A lavender/lilac comparison: OPI Rumple's Wiggin' and two others

A very good girlfriend of mine, who knows of my unhealthy obsession with lilac and lavender pastels, recently sent me three OPI shades just, well, because. How sweet is that?

So I thought I'd indulge my fellow lavender and lilac lovers out there and do a comparison of all three shades. If you're drawn to lavenders and lilacs, you probably know that there's a very fine balance between a shade that can enhance the color of your skin, and a shade that can make your skin look jaundiced (or worse). Sometimes the difference is just one drop of yellow or blue, so selecting the perfect lavender or lilac can often require the skill of a surgeon.

Let's start with Rumple's Wiggin', which, as everyone knows by now, is from the Shrek Forever After Spring 2010 Brights Collection (if you managed to miss the coverage of this collection when it first came out, my gal Amber over at Beauty Junkies Unite swatched all of the colors with great pics here).

OPI Rumple's Wiggin' (retail: around $8)

To me, Rumple's Wiggin' is a lilac that is definitely on the bluer side of the spectrum, which also makes it a bit more edgy. I actually think I might prefer this on toes rather than fingers. It went on a little sheer and a tiny bit streaky, so it required three coats. And even after three coats, I could still detect a few tiny streaks, but that might be more due to user error than the formula itself (for some reason, OPI brushes and I just don't seem to get along). Also, I had a heck of a time photographing the true color of Rumple's Wiggin'. I had to tweek the tint of these photos a bit, which makes my hands look really red. In real life, this shade does pull the red in my skintone, but not to this extent.

Next up:

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender (retail: around $8)

Lucky Lucky Lavender is from the OPI Hong Kong Collection for Spring 2010. It's quite a bit warmer than Rumple's Wiggin', and I think that, in real life, this is a softer, more wearable shade for my skintone. I loooove it. This pic was also taken after three coats, and while I did experience some streaks and brush marks during application, everything evened out quite beautifully after this color dried.

And finally we have:

OPI Panda-Monium Pink (retail: around $8)

Panda-Monium Pink is also from the OPI Hong Kong Collection for Spring 2010. Looking closely at this picture, you can see that there are quite a few streaks, and this is after three coats. I just couldn't get a handle on preventing streaks with this one, which makes me sad because I really like the subtle femininity of this shade. It's like a grown-up, sophisticated version of bubblegum pink. I definitely need to work on this one because as soon as I can prevent it from streaking, I think it's going to be staple in my safe-for-work collection.

So my fellow lavender and lilac lovers: which of the above shades do you like best? I'd love to hear from you!