A vegan nail polish blog. A celebration of colour and light, as well as of justice for nonhuman animals.

Archive for August, 2012

Beauty Without Cruelty polishes

Beauty Without Cruelty was one of the first brands to produce entirely vegan cosmetics and today I have swatches of my Beauty Without Cruelty polishes to show you. I only have four of them, and it just so happens that three of them are pink. For each of them, I have two photos in the sun followed by one in the shade. I didn’t use any topcoat for these photos.

Beauty Without Cruelty Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea is a light/medium pink creme, not bright but not too dusty. The formula was thin and a bit runny; this is two coats (three on my index because I messed it up).

Beauty Without Cruelty Sweet Pea

Beauty Without Cruelty Sweet Pea

Next, Pink Crush. This is a bright fuchsia squishy-looking semi-jelly polish. The formula was not as runny as Sweet Pea, and this was two coats.

Beauty Without Cruelty Pink Crush

Beauty Without Cruelty Pink Crush

Beauty Without Cruelty Pink Crush

Rich Plum is a rich shimmery purple. This one made me realize that these polishes don’t have mixing balls, as the shimmer was uneven in my bottle and I had to shake it quite a bit to get it distributed. Shown are two coats; this one can show very slightly visible brushstrokes and I recommend waiting a few minutes between coats to prevent dragging.

Beauty Without Cruelty Rich Plum

Beauty Without Cruelty Rich Plum

Beauty Without Cruelty Rich Plum
The last one I have is Geranium, a magenta-pink creme. The formula was thin but not runny, and this is two coats.

Beauty Without Cruelty Geranium

Beauty Without Cruelty Geranium

Beauty Without Cruelty Geranium

These polishes have a flat brush that is less wide than the OPI pro-wide brush. The BWC nail polish line is pretty basic; there are only about 15 colours, but the polishes, brushes and bottles are pretty nice overall! I have two more of the shades on the way to me that I purchased from a blog sale, so I should have a couple more swatches to show once they arrive!

Category:

Beauty Without Cruelty

Tagged with:

Misa Epiphany, Taking Chances, and a comparison

Today I have my two picks from Misa’s Wanderlust collection for fall 2012 to show you.

First is Misa Epiphany, a light beigey mustard shade with gold shimmer. The finish is kind of like a creme with shimmer flecks in it. I used two thick coats; I found the formula to be thick but not a problem to work with if you use thick coats and don’t manipulate it too much.

Misa Epiphany

I love this shade! It makes me think of a shimmery version of China Glaze’s Kalahari Kiss. The large version of this next photo gives a good view of the finish.

Misa Epiphany

The second polish I got from this collection is Taking Chances, which has the same finish as Epiphany but in a coppery, dusty light orange with gold shimmer. Very appropriate for fall!

Misa Taking Chances

Formula was also similar to Epiphany, maybe a bit less thick. This was also two thick coats.

Misa Taking Chances

I really like this shade as well, but when I opened the package, I thought, “this looks familiar!”

Misa Taking Chances and Sephora by OPI It's all About the Fringe

Here is Taking Chances next to Sephora by OPI’s That’s What Fringe is For, from their spring 2012 collection.

Misa Taking Chances and Sephora by OPI It's all About the Fringe (Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI)

Left to right: Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI

They aren’t *exact* dupes, but, well, for all intents and purposes they are dupes. It’s really hard to see the differences, so I’m including several photos of the comparison. From index to ring are the Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI, two coats of each.

Misa Taking Chances and Sephora by OPI It's all About the Fringe (Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI)

Left to right: Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI

The biggest difference is in the formula, since the OPI is much thinner (not runny though). It also seems that the Misa has slightly bigger shimmer particles, making it appear a tiny bit lighter at times with the added reflectivity. Just barely.

Misa Taking Chances and Sephora by OPI It's all About the Fringe (Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI)

Left to right: Misa, SOPI, Misa, SOPI

Great colour, but if you have one of these two you probably don’t need the other! Unless you have the mini bottle of the Sephora version, like I do, and want the Misa as a backup!

Category:

Misa, Sephora by OPI

Tagged with:

China Glaze Knotty

China Glaze Knotty was released in 2011 as part of the Anchors Away collection. It’s pretty unique, being a glass-fleck nude beige polish.

China Glaze Knotty

I used three coats, the last one thick, since it’s a fairly sheer polish, and I felt like it needed all three coats. The drying time was long (it was still dentable for several hours even with quick-dry top coat), which isn’t surprising given the number and thickness of coats I used. These photos were taken before I added the top coat.

China Glaze Knotty

The beige is neutral-to-yellow in its undertones, and I find it almost gives me a “mannequin-hands” look except for the glass fleck shimmer! It’s a really pretty, subtle polish, and I think it’s worth the long dry time! I just won’t be wearing it on days that I’m trying to get a mani done quickly! 😉

China Glaze Knotty

Category:

China Glaze

Tagged with:

Zoya Shelby and Comparisons

When I posted my Zoya Beach skittles, I promised swatches and comparisons of the Beach and Surf collection polishes, and the project is going slowly but I’ve finally got the first one ready: Zoya Shelby, a bubblegum pink creme.

