Glistening Mauve Comparison

I find that I tend to buy dupes. I think the more I wear my untrieds, the less I will do this. I hope.

(Tell that to the drawer full of periwinkle polishes!)

Here's a follow up on the Pretty Serious Toxic Tiara post from a while ago.

I pulled out all the similar polishes (there are probably more if I think about it!) and wanted to compare.

Here we go!

Left to right:

OPI It's My Year

Orly Leading Lady

Zoya Faye

Pretty Serious Toxic Tiara

All are three coats.

Some thoughts.

OPI is a stellar formula, lots of balance between that mauve shade and gold shimmer glass fleck. It is the closest to Toxic Tiara, who has a slower-to-dry formula on me.

I personally adore Orly Leading Lady. This is part of some "two step" system I have no idea about. I saw it at TJ Maxx and though it might be a gel (this was before I had a lamp). It's not and it's great. I love this one a lot. Looks better in person. So much life to it. Zazzy!

Zoya Faye is a beauty and the strongest with the gold glass fleck. It moves almost into a brown category in some lights, though I don't hate it at all.

More pix!

There is a blue undertone to OPI It's My Year, so it holds itself well with the rich gold. I love it so much. I like it a wee bit better than the Pretty Serious Toxic Tiara because it seems to have more life to it, though that could be part of the translucency of the base letting light pour through.

You can see the shimmer here. I have to say the Orly had some crazy beautiful going on, but OPI held its own.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

I wanted to add a quick note on camera and Polygel.

Camera
I went back to using my Lumix by Panisonic more often as it does a better job with skintones and dealing with light, better range shall I say.
I love it a lot, it's been a workhorse and doesn't need the correction as much.

Polygel
I'm taking some time off with Polygel, still. I am keen to get back into it, but have been a bit busy. 

Getting Serious Around Here

Pretty Serious was started by the blogger who ran the Pretty Random blog. Her eye for long discontinued yet great polishes was epic. Her annual lists made me drool.

I am not sure of the status of Pretty Serious, there is a lot of inventory change going on, but if you have a chance you should check them out. Many are inspired by polishes that are long gone, so it's nice that someone carried the banner for those of us who will never find an original OPI Creme de Menthe.

I don't know if Toxic Tiara is a recreation of something or not, but it's a great one.

I've got three coats on. It's a strong warm plum purple in the bottle but the gold glass fleck warms it up to a wonderful mulberry shade. Delightful.

This is flash/lamp and a top coat.

Here it is out in the sun:

This has the feeling of molten copper in some light. Perfection.

I did get a bit of shrinkage, but that might be my top coat messing around.

There is very little of this one left on the site, but there are dupes around, so all is not lost if you miss out.

I will spend more time and get some comparisons pretty soon.

This autumn to me and I love it a lot.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Hippie

So, greens wrap up for March.

I've got to say, I've enjoyed this time around. Let me know what you think? I'd love to know.
I know there were no holos, but that's going to be coming up: longer days and more sunshine lend themselves to swatching holos.

Back a couple entries ago, I blogged (<= link) about Pretty Serious doing a Naileontology collection, an homage to very hard to find polishes that are still perennial favorites.

Here is one you might want to take a second look at:

Pretty Serious Khepri's Amulet

This is an apparent dupe of Revlon Street Wear Hippie Trippy. I mean, it could be, but in all my wanderings on the Interwebz, I could not find a photo of this polish. 

Meanwhile, this polish just knocked my ever lovin' wig off!

Three coats, could of been two, no top coat. Shine on princess!

From the emerald depths to the bright sea foam green, this shimmer polish makes zero apologies for being a straight up traditional shimmer. Witness!

I seriously could not take a bad picture of this polish! 

Much love, much, much love. Formula is dense, yet it's easy to manage, it covers and self levels. Excellent coverage, delightful formula. Delightful.

Browsing the Pretty Serious Naileontology collection and aren't sure what to get? This is your winner. Let's be honest, you can dupe the Essie Starry Starry Night with a bottle of Essie Silver Boullions and a good navy. The Creme de Menthe dupe isn't 100% as close as I'd have hoped. This one, though, doesn't seem to have anything to live up to. Well, let's be honest: Revlon Street Wear polish has a pretty slow, sheer formula (in my experience, they don't work me up into a collecting frenzy after wearing them) and this color is so rare I can't even find a photo with which to compare!

I'd love to see a really nice original swatch of yet another one that got away, but whatever it looks like, this one is a stand alone great polish.

I think I need to get more serious about Pretty Serious Nail Polish!

As I said in my previous entry about their version of OPI Creme de Menthe (posted here) they ship from Australia for a super fair price, and a great selection of polishes. I am glad I bought this one, as for some reason I wavered because I couldn't figure out which one it was. 

Thanks for reading my version of March Madness!! Greens are so lovely. I hope you enjoyed!

Dreams of Creme de Menthe

I kind of love the sense of humor of Pretty Serious cosmetics.

They have a little trio of dupes they call "Naileontology" which rhymes with paleontology.

It is an homage to all dusty hunters everywhere who often find - randomly - old polishes in salons on eBay and (in my case) eCrater, etc.

I love that nod to collectors. Add the humorous graphics on their web site and it feels like a win.

When these were released there was a sale to promote them and the best part for me is that she ships to the US from Australia!!

Needless to say, I snapped up the collection, which I certainly hope gets larger. I love the idea of duping these rare polishes. (Or trying to dupe at least)

In the past I've blogged the-closest-thing-I'll-get-to-OPI-Creme-de-Menthe here.

Here is Pretty Serious Dragon's Curse

Three coats, nice formula, easy to work with.

Reads very jade green versus mint.

Now, mosey over to Steph's Closet blog and compare, mainly because I can not whip out a dupe out of my stash. I feel that my photos show more green, also, this doesn't imply much blue the way many CdM swatches online seem to do. 

I don't know if it is 100% dupe, but it sure is beautiful.

I tried to remove the green tint due to my lighting, but I never hit the identical shade of green.

Meanwhile, I'm perfectly happy that I have it, but I still wonder if CdM is the one that got away.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal.