Frequently asked questions
What comes in an OPI Dip and Lacquer Combo?
Two pieces of one OPI shade: a 1.5 oz jar of OPI Powder Perfection dipping powder and the 0.5 oz OPI Nail Lacquer of the same code, so N25 Big Apple Red arrives as a dip jar for the hands and a lacquer for the toes. The dip liquids (Step 1 base, Step 2 activator, Step 3 top) and the lacquer base and top are not in the box; they are bought once on the OPI essentials page.
Is the combo cheaper than buying the dip jar and the lacquer separately?
By a small margin, yes. Checked against the single prices at ND on the day of writing, the combo is priced below the same 1.5 oz Powder Perfection jar and 0.5 oz lacquer bought as two listings. The 17, 44, 51, and 105-combo bundles are priced as their count of combos, so they save order lines rather than money, and they do not list their shades.
Which OPI shades are on the dip and lacquer page?
67 classic OPI codes rather than a seasonal drop: reds such as N25 Big Apple Red, L72 OPI Red, and L64 Cajun Shrimp; pinks and nudes such as S86 Bubble Bath, H19 Passion, P61 Samoan Sand, and A61 Taupe-less Beach; plums such as W42 Lincoln Park After Dark and I43 Black Cherry Chutney; plus greens, grays, a white, and a black. The sidebar filters by color family.
Does the dip half need a lamp?
No. OPI Powder Perfection sets with the Step 2 activator, with no UV or LED cure and no monomer odor, and wears three to four weeks with proper prep. The lacquer half air dries in five to eight minutes between coats and is removed with acetone, which makes it the pedicure and take-home format of the same shade.
A combo I want is out of stock. What do I do?
About half the combos are waiting on a restock at any time, usually because one half of the pair is out. The same jar and bottle are sold as singles on the OPI dipping powder and OPI Nail Lacquer pages, and the OPI duo listing of many classic shades has a dip and lacquer option, so the shade can be completed by code from another page at the single price.
OPI dip and lacquer combos: one OPI shade as a 1.5 oz Powder Perfection jar and a 0.5 oz lacquer
This page holds every OPI Dip and Lacquer Combo at ND Nails Supply: 71 active listings, 67 of them single-shade combos and four bundles of 17, 44, 51, and 105 combos. Each combo is one OPI shade twice over, a 1.5 oz jar of OPI Powder Perfection dipping powder and the 0.5 oz OPI Nail Lacquer of the same code, so N25 Big Apple Red on the dip rack is N25 Big Apple Red on the lacquer shelf. The dip is the odor-free, no-lamp format that wears for weeks on the hands; the lacquer is OPI's original air-dry polish for pedicures, quick changes, and the bottle the client takes home. Buying the pair as one listing puts the shade on the dip menu and the polish menu in a single order line, and, checked against the single prices on the day of writing, the combo is priced a little below the same jar and bottle bought separately. Everything is wholesale-priced for everyone, no license and no minimum.
What is on this page
| Listing type | Count | What arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Single-shade combo | 67 | One 1.5 oz Powder Perfection jar and one 0.5 oz Nail Lacquer, same OPI code |
| 17-combo bundle | 1 | 17 dip and lacquer pairs |
| 44-combo bundle | 1 | 44 dip and lacquer pairs |
| 51-combo bundle | 1 | 51 dip and lacquer pairs |
| 105-combo bundle | 1 | 105 dip and lacquer pairs |
The sidebar filters by color family: red is the largest with 12 combos, then pink 11, purple 8, beige 7, brown 4, glitter 4, gray 3, green 3, and single entries for orange, coral, mint, blue, black, and white. About half the combos are out of stock at the time of writing, most often because the lacquer half of a pair is waiting on a restock; when a combo is out, the same jar and bottle are sold as singles on the OPI dipping powder and OPI Nail Lacquer pages, and the OPI duo listing of many classic shades carries a dip and lacquer option as well. The bundles do not name the shades they contain, so a salon that needs specific codes buys the singles.
