Treasures from Waters Deep – A Glittering Gradient with OPI Eurso Euro and Last Friday Night

Greetings from the alley behind the tavern, my fellow rogues! (Don’t ask)

One of the things about adventuring is that it often takes you into places where you’re absolutely sure you’re going to be murdered by mindflayers or eaten by ettins. While there is probably a good chance that something like that might happen (especially if there’s good loot in the offing), you square your shoulders and march on (because there’s good loot in the offing).

If you’re still hanigng on after that obtuse introduction, what I’m trying (laboriously) to say is that I attempted my first piece of nail art yesterday evening. Nail art is something that I’ve long been leery of, mostly because I am convinced that I will make an absolute hash of it. However, I was searching through my (miniscule) nail polish stash, and two polishes caught my eye – OPI…Eurso Euro and OPI Last Friday Night.

Left: OPI…Eurso Euro. In the morning sun! Right: OPI Last Friday Night. Blue and glitter – how can you lose?

These are two of my favourite polishes – they look good alone, they look good together. Eurso Euro is a dark cobalt blue creme from the Euro Centrale collection – super pigmented, this goes on opaque in one coat (it can stain a tiny bit though). Last Friday Night is a pale blue transparent base with loads of super iridescent glitter in a couple of different sizes (tiny and, uh, tinier?). This time I thought…perhaps…a glitter gradient manicure?

Once I’d finished diving for cover in case the nail polish gods zapped me for my hubris, I set about putting together my very first piece of ‘nail art’, inspired by a recent adventure in Watersdeep, a city perched (in true RPG style) on top of a cave network filled with things that want to separate you from your delicious flesh. Ahh, the loot we found down there – and I thought the name matched the colour scheme quite nicely!

Syl’s first attempt at nail art, displayed with some of the loot from Watersdeep, place that inspired this glittery blue manicure.

I used the classic method of painting my nails fully with Eurso Euro, then putting a thin layer of Last Friday Night over the top 3/4 of the nail, then another layer over the top 1/2, then another layer over the top 1/4 and so on to build up a decent gradient that photographs terribly :-P. Topcoat was my usual Sally Hansen Mega Shine. Dry time is on the long side of average for Eurso Euro, because it is so thick and pigmented. Last Friday Night dries in about half the time, but then again I was applying thin layers and it is a glitter polish. Wear time (individually) for these is about the ‘OPI average’ for me (i.e. 24-36 hours), with the glitter polish eking it out to the longer end of that. I should probably state that ‘wear time’ for me means ‘the polish is still absolutely perfect’.

Loot is MINE! ALLL MIIIINE!!! *cough* uh, I mean..yeah. Manicures and stuff.

The result turned out pretty well, all things considered. Certainly, the first time I tried to disarm a trap things ended a lot worse for both me and the eyebrows of the wizard standing next to me.  The gradient isn’t as nuanced as I might have liked, but Last Friday Night can actually get a bit chunky of you’re not careful with how many layers you end up with, not unlike goblin blood after a long fight.

The best for last? I feel like you can actually sort of see the gradient a bit better here! No potion this time – I drank it and then some water got in while we were wading around in the caves…

A note for those interested: Waterdeep (no s!) is a very famous campaign setting from the Dungeons and Dragons universe. It’s a fabulous city, sitting atop a sinister place called the Undermountain. If you’re curious, check out the details here. If you’re new to D&D, and would like an amusing introduction to what in the name of Corellon it all is, you can see Chris Perkins from Wizards of the Coast (they own the D&D brand) teaching the guys from Robot Chicken how to play below. Highly recommended!

(See ZerotoHero? I embedded a video *and* tried a new manicure! New experiences FTW!)

The verdict: Like the glimmering vault of a starlit night, or the iridescent depths of enchanted waters, this pairing makes for a gorgeous manicure. If you have these shades, or similar ones that you think might work, I say give it a go!

In general: Glitter gradient manicures: I think this is a nice place to dip your toe into the waters of nail art – it’s hard to really make a total hash of it, you might (like me) just have to work a bit on the detail of the gradient! The two polishes I used are favourites of mine – they apply well, they look pretty,  and I think they make great staples for any rogue’s polish kit.

The practicalities: OPI colour/gitter polishes cost NZD ~26.00/USD ~8.00 each for 15 mL/0.5 fl. oz, depending on where you shop. Topcoats, treatments etc tend to be much more expensive, around NZD 40.00/USD 16.00. OPI…Eurso Euro is from a recent limited edition collection, but these typically hang around for several months (to years!) on the OPI shelves at your local pharmacy/Farmers, as well as various online distributors. Last Friday Night seems to have been made permanent (?) as it’s been around for ages and appears in the permanent ranks at my local Farmers. OPI polishes are also available in New Zealand (along with China Glaze, 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!