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

Archive for the ‘NYX’ Category

Nubar Affair and comparisons

Nubar Affair is a teal green jelly with lots of fine gold shimmer particles. I’d say this first (phone) photo is the most colour-accurate; the others seem slightly too blue. 

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I used three coats plus top coat; as you can see there’s still a little visible nail line in certain lights. 

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I did a comparison to two other similar polishes. Top to bottom in the photo below: Pretty Serious Khepri’s Amulet (two coats), Nubar Affair, NYX Jungle (four coats), Nubar Affair. 

prettyserious_kheprisamulet_nubar_affair_nyx_jungle

Khepri’s Amulet is slightly greener than Affair and is more brushstokey with its frostier metallic finish. NYX Jungle is more sheer than Affair, and on the nail its gold shimmer is more distinct from the base. 

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Bonne journée des Franco-Ontariens & Franco-Ontariennes!

 

Le 25 septembre est la journée des Franco-Ontarien.ne.s alors j’ai fait un nail art représentant le drapeau Franco-Ontarien, qui célèbre ses 40 ans aujourd’hui! J’ai utilisé la plaque M15 de Konad pour le lys et une plaque qui se nomme AT-04 trouvée sur Aliexpress pour le trille (j’en ai enfin trouvé un après de longues longues recherches!) Les vernis de base sont Hunter Green de NYX et White on the Spot de Milani, et j’ai stampé avec le même NYX pour le vert et Kind of White (S) de Colour Alike pour le blanc. Photos prises ce matin avec flash.

Apologies to my readers who don’t speak French; I thought this post should definitely be in French! 😛 Also, this is a preview of my new nail shape I’ve had for several weeks now – as usual I’m wayyyy behind on posts so I still have a bunch with my previous shape to post before getting to the newer stuff 🙂

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Zoya Zuza, Wednesday, and comparisons

I should have posted this ages ago, but then I lost the photos of the nail wheel comparisons… or maybe I forgot to take the photos, I don’t know! So I took new ones recently, but they aren’t exactly colour-accurate… Ah well, I’m posting them anyway! 😀

Zoya Zuza

Here is Zoya Zuza, a beautiful shimmery turquoise. Two coats, and the formula was a little thick, according to my notes. I love Zuza.

Zoya Zuza

Zoya Wednesday

Zoya Wednesday, a slightly dusty turquoise/minty/tiffany blue creme. Two coats, three on my ridgey ring finger. The formula on this one was a little thin.

Zoya Wednesday

And here are the comparisons! The photos are not colour accurate; they photographed a bit too green and dark, which you can see by comparing Wednesday (3:00 position on the left wheel) to the swatch photos above. So keeping that in mind, the pic can give an idea of how similar they are to other polishes in the same colour family. Zuza is directly next to Wednesday on the other wheel, at the 9:00 position on that wheel. Should have numbered the polishes on the wheels, sorry about that…

(Not colour accurate, leans slightly too green.) Left wheel, clockwise from 3:00 position: Zoya Wednesday, Color Club New Bohemian, Orly Gumdrop, Nubar Mod Agua, Cult Nails Manipulative, Kleancolor Pastel Teal, Soulstice Kona, Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-mint, NYX Girls Pistachio, Essence You Belong To Me, China Glaze Aquadelic, Color Club Blue-Ming, NYX Salon Formula Surf, Barry M Mint Green, Orly Ancient Jade, Fingerpaints Choco Mint, NCLA Santa Monica Shore Thing, Fingerpaints Tiffany Impostor. Right wheel, clockwise from 9:00: Zoya Zuza, Nicole by OPI Diva Into the Pool, Manglaze ILF, Milani Golden Sea, LA Girl Delirious, China Glaze Custom Kicks, Kleancolor Teal Envy, Kleancolor Mystic Grass, Sparitual Rhythm of Life, Butter London Thames, Gosh Ocean, LA Girl Obsess, Kleancolor Teal Marble, Kleancolor Metallic Aqua, Fingerpaints Winter Sky, NYX Juliette, LA Girl Chromium Green, Kleancolor Metallic Jungle.

