Orly Fantasea + Barry M Vivid Purple = Multidimensional Awesomeness!

There's something about the colour purple that I love so much, and I can't quite explain why. It could be that purple is a colour with enough oomph to not be boring, and yet still remains a colour that's pretty work-appropriate, or it could be that purple was the first colour of nail polish I tried, and fell in love with. Whatever the matter, I love purples, and I'm constantly trying to create more pretty purples to wear on my nails.

In one of my experiments, I tried creating a multidimensional purple on my nail, and I layered Orly Fantasea over Barry M Vivid Purple. Now both are gorgeous purples in their own right, and a quick google will turn up plenty of pretty NOTDs featuring one or the other worn alone, but I just had to try them together.

Here is the result:



Orly Fantasea, one of those hard-to-find but oh-so-gorgeous polishes, is a very pretty colour, consisting of multidimensional shimmer in a sheer purple base. It's the shimmer in Fantasea that's showing up on the nail and giving the entire layering experiment it's complexity. However, Orly Fantasea is quite sheer when worn alone on the nail, which is why I chose to layer it. I didn't want to waste my precious bottle of Fantasea trying to build up the colour by using 4 coats!

Barry M Vivid Purple, the base colour, is a purple with gold shimmer that's opaque in 1-2 coats, and one of the standouts in the entire Barry M nail polish lineup (in my opinion anyway). The gold shimmer doesn't really show through after the layering, but I'm sure it's in there contributing in some subtle way.



I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the effect. The resulting purple is a gorgous deep purple with a certain multidimensional shimmer quality that I love. I can't quite describe it, but it seems to me to look like little flecks of shimmer just capture the light and wink at you. I can make out pink and blue, but I'm sure there are more colours in there I can't describe. It's not a duochrome, but it sure is pretty.

Application for both Barry M Vivid Purple and Orly Fantasea was smooth, and the entire combination lasted for about 4 days before chipping, which was average for me. I definitely love this colour, and I'm sure I'll wear it again soon!

Chic and Classy NOTD: Ciate Sharp Tailoring

Ciate is one of those brands that are underrated and little-known about, but their quality actually pretty good. Some colours are a mixed bag, but some are excellent.

Sharp Tailoring is classified as a "greige", and is one of the colours that has been all the rage lately, although it isn't brown like other greiges. Instead, it's a cross between a grey and a beige, with gold shimmer for good effect. And the result is pretty awesome - chic, understated, modern and classic all at the same time. It's a take on the "it" colour, with a slight twist.



The gold shimmer is relatively fine, and not always discernable once on the nail. But it is there, and can definitely be seen under some lights. Application on this was pretty good. The polish was thin, and of a very fluid consistency, and the first coat applied sheerly, but two coats rendered it nicely opaque. Sharp Tailoring has decent lasting power. It stayed on about 3-4 days before chipping, which is about average for me.



I've been told that Ciate nail polishes are actually produced by the same factory that also produces Chanel nail polishes, although that's just pure hearsay, and I can't confirm if any of it is true - it's just one of the things fellow nail polish enthusiasts have told me, although noone knows for certain. But it's an interesting nugget for sure.

Nevertheless, one of the draws of Ciate's polishes is definitely that cute little bottle. It isn't your usual round bottle - this one comes with a little ribbon on!



If you like pretty bottles, and pretty polish of good quality, Sharp Tailoring is definitely one to check out. Sharp Tailoring is one of my favourites right now, because it's one of those colours that's entirely work-appropriate while still being a little on-trend and edgy.

Orly Galaxy Girl Dupe: Maybelline Vanishing Venus 350

Orly's Cosmic FX Collection has made waves with its unusual duochrome colours, and one of the colours in the range was Galaxy Girl. It's a deep vampy burgundy red with hints of green shimmer. Unfortunately for Orly, who had hyped up its collection to be unique (and jacked up the price to $10 per bottle along the way), bloggers have been finding dupes for most of the colours in the range for cheaper.

