Oldie but Goodie: OPI Liquid Sand The Impossible

Ok, I'm going to be dredging up a lot of photos that I took a loooooong time ago for the next month since I won't be painting my nails as often.  Some of these are from back before I moved in May, so there will be a different lighting scheme going on.  And of course, my nails were much longer and healthier back then for sure!  Either way, I hope that you don't mind the older photos, which also means older polishes, as I work through my No Polish November.  More details on that and a giveaway for those participating in the challenge will be up later this week.  Also, don't forget to get your donations for I Need a Lighthouse for my Depression Awareness Giveaway by 10/31!  Check out the info on what do do here, here, and here for instructions on how to pay with PayPal if you'd rather do that.  Ok, let's get into some polish, shall we?!

Tonight, let's take a look at OPI Liquid Sand The Impossible.  I have the mini bottle, which has a few distinct differences from the larger bottle.  Let's take a look!  Photos are with and without topcoat in indoor lighting.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

 Color: Bright hot pink with small and medium hot pink hexes.  Leans more red/orange when topcoated.

Finish: Textured – a polish designed to be worn without a topcoat and to have a rough finish once dry.  Finish is gritty and almost sand-like.

Bottle / Brush: OPI Mini bottle – designed as a miniature version of the larger bottles.  The shorter handle and wand make it hard to handle.  The brush is also not as wide as the new pro-brush.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three coats.  First coat is streaky, but builds well with subsequent coat.  Here, I've done three coats to ensure full coverage for photos.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.  This is my only problem with this polish.  It takes FOREVER to dry.  I think part of that is due to the fact that I'm used to instant gratification with quick dry topcoats, and Liquid Sands are typically worn without a topcoat.  It's not a deal breaker, but it wasn't awesome when I dinged it pretty badly 15 minutes after painting.

Overall Thoughts:  The first thing you'll notice is that the mini bottle's brush is a lot thinner than the standard bottle's wide brush.  Couple the thin brush with the smaller handle, and you get a bottle that's relatively more difficult to handle.  While that was irritating for sure, it didn't completely kill my opinion of this polish.  The second thing you'll notice is that the mini bottles don't contain the cute stars that are in the full sized bottle.  Now that made me sad.  When I started seeing swatches with the stars in it, my heart sank.  I totally would've gotten the big bottle if I had known it had stars that weren't present in my mini!  Ahh well.  C'est la vie!  Otherwise, I really enjoyed this polish.  Dry time was a huge miss for me, but the fact that it's textured means that you couldn't tell that I dinged pretty badly on my ring finger since I was able to manipulate the polish to cover the ding.  Boooyah!  I also really enjoyed this polish with a topcoat.  Tomorrow, I'll show you what it looks like with a glitter topper.  Hint hint: it's hot.

This polish came out last year, but you should still be able to find these where OPIs are sold.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*