Comparison cobalt blue polishes

My favorite shade of all is cobalt blue and I own quite a few of them ;) Somehow I don't have a single dupe. They are all different. Ok, similar - but not dupes! :)

I thought it was time for another comparison. I've done one before about a year ago and if you want to read that one - click here.

This time I compared the following cobalt blue polishes:

Index finger - Color Club Bright Night

Middle finger - Nail Inc Baker Street

Ring finger - Essie Bouncer It's Me

Pinkie - Barry M Gelly Blue Grape

All are two coats and with top coat.

My favorite is Blue Grape from Barry M (pinkie). It's the darkest but most vibrant one in my eyes.

Bright Night and Bouncer It's Me (index and ring) are the two most similar ones but, as I said, not dupes if you look closely ;)

Which one is your favorite of these four?

Duochrome week: Comparison Impala Sex Appeal and Barry M Mediterranean

When I tried Barry M's Mediterranean I knew I had something similar in my stash and after some searching I found the bottle I was looking for, Impala's Sex Appeal.

They look quite alike in the bottles but they are not dupes. Barry M's Mediterranean has a flash of pink which Impala's Sex Appeal don't have. This is due to the almost foil finish of Mediterranean. Sex Appeal is more smooth and also shows a darker shade of orange too.

Sex Appeal has a much stronger chemical smell than Mediterrean, uncomfortably strong actually, but I still prefer Sex Appeal over Mediterranean. It's more smooth and intense. If you are a big fan of orange/red douchromes you of course need both of these :)

In these pictures I've got Barry M Mediterranean on middle finger and pinkie. Impala Sex Appeal on pointer and ring finger.

Which one do you prefer?

Comparison Cirque Bejeweled and OPI DS Glamour

When I applied the beautiful Cirque Bejeweled I started thinking about how similar it would to OPI's epic DS Glamour. Said and done, here is the comparison of the two of them. Just in time for Holo Friday! ;)

This is two coats of each. No top coat.

Cirque Bejeweled on middle finger and pinkie.
OPI DS Glamour on pointer finger and ring finger.

Bejeweld to the left.
Glamour to the right.

I think the pictures say it all really. You can see both the similarities and the differences. They are both blue holos but they are so different that they both deserve a place in my (or anyone's) collection! :) They are stunningly beautiful!

Which one is your favorite?

Comparison Isadora Wine Crush and Kicks Black Diamond

Recently two Swedish nail polish brands released a similar textured shade - a glittery maroon. Isadora released their Wine Crush and Kicks their Black Diamond. I wanted to see how similar they were so I did a comparison.

In the bottles they are very similar. A maroon base with loads of gold glitters.

On the nails you can actually see a tiny difference. Isadora's Wine Crush has a tiny bit darker base but they both have the same amount of red and gold glitters. The bases are actually dark purples but the glitters make them look maroon.

In my pictures I wear two coats of each and drying time is about the same for both of them, about 15 minutes for touch dryness.

The price is 79 SEK for each, but Isadora holds only 6 ml whereas Kicks holds 10 ml.

The wide brush is better on Isadora Wine Crush but Kicks Black Diamond holds more polish for the same money and has a smaller cap underneath the big one which is more comfortable to grip than the Isadora cap.

In my opinion they are so similar that you don't need both. However, they are not dupes either. Based on my comparison my choice is Kicks Black Diamond :)

Middle finger and pinkie - Kicks Black Diamond

Pointer and ring finger - Isadora Wine Crush

Isadora to the left, Kicks to the right

Which one of these two would you prefer?

Comparison Isadora Love Crush and Depend #2061 Poppy

A while ago when I showed you Isadora Love Crush I promised to show you a cheaper alternative. Many of you probably knew which polish I meant and here it is - Depend #2061 Poppy! A perfect dupe as far as I can see! And cheaper ;) Almost half price. And don't be fooled by the bottles sizes. There's only a 1 ml (0.03 fl oz) difference between them.

