Essie Shine of the Times compared to Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Nubar 2010

I love my flakies... so how did these three stack up? 

Hello Gorgeous! OPI Designer Series Bold (For Fall 2011)

I was so bummed to see this years additions to the OPI Designer Series line. I actually passed this one up and just bought the other polish released - Temptation, when I first saw them. I did however change my mind and decide to order this one too. This is OPI DS Bold. If you aren't too familiar with the Designer Series, it's an OPI line that gets two new polishes added to it each Fall. They have a "diamond dust" formula, silver cap, and cost $15.99 CAD, a little less in the US.

DS Bold was described as a red glitter but I would say it leans towards pink. It has a jelly base and the glitter is lighter colour than the base. It's totally stunning and my pictures just can't do it justice. It's a close match to last year China Glaze Mrs. Clause, which was limited edition in their Holiday Collection ('Tis the Season to be Naughty and Nice) last year. So if you picked up Mrs. Clause you can probably skip DS Bold and it's price tag. 

I used three coats of Bold and one coat of Seche Vite. It was had "glitter bumps" after the top coat so two coats of top coat might be best. I think its beautiful, but I still wish we seen more of OPI DS holographic lacquers like previous years. I purchased mine from eBay. I know Chatters carries the DS line but I haven't seen them get any of the new ones in. 

***I've had two people say that they have had problems leaving comments on here for the last few days, I apologize and hopefully I'll get it call figured out soon!

China Glaze - Marry A Millionaire (Eye Candy Collection Winter 2011)

I'm really enjoying China Glaze's newest Eye Candy Collection. This is Marry A Millionaire a unique purple sparkle polish. You can see the press release and swatches of the first polish that I swatched from this collection Some Like It Haute here. This is just coming out in stores. 

It's a clear base with purple sparkles but added in is tiny tiny iridescent yellow/greenish bar glitter. I used two coats and like all glitter it defiantly needed a good top coat. I used Seche Vite top coat.  I find thicker top coats like Seche Vite work the best over glitter, especially a bottle of Seche Vite that has thickened a little. China Glaze can be found at Chatters, select salons, and nailpolishcanada.com has just put these up too. China Glaze is $7 - $9 CAD, and a bit less in the US. 

SpaRitual - Sacred Ground (Wilde Collection Fall 2011)

I love my dark greys! This is beautiful. It's Sacred Ground from SpaRituals Wild Collection for Fall 2011. It's been available for a while now. I haven't yet found a place locally that carries SpaRitual, if anyone knows a good place to get SpaRitual let me know! I think I bought this on eBay, it was about $7 but typically SpaRitual retails for a bit more. 

It's a medium to dark grey with purple and gold glitter. It says on the bottle its a glitter polish but really it's a charcoal creme base with glitter. I used two coats plus a coat of Seche Vite top coat. Application was amazing. I have to say I'm not a fan at all of the SpaRitual bottles. I have a bunch of polishes from them and they seem to take up more room then regular size bottles. They do have most of there colours available in cute minis too.  This is the only polish I bought from the Wilde Collection, nothing else really wowed me, the collection did have 6 new polishes: Instinct, Running with Wolves, Rhythms of Life, Howl, Spirit Child. 

China Glaze - Some Like It Haute (Eye Candy Collection Winter 2011)

I didn't think I'd get to do a post today with a million things going on, but I had to put up this! This is Some Like It Haute by China Glaze. It's from the Eye Candy Collection. It's a six piece collection that is just coming out in stores, all inspired by Marilyn Monroe (who I love!). It's the most amazing glitter. When I saw this collection I bought them all in a heart beat!

Some Like It Haute looks like it has a charcoal base, but its actually a clear base with TONS of glitter. It has tiny charcoal glitter and medium hexagon silver holographic glitter. Pictures really do no justice to how much depth this polish has. This is two coats with Seche Vite top coat to finish it off. It defiantly needs a top coat. The moment I put the top coat on, I was in love. Below is the press release from China Glaze. China Glaze can be found at Chatters, select salons, and nailpolishcanada.com has just put these up too. China Glaze is $7 - $9 CAD, and a bit less in the US. 

