Monthly Archives

October 2010

comparison

Chanel vs Essie vs Rescue Beauty Lounge – Khaki Vert vs Sew Psyched vs Diddy Mow

Monday, 18 October, 2010

I had to do these three compared because next to each other (or as my friend Kristen from Rhode Island taught me, “Side by each!”) they were so blindingly close that I felt a little ripped off. In my excitement I didn’t take a picture of the bottle side by each, but I will soon and update this post.

These three were definitely in the same color family, but I love the subtle differences…and I love that they’re cremes. Hope you fall for these military greens the way I did.

 

In sunlight you can see the obvious difference between KV, SP and DM. KV has more green while SP and DM have more grey in it. Mr. CarinaeLetoile was so cute when he looked at Khaki Vert on me and commented, “It’s really like a military green. I think Army when I look at it.”

At first glance, SP and DM seem like dupes. But only in the picture. Both have an extremely faint shimmer in it. Both have a good amount of grey in it, but that is it. The difference in person is extremely subtle, but because I’m such a nail fanatic I know the difference – or so I tell myself. LOL I wore SP during the weekend, but kept KV and DM on my swatching hand. It was so subtle that no one could see the difference in the restaurants and dim places we went to this weekend. If you can grab SW, go for it. It’s a cheaper alternative to RBL’s DM. However, if you have DM no need to get SP. If you don’t have KV and want to get it…go for it. While I felt Les Khakis was a bit pricey, I felt it was well worth it.

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OPI – Burlesque, Part II, Holiday 2010

Friday, 15 October, 2010

If I had to choose, I would definitely pick the glitters over this part of the collection. I’m not saying this half is not up to snuff, but when I think Burlesque, I do think of sequins and shiny under the lights…a lot of sparkle and flash.

This half is subtle but still gorgeous.

This post is image heavy…you have been warned!

Hello, Friday Red. What isn’t visible in the picture is the pink undertones. I’m looking at the bottle right now and the pinkness isn’t shown. I love the faint shimmer that makes if glow. Bravo, OPI!

 

Bronze-y orangey goodness…I can’t believe this actually looked good on me!

 

It looks so different in these two pictures, but I assure you they’re the same ones. Sunlight made it appear a more deeper gold. Absolutely gorgeous!

 

A hot magenta.

 

I honestly thought this color from OPI (The Show Must Go On!) would be a clone for MAC’s Bad Fairy. It’s not. Not even close. BF is more on the orange side, while TSMGO is more on the pink/magenta side. Both share the same orange glass flecks. I had to do 3 coats of BF while OPI’s formula was wonderfully opaque in 2 coats. Though vastly different, there are enough similarities to make them seem almost identical. Owning both would be wonderful, but owning either of the two is still good enough.

I’ve posted this comparison before, but to not include it would be silly because Tease-y Does It is part of the collection. You can read more about Tease-y Does It here.

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OPI – Burlesque Part I, Holiday 2010

Thursday, 14 October, 2010

For some reason, I was so enamored with these glitters, knowing full well I hate glitters…yet I just had to have them. They’re a pain to remove, no matter how much foil you use. I’m a sloppy glitter remover. I get frustrated using foil and I end up with the sparkle explosion all over my fingers, as you will see in the pictures.

The formula was easy to use. It dried quickly – yay! No clunky, clumpy glitter. I did two coats of every color. My only regret is that I didn’t do three coats to get the full on glitter effect.

I am going to be doing a blog give-away of these 6 colors. They’ve been swatched once, but I just really don’t want any extra glitter in my collection unless absolutely necessary. So keep watching for the giveaway.

I do like how these glitters look – they’re dense and it’s glitter that’s suspended in clear lacquer. I am generally not a fan of that, but it definitely makes the glitter sparkle and pop. I’ve done some comparisons to OPI’s Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter for a point of reference.

Warning: This is image heavy…you have been warned!

 

I thought this was really close to Absolutely Alice, but it seems I was wrong. So wrong. The glitter in AA is more fine and dense.  The color is also far more popping. Simmer & Shimmer is a bit more subtle…well, as subtle as this whole collection of glitters can get. 🙂

 

I feel like the colorful glitter in here is the same – filled with red, purple and a plethora of other colors. However, the one big difference is the base glitter they used. Mad As A Hatter is silver based whereas Sparkle-icious is gold.

 

I’ve been on a purple kick lately. What appeals to me about this particular color/glitter is that it’s not quite purple and it’s not quite pink. Several years ago I was on a purple and pink design sprees for my jewelry. It sold quite well. I guess I wasn’t the only person who loves purple and pink together.

 

I love this green. It reminded me of the super tiny limes I used to see in India. It’s not the rind, but the inside of the lime…and I always said I wanted a creme in that color. Instead, I’m looking at the sparkling version of it. LOVE IT!

 

Currently wearing this on my nails and on me, it looks more salmon colored than orange. This mercifully is not a crazy Halloween orange, but a nice rich burnt orange. The gold glitter thrown in is absolutely fabulous.

 

How pretty is this? I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of glitter, but this one really made me consider liking gold in general.

