Quick Duochrome Eyeshadow Comparison

Speaking again of Lorac... One of you commented (though, now I can't seem to find the comment) that the peachy gold/pink duochrome in the Multiplex 3D shadow palette looked like MAC Motif. I completely forgot I had Motif! I was comparing the brown/green shade to MAC Club so I figured I'd do a Motif comparison while I was at it.


On the left is MAC Motif and on the right is the top left shade in the LORAC Multiplex 3D Eyeshadow Palette. They're similar in theme- peachy-gold with pink-coral pearl/duochrome, but they're definitely different. The LORAC shade seems to have better payoff but the MAC is more duochrome.


Left to right: MAC Club, Too Faced Label Whore, L'Oreal HIP Intrepid, LORAC top right shade, Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Definer shade. Two unnamed shadows in one comparison, how about that? Out of all, the L'Oreal HIP Intrepid is the most duochrome and the MAC is the least. But they're all really, really close.

Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy versus Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game

I picked up a handful of the new Wet n Wild Fast Dry polishes and this color immediately stood out to me. I think it's a re-release from the summertime, but now it's permanent. The shade is called Gray's Anatomy and it's a sheer silvery purple, grey, green and blue duochrome. Sound familiar? I thought so.


This is Wet N Wild FastDry in Gray's Anatomy all by itself- three coats, no basecoat or topcoat. The duochrome effect shows up best in low light, but you can see the colors in the sides of the bottle. It isn't the strongest duochrome effect like a Sally Hansen Nail Prism would be, but it's still undeniably color-shifting.



And here it is alongside Lippmann's Wicked Game. Can you tell which finger has which polish? No? It's:

Left to right, pinkie to index:
Pinkie: Four coats of Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy
Ring: Four coats of Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game
Middle: Four coats of Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy
Index: Four coats of Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game

They are so very, very close that I feel comfortable calling them dupes. There are some minor differences in formula- the Wet n Wild is a lot thicker and more opaque, requiring only three coats while Lippmann Wicked Game is more sheer and a little more watery and needs at least four coats for opacity. There is ever so slightly more duochrome effect on the Lippmann polish. And, one totally superficial difference: The Deborah Lippmann polish has a way, way prettier looking bottle. I looooove Lippmann's bottles. But, side by side, the polishes are practically identical.

Wet n Wild? Ninety-nine cents on sale at Walgreens. Lippmann? $16.00 plus shipping if you buy online. The Wet n Wild is definitely the most budget-friendly way to get the look but you can't deny the glamour and aesthetic advantages of the Lippmann bottle. But, it's good to know there are options!

I'll post the rest of the Wet n Wild shades I picked up eventually- but let me just say right now that Buffy The Violet Slayer is not to be missed. It's so good.

Milani Rockstar Heavy Glitter Collection - One Coat Glitters and Jewel FX

Since this collection is out already at certain CVS locations, you'd think this would be a Winter 2010 collection, right? Apparently it's a Spring collection that won't be released until February.... And that's all I know about it! I'm confused by this... But all is well because there is purple glitter on my nails.


Blue Flash. Every single polish in this collection impresses me, but this one especially. There are a lot of medium blue glitters out there, yet this manages to be unique. The different tones of blue glitter combined in this polish give it incomparable depth and interest.


Gems (one coat over black). I didn't manage to get a picture of it alone, but I think it looks best layered anyway. This is one of the two Jewel FX glitters in this collection and I believe they're meant to be topcoats. Right away you'll notice that this looks a lot like Deborah Lippmann / Lippmann Collection Happy Birthday, and it does, with a few minor differences:

Left to right (pinkie to index):
One coat of Milani Gems over black
One coat of Lippmann Happy Birthday over black
Two coats of Milani Gems
Two Coats of Lippmann Happy Birthday

The main difference is that Milani Gems is missing the pink glitter that makes Lippmann Happy Birthday so pretty. The pink glitter really does make a difference in the end result. The second major difference is that Milani Gems doesn't have the small square glitter that Happy Birthday has. Despite these differences, they do look really similar on the nail. I slightly prefer Lippmann Happy Birthday, but if you don't want to shell out $18 for chunky clown puke glitter, then I'm sure Gems will satisfy you. Just for reference, here's Happy Birthday over black:

Gold. That's right, just Gold. Simple name. The second of the two Jewel FX topcoats in the collection. This is the hardest to apply polish in the collection but the results are really cool. It's quite difficult to get the large gold plate hexagon glitter to lay exactly right, but when you do, it looks crazy awesome. Armor plated! Great for layering, if you can distribute the glitter evenly:



Here's one coat of Gold over Purple Gleam. So disco. Love it. I've also worn this over Revlon Royal and it looks equally nice over a creme.


Gold Glitz. A mix of warm and cool gold glitters accented with a little red-copper. I love the depth and complexity of these glitters. The color mix makes them so nice. It's not just all one color in these and it makes a world of difference! This one also looks pretty familiar:


Doesn't it? This is the new OPI Ulta Exclusive Gift of Gold... which I was told wasn't happening this year... but then it was... Yeah, more on that later... But it does look a whole heck of a lot like Milani Gold Glitz!


