OPI Just Lanai-ing Around for Perfect Soft Summer Nails

This post may contain affiliate links.

Hello beautiful readers! First off, I must apologize for my extremely long absence on this blog. I have no excuse, I just lost motivation but I am back and hope to be posting regularly.

This post is aimed primarily at Soft Summers, or anyone who looks and feels their best in cool-to-neutral muted shades.

OPI is a popular, well-known nail polish brand. It boasts a wide range of colors and is pretty consistent in its quality. Two coats sandwiched between your base coat and top coat will generally do the trick.

Once in a while, I run across a nail polish shade that is so perfectly Soft Summer, I can actually use my nails as a "fan" when I shop. OPI's Just Lanai-ing Around is one of those shades. It's that perfect muted pinky-purply mauve shade I'm always looking for in my blush, lipstick, clothing, and accessories. I have quite a few tops nearing this shade and I'd love to find a purse this color! Just Lanai-ing Around is pretty close to 6.4 on the classic Soft Summer 12tone fan.

Just Lanai-ing Around has a nice formula; not too thick nor too thin. My brush was a little wonky, with one hair sticking straight up. Otherwise, it's a typical OPI brush which is nicely shaped for a quick and easy manicure. It dried quickly with my quick-dry topcoat and drops. Unfortunately, I'm already seeing some tip wear on day 3, though no chips yet. I am using a nail hardening base coat and a quick drying top coat; I'm not sure those are the best for nail color longevity. On day 4, I was able to patch up the tips a bit and I slapped on another top coat to eek a couple more days out of my mani. At any rate, the color is so gorgeous and goes with my coloring and my whole wardrobe perfectly. The color is just ... yummy.

It's not a new color, so you may be able to find it at a discount store near you. I found mine at a Tuesday Morning. You can find OPI Just Lanai-ing Around on Amazon here:

Comparing My Jeweltone Summer Zyla Palette with Soft Summer Sci/Art Colors

Well, now I have two separate palettes from two completely different sources - well-regarded experts, both, but not systems intended to go together.

My Zyla palette is Jeweltone Summer. My Sci/Art palette is Soft Summer. So, how do they fit together?

I photographed them side by side:

Left: Soft Summer - Right: Jeweltone Summer

You can see some similarities but they aren't identical. Overall, I think the Zyla colors are just a touch brighter than the Soft Summer ones, but that may be due in part to the Sci/Art palette being fabric and the Zyla one being paper. Let's take a closer look at each Zyla color.

The Tranquil colors are pretty close to the purple SSu strips.

Energy fits in pretty darn well with SSu, those blued sea foam green shades.

I think Dramatic is a decent match, the darker shades in particular.

There is no true match for my Essence shades. But do they harmonize?

                                   
                       

                                       The Romantic shades are a near-perfect match for my favorite pink strip (6.1).

First Base fits right in, the darker shades particularly.

Second Base is a good match, too, especially the darker one.

Third Base really don't fit in - it's greener than any of my beiges.

Here are my Pastels and Metals. They're mostly pretty good, maybe a bit brighter.

So, what do I do with all of this? My plan is to use both. I'll especially look for the colors that exist on both palettes. If I find an item that fits the Zyla palette perfectly but really isn't on the SSu palette at all, I'll simply do what I was instructed to do when shopping with my fan in the first place: Thwap! In other other words, open up the fan, thwap it down on the item, and look at it. Do I see harmony, or does the item make the fan look dingy? Do they work together to bring out the best in one another, or does the fan make the item look garish? It's hard to tell if two sets of color strips harmonize. I really need to take it on a case by case, carefully examining each garment and comparing it to my palettes before I buy it.

Another way to think of it is to consider my Sci/Art fan to be an extension of my Zyla colors. After all, if both David and Christine are as accurate as they are reputed to be, then both palettes really are ME, and either one should bring out my best.

How do I like them, and which do I like better? I really do like them both. There are certainly colors on each that it would have never occurred to be to try (that Essence peach, the pale First Base sage, the greeny SSu yellow), but now I will if I can find them in stores. It did take me time to adjust to the muted tones of the SSu palette, since I tend to gravitate towards brighter, more saturated tones. My Zyla colors are ever so slightly brighter than my SSu tones, which I like.

I've only been shopping a couple of times since I saw David Zyla, and what I did was LOOK for the Zyla colors, but double checked everything with my SSu fan. In the future, I know there will be times when I NEED to buy something and maybe don't have time to hunt down an exact Zyla shade. Or, I will fall in love with an item that just isn't on the Zyla palette at all. I don't think the Zyla palette is meant to be exclusive, as in I should ONLY live in those couple dozen colors. So when I can't find Zyla, I'll use my SSu fan instead. It's not that I like Zyla's colors better, it's more that I think of them as my "sweet spot." While I may still buy things not pictured in my Zyla set, I will not buy anything that doesn't suit the SSu palette.

Do you have palettes from different systems? How do you use them? In concert, or have you chosen one over the other?

