Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like to be a Kardashian girl? Well, here’s your chance to have a touch of that connection! Their most recent venture which launches this November 2011, is a collaboration with Nicole by OPI that has produced 14 absolutely beautiful lacquers. Not wanting to overwhelm you with a ton of photos, I’ve broken down this collection into two parts, with the six ‘Crèmes’ the focus of today’s review. The following swatches are all using Deborah Lippmann’s 2-Second Nail Primer, Rehydrating Base Coat, and Addicted To Speed Top Coat.
The Kardashian girls, from left to right: Kylie, Kendall, Kourtney, Kris, Khloé and Kim.
‘My Empire…My Rules’ is a creamy mushroom-y taupe shade, made even more interesting by its slight green undertones. The formula was a touch on the thick side, but flowed quite easily just the same and was so incredibly pigmented, that it can almost be a one-coater if applied thickly enough, although the following swatches all bear two coats. Excellent self-levelling capabilities, leaving behind a wonderful high gloss finish.
Full sunlight seems to pull out a more khaki side to this shade, with hints of mousy brown in its depths.
When seen in indirect light, a more greyer hue makes itself known, bringing ‘My Empire…My Rules’ into a cooler realm.
Interestingly enough, shaded lights seems to draw out some lavender tints to this lacquer, adding a new angle to the overall tone.
A final view taken with flash exposes this shade’s full creamy nature, while lightening the base tone to a mix between dove grey and taupe.
‘All Kendall-ed Up’ is a highly pigmented bubble-gum pink hue, with a slight dusty overglaze that prevents this shade from coming off as excessively girly. An amazing formula and slightly flowing thinner in viscosity than ‘My Empire…My Rules’, two coats were all that were needed for a completely self-levelling finish, that left behind a high gloss shine. As this is an interesting juxtaposition of muted vibrancy, it will make for an outstanding pedi shade!
Full on sunlight not only adds an intense warmth to this hue, but highlights its deep carnation pink leanings, in an incredibly creamy look.
Indirect light lends a cooler cast to ‘All Kendall-ed Up’ and seems to add a rosy overall flush to this shade.
Shaded light not only adds warmth to this hue, but also seems to draw out some slight coral leanings from the base colour.
A final view taken with flash not only lightens the base hue, but highlights its incredibly true pink heart.
‘Khloé Had A Little Lam-Lam’ is an incredibly luscious teal hue, leaning slightly more to the green than blue side. The saturation of colour was so intense, that this would look wonderful even with only one coat, although two were applied here for the swatches. With a formula lying somewhere between the former two, it shares their same self-levelling and super glossy properties. Pure sophistication!
Sunlight highlights this shade’s mirror-like shine, and seems to pull out a deep green hue from the base, showcasing its wonderful depth of tone.
While indirect light casts a darker mantle over ‘Khloé Had A Little Lam-Lam’, it still stays unmistakably teal coloured and steers clear of looking black.
Shaded light now adds a very slight tinge of silver to this shade, yet it remains true to its peacock green base colour.
A final view taken with flash serves to spotlight the perfect mix of sea green and blue that make this shade so colour-rich.
‘Hard Kourt Fashionista’ is a deep russet hued lacquer, so insanely pigmented that you bare need more than one coat for full opacity, yet I applied two here for swatching purposes. As incredibly smoothly flowing, self-levelling and super glossy as the rest of this collection thus far, the formula on this shade was particularly outstanding, and the bonus? Absolutely NO staining!
When seen in sunlight, a slight reddish hue is just visible, yet the overall tone remains a luxurious, almost chocolatey brown.
Indirect light lends a more chestnut gleam to ‘Hard Kourt Fashionista’, yet manages to stay away from looking too blackened.
While shaded light gives this shade its darkest persona, it somehow keeps a brown tint in clear evidence.
A final view taken with flash serves to highlight any ruddy tones in the base, and shows off this lacquer’s wonderfully creamy nature.
‘Kourt Is Red-y For A Pedi’ is vibrant tomato red shade, made scintillatingly glossy by its rather jelly-like formula. Interestingly enough, while the application was slightly thin, the pigmentation remained quite saturated so that two coats were all that were needed to achieve full opacity. One of the glossiest of the six here, you almost don’t need a top coat at the end, although I always recommend applying one for the protection it affords your lacquer.
When seen in full sunlight, a vivid coral hue emerges, giving this shade a true citrus-y vibe, yet notice how brilliant the glossy finish is!
Indirect light lends an overall cooler depth to this shade, yet does not detract from the tangerine colour that now emerges.
Shaded light gives ‘Kourt Is Red-y For A Pedi’ its truest red appearance, and highlights any orange lurking in its base colour.
A final view taken with flash gives this lacquer the look of incredibly creamy tomato-bisque soup, and just as lusciously juicy!
‘Sealed With A Kris’ is beyond superb; a highly pigmented blue based claret shade, this shade was hands down a dream to work with. With a jelly-like formula, it practically applied itself — that’s how easily it flowed, left an incredibly smooth finish, and the gloss? I don’t even have the words to give it justice! Two coats are definitely need for full coverage, and even though a top coat becomes almost superfluous, I wouldn’t skip it as you want to protect a colour this stunning!
When seen in sunlight, you would think that this is more a red lacquer than any other hue, yet the center of the nails displays its berry-like core.
Indirect light seems to add a slight burgundy overtone to ‘Sealed With A Kris’, yet it steers clear of any brown hints and maintains a more red shine.
Shaded light shows off a more berry side to this shade, but also serves to highlight its vibrant wine-red leanings.
A final view taken with flash spotlights the obvious true red side to this lacquer and emphasizes it utter creamy glossiness!
Final thoughts: The first six shades of this rather large collection, are a complete WIN for me! While the shades themselves are not necessarily the most unique or outrageously coloured, I love how each shade is done so amazingly “right”. The formula on each was phenomenal, flowing well, exceptionally glossy and none had any staining issues. Nicole by OPI seems to have discarded that wider, more paddle-shaped brush that previous shades sported, which is a good thing in my opinion, as I felt I had so much more control with this thinner, yet still perfectly flexible brush. Available starting November, this will be a limited collection and if these first six shades are anything to judge by, something tells me that they will become as elusive as a real “Kardashian” sighting!
Product samples provided by OPI for my unbiased consideration
Pingback: I’m Baa-aack! But Not Quite In Full Effect « Beauty Obsessed