Zoya Shelby

I used three coats for this swatch because I was having issues with streaks and lumps, but I think I had just had too much coffee that day or something since I only needed two coats of Shelby when I did the skittles.

In shade:

Zoya Shelby

These next two photos were taken the following day so they include top coat. I can’t remember what happened to my index finger to make it no longer presentable, I suppose probably a chip! As usual, the ridges on my ring finger are just the way the nail is, not the fault of the polish!

Zoya Shelby

Zoya Shelby

Now for some comparisons. Each swatch on the nail wheel progressively shows the polish at one, two and three coats from base to tip. These were taken in full sunlight which is probably not the best light for photographing nail wheels (diffused light would be better), so I’m including two photos at different angles.

Zoya Shelby comparisons

Left to right: China Glaze Pink Underground, Wet n Wild Candylicious, Milani Tip Toe, Zoya Shelby, Gosh Bubblegum, Nubar Pink Creme, OPI Got a Date To-Knight, China Glaze Empowerment, OPI Pink Friday

I included one shimmer polish (Pink Underground) since the shimmer is subtle and the base colour is in the same family. I also included some popular darker (Candylicious) and lighter (Got a Date, Pink Friday, Empowerment) pinks to show where Shelby fits into the spectrum.

Zoya Shelby comparisons

Left to right: China Glaze Pink Underground, Wet n Wild Candylicious, Milani Tip Toe, Zoya Shelby, Gosh Bubblegum, Nubar Pink Creme, OPI Got a Date To-Knight, China Glaze Empowerment, OPI Pink Friday

These last swatches are under the Ott Lite, showing just the polishes that are closest to Shelby.

Nubar Pink Creme, Zoya Shelby, Gosh Bubblegum, Milani Tip Toe Pink

Top to bottom: Nubar Pink Creme, Zoya Shelby, Gosh Bubblegum, Milani Tip Toe Pink

I’d say in one way that Gosh Bubblegum is the most similar of them since it also has a cool undertone while Tip Toe Pink and Pink Creme are slightly more warm. But Tip Toe Pink is the closest in terms of the depth of the shade, since the Gosh polish is definitely lighter!

Category:

China Glaze, GOSH, Milani, Nubar, OPI, Wet n Wild, Zoya

Tagged with:

China Glaze Deviantly Daring and No Plain Jane

I’ve got the first two of six new China Glaze polishes from their New Bohemian collection today! These shades have duochrome to varying degrees, and a metallic finish that’s slightly brushstrokey but not in a bad way, in my humble opinion – I wouldn’t quite call them frost, and I didn’t have trouble getting the brush stokes straight.

I’ll start with No Plain Jane, the purple shade; I was actually a little disappointed with this one since the duochrome didn’t seem as orange as I expected; more of a pinkish-goldenish-copper shade, and the purple can look paler and almost lavender in some lighting. This swatch is three coats, and I found the formula a bit thick and sticky for this kind of polish. First photos are in sunlight:

China Glaze No Plain Jane

China Glaze No Plain Jane

China Glaze No Plain Jane

These next photos are under my Ott Lite:

China Glaze No Plain Jane

China Glaze No Plain Jane

Next I layered one coat of No Plain Jane over Kleancolor Black. Layered this way, it photographed bluer than it is – it’s definitely more of a red-leaning purple like the first photos showed. Sunlight:

China Glaze No Plain Jane over black

China Glaze No Plain Jane over black

China Glaze No Plain Jane over black

This one is a bit more colour accurate:

China Glaze No Plain Jane over black

In indirect natural light:

China Glaze No Plain Jane over black

Next is Deviantly Daring; I love this rich teal-blue-green shade! Two coats shown here, and this one had a great formula. Sunlight:

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

In the shade, if you click to enlarge this photo you can kind of see the fine gold shimmer that gives this polish extra depth; it’s more visible in the bottle than on the nail but is really pretty:

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

This next photo is under the Ott Lite – I think that bright green flash that you can see near the bottom right of each nail is actually a reflection from the wall with its bright lime-green paint job, so I’m a little hesitant to post this, but I guess I’ll just say that this one isn’t totally accurate of what the polish looks like in real life!

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

Now, here is one coat of Deviantly Daring over one coat Kleancolor Black, in sunlight:

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

In shade:

China Glaze Deviantly Daring over black

So, one of these two polishes was nice but mainly just “okay” in my opinion, and the other is a definite winner! The other four shades from this collection are on my ever-expanding “to swatch” list!

Category:

China Glaze, Kleancolor

Tagged with:

Illamasqua Whack with Nubar Orange Glitter and Fingerpaints Twisted

Some quick pics of a manicure I did last week! This is Illamasqua Whack, a red-toned orange creme with a really nice formula. It’s almost a one-coater; I ended up doing two coats here. I dabbed on Nubar Orange Glitter at the tips and then a layer of Fingerpaints Twisted over everything!

Illamasqua Whack with Nubar Orange Glitter and Fingerpaints Twisted

Illamasqua Whack with Nubar Orange Glitter and Fingerpaints Twisted

Illamasqua Whack with Nubar Orange Glitter and Fingerpaints Twisted

Category:

FingerPaints, Illamasqua, Nubar

Tagged with: