Enchanted Polish Comparison: Up In Smoke vs. Majestic

Hello! I have been MIA for a long time because I have been busy with my own indie brand. I also got a bit bored with blogging to be honest.

However after some thought, and seeing some of my old swatch pics pinned by others on Pinterest, I am inspired to 'blog' again. This time though, I am going to do things a little differently. I never really enjoy writing up the blog post, so from now on, I will only post swatch photos with minimal description.  I hope you will all still enjoy my photos!

Since I haven't posted for a long while, I am going to bring out the big gun for my returning post. Here is a mani done with Enchanted Polish Up In Smoke and Majestic, can you tell which is which?

Enchanted Polish Majestic and Up In Smoke

For those of you who are EP 'connoisseurs', I am sure you can tell I have Up In Smoke on my ring finger, and Majestic on the rest. Although very similar, UIS is slightly darker with a stronger purple tone, a bit more holo, and does not have the pink/purple microshimmers that Majestic has. If I could only have one, I'd have to pick UIS.

Which one is your favorite?

Girly Bits Heirloom, and a comparison to Lynnderella and Enchanted Polish

Happy 2013 my dear readers! Today I have a special post for you, I hope you will enjoy it!

Girly Bits Heirloom - one coat over OPI I Brake For Manicure - topped with SV topcoat

Girly Bits Heirloom from the Season of Sparkle Collection. A clear base polish with dusty pink, purple and silver glitters, or as Pam the creator describes it, 'all the vintage shades of a Victorian era holiday'. The glitters are so dense you only need one coat to achieve a very blingy look! The glitters are also extremely sparkly, so girls you better put your sunglasses on! I got quite a few compliments from wearing Heirloom, it is just oh so gorgeous!

I thought I might have some similar glitter toppers in my stash, so I pull them out and did a quick comparison.

L-R: Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, Lynnderella Common Sense, Girly Bits Heirloom

L-R: Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, Lynnderella Common Sense, Girly Bits Heirloom, all one coat only

L-R: Girly Bits Heirloom, Lynnderella Common Sense, Enchanted Polish Witchful Thinking, all one coat over black 

First of all, I am happy to report that there is no dupe. Although Heirloom and Witchful Thinking appear quite similar at first glance, Heirloom has silver glitters whilst the latter has gold/brownish glitters and micro holo glitters. Common Sense is more of a pink glitter than the other two, and is the densest of the three. Which one is my favorite you ask? I'm sorry but I'd have to give you a cliche answer and say I love them all! :)

The "Exclusive" post! OPI DS Exclusive and the search of dupes

OPI DS Exclusive - two coats with top coat

Finally I was able to get my hands on this elusive lemming, OPI DS Exclusive. Like many of its holo siblings, this DS has been long discontinued, but I'm lucky enough to get it via a swap, thank you MJ!

DS Exclusive is a berry/magenta linear holo. Formula is perfect with two easy coats, and the prismatic effect is just blinding! To quote Rachel Zoe, I die!

You would think with so many holo polishes out there, there must be some close dupes of DS Exclusive, so I went through my modest stash and pull out a few holos in the same color family, and here they are, from thumb to pinky: Enchanted Sugar Spree, BSJ #02, Hits Atena, OPI DS Exclusive, and Catherine Arley #677.

Possible dupes of OPI DS Exclusive? I don't think so!

I am happy and sad to report that there are no dupes! DS Exclusive is a shade or two darker than the rest, with a strong purple undertone. BSJ might be the closest to the DS, but it has a red undertone. Enchanted, Hits and CA are all red holos with pink undertone.

It is interesting to note that BSJ #02 has the strongest linear holo effect out of all polishes, followed by DS Exclusive. Hits Atena and Enchanted Sugar Spree are very close dupes in terms of color and prismatic effect, with Catherine Arley being the weakest holo.

So there you have it, the search for DS Exclusive dupe continues. Do you know of any close dupe of this coveted polish? Which magenta holo do you like the most?

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam and Quick Comparison

OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam- two coats with no top coat

I Don't Give A Rotterdam is from OPI the Holland Collection 2012. It is a dusty cornflower blue packed with silver glass flecks. As you know I am a sucker  for shimmer polishes, so this one is right up my alley! The cool tone base also suits my likewise skintone very well!

When I first saw swatches of I Don't Give A Rotterdam, it instantly reminds me of Essie Smooth Sailin' (another favorite of mine), so I wanted to do a quick comparison. I also included OPI I Have A Herring Problem (also from Holland 2012) for good measure.

From L to R: Essie Smooth Sailin' vs OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdamn vs OPI I Have A Herring Problem

Wow was I totally wrong! Smooth Sailin' is a much brighter and vibrant blue than I Don't Give A Rotterdam, whilst I Have A Herring Problem has a strong teal base to it. Both Smooth Sailin' and I Don't Give A Rotterdam are filled with silver glass flecks, and I Have A Herring Problem is filled with gold flecks. Each polish is lovely on its own, and I am glad they are definitely not dupes! (my lame excuse for owning all three hehe)

Dupe Comparison: OPI Merry Midnight vs. Orly Fowl Play vs. Sasatinnie FCGL002

Hello girls! I am a bit late to the party, but nevertheless, here is a quick comparison between OPI Merry Midnight vs. Orly Fowl Play vs. Sasatinnie FCGL002.

