Nicole by OPI just released a set of 14 polishes in conjunction with one of the funniest shows on the air, Modern Family. I have some issues with NOPI, to be honest. I hate the bottle shape. I hate that they often dupe OPI colors with a different label. I super hate the recent Kardashian collection (I refuse to call it collection no matter how pretty any of the colors might be. The last NOPI polishes I bought were the Gossip Girl colors, and I figured Modern Family has enough street cred to balance out the ugly bottle factor. Then I looked at the collection and was nonplussed except for one color. This color of course was not in the 7 colors my local Ulta got, or the 10 out of 14 my local Target got. Thankfully a friend’s sharp-eyed husband found me one, and today the mailman delivered Stand By Your Manny.

The pictures don’t show the depth to this color. You can tell it’s a shimmer, but what you can’t see is that in addition to silver there’s a subtle pink and green in the sparkle. I probably could have captured this outside, but was painting my nails late at night, and may have chipped it by tomorrow before I got outside. If not though, I’ll be on that.

You’ll notice that it’s not completely opaque, in three coats. The pictures aren’t really fair in this regard; in indoor lighting it looks pretty darn close to opaque. Next time I’ll probably do a better job of putting more polish on the first coat. This is a great color for this time of year in North Carolina where we had freezing rain a couple of days ago and will likely see the 70s shortly. This one kind of marries winter and spring – not so pastel as to scream Easter Eggs. Oh, and I can wear it to Carolina Basketball games!