OPI Lights of Emerald City is one of the most highly anticipated glitters from the Oz the Great and Powerful Collection because it contains square glitter, which isn’t commonly seen in mainstream lacquer.

What Wizardry Is This?, the taupe Liquid Sand from this collection, was the first shade I wore. Lights of Emerald City was the second!

Lights of Emerald City is best suited for layering, and I thought long and hard about what to pair it with. I wanted to create a dreamy/sleepy effect, so I ended up reaching for the lovely Zoya Wednesday.

What would you pair with Lights of Emerald City?

** This post is rudely interrupted by a sicko. **

So…I’m sick. 🙁

As I’m typing this on a Friday evening, I’m coughing up a storm, and my throat is extremely sore. If you thought that the Liquid Sands look like sandpaper, maybe you should look at my throat, because it feels like it’s coated with sandpaper.

I was knocked out by this crazy cold, and I had to take a sick day from work! (My immune system is usually a beast, so I was surprised to fall under the weather. Then again, a lot of people I know have been coughing like crazy.) It sucks to have to stay in on a Friday night, but getting better is my top priority.

I’ve been sleeping for most of the day and drinking plenty of water and soup, but I still very much feel ill with that fuzzy-head feeling.

Thankfully, I had all the photos for this post already saved and cropped on my computer, so I didn’t have to spend as much time on this post as usual.

So, please bear with me as I’ll be replying to all your sweet comments and tweets much slower than usual. Also, I do still plan on picking the winner for the OPI Liquid Sands giveaway as promised, so stay tuned. (Hehe, and before I ship the winner’s prize, I promise to sanitize my hands before touching it!)

You should really hear my voice – it sounds insane. I imagine this is what the Grumpy Cat’s voice would sound like – very deep, swerving different octaves randomly, and dying out after a few words. When I called in sick, I’m pretty sure the only way they knew it was me was because of caller ID!

OPI Lights of Emerald City Pictures

OPI Lights of Emerald City Swatches

All swatches have:

• Essie First Base (Base Coat)
• 2 coats of Zoya Wednesday (This was provided by Zoya.)
• 2 coats of OPI Lights of Emerald City
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Sunlight Photos

Natural Light Photos

Flash Photos

Claim: TRUSTED

√ White confetti

Key Notes

• Name: OPI Lights of Emerald City
• Collection: OPI Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful Collection 2013
• Press Release: Click here to see the OPI Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful Collection press release
• Colours Available in the Collection: Lights of Emerald City, Don’t Burst My Bubble, When Monkeys Fly, Glints of Glinda, Which is Witch?, I Theodora You & What Wizardry is This?
• Amount: 15 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
• What I Paid: Nothing! (This was provided by PR.)
• Where to Buy: Trade Secrets & select spas & salons (This will be available in March 2013.)

OPI Lights of Emerald City Review

Colour

Lights of Emerald City by OPI has a whimsical quality that is usually more reminiscent of indie nail polishes. Since I hardly have any of those (except for a few gifted to me by friends), I was extremely excited to wear this!

The base is clear, which is good because that means you can layer it over anything without altering the colour.

There’s large, opaque white square glitter. The smaller square glitter has a magical quality – it’s translucent and opalescent! I love the way it looks when the small glitter overlaps the large glitter.

Together, this pairing is really special. If you don’t have any indie polishes or even very few, this will stand out in your collection.

The small glitter can look pastel pink, blue, green, purple, and yellow. But when the light hits it at a certain angle (even in dim lighting), you get bam-in-yo-face orange!

The effect this creates on your nails is pretty cool. Let me attempt to explain it. You know when a high-rise building reflects a sunrise or sunset in its glossy windows? This is the effect Lights of Emerald City creates. I feel like I have tiny windows from Emerald City on my nails, and the sun is rising or setting. It’s quite special because none of my other polishes create that effect.

Finish

Lights of Emerald City is a glitter polish, and you’ll notice some texture, but it wasn’t really sharp, especially after applying a top coat.

I found that the glitter was submerged in a generous amount of polish, so I think that’s why it coated the glitter.

When you remove this, your base polish will come off first and then the white squares will be the ones who just don’t want to call it quits! (Keep taking the remover to them no matter how hard it tries to manipulate you with those puppy-dog eyes!)

Application & Formula

This polish was exceptionally smooth because there’s so much of the clear base. I didn’t have to use the dapping method. However, there were times when none of the white squares ended up on my nail, which is why I decided to opt for a second coat. This seemed to coax more squares to come play.

Although I didn’t think to do it at the time, I suggest that you shake this bottle prior to using it. I noticed that the squares tend to sink to the bottom, so this is probably why I wasn’t able to get as many on my initial coat.

Layering Combinations

Lights of Emerald City by OPI is meant for layering. I would strongly advise against using it by itself.

Here are some quick colour combinations I came up with. The first 3 polishes from the left are jellies. (If you add one coat on top, you can create a Glitter Sandwich.)

The black is also a jelly, but it’s way more opaque, so I don’t suggest using it for a Glitter Sandwich.

Finally, I was curious to see what it would do to a holo. After seeing the result, I would urge you to NOT use this glitter over a holo since it actually detracts from the holo’s beauty!

Natural Light (Left-Right): Zoya Katherine, Zoya Paloma, Zoya Frida, China Glaze Liquid Leather & Urban Outfitters Green Holo

Click on any of the above links if you want to see my detailed review and swatches.

Pros White glitter & translucent/opalescent square glitter that are quite unique for a mainstream polish Base is clear, so you can layer it over any other nail polish Creates a whimsical effect

Cons Sometimes the large white squares don’t want to go on your nail because they sink to the bottom of the bottle (so shake up the bottle first)

Final Verdict: 8/10

I’m very happy to have this in my collection, especially because I haven’t really dipped into the indie-polish realm yet. Lights of Emerald City by OPI really stands out, and I’m sure I’ll be wearing it again!

What would you layer this with? Which is the one colour from the OPI Oz Collection that you’re most intrigued by? Are you feeling under the weather, too?

** Now it’s time for me to go make some more soup before going to sleep again. I don’t have a Smorgasbord Sundays post scheduled or any content prepared for tomorrow, so just as a heads up, if there’s no new post on Sunday, it’s because I was too ill to work on the computer. However, I will try my best to put something up, since I don’t think I’ve ever missed a day of blogging! But…health always comes first. **