Across the Universe on a budget (prepare for a jelly sandwich)

Jordana Cosmic sandwich on left, Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe on right

As soon as I saw pictures of Jordana Cosmic, from the glitter collection, it immediately reminded me of Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe. Swatches of Cosmic show that it's not quite the same, but all that can be remedied with the right jelly sandwich. Find out how you can use a blue jelly and glittery topcoat to get the look of Across the Universe, after the jump.

Jelly sandwich with Cosmic and Color Club Blue-topia on top,  2 coats of Lippmann Across the Universe over 2 coats of Essie Aruba Blue on bottom

Just yesterday, I purchased Jordana Cosmic, from the new glitter collection. As soon as I got home, one of the first things I did was do a comparison. I created a jelly sandwich with Cosmic on one nail of my nail wheel and did 3 coats of Across the Universe on the next one for comparison.(I recently acquired Across the Universe when it was on sale for $9.) For the sandwich, I started with a coat of Cosmic, then did a coat of Color Club Blue-topia, then added a final coat of Cosmic on one nail.  The end result is that my jelly sandwich is a darker than ATU, but has the same general feel. As you'll see in the pictures, the glitters in Cosmic are pretty much identical to those in ATU.

 Just for kicks, I decided to make another jelly sandwich with a lighter blue, China Glaze Dorothy Who. You can see below that changing the base jelly changes the look of the glitter sandwich result.

2 coats of Across the Universe over 2 coats Essie Aruba blue on left , jelly sandwich with China Glaze Dorothy Who and Jordana Cosmic on right

I think if you can find a lighter blue jelly to layer it with, you can get really close to ATU without having to spend $16. China Glaze and Color Club retails for about $5, while you can get the Jordana Cosmic for $3 or Milani Teal in the new Jewel FX for $5. (You can read more about Jordana vs. Milani in my yesterday's post.)

I apologize for the tape-y nature of my swatches. I like to conserve nail wheels by just putting clear tape on top and peeling it off when I'm done with the color. I originally didn't intend for this to be a post, but was going to send the pics to someone via email. After realizing that I don't have her email address, I decided to just use the pictures and post.  Hope this helps, even though the quality of the pictures isn't the best!