(Not colour accurate, leans slightly too green.) Left wheel, clockwise from 3:00 position: Zoya Wednesday, Color Club New Bohemian, Orly Gumdrop, Nubar Mod Agua, Cult Nails Manipulative, Kleancolor Pastel Teal, Soulstice Kona, Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-mint, NYX Girls Pistachio, Essence You Belong To Me, China Glaze Aquadelic, Color Club Blue-Ming, NYX Salon Formula Surf, Barry M Mint Green, Orly Ancient Jade, Fingerpaints Choco Mint, NCLA Santa Monica Shore Thing, Fingerpaints Tiffany Impostor.
Right wheel, clockwise from 9:00: Zoya Zuza, Nicole by OPI Diva Into the Pool, Manglaze ILF, Milani Golden Sea, LA Girl Delirious, China Glaze Custom Kicks, Kleancolor Teal Envy, Kleancolor Mystic Grass, Sparitual Rhythm of Life, Butter London Thames, Gosh Ocean, LA Girl Obsess, Kleancolor Teal Marble, Kleancolor Metallic Aqua, Fingerpaints Winter Sky, NYX Juliette, LA Girl Chromium Green, Kleancolor Metallic Jungle.

From the Vault, again…

More random old stuff!

Nubar Pink Flame, under artificial light:

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Nubar Pink Flame, artificial light

Comparison: left to right, Finger Paints Catwalk Queen, Butter London Bumster (middle and ring fingers), Misa Hot Couture. The Butter London and Finger Paints polishes are quite close, Finger Paints just has slightly more orange, while the Misa is noticeably darker.

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Butter London Bumster by itself:

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OPI Pepe’s Purple Passion (in light box and camera wouldn’t focus properly on the polish surface!):

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I’ll admit, while I ended up really liking Pepe’s Purple Passion, I mainly wanted it for the name, because of this handsome guy whose name is Pepe. Although we usually call him Tex. 🙂

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Essence Wanna Be My Sunshine with accent nail in NYX Girls Pure Green, all layered with LA Girl Zesty Citrus overtop:

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Illamasqua Elope:

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China Glaze Sun of a Peach and comparisons

Here’s another neon from the China Glaze Sunsational collection!

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

Sun of a Peach is a neon pastel peach, and a great unique colour! I like the name too, haha.

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

The formula is a bit difficult to work with, but not really worse than other neons or pastels.

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

I used three coats to even everything out. The photos include base coat and top coat.

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

I think the colour is certainly worth putting up with the neon formula. With flash:

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

In the shade:

China Glaze Sun of a Peach

And here is a nail wheel comparison with other peaches, neon and non-neon, and some that lean more towards coral. The photo was taken with flash, but somehow the polishes still look a bit darker than they do in real life. So, word of warning that these aren’t colour accurate, but give a good indication of the relative differences in these polishes!

Sun of a Peach and peach/coral comparisons

1) China Glaze Sun of a Peach, 2) Misa Shake it to the Samba, 3) China Glaze Peachy Keen, 4) Nubar Orange Creme, 5) NCLA Poolside Party All Eyes On Me, 6) Joe Fresh Orange Sorbet, 7) Kleancolor Mango, 8) Jessica Tangerine Dreamz, 9) NYX Amazon, 10) Cult Nails Scandalous, 11) OPI Apricotcha Cheating, 12) FingerPaints Circus Peanuts, 13) NYX Girls Naked Pink, 14) Funky Fingers Daiquiri on the Deck, 15) Barry M Peach Melba, 16) Kleancolor Pastel Orange, 17) Illamasqua Purity, 18) Essence Rebels Peach Punk

None of these are close to Sun of a Peach; the most similar are Kleancolor Mango which is darker and much less bright, and oldie NYX Amazon which is a translucent jelly with iridescent glitter, however. But as you can see there are some dupes and near-dupes among the other polishes – notably China Glaze Peachy Keen and Misa Shake it to the Samba which are basically identical. Cult Nails Scandalous is also similar to OPI Apricotcha Cheating, and Kleancolor Pastel Orange to Illamasqua Purity, but those pairs aren’t close enough to be dupes.

