IT’S STILL SUMMER I TELL YOU. I’m holding onto summer as much as I can (even though I really love fall), but I’m mainly holding onto the bright nail colors. I’m not ready to give those up, so I’ve been going through my collection and pulling them out to wear and talk about. (And I’m going to have summer collections up so very soon, I know it’s late but better late than never, right?)

And I thought a great collection to do this with is the OPI Hawaii collection! I have 4 shades of it today, and I love all of them for the summertime. This was OPI’s collection for Spring of 2015, and featured bright shades all inspired by Hawaii. I love the 4 shades I have, and just want to pick up even more. (If I do get more, I’ll add to this post and update it).

I remember these shades being some of the very first OPIs I owned, and one of the first OPI collections that I really followed and wanted, so it’s a bit sentimental for me. I asked for these shades and got 4 of them from my mom, back when I didn’t buy whole collections myself, way back before blogging (when we still paid full price for OPIs, whoop). Back when I would ask for the newest OPI collection for my birthday, or Christmas, and hope I got a couple shades to play with. Back when the addiction was just brewing.

And I still love these shades today. They’re still classic shades and the Hawaii collection is still one I see referenced all the time. And perfect for the winding down summer. So let’s get into them.

The first shade is ‘Suzi Shops and Island Hops’, a bright bubblegum pink cream. Now this one doesn’t have the best formula, in fact this took 3 coats and was almost still streaky, but remember, it’s sentimental to me. And I can’t get enough of these bubblegum pinks, so I’ll suffer through it, FOR THE MEMORIES.

The next shade is a crowd favorite, and I can easily see why. This is ‘That’s Hula-rious!’, a bright light green cream. Though this took 3 coats, but it was completely opaque after 3, and so bright, which is a lot to ask from a light pastel. This one just makes me think of sitting on a beach in Hawaii, so it’s perfect for the warm temperatures (while we still have them).

Up next is this bright tomato red cream, ‘Aloha from OPI’. This was an easy 2 coat formula – OPI always knows how to do reds, and just almost glows off the nails.In certain lights, it can look more red, and in others, it can look more orange. I don’t normally love wearing reds, because they make the rest of my hand look just so pale, but this juicy tomato color is growing on me. I mean, practically made for summer. I’m learning to love reds, okay?

Finally, I have ‘This Color’s Making Waves’, a beautiful shimmery ocean color. Another one that almost seems to glow and shimmer on the nails, it’s just so beautiful. Although, compared to what’s in the bottle, it does fall a little flat. In the bottle, it’s more of a duochrome, with this gorgeous red shimmer in it, but that’s completely lost on the nails.

This took me 3 coats, so it was more sheer than most metallic colors, and I could see patches on different nails after 2. As you can see you do get brush strokes as well on it, so paint straight. With thicker coats, you could get this opaque in 2. But it’s just so pretty.

And those are the shades I have today! Aren’t they just fun for the summer? I mean, Hawaii is a great place for fun in the sun, so it makes sense that nail colors inspired by it are also great for the summer.

Ahhh I’ll miss the warm sun, so I’m going to hold onto it for just a little longer.

Do you have any go-to summer shades? What’re your favorite brights?

 

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