Dupe? - Paparazzi Dulce Butterfly

Time for another comparison post. This time I'm on the hunt for Nicole by OPI Paparazzi Don't Preach dupe. Grabbing the bottles of polish I also noticed OPI Dulce de Leche and OPI A Butterfly Moment seem comparable. Let's see how these polishes compared shall we?

OPI Fair Dinkum Pinkum (FDP) is part of the bottle comparison because it seemed comparable to NOPI Paparazzi Don't Preach. However, FDP is baby pink with white/milky base and sheerest formula. In other words, definitely not a dupe for any of these 3 polishes.

L-R: OPI Fair Dinkum Pinkum, NOPI Paparazzi Don't Preach, OPI Dulce de Leche, OPI A Butterfly Moment

L-R: OPI Fair Dinkum Pinkum, NOPI Paparazzi Don't Preach, OPI Dulce de Leche, OPI A Butterfly Moment

NOPI Paparazzi Don't Preach (PDP) looks like peachy nude when compared to the other two which are definitely rose coloured. Looks very modern and young compared to the other two colours. 

OPI Dulce de Leche (DDL)  is a deep rose and darkest colour out of the three. Formula is most pigmented and dried with the most shine.

OPI A Butterfly Moment (ABM) colour is between DDL and PDP. Its more rosy and darker than PDP, has gold shimmer, and dried with the least shine (very dull, needs top coat). ABM is beautiful, the gold shimmer really adds an extra dimension to this nude.

Pictures below show two coats without top coat:

Comparing shine factor between the polishes.

Definitely no dupes here. After this comparison, I am liking PDP a whole lot more, seeing what a modern/young shade of nude it is. Also, this comparison made me realize how much of a grandma shade DDL is on me; and that I should wear ABM more. From favorite to least, I rank these ABM, PDP and DDL. A reminder that nudes look different on different skin tones, so try swatching on some tape in the store (if allowed) to see which nudes look best on you!

Once again sorry for only posting about once a week. I just haven't had the time or been in the mood to do postings due to stress of my ever nearing exam. Hope you guys have a great week, happy nude hunting and thanks for reading!

Which polish out of these three is your favourite? Do you already own some of these polishes?

Swatch - China Glaze Stella

I have a couple of hours of free time today, so I figure I would do a swatch posting! This is going to be quick and short.

China Glaze Stella:
Dark warm (red leaning) purple shimmer that has this glow from within look with dark edges. This polish is from the Retro Diva collection released by China Glaze a few years ago. Pictures show 2 coats without top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - Great
Pigmentation - Great, a 1 coater (2 coats necessary if do not use thick coats)
Finish - Little bit of shine, TC recommended
Dry time - Faster side for dark colour
Prone to - brush strokes (slightly), less noticeable when dry
Wear - tip wear in 1 day, chipped within 3 days 
Application tip: try to apply fast and not go over same spot too many times (will start to drag due to faster dry time)

This is a beautiful colour with a great formula. I just wishes tip wear on this was better, because nothing bothers me more than seeing this white outline at my nail edge. Overall, this is a definitely like for me and I will be wearing it many times due to the beautiful colour.

What do you think about this colour? Do you own this polish?

Swatch - OPI Steady As She Rose

Woohoo, Monday is over (almost)! I haven't posted in a few days, so I thought I better get a post in whenever I have some time. As next month approaches, I'm afraid my posts will be even less frequent due to a major exam I have coming up at the end of May. However, after the exam I will be back on my regular posting schedule. So just bear with me for a little while, because I really appreciate all you guys who read my blog! Let's get to it then shall we?

OPI Steady As She Rose:
Greyed out lilac pink cream. The polish is from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection released in May 2011. This is a great colour that is also work appropriate. After seeing so many mentions of this polish on blogs, I knew I had to get it in my hot little hands (and I'm very glad I did). The pictures show 2 medium coats with no top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - decent, streaky and thin on first coat but everything evened out on second coat
Pigmentation - decent, 2 medium coats or 3 thin coats
Finish - shiny
Prone to - nothing (not bald spots or streaks)
Dry time - average
Removal - easy

There is nothing to say other than I like this colour much much more than I expected. I like it so much, in fact, I went and bought a similar colour (NOPI Am I Making Myself Claire?) as backup. This one is a beauty, I have worn it 4 times since I bought it (that's a lot considering I have a lot of unworn polishes I try to get through). Alright, I tried to keep this post short and sweet. Hope you liked the swatch. Have an awesome week!

