I'm kinda disappointed. I mean, the flakies are "interesting" polishes (and I still want Ginger Bells and Sapphire in the Snow) but the cremes in the mini kit were "eh" and the flakies weren't as beautiful as I thought they were going to be. Merry Midnight was my favorite and was my Saturday NOTD.
OPI Merry Midnight
Opalescent bronze-gold-red flakies and bright blurple glitter suspended in tyrian (hi, Erika!) jelly. Indoors, the jelly looks eggplant but it becomes more translucent in the light. This is what I mean by polishes with depth and dimension: the flakies are suspended within these three coats and they reflect light differently depending on which coat they were brushed on with. Ditto with the blurple microglitter. It's a great effect: when you look at it from a distance, it glows red and sparkles blurple. :D
Close-up of Merry Midnight
While I was putting Merry Midnight on, it occurred to me that I was probably putting on the dark purple equivalent of $OPI 212 (except instead of holo glitter, it's highly reflective blurple microglitter). I don't usually associate $OPI with OPI because they seem like totally different lines to me but it seems obvious to me that they realized how popular the combination of glitter and flakies in a dark pigmented jelly was in 212 and sought to recreate it in this holiday collex. Their bronze-y shimmer version fell a bit flat though...
OPI Shim-merry Chic
I'm just not fond of this in between bronze-brown-gold color against my skin and I didn't think it was that impressively sparkly in the sun. Also, the shimmer kind of obscures the flakies and gives it (IMO) a lumpier look without the depth. Kudos for adding a dash of green and blue microglitter though -- it's a nice, unusual detail.
Close-up of Shim-merry Chic
OPI Comet Loves Cupid
Bright red creme. The mini brush might've made application harder than it had to be though.
OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled
Highly glossy brown-wine shade. (OMG, I hate those mini brushes.) Appears more brown than wine in most lights. Nice vampy if you don't have this shade. Nothing special if you already have a full vampy collection.
OPI All A-Bordeaux The Sled with CND Scarlet Shimmer Effects on top
Obviously, the CND Effects can be used with any polish. Scarlet Shimmer gives off a nice rich burgundy shimmer when layered over All A-Bordeaux.
OPI Holiday Glow
In my opinion, the most interesting shade in the collection (mostly because I consider Merry Midnight a version of 212). As far as I can tell, it's bright gold microglitter and bronze and red shimmer suspended in a burnt umber jelly. Burnt umber is more brown than maroon but because the bronze and/or (?) red shimmer is visible through the dark jelly, it glows maroon. To top it all off, the gold microglitter just sparkles on the surface (while also adding to the maroon glow from the other layers).
Close-up of Holiday Glow
My only gripe with this polish is that looks kind of dull indoors but I'm okay with that as long as it looks awesome outdoors. I may end up trying to get a full size of this one eventually.