The shades on the page
The list is the OPI classic chart rather than a seasonal drop, the codes a client asks for by name. A sample across the families:
| Family | Combos on the page |
|---|---|
| Reds | N25 Big Apple Red, L72 OPI Red, A16 The Thrill Of Brazil, A70 Red Hot Rio, L64 Cajun Shrimp, W52 Got the Blues for Red, L87 Malaga Wine, I43 Black Cherry Chutney |
| Pinks and corals | S86 Bubble Bath, H19 Passion, H39 It's a Girl, M23 Strawberry Margarita, L60 Dutch Tulips, T74 Stop it I'm Blushing, V29 Amore at the Grand Canal |
| Nudes and beiges | P61 Samoan Sand, T65 Put It In Neutral, A61 Taupe-less Beach, V28 Tiramisu For Two, V32 I Cannoli Wear OPI, W57 Pale to the Chief |
| Purples and plums | W42 Lincoln Park After Dark, T76 I Am What I Amethyst, B78 Miami Beet, I59 Less is Norse, B61 OPI Ink |
| Greens, blues, and grays | U15 Things I've Seen In Aber-green, I58 This Isn't Greenland, F62 In the Cable Car-pool Lane, B59 My Private Jet |
| Whites and blacks | L00 Alpine Snow, T02 Black Onyx |
The red and nude rows are the ones a salon buys two deep, because Big Apple Red, Bubble Bath, Samoan Sand, and Funny Bunny are the shades that get asked for by name across every service. The purples, greens, and glitters round out a wall so the chart has an answer for the client who wants something other than a red.
What each half of the combo does
- The Powder Perfection jar. A 1.5 oz dip jar that sets with the OPI Step 2 activator and no lamp, with the gel-like shine and weeks of wear the listing describes; with proper prep it wears three to four weeks. The 1.5 oz jar is the working size for a shade a dip station opens every week.
- The Nail Lacquer bottle. OPI's original polish, a slightly thicker and more chip-resistant formula than a traditional polish, air dry, removed with acetone, rated by OPI at up to seven days. It is the pedicure format, the lamp-free service, and the retail bottle at the desk.
- One code on both. The dip and the lacquer of a code are made to the same shade, so the salon logs one number on the client card and serves her dip on the hands and lacquer on the toes without a swatch conversation.
- What is not in the box. The OPI Step 1 base, Step 2 activator, and Step 3 top for the dip side, and a lacquer base and top for the polish side, are bought once on the essentials page and last many services.
How to use the pair on one client
- Dip the hands. Prep and dehydrate, OPI Step 1 base coat, dip the nail into the jar, tap off, brush the excess, repeat for a second layer, Step 2 activator, shape and buff, activator again, then Step 3 top coat. No lamp at any step.
- Lacquer the toes. Base coat, two thin coats of the lacquer, top coat, five to eight minutes of air dry between coats; the shade matches the fingers because it is the same OPI code.
- Send the bottle home. The lacquer is the retail half of the combo. A client who books the dip buys the lacquer of the same code to touch up a toe or paint a nail between visits, and the salon restocks the bottle from the OPI Nail Lacquer page.
- Swatch first. A filed and topped dip reads a touch deeper than a lacquer under a top coat, so swatch both halves on one stick and keep it at the desk before promising an exact match.
Combo, duo, or 3-in-1: which OPI listing to buy
ND sells most OPI classic shades in three matched formats, and the right one depends on which services the salon runs. The dip and lacquer combo on this page suits the salon whose hand service is dip and whose pedicure is lacquer, with no gel on the menu. The gel and lacquer duo on the OPI Gel and Lacquer page is the same idea for a gel salon, Intelli-Gel on the hands and lacquer on the toes. The OPI 3-in-1 puts all three formats under one code for the full-service salon that books dip, gel, and lacquer of the same shade. A salon that starts with the combo and adds gel later buys the Intelli-Gel single of the same code from the OPI gel page and the chart stays matched.
Pricing checked on the day of writing
The single-shade combo is priced below the same 1.5 oz Powder Perfection jar and 0.5 oz lacquer bought as two singles at ND, by a small margin, which is the reason to buy the pair as one listing when both halves are wanted. The four bundles are priced as their count of combos, 17, 44, 51, and 105 times the single-combo price, so a bundle is the one-order way to put a wall of OPI dip and lacquer on the shelf rather than a discount, and because the bundles do not list their shades, a salon that needs particular codes buys them as singles.
Stocking and storage
Store the two halves of a code together, in code order, so a tech pulls a matched pair without hunting. The powder jar keeps indefinitely closed and dry, and only clumps when a wet base brush goes into it, so dip from a tray and keep the lid on between clients. The lacquer thickens over a year and is thinned with lacquer thinner, never acetone, and the bottle keeps longest with the neck wiped clean before it is capped. Reorder by code from one line on the sheet: a salon doing a dozen dip sets a week goes through the jar before the bottle, and the jar restocks as a single from the OPI dipping powder page.
Wholesale pricing at ND Nails Supply
Every OPI Dip and Lacquer Combo, single or bundle, is wholesale-priced for everyone, with no business license, no minimum order, and no membership fee. The single combos sit at one price across the page, whatever the shade, and the bundles are priced per combo inside. Free shipping on orders $100+, and in-stock combos ordered before 2pm PT on weekdays leave the same day.