Swatch Comparison: all three coats

As you can see (apologies for the lack of cleanup), MM is a shade lighter than FP and SS (to read about my SS post, click here). FP is also more opaque after three coats, and has more flakes than the other two. They are all very similar though, a dark purple jelly base with tiny pink, blue and silver glitters and large copper flakes.

If I could only keep one out of this lot, my pick would be Orly Fowl Play. I like that it has the most depth, and can be used on its own. The other two are best used for layering. Since Merry Midnight has long been discontinued and is now a HTF, Fowl Play and Sasatinnie are cheap alternatives that are easily accessible!

Awesome Holo Sauce! BSJ Burple Holo #13 & comparison to OPI DS Glamour

After impatiently waiting for three months, my OPI DS Glamour has finally arrived! Along it I also received a BSJ #13 blue holo, and since they look quite similar in the bottles, I decided to do a quick comparison for you guys.

Notice how similar the BSJ bottle design is to OPI? 

A quick introduction to BSJ polishes. It is the same as BK holos (i.e. the numbering is the same), and I believe they are made in China. China is infamously known for making fakes for everything possible, but I am not going to complain if they could make more awesome holos like BSJ/BK!

OPI DS Glamour vs BSJ #13 Holo, both two coats with no top coat

As you can see from the above swatch, they look quite similar. If you look more closely though, DS Glamour is a true dark blue holo, whilst BSJ has a stronger purple base, making it more of a burple holo. Both polishes are very strong linear holos, as you can see in the following photo:

The difference between the two polishes is minimal in this photo

I am absolutely blown away by the pretty rainbows shining through by both polishes! There are not too many dark blue linear holos out in the polish world, so I am delighted to own these two rare polishes!

I then decided to change my mani to BSJ #13 so I could show off a bit more of its beauty. The formula is a bliss, and I get complete opacity with two easy coats. The dry time is lightening fast too!

I think I have done enough babbling, so I will let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Can you spot the difference? OPI DS Amethyst vs. OPI DS Original

I have a request to do a comparison between OPI DS Amethyst and DS Original, so here it is!

OPI DS Amethyst vs. OPI DS Original, both with two coats

In the above photo, one finger is painted with DS Original, while the rest are with DS Amethyst. Can you tell which one is which?

Here is the answer! The middle finger is painted with Original, and the rest are with Amethyst. As you can see, Original is a darker purple than Amethyst (which is more of a pinkish, lavender purple), but the holo effects are the same with both polishes.

A closer look at the comparison

On a side note, I have been wearing DS Amethyst for three days, and apart from minimal tip wear, my mani is still as good as new! I wish OPI would make more holos like these old DSs!

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Too good to be true? Chanel Graphite vs. Revlon Carbonite (swatch comparison)

Chanel Graphite has always been a lemming of mine, but I never got around to get it because of its hefty price tag. However being a sucker for discount, I finally caved and bought it from the airport duty free shop where it is sold for $2 USD cheaper (yes, I know).

Chanel Graphite - 2 coats (no base or top coat)

Am I glad I caved! Graphite is a beautiful charcoal silver polish packed with tiny silver and gold sparkles. It has a metallic shimmery finish that gives this polish a very unique look. The formula is perfect, and it dries to a smooth finish very quickly. I think I am in love!

Chanel Graphite - check out the awesome gold and silver sparkles bouncing off the lights!

So now onto the exciting part of this post: the face-off. Much has been said about Revlon Carbonite, the drugstore version of Chanel Graphite. But just how much of a dupe is Carbonite?

Revlon Carbonite vs Chanel Graphite 

From the bottles, the two polishes are almost identical. If I have to be picky, I'd say Chanel Graphite appear to have more shimmery particles in it. So how do they compare on nails?

Swatch Comparison - Revlon Carbonite vs. Chanel Graphite (both 2 coats with no base or top coat)

At a quick glance, again they appear very similar to each other. However if you look more carefully, Graphite is a tad lighter than Carbonite, and it definitely has a glossier, shinier and smoother look. The shimmery particles in Graphite are stronger, whilst Carbonite has more of a semi-matte finish.

Here you could clearly see that Graphite has a more sparkly, shimmery look than Carbonite

All in all, I would say Carbonite is a good enough dupe of Graphite. If you cannot justify splurging on the Chanel at $25 a pop, then Carbonite is definitely the way to go!

Do you own either of these polishes? Which one do you like better?

Comparison - Nubar Gem vs. Jewel

Today I am doing a comparison between Nubar Gem and Jewel. I rarely do swatch comparison, so I hope you will like it!

Nubar Gem (L) vs Nubar Jewel (R)

When I received these two bottles, I was surprised at how similar they are. Both are from the Nubar Prisms Collection, where Gem is of a lighter brown shade than Jewel.

L to R: Jewel, Gem, Jewel Gem

As you can see on my nails, while both polishes have a brown base, Gem has a strong purple undertone, and Jewel is a medium brown. Although both are packed with scattered holographic glitters, the sparkles on Jewel appear to be more colorful. I am guessing this is because the holo effect is more apparent with a darker base color?

L to R: Jewel, Gem, Jewel Gem

I can't quite decide which one I like better. They are both unique in their own way. Do you prefer Gem or Jewel?