Doppelgängers - A New Series

When I asked last week some of you showed interest in more comparison posts, so I decided to create a new series of posts called Doppelgängers. For those of you who don't know, a Doppelgänger is described as "a paranormal double of a living person" or in this case polish :) Basically these will be comparison posts. Today I have Wet N' Wilds Behind Closed Doors and NYX Girls Dorothy. At first glance they both appear to have small and hex red glitter in a black jelly base.

In the bottle they look pretty similar, right? Take a look at a close up of the bottles below.

First up is Behind Closed Doors, notice the sparse magenta hex glitter. BCD also looks to have more glitter than Dorothy.

And here's Dorothy, the glitter looks so sparkly! So so far the only difference looks like the magenta glitter.

Here's the first coat, Dorothy on the left, BCD on the right.

2 coats. Interesting, Dorothy seems to have more glitter. It also seems to have a murky, muddy base where BCD has a more charcoal/black base.

3 coats looks to be opaque for Dorothy, but BCD needs 1 more.

I added another coat for Dorothy too.

Here's how the look in direct sunlight, no top coat. I would suggest a nice glossy one to even out the grittiness of the glitter.

So, what's the verdict? Although they have slight differences like glitter and base colour, in the end they pretty much look the same. If you have one, I wouldn't get the other. If I had to recommend one out of the 2, I would say get Dorothy. You need less coats for opacity, there is more glitter in each stroke and in the end it looks smoother than BCD. Wet N' Wilds brush was also too stiff for me, it is apart of the fast dry collection but I didn't notice it drying much quicker.

Which one do you prefer?

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

I have such a backlog of  photos/posts it's crazy! ave you ever gotten in to a funk where you're just lazy and don't really feel like doing anything and you just put everything off? That's been me for the last little while lol.

Anyway, this is Orly's Galaxy Girl from last years mineral FX line. It has a deep purple base with a light blue and magenta flash. It is a slight duochrome and is very pretty :)

I'm pretty sure this was 3 coats, it was a tad sheer but built up nicely. It wore well from what I could remember. I love the blue flecks, I don't think I've see anything like this before in a polish.

One last photo to show the flash and shimmer. Very cool, I love these mineral FX polishes, although I liked last years collection more than this years.

Glacier Bay Blues

I have a lovely blue duochrome to share with you today, I believe that it was from OPI's Canada collection. I'm not suer how old it was, but it was before my obsession started which means it's a black label (not big 3 free) and came with the old brush. I'm talking about the beautiful Glacier Bay Blues.

I actually swapped out the sold brush for a new pro wide brush lol, I had a couple that I requested from OPI. I would describe this shade as a navy blue base with a shimmer that changes between green/turquoise and purple. Although I provided a couple of photos in different lighting and angles, what the camera mostly picked up was the green. In real life I kept seeing more of the purple flash. I think I prefer the green.

3 coats were used and it wore very well, hardly any chipping, just some wear at the tips after about 4-5 days.

I purchased this on eBay recently since it is discontinued. I'm sure if you did some hunting around you could still find it, I found At Your Quebec and Call at a local beauty supply not too long ago and it was apart of the same collection. I kind of wish I had waited to find this in a salon, rather than eBay. I fell in love with it with the photos I found online, but in person it wasn't as exciting for me. Not to say that it isn't pretty, I was just expecting more.

Do you have a favourite discontinued OPI?

Colour Club Blue-Topia vs. NYX Ink Heart

Today I have a comparison between Color Club's Blue-Topia, which I wore in my last mani, and NYX Girls Ink Heart. They looked closer in colour indoors from the bottle, but outside you can see they look fairly different. I also chose to compare them because they are deep blue jellies.

Here they are both at 1 coat on a nail wheel, left to right is Color Club, Blue-Topia and NYX, Ink Heart. The Color Club applied a little streaky at first, but I would definitely say that you need 2 coats for both. That being said, the only time I wore either of these I only used 1 coat lol. It was thick though and I layered another polish on top.

After a second coat, boh look perfect! Blue-Topia is definitely darker, but both are supper glossy, you can see my camera lens in the reflection!

Here is how they both look in natural sunlight once fully dry. Both are gorgeous, and I'm glad I own both.

Spacey & Feedback - Please Read

Before I get in to the nail polish today, I'd like to get some feedback on the content I have been displaying on my blog. If seems for the last little while I have not been getting as many views or comments as I used to, I was just wondering if it was a content issue or something else. I am at the highest count right now for  followers, and I couldn't be more thankful, so it just seemed a bit weird to me.

I know personally that I feelas if I don't have as much time as I used to for viewing or commenting on blogs, so this may be the case for you as well. However, I am open to suggestions for ways to improve. It's kind of uninspiring to put some effort in to coming up with a full blog post when no one is really interested in it, and that is why I need your help! I have some comparison posts coming up soon, how interested are you in those types of posts? It would really mean a lot if you let me know what you would like to see more of on my blog :) Would you prefer less talking, more photos, or vice-versa?

Anyways, thanks for reading the top little bit if you did, on to the nail polish, today I have an awesome glitter to share with you, Kleancolors Chunky Black Holo. This polish consists of different size glitter ranging from small circular glitter to large hexagonal chunks.