Swatch - Nicole by OPI Paparazzi Don't Preach

Woohoo! It's sunny outside, spring is finally here! Now we just need the strong winds to stop blowing our town then everything would be perfect. Another nude to be shown today. This is another polish I had given up on finding, but had a major lemming for. I came across it randomly while searching for other polishes (funny how that seems to happen). Even better... it was on sale for only $4.50! I was ecstatic to say the least. One comment about the brushes for these NOPI polishes, I am loving them. They are the bushier version of OPI polishes, meaning more bristles and thicker but with the same pro-wide shape. These makes application a breeze.

Nicole by OPI Paparazzi Don't Preach is a salmon nude cream. It is part of the Kardashian Kolors collection released in the Spring 2012. This guy is quite the color changer, meaning different lighting, different color. I do also find my hands change color depending on warm/cool lighting. So this polish can look very salmon/peach/rose at times, and light nude at other times. The color is darker and more rosy/salmon on the nail than in the bottle.

Pictures show 2 coats with top coat. These show the polish's nude and less rosy side. Hardly any pictures of the rosy side even on Google images, but darker skintones seem to bring it out more (must be the yellow tones in my skin bringing out the pink).

Specifications:
Formula - decent, streaky first coat
Pigmentation - good, 2 coats no VNL
Finish - medium shine, TC recommended
*Note - really annoying black fibers in polish (I think they are from the brush) that get stuck and part of your mani
*Application tip - light touch and thicker coats to avoid streaking then only need 2 coats, also if do 1st coat thick (minimize streaking and bald spots) will definitely only need 2 coats

I was sad this polish did not live up to my expectations in terms of colour. I had expected this creamy nude, not a salmon. Basically, I loved it when it looked nude (almost achieve mannequin hands) but disliked it when rosy (grandma-like). So depending on your skintone, this polish will look different. Hope this posting helped, since this polish can probably still be found at some drugstores. Thanks for reading~

Swatch - Color Club Factory Girl

The polish I am showing you today is one I was very excited about. For over a year now, I have been kicking myself for not buying OPI What's With The Cattitude when I saw it in a store. Ever since then I have been on the hunt for that polish or a dupe. Finally, I came across Color Club Factory Girl because the two polishes looked identical. I guess I will never know if they truly are dupes until I get my paws on WWTC, in the mean time Factory Girl will have to do.

Color Club Factory Girl is a bright sky/baby blue cream. The colour is much brighter on the nail compared to in the bottle, which seemingly makes the colour look muted. There is a lot to say regarding the formula, all that needs to be known is that it is a hot mess! (More on that later) However, the colour is gorgeous! Pictures show 3 thick coats with top coat, second picture is most colour accurate.

Specifications:
Formula - worst I have ever come across, it is patchy and drags as you are putting on the polish
Prone to - bald spots!!!
Pigmentation - sheer, need at least 3 medium to thick coats
Dry time - faster than average for creams
Finish - rubber like (dull), top coat recommended
*Application tip:  have LOTS of polish on brush when apply and try never to go over the same spot more than once to avoid dragging

I really really wanted to kill my WWTC lemming, but the awful formula makes that impossible. The colour is awesome, exactly what I wanted, but it is not enough to make up for the awful formula. Notice how many times I have talked about the formula? It is THAT BAD! Definitely would not recommend this polish to anyone. I will keep searching for WWTC as well as its dupe. Victory will be mine!

Dupe? - Mimosas Bubble Lyre

I have yet to come up with witty titles for these comparison posts. One day...one day... After wearing OPI Don't Burst My Bubble for a couple of days, I couldn't help but feel I had something similar in my stash. After pulling a few nudes out, the closest ones I could find were OPI Mimosas For Mr. & Mrs. and OPI You Callin' Me A Lyre? Let's see how they compared with one another.

L-R: Mimosas For Mr. & Mrs. (MFMM), Don't Burst My Bubble (DBMB), You Callin' Me A Lyre (YCMAL)

I have thrown in a bottle comparison of OPI Fair Dinkum Pinkum with the other three polishes. FDP is darker and much more pink than the others, so I did not think it necessary to compare on the nail.

