No you’re not experiencing Deja Vu. So that means, yes, we have more OPI x Wicked nail polishes to talk about today. I told you there was a little OPI backlog to work through – but we’re almost there, just one more after this next post (OPI x Hello Kitty), and then we’ll be diving full on into OPI SPRING.

But for now, let’s focus on Winter. Starting with their Fall 2024 collection, OPI has been doing a new little thing where they release both a regular lacquer collection, as well as a companion Infinite Shine set. That means anywhere from 21-24 polishes per season, and you know, as a nail blogger, who doesn’t love more polishes. New OPI releases are always the most popular posts on the blog, so I can’t be mad at them providing me 2 per season. And yes, the upcoming Spring collection does have both a 12 piece lacquer set and a 12 piece Infinite Shine set.

As implied, this review is going over the companion to the 12 piece regular lacquer Wicked collection that we discussed here. You know the big points already: this is in collaboration with the movie Wicked, a Wizard of Oz prequel with 9 new shades. We’ll of course get even more green and pink shades (did you see how many shades of pink make up Glinda’s wardrobe), as well as “filling” out a color palette inspired by the movie. Overall we have new and different shades here, but there are a few that are getting a touch close to the regular lacquer shades. I’m guessing OPI isn’t assuming most people will be purchasing all 21 polishes, but WE EXIST, OPI.

If you haven’t read any of my other Infinite Shine reviews, or you’re unfamiliar of how it differs from OPI’s regular polishes, here’s a lil rundown. They’re the same OPI bottles, with instead with a silver metallic cap, and they will be more expensive than the regular lacquer – mainly because OPI is claiming that these will give longer wear and shinier finishes. They say they “lock onto nails like gel” but I am here to emphasize that these are absolutely not gel. They do not need to be cured, and they won’t cause any allergies – and they won’t wear as well as true gel. Any polish that’s not in an opaque bottle will not be gel. Overall, I’ll be honest, I can’t say I notice a ton of difference in the formula and application between their lacquer and these Infinite Shine polishes. And in a blind test, I most likely couldn’t tell the difference. I can always find them discounted from sites like Polish Pick or Beyond Polish (affiliated code: GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items there, no pressure to use it), so that higher price tag doesn’t hurt as much. I can’t ever cover longevity because of my swatching schedule, so these posts are just about showing you the colors and applications.

Now let’s get on into these swatches!

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We start right out with ‘The Ga is Silent’. I do enjoy that the first shade I swatched in the regular lacquer collection was called ‘Ga-linda’, and now we’re looking at ‘The Ga is Silent’. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll understand and love that little transition even more, and it only makes sense that Glinda starts off the show.

This is a very soft ballet pink shimmer shade, with scattered blue and pink sparkles all throughout. It’s like 2 steps off a pure white, with just the lightest amount of that warm peachy-pink pigment dropped in. As you can see this one is very sheer, and even after I built this up with 3 thin coats, I was still having my ridges peek through and create an uneven appearance.

With this application, I do recommend floating it onto the nails – that’s where you have the brush as parallel to the nail as you can and use as little pressure as possible – it’ll really help minimize any streaks and keep the brush from pulling off any existing polish. If you have smoother nails you should be set with those 3 coats, especially with that technique. Now I do always expect some unevenness with such white-based shades like this, but overall I didn’t love this specific one. I’ve had plenty of other light shades like this, even from OPI, and they’re smooth and opaque after 3 coats. So on my ridged nails it’s just causing a few too many issues for my preferences.

The Ga is Silent • Ever-effervescent • Thrillifying! – Live Swatches

Just like I did in my post for the Fall 2024 Infinite Shine release, I did want to show these shades compared to the closest regular lacquer shades as well – even if they’re not close to being dupes. Most people aren’t buying all 21 polishes, I know that, but since they’re all in the same release, this can help you decide between which formula you’re reaching for, depending on the specific colors.

For this first shade, the closest counterpart from the lacquer shades was ‘Ga-Linda’ which I did reference above. But as you can see, they’re very different, with ‘Ga-Linda’ being much more pink and more of a glass fleck finish.