Now the presence of dupes doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the colour, and truth be told, Orly's collection DOES have really killer colours, but for those of us who can't spend US$10 on a polish, having the option of cheaper alternatives is always a draw. Maybelline's Vanishing Venus happens to be a cheap - and pretty good - dupe. Unfortunately, it's also been discontinued for awhile, so if you want it, you'll have to do some hunting around for this somewhat ancient polish.

Here's Vanishing Venus. Isn't it awesome? I know the texture on my middle finger is a bit weird, but that's because there's a teabag wrap on that nail. That, AND I dinged my middle by mistake while the polish was still wet, and I have neither the patience to re-do the nail, nor the image editing skills to edit it out. Oops.



I think it is quite a close dupe for Galaxy Girl, even if it's not 100% identical. It's also a shimmery vampy burgundy red, and it kind of looks like dried blood. (Hehe.) And it also has that awesome green flash, and the same kind of fine shimmer. I love it. It's a gorgeous colour. And that green flash. It sort of reminds me of RBL's Scrangie, only that this one is a blue-green flash in a burgundy red base, instead of a green-blue flash in a blurple (blue-purple) base. Few nail polish colours have this type of shimmer nowadays, so it's pretty cool for Orly and Maybelline to have something like that.

Here's a closer shot of my nails (and of said teabag wrap):



Application for this one was pretty darn good. Maybe it's one of those ancient non-B3F polishes (Big 3 Free meaning free of toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP aka dibutyl phthalate), because it has this really thin yet smooth application that is reminescent of those non-B3F polishes. Which is a good thing - it means it doesn't apply thick and goopy, yet isn't streaky because it's too thin. It applies in nice even but thin layers, and is easily built up for opacity. Of course, I've no way of knowing if this really is B3F or not, but it sure applies like one, and it's probably old enough to be one as well, which might be an issue for some users who may want to avoid non B3F polishes.

Anyway, this colour is gorgeous. If you don't mind potentially running the risk of using a non-B3F polish, I'd recommend this. If you do mind the fact that it might possibly contain one or more of the "Big 3", then the Orly option might be a safer (if more expensive) bet.

NOTD: Nubar Twilight Kiss and Revlon Grapefruit Glimmer

Nubar Twilight Kiss is one of those "in-between-the-season" colours - it's not too dark or dusky for summer, and it's not too light for cooler weather. And when overlayed with a sheer shimmer, I think it looks pretty good. So that's today's NOTD is! The layering polish is a really old (and probably discontinued) Revlon goodie, the Grapefruit Glimmer from their ancient Glimmer Gloss range.



Nubar Twilight Kiss is a dusky light purple, and I think it's actually a pretty colour, and quite wearable to work. I kind of think it's one of those colours you can sneak into the office. Revlon Glimmer Gloss in Grapefruit Glimmer is definitely an office colour - it's a sheer pink with very fine, faint shimmer. Honestly, it's so sheer it probably won't look like much by itself. But I think Grapefruit Glimmer has a lot of potential over darker colours.

Here, I'm trying it out over a light colour, and I think it looks quite good. Just imagine the possibilities this one has with dark colours! In fact, I think that if you layer it over a dark grey-purple, you'd get a shimmer similar to Chanel Paradoxal. I mean, it does have that similar faint sort-of-pink shimmer, no? Not identical, but close enough, perhaps?



Application was pretty good for both - but then again I'm partial to Nubars and Revlons, they are some of my favourite brands. The brush size, shape, texture of the polish just works for me. Lasting power is average, these lasted for about 3-4 days before chipping, which is normal for me.



I like Twilight Kiss well enough, but I personally think Nubar has more exciting colours (like their awesome duochrome shades). Twilight Kiss by comparison is one of their more subdued shades, although it's still pretty. And Glimmer Gloss is a great work shade for someone looking for a slightly more interesting pink sheer. Not a bad combination altogether.

