OPI DS (Designer Series) 2015 is almost here and you know who has swatches? Me. If you’re not familiar with the DS line, it’s now two shades, (used to be more way back when) and comes out every Fall. This year we can look forward to OPI DS Charcoal, and OPI DS Imperial.

opi ds imperial 049

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). The finish is satin matte and it’s pretty, no question. It looks somewhat pitted and un-smooth, but it totally isn’t. Without top coat (or with), it’s satiny smooooth. 

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). DS Imperial goes on splendidly in two coats, with zero issues. I like this colour a lot. I’m a fan.

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). In the bottle, she looks like she’ll be all kinds of shimmery metallic, but that shimmery doesn’t come out to play unless you hit it with topcoat or find yourself some decent light. It never really hits as a full-on metallic though. Weird.

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). This shade freaked me out. I did the above swatches on one day and then set everything aside and went off to work. The next day (it was cloudy), I went looking for my two DS sticks so I could shoot ‘em, and I couldn’t find my DS Imperial stick anywhere. 

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). When I finally located it, I was all like “Whaaaat??” To my eyeballz, it had changed colour. No longer the bright fuchsia-esque plum, the swatch looked like a blackened fuchsia. I nearly lost my mind.

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). I re-swatched it and shot it again just to be sure. There’s some kind of magical light-reflecting micro shimmer bits in there that freak me out.

OPI DS Imperial 049 (above). In low light, this polish looks nothing like it does in normal daylight. In the shade, it’s darker by a lot. Like, a lot. Look at my pinky finger – it’s grape. It’s like it sucks up darkness when it’s in the shade and it reflects nothing back. Kind of amazeballz, huh? Yeah, I dig it. It’s neat and it surprised me. I don’t get surprised very often anymore so when I do, it’s uh-maaazing.

opi ds charcoal 048

OPI DS Charcoal 048 (above). You knew from looking at the promo shots I scrounged that OPI DS Charcoal was going to be special, right? Again, you’re looking at that extremely smooth-to-the-touch satin-matte finish you can slick with top coat, or not. OPI is calling this finish “stonewashed.” I’m just gonna call it satin matte.

OPI DS Charcoal 048 (above). Boy is she shifty! Silvery, grey, greeny, violet shifty. Or, as OPI says “matte, jaded smoke with hints of violet.” Yeah, theirs sounds about right. What do I call it? Fantasticalz.

That’s two outstandingly simple coats to full and complete coverage.

OPI DS Charcoal 048 (above). Hit it with a top coat, and the metallic shimmery comes out to play. It pops the shift in a most beautiful way. Folks'll ask “does it benefit from undies?” Nope. OPI DS Charcoal is too pigmented to let undies come through so just do two coats, sit back and marvel.

OPI DS Charcoal might be the best OPI Designer Series polish I’ve seen in a really long time. It doesn’t in any way resemble the DS of old, but it’s a step in the right direction. Used to be I couldn’t wait to see what the DS releases were. Then it got to be that I didn’t much care for them. With this release, I’m pleased with the direction they’re going. Until next year, you can bet I’ll be sporting Charcoal until the bottle is dead. It's perfection. What do ya'll think?

OPI DS Charcoal 048 (above). Oh! I gotta whack of OPI DS polishes hiding in this post over here. It’s not all the bottles I have hiding in The Archives but it’s a goodly chunk.

So? What are your thoughts on this new releases? They'll be available in October 2015 from wherever OPI is sold. Gonna get you one? Two? Tell!

opi ds charcoal comparison swatches

Just because I know you're wondering, here are your comparisons. 

It's Charcoal vs Peace & Love & OPI vs Essie For the Twill of It. 

Mattified means with matte top coat, neat means straight out of the bottle with no top coat, and + top coat means.. uh, yeah - with top coat. Enjoy errrrybody!

For all current opi.com things, I direct you to these handy places:

OPI Venice 2015
OPI Venice Limited Edition Shades 2015
OPI Starlight Sneak Peek
OPI Infinite Shine Summer 2015 Shades
OPI LE Coca-Cola Anniversary Shades
Brights 2015
Soft Shades 2015
OPI Hawaii
OPI Designer Series 2015 Sneak Peek

Manicures and photographs Karen Falcon (hopefully right now she’s on a boat in the Pacific Ocean – or has already been)
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