my favorite OPI collection i mean i bought a lot of india but this one i actually love the colors i got
i have
glamour game
brand new skates
baby its coal outside
sheer your toys
red hot gift
girls just want to play
how come you didnt swatch the reds?
I happen to be surfing on the net additional than 3 hours today, nevertheless I in no way found any exciting article like yours. It
what the level of similarlity between Babay It’s Coal Outside and My Private Jet?