Nicole by OPI That's What I Mint

I still don't know quite how I feel about textured polish.  My stance has slid from "not even gonna try" to "hmm" to "hmmmmmmm", but I can't seem to make that leap to actually taking a stance.  I still buy them occasionally.  They are polish, after all.  I first heard about this 'extra' Gumdrops shade on the MakeupAlley Nail Board, where it caused some confusion.  That's What I Mint and a yellow called Lemon Lolly seem to only be parts of the expanded (eight shade) Gumdrops collection, but most drugstores and big boxes got just six shades.  Target and CVS appear be the only places to get these two extra shades.  To add to the confusion, I've seen the Gumdrops in slots in the Nicole by OPI core display at CVS...so they might not be LE.  Hmm.  Puzzling over this for a bit, I wound up staring at That's What I Mint often enough that I caved and bought it.  I liked A-nise Treat enough that I figured I might as well give another Gumdrops shade a try.


That's What I Mint is a teal textured polish full of tiny blue, green, and gold glitter.

over a nude base

If I was pressed to formulate an opinion on texture polishes, it might be "yeah, maybe...if they sparkle like crazy."  Of the several I have, the Gumdrops are my favorites for exactly this reason.  Just look at all of that glitter!  They apply very well too, as textures go.  It's not super harsh, rough, or lumpy either.  Bad blogger, but I forgot to note how many coats this is.  I think it's two, and it's over a nude base...because I already had Sally Hansen Stocking Nude on and teals are notorious stainers.  I'm not sure if my caution was warranted, since it didn't stain my skin at all, but...I'm also lazy...so there's that too.  Back to the glitter though, it kinda hurts my camera's feeble electronic mind, there's that much of it.

It goes extra crazy under my daylight lamp, but I'm still getting the hang of taking photos under it.

The sparkle was impressive enough as-is, but with a couple coats of Gelous...

I liked A-nise Treat more without top coat, but I think it really improves That's What I Mint.  It's nice when it's all bumpy, but it's outstanding when top coated.

Again, it looks a bit unreal under the daylight lamp.

I bought this lamp because I'm nocturnal and I miss swatching at night...but I have to admit, it distorts the color a little.  Not as much as other lamps might, but noticeably.  Still, you might be seeing whole posts of swatches from under it in the winter.  It's hard enough for me to get sunlight photos when the sun is low at 7...it's gonna be even tougher when I start losing the light in the late afternoon.  We'll see.  Enough of this tangent for now.


Bottom line: Out of the...what...seven-ish textured polishes I have, my two Gumdrops are by far my favorites.  They're less 'out there' than some other textures and aren't sandpaper-y at all.  As far as That's What I Mint, I love the color and the sparkle, but I prefer it top coated.


So....how do you feel about textures?