I was lucky to be able to swatch review samples of the entire OPI Coca Cola collection, slated to launch this month (though I haven't seen it pop up at my Ulta yet). When I first heard about this collection, I was excited by the idea, as Coke has been my soft drink family of choice for decades. There are nine shades in all, and I was very glad to see that they was a good variety of colors and finishes, as it would have been very easy for them to just do red, white, black, and silver. Top row, the non-cremes: Green on the Runway, Orange You Fantastic, Today I Accomplished Zero, and My Signature is DC. Bottom row, the cremes: You're So Vain-illa, Sorry I'm Fizzy Today, Coca-Cola Red, Get Cherried Away, and A Grape Affair. (Sidenote: this was not the most stable pyramid ever, but I was determined to make it work long enough to snap a photo. Unscrewing the caps on the bottom row enough so the bottles on top did not need to sit on the raised letters was the trick.)
You're So Vain-illa is a warm toned off white creme that was inspired by Vanilla Coke (the vanilla part, obviously, not the Coke part). I used two regular coats on some nails and three very thin coats on the others; both approaches seemed to work fine as far as coverage and drying time. On me, this pulls a little toward being a dusty pale yellow; I've seen pictures of other people's swatches where it looks like more of a cream color.
For comparison, I pulled two of the most recent off white cremes I've acquired (I don't actually keep track of when exactly I bought which polishes, but I pulled these from the boxes of cremes waiting to go on nail wheels so I know they're not ancient additions to my stash), NYX Bone White and SinfulColors Espionage. Left to right below, it's OPI, NYX (3 coats), OPI, SinfulColors (2 coats).The OPI is warmer toned than the other two and more opaque than the NYX. The SinfulColors is more flattering to my skintone.
I used You're So Vain-illa as a base under Orange You Fantastic, which has orange, orange red, and gold glitter in a yellow jelly base. This glitter was inspired by Fanta Orange, though confusingly I saw what I think is the European version of the press release online that doesn't have this shade but rather one called Orange You Stylish that doesn't look glittery at all, so I'm not sure what happened there. I used two coats of Orange You Fantastic. It lays pretty flat so I didn't add topcoat for this swatch. This combination reminds me more of autumn leaves than orange soda.
Sorry I'm Fizzy Today is a warm coral-leaning pink creme that has an image of a can of Vanilla Coke next to it in the press release, though I don't see what this has to do with Vanilla Coke in any way. I did two coats of Sorry I'm Fizzy Today plus two of Orange You Fantastic on an accent nail. The pink base gave the glitter much more of an orange look than it had over the vanilla base. This time I did add topcoat to my swatch.
I compared Sorry I'm Fizzy to Today to SinfulColors Island Coral and Rimmel Instyle Coral. Left to right below: SinfulColors (3 coats), OPI, Rimmel (2 coats). The Sinful and OPI are very similar hues, but the OPI is a touch brighter and lighter. The Rimmel is definitely more orange-leaning than the other two.
In the case of a Coke-themed collection, of course there had to a be a red, and the one we got here is Coca-Cola Red, a classic creme inspired by the flagship brand. I used two coats of it, then added 1 coat of Orange You Fantastic on my accent nail and shined it all up with topcoat. I really liked the combination of that glitter on this red.
It was hard to decide which of my many many reds to pull for comparison; eventually I settled on Essie Snap Happy from Winter 2012 and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure All Fired Up from their core lineup. Left to right below: Essie, OPI, Sally Hansen (all 2 coats). The Essie is pretty close to the OPI, while the Sally Hansen is a touch more orange.
Today I Accomplished Zero, inspired by Coke Zero, is a black jelly with red glitter. I paired it with an accent of My Signature is DC, a silver metallic inspired by Diet Coke (based on poking around the internet, I believe this shade is called Turn on the Haute Light in markets where Diet Coke is called Coke Light). I used three coats of Today I Accomplished Zero plus topcoat for added shine; I probably could have gotten away with two coats because the jelly base is nicely pigmented, but not so much that the glitter gets obscured. I used two coats, no topcoat of My Signature is DC.
Get Cherried Away is a red violet creme inspired by Cherry Coke. I used two coats for my swatch, and did an accent nail of Today I Accomplished Zero because a) I like it a lot and b) I had run out of attention span for swatching cremes by themselves at this point.
For comparison to Get Cherried Away, I grabbed SinfulColors Sexy Spy and OPI Pamplona Purple. Left to right below: Sexy Spy, Get Cherried Away, Pamplona Purple (all two coats). Sexy Spy is really close to Get Cherried Away, while Pamplona Purple is brighter.
A Grape Affair is a deep purple creme inspired by Grape Fanta. My swatch is two coats, though the second coat was almost unnecessary, as this is quite pigmented. This too got an accent nail of Today I Accomplished Zero, for the same reasons as listed above plus to show how dark the purple is compared to the black base of Zero.
Since OPI Lincoln Park After Dark is my standard by which all deep purple cremes are judged, I grabbed that for my comparison as well as Barielle Edgy. Left to right below: Lincoln Park After Dark, A Grape Affair, Edgy. LPAD is darker and redder toned; Envy is a slightly lighter sibling of LPAD and not a match for Grape either.
I saved the most interesting for last: Green on the Runway, inspired by Sprite. This is a warm green to golden brown duochrome shimmer. (A green/blue shift would have been more appropriate, as those are the colors on a Sprite can, but I was so entertained by playing with this polish that I'll let that slide.)
I swatched Green on the Runway on its own first to see how it would do without a dark base to bring out the color shift. I used three coats but two probably would have been fine. In indirect light, straight on, it looked mostly green, though there were hints of the brownish shift around the edges.
I slid my hand out of the lightbox into normal room light and tipped my fingers back and voila, the green turned mostly brown.
I went outside into the sun and saw various shades of green and brown depending on how I moved my fingers around.
I came back in and took off Green on the Runway only to put it right back on again, one coat over a black creme base. Unlike with some duochromes, this did not make a dramatic difference, though the green viewed straight on in the lightbox was a touch darker.
In regular room light, the black base made made the range of the shift from green to brown perhaps just a bit larger.
Outside in the sun, it was a similar story, with the black base providing a little boost, but not so much that I'd say it's a must to wear this way.
One last shot in the shade:
As you can probably guess by the number of photos of it, Green on the Runway is my favorite of the collection, with Today I Accomplished Zero in second spot. As I said, I'm happy with the variety in this collection, with colors from light to dark and creme, shimmer, glitter, and metallic finishes all represented. If I were to tweak it, I'd drop Sorry I'm Fizzy Today (because the world has plenty of pinky coral cremes) and add a deep brown glass fleck shimmer to represent how Coke looks in a glass. Or, if having a pinkish color were a requirement, I'd do a color inspired by Tab, the classic diet soda (sure, it's a niche beverage now, but still available in some stores). It might be a deep pink flecked shimmer, or maybe a hot pink jelly with round white glitter. Hmm, maybe in addition to hiring a stash management assistant after I win the lottery (note to self: start playing lottery), I should also get a polish maker on staff. What would be in your soft drink/soda/pop-inspired nail polish collection?
*****
If you made it this far, thank you. I will be working this week on verifying entries for my Belated Blogiversary Giveaway and making sure everyone gets all the extra chances they qualified for before I draw the winners. It may take me a week or even longer; I appreciate your patience. I will notify winners by email and also do a blog post.
The polishes shown in this entry were provided free for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.
