Comparisons with OPI Brights 2009 Bright Pair with Paige Denim

This time I thought I'd try something a little different and put the cart before the horse, so to speak.

I do love this collection of brights, but they are very similar to other brights I own, especially ones by OPI.

Index and ring: OPI A Grape Fit
Middle and pinkie: OPI Do You Lilac It?

As you can see, they're similar shades of lilac purple but Do You Lilac It? is significantly lighter.

Index: OPI No Room For The Blues
Middle: OPI Just Groovy
Ring: Zoya Yummy
Pinkie: Misa Right Here Now, No More Later

There are minuscule differences between these colors, but can you really tell? I wouldn't know this was four different colors unless someone told me.

Index: OPI On The Same Paige
Middle: OPI Orange You Glad It's Summer?
Ring: OPI Don't Be Koi With Me
Pinkie: Misa Um You're Too Delicious

These oranges weren't as close as they appeared in the bottle. Similar, but I don't think I have an exact match yet.


Index: OPI Over The Taupe
Middle: OPI You Don't Know Jacques
Ring: Butter London Fash Pack
Pinkie: Orly Country Club Khaki

Hmm, no dupes here! Similar, but again, nothing exact.

Index: OPI Shorts Story
Middle: OPI I'm India Mood For Love
Ring: OPI D.C. Cherry Blossom
Pinkie: China Glaze Laced Up

I thought I had more pinks similar to Shorts Story in my collection, but I couldn't find a duplicate. I'm sure that one exists, but I'll have to keep looking to find out what it is.

Index: OPI In My Back Pocket
Middle: OPI Osaka To Me Orange
Ring: OPI It's A Bird, It's A Plane... It's OPI
Pinkie: OPI Orange You Glad It's Summer?

This one seems closest to my favorite orange, OPI Osaka To Me Orange.

Aside from No Room For The Blues, I haven't found an exact duplicate of any of these colors. In my opinion, they're unique and pretty enough to own all of them, but only if you really love the color. I happen to love them all even though they look like other things in my collection.

I only wish this year's brights had the matching crystalline shimmers like the old Brights collections, but I'll save my lamentations for the 'real' post :)

Reader Requests

Index: NARS Zulu
Middle: Illamasqua Rampage
Ring: BB Couture Green Goblin
Pinkie: Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle
None are dupes of each other.

Index and ring: OPI Pearls Night Out
Middle and pinkie: Color Club Front Row Diva

Index: Misa Dirty Sexy Money
Middle: Essie Greenport
Ring: Barielle Sweet Addiction
Pinkie: China Glaze For Audrey
None are dupes of each other.

Index: OPI I'm India Mood For Love
Middle: OPI That's Hot! Pink
Ring: OPI Strawberry Fields
Pinkie: OPI Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot!

Index: Barielle Swizzle Stix
Middle: Misa Right Here Now, No More Later
Ring: OPI Just Groovy
Pinkie: Zoya Yummy
All but Swizzle Stix are very, very similar to each other.


Index and pinkie: Essie Short Shorts 2008
Middle: Essie Flirty Fuchsia 2009
Ring: Essie Punchy Pink 2009


Index: Essie Perky Purple 2009
Middle: Essie Bermuda Shorts 2008
Ring: Essie Funky Limelight 2009
Pinkie: Essie Shorty Pants 2008

This year's Essie neons are *much* more neon and bright than last year's shades. In fact, compared next to each other, last year's neons don't even look neon.

Reader Requests

I am trying my best to catch up on my requests. Please be patient with me. Thank you :)



Essie Blueberry Crumb. Quite sheer, this is five coats.



Index and Ring: China Glaze Agent Lavender
Middle and Pinkie: OPI Done Out In Deco
Not dupes!


Index and Ring: OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not
Middle and Pinkie: OPI Overexposed In South Beach
They looked more similar to each other in the bottle. Not dupes, I'm afraid.



Dior Bleu Poison. AKA Poison Blue. Very dark, looks nearly black in most lighting.


CND Plexi Pink. Sheer hot pink tint with blue/purple iridescence. Makes a great layering polish, especially over blue.


China Glaze Yell-O-Neil. A medium yellow with glass fleck shimmer. Beautiful color, painful application.


NARS Orgasm. Very sheer, needed five coats.



China Glaze Celtic Sun. Neon highlighter yellow jelly. This is a pretty bad picture of it- it's closer to the color in the bottle. It is the color of a highlighter in real life. Very, very, very bright.


OPI Think Merry, Pink Merry! You may want to view this beauty full size. Shimmering frosty pink metallic with silver microglitter. Ulta Exclusive, holiday 2008.


OPI Breathe Life- sunlight. It lights up with blue sparkles in the sunlight.

Reader Request: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple Comparison

In all my time swatching and doing comparisons, I've almost never found a pair of polishes to be an exact match.... Until now! Extra-special-huge thanks to reader Gladys for requesting these polishes for comparison!

Index and ring finger: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple
Middle and pinkie finger: Orly Midnight Star

If there's a difference between these two polishes, I sure as hell can't see one. In my opinion, this is an exact match. If I didn't write it down, I would have had a hard time remembering which finger was wearing which polish!

Now, despite the color match, these polishes do have a few formula differences. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is quite sheer and needs three coats. Orly Midnight Star is fairly opaque and is perfect in two coats. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is old formula OPI, which contains the lovely "Big Three" and is slightly thinner than your average polish. Orly Midnight Star is Big Three-Free, which means it is a little thick and goopy and takes quite a while to dry. Application issues with both polishes were minimal- just keep in mind what type of formula you are trying to apply and you will have no problems.

Finding an exact match of OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is truly awesome. Originally released in 1996 as part of the OPI Rocky Mountain collection, OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is extremely hard to find, and to the best of my knowledge was only released with that collection and never again produced. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is über-discontinued and quite ancient, you would have an extremely hard time trying to track down this "antique" polish. Orly Midnight Star just came out a few months ago and is readily available at numerous retailers and etailers - I've even seen the whole Orly Gems collection display at my local grocery stores and CVS Pharmacies!

So, to sum it all up: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple = Orly Midnight Star.

Awesome.

Reader Request: Blues / Essie Mesmerize Comparison

Index: Essie Mesmerize
Middle: Nocti Flying Naked
Ring: OPI Dating A Royal
Pinkie: Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong

As you can tell from the picture, Essie Mesmerize is most similar to OPI Dating A Royal. The main differences are that Essie Mesmerize is lighter, a little less vibrant and much more opaque. OPI Dating a Royal needs at least two coats and looks best at three, while Essie Mesmerize is nearly perfect in one coat.

Nocti Flying Naked and Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong look more similar to Essie Mesmerize in the bottle than they do on the nail.

Essie Mesmerize is from the Spring 2009 collection, OPI Dating A Royal was released with the Mod About Brights collection in 2008, and Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong came out with the Misa Look On The Bright Side neon collection in 2008. I don't know when the Nocti polish was released, but all of these colors should be readily available and easy to find.

Reader Request: Yellow Comparison

I have a serious 'thing' for yellow nail polish. It seems to be a pretty rare color- most lines have only one or two shades of yellow, and sometimes none at all. I love all of them. As I've said before, yellow polish rocks. Seriously.

Anyway, an awesome reader sent in a request for a comparison between two of my most favorite shades of yellow: OPI Need Sunglasses? and OPI The "It" Color.

As you can see, my cuticles are in pain- sub-zero temperatures have taken their toll on my poor nails and cuticles... Please pretend that you can't see them :)


Index and middle: OPI The "It" Color
Ring and pinkie: OPI Need Sunglasses

And here's a shot indoors, the colors seem even brighter in dim indoor light:




There are two main differences between these polishes. OPI The "It" Color is much more opaque, only needing two coats to be completely so. OPI Need Sunglasses? requires three or more coats for total opacity- these pictures are three coats.

The second difference that I notice is that OPI The "It" Color is more of a yellow mustard shade, a touch darker than what I would consider to be "bright" yellow, and it almost has a hint of orange to it. It has a retro 60's-70's avocado-colored-appliances sort of vibe to it.

OPI Need Sunglasses? is about two steps down from neon- bright, but not retina-burning yellow highlighter bright. It's a cleaner looking yellow, and while it is bright and cheerful, seems to have a more mellow look to it compared to some of the other yellows I have.

Application-wise, they're both three-free (though I could have sworn I had a nice 'old' formula bottle of Need Sunglasses? somewhere...) but OPI The "It" Color applies a bit more smoothly than OPI Need Sunglasses?.