Depending on your angling and lighting the glitter colour shifts from orange, red, yellow green and even a bit of blue! I took photos in many different light settings, the last one was taken with bathroom lighting!

I used a base colour of Color Clubs Blue-Topia from the latest fall, Boho collection. This was one thick coat, and although you can't tell in the photos, I could have gone with 2. The glitter camouflaged the streaks. This polish is a deep blue jelly and although I forgot to take photos before I applied the glitter, I will have a comparison between this and another deep blue jelly coming up soon.

I applied only 1 coat of the glitter, and it wasn't even that thick! Definitely a densely packed glitter!

I don't think my photos do it justice, it is so cool to look at in person, very space-like.

Treasure!

When the Pirates of the Caribbean collection was released and I saw the silver crackle over the dusty shades, in particular Mermaid's Tears, it instantly reminded me of sunken ship covered in algea.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Like in the movie Titanic, you know all the underwater scenes at the beginning of the movie?

What better polish to pwar the silver shatter with than a dupe from the Pirates collection?! I found the foily polish slightly different to work with compared to my China Glaze Crackles, but it applied well and cracked fairly quickly. I wish I got some smaller, skinnier crackling, lighter strokes next time I guess.

Overall I did like this look although I was just "meh" about it in the begining, it grew on me and wore very well.

Ahoy!

My very first Sinful Color! I don't  think I have ever worn one before. This beauty is from the Adventure Island collection, and ia called Open Seas. From the comparison photos I've seen, this is pretty much a dupe for OPI's Mermaid Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection released last spring. But I'm sure you already knew that ;)

I wanted the OPI, but a dupe for a fraction of the price? Yeah I would have much rather had the SC. Since this was my first time working with a SC polish, I wasn't sure what to expect. The formula was a little thick for me and the bristles on the brush weren't as soft as I hoped they would be. Overall application was alright, I only needed 2 coats.

The actual shade of this polish is a seafoam green with dusty undertones. I really love these dusty shades :)
I'd say the first photo is more colour accurate, this is under lamp light. The second photo was taken with my camera flash. I applied 2 coats followed by a top coat.

I really enjoyed wearing this shade and the dusty undertones really made it wearable for fall :) What do you think of Sinful Colors formula? Are all of their polishes like this?

Chritmas Collection Swatches + A Holiday Comparison

So you may have noticed that I got some nails wheels judging from my last post. I have been having fun swatching with them, but have also found then useful for comparing polishes I think are similar.

First I have some swatches of the actual polishes I purchased from the China Glaze Let It Snow, Holiday 2011 collection. Left to right

Glittering Garland - a gorgeous deep green, jelly-ish base with golden yellow glass flecks. I believe this  ws 2 coats, great formula.

Holly-day - a beautiful medium cream green. I feel like it leans a bit more yellow. This was a 1 coater! Great formula.

Twinkle Lights - small sized gold, green, red and I even spied some sparse holo glitter in a clear base. I don't remember how many coats this was! Not that it was a lot, but when applying glitter like this I tend to just blob it on and spread it out. I would not recommend this, you will get patches and unevenness. I do however remember that the first coat was surprisingly opaque for this type of polish. The glitter was very dense.

No topcoats were added to these swatches, look how glossy!

Glittering Garland reminded me of an awesome polish from Orly's Christmas collection last year, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, below is a bottle shot of them both together. They don't look like exact dopes in the bottle, but what about on the nail?

Although they have different colour bases, the glass flecks are fairly similar even though in the bottle the Orly looks a lot more impressive, duochrome and all! On the nail, although there is a duochrome effect, it is subtle. See the comments for each polish below the photo.

Orly - Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (right)
- green leaning blue base
- at least 3 coats for full opacity
- gold/green flecks that change slightly depending on your lighting source

China Glaze - Glittering Garland (left)
- Medium to deep green base
- 2 coats needed for full opacity
- golden/green flecks leaning towards yellow, no duochrome. These flecks actually remind me more of Zombie Zest than the Orly. Click on the photos for a close up to see for yourself.

What do you think of these comparison swatches posts? Any request for future posts?

Wet n' Wild winnings PLUS A Comparison

It seems I was a lucky duck this October, I won 2 great blog giveaways! Which is weird just thinking about it now... the only other one I won last year was also in October, I guess that month is good luck for me or something! I won the full set of Wet N' Wild's Halloween On The Prowl set from Jackie over at Candy Coated Tips. Woohoo!

From left to right: Ink Well, Jungle Fever, Buy Me A Drink, Ready to Pounce

From left to right: Correction Tape, Behind Closed Doors, Cougar Attack, Tangles in My Web

Now, I noticed that Cougar Attack looked similar to China Glazes Ick-A-Body from last years Halloween collection so I have a little comparison for you.

The first photo shows 1 coat of each, CG (Ick-A-Body) on the left and WnW (Cougar Attack) on the right. At one coat you can see that these are not exact dupes.

 At 2 coats I would say that the WnW is pretty much opaque and would probably stop there. The CG still has at least 1 more coat to go.

 At 3 coats of each they look similar but...

