Did you 'ear About Van Gogh

From: OPI's Holland Collection Spring/ Summer 2012

         http://addictedtoallthingspretty.com/2012/01/opi-holland-collection-for-spring-summer-2012-review-and-swatches/

   I’ve been in a very neutral nail polish mood for this week. It might be due to the cooling whether, an increasing workload, or the fact that nudes are pretty. Regardless, I was looking through the OPI nail swatches collection online (online they have a studio where you can test out different nail colors and you can change your skin tone and nail length!) and I found this little gem called Did you ‘ear about Van Gogh. Being somewhat of an art nerd I had to laugh. Van Gogh is from the Netherlands so he is right at home in OPI’s Holland Collection. But even more funny is the fact that they used the word ‘ear to obviously stand for hear. This is rather clever because Van Gogh cut off his own ear. I love witty humor.
            Any way, Van Gogh is a famous post- impressionist artist. He is noted for his harsh brush strokes, strong emotions, and bold color (ironic that OPI would choose a nude color, oh well you can’t expect them to be art historians). One of his most famous pieces, Starry Night, can be found in the MOMA (museum of modern art) next to another one of his paintings The Olive Trees. My personal favorite painting of his is Café Terrace at Night, which is unfortunately located in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands. Today he is one of the most famous artists known around the world. He created over 2,100 pieces of art. However his fame did not come till after his death. Van Gogh suffered from depression and killed him self at the young age of 37 from a self inflicted gunshot wound, though the gun was never actually found.

Café Terrace at Night

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_015.jpg

            Van Gogh was still an influential painter and an icon and hero for the people of the Netherlands. So throw on some nude Did you ‘ear about Van Gogh and hopefully you can channel the artsy spirit of Van Gogh 

Royal Flush Blush

From: OPI’s 2003 Las Vegas Collection

            I may have chosen this color so I could show you this scene from the Parent Trap, one of my all time favorite movies. I can recite almost every line. Though I’ve never actually played poker before, I don’t think they played it right either. I pretty sure it is a little more complicated than just dealing five cards and pouring your money into a circle, then again they are only 11.

            Focusing on the nail polish for a second, the color is a light pink that is perfect for spring. It is part of OPI’s permanent collection. Most colors come out as part of a specific collection and then due to popularity get placed into OPI’s permanent collection. Colors not placed into the permanent collection are discontinued, meaning OPI stops making them, rather quickly.

            This colors name obviously comes from the obvious poker connection. After some Googling I’ve come to understand the following (I think). A flush is 5 cards of the same suit; they do not have to be consecutive. A straight flush is 5 cards of the same suit that are consecutive and a royal flush are the 10, jack, queen, king, ace of the same suite. Obviously a royal flush is better than a straight flush, which is better then a flush. The probability of getting a royal flush in spades, which is the highest possible hand that can be dealt to you, as Halley gets in the Parent Trap, is 1 in 2,598,960. So while your chances of every getting a royal flush are slim you can very easily get your finds on some Royal Flush Blush nail polish! 

Cajun Shrimp

From: Gel Colors by OPI & The Classics Collection           

Classics Collection

http://www.sobeautymag.com/2009/07/confessions-of-a-high-maintenance-chick-primary-colours/

Gel Colors by OPI

http://imabeautygeek.com/2010/06/04/f-is-for-fingernails-another-opi-axxium-gel-nails-update/           

            For being March 15 in State College the weather is beyond beautiful. It feels like the days of summer are here. And though summer may still be several weeks away that doesn’t mean we can’t pull out the shorts, throw on some flip flops, get a little bit of a tan, and of course, the best part of summer, paint our nails bright colors. My favorite summer shade is Cajun Shrimp now a part of OPI’s Classics Collection. The word Cajun comes from the term Acadian. The Acadians were French speakers from Canada. They populate Louisiana and have their own vibrant culture. They speak Cajun French, a dialect of French and make their own unique recipes. They are predominantly Roman Catholic and responsible for the notorious holiday of Mardi Gras. The people as a whole embody the philosophy of “joie de vivre” or “the joy of living”. This color definitely embodies that fun and carefree attitude.

            A great new thing that OPI just introduced is their new gel line. It is called Gel Colors by OPI. OPI already has a line of gel nail polish called OPI Axxium.  However the old line came in a jar and it had to be applied with a paintbrush. It needed to dry under a UV light and it was next to impossible to take off. It wasn’t easily available to the public, other than nail technicians. OPI’s new line of Gel Colors comes in bottles like their regular nail polish. It still needs a UV light to dry, but comes off quickly. The color takes 30 seconds to dry under the UV light and last for 2-3 weeks with the same shine as the first day you put it on. This line launched with 30 popular OPI shades. This line really is for nail salons more than everyday use. A bottle cost upwards of $15 bucks, which isn’t that bad but you also need a UV light at home. So you might have to take a trip to the salon to try out the new line, but it does give you 2-3 weeks of beautiful color that might outlast this nice whether. If you’d rather do your nails yourself you can still get Cajun Shrimp, and all of the 30 shades in the Gel Colors Collection, in good ol’ regular OPI nail polish. While I keep my fingers crossed that this whether stays, take the trip and try out this new line and have the comfort of knowing that at least your bright summer nails will last.