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Chanel – Les Khakis

Wednesday, 13 October, 2010

I was trying to play around with these colors. I am apologizing for my mega n00b attempt at nail art. I can add these to my epic fail manicures. 😀

This is why I just paint my nails and not attempt anything else.

I was surprised – this formula was like butta. It took a smidge longer to to dry but I suspect it was my ‘nail art’ that really made it take forever and a day to dry. After all the lemmings for Khaki Vert, I found I preferred Khaki Brun with my skin tone. In the end it was Khaki Brun that really looked green on me. I’m not slamming Khaki Vert because I did like how it looked on me as well, but for me it was Khaki Brun that was the star of the show. Khaki Rose was a bit…meh. It didn’t really look all that wonderful on me.

These were a hefty price to pay – $25 each. I am sure there are dupes/polishes that are similar out there to keep your wallet from screaming in pain.

 

Please pardon the lack of clean up and the dry cuticles. I wasn’t expecting to take a picture of my right hand but decided to at the last minute.

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OPI Tease-y Does It vs Nubar Raspberry Truffle

Tuesday, 12 October, 2010

Got my Burlesque glitters. Got the rest of the Burlesque collection, too. I was thrilled because OPI really outdid themselves on the glitter collection for Christmas 2010. I hate glitter, but I had to have these. Anyway, the one color that really had me holding my breath was Tease-y Does It.

I was so happy to have finally been able to put Tease-y Does It on my nails. It looked totally gorgeous in the bottle, but in the back of my mind a tiny voice was saying, “You have something like this…You have something like this…”

I was like, “Shut up. Shut up. No, I don’t.” Conversations with yourself really doesn’t bode well, but at least I wasn’t talking out loud.

Then I started doing a re-org of my 2 Helmers (I am going to need a 3rd now, btw) and started a drawer for Nubar…What is this? Raspberry Truffle? It looks like…No, it can’t be. Ce n’est pas vrai! Non. Mais oui, mes amies. Mais oui.

I actually dare to call OPI’s Tease-y Does It a dupe for Nubar’s Raspberry Truffle.

Don’t weep if you can’t get Tease-y Does It. Nubar still has Raspberry Truffle on their site.

OPI’s formula was the winner of the two. While both were easy to apply with no problems, RT tended to take about five minutes longer to dry than TDI.

Check out the dupeness for yourself – RT is on the pointer and pinky while TDI is on the ring and middle fingers.

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Nars – Zulu

Monday, 11 October, 2010

I had been wanting Zulu for a long, long time. But not for $100+ price tag I had seen on eBay. I wasn’t willing to pay $39.99 for it when I last looked. Why do that when I could wait 2 months and get it for under $20?

It was worth the wait. I don’t know how the original Zulu compares to the re-release, but I do love this version.

Drying time was a little slow, but 2 coats and this baby was lovely and luscious – a deep green, but not like OPI’s Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. I felt like this was almost like a jelly, but the finish was so creme-y that I couldn’t make up my mind!

Absolutely fabulous and worth every penny. I ordered this online at www.nars.com along with 5 other colors from their retro collection. I can’t wait to show them to you. However, for now…here is Zulu!

 

 

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Orly – 'Tis the Season – Holiday 2010

Friday, 8 October, 2010

Orly’s Holiday collection is filled with some pretty fun colors. I love the application and the glitter. The red creme and the color Naughty Or Nice is just wonderful. What I’ve done is try to layer some of the glitters over the cremes. It’s an epic fail, but you’ll still see it. 😀

All the colors dried quickly and were opaque in 2 coats. The glitters were wonderfully dense and very fun to look at on their own.

This is an image heavy post – beware.

 

How awesome is this red? It is freaking gorgeous and I’m happy to include it in Red Nail Polish Friday. On the middle finger is one coat of Winter Wonderland and on the ring finger it’s 2 coats.

 

2 coats of Winter Wonderland on three fingers and 2 coats of WW over Naughty or Nice. I love how WW really does remind me of snow.

 

Normally I don’t like golds like this, but for some reason I found I liked this a lot. Naughty Or Nice is on three fingers while G&G is on my pointer finger. G&G is a dense, heavy glitter. Removal wasn’t so bad! One coat of G&G over NON to see how it would look. Meh.

 

I thought this color was so fabulous in the bottle. Then I put it on me. All the initial beauty of it was washed out by my skin and the sunlight. It’s much, much prettier in person and the shimmer/glitter is well done.

I’ve heard that MMUTM is a dupe for Zoya’s Ivanka. I don’t think so. Below are pictures of Ivanka. Ivanka is lighter while MMUTM is darker, more of a holiday green.

 

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Essie – In Stitches

Thursday, 7 October, 2010

This is part of Essie’s Fall 2010 Collection – and I love it. It is a dusky salmon pink. I thought it was super pretty…and then I wore it for a few days. Friends looked at it and agreed – very pretty. Too bad it made my hands look old. Grrr.

I rarely wear pinks and the few times I do I seem to choose those colors that make me look like…2,010 years old!

Great formula and opaque in 2 coats. Fast drying. No cuticle pull. Woo hoo!

 

 

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