Both are amazing, I wouldn't give up either one. I feel that they're different enough to own both.

Comparison: OPI Paris Couture For Sure and Color Club Magic Attraction

I'm pretty crazy about holographic polishes, and just as crazy about glitter, so when a holographic glitter polish comes out, I snap that sucker up without even blinking. Holo. Glitter. Good stuff.

Anyway, I got a request to compare these two holo glitter polishes:


Index and middle finger: Color Club Magic Attraction
Ring finger and pinkie: OPI Paris Couture For Sure

Slightly different angle and lighting:



OPI Paris Couture For Sure is one of my favorite polishes of all time. It's a smooth holographic silver glitter. It's different from other holo silvers like China Glaze Sexagon because it's definitely glitter particles as opposed to the smooth foil-like particles that make up the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes and OMGs and OPI Designer Series.

Color Club Magic Attraction, the star of the Color Club Glitter Vixen collection, is a dense, thick, chunky holographic silver glitter with a hint of lavender or lilac tint to it.

The biggest difference between these to is the density. OPI Paris Couture For Sure is thin and smooth and requires three coats for opacity. Color Club Magic Attraction is extremely thick and dense and only really needs two coats, but is really pretty opaque with just one.

The size of the glitter particles is also different- Paris Couture For Sure has very fine, irregular shaped particles, and Magic Attraction has larger round glitter pieces.

Magic Attraction appears to have more 'fire' in these pictures, but Paris Couture For Sure is just as sparkly. Paris Couture For Sure will sparkle more in low light than Magic Attraction, which is one reason why I love Paris Couture For Sure so much. In low light, Magic Attraction can seem like a flat silver/lavender glitter.

Both are extremely nice polishes, but you'll have much better luck finding Magic Attraction. OPI Paris Couture For Sure has been discontinued for quite a long time, but it still shows up in stores and online every now and then. Magic Attraction was just released in Color Club's fall/winter 2008 Glitter Vixen collection, so it's readily available and as far as I know, not limited edition.

Some requests and some nail art.

I don't have a whole lot of time to post this morning, but I'm really behind on my requests and I wanted to make sure I got these posted!

Here are a couple reader requests:

(As always, click the images to view full size. These puppies are huge!)


Index to pinkie: OPI Parlez-Vous OPI?, China Glaze Who's Wearing What, China Glaze Channelesque, Pure Ice Taupe Drawer.

They all look really similar in the bottle, but they're much different than I expected when you apply them! And, in all my infinite wisdom (*snort*), I forgot to include OPI You Don't Know Jacques and Sephora By OPI Call Your Mother and Metro Chic in the comparison! D'oh.


Thumb: (left) OPI Tickle My France-y (right) Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge
Index and middle: OPI Tickle My France-y
Ring and pinkie: Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge

Another great request for a comparison I wouldn't have thought of myself! These look nearly identical in the bottles, but as you can see, they're quite different on the nail. Both are gorgeous, do I don't know if I'd ever be able to pick between the two!




Urban Decay Book Of Shadows.

The eyeshadows are excellent. Absinthe is the standout color, a very bright golden green with shimmer. No complaints there. The packaging, however, is really crappy. The eyeshadows are in a pull-out drawer that fits so tightly it's a struggle to open. You have to open it by a tiny little ribbon, and since you have to pull so hard to get the drawer open, I can imagine that delicate little ribbon getting torn off pretty easily.

The brushes are floppy and useless. Bah. And, my major irritation with this is the stupid "pop-up" top flap.... WTF are you supposed to do with that?? It doesn't stay open so you can't use it as a mirror.... It's just.... useless! They should have put the shadows up there instead of in the stupid drawer!

So, final verdict: Awesome shadows, crappy packaging.


Chanel Rouge Noir.

I tried taking the picture in a different part of the house, but I think the lighting turned out weird. Hm.


Chanel Tulipe Noire.

That's it as far as requests go- I'm working on a really big project right now, but I think it will help me respond to requests a lot quicker! I know a lot of you are still waiting on requests, but I didn't forget about you, I promise!


And, for fun, here's a little nail art.





China Glaze Gypsy Girl, China Glaze Fairy Dust, Art Club Black Hologram. This was a touch darker in real life, and it looked awesome. Sparkly and eye-catching!