OPI Don’t Talk Bach to Me and Glow Up Already, and a franken

I’m trying something new today! I downloaded an app to add watermarks to photos on my phone, so that I can actually post pictures I’ve taken with my phone straight from my phone without having to forego the watermark (stupid WordPress app doesn’t allow access to the blog’s media library, which is another related problem). It’s kind of neat because with this app the size, orientation and placement of the watermark can also be changed unlike the software I normally use on my laptop. Only thing I don’t like is that there’s no option that I can see to change the name of the image file, so the photos just have numbers for names and that can only be changed using the full WordPress site…

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Anyway, here’s a mani! 🙂 This is OPI Don’t Talk Bach to Me from the Germany collection, with a glitter gradient of OPI Glow Up Already from the Burlesque collection, and Poshe topcoat over everything. Photos in natural overcast light.

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I used two coats of Don’t Talk Bach to Me, a light yellow-green with a creme base and some slight shimmer, and I found the formula kind of thick. I’ll probably add some thinner before using it again.

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Glow Up Already is a dense fine glitter in a lot of colours, especially gold, green, and orange, with an overall look of golden lime green.

The next day, I added two coats of a frankenpolish that I made which contains teal square glitter, yellow, copper and champagne gold hex glitter, and gold glass flecks. Under my Ott light:

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The main polishes I used were Kleancolor Tiara Gold, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Flashy, NYX salon formula 24K Glitter, and Wet n Wild The Gold and the Beautiful. Overcast natural light:

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The teal square glitter was from Glitter Unique, if I recall correctly. This last photo is in partially sunny natural light:

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I’m really happy with how this franken turned out! 🙂

Zoya Tracie, Meg and comparisons

Since October is Depression Awareness Month (yup, it’s not just for breast cancer!) and the depression awareness colour is green, I thought a green-heavy first post of the month would be appropriate.

So, I’ve got Zoya Tracie and Meg from the Beach and Surf collection, along with nail wheel comparisons with tons of other green shades!

Zoya Tracie

This is Zoya Tracie, two coats. I love this colour, soft yellow-toned green creme base with subtle pearly silver shimmer.

Zoya Tracie

The formula was a little tricky, thick yet threatening to drip down the brush stem, and I had to take care to let it dry between coats to prevent dragging. Worth it for such a great shade! The photos include base and top coat.

Zoya Tracie

Meg is a medium green foil. I also had a little streaking and dragging with this one, but then I didn’t use a base coat for this swatch so that may have been the reason. This is two coats of Meg.

Zoya Meg

Really nice polish as well, but much less interesting than Tracie to me. Tracie is much more unique.

Zoya Meg

Zoya Meg

And now for the massive comparisons! The first photo shows the nail wheels in direct sunlight, and the second photo shows them under the Ott Lite. Clicking on the photos will bring up a bigger version where it’s easier to see the polishes (but then, the caption isn’t included, so the close-up polishes and their names aren’t visible together; sorry about that). Meg and Tracie are the polishes in the middle that are almost touching, one on each wheel.

Zoya Tracie & Meg green comparison wheels

Left wheel, clockwise from top: Color Club Mol-ten, Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe, Wet n Wild Jungle Fever, Cosmetic Arts You Sleigh Me, Zoya Meg, Kleancolor Metallic Green, Butter London Dosh, Finger Paints Comet’s Collar, NYX Girls Luscious Green, Zoya Midori, Nicole by OPI Make Mine Lime, Sparitual Greenhouse, Gosh Golden Dragon.
Right wheel, counterclockwise from gap in polishes: NYX (Salon line) Lime, Nicole by OPI My Favourite Gold, OPI Simply Smashing, Kleancolor Jazz Olive, Zoya Tangy, Misa Secrets, OPI Bikini Envy, Zoya Tracie, Milani Original, LA Girl Color Addict Urge, Soulstice Telluride, Misa Fountain of Youth, Milani Key Lime Shine, Nubar Baby Sprout, NYX (Salon line) Pastel Pistachio, Nubar Kiwi.

