China Glaze FYI & beige holo comparison

China Glaze - FYI, 2 coats

China Glaze - FYI (index & ring), Make Up Store - Madeleine (middle) & Eveline (I need to check the # of this one) (pinkie), all 2 coats

Revlon Tropical Temptation vs. Depend 244

Revlon - Tropical Temptation (index & ring) vs. Depend - 244 (middle & pinky), 2 + 3 coats

Here's a tiny comparison of coral polishes that I did a year ago... a day (=year) late and a dollar short, that's me. ._. I always get this super strong urge to wear corals in the summer, and at least one of these polishes is still widely available. In the bottle, these two are exactly the same. The differences are that the Revlon is a creme whereas the Depend is more jelly-like and dries slightly darker than it appears in the bottle. Tropical Tempation is good to go with two coats, but 244 needs three to eliminate VNL.

Vintage purple to green duochrome comparison

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth - Chameleon, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Emerald Amethyst, Revlon - Kiwizing & Hard Candy - Groove, all 2 coats

So what's the difference between these four I hear you ask... there isn't one. They're the same frigging polish! Now, several days after doing this comparison, I couldn't tell them apart if I hadn't written down the order I applied them in. ...Well okay, Chameleon is a *tad* more blue than the rest, but basically if you own one there's no need to hunt down any of the others.

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle Cool Mint & purple crackle comparison

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle - Cool Mint, 2 coats

I accidentally bought a duplicate bottle of Cool Mint, I'm either including it in an upcoming giveaway (hint hint) or franken with it. And no, I didn't trim my nails yet, this is an older mani from about a month ago. I have a backlog of about 30+ manis that I need to sort through, edit and publish. x.O

Skinfood Pedicure Sparkle - Cool Mint & LaRosa Hot Purple (i, r) / China Crackle - Fault Line (m, p), 2 + 1 coats

A small purple crackle comparison: Hot Purple vs. Fault Line. I LOVE the LaRosa crackles, the brush is nice and wide so you only need to dip once, and the formula is dreamy. Fault Line is the most challenging to use of the China Glaze crackles, a fact that isn't helped a bit by the skinny, floppy CG brush. It doesn't look too bad here but this is the best Fault Line mani I've ever done, usually all I get is a strand-like effect with very little actual crackling of the polish.

Black holo comparison!

Color Club - Revvvolution, Eveline - 470, Golden Rose - 119 & China Glaze - Let's Do It In 3D, 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 coats

W00t, black holo polishes! ^o^ These were all swatched over Nfu-Oh Aqua Base which eliminates any cuticle dragging. The China Glaze packs the most punch in the holo department, then Eveline followed closely by Golden Rose, and finally dragging far behind comes poor Color Club. I do not know if my Revvvolution is a dud version as it has some holo to it but it's quite subtle. China Glaze Kaleidoscopes still pop up on eBay quite often and Revvvolution ought to be pretty easy to find if you don't care if you're getting the original or a dud version. As for the more unknown brands, Eveline originates from Poland and Golden Rose hails from Turkey (?).

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy vs. Sinful Colors Subdued

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy (index, ring) & Sinful Colors - Subdued (middle, pinkie), 4 + 2 coats

Perhaps a slightly dull comparison of nudes, but hey. Coney Island Cotton Candy and Subdued look relatively similar in the bottle, but on the nail CICC is much more yellow and Subdued definitely appears to be very pink. The Sinful Color is a nice self-leveling creme but it's way too pink to be a perfect match for my skintone. I guess the OPI can be classified as a jelly and as such takes tons of coats to be even remotedly opaque - I did four coats and you can still see my VNL. I think there are two versions of this one floating around - mine is from the newer batch.

OPI Let Me Entertain You vs. Lumene Soul Shaker

OPI - Let Me Entertain You, 2 coats

Let Me Entertain You is a wonderfully vivid magenta with duochrome foil particles and glass flecks in a jelly base. I dislike wearing classic reds because they make me feel like a two dolla hooker, but flashy magentas like this one are a-ok in my book. Figure it out. *eh*

OPI - Let Me Entertain You (index, ring) & Lumene - Soul Shaker (middle, pinkie, zoom), 2 + 3 coats

Soul Shaker is one of the five nail polishes from Lumene's current Punk Princess Trend Collection; the rest are a plain black, a pink and a grey creme plus what looked to me like a dupe for Hard Candy Mr. Wrong. In the bottle Let Me Entertain You and Soul Shaker appear to be something like 99,9% dupes, but Soul Shaker is a tad lighter and needs 3 coats to eliminate VNL. The Natural Code line lacquer bottles are ridiculously tiny at 4,5ml and cost around 4€, but if you're a Finn and can't bring yourself to hand over 16€ for a bottle of OPI (I've got two words for you: Trans Design) then go and grab youself a bottle of Soul Shaker.