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

Posts tagged ‘comparison’

Deep Blue Holo Comparison featuring Glitter Gal and NCLA

I meant to post this comparison ages ago. Better late than never? πŸ™‚

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won't, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won’t, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Here are three blue Glitter Gals and one NCLA for the sake of contrast; NCLA Spaced Out is a creme-based scattered holo unlike the linear holo Glitter Gals. Two coats each.

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won't, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won’t, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Teal Blue is more teal obviously, and Navy I will Navy I Won’t and Marine Blue are similar to one another.

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won't, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won’t, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Marine Blue is just a bit darker than Navy I Will, and the metallic shimmer flash of Navy I Will leans a little bit teal while Marine Blue’s is more of a royal blue (the shimmer and its contrast is most obvious in the photo directly above).

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won't, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won’t, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Hope this might be helpful to someone out there!

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won't, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Left to right: Glitter Gal Teal Blue, Glitter Gal Navy I Will Navy I Won’t, Glitter Gal Marine Blue, NCLA Spaced Out

Disclosure: Glitter Gal Navy I Will, Navy I Won’t was previously provided by the company for review.

Glitter Gal Suede and stamped accents

Today I’m wearing Glitter Gal Suede, a great creme-based taupe brown holo.

glittergal_suede_flash3

Two easy coats plus top coat shown here, with flash.

glittergal_suede_flash2

glittergal_suede_flash

Under Ott Lite:

glittergal_suede_ott

glittergal_suede_ott2

This is actually the second day I’m wearing this mani, and I got a couple of chipped nails on my right hand while doing some chores last night, so I decided to repaint those nails with a matching creme polish, Finger Paints Haute Taupe (2 coats although it’s almost a one-coater), and added stamping using Color Club Sugar Rays and an image from Messy Mansion MM13. With flash:

gg_suede_fp_hautetaupe_cc_sugarrays_mm13

Sugar Rays is a pale silvery taupe shimmer with pink-gold duochrome that works quite well for stamping! Under Ott Lite:

gg_suede_fp_hautetaupe_cc_sugarrays_mm13_

Edited to add: I was thinking that Haute Taupe reminded me a lot of something else I wore recently, Milani Teddy-Bare, so I did this quick comparison. Milani Teddy-Bare is on my index, FingerPaints Haute Taupe on my middle finger (Glitter Gal Suede on my ring and pinky, of course). Both were two coats – when I wore the Milani as a mani, I needed three coats and found the formula thin, but it must have had something to do with the weather or something, because that wasn’t the case when I did the comparison! Anyway, as you can see they are similar but Haute Taupe is significantly warmer toned.

milani_teddybare_fingerpaints_hautetaupe

Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine and Comparison

I recently learned of Black Dahlia Lacquer, an indie brand based in Texas that just launched last fall, who make vegan polishes. The polishes looked great, so I had to place an order to check them out! πŸ˜‰

black_dahlia_lacquer_bottles

From left to right, Dandelion Fields, Beach Jasmine, My Butter Half, 90 in November (this one wasn’t part of my order but was sent as an extra!), Daffodil Petals, Austin City Limits. The polishes come in an 8ml ‘petite’ size, which is what I ordered, as well as regular 14ml full size. Today I’ve got swatches and a comparison for Beach Jasmine but I hope to also photograph the rest of them soon!

I love the bottles, the 8ml bottles have the same unique shape as the full size ones, which is a really nice touch! The brush, again even in the mini size bottles, is a flat wide brush, my favourite type.

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine3

Beach Jasmine is a light taupey-beige creme with lots of gold flecks. A beautiful nude colour!

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine2

I used two coats here. (My coats seem to have been a bit thinner on my index finger than the other nails and I think maybe it shows a bit in the photos…) The formula was smooth and easy to apply. Very happy with this polish!

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine

In the shade:

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine_shade

Since I love nudes with gold shimmer, I had a few in mind that this one reminded me of: Cult Nails Mazo, China Glaze Fast Track, and Essence Irreplaceable.

blackdahlialacquer_beachjasmine_compbottles

This first photo shows two coats of each polish. As you can see, Mazo is much more sheer than the others.