No exact dupes to these Zoyas, but Wet n Wild Jungle Fever is very close to Meg, and Cosmetic Arts You Sleigh Me (next to Meg) is also pretty similar. The base colour of the NYX Salon polish in Pastel Pistachio is pretty close to Tracie, but the NYX polish is just a plain creme without any shimmer. OPI Bikini Envy is the shimmery polish that I’d say is closest to Tracie, but the OPI is lighter, more sheer, and frostier. Actually, I’m thinking Tracie is pretty similar to what it would look like to mix NYX Pastel Pistachio and OPI Bikini Envy together!

Zoya Tracie & Meg green comparison wheels

Left wheel, clockwise from top: Color Club Mol-ten, Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe, Wet n Wild Jungle Fever, Cosmetic Arts You Sleigh Me, Zoya Meg, Kleancolor Metallic Green, Butter London Dosh, Finger Paints Comet’s Collar, NYX Girls Luscious Green, Zoya Midori, Nicole by OPI Make Mine Lime, Sparitual Greenhouse, Gosh Golden Dragon.
Right wheel, counterclockwise from gap in polishes: NYX (Salon line) Lime, Nicole by OPI My Favourite Gold, OPI Simply Smashing, Kleancolor Jazz Olive, Zoya Tangy, Misa Secrets, OPI Bikini Envy, Zoya Tracie, Milani Original, LA Girl Color Addict Urge, Soulstice Telluride, Misa Fountain of Youth, Milani Key Lime Shine, Nubar Baby Sprout, NYX (Salon line) Pastel Pistachio, Nubar Kiwi.

A couple pairs of notable near-dupes in here: Color Club Mol-ten and Kiss Me Mistletoe (Mistletoe is scented, though); OPI Simply Smashing and Nicole by OPI My Favourite Gold (which I think is an odd name, my favourite gold is a green??).

NYX Girls Pure Green and LA Girls Purge

A little late, but this was my requisite green manicure last Saturday for St. Patrick’s Day! This is NYX Girls Pure Green with accent nails in Purge from the LA Girl Glitter Addict line.

Shown are two coats of Pure Green, a jellyish kelly green, layered with two coats of Purge on the accent nails, with top coat. Pure Green has a nice smooth formula and these were two medium-thick coats. I got a few tiny bubbles from slopping on a bit too much top coat, but they weren’t very noticeable. Overcast natural light.

NYX Girls Pure Green with LA Girl Glitter Addict Purge

Sally Girl TTFN and comparisons

If you’ve been to a Sally Beauty Supply store lately you may have noticed that they have five new shades in their Sally Girl line of mini nail polishes. I got a couple of the new ones, including this one called TTFN. And guess what, these new ones actually show the names on the bottles! At the top right of the little sticker along the side. No more cross-referencing the 6-digit number on the sally.com site to try to figure out what the polish’s name is, haha!

Sally Girl TTFN

Sally Girl TTFN

Two coats of TTFN. It was a little streaky on the first coat, but a second thicker coat evened everything out. Colour-wise, this slightly dusty, minty sage green is in between Orly Ancient Jade (which is a tiny bit deeper and brighter), and Misa Catch a Flick (which is a little lighter), as the following photo shows (top to bottom, Catch a Flick, TTFN, Ancient Jade).

Orly Ancient Jade, Sally Girl TTFN, Misa Catch a Flick

In terms of formula, Ancient Jade had a formula that was thinner than TTFN but was also more pigmented and opaque. Catch a Flick had a formula similar to TTFN, a little streaky on the first coat but evening up at the second.

