The Bridal Rogue – Be Romantic Yet Adventurous with OPI Rose of Light

Greetings from under a massive pile of tulle, fellow rogues!

Recently, I acquired some glittering loot from OPI – two polishes from their recent glitter-focused collection, Blush Hour and Rose of Light (the pick of that bunch, in my rogueish opinion). I’ve already succumbed to the dual charms of Blush Hour (it’s purple *and* sparkly) with this manicure, and since then I’ve been experimenting with the glorious glittering glamour of Rose of Light. As part of these experiments, I’ve been trying to achieve a look suitable for (or perhaps evocative of) ballet, which in turn lends itself to conservative-ish wedding nails. As I mentioned in another post, French manicures (perhaps the stereotypical wedding manicure?) aren’t really my cup of mead, so I was looking to break that mould! The result? Well, glitter, obviously! Tasteful glitter. Yep.

 

From left: OPI You Callin’ Me A Lyre, OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu! and OPI Rose of Light

In the picture above you can see all the polishes used, although I’ve created two manicures for this post. Similar to recent posts, I’ve been working my way through the OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades collection from a couple of years ago, this time working with You Callin’ Me a Lyre? which is a peachy pink jelly, and Don’t Touch My Tutu!, which is a marshmallowy white jelly. As you might expect, these go on quite sheer, although you can build up to a reasonably squishy opacity with three or four coats. They’re smooth and self leveling, and generally awesome. Dry time is a little longer than average for me, but I get a solid two days wear out of them at least (excellent on this rogue’s magical polish-repelling nails!)

Because no day is complete without a half-assed macro shot, right? I thought so, too.

Rose of Light is, quite simply, gorgeous. It’s packed full of square silvergoldpinkhologlitter, and lots of tiny pale pink glitters. Seen in natural light, from normal viewing distance, the polish has a decidedly pale gold tone to it, but there is a warmth there, a pink glow that catches the light and really makes this a gem for your polish hoard. You would not *believe* the dragon I had to fight off to get this one. Ended up beating her at a game of Guess Who, actually. True story. Anyway, you get a full broadsword’s worth of glitter on the brush with this one, and one generous coat is enough to give you some seriously loot-worthy sparkle. Stunning.

So I guess you’d all kind of like to see some actual manicures, right? And hear some more about this ballet/wedding business I’ve been blabbering on about? Well, here you are! The first manicure uses two coats of You Calling Me a Lyre, with one coat of Rose of Light over the top:

Two coats of You Callin Me a Lyre, one top coat of Rose of Light. Also pictured: loot of this rogue’s own design (sometimes you just can’t be bothered going dungeoneering for pretty things). Also also pictured: random polish remnants that I forgot to clean off before photographing. Professional, that’s me.

I call this one the ‘ballet’ manicure, because, well, it’s pink and sparkly. Not that ballet has to be either of those things, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t part of the attraction. The tulle in the picture at the top is, after all, from one of my tutu skirts! I do, however, think that this look could work equally well for a wedding where you want some sparkle, but don’t want too much colour or chunky glitter (by polish standards) on your nails. Rose of Light is so magically natural-looking on the nails (for glitter, obviously), that the wizard kept wanting to do an arcana check on my hands in case it was just too good to be true and there was a curse in it somewhere. Fortunately, Rose of Light just really is that awesome!

Raking light, because I’m telling you, you need more pictures of Rose of Light in your life. Even though they don’t do it justice!

The second manicure is a little more conservative, but involves white. I had been meaning to try a jelly sandwich manicure with the NYC Ballet shades for a while, and this seemed like the perfect excuse! This one is three coats of Don’t Touch My Tutu!, f0ollowed by one coat of Rose of Light and one more top coat of Don’t Touch My Tutu!:

Bridal rogue nails! You get to be soft and romantic, but you also get GLITTERING LOOT on your nails. What’s better than that? Well, OK, watching Susie the Rockbard try to catch the bouquet, possibly. She’s not even really interested in marriage – I think she just dives for it on principle…

This mani does it all. It’s white without being stark, it’s soft without being wishy washy, and you can wear glitter without feeling like you’re, well, WEARING GLITTER. Stealth glitter is a thing, people. Embrace it, like the rogue you are. 🙂 Either that or just go full dungeoneering mode and have your glitter unmuted. Perhaps add a rhinestone on the feature nail. Then test the wear by punching a goblin (or paladin, if he’s getting too righteous). Unless your significant other *is* a paladin. Or goblin. I’ll shut up now.

So! What are your thoughts on these bridal/ballet-inspired nails? What would you wear for a bridal/ballet manicure?

The practicalities: OPI colour/gitter polishes cost NZD ~20/USD ~8.00 each for 15 mL/0.5 fl. oz, depending on where you shop,  and may be found on the OPI shelves at your local pharmacy/Farmers, as well as various online distributors. OPI and China Glaze ($15.94 for 14 mL) polishes are also available in New Zealand (along with Zoya, Picture Polish and a number of other hard-to-get brands!) from www.candygirl.co.nz.

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. If you nick off with any of it, be prepared to find a dagger in your back. Possibly with a legal troll attached to it. You don’t even want to *know* what he powders that wig with.