MOTD ( + an Essie dupe!) - "Splash of Grenadine"

Well, this is one of those polishes that I've heard a lot about but had decided it was out of my reach (that is, of course, unless I wanted to get it on eBay..) Until I once more randomly fell upon a rare Essie shade - "Splash of Grenadine."

"Splash of Grenadine" is a blue-toned deep pink color. While it is described by Essie as "a playful magenta pink," I find that to be a total understatement. This is not what I think of when I think of magenta pink. Magentas are usually darker pink, more like "The Girls Are Out." "SOG" is a medium creamy pink with purplish overtones.

Bottle Comparisons  L = "Splash of Grenadine" ; R = "The Girls Are Out"

As you can see, "Splash of Grenadine" (or, as i'll call it from here on, by the acronym "SOG") is a lighter, more flowery shade than "TGAO." Anyway, I just wanted to illustrate the medium color of "SOG."

Index/Ring fingers = "SOG"; Middle/Pinky = Sally Hansen "Pinch Of Punch"

And here we have what appears to be a total dupe for "SOG": Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear "Pinch of Punch." Gee, they couldn't even be subtle about naming, could they? Lol. As you can see from my middle finger in the above photo, "POP" is a little lighter in tone than "SOG." Sorry, my pinkie is pretty much hidden behind my ring finger, but since it's shaded, "POP" looks just like "SOG." 

So, depending on lighting, Essie "Splash of Grenadine" and Sally Hansen "Pinch of Punch" are essentially dupes. Each polish took 2 coats for opacity.

Random Essie Comparison: "Bobbing For Baubles" vs. "Mind Your Mittens" (+ 1 more!)

If you've taken a look at my blog before, then you'll know that this blog is essentially dedicated to Essie polishes. I do get in some time with other polishes, OPI being the only other brand I've reviewed so far. But I'm also partial to brands like Sally Hansen's X-Treme Wear line, Sinful Colors, & a few others.

I'll share those polishes sometime in the future when I'm able to pull myself away from my precious Essies. For now, here is a Random Essie Comparison between 1 of the new shades from the Winter 2013 "Shearling Darling" collection & 1 from Winter a couple of years back: here are "Mind Your Mittens" and "Bobbing For Baubles."

*no top coat use for any of the photos 

Ring/Index = "MYM"; Middle = "BFB"; Pinkie = "Stylenomics" (taken w/ flash; 2 coats of each - 1 coat of "BFB")

No flash; under bright white lighting

Did you like how I just suddenly put "Stylenomics" in there? Haha. I thought that "Stylenomics" and "Mind Your Mittens" looked really similar to each other when I saw them. But, I saw that when put together, "Stylenomics" is much darker than "MYM." It really brings out the teal in "MYM."

And now, "Bobbing For Baubles"!! This one's a rich, dusty navy blue. I have come across this shade several times over the last couple of months at a few CVS stores that hadn't updated their displays in a while, & was getting mildly fascinated with it. 

For some reason, it reminds me of "MYM" as well. I guess because of the "dusty" qualities of these shades. "MYM" is a dusty dark teal, "BFB" is a dusty dark blue. So, they're kind of cousins, right?

Under direct sunlight, no flash ("BFB" = middle/pinkie; "MYM" = index/ring; "BFB" in hand)

So, there you have it. They do look remarkably alike under shade and bright white lighting. In sunlight, however, the true colors really come out. "BFB" is navy blue, and "MYM" teal. If you wear them both at the same time, though, likely nobody will be able to tell they're different colors

1 other big difference: "BFB" only needs 1 coat for full opaque coverage. "MYM" can have full coverage in 1 coat, if your hand is steady enough. But, it most likely will come out a little streaky on the first coat. 2 is recommended for "MYM."

As far as clean up goes, neither leaves stains! Which is always good news for polish. 

Final verdict: I really can't justify having both in my collection seeing as I'm not a huge fan of dark colors, although I only have 1 other navy shade in my whole collection (Essie "Midnight Cami"). So, if you're someone who already has "MYM" or vice versa,  and think you can live with the very minor color difference, then you're set. Thanks for reading!

Random Essie Review: "Chinchilly"

I can't ignore my Essie polishes for very long, so here's another Random Essie Review. I just painted my nails this color and am trying to see how long I can go without changing them, haha. Here's "Chinchilly."

Normal daytime lighting, no flash. With Essie "Good To Go" topcoat:

"Chinchilly" is from Essie's fall 2009 "Cuddle With Color" collection and is now considered one of Essie's "classic" colors...apparently. As you can see, I have the mini bottle of "Chinchilly" that I got in the newly-released for the holidays Essie Holiday Set that features 5 of Essie's "classic" shades, including "Chinchilly," "Forever Yummy," "Turquoise & Caicos," "Wicked" & "Ballet Slippers."