L-R: Mimosas For Mr. & Mrs., Don't Burst My Bubble, You Callin' Me A Lyre, Fair Dinkum Pinkum

MFMM has a peach /yellow tone, milky/white base and thickest in formula. YCMAL is the most pink and darkest in colour, but thinnest formula (a true jelly). DBMB is a faint pink with a formula that is in between the other two (also milky/white base). All photos show 3 coats of each polish, without top coat. Polish bottle (white colour) held in the photos were not used on nails, used to show colour on nails better. 

Conclusion:
Upon further inspection, I found these 3 to not be dupes at all. All the formulas and colours were different. There isn't one I would recommend over the other, because it is up to your personal preference and skintone. Each has its own personality, hopefully this post gave you some good insight.

Happy nude polish hunting! Thanks for stopping by~

Swatch - OPI Don't Burst My Bubble

The last of the OPI Disney Oz The Great and Powerful collection will be shown today. I got this polish free from OPI as a replacement for When Monkeys Fly, due to the uproar regarding the taco glitter in WMF. This polish marks my first complete OPI collection, meaning I have never owned all the polishes from a collection until now! Seems a little anticlimactic that a soft shades collection marks this milestone (yes, I'm considering this a milestone). See swatches and reviews for the rest of the Oz collection here.

OPI Don't Burst My Bubble is a very very light pink (white pink?) crelly (cream and jelly hybrid). The colour took a couple of days to grow on me, I didn't think much of it when I first slapped it on. Turns out this whisper of pink was quite flattering against my skintone. Pictures below are three thick coats without top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - consistency is between a cream and jelly, A.K.A. crelly
Pigmentation - requires 3 medium/thick coats for no VNL
Finish - shiny
Dry time - faster than your average cream polish
Prone to - streaks and bald spots, unless use at least 3 coats (typical for soft shades)
Application tip - apply with a light touch to avoid streaking and bald spots as much as possible

After wearing this polish, I understand why I never thought to purchase it. The shade is not revolutionary, just a regular ol' nude polish. This was very clean and appropriate for the office. Not that I do not like nudes, I do, but there are tons of dupes out there for this guy. I found the other 2 nudes in this collection more interesting in terms of colour. With that said, this shade did turn out to be surprisingly flattering against my skintone.

What do you guys think about this polish? Do you own it?

Swatch - OPI Skull & Crossbones

Do you guys ever find it strange when you see really old OPI polishes at your local salon randomly popping up for sale? I sure do. This was the case for this OPI that I am going to show you today. I went around browsing at my local salon and found OPI Skull & Crossbones in a sale bin. Did this polish magically appear out of no where? I haven't seen any polishes from the Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides collection at any of the salons in town since a couple months after its release. My certainty comes from the fact that a friend and I check these stores on a regular basis. This whole situation seems bizarre to me, because it seems like they forgot about a few stray bottles and two years later they find them in a dusty corner. How does this happen?! I think I am over analyzing the whole thing, and it is time for some swatches.

OPI Skull & Crossbones is a grey with green and beige tones that really warm the colour up. The green tones are tough to see unless you compare the colour to another grey. I got NOPI Am I Making Myself Claire at the same time as this polish, and having the two colours side by side really showed the green in this polish. Very different! The availability of this polish needs to be noted. This was a limited edition polish and is no longer available in major stores (unless you get lucky like me!).

Pictures below show 3 coats (index & ring) and 2 coats (middle & pinky) with top coat. Two nails required 3 coats due to some coats being thin and streaky.

Specifications:
Formula - streaky
Pigmentation - alright, 2 medium coats applied lightly will yield good results
Finish - shiny
dry time - average
removal - easy
*Application tip: apply with light touch and thicker coats to avoid streakiness

Grey polish I usually stay away from, there is something about grey nails that do not appeal to me. The reason I purchased this polish is due to the green tone, making it less grey and more unique, in my opinion. So due to the green, I really like this polish! Too bad spring has finally decided to arrive in town, so I won't be wearing these fall colours as much.

Pirate of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection: Mermaid Tears, Planks A Lot, Skull & Crossbones, Sparrow Me The Drama, Steady As She Rose, Stranger Tides, and Silver Shatter.

Nail Mail - OPI Replacement for When Monkeys Fly

Some of you may know about the uproar in the nail polish community regarding the curling gold glitters in OPI When Monkeys Fly. In response to the uproar, OPI decided to give a free bottle of polish from the Oz collection to those who have purchased WMF. Here in a short post, I wanted to  talk about the customer service and show the mail packaging.

