Comparison-Zoya Myrta vs. China Glaze Riveting

This is a comparison I've wanted to do for a while, but I was unhappy with the original pictures I took and I do not own Zoya Myrta. I had to wait until I had a chance to borrow it to do the comparison.

Zoya Myrta on pointer and ring fingers, China Glaze Riveting on middle and pinky, sunlight

As you can see from the pictures, Zoya Myrta is lighter than China Glaze Riveting, and it has more pink in it, making it more of a coral orange. Riveting is more of a true orange with a glass-fleck finish while Myrta is a shimmer. The glass-flecks in Riveting are very gold, while the shimmer in Myrta is more on the silver side. Of the two, I definitely prefer the glass-flecked brilliance of Riveting, but they are different enough that a true orange lover would want both.

Zoya Myrta on pointer and ring fingers, China Glaze Riveting on middle and pinky , shade

Essie Bikini So Teeny comparison ombre

Essie Bikini So Teeny on middle finger, with China Glaze Sea Dust on pointer, Secret Periwinkle on ring and Essie Coat Azure on pinky

I enjoyed doing my previous comparison ombre so much that I decided to to another one for another new polish in my stash, Essie Bikini So Teeny. For this look I used the following polishes:

China Glaze Sea Spray-pointer
Essie Bikini So Teeny-middle
China Glaze Secret Periwinkle-ring
Essie Coat Azure-pinky

The two other colors I thought would be close to Bikini So Teeny were still pretty different. China Glaze Sea Spray is lighter and dustier, while China Glaze Secret Perwinkle is also dustier, but a darker shade of blue. I think Bikini So Teeny is the only one of the colors that is a bright, cornflower blue.

Orly Lucky Duck Marries a Millionaire

Orly Lucky Duck with China Glaze Marry a Millionaire accents

Since I pulled out my Orly Lucky Duck to do a comparison earlier, I figured it was time to post my pictures of the mani I did with it a while back. This was a look I sported as my nails were transitioning from long to short.  For this look, I did a used China Glaze Marry a Millionaire for the tips of my nails and for an accent nail. Because the glitter has some greenish bar glitter in the mix, I think it worked really well with the jade green of Lucky Duck.  Here's a swatch pic of Lucky Duck on its own:

Orly Lucky Duck, sunlight

To see a few more pictures, join me after the jump!

Today was a Fairy Tale in a Bikini So Teeny

Essie Bikini So Teeny topped with Deborah Lippmann Today was a Fairytale, sunlight

I was thrilled to find Essie Bikini So Teeny at one of my local nail supply places last week. I ended up having a few problems with application, but the gorgeous color is totally worth it.  The periwinkle blue is quite sheer, but it's not a jelly. When I tried doing a jelly sandwich with it and OPI Pirouette My Whistle, the glitter was just lumpy and not visible underneath a coat of Bikini So Teeny. The crelly took 3 coats to even out, but the color is so beautiful, its worth it. When it came time to do some layering, I added a coat of Deborah Lippmann Today Was a Fairytale.

Essie Bikini So Teeny topped with Deborah Lippmann Today was a Fairytale, sunlight

Comparison-Orly Glowstick and China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Orly Glowstick on the ring and pointer, China Glaze Yellow Polka  Dot Bikini on middle and pinky, sunlight 

My polish friend Esmeralda Pearlfinishish has very different tastes than I do. She loves reds and pinks, and those are the colors I am the least drawn to. She also loves neon colors, and a month ago I would have sworn those aren't my thing. Ah, how tastes change. I don't know if it's all the beautiful nail art or the sunshine or what, but I've been craving neons lately. So much so that when I realized that I did not have a neon yellow in my collection, I made it a point to head to my favorite dealer..uh, supplier to get China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.  Since Esmeralda has Orly Glowstick, I decided to take it and do a comparison with my China Glaze. I'm not much of a neon connaisseur, but it was hard to tell these two neons apart. To my eye, they are dupes and I would avoid one if you already have the other. Join me for some more pics, a few notes on application, and a just for fun image, after the jump!