I will probably review the rest of the set at some point on here as future Random Essie Reviews. But, as for "Chinchilly," this is one of the smoothest Essie polishes I've tried so far. It is a bit similar to "Merino Cool" formula-wise, but in a lighter, more gray tone. It still possesses some of that mild purplish (in this case, lavender-ish) intonations, too, like "MC."

I'm not quite sure that I like one shade better than the other. I suppose that if I had to pick one, I'd prefer "Merino Cool" because my skin is light and the deeper color looks better on me. I'll also post about my thoughts on "MC" soon..

So, while "Chinchilly" is a completely lovely polish, for lighter skin tones, I might suggest "Merino Cool." See you next time!

Some OPI Swatches & Why I'm Not Really A Fan

A lot of nail polish enthusiasts are fans of OPI. They are popular because...well, to be honest, I really don't know why this brand is so popular. They are apparently on the higher end of the polish spectrum quality-wise and generally are what many consider to be expensive for polish (at least $9 for a bottle, typically. They're the kind that don't necessarily go on sale. Even at Nordstrom Rack they cost $7.99 each.)

But, OPI must be famous for a reason, and while I don't really see it, let's take a look at some shades and I'll explain why their polishes don't appeal to me much:

OPI "Gargantuan Green Grape"

This color is probably my favorite OPI that I have tried thus far, and oddly, there are 2 different versions of this shade. This one is apparently the more elusive of the 2. I have both versions. Here is a bottle shot of the 2 side by side:

L - "GGG" in light blue   R - "GGG" in pale green

I don't yet have swatches for the pale green version of "GGG" but maybe will have one soon. That said, although the 2 are distinctly different colors, they are essentially the same formulas. Both, while finishing extremely glossy and drying fairly quickly, take at least 3 coats to make opaque, unless you're able to keep a thick amount on the brush and are lucky enough to get it on in 1 swipe. I was able to do that with my pinkie, but I think it was just dumb luck, lol.

You should probably work with thin coats on this one, and be ready to do at the very least 2 coats, though, as I said, you will probably need 3.

That is one of my problems with OPI polishes. Maybe I've just picked the wrong shades to base on judging the brand, but most of the ones I have got, like "GGG," take at least 3 coats to make the color opaque. Take, for instance, "Did It on 'Em," (seen in photo of my OPI collection group bottle shot below, though in the back. Sorry about that - no time to retake right now!). A semi-pretty color, sort of like a muted neon cactus green, but can take up to 4 coats due to the thin formula. OPI, why so many coats?

From Left to Right - Front Row: "Swimsuit...Nailed It!"; "Got A Date To-Knight"; "Call Me Gwen-ever"  Back Row: "GGG" (blue); "GGG" (green); "Did It On 'Em"; "Do You Lilac It"

These polishes, with the exception of the 2 "GGG"s, are all just OK shades at best to me. The "GGG"s, "Did It On 'Em," and "Got A Date To-knight" all have lackluster formulas, thin and just too much of a hassle to deal with. Not too spectacular to make all that time spent painting worth it.

"Swimsuit... Nailed It!" is a shade I just can't forgive after it stained my toes quite badly when I wore it as a pedicure back in summer for about a week. I used base coat, too. I dared to try it on one of my fingers today, and after hardly 1 minute of wear, I tried to remove it and it stained my cuticles. Granted, most deep blues do generally stain, but this one seems even worse than something like Essie "Midnight Cami," which in my view, stains very minimally compared to this. So, no, don't like this one.

"Call Me Gwen-ever" seems like the quintessential November color, I suppose because of Thanksgiving. It's a burnt orange creme. It reminds me a combination between Thousand Island and Catalina salad dressings when I look at the bottle, kind of in between those 2 colors. Anyway, this shade is too muted and boring for me.

"Do You Lilac It" is one of the better shades of my small OPI collection. I believe it was one of the first OPI shades I purchased, and I do like the color of this polish - a blueberry yogurt sort of color, like a light purple, but not lavender. It's not even really a lilac though the name says otherwise. Lilac suggests a softer, more delicate lavender. This has too much deep blue at its base to even qualify as lilac. It's kind of unique, so this one's pretty good.

Swatch of "Do You Lilac It"; accurate color portrayal

I'll stop rambling about OPI here, at least for now. We'll see if I happen to pick up anymore of their polishes. They pop up at TJ Maxx a lot, and that's really the only place I'm likely to find them. They come in sets of 2 for $8, so 2 for 1. 

I will have posts about some of their Liquid Sand polishes (which I actually like) soon, and one more shade that sadly got left out of this post. Thanks for reading!

Essie Holiday 2013 Collection - "Lots of Lux"

Here I am again with another brand new Essie polish from her Holiday collection dubbed the "Belugaria" collection after the sandy & incredibly thick, nearly-impossible-to-work-with-looking black sand polish with big glitter flecks. I've seen some swatches & from what I've read, nobody actually likes the collection, especially not "Belugaria."

But, here is the polish from the collection that was positively reviewed by most (the only one people liked): "Lots of Lux."

