OPI NYC Ballet Collection

I love jellies, it's not a secret. When this collection first started getting swatched online, I was in a fever of excitement. But, because I've had bad experiences with streaky jellies in pale colours before, I decided to order the mini set first and see how the formula is. It's also a nice way to sample a collection when you're not sure what to buy, and it saves disappointment later (OPI Gold Shatter and Save Me, I'm talking about you!).

My box got a bit crumpled in the post. The four colours that come in the mini set are My Pointe Exactly (a rare gray jelly!), Don't Touch My Tutu (white jelly), Care to Danse? (a lovely lilac) and Pirouette My Whistle, which is a clear base with silver glitter and pearly white hex glitter.

For my trial manicure, I chose Pirouette My Whistle (worst name ever!) and Care to Danse?

I didn't have anything to worry about, it seems, as Care to Danse? went on like a dream and self-leveled. I didn't have to worry about streaks or brush strokes! My only beef is that it looks much whiter on the nail than in the bottle. I was hoping to keep that lovely lavender shade. Pirouette My Whistle was just what the bottle advertised, but I wish the silver glitter wasn't so dense. I wanted it for layering and after two coats, it changes the base colour due to the density of the glitter.

Since I like subltle bling, I decided to throw a coat of China Glaze's Fairy Dust on top for extra sparkle.

 I took this photo in the subway, hence the feet above my fingers, but this shows the manicure under artificial lights. I love how the pearly hex glitter of Pirouette makes my nails look like a tutu with Swiss dots or something. Even under artificial light, the holo glitter of Fairy Dust shines! I love that top coat! In this photo I have on 3 coats of Care to Danse? and 2 coats of Pirouette My Whistle. I used fairly thin coats and my nail line was slightly visible, but not bad. I've seen other people's swatches where they put on thick coats and managed to hide their nail line with 3 coats.

Another shot I took at home. I really wanted a shot in the sun, but no chance with the weather we're having! We've only had one sunny day in the last week and I was so busy with work I forgot to take a photo. =( My favorite coworker, who is also a polish fanatic, said this was the perfect manicure for winter because it looks like ice and snow. I think she's right!

Here I did two coats of My Pointe Exactly and one coat of Fairy Dust. I know, I know, I've got an FD obsession. =P I was going to leave it as is, but the next day I came across a full sized bottle of You Callin' Me a Lyre? and figured since I loved the other four colours so much, I should just splurge on the bigger bottles. I decided to do a gradation of the two colours and see what happens.

It's a bit subtle to pick up on camera, but it was really soft and feminine in person. I got so many compliments on this manicure and people kept asking me what polish it was.

Here's a closer look that shows the gradation a bit better:

My Pointe Exactly is the base colour and I put a few coats of You Callin' Me a Lyre? on the tips. I then put FD over it because apparently I have a holo top coat problem. lol

My final thoughts: It covers up the nail line pretty well at 2 coats, and by 3 coats it's opaque. It's not a super runny formula either, so you can put on thicker coats with ease. And the best part is, if you have stained nails you can still wear this polish! My nails are a horrible yellow right now since a red polish I wore a few weeks ago stained my nails right through the base coat I put on. You can't even see it in the photos or real life. This polish is awesome!

For people in Tokyo, I got the mini set online from Rakuten, but I went out and bought a full-sized bottle of You Callin' Me A Lyre? (the pink jelly) from Plaza the other day. If you can wait a little, I still recommend Mariposa since they're they cheapest.