Gold Shimmer + Purple = Compfest!!

Although it seems like I'm in a mode to compare a lot of stuff, I'm really mostly catching up on a lot of older polishes I've not really gotten around to blogging.

So, what do these guys have to do with each other?

They carry the same color DNA. It's kind of neat. Three are siblings, two are fraternal twins, one's a cousin and another's so distant you could practice endogamy with it! (Just taking the familial metaphor to it's Python-esque absurd conclusion)

It's a quick and dirty skittle shot, so beware!!!

Arabian Night, not Nights, doh!

Here, under the lamp, the family photo reveals itself.

All are three coats, no top coat and just about the same amount of "pretty darn workable quick dry time" except Opulent Cloud.

I don't know if you all remember, but when Sally Hansen release Opulent Cloud, the crowd went wild. It was in a collection of HD polishes that changed two times that I am aware of, then was discontinued. Frankly I have to wonder why? Some great polishes came out of that HD stuff.
Opulent Cloud is a cousin, but the shimmer is a fine one, unlike the trio at the center. It shifts from a deeper purple with gold shimmer to a flat cool bronze in some light.
Mercy!!

Hard Candy Mr. Wrong. Oh. So. Right! Rich purple fleck, rich almost flake gold. I openly confess that I am so glad I grabbed a back up of this one. Win!

Alter Ego, from Color Club's Alter Ego collection was recently blogged here and I did have wear issues. I haven't worn it again, so I hope it was just a bad combo of base and top coat. Eep.
Of the three fleck versions of this color, it's the most muted.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Gala was a limited edition polish last year or the year before, bummer, it would be a great asset to the SH Xtreme line.

Finally Sally Hanse Salon Arabian Night, this came out either before I started collecting or just after and it's always been on the short list of "must own". A grape purple with enough golden oomph to fill the glass fleck bill, but still retaining a bulk of the gorgeous purple base. Woot!
It's a 2008 Tracy Reese collaboration, which yielded this stellar polish. Top 10 color in my opinion.

Another lamp shot:

Formula-wise:

Opulent Cloud was slow to dry and I even smudged it a bit, argh.
The rest were great.


Some daylight:

I took this the following morning.

You can see that the Opulent Cloud gave me a case of sheet marks. Sheet.
The others reveal their fleck-tastic-ness in the side light.
Mr. Wrong and Purple Gala have a similar warm gold, but Purple Gala - ring finger - has a deeper base.
Poor Arabian Night, he needs an outing, he's so awesome over there!

Here's a close-up of the center three, Mr. Wrong, Alter Ego, and Purple Gala:

Dupes, no. Similar? Yes.
Mr.Wrong feels the most golden, Alter Ego is more purple and Purple Gala is the best balance of the three, with intensity in the purple matching the gold.

I personally recommend Purple Gala of the three.


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Ulta Blue Crush versus Color Club Electronica

I've had this Ulta Blue Crush for a while, I just blogged about it, and I really like it. The more I looked at it, the closer it looked to Color Club's Electronica.

I realize, as an aside, that it's very hard to organize by bottle color. The main issue is that stuff really doesn't always look the same in the bottle as on the nail! Sometimes two bottles look identical and one has hardly any pigment or the way it's concocked cococted (eep! speak english!) by the maker it ends up being, well, just different!

Here is Blue Crush, yet again:

Three coats, no top coat and here you can see it is jam packed with a ton of pink glass fleck, it actually looks like a mini-flake.

Here is Color Club Electronica, from their Musique collection:

I think that this has a similar concept, however it seems a little less pronounced.

Again, three coats, no top coat.

Electronica is more glossy, and although these had to be lightened and I had to remove some red and green, it's more blue than it looks in real life. Originally I looked like I had jaundice, and that wasn't going to work.

Because Blue Crush has a stronger fleck presence it looks more purple.

Here is a side by side:

I will say that this is much closer, however less blown out, ugh, my photography skills and purples are always taxed.

This is a trio of shots of one manicure with Electronica on the left side of the nail and Blue Crush on the right side of the nail.
So the top shot shows the Electronica side and the bottom the Blue crush side and the center shows both.

I've never tried this before, but they are so close that it's the best way to see the differences. Not that they aren't very similar, but Electronic is darker. Very nearly dupes.

Personally I love both, so although I have similar bottles of polish, they have enough of a difference to make them pretty much worth having each one.

Please enlarge the last photo to see the subtle variations.

As far as acquiring the Color Club, I believe it's still out there. The Ulta was just a fluke, I rarely shop there, so it's hard to say if it's around, I don't know much about their polishes.


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Golden Pink Triplets

Here are three of my favorite polishes.

First up China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Four coats of glass fleck golden gorgeosity!

The 2009 Summer Days collection is a wonderful glass fleck extravaganza. It predates the current trend of that finish all-all-over-everywhere-you-turn. I believe it is now a permanent fixture in the China Glaze list. Yay!

It's packed and the contrast of a warm pink with the gold reminds me of a Thai silk shot through with gold thread. 

Easy to use, great formula and and although it's a little bit translucent, I don't mind four coats. 

Zoya Mieko

Zoya Mieko is described at the Zoya website as "a rosy pink with a touch of orange and tonds of bold metallic gold shimmer. More glamourous than the usual pink!"

Another glass fleck win! This feels like the perfect rosy coral glass fleck for summer. I think it will look fabulous on toes. 