Wet n' Wild Blue Moon and Nailene Nail Art: Cheap and Awesome

Reading through my older blog entries, I realized I really love to use the term "like stars in a night sky" to describe makeup or nail polish - like you know, when describing a black eyeshadow with silver glitter, or a nail polish that's a blue jelly with glitter...I don't know why, but I guess it's just one of my pet phrases!

So in light of that, don't be surprised if I say this NOTD was inspired by stars in a night sky, LOL! But hey, it's a base of blue shimmer, and some really pretty star nail stickers with small gemstones! The base is Wet n' Wild Blue Moon, while the awesome nail stickers are from Nailene,(which, by the way, have a pretty awesome selection of nail stickers for cheap, and they're readily available at drugstores. I also really like their nail glue, and I use it whenever I have to fix a broken nail.)



Anyway, I had no trouble at all with the Nailene nail stickers. These were easy to remove from the backing, were sturdy enough not to tear when subject to twisting from my tweezers, and stayed on until I removed them. A lot of people have issues with nail stickers, because they are worried that the nail stickers will fall off, but as long as you topcoat over your nail stickers, they'll be A-Okay.

The Wet n' Wild polish, on the other hand, kind of disappointed me. I loved the application, and the colour - oh how I loved the colour! - because it was a kickass deep navy blue with a unique green shimmer. But as is typical for WnWs, the wear really got to me, and it chipped the very next day. I was absolutely heartbroken!

If anyone wants to suggest a dupe of Blue Moon that won't chip as easily, I'm all ears!

(Nailene stickers were provided to me for review. I am not affilated/compensated by the company. This review is my full and honest opinion.)

YSL Belle de Nuit Manicure Duo: Duping the Look for Less!

YSL came out with nail polishes sets that they call "Manicure Couture Duos", and for US$30 (or more if you're outside the US) you can get two polishes that are supposed to go with each other to produce a chic take on the traditional french manicure. In particular,one of the set of shades, Belle de Nuit, is rip-roaringly popular for Fall/Winter 2010. It consists of a deep purple and a shimmery gold.

Image from YSL Website

So I saw that, and immediately my first thought was - I GOTTA HAVE THAT! Then, when some semblance of sanity returned, I realized that I already have a gazillion purples, and a billion gold foils. In fact, the YSL colours aren't particularly unique. Every brand has a deep purple creme, and most brands have a gold foil. Then the realization sank in - I (as well as billions of polish addicts out there) could probably already dupe the look with the colours in my stash, for much, much cheaper!

So I set out to dupe Belle de Nuit. I took a look at the swatches on this blog, and decided that a creme base (like YSL had done) was honestly a little boring. I wanted something with a hidden shimmer to make it more interesting. But if you want to dupe the creme finish as well, then dark purple cremes are plentiful - my personal favourite is Nails Inc Dover Street Market.

Here is my dupe. I didn't use french manicure strips to create the lines, so you'll have to bear with my messy freehand tips. Also, my third fingernail looks like it's a lot thicker than the others, but that's just because I (still) have a nail wrap over it from way back when, LOL. My nails grow SLOOOOWLY.



I ended up using KOH's Purple Rain, and Collection 2000 Aztec Gold. I really should have bought those french manicure strips, because my freehand french manicure sucks.

KOH Purple Rain is a beautiful deep purple that has a hidden shimmer that is apparent when the light hits it, or if it is indoors. It's beautiful. Collection 2000 Aztec Gold is a metallic gold which is absolutely gorgeous - it's not a brassy or orange gold, but more of an antique gold. I really love this colour.

Here's a shot of my nails indoors. You can see the hidden shimmer where the light hits the nails. Beautiful.



KOH isn't a brand available in the UK (not that I know of, at least), and I think it's a Netherlands-based company. They do have some interesting polishes, but unfortunately I don't know much about them, other than that they have gorgeous bottles and packaging - each nail polish comes in it's own little case with a mirror!

