NOTD: OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Sorry once again for not posting as frequently as I intend to... I always think that when I finish up the semester, I will get a lot more free time, and then I remember that I have to attend to day-to-day chores and responsibilities that I'd been putting on hold to finish up papers. Does this happen to anyone else? At any rate, my house is a LOT cleaner now than it was a week ago! :D

Today, I have another OPI The Amazing Spiderman shade to show you. This shade is Just Spotted the Lizard, which is supposed to be a dupe of Chanel's Peridot, a shade that I coveted (along with Graphite!) all last summer and fall... But I held out and never brought myself to drop the money on it, and I'm glad I did, since now both OPI and Jessica have released dupes from that collection. I don't have Peridot to compare Just Spotted the Lizard with, but from swatches I've seen online and from what I remember of swatching it at the Chanel counter, these shades are incredibly close.

Just Spotted the Lizard is a shimmery frost duochrome finish. Because of the shimmer, brushstrokes are not emphasized (woo-hoo!), although any imperfections on the nail are (booo). For instance, I have really brittle nails that peel, so even after layering on the base coat to try to cover areas where one layer of my nail has peeled away, the dip still affects the finish of the duochrome. Oh well, it's a very subtle effect, I just figured I would mention it if anyone else is self-conscious about the condition of their nails and wondering what the deal is. The duochrome flashes between the spectrum of warm bronze and cobalt, but those are the extremes; the predominant colors you'll see on the nail are gold, olive green, and chartreuse. It really is lovely! I kept staring at my nails when I had this on. I got average (for me) wear out of this, a good 2 or 3 days before any significant tip wear or chips showed up. OPI nail polishes retail for $8.50 and come with .5 ounces of lacquer...

This was such a difficult shade to capture on my camera! I've included several photos so you can try to get a more accurate impression of the different variations of color produced by the duochrome effect.


Indoor light:

Natural light (this shows the shimmer effect very well)

Natural light: This is probably the most color accurate photo:

And a close-up; I tilted up my index finger (far left) so you could see the blue/green side of the duochrome when the light hits it from a different angle. This is a fairly color-accurate photograph (although the warmth captured in the last picture above is more representative of what I see in real life).

Summary: This has definitely made me glad I held out and never purchased Peridot; Just Spotted the Lizard is such a gorgeous duochrome (can we call it multichrome at this point?) and the formula is lovely to work with. If you wanted Peridot and never got it, here's your chance! And if you picked up Peridot and loved it, this might still be worth picking up as a backup! I can't wait to re-do my toes and put this on; it'll look great with sandals during the summer.