Purple Gleam. Yeah, it's pretty much completely awesome. As if you expected me to say otherwise about a purple glitter. But, seriously, this purple glitter owns all. It doesn't look like any purple glitter I've ever seen. It's a lighter red-toned purple, almost more of a dark fuchsia, with some true purple and some BLACK (!!!) mixed in to give it depth. Really, there's nothing else like it and I'm considering buying 2,394,875 backups. The lighter purple really pops against the black microglitter and it sparkles like mad. The waitress at dinner last night flipped out over it, too...


Red Sparkle. A unique red glitter! No, it's not a Ruby Pumps dupe, either! Yes, I'm excited about this. Light and dark red glitter with what looks like some extremely tiny black microglitter. If it's not black, then it's really dark red. This looks so awesome in person. I almost skipped this one because I thought it would be just another plain red glitter. It's not. I'm glad I got it.


Silver Dazzle. This isn't really as much of a silver as it is a grey. It's silver and grey glitter with black microglitter. Yes, black glitter. And it looks incredible. Polish companies, are you taking notes? Black glitter is awesome. This polish has a definite blue tint to it. Very shiny and sparkly with all the sliver in it. And, oddly enough, I think it looks way better at night in low light than it does in sunlight.

The formula on these was great. They claim to be one coat coverage, but I found that I needed two. They were really opaque for a glitter and if you did a thick enough coat I think you could settle for one, but I'm not a fan of super thick coats. All of these are two coats of glitter with topcoat. They do really need topcoat, too. They dry very gritty and semi-matte. You can get these completely smooth and glossy with two coats of Gelous plus a topcoat of Seche Vite (or whichever thick quick-dry topcoat you prefer). I've worn these as full manicures like that and they remained perfectly smooth for three days. After the third day it seems like it absorbed the topcoat and became less smooth. Isn't that weird? The dry time on these is really fast so you don't have to worry about doing extra coats of topcoat. I had no application problems.

Removal is a pain just like any other glitter, but if you have one of those scrubby acetone jars, you won't have any trouble removing them. The glitter in them is very fine and not chunky so it doesn't stick to your nails as strongly. You will probably have little glitters stuck on your skin after removal, though, so just go over your nails again with a remover-soaked cotton ball or scrub your hands in the sink.

If you couldn't tell by my gushing review, I'm totally in love with these. I am really absurdly excited about these glitters. I could go on and on about them. I almost didn't get a few of these because they looked so normal under the store lighting, but once I got them on my nails I knew I was wrong. These aren't normal. They are AWESOME. The varying tones and intensities of the glitter in each polish makes them very special and so much better than a plain single-tone glitter. Really, just look at them! They look like treasure chests full of jewels, or piles of rhinestones. Soooo goooooood. *drool*

So, yeah, these completely rock. Way to go, Milani!

NARS: Old Zulu versus New Zulu

You know... I don't know if I've ever reviewed Zulu all by itself! I suppose that will have to wait until I'm done with this post!

As you all may know by now, NARS has listened to all of us begging them to bring back the beloved green polish and has re-released Zulu along with a few others that were discontinued around the same time (like Mash and Midnight Express).

My first thought when I heard that was "WOOHOO!", but my second thought was "Oh no, I hope it's still the same."

So, I grabbed my original bottle of Zulu and compared:

With flash
Left: Original Zulu, three coats
Right: New Zulu, three coats


Different angle. You can see a bit of a difference in the bottle color.



Left: New Zulu
Right: Old Zulu

Flash shows a slight shade difference.
Left: New Zulu
Right: Old Zulu

The question is, "are they different?" Yes and no. For one, the new version has received a formula update and is more opaque and less streaky than the original. But, color-wise, I detect a small deviation from the original color. It's most apparent on the first coat, but the original is a more saturated color and has a touch more blue. You can see in the bottles that the original looks slightly richer and more jelly-like. The new one isn't quite as jelly-like or as rich of a green.

Is it totally different? No. They're nearly spot on with only minor differences. And, unless you're like me and can see the difference between nail polishes that seem identical to 'normal' people, you probably won't even notice a difference. Especially not at three coats.

And just for fun, here's a really old picture of me wearing the original Zulu, two coats I believe:

You can really see the rich green base color here. At three coats it's near-black, which I love, but at two it's quite green. And yes, a bit streaky, but if you're careful and don't rush (like me, I rush, patience? What's that?) you can get a smooth even coat each time.


Very happy to see one of my favorite colors of all time return. I know everyone's been looking forward to this, myself included. And it still amazes me how almost no company has been able to duplicate this color. I've seen two that are close, but one is already discontinued and very hard to find. I supposed that's irrelevant now that it's actually back!

(The new Zulu was sent to me for review.)

New polishes from Eyeko

Eyeko has four more shades for summer and fall... Though I'm thinking we've seen two of them before!