Left to right, 2 coats each: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right, 2 coats each: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Next photos show 3 coats of Cult Nails Mazo on the index and 3 coats of China Glaze Fast Track on the ring (the third wasn’t really necessary but I wanted to better cover my ridges on that nail).

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Mazo is more yellow-toned, Fast Track is browner, and Irreplaceable is just slightly more grey.

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Left to right: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Irreplaceable is definitely the closest to Beach Jasmine though. Irreplaceable’s shimmer is slightly more dense and has a very slight green shift to it that doesn’t show on the nail, but the two are close. I believe Irreplaceable is hard to find now, so this polish is a good replacement (har, har!) for anyone looking for it.

Top to bottom: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Top to bottom: Cult Nails Mazo, Black Dahlia Lacquer Beach Jasmine, China Glaze Fast Track, Essence Irreplaceable

Now, I can’t show a polish with Jasmine in the name without showing my beautiful Jasmine. πŸ˜‰

bed_jasmine

Jasmine is the most feral of our cats; she’s almost 9 years old now and has been with me since the age of 6 months, but it’s just in the past two years that she’s really allowed me to pet her at all (and then, just in her ‘safe’ situations – but in those situations, she’s learned that she really likes it!).

bed_jasmine_and_friends

She’s much more comfortable with other cats than with humans. Here she is on the bed with Oliver (one of her littermates, who adapted much more easily to us humans), Seymour who is licking Oliver, and the baby of the family, Wu, on the right!

Zoya Autumn and Comparison

Zoya Autumn is from last fall’s Ignite collection. It’s a great metallic orange-copper base with sparkly gold shimmer flecks. Two coats plus top coat.

zoya_autumn_sun

Little Wu kept photobombing me. ❀

zoya_autumn_wu_photobomb

zoya_autumn_wu_photobomb2

zoya_autumn_sun2

Indirect light:

zoya_autumn_partshade

I compared Autumn to four other shades: OPI Bronzed to Perfection (2 coats), which has more of a creme base with added shimmer, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising (3 coats), which has small bronze, pink, and greenish-gold glass flecks in a (I think) clear base, Sparitual Rusted Lux (3 coats), a rusty red jelly base with heavy gold glass fleck, and Sparitual Conduit (3 coats), a brownish jelly base with the same gold glass flecks. The differences show best in the shade and artificial light photos.

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Shade/indirect light:

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Ott Lite:

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

Thumb to pinkie: OPI Bronzed to Perfection, Deborah Lippmann Phoenix Rising, Zoya Autumn, Sparitual Rusted Lux, Sparitual Conduit

I love all of these!

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! πŸ˜€

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.

Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare and comparisons

I’ve got a couple of gold polishes from last year for you today, along with a comparison!

First is Zoya Ziv, a foil finish combining fairly neutral gold flecks with warmer, brassy gold flecks.

Zoya Ziv

It’s a bit sheer, so this was three coats. It has a nice foil formula, although it did threaten to drip down the brush stem on me.

Zoya Ziv

Next is Orly Flare, a more metallic finish warm gold shade.

Orly Flare

This is also three coats, but it was a bit less sheer than Ziv. Also was a bit drippy down the brush stem (something about the air that day??).

Orly Flare

The comparison shows three coats each of Ziv, Flare, Sparitual Solstice (which is identical to Orly Glitz and Glamour), and OPI Goldeneye.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

Goldeneye and Solstice are the most similar of the four, but Goldeneye is more sheer.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

Flare is fairly similar in colour to those two, but not in finish.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

Index to pinkie: Zoya Ziv, Orly Flare, Sparitual Solstice, OPI Goldeneye.

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.

bumster_catwalk_hotcouture

bumster_catwalk_hotcouture2

Butter London Bumster by itself:

bumster

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

pepe

pepe2

pepe3

pepe4

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. πŸ™‚

20131026-212445.jpg

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

yellowgreen_dots

yellowgreen_dots2

Illamasqua Elope:

elope

elope2

Zoya FeiFei and comparison

Today I have another polish from last fall to show you! Zoya FeiFei from the Diva collection.