Collection 2000 is a UK-based drugstore brand that is very cheap and readily available in any Superdrug. Aztec Gold was a cheap pick-me-up I bought from Superdrug. These polishes performed better than I expected - they were well pigmented and application was good, but they were very chippy on me. I think these are good for konading and layering.



What do you think? Has anyone else tried duping Belle de Nuit yet? Or is it so easily dupable that no one has even bothered?

Rimmel Blue Me Away and Nails Inc Trafalgar Square NOTD

Sometimes, you just want to wear something weird. And clashing. And really ugly. And sometimes, it ends up sort of growing on you.

Like this NOTD, from a few weeks back. It all started when I decided I suddenly wanted to wear blue nail polish. If you know me, you'll know I'm not THAT big a fan of blues, for some reason. I don't even know why, especially given that I LOVE purples, and purples are essentially half blue? But that day I decided I wanted to wear blue. So I dug out Rimmel's Blue Me Away. It's a beautiful blue with fine red-orange shimmer. It's pretty cool, actually - it's rare to see a blue with shimmer of a contrasting colour, since most blues I've seen have silver shimmer.

So I put it on. While I like Rimmel's Lycra Pro Finish range, and their Lasting Finish Pro Enamel range, Blue Me Away was from the 60 Seconds Nail Polish range, and applies less well. I also don't like the brush as much - while the other two ranges have brushes with a curved end (which I particularly like), the brush on this one is cut across horizontally, and it is a little stubby. But it's nothing that can't be dealt with.

After putting it on, I decided that it wasn't weird enough. So I decided to put glitter on top of it. And I thought, why not put a red glitter on top, since there's already red shimmer in the polish?

So I dug out Nails Inc Trafalgar Square (which does seem quite a lot like China Glaze Ruby Pumps, another cult colour), and applied it on top. And as usual, this applied like nearly all the other Nails Inc colours I've tried before - without a single flaw.



There. Are your eyes begging you to spare them the sight of my nails yet? I don't know why I like it, but I do. But I'm pleased to tell you that this lasted for a good 4 days before the first chip came on :P

Nails Inc Belgravia: NOTD

I know brown isn't the conventionl choice of nail colour, and if it's badly done it can look like poop, but colours like Nails Inc Belgravia and Essie Mink Muffs really appeal to me for some reason. Maybe it's because they're incredibly chic, yet understated enough for work in some areas, and they aren't your "usual" colours. But whatever the reason is, I like brown. Not all browns, some browns. It's hard to describe. Some browns are just "off", but some are chic.

Nails Inc Belgravia is one of the "chic" ones, that doesn't look like you stuck your fingers into a soiled baby's diaper. It's a brown that looks slightly grey in some lights, although it's always definitely brown. It also has a subtle shimmer that I quite like - I feel like it's the shimmer that gives it a dimension that keeps it from looking like poop. And as proof that it's a "chic" brown and not a poopy brown, I actually got a compliment wearing this! And as you can tell from the crappy paint work, this is also an older NOTD.



Application was smooth as butter, as is usual for Nails Inc. It was also very nicely opaque in 2 coats. I know I've raved so much about Nails Inc in my previous posts that you're just expecting me to do the same for this one, and rave about how the application is the best, the formula is the best, and the wear time is the best...And you're almost right. Almost. Application was the best, formula was good, but wear time was disappointing. I've no idea why though, because all my previous Nails Inc polishes lasted an average of 3-4 days on me, which is usual. But this one chipped in 1-2 days. I've no idea if this was because I was particularly rough with my nails or not, but I was surprised that it chipped so easily. Otherwise, I would be raving. Still, great colour. Pity about the lasting power, though.

Essie Aruba Blue NOTD

An unfortunate accident has befallen my fingernails, so while I grow out the damage, I probably won't be taking NOTD pictures for a little while. Fortunately, I do have a backlog of NOTDs. Not a lot, and they're not very good, because they're from the days before I learnt about shaping my nails and cuticle cream, but they'll be sufficient to tide us over til my broken fingernails grow out again.

