My year is off to a busy start, but I managed to get in some swatching this weekend.  I’m starting with two new OPIs from the Nicki Minaj Collection, Did It On ‘Em and Save Me.  Did It On ‘Em is incredible, it totally beat out several Diors to be posted first!

I have to admit that I don’t know much about Nicki Minaj.  Most of what I know I gleaned from the promotional pictures of these OPI polishes.  She seems to be a rapper and wear lots of pastel lipstick.  I don’t know what happened to me, I knew Katy Perry songs and everything when that collection came out, but here, I got nothing.

I was excited about this polish, though.  Did It On ‘Em is a bright, yellow-green that has a hint of neon starkness in the sun.  Between this collection and Dior’s Anselm Reyle Collection polishes, and the bright peach of Chanel’s June, I think we can identify bright, saturated, slightly neon colors as a spring 2012 trend.

In fact, one of the early promotional pictures for the Anselm Reyle Collection showed a hand holding one of the items, I think the shadow palette, and the nails were almost the exact shade of Did It On ‘Em.   When I looked around further I was disappointed to see that the Anselm Reyle polishes do not include a color like this-I guess they just photoshopped it into the picture for effect?  It seems weird to me that Dior basically advertised a color that they didn’t actually sell, but anyway.  I was thinking of trying to figure out an alternative when the Nicki Minaj Collection popped up and solved the problem!

Did It On ‘Em went on slightly thin but evened out really nicely for such a light color.  I did need three coats to get total coverage, but they dried quickly.  I really like how this color walks the line between neon and creamy – it’s so energizing and bright, and somehow flattering.  In real life it’s a tiny bit more yellow than my picture.  It’s great for spring.

In the shade it’s darker and more green looking.  You can see how shiny it dried.

I added one coat of Save Me to try it out.  Save Me is a clear base with tiny silver glitter and holographic bar glitter, that flashes from red to blue.  The bar glitter covered well with just one coat, and I liked the blue contrast against the yellow of Did It On ‘Em.  I have to say, though, that I liked Did It On ‘Em better by itself.  It’s such a vibrant and strong color that it doesn’t really need any help.

In the shade you can see the density of the glitter, and how evenly it went on.  I like the blue flash, and I also want to try it over a blue or purple base to see if the red flash comes out more against a different color.

I picked up these polishes at a local salon, but they should be available widely soon, if not already.  When I stopped in the Ulta here last weekend, they weren’t out yet.