Nail Polish Review: Sinful Colors - Blue La La and Out of this World

Sinful Colors - Blue La La

Ladies, this one's a two-fer. I like to do an "accent nail" sometimes, just for fun. Since my Sinful Colors haul last month, I've been playing around with all of the colors. My favorite of the bunch is this gorgeous blue shade, Blue La La. The silver one, Out of this World, is nice too.

I applied a base coat and two coats of Blue La La, followed by a top coat. Application was smooth, and two coats gave me complete opaque coverage. I didn't get any chips or tip wear at all until about the fifth day, which is pretty good for me. I have no complaints about this polish!

Sinful Colors - Out of this World

Well, this is still the same manicure, but here I'm holding Out of this World, the silver shade. I actually had to do three coats of this one to get enough opacity to stand up to the gorgeous blue. You could really get away with just two coats if you don't mind a bit of sheerness. Other than the fact that I get cranky when I have to do three coats, I can't complain about this lovely metallic shade, either.

I bought these with the thought that they might be in my season, Soft Summer. What do you think?

Blue La La and Soft Summer fan

Blue La La is fairly close to ss7.9 but it's not as purpled, and it's probably a bit bright.

Out of this World and Soft Summer Fan

Out of this World compares to ss3.1, though it's cooler for sure.

Of course, when you're shopping for your season, you're not supposed to match things to the tiny squares. You're supposed to look for harmony with the entire fan.

Looking for harmony

I'd say both colors are not quite Soft Summer shades. They are close enough not to look garish, and I will wear them both, but I can't recommend them as Soft Summer nail polishes. I just don't see the harmony I look for.

Still, both polishes are great quality, on par with much more expensive polishes I've tried. And, the colors are lovely, if you're in the market for a fun blue creme shade and a metallic silver.

Nail Polish Review: Sinful Colors - Mint Apple

Mint Apple I've been wearing this polish for five days now, and I still feel a little strange in green nail polish. However, if you have been looking for a great minty green polish, this is a good one to check out, especially for the price. It's really pretty. For you Soft Summers out there, I believe it's just grayed enough to suit.

I recently scored a whole bunch of Sinful Colors polishes when Walgreens had them on sale for $.99. They are normally only $1.99, but often go on sale for less. This brand is always a bargain, but not always consistently good. It really depends on the color. Here are the five polishes I just picked up. Hopefully all of them will be Soft Summer matches and more importantly, good formulas.

Really feeling those ocean tones

I always start with a base coat and top with a top coat. I always plan to do two coats of color. If I can get away with one, it's a bonus. If I have to do three, I get cranky. Mint Apple was streaky after one coat but perfectly solid with two. Application was easy; the brush and formula are both to my liking.

Sinful Colors - Mint Apple - #947

This is two coats. On the left, indoor light near a window; on the right: direct sun

As you can see, this is a gorgeous color. It's more mint than apple, so I'm not sure why "apple" is part of the name. But it looks pretty much like it does in the bottle. So, how does it look next to the Soft Summer fan?

Sinful Colors Mint Apple and Soft Summer fan

I think it's a pretty good match. It looks good with the fan in general, and looks close to the ss 2.9 shade specifically.

After five days with it on, I still don't have any chips. There is some slight tip wear, but that is to be expected. This is a great polish, at any price, but what a bargain it is. I'll definitely keep this one in my regular rotation, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a cool mint green nail polish.

Nail Polish Review: China Glaze - No Plain Jane

Fair warning: this first paragraph is going to be philosophical, or perhaps a bit navel-gazing, so feel free to skip it and go straight to the nail polish review if so inclined. I haven't written a post in a while because I couldn't think of what to write about. Not that there was nothing to write about, but nothing that seemed "important" enough for a "whole post." And I couldn't decide what direction I wanted to take this blog. I feel like I've covered the "going gray" topic (though I'm certainly happy to write more about it if anyone comments and tells me what angle you'd like to see me cover.) I like to share recipes on occasion but I don't want to do a cooking blog. They (expert beauty bloggers) say that you need a niche, and I just haven't found mine yet. I want to stay general enough that any woman (particularly but not exclusively women over 40) can benefit from reading it. And yet, I don't have the expertise or resources (or frankly the time or inclination) to cover every new important makeup release. So while I still haven't chosen a solid or exclusive direction, since I have been draped a Soft Summer, I am going to write about SSu-friendly colors. That doesn't mean that no one else can wear the colors I'll be reviewing! But the bottom line is that I've decided to stop dithering and just write. Because that is why I started blogging to begin with.

I'd like to get ahold of newly released polishes for future reviews, but I'm starting with what I already have in my collection.

No Plain Jane by China Glaze is an older polish, but it's still available, at least on Amazon. It's a beautiful, sparkly, metallic purple. It's a true purple, not a lavender or lilac, not a plum or aubergine.