Three coats and easy to use. A little bit slow to dry, but in the end it worked out great.

Senorita Rose-alita

OPI Senorita Rose-alita is another beauty. It's got a fine shimmer rather than glass fleck, but it's right up there in the gorgeous category.

Three coats and that same rich pink. Easy to use, love the formula!

I could not get a tilde in Blogger, nor could I get on in PS elements, so I made one, oy, I know it's looking a bit janky!

This one is also part of the core line, so it's easy to find.



Here are some comparisons:

These are all under lamp light. I still haven't found a way to make my pinks look less washed out unless I use flash, which I'd prefer to avoid.

Mieko is richer than Strawberry Fields, but seems less glass flecked. Senorita Rose-alita, the coolest of the three pinks, really pops, and holds its own.

I don't have a favorite of the three, I love them all.

In the case of the China Glaze, it could double as a top coat over a creme, I believe Mieko could do the same job.

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Icy Chase Scene

It's not hard to imagine that when Nicole by OPI came out with a holiday collection, I'd poke my nose over and see what was up.

Unfortunately, unless it shows up in a Rite Aid (rare), Walgreens (almost never at mine), Shopko (iffy), or a Walmart, I'm going to have to buy it on eBay. At one point I felt like in 2011 I was trying to catch new stuff almost every day. By the time I was done dealing with the extra trips, I decided even though they may get it, it was easier to buy online.

NOPI All is Glam, All is Bright is both glam and bright! But it is also full of subtleties.

Three coats of smack-daddy-poppin' shiny goodness.

Then it's packed with a silver, warm rose and light blue metallic very small glitter.
I love it so much.

It's a grand little polish. The rose almost looks orange, but it's really a pretty soft color. Then the blue: icy and soft, at first you think it's not there, but it is. Great combo.

Here is a macro:

I am surprised this is a NOPI instead of an OPI polish.

Oddly enough, people actively dislike the bottle, but for me it's a non-issue.

Had this been the 13th Bond polish, I'd have called it License to Thrill or From OPI With Love.

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Three Cheers for Volcanos! Or Everyday is Halloween!

Remember that old Ministry song? Every Day is Halloween?

*crickets chirping*

Hey, old gothers never die, they just watch all their trends go mainstream.

Meanwhile, orange molten glitter gorgeous black-based polish is a-ok year round thanks to Island Girl!

Meet Hawaiian Color:

This is after three days of wear and I'd just returned from the barn working with the horse in 20 degree weather, so it's been through the wringer. The white you see on my pinky is a quick application of moisturizer - so quick I didn't make time to rub it in, and lost about 1/2 my photos after re-examining them! Eep!

But, man it is lush, rich molten lava orange. I can just feel the flumes of lava running beneath my feet

at Kilauea, or sending hot plumes into the air. Fabulous!

I love the black jelly base, it's enough to feel like freshly laid basalt, but still have a spooky feel to it all.

This was purchased for me by my sister when she went to Las Vegas. They have a place called the ABC Store that is out of Hawaii and sells Island Girl. This one I really wanted so much. It's even better in person.

Not sure how dupy it is to China Glaze Fortune Teller, which is a deeper orange, but it's great in its own right.

I mean, seriously! All that cool glitter! 

Tip wear was pretty minor, I didn't re-coat it to extend it, I just wanted to wear it and have a fun glittery weekend polish.

Down the pike I will do a Fortune Teller comparison, but for now, its sufficient to just enjoy it's Halloweeny Volcano-ness!

;D

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Crimson Quartet

(not sure why this one posted the 7th, I think it's my iPhone and it's stinky interaction with Blogger)

Here are some swatches of gorgeous crimson jellies, a crelly and a creme.

All have a top coat.

Sowing the Seeds of Love

Hey, nothing like a typo to make my day! Doh!

Three coats of crelly goodness. Glossy and gorgeous. It almost looks like a syrup manicure!

Seeing as how it's Sparitual, and I have tooooo many Sparitual dupes of Orly polishes, I'd be willing to guess there's an Orly out there that is dupe.
Meanwhile, it's still out there as available in the Spa-Orly-ritual line.



Essie Fishnet Stockings

I will call this a jelly, although it is not considered one by Essie. Why? You can see my nail line even after three coats.
It's part of the core line at Essie. I found mine at Ross quite some time ago.



Maybelline Crimson

Pure creamy goodness!
Three coats, but two would have done it.
Found at the Dollar Tree. It's a gold cap, must be on Ebay, although I am sure there is a dupe out there, if not among the one's I've got here.



Revlon Heart to Heart

Another beautiful jelly. Three coats and not a word of complaint.
Much brighter than the rest of them, but still in that family.
Found at Ross in a set, it was a limited edition.


Here is a side by side (*cringe at the typo*)

I'd even call the first three dupes.

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What?!?! Another Purple!

After a slight hiatus, I really wanted to do a series again, along line of "greens for march" but I really didn't get it together.

So here is another purple I've had for a while and I really wish I wore it sooner!

Borghese Plumaggio P(er...B)lurple, a super deep purple.

It's another one of those cool polishes that is packed with blue and red shimmer but in this case a deep royal blue jelly.

I think I would cal this more of a navy, but they call it a purple.

Ah well!

This is three coats and no top coat. Easy polish to use and also easy to wear. This one had a good amount of pigment and so it didn't need any lingerie, which is so nice of a change for this brand.

Thanks for reading m little nail polish journal!