OPI Fireflies & butterfly wings

I cannot remember what possessed me to pick up OPI fireflies, but it definitely must have been a swatch over black or another very dark color, because when it arrived, I swatched it, filed it, and promptly forgot about it for several years.

indoor, bright CF lighting

OPI Fireflies is a very sheer duochrome shimmer that flashes from green to peach.  In swatches I've seen of this worn solo, it's a vaguely yellowish stain on the nail that flashes green at only just the right angle... and frankly, it's not that impressive on my swatch stick either (hence my long skip despite my huge twin loves for most anything green or duochrome).

outdoor, afternoon sunlight

To avoid the stained-nail look with this polish, I first started with a single coat of Sally Hansen Shark Bait.  It's a slight touch darker and warmer toned than my own skin, but pretty darn close to being the just right "mannequin hands" shade for me, to the point where I'm considering backup bottle(s).  I'm so not a fan of these flat paddle brushes, but this one was a little stiffer than what I'm used to, so didn't fan out to flood cuticles, and actually worked great.  A single slightly thicker than usual coat was all I needed for near opacity.

outdoor, shady daylight

Next, I stamped over the nude with NanaCoco Love Black using BM-S188, a series of close-up patterns of butterfly wings.  Each of these wing designs are wider than even my thumbnail, so without mad shrinking skillz there's no way the whole thing would fit on anyone's nails.  The resulting look appeared a lot more like lace, which was perfectly fine with me.  I had zero issues with this plate, which picked up great.

window-filtered daylight

Over my stamped design, I added just a single coat of OPI Fireflies.  Despite how sheer and yellowy this looks when worn solo, it packs a huge punch over the opaque nude base, and I actually had to be careful to apply only a very thin coat so as to not obscure the stamping. 

bright afternoon daylight

The resultant look was an almost pearlized shimmer with loads of flash in most all lighting.  In lower lighting, the emerald glow is utterly amazing:

outdoor, shady & overcast daylight

While in bright light and at long angles, there's an unexpected warm red-bronze-peachy sparkle:

outdoor, bright daylight

This stuff was enough of a trickster that the sheerness evident from the solo swatches would still manage to sneak in there in very specific lighting conditions, and the whole polish would vanish.  Scroll back up to the pic that looks like just Shark Bait with the stamping over top, and nope, Fireflies is on there too, just mysteriously gone.

outdoor, shady daylight

indoor, CF lighting

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars. I think I have a few other things with this same green-reddish bronze duochrome, but the colorless base makes it very unique.  Huge recommendation to not wear it alone, but it doesn't require a black base to look intriguing. 

Where to buy:  Fireflies was part of OPI's summer 2005 collection, and did not stay as a core color.  Bottles can still readily be found on ebay, and occasionally on Amazon.

~Michelle