I'm cheating! Revlon - Facets of Fuchsia (The Expressionist Collection Fall 2011)

I actually did this swatch months ago, if you follow the blog, you know I've had this polish in many post but I've never done some actual swatches. I love love love Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, it's been one of my all time favourite polishes for over a year and this one makes me feel like I'm cheating on DL! LOL anyways... you can see a caparison post between the two here. 

Facets of Fuchsia is a black jelly base with small purple glitter and large purple hexagon glitter in it. If I can remember correctly this was two coats plus a top coat of Seche Vite. This just started showing up in Vancouver in the last month or so. It's from The Expressionist Collection for Fall/Winter 2011, you can see the whole collection here. I loove this polish, probably cause it's a lot like Bad Romance! I found mine at a Target, it was $3.74 US. In Canada they can be found on displays with Carbonite in London Drugs and  Shoppers Drug Mart for around $5 CAD.

Quo by Orly - Celestial Star (aka Smurf polish)

I've had this sitting waiting to be post for way too long! This is Celestial Star from the Quo by Orly line. To see my other post about this new line click here. These are $10 CAD each, but for the last few weeks these have been on sale for $8.99. These polishes started showing up about two months ago and now they are coming out with more and more colours. The last Shoppers Drug Mart I was in had a shelf with about 20 colours. These are 14mL, the regular Orly polishes are 18mL. They have the famous rubberized Orly cap. 

Wet n Wild - Black Magic (Fantasy Makers Collection Halloween 2011)

This would have to be my least favourite of the Fantasy Makers this year. This is Black Magic, is one of the four polishes from the Fantasy Makers Collection. Black Magic is a black creme with subtle copper colour glitter. It's so subtle you can barely see in when on the nail. This is two coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. I have such a love/hate relationship with Seche Vite, you can see the terrible shrinkage around the edges. 

Fantasy Makers can be found in London Drugs, Superstore (click here), Zellers, and Shoppers Drug Mart from what I know. They are about $3 CAD each. 

Wet n Wild - Creepy Pumpkin (Fantasy Makers Collection Halloween 2011)

I'm still loving these cute bottles. My only beef with them is to close them tightly they look off. Anyways this is Creepy Pumpkin from Wet n Wilds Fantasy Makers Collection. Its a bright orange jelly with tons of light orange glass flake type shimmer in it. It's gorgeous! I used two coats and you could still see a the nail underneath. 

Fantasy Makers can be found in London Drugs, Superstore (click here), Zellers, and Shoppers Drug Mart from what I know. They are about $3 CAD each. 

China Glaze - Champagne Bubbles (Let It Snow Collection Holiday 2011)

EEEK... I'm really not sure about this polish. This is Champagne Bubbles from China Glaze's Let It Snow Collection for holiday season 2011. I keep my skin tanned, about a NC 30 in MAC terms, I'm not sure it really goes that well with my skin tone. I might go nicer for someone with a lighter or darker skin tone. 

So I used two coats to get a nice opacity. I didn't put a top coat on. I wasn't going to keep it on! I think this is the stinker of the bunch. It's a golden yellow frost with silver sparkles sparsely scatter through it. So what I didn't like wasn't just the tone of the colour. I also didn't like that when you put on a second coat of polish which is necessary cause one coat was just uneven, the second coat traps the glitter beneath it. The glitter doesn't show through it just stays underneath and makes the nail look lumpy. A top coat will help but I just don't think this polish was well executed. I would have like to have seen a nice golden glass flaked jelly from China Glaze, think Lighthouse but more darker. But ohhh well... with a coat of Twinkle Lights this colour was okay. 

I think skip it. Spend your time looking for other alternatives. China Glaze is $7-8 CAD. Finding a store that sells China Glaze is a little tricky. It's available at select salons, Chatters, and e-tailers. 

Thanks for reading!

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OPI - Rainbow Connection & Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday Comarison

I loooove fun glitter like these! This is OPI's Rainbow Connection compared to Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday. When I saw Rainbow Connection, Happy Birthday was the first polish I thought of. They are very similar so did some swatches of them both. I believe I have the "old" version of Happy Birthday. I've had it since it came out so I'm assuming its the old one. The new version is suppose to have more pink glitter in it. Here is link to my post with OPI - Rainbow Connection swatches.

