OPI – Navy & Turquoise Shatters (swatches and review)

The latest incarnation of the effects polish craze, ‘Navy Shatter’ and ‘Turquoise Shatter’ are the newest shades to be released by OPI. By now, we all know how to properly apply these lacquers (on a fully dry base shade) as well as what to expect upon application. Joining their wildly successful counterparts from OPI, today I’m showing you these two beauties: ‘Navy Shatter’ – a deep, jewel-rich hue, and ‘Turquoise Shatter’ – a sparkling oceanic shade. All swatches are with OPI’s Natural Nails base coat, the base lacquer, and OPI’s Start to Finish top coat.

I knew instantly that in order to best showcase the richness that is ‘Navy Shatter’, that I needed to pair it with something pale and contrasting; enter a-england’s ‘Excalibur’ (reviewed here), a mirror-like silver foil. The ‘Navy Shatter’ glided on easily over two coats of ‘Excalibur’ and the formula was thin enough to work with, giving the appearance of an inky pattern veiling the nails. This is such an elegant combination, and I love how the metallic depth of the base shade perfectly offsets the deep indigo of the shatter…I didn’t want to take it off!

I initially applied ‘Turquoise Shatter’ over ‘Bleu Asphalte’ (by Bourjois Paris) without really planning to, then I had a “WHOAH” moment….magnifique! For starters, ‘Turquoise Shatter’ is a vibrant, blue-leaning turquoise, strewn with exceptionally fine shimmer as an added bonus. As with ‘Navy Shatter’, the formula was wonderful and so easy to apply. The base shade, ‘Bleu Asphalte’ (two coats applied) for whom I have to give props to Liz from Beauty Reductionista who led me to it (thanks Liz!), is a smoky grey-blue crème shade, similar in hue to Essie’s much coveted ‘Smokin Hot’ (reviewed here) and a sublimely perfect accompaniment. The bottom photo was taken with flash to highlight the gorgeous shimmer. Can I say how much I adore this look? I honestly could not stop staring at it!

I wondered if a contrasting and paler shade would compliment ‘Turquoise Shatter’ as well, so I decided on CHANEL’s ‘Mimosa’ from their newly released Summer collection (review forthcoming!). Remember our early lessons about the colour wheel? If you mix blue and yellow what do you get? Green! And that’s exactly how the ‘Turquoise Shatter’ looked as soon as it was applied over three coats of ‘Mimosa’. Like my very own lacquer-inspired optical illusion, I just had to provide both combinations to show how unpredictable (and wild!) colour can be, which just goes to show that half the fun of these Shatter polishes is in simply trying them over anything that comes to mind!

Final thoughts: Not having really warmed up to the shatter revolution taking place in the world of lacquer right now, I must confess that these two polishes could be just the ones to convert me fully to the cause! I found them not only lovely hues in their own right, but wonderfully easy to work with and loved how the ensuing patterns looked over my chosen base shades. In my opinion, these two shatters are most definitely worth the investment, as they seem to combine the edginess of the effect with a sophistication of colour. Go ahead and indulge in your inner Picasso, Monet or Van Gogh!