Anyway, today's featured NOTD is Essie Aruba Blue. Ahh, how I love this one. I know it's nowhere near summer yet - not here at least - but this is the perfect encapsulation of summer in a nail polish. It's a perfect blue, and I don't even normally wear blues! It recalls beaches, pools, and tans (not that I'm a fan of tanning, fake or real, due to the skin damage it causes). Just wearing Aruba Blue kind of makes me feel like the weather is warmer already!



The thing I really like Aruba Blue is that it's a good cross between a darker navy blue, and a brighter jewelled blue. I think it's a happy medium. And of course, how can you not love that glowy, reflective shimmer?

Application on this one was also good - it was pigmented and covered in one coat, although I did two out of habit. Wear time was also good, about 3-4 days before chipping. I usually don't like Essies because they're synonymous with boring pinks, sheers, and blahs, but when Essie decides to get a bit more creative, she does produce some really nice stuff. Come on Essie, we know you have it in you to give us something more than yet another ripoff of Ballet Slippers and all its sisters, brothers, cousins, half-cousins, and uninvited uncles, aunts, and in-laws. Will you now expand the family of Aruba Blue, please?

China Glaze Lubu Heels and Color Club Perfect Plum NOTD

Today's NOTD is the cult favourite, China Glaze Lubu Heels, together with Color Club's Perfect Plum. Lubu Heels, named after the shoes, are a hot favourite, due to its unique combination of a black jelly base and red glitter. Perfect Plum isn't so much plum as it is red, which is why I used it as an accent colour on the ring finger. And as you can tell by the terrible cuticles, this is also an old NOTD. Trust me, you and I both wish I could photoshop the cuticles out, but my skills really don't reach those heights of digital manipulation.

Here's a shot of it in natural light, two coats of Lubu Heels on all the fingers, except the ring finger, and two coats of Color Club Perfect Plum on the ring finger:



While you can tell Lubu Heels isn't just black-black because the red glitter is still somewhat visible through the black jelly, but I still kind of wish the black jelly was a little bit less opaque, so that we could see more of the red glitter. Perfect Plum, meanwhile, isn't so much plum as it is a beautiful jewel-toned red with shimmer.

Here's a shot of it indoors:



I think that Lubu Heels is one of those colours that looks better indoors than outdoors, because the red glitter really shows through much more indoors - here you can see how beautiful it really is. You can also see the shimmer and glow of Perfect Plum in here.

Application was good for both Lubu Heels and Perfect Plum, and wear time was also decent - about 3-4 days, which is average for me. I didn't have any quality issues with either polishes in either way.

Zoya Yasmeen NOTD: Fulfilling My Nars Purple Rain Lemming

With all the hype going on about NARS' Purple Rain, you'd think that in addition to making your nails look great, it would also do your dishes, vacuum the floor, do your laundry, and buy you flowers and chocolates on Valentine's Day. But nah, it does none of these things - other than making your nails look fabulous, that is. And so, it's not worth all the hype, and the money. At least, that's what I tell myself over and over. It's not that great. You don't need it. It's expensive. And goodness knows I have a gazillion purple nail polishes in my stash. (I happen to have a thing for purples. And taupes.)

So, I told myself, there must be a substitute for NARS Purple Rain. Not a dupe, definitely, but maybe something in the same glowy-purple-with-shimmer category. And since I have a gazillion purples, I probably already have it in my stash. Thus, I dug around in my stash, and found this beauty called Zoya Yasmeen. It's currently my NOTD, and although it's not at all a dupe of Purple Rain, it's utter gorgeousness is making me forget about NARS.

I'm sorry if application was a bit sloppy on this one, I did my nails at 3am in the morning (there's a reason for that, and if you were following me on Twitter, you'd know why. LOL. But if you're curious, you can read the relevant tweets in order: here and here, followed by here and here, then here and here, and finally here and here. As you can tell, I reeeaaaalllly haaaate having my sleep interrupted. All my classes are early in the mornings this term, and as a result I don't get much sleep on weekdays. So catching up on sleep during the weekends is really important to me.)

