Nail varnish brand OPI’s advent calendar might be one of the less traditional options of 2024 but writer Narin Flanders thinks it’s one of the best
Beauty advent calendar season is in full swing, with M&S launching its bestselling advent calendar yesterday to huge fanfare and options everywhere from Glossybox to Liberty. If you’re a beauty fan, there are plenty of options – from premium skincare to the more budget-friendly – if, like me, your primary winter pampering ritual is a home manicure in front of the TV, there’s not much choice.
Luckily, while the options are limited, nail care specialists OPI have knocked their festive offering for 2024 out of the park—and overturned one of my longest-held manicure no-nos in the process. The OPI x Wicked Mini Nail Lacquer 12 Day Advent Calendar is out now and is not just a breath of fresh air compared to other calendars on the market but also noticeably different from previous years’ OPI calendars.
The calendar offers 12 mini bottles of OPI nail lacquer in various pun-tastically named colours. For the price, it feels like a decent deal, especially when two full-size bottles of the hero colours from the range – a vibrant pink to represent Glinda the Good Witch and a marvellously metallic green in honour of the misunderstood Elphaba – are being sold for £29.90 in a separate gift set.
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Sometimes mini bottles can be fiddly as, of course, small bottles bring small brushes. However, the OPI miniatures have a surprisingly wide brush which makes applying the smudge-resistant quick-dry formula easy.
The polishes last well, with my initial manicure of Ozitively Elphaba lasting six days before it began to show signs of wear on my fingernails, despite regular typing, washing up and even a bit of ill-advised gardening without gloves over the weekend. Meanwhile, the black mixed with shimmering silvery blue sparkles I’ve used on my toes, inspired by the night sky and called (of course) Defying Gravity, is still going strong into a second week and lifts my spirits whenever I spot it.
As a collection these 12 colours offer something for everyone. Inevitably green and pink are well represented but there’s much more versatility than that, with glittery metallics perfect for Christmas party season, more subtle shimmers and vibrant block colours.
As someone who loves a bit of sparkle to brighten dull winter days the azure blue glitter of I’m the Wonderfullest and the red-hued purple of Let’s Rejoicify are next on my list to try, but it’s also nice to see more subtle colours represented, with pretty baby pinks and corals also hidden behind the doors.
But the biggest revelation for me was the discovery of the green shimmer that, despite looking a bit yellow-hued in the bottle, when put on, is a fantastic winter colour. As someone who had sworn off green as a manicure colour because it always made me worry I was looking a bit gangrenous, it surprised me how much I loved it – to the extent I’m thinking about picking up a full-size bottle of the limited edition shade, Ozitively Elphaba. For me, at least it’s the Holy Grail of green nail varnish and was a genuine surprise – and one of the joys of this kind of gift set as normally I’d have walked right past if I’d seen it in a shop.
There are many reasons why OPI’s Wicked-themed advent calendar can be described as untraditional. Not only is it a compact 12 days rather than the usual 24, but while Wicked is undoubtedly going to be one of the biggest films of the winter, its witchy ways evoke more thoughts of Halloween than Christmas.
But having said all of that, after unboxing the calendar and spending some time enjoying the wide range of colours within, it might just be my favourite OPI festive offering of recent years. As a devotee of the brand (I swap between using Mylee for at-home gels and non-gel OPI to give my nails a rest), I’ve previously had several years of OPI’s advent calendars – all of which are bigger and thus more expensive.
This set is more tightly curated and considerably better priced than previous years’ offerings, which cost up to £85. In comparison, the Wicked calendar is currently priced at £51.90 on OPI’s website and there are also discounts available for students and key workers that will also knock a generous £12.98 off the price. It’s also available elsewhere with retailers like Debenhams and Boots also getting in on the fun.
While manicure-specific advent calendars are a rarity, fans of gel nails can also pick up a Mylee 12-day calendar. Priced at £55, this is more likely to appeal to beauty fans who want to experiment with nail stickers, metallic effects and includes many extras and fewer bottles of colours.
