NOTD: Formula X for Sephora Love Chemistry

Last week was a bit hectic, with the holiday & then a condensed work week, but while I took a few days off I'm not disappearing again!

This is another from my Formula X for Sephora train case that they sent me, and I think it is one of the shiniest things I have ever had on my nails!  The coppery pink & gold combination is one that I wasn't sure about until I had it on my nails, then I was in love:

And if Formula X is a little bit out of your price range, worry not - Maybelline Color Show has a really good dupe called Gilded Rose =)  I just gave that to a friend as a birthday gift, because it's such a great color regardless of which brand you go with.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: OPI It's My Year

OPI It's My Year, from the Miss Universe collection, is a gorgeous pinky-mauve with a heavy gold shimmer, that somehow ends up being a little bit coppery-bronzey in some lights:

But wait ... that description sounds so familiar ... all day on my nails I kept thinking ... deja vu ... I've worn this color before - I had to go back & search my blog to find the exact color, I remembered it was a Zoya & finally found that it was Zoya Faye (original post HERE).

Yes, the 2 are definitely close enough to be kissing cousins.  Not dupes but very very close =)  And then!  When I changed my mani I had the same thing happen again LOL, deja vu all day & had to come home & search ... stay tuned tomorrow to see my 2nd in a row nearly duplicate mani =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Revlon Perplex + m72

So, I mentioned when I posted my haul that this is supposed to be a dupe to Chanel Pardoxal, but that I didn't have it to compare.  I guess I don't really care if it's a dupe, because it's gorgeous either way!  I was lucky enough to get some sun today, but seriously it was so cold outside, I was shivering so hard I had trouble holding the camera steady LOL!  I don't think even in full focus they would have done this color justice though, none of these pics come close - I just love it.  Revlon Perplex, stamping done with Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme & Konad image plate m72:

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

Avon Haul

So, the wife of a guy at work recently started selling Avon ... and so there were catalogues all over, with nail polish on sale in them =)  Here's what I got:

 

 

Top left to right:  Fusion, Luxe Lavender, Lagoon, Olive Green.  Bottom left to right:  Mink, Urban Grey, Vintage Blue, Jade.

 

I'd say Lagoon was the surprise of the lot, the color drop gave no hint that there's like this periwinkle shimmer overlaying everything.  It's very pretty & very hard to photograph in these kind of boring square bottles - seems like round bottles show more color in pics.

 

Anyway, I'm sure many of you have heard that one of these is a dupe to a very expensive polish ... here is Olive Green next to Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit:

 

 

They don't look it in the bottle, probably in part because ONS needs a little more shaking than I gave it, but swatched they are damn close.  OG is a teensy tad itty bit darker with a measly trickle more blue.  No one but another nail blogger would ever notice LOL, and only at extremely close range.

 

Still have the Nubar haul to come =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

China Glaze Ruby Pumps vs. Maybelline Red Comet

EDIT: Thanks to wixbetty for catching me calling Ruby Pumps by the wrong name (Ruby Slippers). I've fixed it throughout the post.

So, another comparison - and BETTER this time, I have 2 nails of each color lol. Looking for reds to borrow my friend for Valentine's Day, I came across the Maybelline & thought I'd do some swatching when I started to take off my CG. In the bottle, these 2 are pretty close:


And on the nail (apologies for the lazy cleanup). Red Comet is on my index & ring finger Ruby Pumps on ring & pinkie:

Looks like a pretty good dupe to me! Although I think Ruby Pumps has just a tad more glitter & there are some slight differences in the formula. Ruby Pumps was only I think 3 coats, where the Red Comet took 5 coats to look this good. Also, Red Comet was a little smoother, it only took 1 layer of top coat where Ruby Pumps needed 2 to be smooth & not gritty.

I'll be taking this off & doing a "real" mani this evening, but probably won't post up pics of the new NOTD until tomorrow. So, until then, thanks for reading!

~Colette

A Pretty Good Dupe & NOTD

Well, I'm able to post this morning because I'm off of work (Yay for no work! Boo for mandatory non-paid time off!). I'll be headed shortly to my grandparent's house to have lunch & hang out for the day, but I've got what I consider some pretty good stuff to post up first.

To start, I didn't think I'd ever post stuff like this, but I find the impulse is irresistable. Oddly enough, I picked both of these up Wednesday, and it didn't really occur to me at the time how similar they were, I just knew that I really really liked dark purple-blue with fuscia shimmery bits. When I was entering them into my database (which is named Polish OCD because it really is a little obsessive - and I'm OK with that) I realized I was describing them with the same terms, and, well, take a look for yourself.

On the middle finger (left) we have OPI Russian Navy vs. Sally Hansen Spark on the ring finger (right). I was too lazy to swatch a whole hand (maybe I can work my way up to that) but you get the idea. Too bad it's nighttime in addition to winter because I would really like to take some pics in the sun. Also (obviously) did minimal clean-up.

It's hard to see on both of them, but please trust me they have some awesome pink/fuscia spark in there. The Russian Navy is a tad bit darker, but if I wasn't staring looking for the difference I don't think I would spot it. Also a little more glitter under some light. Although I don't normally say much about formula, in this head-to-head comparison I have to say I preferred SH. Although both are 3 coats in the pic, Spark was wearable at 2 coats, where the Russian Navy needed 3.

So I did that quick, and then I did my red manicure for National Wear Red Day. For some reason I don't own any red clothing currently, so this will be it for me today.

I'm not usually big on super-glittery polish, but sitting in my unworns was what seems to have been everyone's favorite red glitter from the holidays, China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Of course if you have this you know the pics do not do the glittery-goodness justice. And man, does the red show I am NOT as good at cleaning up as I thought.

This is my first manicure completely unadorned by nail art in I'm gonna say probably 6 months, and it's kind of nice for a change. With the schedule I have for the next few days, I think I'll wear this probably thorugh Sunday & be happy doing so.

Two last tidbits:

#1: After I finished adding Wednesday's haul to the Polish OCD spreadsheet, the new grand total on my stash is: 402. Yeah. & on my shopping list in my head is about 50 others that I want to order online & probably will in the near future. I mean, I NEED the OMG collection, just to start the list. It works with Konad for goodness sake! Oh yeah, and I have 12 Misas in the mail as I type. But after that, I'm going to make an effort to go on a No-Buy for ... a little while. I don't want to make any promises I'm going to break lol.

#2: I saw on the Today show today is also World Nude Day. I certainly don't feel as compelled to participate in that lol, but I didn't realize there was an official day for being naked .

Thanks for reading.

~Colette