Hello beautiful dreamers,
Today I'll be reviewing another Sephora by OPI nail polish. I picked this up in a Sephora haul in the summer for $4.50 as they were phasing out the Sephora by OPI line in favor of the new Formula X polishes. I haven't the slightest clue what this polish has to do with Havana but if you do like this polish you can probably track down a bottle online and Sephora still carries the color in their gel polish line.
Color: Havana Dreams is a light blue creme polish. It is a pastel blue but it is just bright enough for me to not call it baby blue polish. As far as blue polishes go, it's fairly demure and very wearable while still being fun. I could see someone wearing this polish as a manicure or pedicure for a wedding as their "something blue." Even though I'm wearing it in December, it's definitely more of a spring/summer shade. I think it's fairly flattering for someone with my yellow undertones though the brightness can make it a little harsh. However, I do think is one of those polishes that could work for a lot of people.
Formula: The polish has a thin, fluid formula. It also smelled rather terrible. It wasn't as toxic as Sally Hansen polishes can be but it was noticeably bad.
Application: Here's where we really run into trouble. First of all, this polish comes with a very wide brush and you know how I feel about wide brushes. That said, to begin with application went fairly smoothly. The polish glided on beautifully though I immediately noticed that the polish was a little sheer. As soon as I went over the polish with the brush, it just pushed the last layer of polish around so I ended up with an even thinner layer of polish. The brush was also a little streaky. The problem was that I could paint a stripe of polish on the left and right sides of my nail but the middle brushstroke would always mess things up. Application of the second and third coats were more of the same. I wish I had a different brush to apply this polish to see how it would perform. Anyway, since the polish was still sheer and failing a light test at 3 coats and I had somewhere to go with this polish I just pushed ahead and added a fourth coat of polish. A light test still reveals sheerness and uneven application but I'll be damned if I'm adding a fifth coat of a creme polish. Seche Vite helped to smooth out the polish a little.
Wear: I have actually enjoyed wearing Havana Dreams on my nails. As long as I don't pay too much attention to the imperfections, it is really a very pretty polish. I wore it for five days and I didn't experience any tip wear in that time. The polish just naturally dulled a bit.
CONCLUSION: I find it difficult to recommend this polish because it's not perfect but even with all of the problems, I still ended up preferring it to Zoya Blu (I will do a comparison post in the future). The polish doesn't end up looking that bad and if you're not a crazy nail polish blogger who does light tests you probably won't notice that the polish isn't fully opaque. It can be difficult to find good pastel creme polishes. This one is not fantastic but all things considered, it's not the worst.
SWATCHES
Today I'll be reviewing another Sephora by OPI nail polish. I picked this up in a Sephora haul in the summer for $4.50 as they were phasing out the Sephora by OPI line in favor of the new Formula X polishes. I haven't the slightest clue what this polish has to do with Havana but if you do like this polish you can probably track down a bottle online and Sephora still carries the color in their gel polish line.
Color: Havana Dreams is a light blue creme polish. It is a pastel blue but it is just bright enough for me to not call it baby blue polish. As far as blue polishes go, it's fairly demure and very wearable while still being fun. I could see someone wearing this polish as a manicure or pedicure for a wedding as their "something blue." Even though I'm wearing it in December, it's definitely more of a spring/summer shade. I think it's fairly flattering for someone with my yellow undertones though the brightness can make it a little harsh. However, I do think is one of those polishes that could work for a lot of people.
Formula: The polish has a thin, fluid formula. It also smelled rather terrible. It wasn't as toxic as Sally Hansen polishes can be but it was noticeably bad.
Application: Here's where we really run into trouble. First of all, this polish comes with a very wide brush and you know how I feel about wide brushes. That said, to begin with application went fairly smoothly. The polish glided on beautifully though I immediately noticed that the polish was a little sheer. As soon as I went over the polish with the brush, it just pushed the last layer of polish around so I ended up with an even thinner layer of polish. The brush was also a little streaky. The problem was that I could paint a stripe of polish on the left and right sides of my nail but the middle brushstroke would always mess things up. Application of the second and third coats were more of the same. I wish I had a different brush to apply this polish to see how it would perform. Anyway, since the polish was still sheer and failing a light test at 3 coats and I had somewhere to go with this polish I just pushed ahead and added a fourth coat of polish. A light test still reveals sheerness and uneven application but I'll be damned if I'm adding a fifth coat of a creme polish. Seche Vite helped to smooth out the polish a little.
Wear: I have actually enjoyed wearing Havana Dreams on my nails. As long as I don't pay too much attention to the imperfections, it is really a very pretty polish. I wore it for five days and I didn't experience any tip wear in that time. The polish just naturally dulled a bit.
CONCLUSION: I find it difficult to recommend this polish because it's not perfect but even with all of the problems, I still ended up preferring it to Zoya Blu (I will do a comparison post in the future). The polish doesn't end up looking that bad and if you're not a crazy nail polish blogger who does light tests you probably won't notice that the polish isn't fully opaque. It can be difficult to find good pastel creme polishes. This one is not fantastic but all things considered, it's not the worst.
I wanted to show you how sheer and streaky this polish was because I feel like I don't always explain myself very well so I took photos as I was painting my nails (which I usually don't do). This is one coat of Havana Dreams.
This is three coats of Havana Dreams.
You can see the unevenness and overlapping brushstrokes here even at four coats of polish.
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