In normal daytime room lighting, no flash:

With flash:

Under direct sunlight:

Close-up under direct sunlight - you can see the sparkle in this one!

"Lots of Lux" is a sapphire blue sand finish polish with small bits of gold & blue glitter throughout. It is very shimmery-looking in the bottle, and it is just as pretty on the nail. Of course, as with most glitter-based polishes, it takes sunlight to bring out its true beauty.

I don't personally like using top coat with these sand polishes because, well, they weren't meant to be worn that way. They're supposed to look sandy and gritty, so I like to wear them like that. Though I might try some Seche Vite on top sometime in the future..

Look for more posts on a few OPI "Liquid Sand" Bond Girls polishes coming up. See you next time!

3 Essie Drugstore Dupes

Hey, hey. So, since I'm clearly into Essie polish, I thought I would do some comparisons to some common drugstore polishes. These are gonna be 2 finger swatches. Here we go...

1.) Essie "Fiji" vs. Nicole OPI "How Fairy Nice of You"

 I actually can't remember which color is which! They look like dupes to me, though I believe that "How Fairy..." is slightly whiter than "Fiji."

Still can't tell? Me neither. Oh, well. Total dupes. Though "How Fairy" I don't think is available anymore. It's from the Nicole OPI "Peter Pan" collection from summer this year. I got it on sale from Walgreens for $4. But Nicole OPIs are usually around $7 or $8 usually, I think.

2.) Essie "Pretty Edgy" vs. Revlon "Posh"

In the bottle, you can kind of tell that "Posh" is more saturated than "Pretty Edgy." On the nail, that's pretty true also, but I think that might also depend on lighting. Here they are with camera flash:

L - "Posh" R - "Pretty Edgy"

You can just barely see the difference in color saturations on the nail. "Posh" really only requires 1 coat for full opacity, while "Pretty Edgy" needs 2 coats due to its thinner, more watery formula. 

If I had to choose one over the other, I'd say the Essie, of course. The softer formula just feels nicer. "Posh" is the only widely-available Lawn (or Palmetto) Green dupe right now, though. And it's cheaper, at $5 to $6 practically everywhere.

3.) Essie "Naughty Nautical" vs. Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear "Kiwi Bikini"

Side by side, you can tell these two are not dead-on dupes. But, the similarities between Essie's Summer 2013 collection and Sally Hansen's Summer 2013 collection (similar names to some random Essie polishes, not really with corresponding color. This name recalls "Bikini So Teeny" from Essie Summer 2012. Anyway...

L - "NN"   R - "KB"

Nope, not dupes. But quite similar colors.  "Kiwi" is more green. Both released at the same time. "Nautical" has that lovely Essie micro-glitter I talked about before. And this shade is now part of her core collection. 

You might still be able to find "Kiwi Bikini" if you look around. It was part of Sally Hansen's Summer 2013 collection, & most stores have already cleared them out, but if you're looking for something at only $3 (& possibly cheaper!), then go check it out.

And that's all for now. I'll have more in future posts. Until next time!

Random Essie Review: "Sunday Funday"

Here's a review of a random Essie (this will probably become a regular thing for me). I recently painted this one on my toes & thought I might blog about it: "Sunday Funday"

This shade is from Essie's Summer 2013 collection. This collection was known for featuring Essie's "micro-glitter" formulas for the entire collection except 1 shade (that is, colors with tiny flecks of fine glitter throughout, something I've really only seen in Essie polishes. And a couple of Revlon polishes, probably trying to mimic the Essie micro-glitters..)

Anyhow, this shade is a coral "micro-glitter," and while I love the color, I found this one to be a bit sheer, particularly when compared to some other Essie "micro-glitters." I just might post on those as well, as Essie "micro-glitters" are among my favorite Essies.

But OK! Back to "Sunday Funday":

A great color, but again, kind of sheer. Or maybe just streaky. When I put this on my toes, it took a good 3 (in some cases 4) coats to totally even it out. Applying to fingernails is a little easier than toes, though I'd still recommend 3 coats.

Have fun with one, a Sunday Funday, as it were. Ha.

Essie Winter 2012 (Last Year's) Collection - "Beyond Cozy"

Hey there! Sorry I've been M.I.A. For a while. I'll try to make up for it with at least a couple of posts today and hopefully tomorrow, too.

Now on with the swatching! Here's Essie's "Beyond Cozy," an extremely unique glitter polish from last year's Winter collection. 

Really, that's the only swatch you need. It is a sandy (but somehow smooth on the nail!) polish with very fine bits of gold & silver mixed into a clear base. Here it appears more gold, though i found that most lighting conditions made it look more silver (like in direct sunlight!)

It is fairly opaque on the first coat, but a second would be advisable for perfection.

Then sit back & watch it glow! It looks particularly pretty in direct sunlight - the sparkle will practically blind you! Lol. It's hard to capture it photographically in that way, so I apologize for lack of a photo for that.

I've been getting interested in sand polishes lately, this being one of them. I'll probably post about some others I just got. See you soon!