Coat Nail Polish by Coastal Scents - Universe Collection

A new nail polish brand to show you! Last month Coastal Scents came out with Coat nail polishes. I had done a post about ordering them before here. These three polishes are from the Universe Collection, which includes 6 other polishes. The three that I have for you today are Cosmic, Comet, and Meteorite. These were $3.95 US each / 0.2 fl. oz. 

COAT COSMIC SWATCHES

By far my favourite of the three. Anyone who missed out of the illusive Limited Edition Joe Fresh Twilight polish last Winter, will sure be happy to see Cosmic. I used a coat of OPI Black Onyx (plain black creme), and two coats of Cosmic. I think polishes like these are meant to be layered, on its own its very thin. Just like Twilight, its a black (that leans green) jelly base with beautiful green/yellow/orange/blueish flakies depending on how the light hits it. You can also check out my post of Joe Fresh Twilight here.

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.

Wet n Wild - Behind Closed Doors (On The Prowl Collection Halloween 2011)

This is one of the two polishes I bought from the Wet n Wild On The Prowl Halloween collection. This is colour is called Behind Closed Doors. The other polish I bought from this collection was Cougar Attack (click here to see swatches). On The Prowl was a Halloween collection from Wet n Wild and had 8 limited edition polishes. Behind Closed Doors is a close match to Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers. Both are a black base with red hexagon glitter and regular glitter scattered throughout.

I used one coat of OPI Black Onyx (plain black creme) and one coat of Behind Closed Doors, finished with Seche Vite top coat. I'm totally loving this. I'm just not totally sure when I'd actually wear this but the red really does pop against the black. I highly suggest using a black base with this one. 

This collection was very hard to come by. When I did find these they were at a SuperStore in the Halloween section. They were $2.99 CAD each. I'm sure glad I found it!

Favourite Lacquers 2011: Joe Fresh - Twilight (S/S 2011 Collection)

My midterms are all over, I'm happy, so it's time to break out one of my all time favourite polishes. This is one of a very very few polishes that I have a "back up" of just in case I ever run out of the first bottle! I'm a huge believer that polishes get duped and copied so much that back ups aren't necessary, so to say that I have two of these is something. I also bought this polish as gifts for a few people when it came out too... ok enough talk about how much I love this stuff! 

This is Joe Fresh in Twilight. I came out for Spring/Summer this year and I believe this was limited edition. I haven't seen it available at my SuperStore in the past while, but maybe they'll bring it back! I know I looooved Joe Fresh in Mint and it went away for about a year, and just recently I saw a whole new stock of them at my grocery store. So there is hope! 

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 - Purple Potion (Fantasy Makers Collection Halloween 2011)

I love how cute these bottles are! Fantasy Makers this year has four different colours that I know of. This one is Purple Potion. Fantasy Makers are from the brand Wet n Wild and they come out for Halloween. This colour seems to be the same as Wet n Wild's Night Prowl from there permanent line. 

Purple Potion is a black jelly base with fuchsia glitter. I used two coats plus a coat of Seche Vite top coat. I felt like a top coat was a must for this one, because it lost a lot of shine once it dried. This one was one of my favourites of the collection, it's a lot like Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance minus the hexagon glitter.

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

Magnetic Lacquer: Yay or Nay? Layla - Magneffect Black Metal

I debated a little bit about if I should post about my first experience with magnetic polish. This is Layla, a European brand nail polish in the colour Black Metal. I executed this the very best that I could but really it turned out pretty bad. I'm a little on the fence about it, it's a cool concept though for sure. You can see on the middle finger the magnet accidentally touched the nail and you can see nothing really happened with the pinky finger. eeeeek!