No Plain Jane in direct sunlight

Bottom of the bottle

No Plain Jane indoors

The texture of this China Glaze polish is nice, and it applies quite easily. I started with a base coat. After one coat of No Plain Jane, the polish was sheer and streaky - no good. A second coat did the trick; I got full opacity. The color is just as beautiful on as it is in the bottle. In the photos, I'm also wearing Seche Vite top coat. Which, incidentally, is fantastic stuff. I can't recommend it highly enough. Seche Vite is a quick dry top coat that actually deeply dries your polish in minutes.

I wouldn't call this an exact match for Soft Summer, but it's pretty close to ss7.8 on the fan:

No Plain Jane by China Glaze with SSu Fan

It's probably just a smidgeon too pink; Soft Summer's purples tend to be bluer or grayer. For me, it's close enough - it's just my nails! Why bother matching nails to your seasonal fan, anyway, when your fingers (not to mention your toes) are usually pretty far from your face? Because, for me at least, the seasons are all about coordination. If everything I'm wearing is truly Soft Summer in color, everything just sort of hangs together and looks right. Dressing in my season from head to toe helps me look more pulled together.

Bottom line: I love it! This is definitely a polish I'll be using in my regular rotation.

My Personal Color Analysis Was a Big Surprise

Color me shocked. As it turns out, I'm not a Bright Winter at all. I'm actually a Soft Summer! They are both neutral seasons, leaning cooler with just a touch of warmth, but the colors and saturation are very different.

I wrote about what I was anticipating and a little about what this is all about in my previous post, here.

Now, how does a personal color analysis work, exactly? First, you wear no makeup. The "studio" (actually a hotel meeting room) was set up with a gray background and full-spectrum lights. I wore a gray scarf over my hair (because there is still a tiny bit of dye in the ends) and a gray drape. My analyst, Christine, also wore a gray coverall so as to not distract the eye. She started by draping me with fabric drapes representing the four true seasons, Winter (black), Autumn (dark brown), Spring (gold), and Summer (silver), comparing two at a time. It was clear that none of the true seasons were a perfect match, but Summer was the best, followed by Winter. We were looking for each color's effects on my face. You want feature definition, smooth skin, healthy skin color, bright colorful eyes, pink lips. You do not want shadows, yellowness, redness, pale lips, dull eyes, or hard lines.

We went through the red drapes (a series of pinks to reds designed to test for how much saturation suits you) and then we did each of the 12 seasons individually. Nine seasons were eliminated pretty quickly. She spent extra time comparing Light Summer and Soft Summer (SSu), but Soft Summer won out. She saved Bright Winter (BW) for last, because she know it was what I was expecting. I didn't tell her straight out, but she figured it out by my comments on how pretty certain drapes were, as well as what I walked in wearing (black and fuchsia).

The Bright Winter vs. Soft Summer draping was interesting. The BW drapes really didn't look bad - they didn't make me sallow, like the warmer seasons (Spring), or severe, like the cold seasons (True Winter and True Summer). But - in the BW, I just sort of receded. I wasn't center stage, the drape was. The SSu drapes, on the other hand, showed ME. This may sounds like a subtle thing. But I really could see it. The SSu colors are truly colors I've hardly looked at in stores. I just assumed they didn't have enough saturation for me. The SSu colors are heathered and grayed. I think they're very pretty, but they are just so far from the electric pinks, purples, and teals I've been favoring lately!

Christine sensed my shock, and she spent a long time with me. She really wanted me to see the changes that SSu made in my appearance. In fact, my session was about six hours long! Granted, much of that time was talking, about color theory in general, and then more specifically once my season had been revealed. We also talked about makeup, and she applied a full face of makeup on me, explaining as she went.

Once I got over my shock (even my shock shocked me - I swore I was totally open minded!), I decided to just embrace my new season. Hey, nothing is permanent, I can always go back to my old bright colors if I like. I've been collecting new makeup from Christine's recommendation list, and bought a few clothing items and scarves. Below, I'm sharing some photos from from draping session, as well as a selfie I took in my car wearing some of my new purchases. All of the draping photos are in my Soft Summer colors, with makeup on (I wasn't going to take any pictures of the "bad" colors, or any no-makeup shots, no matter good an illustration they might be!)

My colors (well, a few of them, anyway)

Some individual shots with Soft Summer colors

Here is my attempt at "doing Soft Summer" myself.

The scarf in the photo above is by Natasha (purchased at TJ Maxx). Foundation is Clinique Perfectly Real Makeup in 14N, blush is Clinique's Cupid. Eyeliner is Urban Decay's Uzi. Eyeshadow is a custom palette I created with MAC's Blackberry, Yogurt, and Scene. Mascara is Almay's Sapphire. Lipstick: Plumful by MAC.

A sampling of Soft Summer colors 

So was it worth it? Yes, I think so. I do love the way I look in the softer colors it would never had occurred to me to wear. And I did DO this in order to push myself out of my comfort zone - and to be the best me I can be. It's a work in progress! Have you ever had a PCA? Were you surprised by your results?