Zoya FeiFei

FeiFei is a multicoloured foily fleck polish that is predominantly blue, with hints of gold among others. I love this type of foily flecks.

Zoya FeiFei

Three coats are shown, and the formula was great.

Zoya FeiFei

Zoya FeiFei

Under Ott Lite:

Zoya FeiFei

Zoya FeiFei

With flash:

Zoya FeiFei

One coat over black, in overcast natural light. It doesn’t really look much different over black, just, well, darker.

Zoya FeiFei over black

I compared FeiFei to Zoya Crystal, another blue with gold.

Zoya FeiFei and Crystal

Left: FeiFei, right: Crystal.

Three coats of each polish.

Zoya FeiFei and Crystal

Pinkie to index: Crystal, FeiFei, Crystal, FeiFei.

Crystal is a lighter, more true blue than FeiFei, and only has blue and gold flecks. The flecks are slightly bigger in Crystal as well. FeiFei is murkier in comparison due to the multi coloured flecks giving off an overall greyish look.

Zoya FeiFei and Crystal

Index to pinkie: FeiFei, Crystal, FeiFei, Crystal.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and comparison to Orly Flicker

Deutsch You Want Me Baby is from OPI’s Germany collection from last fall.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby

It’s a very nice metallic rusty red-orange. Its formula is thin and smooth and only needs two coats but I’m wearing three in the photos because my nails were in rough shape at the time and I didn’t use any basecoat.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby

I compared it to Orly Flicker, which came out around the same time. Left to right in the comparison photos: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker. Three coats of Flicker, which is more sheer than Deutsch.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and Orly Flicker

Index to pinkie: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and Orly Flicker

Index to pinkie: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and Orly Flicker

Index to pinkie: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker.

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and Orly Flicker

Index to pinkie: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker.

The base colour is similar between these two, but the Orly is more orange and glowy and has a mild duochrome that the OPI does not. This last photo shows that distinction best:

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and Orly Flicker

Index to pinkie: Deutsch, Flicker, Deutsch, Flicker.

Both great polishes but I much prefer Flicker; it’s one of my favourites!

Glitter Gal Transfusion and comparisons

I recently got the opportunity to review one of Glitter Gal’s newer holos, Transfusion! Transfusion is a deep red-violet shade and is really gorgeous!

Glitter Gal Transfusion

Its colour is somewhere in between burgundy and purple. I used two coats and no top coat for these photos.

Glitter Gal Transfusion

The formula is great; no issues at all!

Glitter Gal Transfusion

Lovely, and unique holo shade!

Glitter Gal Transfusion

Here is a comparison to some other burgundy and purple holos I have.

Thumb to pinkie: Picture Polish Monroe (original version), Ozotic 513, Glitter Gal Transfusion, Zoya Aurora, LA Girl Sparkle Ruby

Thumb to pinkie: Picture Polish Monroe (original version), Ozotic 513, Glitter Gal Transfusion, Zoya Aurora, LA Girl Sparkle Ruby

Here we have Picture Polish Monroe (original version – the new version has much larger holo particles and is closer to LA Girl Sparkle Ruby from what I’ve seen in photos), Ozotic 513, Glitter Gal Transfusion, Zoya Aurora, LA Girl Sparkle Ruby. Two coats of each (although Sparkle Ruby could be a one-coater).

The comparison under the Ott Lite:

Thumb to pinkie: Picture Polish Monroe (original version), Ozotic 513, Glitter Gal Transfusion, Zoya Aurora, LA Girl Sparkle Ruby

Thumb to pinkie: Picture Polish Monroe (original version), Ozotic 513, Glitter Gal Transfusion, Zoya Aurora, LA Girl Sparkle Ruby

As you can see, these are all great polishes but none of the others are similar to Transfusion! I love Transfusion, and its sister polish, a warm brick-red holo shade named Hot Chili, is going on my wish list!

You can order Glitter Gal polishes directly from them here or from one of their distributors listed here.

Disclosure: Glitter Gal Transfusion was provided to me by the company for review purposes. The opinions stated are my own honest opinions.