Nicole by OPI I Lilac Gumdrops

purchased by me

I Lilac Gumdrops is a blue-toned purple textured polish.  It's a bit sheer and took three coats to be opaque, but it wore like iron--in five days, I only had a bit of tip wear!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

I Lilac Gumdrops is more blue-toned than Zoya Stevie, and Stevie was opaque in two coats rather than three.  I Lilac Gumdrops is on my ring and middle fingers, and Stevie is on my pinkie and index fingers.  They're not dupes, but if you already have Stevie, I wouldn't grab the Nicole unless you really want a bluer polish.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

The Gumdrops collection are now available at CVS stores, CVS.com, Ulta stores and website and drugstore.com at varying prices.

Zoya Pixie Dust: Miranda and OPI Mariah Carey: The Impossible

The Impossible purchased by me

Miranda sent for review

Today's pair is one that I thought would be a much closer match than it is! Pictures and reviews after the jump.

Orly Mysterious Curse

Orly has a four-piece mini collection out now which is inspired by the new Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie, Dark Shadows.  I still haven't forgiven the two of them for the disgusting mess they made of the classic short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," but I have to admit that this particular reboot looks intriguing.

Anyway, there are four colors in the collection, and of course I had to get the shimmer and the glitter.  First up is Mysterious Curse, which is a gorgeous purple that looks exactly like a ripe red grape and has a beautiful blue flash. 

Indoors with flash:

More pictures and an explanation of my accent nail after the jump.

China Glaze Polarized

Happy Monday! Today I have another Prismatic collection polish, this time with some comparisons to show how unique it is. The China Glaze Prismatic collection is available now at e-tailers and beauty supply stores. It's a clear base so full of silver and holographic glitter that you almost can't tell the base is there. Like the others from this collection, this satisfies my need for drama on my nails while still staying a soft spring pastel. Polarized could not have been more opaque--I used three coats for all swatches. Also, it was a dream to work with, not too thin, not too thick, no dragging or pooling, and no need for fussiness in placing glitters. The micro-glitter that gives Polarized its primary color does not change color--it stays silver.

In the sun:



Indoors with flash:



Indoors no flash:



Compared with Nubar Silver Spark on pinky and Zoya Luna on middle finger, three coats each:

Indoors without flash:


Indoors with flash:



In the sun:

Color Club Cold Metal swatches and comparisons

Cold Metal is part of Color Club's 2011 Foiled collection, and is still easily available at most etailers. It was almost perfect with one coat, but I used two and no topcoat because it was shiny as heck on its own!

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



Overcast natural light:



I actually have more blue polishes than I do copper (someday I'll have to do another mani with both colors) so here are some comparison swatches. None of the finishes match, but one of the colors is almost a dead ringer. Still, because the finishes are so different, I feel quite comfy keeping all of these!

Pinkie to thumb, two coats each of China Glaze Frostbite, Cold Metal, China Glaze Blue Year's Eve, China Glaze Blue Sparrow Neon and Nubar Midnight Sparkle.

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



Overcast daylight:

China Glaze Harvest Moon swatches & comparisons

Another pic-heavy post! Harvest Moon is the only polish I got from the Hunger Games collection, but I'm so glad I did. It's a gorgeous, bright, blazing copper foil, and I'm wearing it on my toes right now. It was perfect and opaque in two coats and removal was easy. Plus, I'm a complete sucker for BPAL's Harvest Moon perfumes--I have two of the six versions of this blend and adore them both.

In the sun:

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



China Glaze Harvest Moon and In Awe of Amber look similar in the bottle:



But totally different on the nail. Two coats of each:

In the sun:



Indoors without flash:



Indoors with flash:



From pinkie to thumb, two coats each of Zoya Colette, China Glaze Harvest Moon, Revlon Copper Penny, China Glaze Ginger and China Glaze in Awe of Amber.

