OPI DS Coronation

I know a lot of people are let down by the way the OPI Designer Series has developed. DS polishes used to be awesome linear holos and now they've shifted to being glitters that aren't that much different than the glitterbombs in OPI's regular seasonal collections. (Although personally I'm lusting after the new DS Temptation something fierce.) The ingredients to make linear holos have apparently become quite expensive, hence the reason we don't see as many anymore. I curse the fact that I didn't get into polish earlier on, when it seems there was a linear holo on every street corner... *sigh*

DS Coronation is holographic, but this polish got a lot of flak for not having as much in-your-face spectacular holographic shimmer as previous DS polishes and Coronation was kind of the end of an era for linear holo in the DS line. Coronation is definitely more of a scattered silver holo and the effect isn't super glitzy. The holo is definitely visible but it's on the subtle side. Still, it's the only DS polish I have, so I love it all the same!

Disclaimer: I used flash for these photos to help counteract the awful lighting in my apartment (it was raining outside when I took these shots), but that also made the holographic effect appear more prominent than it looks most of the time in real life. In certain lighting you can see the holo more clearly and it looks like this but in dimmer light it looks closer to a shimmery silver with a little holo peeking through. I would picture a polish named Coronation to be something uber blingy and crazy, but hey, scattered silver holo works for me as well haha.

I used three coats here. The formula can get a touch goopy if you don't wait long enough between coats, but it's nothing too hard to handle. I think this would also look nice layered, maybe over a black or pastel creme or a silver foil. You may recall I wore it as an accent nail for my Essie Cocktail Bling manicure and really liked the results. A little touch of holo never hurts, am I right, girls? ;)

DS Coronation is a perfectly fine polish on its own merits but it's admittedly not as impressive as swatches I've seen of some of the older DS polishes. If you're in the market for a scattered holo though, check this one out; it's a good one. I personally don't feel this is worth the full $12 DS price tag, however, so try to get it on sale or for less online if you're interested in it; I got mine for free with some of the rewards points from my old hair salon!