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Next up we have ‘Ever-effervescent’. This is our first creme of the set, and it’s BRIGHT. It’s a gorgeous magenta pink, and it pulls quite cool on my nails, with some definite purple tones coming through. I do always love a cool pink like this, especially on my specific skin tone.

Luckily this one gets us onto a better foot, with a super smooth and easy 2 coat formula. It’s a gorgeous creme shade overall, and it’s the perfect bright pink to wear while watching the movie.

Again, it’s not close color-wise to any of the lacquer shades, but I still wanted to show it overall. If you’re looking for a warmer pink, ‘Glinda the Good’ can be more to your tastes. It is a shimmer shade, but it’s a gorgeous fuchsia.

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We then come to ‘Thrillifying!’, and again, I love these silly names. The different little words and phrases from the Wicked world just bring me joy. Now, we don’t have any red ruby slippers appearing yet in this movie, but I’m never mad at a gorgeous red creme polish.

OPI absolutely has their red formulas locked in, so anytime there’s a new one in a collection, I just know it’ll be good. It does have a touch of jelly to its formula, giving it such a squishy and juicy finish on the nails. But it was still easily opaque in just 2 coats and so smooth on the nails. Any sort of pigmented red can be liable to stain your cuticles, so I recommend painting as clean as you can with this one, and being careful with removal to help yourself out.

Now these 2 shades are the real reason I wanted to show these comparisons. These two shades are so close that I am questioning why we needed both in one release, but again I’m sure they’re assuming that average consumer has some self control and is not purchasing both. Either way, these two babies are very close. Staring deeply at them, I can see ‘Thrillifying!’ is a little more of an opaque formula overall, with ‘Nessa-ist Rose’ being more jelly-like on the nails, and a cooler red. So it’ll be up to you which one you’re preferring! (And I mean, if you do want to purchase both, I’m not judging you either, they are both pretty).

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I know you were wondering why the yellow shade in the regular lacquer wasn’t named ‘Yellow Brick Road’ – and it’s because this one is! This one is that essential bright golden yellow shimmer shade that’ll match those bricks leading us to Emerald City. It almost has some orange tones to it, and it really just glows on the nails. I ended up loving this shade.

It has a lovely formula overall, and is pretty well opaque with just 2 coats – though I did see a 3rd coat continuing to build up that color. Since it’s so metallic, you will have some brushstrokes in the final finish, so I recommend painting as straight as possible.

Yellow Brick Road • OPI’m Phosphorescent! • Ozmopolitan – Live Swatches

And we absolutely have to compare those two yellows. (Please ignore how WARM my skin looks in the swatches on the right – those were taken when I had to use my phone after my camera had broken.) Overall both shades have the same depth and color tone, but just in different finishes. ‘Yellow Brick Road’ is a smooth metallic, while ‘Love You So Munchkin’ is a true scattered shimmer. Do you need both? (If you’re me, yes) No, but this is a time where you can pick a more preferred finish if the color is striking your fancy.

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Next up we have an … interesting shade. I would just love to know the thoughts behind this one, and you’ll see why. This is ‘OPI’m Phosphorescent!’ and upon first application, I could tell it was a glow in the dark finish – as those polishes often have that more “fuzzy” finish. It’s a bright green jelly shade, and it does give off the appearance of some glowing goo.

After 3 coats, well, you can see what’s going in those swatch photos. The polish is still very uneven and sheer in just an odd way. It almost seems like it could be a topper, but OPI does show it as a full nail look on their website. AND I could barely see any sort of glow in the dark effect, even after “charging” it directly under my desk lamp. Overall you can tell this polish just puzzled me and I really didn’t like it. I mean, go ahead and keep experimenting OPI, I’m don’t want to stop that, but sometimes the experiments don’t fully work out. I now need to know if anyone was able to make this look good, maybe that means you’re a witch as well.

And of course, there’s just no shade that could compare to this one from the lacquer release.

