Recessionista's Fabuless Pick of the Week: Sephora by OPI

Yesterday, I paid a visit to my friendly, neighborhood Sephora store to play around with Sephora by OPI, a collection of nail colors, hand treatments, and nail care products by OPI, available exclusively at Sephora stores.

The Sephora by OPI display, with testers of 54 fashion-forward shades, is a veritable polish playground. In the King of Prussia store, the display is situated right next to the registers…so I felt somewhat guilty for polluting the salespeople’s work area with nail polish fumes. But from the look of one cashier’s multi-colored manicure, I realized that not even the staff is immune to the temptation of the Sephora by OPI testers.

At $9 a bottle, these gorgeous polishes pack more of a financial punch than many other brands on the market - including the original OPI collection. But the green formulation (every shade is DBP, Toluene, and Formaldehyde-free) and saving a trip to another OPI retailer for your nail needs justifies the extra dollars and/or cents.

And while I think that nail polishes should be judged on the merits of color, finish, ingredients and staying power, I have to give this collection bonus points for its cheeky monikers – such as Sample Sale, Skinny Jeans, Nonfat Soy Half Caff, It's Somewhere in My Purse, Brunette on the Internet, Never Enough Shoes, and Beauty Junkie.

The Autumn & Eve Collection pays homage to the deeper, darker shades seen on fall 2008 runways.