Last week, Monday to Friday, I showcased 5 OPI San Francisco nail polishes, which will go on sale August 7th. Well, the train isn’t stopping – chooo chooooooo! 😉 I’ll continue to show you the rest of the shades in upcoming posts.
Since some people expressed interest in seeing the reds, and one reader actually met her fiance at the Golden Gate Bridge (How romantic!), I decided to push my review of OPI First Date at the Golden Gate up my list of blogging priorities.
OPI First Date at the Golden Gate is a beautiful, classic red that’s slightly muted. You can’t go wrong with this staple shade.
And even though red isn’t my favourite colour to wear on my tips, I must say that from time to time, I crave it like something fierce. In a strange way, red nail polish is like a ‘novelty’ to me since I don’t wear it often. So when I do wear it, it feels really special.
I recommend checking out this red creme because the formula is absolute perfection! The parts you see where I accidentally got some on my cuticles was entirely my own fault. (And, yes, I wore my manicure like that. The little imperfections didn’t detract from the joy of wearing it.)
OPI First Date at the Golden Gate Pictures
Sunlight
Natural Light
Flash
Sunlight
Natural Light
Flash
OPI First Date at the Golden Gate Swatches
All swatches have:
- Essie First Base (Base Coat)
- 3 coats of OPI First Date at the Golden Gate
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Sunlight Photos
Natural Light Photos
Flash Photos
Claims: 50% TRUE, but Product: TRUSTED
- Ruby (Yes)
- Shimmery (No)
Key Notes
- Name: OPI First Date at the Golden Gate
- Collection:Â OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013
- Press Release: Click here to see the OPI San Francisco Collection press release & quick swatches of all the shades
- Colours Available in the Collection: A-Piers to Be Tan, Dining al Frisco, Haven’t the Foggiest, Peace & Love & OPI, Keeping Suzi at Bay, Incognito in Sausalito, Lost on Lombard, I Knead Sour-Dough, Muir Muir on the Wall, In the Cable Car-Pool Lane, Embarca-Dare Ya!, First Date at the Golden Gate, It’s All San Andreas’s Fault (Liquid Sand), Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! (Liquid Sand) & Alcatraz…Rocks (Liquid Sand)
- Amount:Â 15 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
- What I Paid:Â Nothing! (This was provided by PR.)
- Where to Buy:Â Trade Secrets & select beauty-supply stores, spas & salons (Available August 7)
OPI First Date at the Golden Gate Review
Colour
First Date at the Golden Gate by OPI is more interesting than your typical fire-truck red. It’s bold, but at the same time, it looks slightly muted to me. For this reason, it really has an autumnal vibe, and it makes me think of the leaves changing colours and a yummy spiced-pumpkin pie.
Haha, yeah, I know that we’re going into the summer before we know it, but this polish is from a fall/winter collection. 😉
This type of red is classy and not flashy. It’s subdued, yet it still brings attention to your nails in an elegant way. Although I really love crazy (and even tacky) nail colours, I also can appreciate the nuances of a traditional polish like this. It’s a shade that’ll never go out of style (not that I toss polishes just because they’re not trendy! My babies – I’ll never desert you! Hahaha!).
I think that no matter what your favourite nail-polish colour is, every nailphile needs at least one professional red in the collection to round things out. 🙂
Finish
First Date at the Golden Gate by OPI has a standard creme finish that’s wonderfully smooth. It doesn’t look flat like some cremes can, but it also isn’t overly glossy.
Application & Formula
The formula was impeccable! This is the most forgiving nail polish because it goes on smoothly, doesn’t clump up like some lacquers can, and it self-levels. This means that even if you go over the same area a few times, you have more time to work with the polish to get it to look how you like. And even if you apply more in one area, it adjusts and evens itself out, so you’re left with great results.
Hehe, I accidentally painted my cuticle. Perhaps I was a little too excited by just how wonderful the formula is.
OPI gets a lot of flack over churning out many red nail polishes, but when the formulas are this perfect, I can’t blame them. This formula is like the gold standard.
I was able to get great coverage with 2 medium coats, but I added 3 just to see if it would deepen the colour – it didn’t really.
Pros
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Cons
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Final Verdict: 9/10
OPI First Date at the Golden Gate really wowed me in terms of formulation. It was a joy to apply, and had I paid more attention during application, I could’ve gotten flawless results!
If you don’t have a red that’s too similar to this one, I highly recommend you check this out. I feel like red nail polish always comes in handy. (Hehe, while some people use neutrals as their nail ‘palate cleansers’, I sometimes use reds!)
How many red nail polishes do you own? Do you prefer bright or muted reds the most? Have you ever been on the Golden Gate Bridge?
Beautiful! A classic shade, but I don’t ever get tired of red 🙂 Or pink, haha!
Hey Renee!
