Ahoy! OPI's new Pirates of the Caribbean collection - launch and swatches

Disclosure - goody bags were received at the launch, arrrr!

 Early on Friday morning, we stepped aboard the Golden Hinde in Southwark for the launch of OPI's two new themed collections, Femme du Cirque and Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides. The Golden Hinde is a recreated Tudor warship. Not many polish fiends among Francis Drake's original crew, I'll warrant, but it was still a highly appropriate venue for the piratey collection of dusty pinks and swarthy pastel creams that OPI had in store for us.

The ship was decked out (if you'll excuse the pun) with fantastic props and decorations. It made me realise what a fun profession PR can be, and how much creative energy went into the event. Tri-cornered hats off to the team at Lena White PR!

But anyway, onto the polish! The Pirates collection includes 6 creme pastel shades. There are two pinks (not very piratey), two murky, grungy greens (a bit more like it), a gorgeous dusty turquoise and a delightful faded lilac. Here are the swatches:

L-R - Sparrow Me The Drama, Steady As She Rose, Skull and Glossbones

L-R - Mermaid's Tears, Stranger Tides, Planks a Lot

My picks are the lower three, although Steady As She Rose is also nice in a dirty vintage pink kind of way.

The star of the new Pirates collection though is Silver Shatter, a crackle top-coat in bright metallic silver. Here's the bottle;

 And here are some swatches of it over the other Pirates colours:

Each polish colour was presented along with a fantastic themed prop downstairs in the lower deck - sadly the lighting wasn't great, but you can see the ingenuity nonetheless.

We also saw the sheer colours from Femme du Cirque -

L-R - Step Right Up, In The Spotlight Pink, So Many Clowns... So Little Time, I Juggle... Men

The stand-out from these pale pinks is I Juggle...Men, which has a gorgeous pink/green iridescence to it.

Both collections will be available later this year.