For some reason I can never photograph reds. They always come out looking weird and too bright and glowy. Reds, oranges and neons. I don't know what it is! Argh.



China Glaze Blue Sparrow, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Art Club Black Hologram.

I really like this shape- it's not quite a french but it's not quite half-and-half either. I love the way this looks when the light catches it too- tons of sparkle.

Comparison: Chanel Black Satin and Zoya Raven

I mentioned in my post comparing blacks that Zoya Raven was the same color as Chanel Black Satin. Here's a comparison image:


Thumb to pinkie: (left) Raven (right) Black Satin, Raven, Raven, Black Satin, Black Satin.


Now, if I didn't say that they were different polishes, would you have been able to tell the difference? I wouldn't!

I ended up buying Black Satin a while back because someone had convinced me that it was the be-all end-all black polish of the gods. Sure, it's nice, but Zoya Raven is nicer.

I'm sure you all know this by now, but I'm not a fan of Chanel. I think their customer service is some of the worst I've ever experienced, and I don't think their polish is anything special. It's certainly not worth the price tag- it chips quicker than any polish I own (although, I hear buying Chanel's base coat will prevent this), the brushes are sometimes messed up and they don't apply as smoothly as a $20 polish should. I will buy the polish if the color is really special (Kaleidoscope!) but, still. I'd rather spend my money on Lippmann or Rescue Beauty Lounge.

Zoya, on the other hand, has rarely disappointed me. The formula of the polish is always smooth and manageable (with the exception of two colors- Bekka and Juicy), the price point is just right ($6, not $20!), and they really have a lot of great colors. I have only had to contact customer service once, so I can't really comment on the quality of customer service, but I have never had a problem with any of my orders- just a couple backordered polishes.

So, personally, when faced with the choice of two identical black shimmer polishes, of course I'm going to choose the less expensive one!

Random Black Polish Swatches and Comparisons!

I've been working really hard on my swatching project lately and I feel like I'm finally making progress on the giant mountain of polishes I wanted to photograph. Yay!!!

I've actually been working on photographing my entire stash for quite some time, but the problem is my collection keeps growing. That, and I get distracted very easily lately... But wow! Progress feels awesome!

Anyway, here are a few swatches I wanted to share with you:


Zoya Suvi compared to China Glaze Gussied Up Green. Index and middle finger are Suvi, ring and pinkie are Gussied Up Green, thumb is (left) Suvi and (right) Gussied Up Green. You can see that while they're quite similar, they're definitely different enough to justify owning both. Love 'em!



Red glitters! Thumb to pinkie: China Glaze Ruby Pumps, New York Summer Fire Red Glitter, Hot Topic Red Glitter, Zoya Delilah, Zoya Jade.
All quite different! And all very pretty. I still haven't quite figured out the text thing yet, but I'll figure something out!

And there's recently been a lot of interest in black nail polish, so I've swatched a few.



Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Black Pearl. No, it's not pearly, it's creme.... Weird name lol.


Black Rose. It doesn't have a label so I don't know the actual name or brand, but I found this on the Fantasy Makers halloween display at Walgreens!


Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Black Magic (over Black Pearl)


Orly Goth. My favorite black with silver glitter. The glitter shapes are somewhat random and it reminds me of snowflakes.


Petites Black Star. Gorgeous black and gold glitter!



Hot Topic Black Glitter. No label so I don't know what the actual name or shade number is, sorry!


Hot Topic Black Iridescent. This is one of the coolest polishes ever. It's full of little flecks of multicolored glitter- they change to all the colors of the rainbow depending on the light! It's unbelievable. If you like black polish, you MUST get this one- it's only $2.99!


Chanel Black Satin. If you're thinking of getting this, don't. Get Zoya Raven instead! It's identical and costs $6. Zoya's formula is better, too!



ManGlaze Black. I adore this.


Misa Wishing On A Star.


Misa I Will Survive.


These are just a few of the black polishes in my collection. If there's a specific black that I haven't posted and you'd like to see it, let me know and I'll be happy to post it for you!

I also took another taupe and dusty purple comparison picture with some new colors I got, but I think I somehow deleted it! I can't find it anyhwere in my photo library or my nail photo folder! :( Oh well... Guess I'll take it again. *sigh*