OPI Suede

Hello everyone, today I am going to be reviewing three OPI suede polishes that I bought on sparklecanada.com. I purchased Ink, Russian Navy, and Lincoln Park after Dark and conducted a wear test along with swatching them. Now when you buy an OPI suede, there is a tag on it telling you it is a suede finish and some general "rules" about the polish. First, it says that the suede polishes will not last as long as their original nail lacquer. Second, it advises you not to use a top coat or any drying products which I can understand. However, the information tag tells you not to use hand lotion while wearing suede, which I think is pretty unreasonable.

So while I was conducting my wear test, I applied the suede polish on five of my nails without any base coat and I added top coat to three nails. While wearing suede, I did keep two nails devoid of top coat as well as drying products but I did still use hand lotion. At the end of day one, both of the fingers that only had suede showed significant tip wear. However, the fingers that had top coat did not show tip wear until day three. Day two was not any better for the suede polish as it had serious wear and was very faded.

Overall, I feel like while the suede finish looks beautiful, it is not meant to be a long wearing polish. A base coat might help prolong the wear of the polish but on it's own, it feels like more of a one night polish. Top coat will definitely extend the life of your manicure but take away from the suede finish so you could use a matte top coat after. Again keep in mind that a matte top coat will not mimic the suede finish. In the end, I do like these polishes and think they are worth the buy, so without any further ado, here are the swatches.

Shown above is one coat of Russian Navy suede. The application for these polishes are beautiful, opaque in one coat and really fast dry time!

Russian Navy suede with a glossy top coat.

One coat of OPI Ink suede.

OPI Ink suede with a glossy top coat.

One coat of Lincoln Park after Dark suede.

Lincoln Park after Dark suede with a glossy top coat.

I hope you enjoyed the swatches and my review on these polishes. Also don't forget that my 5% coupon code (Anusha) for sparklecanada.com expires on March 3rd. This is not an affiliate code and Sparkle Canada does ship worldwide. Please leave me a comment letting me know which is your favorite and if you prefer the suede finish or glossy.