Friday, April 6, 2012

OPI New York City Ballet Collection

Like many little girls, I went through a serious ballet phase. I took classes and danced in recitals and talked my mom into taking me to see professional ballet companies and read books about dancers and studied magazine ads for ballet camps and schools. As I grew up, my body became less and less ballerina-like, and I discovered boys (who didn't seem to mind that I didn't look like a dancer), so ballet and I parted ways. I still have a soft spot for it, though, so when I heard OPI's Soft Shades collection this year was ballet-themed, I was interested. Soft Shades and ballet seem go together quite nicely—all those pale pink tights and fluffy white tutus. There are six polishes in this collection, one glitter and five sheer cremes. I was fortunate to get all of them from OPI to review, so settle in for a dozen and a half photos (you know I had to play with them some after I swatched them on their own).



Don't Touch My Tutu is a sheer white. I used three coats when I swatched (of this and the other sheers), mostly because I wanted to see how it would build. It was pleasantly non-streaky for such a light color, and I could have stopped at one or two coats for a more transluscent look. (The same was true of the other sheers.)





Barre My Soul is a sheer peachy beige. Against my pale and ruddy skintone, it gives a clean, neutral look.





You Callin' Me a Lyre is a sheer pink. This is the closest of these to "ballet pink", the color of tights and toe shoes. It would need a touch more orange to match the shoes I remember having, but that was a long time ago so perhaps my mental picture is off a bit.





Care to Danse is a sheer lilac. With my love of purple, of course I liked this one a lot. In the sea of pale sheer polishes in the marketlace, not many are purple-toned, so I appreciate that there's one in this collection





My Pointe Exactly is a sheer light grey. This is the standout of the sheers for me; I've not got anything like it in my stash.





Pirouette My Whistle is the glitter in the group, and it's a pretty one, with a mix of white hex and tiny silver glitter in a clear base. It could be worn by itself but I was so entranced by My Pointe Exactly that I didn't want to take it off right away so put Pirouette My Whistle on top of the grey. For these swatches, I only used one coat of Pirouette My Whistle; you can see it's got a lot of glitter in it.







Because my brain goes to "French manicure" when it sees sheers like these, I had to try some of them with a white tip. I freehanded the white, so please excuse the wobbly lines. As with the swatches above, I used three coats of the sheers so you can see the colors better. Top to bottom below, it's Don't Touch My Tutu, Barre My Soul, You Callin' Me a Lyre, and My Pointe Exactly.



I then glitzed up the French with one coat of Pirouette My Whistle. I quite liked the effect.



Finally, I had to try using one of the sheers for a jelly sandwich, so I put on two coats of Don't Touch My Tutu, followed by one of OPI Rainbow Connection from last year's Muppets collection, followed by one more of Don't Touch My Tutu.





My picks from this collection are Care to Danse, My Pointe Exactly, and Pirouette My Whistle. The other three are nice, but I have similar things in my stash already, and you might too, since pale sheers like that are classics. My Ulta store just put out the display of this collection this past week; they should also be in places like JC Penney (are they just going with JCP now, like KFC?) and other salons and beauty supply stores. Full size bottles are $8.50, and there's also mini set of four for $12.50 which has my three favorites plus Don't Touch My Tutu (never bad to have a basic sheer white).

The polishes shown in this entry were provided free to me from the brand's representatives for review purposes. I received no additional compensation beyond the product samples, and the content of the entry was not dictated in any way by the provider.

28 comments:

  1. I can't wait to buy the mini collection!

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  2. That's a very nice review Karen! I like the pictures very much and the Rainbow Connection combo is awesome!

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    1. Thanks for sharing! I love the jelly sandwich! Now that I have some of the NYCB collection I can try a jelly sandwich of my own. My Favorites from this collection are Care to Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle. I haven't decided on My Pointe Exactly. I didn't like it at first but I think its growing on me. You have very pretty nails. :)

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  3. When I first saw the bottle pictures for this collection, nothing peaked my interest. But as I see more and more swatches of it, I love it. It's so soft and delicate, which is kind of refreshing. :) I really like that grey jelly.

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  4. I don't like them. sheers just do not compute with my nails :( i do like the combination at the end with rainbow connection though.

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  5. Hahaha, I had to laugh when you vividly told about your ballerina dreams. Mine ended ever so abruptly when I borrowed a pair of shoes and finally made it to the toe tip in front of some girls, including the owner of the shoes, and then, right then it happened, I farted, loud and clear. All though it's 40-45 years ago, that moment is still very clear :) And I too found that the boys didn't mind ;)
    Sorry for rambling, and thank you for nice swatches!

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  6. great swatches! i'm really IN LOVE with this collection, these are wonderful. adore tutu + rainbow connection!

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  7. I also took ballet classes but after starting high school had to drop out. Pretty soft shades. Happy Easter !!!!!

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  8. Pointe with Pirouette is OK. Not great. OK.

    Honestly I don't know what OPI is thinking with this collection. They are really losing it.

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  9. I am actually wearing Pirouette My Whistle as I type this to you! Can you believe it:??? Me and glitter and trying to make peace-this is a nice subtle glitter-and I really do like it-the rest are just too sheer for me

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  10. None of these really stand out to me at all except My Pointe Exactly. I really like it! I've never seen a grey jelly like that, it's really pretty.

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  11. I'm not much into the "sheer jelly soft colors" but using them for sandwiches is great, I'm drooling on last picture!

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  12. Your swatches look great!! I didn't want any of the polishes and only picked up the glitter because of the sheerness. Now I want to get them just make a jelly sandwich, lol. Love it!

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  13. The more swatches I see of these the more I want them. I started off wanting the gray one and the glitter but now the rest are wanting to come home with me too.

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  14. As much as I love bright nail polish, sometimes it is so nice to wear pale colours like these. They look so great on you that I'm tempted to get all of them!

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  15. Awww I did ballet when I was younger too =) Once I got to high school and started getting more involved in other things I slowly stopped going but it's always a happy memory for me =) Love this collection!

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  16. I just can't get into this collection. I do like the glitter though.

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  17. I especially like the Pirouette My Whistle. Also I really like your nail shape. :)

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  18. Awesome jelly sandwich! I've been thinking about buying the mini collection of these!

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  19. I really want to get a few of these! I love the sheerness!

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  20. Love it with the Rainbow Connection! Great post.

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  21. They look nice, especially the glitter!

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  22. I love My Pointe Exactly! It's the only one I got. I was just wearing it and I layered Illamasqua Raindrops over it.

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  23. I just purchased My Pointe Exactly and Pirouette My Whistle. Usually I'm not really excited about the soft shades collections but this one was really unique! I just love the glitter in Pirouette My Whistle!

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  24. Pirouette My Whistle is so pretty! Thanks for the lovely swatches! :D

    ~ Yun

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  25. wondering how Piroutte...compares to Sephora for OPI Flurry Up, and how You Callin Me a Lyre? might compare to OPI In the Spot Light Pink? Do you have those? I also agree - the ones you want are the same that I want!

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    1. BeautyBrain, sorry to say I don't have either of those SOPIs--sort of surprising given the size of my stash.

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  26. I had no intention of buying this collection, and then I saw your swatches. Gorgeous. :)

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.