Here it is in natural light. Please forgive the watermarking, there are reasons for it. The first reason is that lately, commercial sites have been stealing nail bloggers' pictures (and for some reason nail pictures get stolen a lot more than makeup pictures), and they even crop out watermarks, so if you want to prevent photo theft you really have to watermark the entire picture, like I'm attempting to do. The second reason is that my friend has installed GIMP in my computer, and I'm having a lot of fun attempting to use it to watermark my pictures. LOL. I've no idea how to edit colours etc though, so it's primarily a watermarking tool for me, since previously I was using Paint to watermark my pictures.



I love how Yasmeen has this glowy look about it that makes the colour look half-alive. It's darkened at the edges, but it's still visibly purple in all lights, and it has the most lovely gold (or is it gold? I can't quite tell...It might be multi-coloured) shimmer. I really love this one, it looks pretty both indoors and out, unlike some polishes which look nice outdoors but flat in indoor lighting and vice versa.

Here is a not-too-great photo of Zoya Yasmeen indoors. You can really see the gold (or whatever colour it is) shimmer here:



As you can see, the shimmer is really a lot more obvious indoors. It doesn't really look like shimmer though, instead the effect is more of a glow, which I really like. Yasmeen also applied beautifully, like most Zoyas do, and very little cleanup was required. However, despite the depth of colour, it was only semi-opaque in one coa, so two coats is still necessary for full opacity. Wear time is pretty decent, too. There's nothing I don't like about Yasmeen.

So Zoya Yasmeen isn't anywhere close to Nars Purple Rain. But it's pretty in it's own right, and it has this lovely glowy shimmer that the NARS doesn't, so I'm pretty happy. To paraphrase the proverb, a nail polish in the stash is worth two in the store. LOL.

Ciate Sharp Tailoring and Velvet Tuxedo Lace Manicure Fail

So now that Winter's almost over, I'm finally wearing my Winter collection nail polishes. Go figure. Anyway, good polish is timeless! The perfect edgy neutral is always timeless and oh-so-chic all year round! And the two Ciate colours I happened to buy when they were on sale at ASOS are pretty neutral and chic. I bought Sharp Tailoring and Velvet Tuxedo.

First of all, bottle pics of both of them! I'm really digging these two.

Sharp Tailoring is a very edgy neutral greige (you know, a cross between a grey and a beige), and is one of those colours that I LOVE to death. This one isn't like the rest of them - it doesn't have any pink in it (unlike the other greige-y colours), and that's what makes it stand out. It also has gold shimmer that really amps up the colour.



Velvet Tuxedo is a blackened-grey, or is it a black? that has beautiful multidimensional shimmer:



I love those two colours, and I decided to do a KOTD with them, in attempt to replicate the "Lace Manicure" look that's been so popular lately. The KOTD itself turned out to be a massive fail due to my inability to stamp and align properly, but here you go anyway. I believe the plate is M57.

As you can see, in natural sunlight, Sharp Tailoring is a lot more grey, and a lot less beige.



In indoor lighting, you can really see it's beige-y-ness, and it's gold shimmer (which my @#$@% camera can't seem to capture. I think my camera has issues with shimmer). I do think it stands out best indoors, as opposed to outdoors:



Application-wise, both of them were a little mixed. Velvet Tuxedo gave me no problem whatsoever - it was opaque in one coat, and good enough to konad with. Sharp tailoring was a little sheer and streaky, but two coats took care of everything, so it's not a big deal. However, I do wonder if it was the polish or my lack of skillz that made this a little tricky to work with. But anyway, I've yet to see a dupe of this pretty little colour, so if anyone knows of a dupe with less application issues, let me know!

