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.

Nails Inc Elizabeth Street and Fitzhardinge Street Leopard Spots KOTD

Today's KOTD is using two Nails Inc colours, Elizabeth Street, and Fitzhardinge Street. I konaded using plate M57. As you can see it wasn't that great - I'm still struggling to put on a full nail design properly.

Nails Inc Elizabeth Street is a sheer-ish, pale milky pink creme, very subtle, very pretty, and work appropriate. The first coat is a little streaky, but it applies well after 2 coats, and evens out after that. Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street is a deep, deep green that looks like black, also another creme. It looks a little more green when you konad with it, because you only use a thin layer of the polish for konading. I guess this isn't the best konading job ever - as you can see, there are patches in the leopard print.

Anyway, here is the not-that-great konad job, in natural shaded light:



I really love Nails Inc, I do believe they're just about the best polish brand I've tried out there. And I keep saying it everytime I use something from them, but I can't help it. I'm starting to have this dangerous need to collect every Nails Inc colour out there. I've always found the application and wear to be pretty good. Elizabeth Street isn't as awesome as some of the others, but it is still really decent. I suspect this relative lack of quality might be due to the fact that I got Elizabeth Street when they were giving them out free with a copy of Glamour, and maybe the free bottles aren't as good as the bottles in stores? I really wouldn't know though, it's just a guess, since all my other Nails Incs apply soooo smoothly. Fitzhardinge Street had the usual awesome Nails Inc application. This konad lasted for about 3-4 days before chipping, which is about average for me, so wear time is decent as well.

Barielle Lava Rock and Essie Angora Cardi KOTD

Today's NOTD is Barielle's Lava Rock, together with Essie Angora Cardi for the ring finger. I like both colours, and I like them together too. The splatter paint drop was made with Lava Rock and Konad plate M21. And as you can tell from the terrible skills and the lack of nice watermarking, this is a slightly older NOTD. I really need to get up to speed on my NOTDs, I just have this tendency to take photos and then forget about them :X





As you can see, Lava Rock is a black, sheer colour with purple pearl. I like this one, it has that glowy quality that really reminds me of lava. Also, as the Konad shows, Lava Rock is sheer and needs 2 coats to acheive opacity - the Konad was just barely opaque enough to show up over Angora Cardi. As the photos also show, I had slight application issues with this one, but nothing serious - it was probably just my noob skills more than anything else. The sad thing about this though, is that Lava Rock chipped on me within a day or two, which was really heartbreaking, since I do love this colour so. I don't know if it's just this colour, or Barielles in general, or just that I got a dud though, as this is the only Barielle I have (gasp, I know. But hey, US stuff is hard to get here).

Essie Angora Cardi is also a gorgeous mauve colour that is just deep enough to really make it pop. I love this, it's mauve and it's boring and mumsy, but somehow I like it. I don't know why. I love it, I really do. This one had no application issues and had good staying power - I had to take off my mani because the Barielle was getting all chippy on me, but Angora Cardi was still fine. Ahh, Essie, why do you bother to do three gazillion pinks and sheers when you work the dark colours so well? Please stop producing yet more Marshmallows and Ballet Slippers and Mademoiselles - much as I appreciate sheers in a work setting (because they're not noticable enough to garner snarky comments from mean co-wokers, and because even if they chip noone will really be able to tell) we have enough of them! Come on Essie, us nail fanatics are your greatest customers!