OPI – Serena Williams ‘Grand Slam! England’ (swatches & review)

Game on! Once more, tennis superstar Serena Williams has teamed up with OPI to bring us this third instalment, ‘Grand Slam! England’ to coincide with the British Open. This collection features two duo packs, the first with ‘Grape…Set…Match’ – a vivid shimmery purple along with ‘Serving Up Sparkle’ – a stunning topcoat filled with silver & holographic glitter, and the second set which consists of ‘Your Royal Shine-ness’ – a gleaming silver foil along with the the same ‘Serving Up sparkle’. Something about these hues totally brings royalty to mind, and the combinations compliment each other beautifully. All swatches are with OPI Natural Nails base coat, three thin coats of lacquer and OPI’s Start to Finish top coat.

‘Grape…Set…Match’ is shimmery purple done absolutely right. The bottle shade shows it to have a slight duochrome look, but in reality it’s the masses of incredibly fine light purple and blue shimmer that give off this iridescent effect, nestled among a deep true purple base. The formula isn’t too thick which means you can apply three thinner coats for the most luxurious finish. I love how even in shaded light (bottom photo) the depth of the hue stays so vibrant.

The combination of ‘Serving Up Sparkle’ layered over ‘Grape…Set…Match’ is nothing short of…cosmic! Giving off the effect of stars twinkling in a purple-y twilight sky, one coat of this brilliant polish is all you need for a totally unique look. ‘Serving Up Sparkle’ is a sheer lacquer filled with tiny silver glitter and larger hexagonal holographic glitter pieces. The formula is of the thicker suspension variety, but I find that it helps in the placement of the larger glitter. Dry time was quite fast, although I would recommend between 1-2 layers of top coat for a perfectly smooth finish.

‘Your Royal Shine-ness’ is an extraordinary silver metallic foil, incredibly rich and super pigmented. Unlike many silvers that lean rather on the cool side, the microscopic gold flecks embedded deep within this base give it a warmth that makes this hue wearable by all skin tones. Even though you can achieve full opacity with two coats, I layered three for swatching purposes. As this is a metallic, it dries super fast and I was pleased to see that it left zero brush strokes behind. Note how flash (bottom photo) just seems to enhance that insane mirror like finish…the closest to a “minx” nail look you’ll get in a regular polish!

You might think that layering ‘Serving Up Sparkle’ over ‘Your Royal Shine-Ness’ would be a bit redundant, but I find that this combination has a certain understated elegance. I know…you’re asking yourself how a silver foil combined with an über-blingy polish can possibly be understated, but it’s almost as if the addition of ‘Serving Up Sparkle’ tones down some of the mirror-like effect of ‘Your Royal Shine-ness’, yet when viewed in full sun, you catch these sudden glimpses of the holographic glitter which give off these prismatic flashes, and voilà…you’re mesmerized! Once more, top coat is definitely needed to achieve a smooth finish.

Final thoughts: At first I was wondering why OPI would double up on one of the shades with each duo pack, but it makes sense if you’re only interested in one of the sets; if you happen to like both, well, then resign yourself to owning two bottles of ‘Serving Up Sparkle’. Not necessarily a bad thing, since this is a unique limited edition polish that can be layered over basically anything, but still somewhat frustrating to a consumer who may not want two of the same. The formula was excellent with all, with no application issues, flowing easily and with a super fast dry time, most particularly with ‘Your Royal Shine-ness’. The Grand Slam! England duo packs will retail for CAD $20.95 and will be available beginning of June wherever OPI products are sold.