Last year, I skipped the OPI Ulta exclusives because it was pretty quickly established that they were essentially Nicole by OPI shades from the Gossip Girl collection with new names. (You can see bottle comps of those on The Trace Face Philes.) This summer's colors also looked familiar. A little digging in my Helmers and I found these Nicole by OPI colors from the second Justin Bieber release. Left to right: One Time Lime, I'm a Belieber, Me+Blue, Not a Gold Bigger.
Hmmm....
I wasn't able to do swatches on the nail, but here are some nail wheel comparisons. Like the bottle pics, these are quick shots taken in my office because I didn't have time to setup my lightbox last night at home, but I think you can still see well enough to form some valid opinions.
In all cases, the OPI is on the left, the NOPI is on the right. The cremes are very, very similar to each other. I used two coats of both of the greens, three coats of the purples. If I get my face up really close and study them hard, I can convince myself that the OPIs are every so slightly darker (they seemed a touch thicker going on), but when I pull my face back a few inches from the nail wheel, they look exactly the same as the NOPIs. The biggest difference in the blues was the NOPI was three coats and the OPI was two; the OPI was noticeably thicker and clumpier going on than the NOPI, which was well behaved for a dense glitter. (Both blues need topcoat but as I was rushing I didn't add any.) I see the biggest difference in the golds, and even then it's not so big; the OPI has a coarser shimmer and shows brushstrokes while the NOPI just glows prettily. The base color is the same, though, and the formula differences might just be a function of the batch my bottle came from (we've certainly seen batch to batch variations from OPI before *coughMyPrivateJetcough* *coughNotLikeTheMoviescough*.)
So, if you bought these NOPIs, you don't need to scramble to get the OPIs. If you were embarrassed to be seen buying something Bieber-related or have taken a firm stand against the NOPI bottle, getting the OPIs will let you have those colors in your stash. If you want the colors but don't have an Ulta, I've seen the NOPIs available online recently.
Wow, those are the exact same. I think it's shameful, really.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, thanks for this! I passed on the blue in ULTA this weekend because I was pretty sure it looked like Me + Blue, which I own. I don't have any other of these JB shades (I think the only other is the heart glitter one), but I didn't realize they'd *all* be from that collection.
ReplyDeleteIt's called cheating where I come from. I like the blue though. :)
ReplyDeleteI dont have the JB sets,(dislike the bottle shape) Where online can I purchase these? just the green and purple
ReplyDeleteaaminahs mom, as far as I know the OPI ones are only available in Ulta stores (thought probably they'll show up on eBay). I saw the NOPI ones at AveYou.com recently.
DeleteErm, yes. well done OPI *sarcasm off*
ReplyDeleteHow dare they? This rebottling really leaves me puzzled.
I really hate it when shades are reused like that.
ReplyDeleteThey're really very similar. And I like all of them :).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comparison! I really don't understand why companies do that.
ReplyDeleteLOL - sooo busted - thanks for sharing this :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow, talk about dupes! Thanks so much for the comparisons!
ReplyDeleteDupes, indeed! I was by Ulta yesterday and they only had the gold and green in stock. I passed mainly because of price and they didn't look all that unique...now I know why!
ReplyDeleteThey look the same to me :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You are good! They are the same to me! That is so wrong to do this to us! How can they say they are exclusive when they are not. I was going to run down there and get the blue one because it was exclusive. I will buy something else now! Thanks for saving me $.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is the first time they've done this. Those sneaky people. Thanks for the swatches :)
ReplyDeleteI knew these were dupes for something! I didn't get a chance to dig through my helmer to compare. Thanks for the comparisons!!!
ReplyDeleteSneaky sneaky! Thanks for the comparison!
ReplyDeleteThe big question for me is, how did these NOPI shades get into the OPI bottles. Obviously, OPI put them in - what I mean is, did OPI find itself with a few left-over 55gal drums of NOPI/Bieber colors that they decided to use up on this Ulta "Exclusive" promo... or did Wal-Mart return a bunch of unsold NOPI/B's and OPI reclaimed the polish from the NOPI bottles to refill into OPI bottles?
ReplyDeleteIf #2, then I wonder HOW the polish was reclaimed... emptying a few hundred thousand, half-ounce bottles seems like a really labor-intensive chore, but tossing cases of them into a giant crusher and trying to strain out the broken bottles from the polish seems super-easy.... as long as they're willing to accept a small amount of glass shards in their repackaged product...
Steve, I think Melissa is right (further down), that they re-used the formulas--though I do very much like the idea of a warehouse with huge drums of nail polish sitting around. Maybe they'll find some original My Private Jet and make that an Ulta exclusive for the winter holidays--I can hope! :)
DeleteYep, they look pretty much the same! Nice comparisons as usual :D
ReplyDeleteThis is really bizarre to me (that OPI would do this)!! Good work in finding these. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteWell that is so disappointing OPI would do this. I picked up only 2 colors, but I guess that is okay since I don't have any of the JB NOPIs.
ReplyDelete@Steve - I'm no expert, but I doubt they ever toss their formula recipes for any of their shades. So they get lazy, and reformulate them to just a little bit of a thicker/better consistency to justify the higher price.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, since I rarely pay attention to the boobie bottles unless a color *really* catches my eye, I freakin' fell for it and bought all of them. DOH.
Come on! Seriously???? This is uncool as all get out! Of course, most of the people in the world would certainly not be as up on the goings on in polish as us addicts are-but really? Do they think we are stupid?
ReplyDeleteJeez, Louise. Well, thank you for saving me some money! :)
ReplyDeleteYou rock! Thank you for this comparison post. AWESOME work!! xox
ReplyDeleteUgh, how rude!! Come on, OPI! This is BS!!
ReplyDelete