Customer service from OPI was excellent. I got an email reply from OPI regarding getting a replacement polish the day after I sent my request. In the email, OPI said it would take 2-3 weeks to receive my polish (they are sending it internationally afterall). However, the polish arrived only one week after they sent me that email. I could not have been more pleased.

I took pictures of how they packaged the polish. A lot of thought and care was put in, through the heavy use of bubble wrap and having the polish inside a box. This is exactly what I like to see when I open up my nail mail, my polishes safely cushioned. There are pictures on the internet of girls receiving a sticky, colourful, broken glass mess when they open up their nail mail, and it is heart breaking. Did not happen here!

 Woohoo! From OPI!

 Lots of bubble wrap below and above the polish box.

 These bubbles are humongous! Biggest I have ever seen! Popping these are a little terrifying instead of fun.

 A polish so lonely in an OPI box that holds six.

Which polish did I get? Drum roll please! OPI Don't Burst My Bubble! This was the only one I was missing from the oz collection, so instead of a backup I decided to complete my collection.

This post ended up being longer than I wanted it to be, I will try harder next time. Hopefully, I will have swatches of this polish soon. My basket of "yet to be worn" polishes is actually overflowing. This means it is time for me to go polish my nails now!

Dupe? - Am I Claire vs. Steady Rose

If you have browsed around on my blog, you will have noticed I like to categorize my posts. The category being the first word in the post title be it "swatch" or "share". A new category called "dupe?" is now created, where polish comparisons will be made. I used "dupe?" because in my mind I was thinking "dupe or no dupe?" (like a TV show title) but that was simply too long.

On this first episode of "Dupe?", I am comparing Nicole by OPI Am I Making Myself Claire? with OPI Steady As She Rose. Looking online and at the bottles they look almost identical. Once on the nail there are clear differences. AIMMC is definitely a lavender/purple and slightly darker, while SASR is pink and lighter. I was surprised by how purple AIMMC is when I wore it by itself. So there are clearly distinguishable differences between the two.

In the pictures below, I wore 2 coats with top coat for both colours.

Here are some bottle shots to compare the colours. In the first picture, the differences I listed above are very clearly displayed. I thought OPI Rumple's Wiggin' might have similarities with AIMMC, so I put in a bottle shot for good measure. From the picture, RW is in a whole different spectrum from AIMMC. RW is clean with no dustiness and a brighter lavender.

 L-R: OPI Steady As She Rose, NOPI Am I Making Myself Claire?, OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

Conclusion: No dupes here! They are close, but one is pink while the other is lavender. If you have a clear preference for either pink or purple, you can pass up the other polish. However, if you love these types of dusty polishes then you will want both.

Hope you found this comparison helpful. Let me know which shade you prefer!

Swatch - Nicole by OPI Am I Making Myself Claire?

Recently, there was a sale on Nicole by OPI polishes at a drugstore. Since they were half price, I decided to get a couple from the Selena Gomez and Modern Family collection. These were polishes I had given up hopes of getting, because I did not want to pay the high price of NOPI. Obtaining these polishes was extremely satisfying, since I haven't been able to stop thinking about them ever since they were released!

NOPI Am I Making Myself Claire? is a greyed out lavender cream from the recently released Modern Family collection. I thought this was going to be a dupe for OPI Steady As She Rose, so I bought it as a backup. However, from doing a comparison of the two polishes I have found they are not dupes at all (comparison post coming soon). In the pictures, I wore 2 coats with top coat.

Specifications:
Formula - EXCELLENT! One of the best formulas I have ever come across.
Application - Super easy
Pigmentation - almost a 1 coater (medium to thick coat)
Finish - shiny with a tad of dullness, top coat recommended
Dry time - average
Prone to - nothing! (no streaking, dragging or balding spots)

Wow, this polish knocked my socks off! This took me completely by surprise. I was expecting to love to colour but the formula...oh man, the formula...dreamy, absolutely dreamy! The formula makes me love this polish even more. Admittedly, this is my first NOPI; therefore, I did not know what to expect from the formula department. After this experience, I will definitely be purchasing more NOPI's in the future if all their formulas are this great. With more NOPI's to swatch, we will see whether this excellent formula is carried out across the board.

I highly recommend this polish! The Modern Family collection is still available now in drugstores. Have you picked up any polishes from the Modern Family collection?