OPI Valentine's Day Collection 2009 : 90210 By OPI

Edit: LOL sorry about the typo- I'm pretty sure that it's about Beverly Hills, not Chicago... Oops!

OPI's Valentine's Day release this year is a set of three polishes based on the new 90210 series. Another collection I have mixed feelings about.


Sweet As Annie-Thing! A light red with gold shimmer. Pretty, yes, but not the best red with gold shimmer I've ever seen.


Queen Of West Web-erly. Medium metallic red-purple shimmer. This is very sheer, it needs 3-4 coats to get rid of the "visible nail line". Not a bad color, but it doesn't stand out to me at all.


Pretty & Privileged. Rich red shimmer with pretty flakes. This is my favorite from the collection. I'm not really a red person, as anyone who's read this blog for five minutes can tell you, but this is sort of unique. The color is rather bland, but when you look up close at it, there are flakes in it! Little weird-shaped shimmer flakes. Like a very toned-down Nfu Oh Shiny Opal type of flake. I haven't seen that from OPI before, and I'm happy to see it make a debut. It's very, very subtle in this polish but it's definitely there.


Just like with South Beach, I'll admit that I know absolutely nothing about the new 90210 series. I've never seen a single episode, don't know a single character's name (but I'm guessing Annie is one of them!), I don't even know when it's on, and I don't really ever plan to. So, I have no idea how these colors relate to 90210. I'm assuming they each represent a character, but I could be wrong. How do the colors tie in to the show? Do they even? Like I said, I have no idea.

I'm not particularly wowed by any of these shades. I will say that they are all very appropriate for Valentine's Day, and will no doubt be popular with a lot of ladies. I have already heard stories of these selling out. So, if you love them, more power to you.


I'm really not all that excited about anything in this collection. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with any of the shades... Lots of people love red shimmers. It's just that we've seen these all before. Previous Valentine's Day releases from OPI have been much more unique. For example, the E-Romance Collection, which had two reds- one of which was a duochrome and one amazing glitter topcoat. Or, the Red Like Roses Collection which had an extremely unique metallic red, a romantic red and a beautiful shimmer topcoat. This collection needs a coordinating specialty topcoat!

Formula-wise, these were decent. Sweet As Annie-Thing! was the easiest to apply, perfect texture and everything. Pretty & Privileged gave me a little bit of trouble- it has Three-Free Syndrome: it's runny and thick at the same time. Not an issue if you're expecting it, but can give you a little difficulty if you're not. Queen Of West Web-Erly, however, was the problem child. It's both sheer and watery, which is a tricky combination. It needs 3 or 4 coats for opacity, but if you try to do too many coats too fast, it pools around the edges and near your cuticles. Other than the textural issues, there was no bubbling and the drying time was good.


Overall, nice for Valentine's Day or if you're a big 90210 fan but not as cool as OPI's previous Valentine's Day releases. It's missing the signature OPI coordinating glitter topcoat!