Asos Paints by Ciate: Agyness, Flakiefied and Mattified

I know I should stop posting NOTDs when my skills are le suckage, but sometimes, I just can't help it. Especially when a pretty purple comes along! We all know what a sucker I am for pretty purples, so Agyness, part of the Asos Paints by Ciate Winter Collection for 09, comes along.

Here we have Agyness in natural light. She's a really pretty deep violet purple colour, a little blackened, with that lit-from-within glow.



Pretty, isn't she? She's equally good in indoors lighting, and it really brings out her shimmer.



I couldn't really get a good pic of the shimmer, so I took this picture for you, since3 it does show the shimmer very well. It's very pretty blue and pink shimmer.



And then, because I got bored, I decided to add a flakie over it. This was Maybelline's Pink Pinata. I think it's been discontinued.

This is the flakie-fied Agyness in the sun:



And in indoor lighting:



And, because I was STILL bored, I added RBL's Matte topcoat over it. And then I was satisfied. The results were truly stunning, although I have to say the matte-ness of the whole thing made the purple base look black.

It really changes colour with different angles. Sometimes it flashes red, orange or yellow:





While other times it looks green, or even blue-ish:





And sometimes, it just looks like a little bit of everything! This is so pretty - it's when it really looks like a rainbow!



While I thought Agyness was pretty, I really liked it better when it was oomphed up a bit more with the flakie and the matte topcoats. As with the other Ciates in the Asos Paints Winter 09 Collection, Agyness, like Pixie and Mary-Kate, has been quite smooth to apply. Not as smooth as the other two, but better than you'd expect for the price point. As usual, the formulation was good, but the brush was a bit draggy. I wish ASOS would change the brushes on these, so as not to ruin the awesome formulation of the polishes.

Another thing I noticed when I matted and flakiefied my mani - the RBL Matte topcoate didn't stay on for very long. It started showing tipwear after day 2...Which made me kind of sad. So after the second day, the tips of my nails started looking glossy, while the rest of my nail was matte. Of course this is easily rectified by applying another layer of topcoat, but I thought I'd just put it out there for my readers. I'm not sure if this is due to it being matte, and thus more chippy (like matte and suede polishes), or whether it's just this polish. I suspect it's the former.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this photo-spam of a post, I certainly had fun trying to peer at the flakies to see that I got all colour spectrums down on film for you guys :)

OPI Jade is the New Black Dupe? Asos Paints by Ciate Pixie

Of course, we've all been looking at pictures of OPI's upcoming Hong Kong collection that will be released in Spring, and while I was browsing the gorgeous pictures of many a beautiful finger, a thought suddenly struck me - Jade is the New Black looked hauntingly familiar. In fact, it kind of looked like something I already had in my stash, and that was released in Winter!

Ooh. Just goes to show you that these types of emerald-jade slightly dustied jewel greens are awesome and chic year round, be it Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. Anyway, regular readers of this blog will probably be able to guess what I was talking about, because awhile back, I posted bottle pics of potential-dupe-in-question here. But of course bottle pictures are inconclusive. And as it so happens, I've actually used it for a mani since then!

Behold, a potential dupe-or-not for OPI's Jade is the New Black. Maybe it's not a dupe, but it's definitely in the same family, or if not, a close neighbour. From what I could tell based on other bloggers' swatches, the main difference is that Pixie is a little more blue-toned, while the OPI is more yellow-based. I do think they are close though. I only wish I had the actual OPI colour so I could do a side-by-side comparison. But anyways, this maybe-it's-a-dupe-maybe-it's-not isn't too shabby either. It's cheaper (for the UK ladies, that is), it's beautiful and creamy, it covers in one coat (although I used two out of habit) and it's none other than Pixie, from the Asos Paints by Ciate Winter Collection!

Observe it's beauty, in natural light:



And here it is indoors:



Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I had to pair it with $OPI's Run With It, a beautiful, albeit streaky and sheer, silvery grey, and I konaded over the ring finger with Pixie, using Konad plate M57 (I think. I'm bad at remembering which plates I used).