This is two coats of each polish. Isadora on middle finger and pinkie. Depend on pointer finger and ring finger. Can you see any difference? ;)

Isn't my Geranium lovely too? :)

Do you think these are perfect dupes?

Or do you have a favorite? :)

Comparison of Essie For the Twill of It and H&M Wintersky

Lately I've been reading on several blogs that H&M Wintersky is extremely similar to Essie For the Twill of It. Some bloggers even call them dupes! This is NOT true! They are definitely not dupes and not even that similar either as a matter of fact!

I have the pleasure of owning both polishes and I let my pictures speak for themselves :) This is two coats of each polish.

Essie on pointer and ring. H&M on middle and pinkie.

As you can see Wintersky is much more pale and silvery whereas For the Twill of It is much more dark grey. Yes, the both have a duo chrome effect to lilac and green but they are not dupes! They both have a much deserved place in any collection! :)

Speaking of grey/lilac/green duo chromes released this fall, For the Twill of It is much more similar to OPI Peace & Love & Opi! I don't have the OPI one but here's a bottle comparison.

From what I have seen on other blogs they are VERY similar but not dupes either. Apparently there is a tiny difference in the shade of the lilac and in the amount of visible brush strokes. This is not my own conclusion but only what I've read.

I think the H&M is the best alternative here. I like that it's so pale and that it is the most unique one of these three. It also has by far the best price!

Which one is your favorite?

Comparison textured polishes

Today I've got a comparison of four different textured brands for you. I'm comparing Orly, OPI, Isadora and Barry M.

These are today's stars:

From left to right:

Orly Aqua Pixel

OPI Get Your Number

Isadora Sky Crush

Barry M Atlantic Road

Without top coat

With one coat of top coat

Number of coats: 
Two on all except OPI which has three coats. One coat could actually be enough for Orly.

Texture:
Isadora has the most rough surface, tightly followed by OPI and Orly. Barry M doesn't feel textured at all, more like it's dust in it.

Sparkle: 
Orly is the sparkliest. Isadora is on second place and OPI is quite sparkly and has holo in it. Barry M has no sparkle at all.

Drying time:
Isadora is no doubt the fastest, about 10-15 minutes. Barry M is on second place with approx 30 minutes. OPI and Orly took 40-45 minutes to dry.

Removal: 
Orly and OPI was fairly easy to remove. Barry M wasn't that hard either. Isadora was the less easy to remove. Note! No one of these polishes was very hard to remove. No need for the foil method. :)

With one coat of a top coat:
Orly and Isadora looked pretty much the same with a top coat and Isadora was still very rough. Barry M looks like an ordinary cream polish when you add a top coat. OPI on the other hand turns into a fantastic polish with gorgeous depth and shine! A great difference and a great improvement if you ask me! :)

Summary:
In my opinion Isadora is the winner here. Beautiful, sparkly, fast drying. I don't mind that I have to work slightly harder during the removal when I get the other qualities ;)
Runner up is Orly which could be a one coater, has an amazing shine and texture and is easy to remove. The only downside is the long drying time.
OPI is only beautiful with a top coat in my opinion and Barry M's "textured" polish is a pure joke.

Which one is your winner? :)

PS. I have not taken the prices of the polishes in consideration here.

Comparison of "Black" Holos

For this Holo Friday I have a comparison of black holos for you! I put black in quotation marks because it's actually one black, one very dark grey and one grey holo that I'm comparing for you. But they are all shades of black anyhow ;)

These are the stars of today's comparison:

From left to right:

Different Dimension - Black Dahlia

Jade - Magia

Dance Legend - #2 Spacecraft

I did two coats of each with no top coat according to the following:

Index finger - Black Dahlia

Middle finger - Magia

Ring finger - Spacecraft

Pinkie - Black Dahlia

As you can see there are different kinds of black base colors, but there is also different kinds of rainbows. Black Dahlia has the weakest and most scattered rainbows whereas Spacecraft has the strongest and the most linear one. Magia has something in between. 