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Okay, enough of that weird green, let’s look at an actual good green polish. This is ‘Ozmopolitan’ and it’s an absolutely gorgeous deep emerald green shimmer. It also surprised me in the best way by shifty on the nails – which I show in the 2nd photo – going from a forest green to a rich coppery red. It feels truly enchanted, and it’s just perfect for Elphaba.

This was also pigmented and painted on well with just 2 coats, a real switch from the shade above. It was smooth and lovely overall, and it saved the collection – imagine if ‘OPI’m Phosphorescent’ was the only green we got in this set.

For a comparison, I wanted to show this next to ‘Ozitively Elphaba’ – it makes sense that these shades have matching names as well. As you can see ‘Ozitively Elphaba’ has golden shimmer running throughout it, making it lighter and warmer toned than ‘Ozmopolitan’. Now this is one where I can truly recommend picking up both.

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We’re now getting into our final block of 3. We start out with ‘Head Shizstress’, and I think that should be a real job title. This polish features a gorgeous dustier purple base filled with a scattered golden sparkle all throughout, and it is a shade you can imagine Madame Morrible wearing. You can never go wrong with a purple and gold combination, it just feels powerful (and in her case, maybe in the worst way). It has a cooler toned feel on me, yet it could pull warmer on other skin tones.

This was another gorgeous and pigmented formula, being easily opaque in just 2 coats.

Head Shiztress • It’s the Shiz • Don’t Hide Your Magic – Live Swatches

Looking at our comparisons, we do have another purple in the lacquer formula, but it’s in an entirely different color family. It’s much warmer and more berry toned, with a red sparkle all throughout it.

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We’re keeping the “shiz” going with ‘It’s the Shiz’. This is a deep metallic gray shade with a silver shimmer running throughout it. Maybe perfect for some sort of villain role, I’m just theorizing here.

This was another pigmented shade that easily built up and was opaque with just 2 coats. With that more metallic finish it will show brushstrokes – even more so than ‘Yellow Brick Road’ above, so I do recommend painting as straight as possible. If they’re still really bothering you, you can sponge on a final coat and top it with a shiny top coat to help out.

Our closest companion is ‘Deflying Gravity’ which is instead a black base filled with scattered silver shimmers. So maybe if you don’t want to be as dramatic with a black polish, you can choose ‘It’s the Shiz’. Different levels of drama.

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Last but certainly not least, we have ‘Don’t Hide Your Magic’. This one is a super sparkly dense white shimmer. It’s almost iridescent, shifting to a more champagne-golden look at certain angles, and it has some pink, blue and silver sparkles running throughout.

Since this is a dense shimmer, it is a touch more sheer and needs some layering. It could be used as a 1 coat topper – especially over a deeper base, those different colored sparkles will really pop – but I chose to build it up with 3 coats on its own. There’s still a touch of nail line at certain angles, but I think that sparkle distracts away from any of it. It’s so gorgeous and I really did enjoy it! After all, this is a movie where we’re looking for as much sparkle and shine and magic.

And now to compare our two shimmery white shades. Once again, they’re not at all similar, with ‘Oh For Oz Sake’ instead being a smooth white shimmer with a blue flash – but I still wanted to show the two together. Both shades will have any sort of good witch covered.

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And that’s the set! As you can tell, there were just 2 shades here that I just didn’t love and would be alright passing on: ‘The Ga is Silent’ and ‘OPI’m Phosphorescent’ – those 2 just had formulas that were hard to use, and at this point in my nail career I don’t have time for difficult applications. With how many polishes I’m swatching each year, I’m not going to love every single one.

But I can recommend the other 10 shades, as there were some gorgeous formulas here and so much sparkle and shimmer. There were a couple polishes that overlapped with the regular lacquer release, but if you’re not purchasing all 21 shades, you won’t have to worry about that. I mentioned that we’re also getting an Infinite Shine release for Spring this year, so I’m intrigued to see if that continues for the full year!

What do you think? Are you interested in any of these shades? What do you think of the Infinite Shine releases?

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Mooncat Fallen collection • ILNP Eternal collection • Glam Polish Rainbow Pop collection • Holo Taco Underglow collection • Orly The 70s Spring 2024

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