Chi Chi Polish (for girlie nails). This is a warm pink glitter in a cloudy/milky pink tinted base. Immediately when I saw this I was reminded of NARS Arabesque as it's the same general idea:

Index and ring finger: NARS Arabesque (four coats)
Middle and pinkie finger: Eyeko Chi Chi Polish (three coats)

They're different shades of pink. Same pink glitter/milky base concept, but not duplicates. But I still think she might prefer the Eyeko...


Punk Polish (for neon nails). This is a bright nearly-neon pink creme. They've done a Punk Polish before, but this seems to be an updated version. I will have to find my old bottle to compare, but this 2010 Punk Polish in the tall bottle seems quite a bit brighter than the previous incarnation.



Rain Polish (for city nails). This is a beautiful, melancholy pale grey-blue with fine silver shimmer. Great concept, great execution. I love this color, it's perfect.

Saucy Polish (for naughty nails). This is a flaming red creme. Very bright and obnoxious, just the way I like it. It does remind me of Eyeko's previous Red Nail Polish, but again, I haven't compared directly. It could be another updated version.

The formula on these is much improved from a lot of the previous collections. Punk, Saucy and Rain gave me no application problems but Chi Chi was a little thick and sheer, which is kind of a difficult combination to work with. Three coats of each shade are pictured and the opacity is pretty good on all but Chi Chi.

I miss the old cute bottles with the wide mouths and silver caps. These new bottles just aren't cute! But they are still small and convenient... But easy to tip over and not as chibi looking.

(These were sent to me for review)

Comparison: SpaRitual It's Raining Men vs. Orly Sky Blue Pink

It just dawned on me what that Meow Skeptic shadow reminds me of- Orly Sky Blue Pink!

I don't know if I've ever posted that color here... It's an old one but it's really, really pretty.

I was getting ready to edit some of those China Glaze photos so I was trying to clear out all the pictures I hadn't edited yet, and this comparison was one of them! Yes... it has been open and unedited for months... that's how far behind I've gotten. Yikes! I mean, when did I take these pictures, January or something? O_o

Anyway, the reason I did the comparison was that while I was swatching my Orly collection, I noticed that a lot of the SpaRituals I had in the same drawer seemed identical to Orlys... and you know what? They were. This is one of them:

Index and ring finger: SpaRitual It's Raining Men
Middle and pinkie finger: Orly Sky Blue Pink

Very slight differences in formula and intensity, but still the same color. I'm sure Sky Blue Pink has received a formula update since I bought my ancient bottle, but mine's very thin and needed four coats. I did four coats of the SpaRitual too, just to be even. The SpaRitual seemed more opaque. I might have to pick up a new formula bottle of Sky Blue Pink one of these days to see if they thickened it at all.

And this is what reminded me:



It's totally the same color! Periwinkle blue with a really strong pink-gold duochrome! Sweeeeeeet. I love when I have an eyeshadow the same color as an awesome nail polish.

Orly Cosmic FX Comparisons

Once again I'll out the cart before the horse and post the comparisons before I post the real swatches.

As soon as I saw these I knew they were similar to a some of this year's new releases. The only comparison I haven't done is Out Of This World versus Zoya Julieanne and Mimi- my mom has my bottles of Julieanne and Mimi. (Which she loves, by the way)

EDIT:  Pretty in Dayton has a great comparison with Julieanne! 

Left to right (ring to index): OPI Designer Series Magic, Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, Orly Lunar Eclipse.

You can see that they're not quite identical. Minor differences between each of the colors. OPI is the darkest and has the least duochrome, Sally Hansen is the lightest, most sheer and has the most duochrome and the Orly is in between. Orly has good opacity and a good amount of duochrome.

Have a look at the level of sheerness:
Left to right (index to ring)- All one coat- Orly Lunar Eclipse, Sally Hansen Laser, OPI Magic.

Lunar Eclipse, Laser and Magic at two coats. You can see that the OPI is almost entirely opaque with the Orly just slightly more sheer.

Left to right (ring to index) China Glaze Zombie Zest, SpaRitual Optical Illusion, Orly It's Not Rocket Science.

As with the previous one, pretty close but no exact matches. While Optical Illusion and Zombie Zest are definite dupes, It's Not Rocket Science is different- more opaque, more blue, more duochrome.

To show the difference in opacity:
Two coats each of (left to right) Zombie Zest, Optical Illusion, It's Not Rocket Science. You can see how much the Orly stands out here in terms of opacity. Wow.

Left to right (ring to index) Zoya Charla, OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Halle's Comet.

These are all so close it's hard not to call them duplicates, but as you can see in the picture, there are minute differences. Charla is bluest. OPI is lightest. Orly is greenest. Zoya has the most sparkle. Orly seems most opaque but very similar to Zoya. Here's one coat of each:


Left to right, one coat: Zoya Charla, OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Halle's Comet.

I was expecting the Orly ones to be really sheer, but they surprised me by being the most opaque of all! Bonus.

And these were sent to me for review. Still workin' on finishing my full swatches and perhaps compare the Zoyas with Out of This World. Whew!