My (late) 2011 Top 10-Part 2

Here are the rest of my top 10 choices for the year. It's an ecclectic mix, and I'll explain it more after the jump.

You'll have to excuse the quality of the pictures, I'll be editing them a bit as I get all my pics together. Also, please note that most of these polishes are more opaque on the nail than they are on my clear nail wheel. 

Fell on my face, fell off the wagon

My no-buy lasted a total of 36 hours :( But it's due to circumstances out of my control. Yesterday I tripped and landed on my face pretty hard, and I needed something to make me feel better. I went into Ulta and found that they had Revlon's Whimsical and that they currently have a BOGO 1/2 off sale. I bought it, Starry Night, and an Ulta color that was on clearance for a dollar. (Also, the ULTA still had plenty of the Glitterati set, which I already own because it's got 3 Lippmann dupes.) My face looks like I went 12 rounds with Laila Ali, but now I have two more lemmings off my list!

NOTD-ULTA Fashionably Late

 

For this mani, I used 2 coats of ULTA's Fashionably Late. It's no coincidence that this post follows my comparison of the same polish with Wet n Wild's Diamond in the Rough. I was working on the comparison and removing polish from my swatch wheel yesterday when I accidentally removed Revlon's Carbonite, the polish I was wearing at the time. I didn't have Carbonite with me, so I covered up with 2 coats of Fashionably Late! Afterwards, I added a coat of OPI Serving Up Sparkle to add extra holo goodness to the look. 

Comparison-Ulta Fashionably Late vs. Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough

Ulta's Glitterati set has 3 great dupes of highly coveted Deborah Lippmann polishes and that makes it worth its $4.99 price. The one  color in the set that is less recognizable as a dupe is Fashionably Late, a blackened jelly base with charcoal and silver hex glitter. It may not be as well known, but I happen to think this is a dupe of a Lippmann as well. Dancing in the Dark was recently released as part of the Dance Music holiday trio, a set of minis. 

I don't own a the Lippman but I do own a very similar color, Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough. Join me after the jump for a coat by coat comparison of the two.

Comparison-Ulta Black Tie Affair vs. Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors

Ulta  Black Tie Affair on ring and pointer fingers, Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors on pinkie and middle, 3 coats

I mentioned that Ulta has a set of glitters that all seem to be Deborah Lippmann dupes and so of course I had to go to get them for myself.  I'm now going to show you a comparison of  on a coat by coat basis. Unfortunately, I got these polishes at night and the picture quality isn't great because of the lighting, but you'll get the idea. 

Ulta  Black Tie Affair on left, Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors on right, 1 coat

Ulta  Black Tie Affair on ring and pointer fingers, Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors on pinkie and middle, 2 coats

 

I applied the polish as I normally would, didn't try to manipulate the glitters in any way, though I sometimes went back in an effort to get each coat even. In person, I would say that BTA is a tiny bit darker than but is also a bit grittier than BCD. Also, I know from prior experience that BCD's hex glitters become silver as you remove them, and BTA's glitters stayed red. I even painted a bit on a piece of foil and brushed it with acetone to check!

Weekly(?) blog roundup

So I"m doing this post to share what I consider to be good information or nail art for the nail loving community. I may not have enough material to keep doing it weekly, but I certainly found lots of interesting stuff this week:

-Dupe Alert! Revlon has created a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air. Read a blog posting that compares the two here. http://hotpinkaurora.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-on-revlon-dupes-deborah-lippmann.html (For those few non-nail lovers reading this, Deborah Lippmann is a brand of polish whose polishes are often unique, but run $18-$20 per bottle [!]) Revlon's dupe is called called Whimsical and it is appearing with the new Revlon displays. It looks like this display also may contain dupes for the Chanel Jeans collection.  Read more about it in Nouveau Cheap, which does its own comparison in the post. http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2011/12/revlon-whimsical-deborah-lippmann.html

-Dupe Alert, part 2! Ulta is currently selling a 4 pack that contains dupes for the following popular Lippmann shades :Bad Romance, Ruby Red Slippers, Dancing in the Dark(part of the recent collection, which you can read about here: http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2011/11/deborah-lippmann-dance-music-holiday.html) AND....Across the Universe!!! That last one is the one I'm most excited about, this is my all time most coveted Lippmann and I have been searching for a good dupe of it for a while.Read about it and see the swatches here: http://adventuresinacetone.blogspot.com/2011/12/ulta-glitterati-minisaka-deborah.html

-Layering awesomeness alert: Watch two beautiful polishes transform into something even more gorgeous at Swatch and Learn: http://www.swatchandlearn.com/cult-nails-hypnotize-me-layered-over-cult-nails-iconic-swatches-review/  Like I mentioned in a prior post, seeing this post inspired me to layer more!

-A beautiful winter mani at LadyLuck Beauty Blog: http://ladyluckbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-nail-art.html  I think it's simple enough to do with just a toothpick, no special tools/polishes necessary. I plan to test this theory and imitate the design later in the season, though I'm going to do Christmas specific ones in the meantime.  

-Rebecca over at Rebecca Likes Nails shares some flakie awesomeness with us with her swatches of Nfu-Oh 50. Maybe this is only important to me because of my huge love of flakies?  Hmmm....http://rebeccalikesnails.blogspot.com/2011/12/nfu-oh-50.html

-Nouveau Cheap posted another update about the Spoiled collection from Wet n Wild. http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2011/12/quick-update-on-new-wet-n-wild-spoiled.html  The good news is, it will be permanent. The bad news: I've been to 4 different CVS and have yet to find them! Maybe it's being rolled out slowly and California is last on the list?

-I've been to a few Big Lots! recently for non-polish reasons and checked out the beauty section. At the two I visited, there were still some Revlon Carbonite polishes to be had for $1.50. (Carbonite is a very near dupe of a Chanel shade called Graphite) Some were in the generic bucket of beauty products on the bottom shelf, and in both stores, there were only 5 or so left. Visit your local Big Lots quick if you want to pick up this beauty on the cheap! 

-Finally, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is happy to hear that Michelle from All Lacquered Up posted an explanation of her absence. http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2011/12/dawn-day.html I'm sad to hear about her recent problems, since I've also battled depression in the past and can relate. Luckily, things are looking up and she says she'll be back to posting regularly. Even if she never posted again, her blog is invaluable resource.  I wish her the best, in blogging but more importantly, in life!