Every OPI girl has a shade she still thinks about. The one you bought a backup of the second you caught wind it was getting discontinued. The one you still check eBay for on a slow scroll at midnight, half-hoping, half-knowing it’s gone for good. That’s the kind of devotion OPI has spent 45 years earning, one perfectly (pun) named polish at a time. And it’s exactly why the internet lost it when the brand announced it was reopening the vault. The new OPI Most Requested Collection brings back 13 of the brand’s most-demanded retired shades. No petitions or group chats required. Plus fresh remixes of the colours that made OPI a household name in the first place.
OPI Co-Founder and Brand Ambassador Suzi Weiss-Fischmann puts the appeal plainly: “Every year, OPI retires select shades to make room for new launches. Inevitably, somebody’s favourite shade is gone from the lineup – forever. To commemorate our 45th anniversary, we’re opening the vault and bringing back 13 of the most-demanded retired shades – cult classics that OPI fans have been asking about for years – with the OPI’s Most Requested Collection.”
What’s In The Vault
Six new permanent shades land in Nail Lacquer, 12 in Infinite Shine, and 12 more as xPRESS/ON press-ons – a palette of saturated cremes and shimmers built from true vault reissues and new remixes of OPI’s most iconic colours. Consider it a greatest-hits tour, minus the ticket scalping.
Inky purples, moody and dark, straight from the archive:
- Every Month is Oktoberfest, a vampy purple-blue creme from OPI’s 2012 Germany Collection, its red-gold shimmer giving it a glow-from-within finish that photographs like it’s plotting something
- Lincoln Park at Midnight, a new remix riffing on the same after-dark, purple-black mood that made Lincoln Park After Dark – released in 2005 and still one of OPI’s best-selling shades ever – a fixture of the brand’s cultural footprint. LPAD has spent this past year having its own TikTok moment, 20 years after launch, cited by beauty editors alongside Clinique’s Black Honey as proof certain formulas simply refuse to die. This new shade shares its DNA, not its bottle – think spiritual sequel, not remake.
Crimson and burgundy, for reds with a little more edge:
- Vodka & Caviar, a deep, glamorous red that sounds like a Bond villain’s order at the bar
- Mrs. O’Leary’s BBQ, a rich, smoky oxblood from OPI’s 2005 Chicago Collection, named – with typical OPI wit – after Catherine O’Leary, whose cow allegedly kicked over a lantern and started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Nothing says “romantic date night” like a manicure named for a municipal disaster.
Quietly confident neutrals, for when you want your nails to do the bare minimum and look incredible doing it:
- Mod About You Pastel
- Route Beer Float, a warm, creamy neutral fans have been requesting back into the lineup for years. Presumably between sips of the real thing
Bright pink and cranberry, for anyone allergic to subtlety:
- It’s All Greek to Me
- Koala Bear-y
Standout statement hues rounding out the vault offerings:
- Espresso Your Style, a bronzed brown for the caffeinated among us
- Nein! Nein! Nein! Okay Fine!, a dark grey-green that is, frankly, an entire personality in bottle form
New shades with an elevated twist on OPI classics:
- Boots in Barcelona, a soft pink-nude
- My Private Yacht, a sparkly taupe with dark navy shimmer, for those manifesting a very specific lifestyle
- Malaga Wine Not?, a red shimmer
- Reign or Shine, Louvre Me Louvre Me Not, Deer Valley Spice and I’m the Bossa Nova Now round out the collection. (And prove that OPI’s pun department never clocks out!)
The Brand Behind The Bit
OPI has spent four decades treating nail polish names like punchlines and turning colour launches into cultural events . The brand basically invented the concept of a manicure with a caption. The Hollywood Collection gave the world I’m Not Really a Waitress, and the brand’s tie-in with Legally Blonde 2 set the template for beauty-meets-pop-culture partnerships years before “collab” was even a marketing category. Against that history, a 45th-anniversary vault drop reads less like a nostalgia cash-in and more like OPI doing what it’s always done: making manicures a conversation, one unhinged pun at a time.
The Details
The OPI Most Requested Collection rolls out in phases:
- Nail Lacquer (6 shades) – exclusive to Chemist Warehouse, RRP $22.95, available from 23 July
- Infinite Shine (12 shades) – RRP $26.95, available from 2 August at Myer, David Jones, Adore Beauty, Amazon and The Iconic
- xPRESS/ON Nails (12 styles) – RRP $26.95–$29.95, available from 2 August at Myer, David Jones, Adore Beauty, Amazon and The Iconic