Orly Glowstick on the ring and pointer, China Glaze Yellow Polka  Dot Bikini on middle and pinky, shade

Comparison-Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream vs. Urban Outfitters Sea Dust

Urban Outfitters Sea Dust on middle and pinky, Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream on pointer and ring 

Back in my weekly update, I let you guys know that Urban Outfitters had a polish out that looked a lot like Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream. I was as excited about this news as anyone, so when I saw an Urban Outfitters on Sunday, I had to stop in. I picked up Sea Dust and another polish for $8.50.  Now that I've had a chance to compare Seafoam to Mermaid's Dream for myself, I feel pretty confident in saying that we have a dupe on our hands, people!

Were there any application differences between the two polishes? How did I come to have both? For answers to these questions and a few more pictures, keep reading!

China Glaze Exotic Encounters comparison ombre

China Glaze Exotic Encounters on middle finger, with Essie Go Overboard on index, Orly Lucky Duck on ring, and OPI Mermaid's Tears on pinky

I've already posted about China Glaze Exotic Encounters and how much I love the color. However, like The Polishaholic, I felt like this color was a little familiar. There were a few colors in my collection that come to mind, so I went ahead and dug them out of my stash to do a comparison. I'm happy to say that Exotic Encounters is definitely unique among the colors I own.

It's different enough that once I got out the other two colors that came to mind, I realized that I should do a ombre manicure with them. I really like the result, and am kicking myself for not having done more ombre style manicures in the past. For my comparison ombre, I used the following colors:

Essie Go Overboard-pointer
China Glaze Exotic Encounters-middle
Orly Lucky Duck-ring
OPI Mermaid's Tears-pinky

To see another picture, plus to find out what other color is NOT a dupe for Exotic Encounters, join me after the jump.

China Glaze had Exotic Encounters Last Friday Night!

China Glaze Exotic Encounters, topped with OPI Last Friday Night and Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus

I'm not sure what's going on with my nail supply place. I stopped by Tuesday and they had the China Glaze On Safari collection but hadn't gotten the Summer Neon or Glitter Crackle collections yet. Maybe they just hadn't unpacked them yet? Anyway, I was immediately drawn to Exotic Encounters and the blue creme, Man Hunt. However, since the Polishaholic post about this collection mentioned that Man Hunt is similar to Ride the Waves in the Summer Neon collection, I'm going to wait until I can see the 2 colors together before I decide on which to purchase.

For this mani, I started with 2 coats of Exotic Encounters. Then I added 1 coat of OPI Last Friday Night to all but the ring finger. For the ring finger, I decided to do an accent nail with 1 coat of Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus instead. Overall, I'm really pleased with Exotic Encounters and with the outcome of my manicure. To hear my thoughts on Exotic Encounters, plus to see it with another color, keep reading!

Quick comparison-Zoya Carly vs. Zoya Jem

Zoya Jem on middle and pinkie fingers, Zoya Carly on ring, natural light

When I saw images of the Zoya Beach and Surf collection, I immediately disregarded Zoya Carly because it looked a lot like a Zoya that I already own, Zoya Jem. I am lucky to be a polish dealer...errr... liason to a friend, and I picked up her Beach and Surf colors at my local nail place. I asked her permission to use Carly and managed to catch these pics of the color in comparison to Jem.

Zoya Jem on middle and pinkie fingers, Zoya Carly on ring, sunlight

As you can see, Carly is lighter than Jem. Also, the shimmer in Carly leans silver, while the shimmer in Jem leans more orange and gold. I think you can justify owning both if you love purples. My problem is, I love purples so much that I'm not sure I should get Carly.  I already have more than 30 purples, surely I shouldn't get another...right? :/

6/10/12 Weekly Blog Roundup-Mermaid's Dream dupe, a new OPI effect polish, and more!

OPI Black Spotted, photo courtesy of the Naildrella blog

Hi, guys! It's been a while since I compiled one of my weekly blog roundups, but this week, there was too much interesting stuff for me not to share. I am totally shameless and will freely admit that I got all my news from the Makeup Alley nail board. It's just an awesome source of information and constant polish discussion!

-I will start with the OPI's new "effect" polish. This polish is causing a stir in the nail community, but unfortunately, it is a French Sephora exclusive right now. It's  a black topcoat you add on top of your existing polish, and the black polish separates itself so only spots of the underlying color are visible. The effect has been compared to an oilslick or bacteria under a microscope, but it's so hard to visiualize that I went ahead and asked Naildrella for permission to use one of her beautiful pictures. The Naildrella blog did a post which features a bunch of pictures of Black Spotted over a variety of colors. As of right now, there are no plans to bring it to the US. Apparently, someone contacted OPI about it and was told there are "patent issues" for the US market. So now is the time to find a French swap buddy if you are super interested!

-Over at the Embellished Nails blog, Emily posts about her latest polish purchase from Urban Outfitters, Sea Dust. If you're experiencing a sense of deja vu, you're not alone. Many of us nail philes think it looks like a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream. Since Lippmann polishes are so expensive, I'm sure many of us will be heading over to Urban Outfitters to check it out for ourselves!

-Curious to see what the OPI Germany collection is going to look like? Just head on over to Alzarine Claws blog,  where she's swatched the entire collection on a nail wheel in this post.  She also did a full manicure with her favorite of the collection, Germanicure. Looks intriguing.

-Check out these nail wheel swatches of the China Glaze On Safari collection. Edited to say: The Polishaholic now has the collection swatched in this post. Also, the Happyberrynaiad blog has quite a few of the colors in the collection swatched and has done individual posts about them. Just use the search function on her blog for "On Safari" and you will find a bunch of great posts about the collection.

Comparison-Wet n Wild On a Trip vs. Revlon Modern Grace

Wet n Wild On a Trip on pointer and ring fingers, Revlon Modern Grace on middle and pinkie fingers

I mentioned the similarities between these two polishes back when I did a post about Revlon Modern Grace. I did 2 coats of each polish for this comparison. Wet n Wild On a Trip is on the pointer and ring fingers and Revlon Modern Grace is on the middle and pinkie fingers.  The 2 purples are extremely close, but Modern Grace is slightly dustier and darker than On a Trip. Also, I mentioned in my other post, the formula for Modern Grace is quite a bit better than the one for On a Trip. You can see that On a Trip is still a bit spotty at 2 coats, while Modern Grace looks good at 2 coats.  However, On a Trip is widely available at most drugstores, but Modern Grace is going to be harder to find. It was a limited edition Revlon Top Speed for last summer, but it's still available at select discounters.

S-MASH-ing good news!

Hello, everyone! I can't help but be super stoked right now- I just learned that my MASH stamping plates have already been delivered! Now, since I can't head home to try them out at the moment, I'm doing the next best thing-blogging about it. :)

Mash plates 26-50, image from the official MASH website

My experience with MASH plates customer service has been stellar so far. I ordered the plates on Wednesday and expected them here on Saturday, at the earliest. I'm so thrilled that they're here early! The MASH team provided me with plenty of emails about the shipping/ordering process and gave me a tracking number for my order, which is how I know that they're waiting for me at home. Overall, my experience with MASH has been great so far. I'll have to let you know how I like the plates over next few days.

In other news, I wanted to explain my absence for the last week or so. I have a couple of really good excuses. Join me after the jump to learn what they are!

??? Days of Blurple-purple lilies

Hmm, I'm having a hard time knowing where to start on this one. I did this manicure quite a while ago, and I think the color scheme is all wrong. It was a pretty look, but nobody actually figured out what it was supposed to be. To learn what I was going for, and see the original manicure that inspired it, join me after the jump.