I also compared a couple of other colours for reference. Thumb to pinky, NYX Girls Algae, much darker and bluer, Orly Ancient Jade, Sally Girl TTFN, Misa Catch a Flick, and Nubar Vogue Vert, lighter and more of a dusty yellow-based sage.

NYX Girls Algae, Orly Ancient Jade, Sally Girl TTFN, Misa Catch a Flick, Nubar Vogue Vert

NYX Girls Algae, Orly Ancient Jade, Sally Girl TTFN, Misa Catch a Flick, Nubar Vogue Vert

Cult Nails Super Powers Collection

Today I have for you Cult Nails’ Super Powers Collection, released for Winter 2011-2012. This contains the flakie polish Clairvoyant, which was formerly a limited edition called Unicorn Puke. I was lucky that I bought the collection during its pre-sale, because Clairvoyant is now sold out and they’re not sure if they’re going to be able to make more, since one of the flakie ingredients was discontinued by the manufacturer. Hopefully they’ll find a new source!!

Clairvoyant:
Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

Cult Nails Clairvoyant

This is three coats of Clairvoyant (no top coat), a medium purple jelly with multicoloured iridescent flakes. The flakies are pretty similar in colour to the new Fingerpaints Twisted flakie, but with the obvious difference of the purple base. Love this polish, hope it isn’t gone for good!

Power Thief:
Cult Nails Power Thief

Cult Nails Power Thief

Cult Nails Power Thief

Power Thief, a neutral medium chocolatey brown with silvery shimmer flecks that sort of reflect different colours in the light. This was two coats (no top coat) and the formula was thick but smooth. Another favourite from this collection.

Time Traveler:
Cult Nails Time Traveler

Cult Nails Time Traveler

Cult Nails Time Traveler
Tardis-blue jelly! This was the thickest of the collection. One thick coat might even be enough, but I did two regular coats. No top coat here; look at that shine! Deep yet bright blue, love it!

Mind Control:
Cult Nails Mind Control

Cult Nails Mind Control

Cult Nails Mind Control

Sheer charcoal with duochrome purple shimmer flakes that shift to greenish-gold in the light. This one had the thinnest formula of the collection; this is three coats (no top coat), and it did need the third. It wasn’t especially difficult to apply, though. I decided to do a comparison with two other polishes I have.

NYX Deep Space, Cult Nails Mind Control, Color Club Alias

NYX Deep Space, Cult Nails Mind Control, Color Club Alias

Index to ring: NYX Deep Space, Cult Nails Mind Control, Color Club Alias

NYX Deep Space, Cult Nails Mind Control, Color Club Alias

NYX Deep Space, Cult Nails Mind Control, Color Club Alias

These all have fairly thin formulas (in fact I’d say Mind Control has the thickest of the three), and all are shown with three coats. The NYX has larger, but more sparse shimmer flakes than Mind Control does. Color Club Alias has a noticeably more purple base (as the second photo shows) and has denser sparkle than the others. Alias is my favourite of the three, but I haven’t really been into these sorts of charcoal/purple shades lately. They’re all very nice polishes with decent formulas, though.

Finally, I have some photos of Clairvoyant layered over the other three polishes in the collection! Index is two coats of Power Thief, middle 3 coats of Mind Control, and ring one coat of Time Traveler. All have one coat of Clairvoyant over top. The sun was starting to set here so that affected the colouring of the photos a bit.

Cult Nails Clairvoyant over Time Traveler, Mind Control, and Power Thief

Cult Nails Clairvoyant over Time Traveler, Mind Control, and Power Thief

Cult Nails Clairvoyant over Time Traveler, Mind Control, and Power Thief

Cult Nails Clairvoyant over Time Traveler, Mind Control, and Power Thief

Overall, a great collection! The polishes range in consistency but all were easy to work with. Looking forward to their next collection. Which coincidentally has just been announced today on Maria’s blog (Maria is the creator of Cult Nails). It’s called Let’s Get Nekkid and features four nude shades with golden shimmer and a (sadly, limited edition due to the ingredient issue) aqua-green flakie! Looking forward to it!!