It’s the first day of summer! I got my butt into gear to give you the first post of the summer collections on the first day of summer! – Eh, eh, you see what I did there?

While I was in Europe, I saw a post about a flash sale on this collection, and bought it right up. The whole collection for $50 – shipped! Considering OPI normally retails for $10 a bottle, that’s a steal. Seriously, follow ‘Skyline Beauty Supply’ on Instagram, as they’re always offering 24 Hour Flash Deals on the newest collections. I’ve ordered from them a couple times and have been super satisfied – their shipping is so fast as well!

Anyways, the OPI Summer 2017 collection is called ‘California Dreaming’ and is a standard 12 bottle collection. It features 10 creams, and 2 metallics, based on the state of California! It’s a collection of a small shade range, featuring pinks, reds and orange tones.

Let’s get right into the swatches!

Look at that new hand position and nail shape! Whataya think? I really like it, and it’s easier for me to keep the photos consistent. ANYWAYS.

‘Feeling Frisco’ is a light nude cream. It’s a wamer toned nude, with a touch of peach to it. I found most of these creams had the same formula. If you have smooth nails – this is an easy, smooth 2 coats. However, my nails have a lot of ridges on them, so I needed 3 coats to even out some uneven spots. Either way, they’re the super smooth OPI cream formula I love – just determine your own nail needs.

They dry easily and quickly, so I honestly didn’t mind the 3 coats.

‘Barking Up the Wrong Sequoia’ is a nice peachy cream. Another smooth easy formula. The first coat was a little thin, but it thickened up nicely with 2. Again, 2 coats for a smooth nail, 3 coats for my ridgey nails. I don’t want to unfairly say these all needed 3 coats when it was just my nails.

I honestly believe for most people, these are easy 2 coat formulas from the OPI we know and love.

‘Excuse Me, Big Sur!’ is a nice dusty peachy pink cream. (What’s up with Essie and OPI both going with the Excuse Me, Sur theme?” Anyways – another beautiful smooth cream formula. Easy to control, doesn’t flood the cuticles. A lovely formula.

‘Malibu Pier Pressure’ is the Barbie pink of your dreams. It’s a bright cool toned pink cream. Another 2 coats for smooth nails, 3 to cover some ridges. This is so bright and girly, and perfect for summer.

‘Time For a Napa’ is a bright coral cream. This was another one that had a thinner first coat, but thickened up nicely on the 2nd. This is one you don’t want to manipulate too much, or you’ll add streaks in. Another easy 2-3 coats.

This one is called ‘Santa Monica Beach Peach’. I’m not going to lie, I read the name ‘Peach’ and then was convinced I got a bad bottle. I said to myself ‘Is it supposed to be orange??’ and looked at other swatches and saw everyone else had the same confusion as me. When I see “peach” I’m thinking of ‘Barking Up the Wrong Sequoia’ from above. You silly, OPI.

Anyways, this is a bright orange cream. It has the same nice easy formula as all the others. 2-3 coats depending on how ridgey your nails are.

Put on a ridge filling base coat and all of these are 2 coaters. 

‘Me, Myselfie and I’ is cousins with the polish above. This one has more coral to it. Another easy 2-3 coater formula, standard.

‘GPS I Love You’ is a bright pink cream. It’s darker and have almost more purple in it than ‘Malibu Pier Pressure’ above. Another smooth formula, all the same comments as above.

‘This is Not Whine Country’ is the first polish with more of a crelly formula. It’s a bright raspberry cream shade. It’s more juicy than the other formulas, but still super smooth and easy. This was 3 coats, and in most lights you cannot see nail line – like on my pinky. If you don’t have super pronounced nail lines, you’ll be good with 3 coats – depends on your own tastes.

‘To the Mouse House We Go!’ has even more jelly to it than ‘Whine Country’ above. This one was 3 coats, and nail line was still pretty visible. But it’s such a bright red shade, perfect for summer sun, that I didn’t mind the nail line. As you can see on my pointer finger – this is a little messy formula, so be careful with removing it.

Up next we have the 2 metallics of the collection.

First up is ‘Sweet Carmel Sunday’ – that’s right, Carmel, not Caramel. Important. It’s a warm, bronzey metallic with super small microshimmer to it. Here it looks brush stroke-y, but I’ve noticed the longer it sits on your nails, the more the strokes disappear, and it’s a smooth metallic. This was an easy, smooth 2 coat formula.

It’s honestly the most unique shade OPI put into this collection.

Last but not least, we have ‘Don’t Take Yosemite for Granite’. Look at that pun work. A beautiful metallic steel with that lovely purple tone. I left this one on my nails after I was done swatching because I loved it so much. It has shimmer in there that’s a little harder to see not under direct light, but gives that metallic shine.

Easy, beautiful 2 coats. Could be good in one thicker coat in you’re in a burry, and all the strokes disappear into themselves. Love it.

And there’s the collection! I was worried at first with all of the similar shades, but once I got into it, I saw they were all different (that’s the polish hoarder in me). They all had pretty standard formulas, and I wasn’t complaining on any really.

For all of them, summing up: if you use a ridge filling base coat, or you have smooth nails, you only need 2 coats. For me, with the ridges everywhere, I needed 3. 

I’ll say the same thing I’ve seen others say about this. Because I’m still building up my collection, I liked having all of these shades to add in, and have for collection sake – however, it’s all very standard shades, so if you have these already, you don’t have to run out and get them. It’s a core building collection from OPI – so it can seem boring to most people, something I understand. If you’re looking to build up your pink and red stash, this is your collection.

If you wanted something different out of this, you only need the two metallics at the end. They offer something different, and have such beautiful formulas.

That’s your OPI Summer collection! I’ll be putting comparisons in a later post, because otherwise this is a novel.

Happy Summer everyone! How will you be spending it??

 

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