OPI, Classic & Chic mini pack

I know, I know: I literally disappeared from this blog, not posting anything from Christmas Holidays. Truth is that I haven’t been totally absent from the nail world: indeed, in these weeks I had to prepare new nail-related projects that I can’t still reveal (but you will soon discover what I’m talking about!).

Now I’m finally back on this blog and I’m more than ready to show you some new nail polishes! Today I’d like to show you a mini pack by OPI named Classic & Chic. Apparently this set seems to be discontinued, but I was so lucky to find it with a huge discount at my local Sephora store. Even if you will hardly find it in stores, I decided to tell you my thoughts about it anyway – the mini nail polishes contained inside are still in OPI‘s catalogue indeed!

This set contains 4 mini-size nail polishes (3,75ml for each bottle) of the most popular shades by OPI: Passion, Big Apple Red, Lincoln Park After Dark and the Start To Finish base/top coat. Generally I do not like mini-size nail polishes, so I really wouldn’t have bought this set if it wasn’t so much discounted.

Why don’t I love mini nail polishes? For two reasons: first, because they’re so small that the bottle will be empty after a few applications. Second, because a mini-size bottle implies a mini-size brush – which makes application quite difficult.
On the other side I admit that mini nail polishes are very cute and, if sold at a decent price, can help us understand if we need the full size of a nail polish or not. Moreover, mini sizes might be a great travel format.

The first nail polish of this set is Passion, a sheer pink that belongs to the Sheer Romance – Soft Shades collection launched in 2004. This means that we’re talking of a 15-year-old nail polish!

Passion is a sheer nail polish, so we shouldn’t expect the same opacity of creme shades. Formula is quite good: it goes smooth and dries very quickly, which is not so common with sheer polishes. But, as I said above, the brush of the mini-size makes application harder than with regular-sized brushes. Talking about coverage, I really like how it looks with three coats, but some of you may appreciate it even with two coats. In my pictures you see three coats plus Start To Finish top coat.

So, this is definitely a nice, well formulated nail polish. If I was used to wear this kind of sheer pinks I would buy the full-size (this is the best formulated sheer pink I know), but since actually my nails ask for bold colors and glitter I don’t think I will buy this shade for me.

Big Apple Red is part of the Classic Colors line and it’s probably the most famous nail polish by OPI, described by many nail addicts as the perfect red. I find that it’s really a nice shade of red, not too warm nor too cold, with a gorgeous creme glossy finish. It looks great on nails!

Formula is quite opaque but not so smooth (I don’t know if it’s only because of the mini-brush). It looks great with two coats, even if under certain light conditions you may see a bit the nail underneath. I tried to paint the third coat to avoid this, but I didn’t notice any difference. So, in my pictures you see three coats plus Start To Finish top coat, but consider that it looked exactly the same with just two coats.

In this case I think I would buy the full-size. First, because it’s not easy to find such a well balanced red (not leaning orange nor leaning pink). And second because we’re talking about Big Apple Red, one of the most popular nail polishes ever!

Lincoln Park After Dark is a very dark creme purple – I’d say it has the same colour of ripe blackberries. It is part of the collection Chicago, launched in 2005 (so this is quite an “old” nail polish too!).

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by Lincoln Park After Dark, even if I usually love dark shades. The colour is nice but the formula is really hard to work with. Not only this nail polish needs at least three coats to be opaque, but it is also clumpy and not smooth at all. Moreover, it dries slowly: yesterday I went to bed some hours after painting my nails and today I woke up with the bed sheets printed on my nails. Luckily I could easily solve the issue as I still had to paint the third coat and top coat. In my pictures you see three coats plus Start To Finish top coat.

In this case I wouldn’t buy the full size, as I think that there are many similar purple nail polishes with better formulas. But I’m still happy to have the mini-size, as it is a very popular nail polish.

The last nail polish of the set is named Start To Finish: it’s a 3 in 1 product that works as base, strengthener and top coat.

I appreciated it as a base and a strengthener, but it didn’t fully satisfy me as a top coat. I like the fact that it’s smooth, glossy and not too dense, but it dries slowly, it tends to smudge the colour below and it ruins easily.

My ideal top coat dries quickly, doesn’t smudge the nail polish and stays glossy for at least 2-3 days, so I think that the Start To Finish is just not the right one for me. I appreciate the fact that it can be used also as a base coat, but I prefer to have two separated products that work fine than one single product that doesn’t work at its best.

If I had to express my opinion about the whole set, I must say that I find it nice: even if I didn’t like all the nail polishes inside, I appreciate the choice of the shades (a nude, a red and a dark colour) and the fact that it includes a base/top coat, which makes it a complete manicure set.
If you are so lucky to find it somewhere you can consider buying it (especially if it’s discounted): it can be great for nail beginners, for travelers, for those who want to make a gift or even for people like me that simply want to try these super famous OPI shades. And, if you don’t find the Classic & Chic set, you can still refer to my reviews of the single nail polishes.

Do you usually buy mini-size nail polishes? And have you ever tried these classic nail polishes by OPI?