In the sun:

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



Clearly, I adore copper nail polish, but thankfully all of these are different enough to justify keeping them all. Colette is browner and has a softer shimmer, Copper Penny is paler and softer, Ginger has glitter and In Awe of Amber is much sheerer. Hmmm, now I'm thinking about doing jelly sandwiches with In Awe of Amber...

Red Glitter comparison

Last week, the lovely GG asked if I had any other Nubar Sparkle polishes, and I got my Zoya Valentine's Day free polish, Delilah, so I decided to combine swatches of both in a quick comparison post with Color Club Santa's Cinnamon and China Glaze Ruby Pumps. All four polishes are lovely, not too thin and not too thick, with sparkling red glitter in a red jelly base. Three of the four are blue-based reds, and although they look similar in the bottles, one is an odd duck of an orange-based red.

Gratuitous bottle shot:



All swatches are two coats. Left to right, they are Santa's Cinnamon, Ruby Pumps, Fire Sparkle (which could have used a third coat) and Zoya Delilah.

In the shade:



In the sun:



I adore all of them, and while Santa's Cinnamon, Ruby Pumps and Delilah are very similar, I couldn't imagine parting with any of them. Fire Sparkle is unique because it's an orange-based red jelly.

Three Comparisons

So in my initial review of the True Collection from Zoya, I said that Skylar seemed like a silver-glitter version of Barielle's Falling Star. Ha! I was pretty well wrong in that--the shades are just barely in the same family in the bottle and completely different on the nail! I did some quick swatches, from left to right of Falling Star, Zoya Jo, Zoya Skylar and Orly Snocone.

Two coats of each polish, with flash:



And without flash:



Interesting how the other blues make Skylar look greenish-greyish-blue!

Another comparison that came to mind was Zoya Opal and Sinful Colors Green Ocean. When it first came out and when it was re-released, Green Ocean was all of $1.99, but I just looked on Ebay, and it's currently selling for $12.99, so Opal is definitely a better buy at $8.00. As for the comparison, this is three coats of each polish, Opal on the left and Green Ocean on the right--can you see a difference?





No? Neither can I, so if you've wanted Green Ocean, grab Opal as soon as it's available!

One last comparison, for my lovely friend clowder, Zoya Maisie and Nfu-Oh 52. As you can see, Maisie is a barely-there wash of color, and 52 is a full purple jelly base, so yes, there is reason to own both!



I hope the comparisons have helped or at least entertained you, and if you want to get Jo or any other Zoyas besides True or Fleck Effects polishes, Zoya has a coupon code for you:

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*Promotion Excludes True & Fleck Effect Collection Colors

China Glaze Snowglobe and KleanColor Sugar Coat: comparison and swatches

China Glaze Snow Globe is a re-promot from the 50 Specialty Polishes collection and now available as part of the Let It Snow collection. Sugar Coat is regularly available from KleanColor. Both polishes have large iridescent round glitter in a clear base, but Snow Globe also has iridescent microglitter. The pictures show one coat of Snow Globe on my thumb, middle and pinkie and one coat of Sugar Coat on my index and ring fingers. Both are over two coats of Joe Fresh Prune.

Inside without flash:



Inside with flash:



In sunshine:



Sugar Coat seems to flash more consistently red and yellow, where Snow Globe also flashes tiny bits of cooler colors like pink and blue. Because of the microglitter, the extra colors and the smell, I prefer Snow Globe to Sugar Coat.

Zoya Noel: review, swatches and a comparison

Noel is one of three new foils from Zoya's Gems and Jewels collection for the 2011 Holiday season, and it's a shimmering denim blue foil. It took two coats to reach bottle color and was very easy to work with.



Indoors, no flash:



Indoors, with flash:



In the sunshine:



I wondered when I first saw the promos and press releases and swatches how close Noel would be to Zoya Crystal, which was part of the Flame collection.



The answer is, not very! They're in the same color family, but in addition to the gold shimmer in Crystal, Crystal is much lighter.

Two coats of Crystal on my middle and pinkie fingers, two coats of Noel on my index and ring fingers, in the sunshine:



So yes, if you have Crystal and want Noel, you should definitely go for it! :)