Black Dahlia also has iridescent purple/blue/green glitters in it but those glitters are extremely camera shy.

Spacecraft and Magia have better formulas than Black Dahlia which is a bit on the thick side probably due to the iridescent glitter.

Which one is your favorite and why?

Have you tried any of them yourself?

Comparison of Jindie Nails Candy Land and Candy Land Remix - swatches

Today I've got a comparison for you of two Jindie polishes! I'm comparing the epic Candy Land with the Limited Edition polish Candy Land Remix. I feel so lucky to have got the remix version!

The difference of the two polishes is that the remix version has tiny round neon blue, neon pink and neon orange glitters in it but the large glitter combination is the same.

This is three coats of each polish.

Index and ring finger: Candy Land Remix
Middle and pinkie: Candy Land

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

I actually like the original version best. It's more calm even though the remix version is a fun blend too!

If you'd like to see more swatches of the original version of Candy Land click here. A review of the remix version will be posted in a near future.

Which one do like best?

Comparison Cobalt Blue Polishes

I've been bad at doing comparisons lately so to make up for that I hereby give you the second comparison this week ;)
This time I'm comparing my favourite shade of blue - cobalt blue!

All polishes are two coats with one coat of top coat.

The Essie polish on the index finger looked opaque to me but somehow the camera captured it with a bit of vnl. In reality it looks opaque.

I compared these four polishes: (from left to right)

Index: Essie Bouncer It's Me

Middle: Nails Inc Baker Street

Ring: SinfulColors Endless Blue

Pinkie: H&M Blue My Mind

In short:

Most beautiful: Nails Inc Baker Street

Best formula: Nails Inc Baker Street

Worst formula: Essie Bouncer It's Me

Most opaque: SinfulColors Endless Blue

Least opaque: Essie Bouncer It's Me

Best brush: Nails Inc Baker Street

Worst brush: SinfulColors Endless Blue

As you can see none of them are dupes, not even similar to me ;)

Which one is your favorite?

Do you find comparison posts useful?

Comparison Essie Nude Polishes - swatches

Earlier this month I've shown you two of Essie's nude polishes, Playa del Platinum and Sand Tropez.

Sometimes it's hard to compare similar polishes in two separate posts. That's why I made this comparison post so you can easily compare these two nudes!

On pinkie and middle finger: Essie Playa del Platinum
On ring and index finger: Essie Sand Tropez

Both are two coats without a top coat.

As you can see Sand Tropez has more of a yellow nude tone and Playa del Platinum has a more grey nude tone.

I'm a huge grey fan so my favorite is, with no doubt, Playa del Platinum! Even though it has both a thinner formula and a thinner brush. This one also suits my skin tone best.

Which one of these two nudes do you prefer?

Orly Peaceful Opposition - swatches and review

Today I want to show you a white jelly polish with both square and hex-shaped silver glitter from Orly called Peaceful Opposition. This is a lovely first try from Orly to do a indie-look-a-like-polish! It has a sheer white base which gives it a featherlike and summery feeling to it.

I also tried to layer this polish over an opaque white polish and over the other polishes in this collection, i.e. "Hope & Freedom Fest". The results of these layerings can been seen further down ;)

Peaceful Opposition over China Glaze White Out

One thin coat of Peaceful Opposition over Elation Generation (pink), High on Hope (dark blue), Boho Bonnet (grey), Coachella Dweller (green) and Melodious Utopia (yellow)

GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT PEACEFUL OPPOSITION:

Type of polish: Glitter in a sheer jelly base.

Colour: A sheer white base with square and hex-shaped silver glitter.

Collection: Orly Hope & Freedom Fest Spring 2013.

