Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 Sephora by OPI Summer: Mermaid in the Shade
This Summer is all about the blues, and Sephora introduces six limited edition shades to the Mermaid in the shade collection. A mixture of grays, blue and teals that takes you back to the lazy days at the beach.
Before I get to the official review, all my swatches were taken in two different types of lighting: direct and indirect sunlight.
The application. Most shades I found to be rather sheer and required a minimum of three thick coats or four to achieve bottle color. Other than being mostly sheer, no visible formula problems and a nice collection for any blue lover.
And, here they are!
Water Baby - a semi sheer, mix between white and light gray with fine silver and turquoise blue shimmer. The texture isn't quite a metallic nor a shimmer.
Lagoon a Beach - a semi sheer, light powder blue base with silver and turquoise blue shimmer.
Underwater Fantasy - a semi sheer, light cornflower blue with silver and turquoise blue shimmer.
Just a Fairy Tail - a sheer silver blue base with silver and turquoise blue shimmer that's really pretty. After three thick coats or more, you'll notice Fairy Tail takes on a blue silver foil effect.
Suprisingly, this was one of my favorites. I just love that foil look.
Blue Grotto - is actual only a two coater (ignore my swatch) and the only creme of the bunch. A mixture between a navy blue and royal that applied perfectly in two coats.
We have a few close comparisons to Blue Grotto: OPI's Dating a Royal, China Glaze's Bermuda Breakaway and Misa On the Edge. Misa's Living on the edge being the closest dupe.
There's always a shade you have high expectations for, and this was it. Mermaid to Order, a blue green frosty metallic with shimmer and yellow undertones.
I was seriously bummed when I found out that Mermaid to Order was a metallic frosty shade. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous shade, but I had my heart set on a blinged out shimmer. And, if you've been reading my blog, you know me and metallics are on a non-speaking basis right now.
The closest comparison I have to Mermaid to order is China Glaze's, Adore from the Romantiques collection. Not exact dupes, China Glaze's is much more blue and Sephora's is more green with yellow undertones.
As far as the application, yes, you can slight stroke lines but it's not as bad as other metallics.
The Mermaid in the Shade collection is now available at Sephora for a limited time only and retails for $9.00/ea.
Posted by Steph at 09:19:am
views / 12 comments
(12) Comments
impasto said on Apr 14th, 2009 11:41 am
I am kind of disappointed with the group, especially mermaid. My fav of the bunch is blue grotto, and it looks like Essie mesmerize or Misa on the edge.
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867popcorn5309 said on Apr 15th, 2009 9:43 am
I'm *lovin* blue grotto...I'll have to pick that one up next week.
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Denny said on Apr 15th, 2009 10:56 am
I'll take Blue Gratto too! Very cool color.
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Alexa said on Apr 15th, 2009 11:08 am
wow. u r amazing! the collection just came out and u've got swatches for us already! =]
but im disappointed about this collection as well.. most of the shimmery shades just too ordinary.
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Polish Earthgirl said on Apr 19th, 2009 11:20 am
I really like this collection, and I usually hate ALL sheers! There's a surprise. Hey, isn't underwater actually called underwater fantasy?
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Polish Earthgirl said on Apr 23rd, 2009 10:51 am
How many coats are Underwater Fantasy and Lagoon a Beach?
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Steph said on Apr 24th, 2009 7:25 am
Hi Impasto,
I know, I was really looking forward to a shimmer. Blue Grotto is pretty, but not original. There's a lot of similar dupes out there.
Hi 876Popcorn and Denny,
Blue Grotto is very stunning :)
Hi Polish Earthgirl,
Yep, it's actually Underwater Fantasty! I was in a mad rush to get my swatches done before I left on my Trip, it's fixed now :)
All my swatches were done three thick coats except Blue Grotto. Thick meaning, I don't wipe any excessive polish on the side of the bottle :)
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Styrch said on Apr 29th, 2009 9:06 am
Just curious, Steph, but do you know how Blue Grotto compares to Lippmann Rehab? For some reason that is what I thought of when I saw your pic. I do not own Rehab personally, so I may be way off base.
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Steph said on Apr 29th, 2009 6:52 am
Hi Styrch,
Lippmann's rehab is definitely a true "navy blue" jelly much like Chanel's Blue Satin and Blue Grotto would be more of a royal blue like OPI's Dating a Royal :)
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Anna said on May 20th, 2009 7:59 am
Hi Steph,
I was wondering how Mermaid to Order compares to OPI Azure for Sure and Nicole by Opi Respect the World. It looks similar to Nicole by OPI Respect the World.
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Steph said on May 20th, 2009 8:42 am
Hi Anna,
I'm not sure about OPI Azure for sure, but Nicole's Respect the world is more greener compared to Mermaid to order :).
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kat said on Jul 2nd, 2010 9:59 pm
Water baby looks gorgeous! Definitely a fan of its understatedness
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