... I would not say they are dupes. Here's why:

- CG has a thinner base, it is a murky brown/green, where as WnW base is slightly more opaque and a dark grey/brown
- WnW has more of a faded/light orange glitter, where at CG has bright orange
- I also find that the WnW applies a lot smoother than CG.
- CG appears more gritty

So over all they are not dupes, but they both have the similar idea. Which one do you like best?

Getting Rid of Bubbles/Sheet Marks Without Ruining Your Mani

I'm sure many of you have noticed bubbling polish at least once. When I first started polishing my nails I noticed it was usually my Sally Hansen top coats that would cause them, so I stopped using them. So I guess my first tip would be:

If you are experience bubbling for the first time try to narrow down what caused it; was it a new brand of polish, base or top coat? Did you wash your hands before applying your polish etc. Once you narrow down what is causing the bubbles, you know now to prevent it in the future.

If you still cannot pin point what exactly it is  that causes bubbling, read on. I applied Revlon's Perplexed last week and loved it to death! These are the photos I took of it right after application of the polish and top coat.

Not too bubbly, right? Well, I did this before bed and when I woke up in the morning all of my finger nails had some degree of bubbling and slight sheet marks! I wish I had photos to show you, it was way worse than the ones above.

The first thing I did before going to work was take out my trusty nail polish thinner and a paint brush I picked up from the dollar store. I dipped the brush in to the thinner and applied it on to the nail like you would nail polish. Let it dry and I was off to work. It helped, but some of the bubbling was so bad you could still see it.

As soon as got home I repeated what I had don that morning and finished it off with a thin coat of top coat. Tada! Good as new without having to redo the whole thing!

So basically follow these tips to get rid of bubbling without having to start all over again. 

1. Once polish is completely dry, apply nail polish thinner to the nail with a brush. 

2. Once the polish thinner is completely dry, if no bubbles are present, apply top coat. If there are still bubbles repeat step 2 once the polish is completely dry from the first layer of thinner. 

3. Once you are happy with the smoothness of the polish apply a top coat and you're done.

Pretty easy right! And it works for sheet marks too. This is how my manicure looked afterwords:

This was also after several days of wear.

Some other things to consider to prevent bubbling in the future are:

- Always wash your hands before applying polish. Natural oils in our skin may prevent the polish from adhering properly to the nail resulting in bubbles or an uneven look.

- Make sure not to apply lotion before applying nail polish.

- Before polishing your nails, swab each nail individually with nail polish remover or pure acetone. You don't need a lot, just a light swipe on each nail.

- If you have only recently started to realize that a polish, including top or base coat is causing bubbles that didn't before, I would suggest thinning out the polish and applying thinner coats.

- If you're using a new polish, always start out with thinner coats and build up, thicker coats usually lead to unevenness and bubbles. I think this is my main issue, I can be so impatient sometimes!

I hope I helped! Let me know if you have any of your own tips :)

Hauling - LOTS of polish

Lots and lots of polish today!

First I will start off with a purchase I made on Amazon, I picked up a few of the new Holiday China Glazes and Nail Tek Foundation 2 ridge filling base coat. The China Glaze polishes I picked out, from left to right: Twinkle lights, Holly-Day and Glittering Garland.

I have a close up of glittering Garland for you, such a pretty shade. I have a comparison between this and a polish from Last years Holiday collection from Orly, Meet Me Under The Mistletoe coming up soon. As always with my purchases from Amazon, these were all free with my Swagbucks.

Next, some polishes from the U.S that I purchased at a Rite Aid and Wal Mart. Left to right, Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers, Creepy Pumpkin and Black Magic ( I'm pretty sure this is the good one lol), Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and Pure Ice Heart Breaker.

I absolutely love Nail Junkie, but I know it's nothing new. I have a close up of Black Magic because it looks so cool! There is some silver and orange microglitter in there! didn't see that in the bottles they sell at Shoppers, so I picked it up.

Next are the newest additions to my China Glaze OMG collection, L8R G8R and 2NITE. So excited to add these to my collection. I had originally just wanted these 2 and DV8 (DV8 the MOST!), so to own all 3 now is great, plus I got GR8. But I feel like I want more... it's really bad, but I love these holos so much!

Some closeups of the awesome holographic/prismatic effect. Oh yeah, got these on eBay unfortunately.

These next 3 were a surprise buy, saw them at Winners, picked them up because they were glow in the dark lol. But they actually give off a different colour of glow than the standard green! The Blue polish has a blue glow, the pink has an orang/yellow glow and, well the green is still green lol. The one thing I love about the pink and blue polishes is that they are pretty pigmented with colour, I think I could actually build them up to wear on their own with out a ton of coats. I wish the green were the same, but it's more of a topcoat with some glitter. These color Zone polishes have no names.

And last but not least, the randoms lol. I picked up Orly Fresh a couple of weeks ago reduced at Sally's for $1.99! The other 2 I got at a L'Oreal sale a while back now, nothing too special, I kind of regret picking up the Maybelline's Outloud Lime, I technically don't really need it.

Marine Blue by L'Oreal looked impressive in the bottle but I haven't tried it out yet.