OPI Holland is a collection I was very eagerly anticipating. It’s one of my dreams to visit Holland one day, especially during the height of a tulip season. Before I get on with my review, let me stress that people react to nail polish differently. My experience with some of these polishes were very different than some other reviews I have seen so far. Nail polish blogs are really just a guide, not a set of facts necessarily. I did not purchase Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI?, as it is a dupe for Zoya’s Tru.
Formula. I think my experience was different in these, and I’m not sure why. I felt many of these shades were runny, had problems leveling, and pooling. The majority of these shades require at least three coats. The blues were especially problematic. Extremely sheer, even after 3-4 coats. If another brand can do a pretty blue shimmer with full opacity in two easy coats, the powerhouse that is OPI should be able to without a problem. However, OPI did not deliver on that front, in my experience. OPI had some solid formulas before they went 3-Free, and they’ve really been inconsistent in their formulas since then. I actually tried two colors other colors in this collection that I don’t show here, but they were extremely bad in terms of opacity. So many of these shades were goopy, thick, and just a mess.
Brush. The dang brush. I’ve mentioned this before, but this brush causes problems. The brush is larger than the nail bed for my pinky, so obviously this makes polishing your nails extremely difficult. I hate to say it, but the brush really makes me not purchase OPI colors. If I can get a similar shade in Zoya or China Glaze, I will go with those brands, as I love the brushes on both of those brands.
Dry Time. Another aspect I had a differing experience with. I had dry time issues with almost every shade in this collection, something I don’t usually have an issue with. I also apply a fast dry top coat, wait about 5 minutes, then take pictures. I got smudges on my pinky on almost all the shades. This wasn’t really acceptable in my personal opinion, since I had no issues with a shade like Zoya’s Skylar, for example.
Thanks A Windmillion is a seafoam green creme, that is very similar to Zoya’s Bevin. I don’t think they are dupes, but extremely close. I didn’t have too many problems with this one formula wise, and I think this was a three coater.
I Don’t Give A Rotterdam! is a dusty periwinkle blue with silver and golden shimmer. First off, look how sheer this is. This is three coats. Way too sheer for my tastes, and I had so many problems with the formula on this one. The formula was just very goopy on me, and had leveling issues. I’m showing you the smudge on my pinky to show you how it bad it was at drying. This is much lighter than Zoya’s Skylar, but they are in the same color family.
I Have a Herring Problem is a much warmer version of I Don’t Give a Rotterdam! To my eye, this leans much more teal, and I actually like this one better. The formula was slightly better, but it was still a pain to work with. It was also very sheer at first. I may try this one again in the future, because I really do love the color. Three coats.
Vampsterdam is a lovely deep plum with a silver metallic finish. This is the surprise of the collection, as this looks more like a fall shade. I don’t think many people are going to like this due to the finish, but I actually love shades like this. I love metallics, and even though I’ve seen this shade described as a frost, I don’t really see much frost here. This shade was the winner for me. I just really like it. It’s very deep, vampy but not overly so, and I love the silver that runs through it. I did three coats on this one, but this was the only shade I tested that could have gotten away with two.
So, I know this review isn’t that positive. But I really want to be honest here. I had a ton of trouble with these colors. I even tried two other shades (OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know?, OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes) that I didn’t show here because I applied two coats, thinking that would be enough, and I had many bald spots showing through on both of those. I really wish the formula on these were better. This was just my personal experience with these, and many people have had no issues at all. So it may just be me, but I have a feeling its just because people react to nail polish differently. To be honest, I’m a little burned out on OPI. Polishing my nails with their brush is more of a chore because it is so difficult, and their collections in the past couple years have not impressed me. They also keep producing colors that are very similar to other brands, but perform much poorer in comparison.
Sinful Colors – Neptune
China Glaze – Argo
Nicole by OPI – Purple Yourself Together
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