Opacity: Ok. This is three coats. You can still see some VNL but it feels ok somehow :)

Formula: Good! A nice formula which is easy to apply. A tiny bit thick perhaps but no glitter fishing is needed ;)

Brush: Very good! No complaints ;)

Shine: Very shiny on its own so I have no top coat in these pictures.

Accurate colour, photo vs IRL: Accurate!

Grade: 4+/5 :)

When I first tried this polish I applied it over a white polish and I got sooo disappointed on how it looked. It looked like a child had pushed silver glitter into a white clay :/ But after removing that mistake and tried it on it's own I really liked it! It feels very light and summery! Like fairy wings or something ;)

I also wanted to try if Orly had planned this to be a layering polish so I tried one coat of Peaceful Opposition over the rest of the Hope & Freedom Fest polishes. It looked really nice over the creams, i.e. the grey and green polish. It looked ok over the yellow one but absolutely awful over the blue and pink ones, probably because these two is a shimmer and a glitter polish.
Summary: wear this polish alone or with one thin coat over a cream polish :)

Do you like Peaceful Opposition?

Which colour did you like it best layered over?

Comparison H&M Why So Blue and Mavala Smoky Blue

For this Blue Monday I won't show you a new blue polish. Instead I'll give you another blue polish comparison! :)
They are H&M Why So Blue and Mavala Smoky Blue.
In these pictures I wear Mavala on index and ring nails and H&M on the rest of the nails.

The only small difference is the amount and the size of the shimmer in them. Mavala has fewer but bigger shimmer and H&M has more and smaller shimmer.
So they are almost dupes - but still not. ;)

What do you think of these beauties?

Can you spot the difference?

Comparison Nails Inc Baker Street vs H&M Blue My Mind

For this Blue Monday I won't show you a new blue polish. Instead I'll give you a comparison of my two absolutely favourite blue cream polishes!! They are Nails Inc Baker Street and H&M Blue My Mind :D
I thought they would be more alike than what they really are! In my (laquer)head they were almost dupes but I was wrong!
Anyway, they are both are soooo gorgeous and they both have excellent qualities! The only really biiiiiiig difference is the price... Baker Street is £11 ($17 or SEK 135) and Blue My Mind is £4 ($6 or SEK 40).

Baker Street on middle finger and pinky.

Baker street is more cornflower blue and Blue My Mind is more of a bright medium blue.
I can't really decide which one I like the most... It used to be Blue My Mind - until I bought and tried Baker Street... Now I'm confused ;)

Which one of these blue beauties is your favourite?

Have you tried both or any of them?

Three grades of green holo - a comparison

For this Holo Friday I'll won't show you any new untried holo polish, but a comparison of three green holo polishes with three different grades of holo effects. They are all holo polishes but they go from super strong holo to weak holo and they are all green. Let's look at them shall we? :)

These are the green holo polishes that I compared: (from left to right)

Color Club Angel Kiss

Depend Laurel Green

Gina Tricot Holographic Green

(Click on the links for more swatches and reviews)

Thumb and pinke - Gina Tricot Holo Green. Index and ring - CC Angel Kiss. 

Middle - Depend Laurel Green.

Not a great difference in daylight...

...but in halogen light...! Look at the difference in holo effect!!! :D

Here are some short "good-to-knows":

Best holo effect: Color Club Angel Kiss

Best green colour: Depend Laurel Green

Best formula: Gina Tricot Holographic Green

Best opacity: Gina Tricot Holographic Green

Best brush: Gina Tricot Holographic Green

Best shine: Color Club Angel Kiss

Cheapest: Gina Tricot Holographic Green (2 SEK/ml)

Most expensive: CC Angel Kiss AND Depend Laurel Green (5 SEK/ml)

Even though Gina Tricot wins a lot of the kategories above 

the winner is still Color Clubs Angel Kiss to me.

I mean, just look at that amazing holo effect!!! Whoawzers!!! :D

This might be a silly question, but which one is your winner?