Left to Right: OPI Rainbow Connection (1 coat)

Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday (1 coat)

OPI - Rainbow Connection  (1 coat) over OPI - Black Onyx (1 coat)

Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday (1 coat) over OPI - Black Onyx (1 coat)

(OPI - Black Onyx is a plain black creme)

Top: OPI - Rainbow Connection

Bottom: Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday

Top: OPI - Rainbow Connection over Black Onyx

Bottom: Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday over Black Onyx

OPI - Rainbow Connection

- Has three sizes of hexagon glitter:  Large, Medium and Small 

- Has six colour of glitter: Orange, Gold, Pink, Silver, Blue, Green

- All six colours have the three sizes of glitter.

- Silver glitter is predominant with clear base

Deborah Lippmann - Happy Birthday

- Has two sizes of glitter (it's largest sizes is the same has OPI's medium size)

- Large size hexagon glitter comes in: Orange, Gold, Pink, Silver, Blue, Green

- Small glitter comes in hexagon shaped and square shaped

- Small glitter comes in the same colours has the large glitter but also with red

- Silver glitter is predominant with clear base

The differences are that OPI has three sizes of hexagon glitter to it, Deborah Lippmann has two and it's largest glitter is the same size has OPI's medium size. Deborah Lippmann has a variation of hexagon and square glitter in the small size and the small size also comes in red. 

The similarities are they do both have hexagon glitter and have majority of the same colour glitter. They both have a clear base. Both go on nicely in two coats. Both are very silver glitter predominant. 

Dupes? Not exact. But they could very well be sisters. They really do look very very similar. While they are exact dupes, I don't think anyone really needs both, they are super close.

OPI Rainbow connection is limited edition for the Holiday 2011 season. It's part of the Muppet Collection that is due out November 2011. OPI's retail for $9 CAD and a little less in the states. They can be found in salons and many drug stores.

Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday isn't limited edition. It retails for $20 CAD and can be found at Holts, Murale, and select boutiques. 

Thanks for reading! 
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OPI - Rainbow Connection (Muppet Collection Holiday 2011)

O. M. G. it's here! I remember seeing promo pics of the OPI Holiday Muppet Collection and just dreaming it would be here... and it's arrived! Sooo excited! The first one I'm showing you is the one with the most hype around it, Rainbow Connection! Hexagon glitters have been really in for a while now so it was only inevitable that OPI would come out with some great ones.

Rainbow Connection is a clear base with tons of glitter packed into it. I used two coats and didn't put a top coat on for these pictures. 

It has three sizes of hexagon glitter:  Large, Medium and Small 

It has six colour of glitter: Orange, Gold, Pink, Silver, Blue, Green

The colours come in all three sizes. Silver seems to be very predominant in it. OPI can be found in salons and it's popping up in more drug stores. I know London Drugs carries OPI and so does Target if you live in the states. Retails for about $9 CAD and a little cheaper in the states. This is a limited edition holiday collection, so if you see it get it while you can! I looooove it. So different and fun. I have a comaparison to Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday lacquer, click here to see comparison. 

Thanks for reading! 

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China Glaze - Velvet Bow (Let It Snow Collection Holiday 2011)

This is Velvet Bow from the Let It Snow Holiday Collection from China Glaze. It's a vampy dark red jelly.  I used three coats to get a nice opacity. This doesn't have a top coat over it. It has a really nice shine to it. I'm actually really surprised at how much I like this polish. The collection Let It Snow is 12 polishes, they can be bought individually and also within gift packs. The packs are great for gifting at Christmas and some come with cute extras too like gloves, ornaments, lip gloss... 

Essie - Power Clutch (Brand New Bag Collection Fall 2011)

For Fall 2011 Essie came out withe Brand New Bag Collection. I purchased a few colours I found interesting, this was one of them. It's called Power Clutch. It's a deep grey with a tinge of green to it. Greys seem to be the 'it' colour this Fall, almost all the big polish brands have a grey in there Fall lineup. Last week I did a comparison of some of them, (click here) to read it. 