Anyway, can I just sing the praises of Pixie again? Oh Asos and Ciate, you have done it again. Beautiful, pigmented, creamy, good texture, and very smooth creme. Unfortunately, it's let down by a brush that likes to skip and make application not as great as it could be. Which is really unfortunate, because the formulation of this was near perfect, and it was a shame that it was let down by the brush.

I also really liked Pixie, because it is something of a chameleon, colour-wise. Indoors it leans a little blue, and sometimes I swore it looked rather teal on my fingers. But outdoors, it looks most mostly green. And this isn't a wimpy mint-jade green (haven't we had enough of those already?) but it's a much sexier, much more sophisticated, much more chic older sister of those green wannabes. It's deep, but not too deep, and it's a mix of emerald and jade colours, and is bright but still a little dusty, making it eyecatching but still very wearable. And of course it likes to tease me by being bluish and teal sometimes.

So OPI, don't say I didn't warn ya, but you have competition! I only wish I could get my hands on OPI Jade is the New Black to do a side-by-side comparison!

Asos Paints by Ciate Winter Collection Bottle Pics

Ciate is a UK-based brand of nail polish founded by celebrity nail technican Charlotte Straughan, and is hard to find, even within the UK (or at least in Central London, where I'm at). I end up ordering most of mine online. They also aren't very well-known or popular (unlike fellow UK-based nail polish brand Nails Inc), but those who are in the know will have at least heard of them. They also have the cutest bottles ever. I don't have enough Ciate to form a good opinion of their quality in general, but I've heard raves from some, and I've also heard from others that it's a hit-and-miss brnad (like every other). In general they seem pretty good though.

Ciate also has a line of nail polish specially created for ASOS, called Asos Paints by Ciate, kind of like how Sephora has their Sephora by OPI collection. These have a similar packaging, but it's not exactly like the regular Ciate collection. The bottles are smaller, being 9ml instead of 13.5ml, and the bottles are also square instead of rectangular, and have a shorter handle. Each season, ASOS also releases a limited edition Asos Paints by Ciate. I just got the Winter 2009 Asos Paints by Ciate collection, because it was on sale at Asos, so that explains why I'm reviewing these after the fact. I'm sorry, but I'm not gettin' any swag down here, so everything I review either comes from my own pocket, or me squatting at counters and swatching their testers. What can I say, it's tough being a small-time blogger, LOL.

Anyway, the Asos Paints by Ciate Winter 2009 collection consists of 3 pretty exciting colours that are awesome all-year round. I haven't gotten around to trying them out yet, but here are bottle pictures! I know bottle pictures aren't preferred, and most people would rather see on-nail swatches, but I couldn't wait (and not just because I'm overdue). This collection's pretty cool - it's a good digression from the usual pale pinks and sheers. Without further ado, here are pictures!



Here's the entire collection altogether. This photo isn't very great, the individual bottle pictures are more accurate.



First up is Pixie, a emerald-jade green, that's NOT a Chanel Jade dupe. It's a darker, deeper and more jewel-toned green, more emerald and less pastel. I LOVE this colour, and I don't even normally like greens! This is a creme finish, very smooth looking.



Next up is Agyness, a medium-to-dark royal purple with multicoloured shimmer. I love purples, so this is right up my alley.



Lastly, we have Mary-Kate, which is a really awesome black with fine glitter. I can't really discern all the glitter in this colour, but from the bottle it looks to be gold, but it also has hints of orange and green. Super cool. It's hard to tell if the black is opaque or jelly-ish, but I'm hoping it's a jelly! I totally want to try this one out. This is probably my favourite of the bunch! It kind of reminds me of $OPI 212, except that 212 has bigger chunks of glitter. The glitter in this one isn't too big.

So that's it for today, and when I do get around to trying this out (my untrieds list of nail polish is so long right now), I'll be sure to do an NOTD post!