OPI’s holiday collection is starting to show up in stores now – it’s another movie tie-in, this time the new James Bond movie (Skyfall). Each of the twelve polishes in the collection is named after a Bond movie, and I have swatches of the couple I’ve picked up.
The first is Tomorrow Never Dies. It’s a grapey, dark purple with really heavy blue shimmer. In the bottle it looks kind of ho-hum, just another purple color. This is a polish that actually looks way better on the nail! I bought it based on a few swatches I had seen, and I’m glad that I picked it up.
It only took two easy coats, and although the shimmer is so heavy that it almost seems metallic, it dried smoothly with no brushstroke problems. It did dry somewhat matte, so it needs a topcoat to bring out the shimmer. The blue shimmer gives a mysterious, cool glow in the warm purple base and it reminded me of blue, late afternoon urban shadows, reflecting off concrete and metal. I like that it’s not too dark.
I have to admit I’m not really a Bond fan. I tried to figure out if this color is somehow reflective of its Bond namesake, but I didn’t really come up with much. Tomorrow Never dies came out in 1997 and starred Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Apparently in the movie Bond has to stop a media person from plotting the beginning of World War III. The plot seems to have involved travel to tons of different countries including China, Russia and Germany, so there’s no evident country being evoked. So I don’t know. I did find out that Tomorrow Never Dies opened on the same day as Titanic, so it was up against a juggernaut. The color is still really pretty.
I also picked up this collection’s glitter topcoat, The Living Daylights. It’s a clear base with silver, copper and teal hexagonal glitters. I’ve seen several sites report that it includes gold glitter, but it just doesn’t. At least my bottle doesn’t. I like that it only has the one large size of glitter since many of my glitter topcoats also include small glitter. With just the large glitter, this seems more focused and elegant.
It went on fairly well for a glitter, the base isn’t too thick. With only the large glitter, your best bet is to just dab the brush around to get the glitter spread out, rather than actually brushing it down the nail. It did dry smoothly, and only needed one coat of topcoat to feel smooth to the touch. I like it over Tomorrow Never Dies, but I think it’ll be prettier over a basecolor that echoes some of the glitter color, rather than just contrasting. I’m planning to try it over Dior’s Amazonia next.
The Living Daylights came out in 1987 and starred Timothy Dalton as Bond. (I don’t even know who that is! It’s too long ago.) In the movie Bond is supposed to protect a Soviet defector, and has to chase him around. I was kind of hoping the movie was from the disco era, since the glitters kind of remind me of a disco ball. This glitter just doesn’t scream Soviet defector or late eighties to me. Ah, well. It’s still really pretty, and includes some unexpected glitter colors that will make it interesting to layer with. It’s this year’s go-to glitter for New Year’s Eve.
These OPI Skyfall polishes should be available in salons soon, if they aren’t already. I bought mine at a local beauty supply store/salon.