Application was very good. It took 3 coats for me to get a pretty nice opacity and I finished with one coat of Seche Vite top coat. I'm obsessed with greys. Love em to death. I think they are grey for work or really anything.

The Brand New Bag Collection consisted of 6 polishes (Pictured below from left to right)

Carry On, Very Structured, Power Clutch, Lady Like, Case Study, & Glamour Purse

Essie nail polish is $9 CAD or $8 US and can be found at London Drugs, Wal-Mart or online e-tailers. 

Smouldering goodness... Orly - Rococo A-Go-Go (Mineral FX Collection Fall 2011)

Orly recently came out with the Mineral FX Collection. It had 6 new polishes, Stone Cold, Rock Solid, Rock the World, Rock-It, Emberstone, and Rococo A-Go-Go. The gorgeousness is Rococo A-Go-Go a deep raspberry purple with a golden duochrome. 

This was $8.99 US at a Sally's Beauty Supply in Washington, it's 18 mL. The price is a little more then the regular price of Orly, I'm not totally sure why they would raise the prices. I haven't seen these in Vancouver yet, but Orly is a little hard to come by here. I suggest trying eBay if you can't find it near you. I used two coats plus a coat of Seche Vite to seal it. It's gorgeous! So worth checking out!

China Glaze - Haunting (Haunting Collection Halloween 2011)

China Glaze always has the most amazing Halloween collections. I was happy with last years and I'm happy with this years even more! This is China Glaze's Haunting from the Haunting collection. It's a simple colour but stunning.

A black creme with silver glitter. It took two coats to get a nice opacity. It actually didn't seem that gritty without a top coat but I used one anyway, I used Seche Vite. I love dark colours.

China Glaze is available in Canada at Chatters, select salons, and on e-tailers. They retail for $8 CAD. I bought mine on a recent trip to the states and it was $6.99 US at an Ulta.  Below is a promo pic from China Glaze. From left to right: Haunting, It's Alive (see swatches here), Near Dark, and Crimson. 

nails inc. in Canada! Yay! nails inc. - foubert's place

I had heard a few weeks ago that Sephora was going to start carrying nails inc., which is so exciting because they have some really great colours. I purchased a few colours to try out and this was one of them. I thought it was very season appropriate with Fall officially here. This is foubert's place, a mossy military green. In certain lights it looks very grey. 

Nails inc. is a UK brand, in North America it is sold at Sephora. I haven't seen this brand sold anywhere else. they have what looks to be a very cool magnetic collection coming out soon, so watch out for that. 

Application was very smooth, it took two coats to get a nice result and I used one coat of Seche Vite top coat to seal it. I wore it for three days and it had minimal tip wear. The bottle is .33 oz it retail price was $11.50 CAD ($9.50 US). To me the bottles seemed a little cheap, I would have liked to see a little higher quality for $11.50. But all in all, a nice colour and I'm happy Canada got a new brand!

China Glaze - It's Alive (Haunting Collection Halloween 2011)

ahhhh I die. This lacquer is China Glaze's It's Alive from their new Halloween collection that they just came out with. The Haunting Collection consists of:

- It's Alive (bright green glitter)

- Haunting (black with silver glitter)

- Crimson (purple reddish creme)

- Near Dark (dark green creme)

- Ghoulish Glow (glow in the dark top coat) 

 - Black Mesh (black shatter)

It's Alive is a dark green jelly base with small and larger sized olive colour glitter. 

It has a really nice depth to it.

I used two coats of It's Alive and one coat of Seche Vite top coat. Without a top coat it was too gritty.  Removal was actually not that bad, I used nail polish remove with acetone. 

Soooo.. Do you love it? I Do! It kinda reminds me of Kermit the Frog! This is my favourite Halloween lacquer I've tried this year so far. China Glaze is available in Canada at Chatters, select salons, and on e-tailers. They retail for $8 CAD. I bought mine on a recent trip to the states and it was $6.99 US at at Ulta. I'll have more swatches of this collection coming soon!