OPI Teenage Dream Swatch (+Bonus OPI Black Shatter Swatch)

Is it too late for this kind of thing? I hope not. Let me tell you about my special relationship with these polishes. Just as you're probably sick of this trend, I am as well but this is what started this whole mess. This was my "Gateway Polish". Before I owned glitter, pinks, shimmers, flakies, neons - the only nail polish that I would ever don is black. In 2010, I owned a whopping total of 4 bottles of nail polish - all black. That's it. The most experimental thing I would wear other than plain black nail polish would be matte black nail polish. The first time I saw OPI Black Shatter, it changed my world. I could wear black nail polish over ANYTHING.... And so I did.

From the 2011 OPI Katy Perry Collection, OPI Teenage Dream is an eye candy saturated with rose pink micro glitter and holographic hex glitters. Don't be fooled, this is not a layering polish. The base rosey pink jelly is thick and you get full opacity and coverage after two coats. Application is smooth but over time, the formula thickens. I am done to the last third of the bottle; I still haven't been able to thin mine out after 10 drops of OPI lacquer thinner but I was able to apply it without any major problems. A fresh bottle will give you a quick drying flawless application. Here's two coats of a 2 year old lacquer, with Seche Vite top coat.





Here's OPI Black Shatter. This is my second bottle. I shamelessly wore it on EVERYTHING when it first came out. My first bottle got decent mileage but at midpoint, the bottle dried up and I started a new one. A few notes on shatter polish: 1) It's best applied on an even surface. If you're wearing glitter, it's best to put on a top coat or clear polish first; 2) It dries pretty dull. Be prepared for yet MORE top coat!; and lastly but certainly still important 3) Application needs to be quick with no painting over spots. One generous coat is all it takes. The shatter effect will also "break" in the direction of the application so you can have fun with diagonal, horizontal breakage as well. Here's one coat of OPI Black Shatter with no top coat:



And of course, the final and finished product:



I don't know about you but I still get hard nostalgia feelings when I see this polish. As if it was a first love or something. Then again, I also have remorse as this will forever be the gateway that resulted in me owning over 220 (and counting) polishes in 2 years.