OPI Spring 2019 Collection – Tokyo (Review & Swatches)
I’ve come a long way from my bitten, short nails of days gone by… I used to completely ignore nail polish because I “just didn’t have the nails for it”. Well, all of that has seriously changed in the last few years and I’m here to present you (rather humbly, as I don’t profess to be a nail blogger by trade) OPI‘s latest collection: Tokyo for Spring 2019. Not only do I have decent nails now (not so much the cuticles though…), but I actually get excited for nail polish launches as well!
With the Tokyo collection, Suzi Weiss-Fischmann (co-founder and brand ambassador for OPI) decided to revisit the 80s and 90s – utilizing pop colours with a modern twist.
A lot of the collection leans quite pink and mauve, but for me it’s the vibrant teal, turquoise and pale green shades that really get me excited.
OPI Tokyo Collection Swatches
All nail swatches are two coats with no base or top coat.
Kanpai OPI is listed as periwinkle blue with grey, but in person I see more purple than blue personally. Either way, this is one of my favourite shades in the collection – I’ve got it on right now and it’s lovely to wear!
Another favourite! Suzi-san Climbs Fuji-san is the more blue leaning shade out of the two turquoise-esque shades in this collection (they call it an emerald, but it’d need to be a LOT more green for me to call it an emerald!). I wore it for a whole week and never got tired of the shade – it’s glorious!
Rice Rice Baby is a gorgeous pinky-mauve.
I’m On A Sushi Roll is the more green leaning turquoise (compared to Suzi-san Climbs Fuji-san). Beautiful shade!
Tempura-ture is Rising! is a fun vibrant orange.
Samurai Breaks a Nail is wild – it’s like a semi-translucent shimmer finish with a reddish-purple hue.
How Does Your Zen Garden Grow? is a lovely paled out spring green shade.
Another pink! Another Ramen-tic Evening is a pale rose shade.
All Your Dreams in Vending Machines is similar to Samura Breaks a Nail – it has kind of a translucent edge to it. (This one also has the *best* name! haha)
Chopstix and Stones is a deep sapphire.
Pink leaning… purple! Arigato from Tokyo is a lovely shade so perfect for the spring.
And lastly – Hurry-juku Get This Color! is a deep beer-pink shade.
Final Thoughts
I love these! I’m personally more drawn to the cream finishes, which is what the bulk of this collection is made up of. The translucent shimmer finishes are fun, but not quite up my alley, you know? No matter the finish, I was impressed that two coats was all I needed for each and every shade. I was worried the paler colours would be patchy to apply, but they weren’t at all. My favourites are Kanpai OPI!, I’m On A Sushi Roll, Suzi-San Climbs Fuji-San and Tempura-ture is Rising! (And heck, the names are super cute too.)
The Tokyo collection is a lot of fun with shades for everyone I think! It covers your basic spring pinks in a variety of shades, but it also leans into the more vibrant colourful shades that I always find myself more drawn to as well.
The OPI Tokyo collection can be purchased at ulta.com for $10.50 USD each or nailpolishcanada.com for $10.99 CAD each.
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
VIDEO: Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Palette – Review, Swatches & 5 Looks
INGLOT Body Sparkles Crystals (Review & Swatches)
A new INGLOT product always gets me excited, and even moreso when it’s a glitter(esque) launch!
A month or so ago, INGLOT launched their Body Sparkles Crystals. They’re a play off their initial Body Sparkles launch – while the original Body Sparkles are incredibly finely ground glitter, the Body Sparkles Crystals have a much larger, flakier texture.
In the pot, you’d assume they were all white/translucent except for the bright gold. However, they’re all actually duochrome in nature and have a colourful reflect depending on the angle in which you look at the product.
When photographed at an angle, you can see a bit more of the colours peeking out. There’s a bit of purple, or teal, or pink hue to some of the shades. And while they’re fun looking in the pot, they’re truly spectacular on the eyes.
Here’s a closer up shot so you can see a bit of the texture of the Body Sparkles Crystals. They’re really flaky – it’s a texture you’d expect to see in a nail polish!
INGLOT recommends using them on top of their Eye Shadow Keeper (an eye primer) and using their silicone paddle brush (the INGLOT 45S). I found that the silicone brush was really, really helpful for application. When I tried to apply these with a regular brush, it ended up being such a mess. Your finger may work, but I’d definitely recommend picking up the 45S brush if you plan on snagging any of these Body Sparkles Crystals. They do also apply nicely on top of a primer or a glitter glue to help really lock the flecks in place.
I’ve got several swatches in this post because I really wanted you to see the different tones and textures the Body Sparkles Crystals have on the skin. Above is my “regular” swatch shot – taken with my DSLR and straight on. Amazingly, you can really see the colour shift on bare skin.
Swatched on top of a black base, you can see the colour comes out a lot more strongly and the flakes are more evident. Some are chunky, and others are smaller specks.
And finally, the shot above is with my phone (which automatically equals garbage photos) but I thought it was neat to see the texture this way as well.
Here’s how they worked out on my eyes:
101 has the opalescent shift and I opted to put it on top of a light pink base. You can see the crystals peeking out and it looks like pieces of fragmented glass.
103 didn’t come out as I would’ve liked, so I think it would’ve worked a lot better on top of a light green base (I have it over an ivory/cream shade). 103 was one of my favourite colours in this launch, but I sadly didn’t do it justice.
Funny how the first three photos were all purple looks! 104 is more of a pinky-purple toned glitter and worked a lot better on top of the purple base I put underneath it.
105 was so freaking cool. I know it looks like there’s a gap in the crystals at the top-center of my lid, but that’s just how it looks at certain angles – like there’s pieces missing. Once you move a little bit, that fragmented piece shows up – it’s really a neat effect.
And lastly, I put 106 on the inner corner of my eye for a fractured glitter look. This is one of the more subtle ways to wear glitter because if I zoom you out…
…it’s not as obvious that I’ve got a ton of glitter on my face. Of course, you could apply this to your temples or along your cheekbones for a super glittery, flaky look… and I may just do that during the summer months!
Final Thoughts
I *love* these! The INGLOT Body Sparkles Crystals are something new and exciting, and I loved playing with them. I’m already a huge fan of glitter, so it was nice to try out this flaky/fragmented glass texture on my eyes instead. I have an old MAC shadow from one of their holiday collection years ago that has this kind of flaky glitter on it, and it’s been years since I’ve seen another brand release something similar. I love that these are all ivory-to-colour duochromes because those are my favourite kinds of duochromes.
I did feel that this took a little bit of playing around to figure out what works best for them. Fundamentally, I think either a straight black base, or a base that is similar in colour to the Crystal you’re going to be applying is necessary to make the colour stand out. Application with the silicone paddle (the 45S) was massively helpful for getting the flecks in just the right places on my eye.
In short – I love these. I think they’re a fun new take on glitter and I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with them!
If you’re interested in picking these up (or any INGLOT products), use code using “MAKEUPYOURMIND” for 10% off your orders on these web sites:
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
Swatch Sunday: Urban Decay Naked Reloaded
We all knew this was coming after the funeral was held for the original Urban Decay Naked palette… say hello to UD’s latest incarnation: the Naked Reloaded palette!
Urban Decay has ditched the original Naked palette in favour of updating it for our tastes today. They’ve added more mattes and removed the brush (hooray for both!). I’ll have a full review on my YouTube channel up on Tuesday, but in the meantime please enjoy the swatches!
Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Swatches
The Urban Decay Naked Reloaded palette will be available on Urban Decay’s web site and in freestanding stores on February 18. Sephora launches will be later in March.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.