Cult Nails - Midnight Masquerade Collection

Space Cadet is one of my all time favourite polishes. Top 5. Maybe #1. My mother braved the bay of all evil to get it for me when I one day announced on facebook that I would die one thousand deaths if I did not own it. Love. When I saw the email for this collection and looked at the bottle shot for Masquerade I new I needed it. It seemed very similar to Orly Space Cadet. As you will see below, they are not so similar after all.

First up is Ms. Conduct. I love this name. This is a lovely, potentially 1 coat, dark taupe creme. It's sort of a greyed browny purple on me. It is a bit thick which can make clean up a PITA. I would say do it right away or wait for it to dry or it is going to pull on you and fuck up.

This is 2 coats no top coat.

Next up is the reason I actually bought this collection. I mean, I really wanted Masquerade, but this one was something like nothing I have in my collection. Midnight Mist is an army kinda olive green with strong copper pink shimmer. The shimmer in this hides in the shade, but comes out in indoor lighting. I would have taken her out into the sun, but I live in Vancouver.. WHOMP FUCKING WHOMP. The formula on this one was nice. Thin, but not terribly thin.

This is 2 coats with no top coat.

Indoors

 Outdoors

 Indoors

Last up is a comp of Orly Space Cadet and Masquerade.

 This is 3 coats of each. I did take pictures coat by coat but they were too janky to post. They both have a green thing going on, but Masquerade is much more teal green and darker. The shimmer is also a bit more sparse and isn't as duochrome as Space Cadet. It isn't as shifty, though as you can see below the pink shimmer in both does have a green shift.

Space Cadet is on the pinky and middle fingers.

Thanks for looking. Sorry for sucking lately. I still need to reswatch the 2nd half of the CrowsToes Halloween collection. I have the pictures, but I think they suck. If I get desperate I might post them. I haven't much been interested in swatching lately. I think I lost my mojo, baby.

Nail Pattern Boldness vs. Clarins 230

This polish does not have a name.  I won this in a giveaway on the Nail Pattern Boldness blog

Pinky and middle = Clarins 230 2 coats
Ring and pointer = 1 coat NPB unnamed franken
Both are over GOSH Oh My Gosh Cobalt Blue (fabulous btw)

I wish I had more time to gush, but my ride is here.
Summary = closest dupe I have yet found to Clarins 230 aside from the Pied Polish Piper's Bliss Piss which I comped here.

I want to add that there are tiny little bits in the NPB that are visible in low light and shade.  You can see them in my shade picture.  Does not take away from the gorgeousness that is this polish in ze sunshine!  Also, doesn't really take away from the gorgeousness in the shade ;)

Cross fingers she adds this to her line!  It is not for sale right now :(

Bliss Piss & Clarins 230 Comps

My BFF made this.  I adore it!  Here is 1 coat over OPI Houston we Have a Purple.

Indoor lighting

In da sunshine!

This polish is truly gorgeous.  I decided to comp it against 230 and some of my other "dupes"

Full sun

From left to right: Bliss Piss, Clarins 230, Beyu 209, Fantasy Fire

Indoor lighting

Beyu has the least strong green flash, but it really does glow in the sun.  FF has the least strongest flashes either way of the lot.  I think it could have benefited from a second coat which is a shame because it comes in the tiniest bottle.  I would say Bliss Piss is the closest dupe to 230 that I own and the only one that came close to matching the green flash although it was difficult for me to catch that on camera.  Thus far, I have yet to find something that truly matches it's scream of green!

Thank you Miss Moxie for this amazing little bottle *heart*

HTF Green Comp - Greenwich Green vs. Cat's Eye vs. At Your Quebec And Call

So stoked that Moxie sent me OPI At Your Quebec And Call last week!! She is the doll of dolls.  I was so stoked to comp it against OPI Greenwich Green and China Glaze Cat's Eye!

Pointer - China Glaze Cat's Eye 3 coats
Middle - OPI Greenwich Green 2 coats
Ring - OPI At Your Quebec And Call 3 coats

In the shade

These are very similar colours.  Cat's Eye is more golden.  Greenwich Green is just barely frosty.  At Your Quebec And Call has a slightly blackened base.  All are beautiful!  I should have thrown Butter London Wallace in there.  I think he would have been the next natural step down from AYQAC.

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen - Magical Collection

Ooh long time no post.. I figured I would come back from the beyond with some new purchases!  Today we had the first day of full sun in a LONG time.  I swatched it up!  These are all 2 coats over IBD UV gel base coat with no top coat and the application was FAB.  I do not know if they will be fab over all other bases.  I now need to fiddle with more holos and IBD base!

Sorry for yucky cuticles.  There is a reason I haven't been posting much lately.  Ugly finger disease.

I can haz some input?  Are these pictures too gigantic?

Purple Potion

Fairy Dust Pink

Magenta Magic

Ruby Slipper

Mystical Mandarin

Copper Cauldron

Blue Aura

Some comps! Pinky: 2NITE, Ring: Nfu-Oh 65 (most recent version), Middle: Blue Aura, Index: Ocean Rush, Thumb: Kaleidescope Him Out.

So I know I am missing Crystal Ball from this collection.  Anyone know what others I am missing?

Gold Foil Comparison

Orly Glitz & Glamour has been my ultimate gold foil. A friend of mine wore it to school once, and I wanted it BAD. I ended up missing the boat and actually got OPI Rising Star instead. So not what I wanted. Still a good polish, but not what I wanted. Recently I purchased Sparitual Solstice. It is an exact dead on dupe for Glitz & Glamour which is not entirely surprising since they have the same parent company.

Sparitual on the pointer and Orly on the ring.

Rising star is obviously a bit more copper leaning. Without these to compare it does look quite gold.

The formula on the OPI is pretty bang on. The other 2 require more coats. The formula seems to be a clear base which is jaaaam packed full of golden bits. 1 coat is not enough to cover.

Both Orly and Sparitual have a rubber cap. The Orly brush stem and brush bristles are a bit longer. I prefer the Orly brush. The Orly bottle also holds more product which is always a boon.