So it's 10 mL for $16.99 CAD at London Drugs Stores. I haven't seen Layla sold anywhere else yet. London Drugs also carries Layla's crackle nail polish line. The magnet for this one is located on the top and it's the simple triple line design. If you wanted a different design you can buy LCN's star magnet for about $15 CAD/US which also works with the polish. I can see these being the next big trend to replace crackle/shatter nail polish. The polish itself is a little thick but manageable, a little tip is to work quickly. It takes a long time to dry so make sure you keep that in mind when you apply. Anyways... I'm not giving up on magnetic polish just yet. I'll be back trying it again soon, hopefully with better luck!

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. 

Proud day to be Canadian - Quo by Orly!

Uh Suprise! I had no idea that this line was coming out. I was just walking though Shoppers yesterday and I spotted Gosh's new Fall collection and these! Quo which is Shoppers Drug Mart's exclusive cosmetics brand has teamed up with Orly to produce some wicked polishes.  I bought 3 of them, the display had 5, but judging from the pictures in google images there is going to be a whole line coming out!

This was the display, the 2nd and 4th from the left look like Luxe and Rage.

Turquoise Moonlight

 Night Sky

Celestial Star

I knew I wanted these right away but I was on my lunch break when I noticed them and my wallet was in my office, so I asked the lady to put these on hold and I would come back. I went back three hours later, all of Turquoise Moolight were gone already and there were only a few of the other colours left. Not all Shoppers Drug Marts have this display out yet, I went to my dentist today which is beside another Shoppers and they didn't know anything about any Quo nail polishes. 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumpkin Spice (Halloween 2011)

I don't know about you, but here in Vancouver it feels like Summer just started. It's September 4 and it's the first day my apartment was too hot to handle. Hence, I made my way to the air-conditioned mall to grab a cool drink and take a look around. Now Pumkin Spice I've seen around for almost a month now and just never picked up, but for some reason today I had to have it. I kept telling myself it was too much like China Glaze's Ick-A-Bod-Y from last years Awakening Halloween collection to justify me buying it... but I still bought it. No will power.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pumkin Spice (three coats)

After I swatched it I thought it was terribly ugly. Like really really fug. So I played around with it a bit and compared it to last year China Glaze's Ick-A-Bod-Y. And I'm glad I didn't just give up on it, over black I think I like it better then Ick-A-Bod-Y.

Left to Right

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumkin Spice (three coats)

China Glaze - Ick-A-Bod-Y (three coats)

OPI - Black Onyx (two coats) & Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pumkin Spice (one coat)

OPI - Black Onyx (two coats) & China Glaze Ick-A-Body (one coat)

As you can see both polished look much better over Black. They both have a clear black base that takes many coats to build up something more opque. They both have the same orange glitter but China Glaze's has much more. I think I might like Pumpkin Spice more... I'm a little torn, it all depends on how much sparkle you like I guess. 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $3.50 CND (and about the same in US). It can be found many places, this particular bottle is from London Drugs, I haven't seen the displays with Pumpkin Spice out anywhere else yet. London Drugs usually has the Limited Edition displays out first. 

China Glaze is a little harder to find in Canada. It' retails for about $7 CND. Ick-A-Bod-Y was a limited edition colour from last Halloween collection only sold at Sally Beauty Supply. In the lower mainland there are two in Surrey and one in Abbotsford and one in Bellingham (if your a cross boarder shopper). China Glaze is also sold at many salons.

I'd love to read our comments on the two! Thanks!

Are you a lacquer connoisseur?

    con-nois-seaur (noun) 

1. Expert; especially: one who understands details, techniques, or principles of an art that competent to act as a critical judge

2. one who enjoys the discrimination and appreciation of subtleties 

I had a bit of wake up when I did my comparison posts on Revlon Facets of Fuchsia vs. Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance (read here) and the comparison post for Revlon Smoky Canvas vs. Deborah Lippmann Waking Up in Vegas (read here). I realized I'm not as big of a nail polish connoisseur then I thought I was! I've been loving high-end brands like Chanel, Dior or Deborah Lippmann for a while and I thought I would be able to tell the difference between the copies that lower end brands put out. After doing my comparisons I would know NOW how to tell the difference up close, but honestly while I was writing the posts I was still a bit confused and would have to cross reference which file I pulled the picture out. Just like you don't have to be a wine connoisseur to be a wine lover. I might not be a lacquer connoisseur, but that most defiantly still a lacquer lover!


