I can't believe it's already time to start talking Advent calendars! Seriously, where has this year gone? It only feels like two minutes since I was reviewing last year's beauty calendars!
If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I like to treat myself to a beauty Advent calendar every Christmas. I don't often splurge on beauty products throughout the year, so this is one beauty treat I like to give myself. This year, I decided I wanted to go with a nail polish calendar again, and after narrowing down my favourites, I chose OPI's Shine Bright Advent calendar.
Before we go any further, please note that this review contains spoilers including photos of the contents, so if you don't want to ruin the surprise for yourself, you may want to stop reading here. If you are here for the spoilers, however, keep reading, and I'll try not to disappoint you!
So, the Shine Bright Advent calendar is this year's offering from nail polish favourite OPI in collaboration with Swarovski. It features twenty-five mini OPI nail polishes in a range of bold and sophisticated colours for the holiday season, including twelve brand new shades from the Shine Bright collection, and thirteen of OPI's iconic classic colours. An almost perfect balance of new and old nail shades.
There are festive reds, playful pinks, dazzling golds, mesmerising midnights, decadent purples, and so much more, providing you with something for every mood, outfit, and occasion. It's a beautifully curated collection, and it's sure to keep your nails looking fabulous throughout the festive season- and beyond.
The twelve new Shine Bright polishes included in the calendar are:
♥ Dressed to the Wines- a red-wine shimmer.
♥ Gingerbread Man Can- a shimmery brown.
♥ Heart and Coal- a black glitter.
♥ Let's Take an Elfie- a shimmery violet-purple.
♥ Merry in Cranberry- a playful fuchsia.
♥ Naughty or Ice?- a shimmery champagne.
♥ Red-y For The Holidays- a classic velvety red.
♥ Snowfalling For You- a pearlescent pink.
♥ This Gold Sleighs Me- a metallic gold.
♥ This Shade is Ornamental- a velvety rose-pink.
♥ Tinsel, Tinsel 'Lil Star- a metallic silver.
♥ To All a Good Night- a shimmery midnight blue.
And the thirteen classic OPI nail shades included are:
♥ Alpine Snow- a whitest white.
♥ Aurora Berry-alis- a raspberry pink.
♥ Bogota Blackberry- a deep claret with an intriguing fruity sparkle.
♥ Bubble Bath- a neutral tone.
♥ It's A Girl- a baby pink.
♥ Kyoto Pearl- a soft pearly white.
♥ Lincoln Park After Dark- a midnight meets purple.
♥ Malaga Wine- a wine-red.
♥ Pompeii Purple- a hot pink with an explosion of purple.
♥ Russian Navy- a deep-sea indigo.
♥ Strawberry Margarita- a bright pink.
♥ Taupe-less Beach- an enticing taupe.
♥ Tickle My France-y- a naughty nude.
The Shine Bright calendar is filled with beautiful nail colours, although, it does contain a lot of reds, and pinks, instead of covering a whole spectrum of colours, which is common with OPI's Advent calendars. You might view this as good or bad depending on the shades you like to wear on your nails. I personally love wearing a whole rainbow of colours, yet I'm thrilled with the shades in this calendar. The colours are stunning, and there's a great mix of glosses, shimmers, glitters, and pearlescent finishes. There are so many shades inside that I can't wait to try out, especially the reds like Red-y For the Holidays and Dressed to the Wines, and the glittery blacks and blues like Heart and Coal and To All a Good Night. However, I also would've preferred to have seen a little more variety in the calendar; seven pink shades is a little excessive for one set- even if they are all different, and there are too many nudes for my taste, which are unlikely to ever get used because I prefer a bit of colour. I decided to overlook this, though, as I love the look of the majority of the nail polishes in the calendar, and I've been impressed with OPI's calendars in the past.
All of the nail polishes in this calendar are miniature-sized OPI nail polishes, so if you were hoping for full-sized bottles, you may be disappointed. Yes, at 3.5ml they're small in size, but mini cosmetics are adorable, and you still get plenty of manicures from each bottle- I'd say at least half a dozen two-coaters. The calendar is a great way to try out lots of OPI nail shades before committing to their full-sized bottles, which, let's face it, can be quite expensive. These mini nail polishes are also the perfect size for putting in your bag or suitcase to use on the go (not that many of us are going places right now; thanks, Covid), and they're less likely to dry up or separate before you reach the bottom, which often happens to me with full sized bottles of nail polish.
My only real problem with these mini OPI nail polishes is that they don't tell you the names of the nail shades on the bottles, which can make identifying the correct shades tricky if you want to reorder a favourite colour at a later date. Sure, it tells you the names on the back of the calendar, and on the inside of each window, but who holds on to the packaging until every bottle is used up? It's a minor issue, but I wish OPI would just label each bottle to make life easier.
As for the packaging, the calendar is made from thin but reasonably-sturdy recyclable card from responsible sources, and features a modern red and pink design with disco balls and streamers. The front of the calendar is split in two, and opens up to reveal twenty-five geometric cardboard windows in deep red, pink, yellow, and purple on a background of metallic pink streamers, split in to three sections. Each window is clearly numbered in a large white font and organised in numerical order to make locating the correct window a breeze, and when you open them, you'll find the name of the polish printed on the inside behind it. I really like the design this year. It's attractive, it's festive, it's colourful, and it'll look great on display with the rest of the Christmas decorations. What's not to love?
Overall, my first impressions of the calendar are almost entirely positive. I love the majority of the nail shades, there isn't any cheap tat added to cheaply bulk out the calendar like some other nail brands have done (I'm looking at you, Essie), the packaging is attractive, and the price is reasonable. While I haven't tried any of the nail polishes inside yet, I've always been impressed with the high quality of OPI nail polishes in the past, and I'm really pleased that I chose the Shine Bright calendar for Christmas 2020. I can't wait to start trying everything over the holidays.
I'll be giving you a closer look at the polishes over on Instagram every day during Advent, so be sure to give me a follow if you want to see which polish I get each day as we count down to Christmas.
The Shine Bright Advent Calendar retails for around £65, although it can be found much cheaper with some online stores.
It's currently still available to purchase from Amazon, Just My Look, Nail Polish Direct, and OPI.
Have you treated yourself to a beauty Advent calendar this year, or have you gone for something a little more traditional?
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