Today's polish is really, really special. Not because it's an OPI, you've seen a lot of these in here, but because it was my first one. I've always loved taking care of my nails (I remember buying the Yves Rocher French manicure sets when I was a teenager to master the technique), but my journey into "real" nail art and polish addiction started with OPI's Alice in Wonderland collection. I'm a huge Burton fan, a huge Johnny Depp fan and I love English litterature, especially of the Victorian era, so I was really excited at the prospect of the Alice in Wonderland movie. It came out roughly at the time of my birthday and I had planned an Alice in Wonderland party, complete with decor, costumes, themed cooking, and gifts! I was spoiled rotten since I got this ring:
as well as the Urban Decay Book of Shadow palette and the two OPI glitters in the cutest pouch:
That's how I discovered OPI, I fell in love with Mad as a Hatter and no other glitter can compare. Right now, I'm finishing my second bottle, and I have two others as back-ups!! And funnily enough, I always managed to pay less for them than what they cost in Sephora in France (we are cursed for that, in here a bottle of OPI is 14 euros). My only complaint about this polish is that it dries awfully fast. I clean up the neck of the bottle and screw it tightly each time I use, and my polish is a thick mess. I thinned it before doing my manicure and I could barely manage the second hand, it would have needed thinning midway... But it's so beautiful that it's worth the effort!! Get ready for many pics (I kept the blurry ones on purpose to show the different colours of the glitter), here is Mad as a Hatter in two coats with Orly Shield:
Silver with tons of colors giving it a lavender metallic hue, what's not to love?? Ok, it's a glitter, but with polish remover baths such as Sally Hansen's or Sephora, removal is not so much of a pain now, I dread the cuticle cleaning much more!!
Another thing you have to be careful about is which top coat you use. Of course you need a top-coat, and while Seche Vite is great because it gives a smooth finish, there's the problem of shrinkage. It usually doesn't bother me, but with that polish (maybe because it's so thick), it was awful. I took pictures and just couldn't bear the sight of it, so I re-did my manicure completely, this time with Orly Shield. No shrinkage, but the result is far from being as smooth and shiny, you need at least two coats of top-coat, and with the glitter, it does make a thick manicure. I'll see when I start my new bottle of MaaH if the shrinkage is as bad, it had never bothered me so badly before...
And just because I'm so proud of our Alice in Wonderland party, here are some picture of the decoration and food we had done. There were three parts in the living room, the Mad Tea Party, the Red Queen's corner and the Flowers/Caterpillar part. I kept the pics tiny but they are clickable.
This was in the corridor, where we had placed the welcoming cocktail and some tiny bretzels that I had shaped in keys, and the door had been free-hand-painted by Minnie (it's a copy of the one from the Disney movie)
The Mad Tea Party with the red chair (and on the ceilings, decorated lamps like the ones in the Mad Hatter's Cups attraction at Disneyland)
The Flowers/Caterpillar corner (click to see - among other things - the chocolate caterpillar and the flowers with faces). The coloured leaves are also inspired from Disneyland, you can see them in the Labyrinth.
And the red Queen corner (the playing cards in the tray were actually fresh cheese and fish-eggs toasts).
All pictures are copyrighted ©Minnie for The Purple Fairy Book
And a very merry Unbirthday to you all!!