For more about Revlon's Expressionist Collection (click here)

Are you a lacquer connoisseur?

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance & Revlon Facets of Fuchsia Comparison

This morning I did a blog post all about Revlon's The Expressionist Collection thats being released this fall (click here to see the whole collection). In it I talked about Revlon copying some of Chanel's colours and now this collection is very similar to some of Deborah Lippmann's polishes. I couldn't help but compare these two right away. Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance is one of my favourite polishes. Both polishes are black jelly bases with purple glitter and larger purple hexagon glitter. Above is Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance and the left is Revlon Facets of Fuchsia. So how did the two stack up?...

Deborah Lippmann - Bad Romance (three coats)

Revlon - Facets of Fuchsia (three coats)

The similarities are:

A. Both have the same black jelly base

B. Both have small square glitter

C. Both have hexagon glitter

D. The colour of the glitter in both are exactly the same shade

E. From arms length away you would think they are the same.

The differences are:

A. Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia goes on thicker

B. Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia has much more glitter both small and large

C. Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance had a smoother appearance without a top coat

Top: Revlon - Facets of Fuchsia

Bottom: Deborah Lippmann - Bad Romance

The final verdict? 

I'm sitting here looking at the wheel at all different angles and lighting and they aren't exact dupes because Revlon's has more glitter, but honestly from a distance they are pretty much the same. I love them both. So really the question is $5 or $22? 

    - Deborah Lippmann $22 CND ($16 US)

    - Revlon $5 - 6 CND ($4 US)

Revlon is very easy to find (sometimes not the Limited Edition displays though), The Expressionist displays can now be found in London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Zellers. 

Deborah Lippmann is found in stores in Canada at Holt Renfrew, Murale,  and other high end boutiques. The Deborah Lippmann site does not ship to Canada but you can go to nordstroms.com and they do ship to Canada, they will add in the duties though. A better option if you live in Canada might be nailpolishcanada.com, they carry Deborah Lippmann, and they have free shipping when you spend over $29 CAD. 

You can also check out Deborah Lippmann's website to see where to find her polishes near you lippmanncollection.com. 

THANKS FOR DROPPING IN! 

OPI Pair'em Scare'em Limited Edition Halloween 2011 Pack

Ummmmm cool! K I love this set. This is OPI's Pair'em Scare'em Halloween pack. OPI also came out with a pack of four minis called the Spookettes (see pictures here). Both packs had Zom-Body to love a green glow in the dark polish. Pair'em Scare'em had two full size bottles, one Zom-Body to Love and one Black Shatter. 

You can see the packaging is so adorable. Glow in the dark is usually a little hard to work with and usually clumpy but ZBTL was actually not so bad. I suggest shaking well, it doesn't take very long for it to separate. First I'll show you pictures of it by itself. Kinda reminds me of Chanel Jade? Click on the pictures for a closer view!

And now to experiment...

Top: 1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love

Bottom: 4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself

Top: 1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love & 1 coat Black Shatter

Bottom: 4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself & 1 coat Black Shatter

From Left to Right:

-4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself & 1 coat Black Shatter

-1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love & 1 coat Black Shatter

-4 coats Zom-Body to Love by itself

-1 coat plain white polish & 2 coats of Zom-body to Love

Conclusion: I think it looks better (especially in person with a layer of white underneath).

Excuse the Black Shatter mess! I didn't want to open the new bottle that came with it because I have a OPI Black Shatter opened already from when it first came out and it already seemed chunky/crusty. Hmmmmmmmm

Now the fun stuff! Time to turn the lights down...

Final thoughts... Zom-Body to love is amazing, I'm loving it. In the light and in the dark I think it looked more vibrant over a white base (I just used Joe Fresh in White). To see it glow brighter it has so be able to absorb some light.