OPI Mexico City VoxBox

*Influenster sent me all products pictured complimentary for review purposes. Writing a blog post was not a required part or any part of the campaign.*

Most people are putting out more content during these can’t leave your house times, but me? Nah bro, I ain’t about doing what everyone else is doing! Just kidding, the real reason I have not put up a blog post for weeks is that I had to rush to get the bare minimum stuff done for Influenster for this campaign because I got everything I needed only five days before it was all over, yikes. I also am still going to work and working full time (I work a local government job and we JUST got remote access on Thursday so we are still trying to figure out how that will work with us still having to serve the public) and when I get home in the evening after eating and doing whatever cleaning needs to be done, I spend way too much time watching commentary YouTube to distract myself (Kurtis Conner has been my main jam lately). Thankfully, I also have nail polish to distract me through all this craziness too. I do not have to do a blog post for the Influenster Mexico City box, but I thought I might as well because I tested everything they sent me. The box (actually it all came in two boxes) had pretty much everything I use for a full mani minus the cotton rounds and cuticle pusher! We will take a look at the two polishes first, Don’t Tell a Sol and Verde Nice to Meet You, then we’ll move on to the other goodness.

I love that OPI chose Mexico City for the spring/summer collection this year! It’s the biggest city in North America (NYC who?) and one that I REALLY want to visit. History and soccer are my two favorite things and the city has both. My dream is to see the US play Mexico at the Estadio Azteca someday, the atmosphere would be INSANE. Anyhoo, I was originally sent four polishes from the collection but one of them busted open and I was too scared to open the bag. Unusually for Influenster, I was actually sent these two, Don’t Tell a Sol and Verde Nice to Meet You, as replacements. Luckily they arrived intact and I had not bought either of these yet (I do have several other polishes from the collection). I swatched both over the Infinite Shine Primer and topped with the Infinite Shine top coat where noted. I don’t know why they sent Infinite Shine top and base, but just the regular polishes?

OPI Don’t Tell a Sol, 1 coat

Don’t Tell a Sol is probably a hit for a lot of people in the collection just because it is a yellow, but it has a surprisingly good formula! It is fairly opaque after just one coat. I tried to just float the polish on, which worked for good coverage because the formula was actually kind of robust. It was not thick and gloopy, but it also was not a watery mess. I just have a few streaks I want to cover with another coat.

OPI Don’t Tell a Sol, 2 coats

I floated on a second coat of Don’t Tell a Sol and actually got this one opaque in two coats! I know yellows are notorious, so I was being very careful and it paid off. If you apply this just like any other polish, I could see potentially needing three coats.

OPI Don’t Tell a Sol, 2 coats plus top coat

I want to note that it looks fairly bright in my photos, but it is slightly more muted and golden in tone; it’s not a Crayola crayon yellow. I want to start a new feature of the blog, where we (okay, I) rate nail polish names. Part of the reason I love nail polish so much is all the puns, so why not? I give Don’t Tell a Sol 5/5. It’s an awesome pun, it uses Spanish so it works for Mexico City, and it really fits with the golden, sunny yellow. I do not like yellow polish that is not pastel, but I’m definitely hanging on to this one because I do not have any yellows like it.

OPI Verde Nice to Meet You, 1 coat

Up next we have my favorite of the two! Verde Nice to Meet You has a more squishy formula than Don’t Tell a Sol. The formula is also on the thinner side, although I was able to avoid flooding my cuticle and sidewalls. It has okay opacity, but there are streaks and light spots, I don’t think anyone is going to be able to call this good in just one coat.

OPI Verde Nice to Meet You, 2 coats

I got Verde Nice to Meet You opaque in two coats. The color is just stunning, it’s a more green leaning turquoise. I did find that this polish does not self-level well so I recommend using a thicker top coat

OPI Verde Nice to Meet You, 2 coats plus top coat

I know this one seems similar to several polishes OPI has released over the past few years, but they did not dupe themselves! Gingerly Polished has some excellent comparisons so I did not even bother trying to do any here. For the name rating, I am going to give Verde Nice to Meet You a 3/5. The pun is solid, I love that it incorporates a Spanish word, but it is a blue-green polish. I would like something with “verde” in the name to be 100% a green. “Just in Tur-Case-a” is the best alternative I can come up with (turquesa being the Spanish word for turquoise according to my Google search) but it’s not great.

Since I got sent a bunch of other stuff with the polishes, I want to share some quick thoughts on everything!

Pro Spa Nail & Cuticle Oil: Very thick oil, does completely absorb a few minutes after you apply it, seems very nourishing, has a weird scent and I cannot figure out what it is but it is not very strong

Expert Touch Lacquer Remover: scent is pleasant for an acetone remover, a little orange-y, removes polish quickly but is drying to skin, applying the cuticle oil before using remover mostly mitigates this

Infinite Shine 1 Primer: formula is a little thick, needs some time to dry, super easy to apply, dries semi-glossy, some people might like wearing it on its own

Infinite Shine 3 Gloss: very thin top coat, not going to plump or even out mani, dry to touch within 5 minutes

Drip Dry Lacquer Drying Drops: dries polish to touch within one minute, does not seem to help dry polish all the way through, would work best in conjunction with top coats that are not normally quick-drying

Design Gel Precision Tools: love the case, clean-up brush is fantastic, used it for all my finished manis, dotting tool works like my other dotting tools, did not use other two brushes

Here’s a little nail art. I wanted to do something inspired by Sofia Castellanos, who collabed with OPI for this collection, but I looked up her art and quickly realized there is no way I could do anything even remotely like her murals. So I took inspiration from the name “Don’t Tell a Sol” and did a sort of abstract sunburst design. I usually am not this terrible at making dots. I did not grab my little paint palette that I normally use when doing dots, so I think I just did not get enough polish on the tool. No top coat here, my work was not good enough to deserve getting sealed in semi-permanently!

I had fun participating in the Influenster OPI Mexico City campaign. I might have actually come up with more nail art if I had more time with the polishes (and more colors to work with). You might be seeing a few more colors from the collection pop up on the blog since I have bought at least four others from the collection.

Which OPI Mexico City shades are your favorites? What city would you like to see a collection based on?

xx, Ashley

 

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