Hehe, I was going to say that you’d probably love the OPI Couture de Minnie Collection. Then I took a look and saw that you left a comment on my post about that, too. Thanks for all your comments! 🙂
Ok, minor rant time: I’ve been to SF, and it’s such an amazing, vibrant, interesting city. OPI could have come up w/ so many creative, unique colours that would represent it, and they chose to make over half the collection red. I happen to LOVE red nail polish, and even I’m disappointed! I just feel like they could have done so much more!
Hey Jess!
Aww, sorry to hear that this red disappointed even a red lover like you!
wat a pretttyred
Hey Icequeen81!
And it has a wonderful formula, which makes all the difference!
Wouldn’t it be nice it was so kind of a golden hue or tone of colour. THEN it would have gone with the name of the polish? Just a thought. But I suppose that would have been predictable. And the Golden Gates is kinda that color in reality no? However it is a lovely rusty color nevertheless. 🙂
Hey Deepa!
Yeah, a gold for this ‘Golden Gate’ polish would’ve made sense. Or maybe they went with red to symbolize budding love on that first date. 😉
Hey homie. You ever hear of a clean up brush?
Hey No Ma’am!
Yes, I’ve heard of it, but I don’t own one. I’m a fan of manicures making a person feel happy despite imperfections. The fact that I was thrilled with this manicure made it a success to me. 🙂 But I understand if you wore this polish and wanted to clean up the cuticles, that’s your choice. I never strive for perfection. It’s one of my life philosophies, actually. Happiness > Perfection
Amen, I love applying nail polish, but I hate clean up work, so I almost never do it.
Laure recently posted: Sapphire Moon: Review and swatches
Hey Laure!
Yay for another nailphile who enjoys a manicure, imperfections and all! 🙂 Kudos to the ladies who do clean up, but personally, I can’t be bothered with it (unless I’ve done nail stamping).
lol i’m from sf. I agree with the previous comment. what about the golden gate bridge orange/red. or the blues of the bay. haha. but yeah it does get foggy there…so they got that right. i dunno though, besides that. i love this red. I’m probably going to get it even though i’m a pink girl. haha.
Hey Pretty!
Well, red is close to pink, so you’re not straying too far. 😉 Hehe, hope you enjoy it – the formula is awesome. Can’t stop raving about it!
Oh no, now I’ve fallen in love with this polish too. My wallet can’t handle this, Mary!
Hey Laure!
Haha, I’m sorry, but at the same time, I have a huge grin on my face. It’s a compliment for me, even if I feel guilty for swaying your wallet to lose weight. Heheheheh!
hehe we have our indifference for reds in common. I own one red and I only have it for ‘special occasion’ manicures – like christmas/canada day/valentines day. I do like this one though and that’s saying something as I normally avoid reds!
Hey Norma!
You know what? Even though reds don’t usually speak to me, the ones that do, blare like trumpets! 😉 I have accumulated a few reds over the years, and sadly, they cry in my Helmer until the holidays you mentioned.
I like this color and it makes me wish it was fall :). It’s not even summer yet and already I’m like it’s too hot, lol.
Hey Tanya!
Haha! It’s been getting warmer here, and I’m loving it. It’s been around in the 20s here (Celcius).
Great swatches as always, and a beautiful color! I’m a sucker for red pedicures and I tend to collect red cremes for that purpose…Thanks for the post!
Hey Shelley!
Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment! 🙂 I’m glad that you like this red. The formula is incredible!
It’s shades like this that made me really start appreciating reds. When I started out as a new polish addict, I tended to stay away from reds because they seemed cliche and “too normal”, but classy, interesting shades like this helped me expand my perspective 🙂 I still have trouble wearing creams because they are unforgiving on ridges, which I am prone to.
P.S. Classy response to the troll <3 (I do use cleanup brushes, but only when I have polish dripping everywhere, usually because I did a sponge gradient or something.)
Hey Fedoraharp!
I find that a great base coat and using medium coats really conceals ridges. I have quite a lot of ridges on my natural nails, but the magic of nail polish really helps! (Chrome polishes tend to be the worst on my nails because the formula, although pigmented, is really thin, and it seems to show off every little ridge.)
Haha, thanks! From time to time, I get comments like that. And some people e-mail me to tell me that my nails aren’t even, etc., etc., etc. If I strived for perfect manicures, it might bother me, but thankfully, I enjoy my manicures to their fullest, imperfections and all. 🙂
I don’t know if it’s your beautiful swatches or my weak will power but I might end up buying this whole collection!!!
Hey Michaela!
You are so sweet! 🙂 Thank you very much for the compliment and for overlooking my hasty application. Hehe, sometimes I get so excited by polishes with amazing formulas and it shows on my cuticles. 😉
More reviews on polishes from this collection to come. Stay tuned!