OPI Holiday 2014 Gwen Stefani – “The Darks” Swatches & Review
OPI Holiday 2014 – Gwen Stefani
The year, OPI is flipping the script on their holiday collection, introducing not twelve but EIGHTEEN new colors for their continued collaboration with Gwen Stefani. In addition to the traditional six reds, OPI Holiday 2014, includes six metallics & glitters and six colorful darks, which I’m focusing on first. Check ‘em out!
Formula & Application
OPI nail polish is 3-free (Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP). It’s recently been brought to my attention that some colors contain Formaldehyde Resin, but not all. Since my sample bottles don’t come with retail labels, I have no idea of which shades may contain the allergen. It’s best to check the label in store before purchasing.
The OPI Pro Wide brush is flat, wide and medium in length. It’s of average stiffness and easily spreads out on the nail when pressed. The only downside to the Pro Wide brush is that it can be too wide for slim fingers or little toes.
This part of the collection includes a range of finishes including creme, shimmer and flecked smooth glitter. The cremes and smooth glitter are richly pigmented and smooth (two coats) whereas the shimmers are a little on the gloopy side. I could still make them work but they needed three coats and some finesse.
OPI Christmas Gone Plaid is a deep hunter green. It dries much darker than the bottle but is still noticeably green. I recently wore it to dinner with some girlfriends and they all loved it and wanted a bottle.
OPI Christmas Gone Plaid
OPI First Class Desires is a plummy purple with bronze gold flecked glitter. This is a dead-on dupe of JINsoon Farrago and Zoya Sansa. Like OPI Catch Me In Your Net/Zoya Charla/Orly Halley’s Comet, clearly this pigment was a big seller for fall and holiday.
OPI First Class Desires
OPI I Carol About You is a bold grape with just the tiniest hint of shimmer. It’s basically a creme with the pearly shimmer added for depth. You can only see the shimmer in bright direct light. This one is gorgeous enough to make up for any application challenges.
OPI I Carol About You
OPI Kiss Me Or Elf is a shimmery fuchsia. The shimmer is more present in this one than the other two shades and it’s the smoothest of the three.
OPI Kiss Me Or Elf
OPI Love Is Hot & Coal is a cool, dark chocolate with a touch of silvery shimmer. It’s so Special Dark bar.
OPI Love Is Hot & Coal
OPI Sleigh Parking Only is a classic, browned burgundy creme.
OPI Sleigh Parking Only
OPI Gwen Stefani for Holiday 2014 – Darks
Bottom Line: There are some gorgeous colors here but the collection could have been named anything as it doesn’t seem to have much to do with Gwen Stefani. I Carol About You and Christmas Gone Plaid are my obvious favorites. First Class Desires would be at the top if I didn’t already have its two dupes.
The OPI Holiday 2014 Gwen Stefani collection is available now at salons and select retailers nationwide including ULTA and ULTA.com. OPI nail polish retails for $9.50/ea for a .5oz bottle. For more info visit OPI.com.
Have any of the OPI holiday shades tempted you? Which ones do plan to get? Am I the only one that would like to see OPI really change things up by NOT giving us six reds EVERY year?
Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for OPI. Affiliate links appear in this post. When you purchase through an affiliate link, you help support this site. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
First Class Desires is absolutely stunning!!
I agree!
Nice deep shades in here.
I agree, thanks Lisa!
Oh, OPI Love Is Hot & Coal is divine.
Glad you like it!
Your swatches always make me gasp
I love all of these colors!
Aww, Kellie, you’re the best! Thank you.
Is it just me or have we seen some of these (Kiss Me or Elf & I Carol About You) as recently as the Nordic collection? And I agree, what do these have to do with Gwen? Pretty colors, just not one of a kind. Great swatches as always!
Thanks Rose! And I’m sure some colors get recycled or tweaked a bit to differ from previous shades.
Wow, First Class Desires is really the standout of this collection! Simply divine!
Totally!
Sleigh Parking Only and I Carol About You are calling my name! I just wish the green one were a tad brighter. Looking for a perfect dark green!
Hmm, I’m sure there’s a perfect green for you. Let me think on it.
Tbh, if OPI was cheaper than Zoya by a few $’s, I’d go for that but as it is I’ll stick with getting Sansa sooner or later. I prefer the glide of Zoya anyway, if that makes sense. I feel like it almost always goes on smoothly with very little bleeding. I think I already have a Zoya similar to Christmas Gone Plaid, in fact, but I can’t think of the name off the top of my head. But I do like that slight shimmer in I Carol About You. I’m a little meh about the others though.
Hi Amanda! That makes perfect sense. I prefer the Zoya brush over OPI’s. I feel I get better control and accuracy with it. Plus, with all the deals Zoya runs, you can score their colors so much cheaper than OPI. And I think the Zoya you are referring to is Hunter.
Yes! Hunter is it! And you are so right, all the crazy Zoya deals are AWESOME! On Black Friday they had one going for a Good Morning America special, a set of 3 polishes for $15 with free shipping, and I got all over that for 2 Christmas gifts. And then on Cyber Monday, they had a mystery grab bag for $15, again free shipping, so I jumped all over that as well. I figure it will be an early b-day gift for myself lol
I must have that green!
Get on it! It’s so good.
I’ve got Christmas Gone Plaid, I Carol About You, What’s Your Point-Settia, and Comet In The Sky. All of them are gorgeous, and I don’t know which one to wear first.
I always go green first. I can’t help myself.
Hi Michelle, thanks for these lovely swatches. I agree with you that the names could have been more “Gwen-specific,” but the colors are very pretty if you don’t already own something similar. I *only* picked up one of the glitter toppers from this collection.
Exactly. If your collection isn’t huge there are definitely some winners here.
Do you think the shade, “Kiss me or elf”, is just like the OPI shade Diva of Geneva?