OPI Designer Series Comparison

If I were to list some of my favorite Little Music Boxes blog posts, this one always comes to mind.  I love how the pictures came out in this one and I really love all four of these polishes so I wanted it to be one of the first ones I brought back from the archives.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Remember word analogies?  For example, "Meow is to cat as bark is to dog" is a word analogy.  I remember studying them over and over in the SAT prep course I took in high school.  I got so sick of practice SAT exams that I never took the real thing.  I went through a phase in high school where I tried to be all bad ass and I proudly proclaimed that I was never going to go to college so why would I need SAT scores?  Eh, I still went to college and still have no SAT scores.

Anyway, I thought the word analogy "Fantasy is to Glamour as Extravagance is to Exclusive" would be a great description for this comparison and I hope you'll see why with my pictures.

First up, the cast of characters (I took this photo with a flash to show off the holographic effect best).

I applied three coats of each polish in the same order, from pinkie to thumb.  This picture was taken in the direct sun.  I'm holding Glamour (my favorite of these four polishes) in the first few pictures.

I got another picture in the sun, but it's through the window screen so it's not as bright.

This picture was taken in the shade by a window.

And I took this picture with a flash.  The order here is reversed since this hand position lets me take flash pictures a little better.  I'm a lefty so I take almost all my pictures with the camera upside down and this position works better for my flash pictures.

I used three coats of each and had no problems with the formula.  These apply and wear like regular nail polish (unlike some holographic polishes).  I didn't use any top coat in these pictures, but I haven't had any problems with my regular Sally Hansen Insta-Dri dulling the holographic effect.  I do have a comment on my spreadsheet that Fantasy caused a little staining, even with a good base coat.  I'll have to triple up on basecoat next time I wear it.

I hope you enjoyed!

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K2K's Drugstore Binge...it happened.

I have insomnia. I've had it all my life. In the last year or so I've found some drugs that work beautifully, helping me to sleep at night without being habit-forming. However, if I miss the time I need to take them, I just skip it because taking my pills late makes it hard for me to get my booty up for work in the morning - consequently I get no sleep.

Such a sleepless night occurred recently, and I had this itch - nay, urge - to buy polish. I had secretly been lusting after a couple of drug store beauties, but I didn't want to stray from my very strict "brand rule". (Created to limit my spending, and, more importantly, so all the bottles look pretty and uniform in their little box...Yeah.) I broke down - for the first time, really - and drove around the town(s) like a madwoman.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac:

(in normal light)

(washed out, but you can see the green shimmer nicely here)

Murky lavender with a very interesting green shimmer. Pretty, unique, but it might be a little too "My Little Pony" for me? I know its really popular, and I can see why, but I'm not totally feeling it for some reason. I honestly thought this would be my fav of the bunch.


Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Gala:

(two-finger swatch!)

(check out how glittery this is - wow!)

Dense but fine purple and gold glitter in a purple base. Totally not me, but kind of appealing and definitely fun. The fine grain of the glitter makes this one much more wearable, but like ML, it also reminds me of the days of Lisa Frank and I'm not sure if I can pull it off!

Maybelline Express Finish Gray-T Glamour:

(OK I swapped for this one - I went to like 4 drugstores this fateful night trying to find it. I was in a frenzy of rage.)

I've been looking for a good grey, and I had high hopes for this one. While I do like it - and I really like that it has a little secret shimmer - it is probably a little too blue-toned for my taste. (Keep in mind everything turns bluer on me...I was hoping it would look gorgeous like it did on Adrienne here, but no dice.) This will stay in my arsenal until a better grey comes along.

Drugstore binge verdict? Meh. I know I can't judge all drugstore polishes by these 3, but the brushes on both brands annoyed me - not the brushes themselves, but the wands pick up so much product, making it difficult to get the right amount of polish onto your nail. Also, even though I used my normal base coat/top coat combos, my Gray-T Glamour full mani chipped on day 2. Lamesauce.

This kind of feels like the morning after a night out. I drank too much, ate greasy food, and now I've woken up and I'm not sure if I regret the whole thing, even if it was fun. I figured, for a couple bucks each (I think the Xtreme Wears were $3 a pop?), I could try them out, and if I fell in love, fab - if not, then I can just swap them or give them to someone and I'll still have gotten my moneys worth. Still, I'm not sure I'm going to do this ever again...I feel a little full and bloated.

What do you think of my drugstore binge? Do you have a 'brand rule' or any rule you stick to in order to limit your spending?

kittytokaren

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The Dr. Pepper Treatment

I can't take the credit for this one, but I sure wish I could. Please allow me to present to you, The Dr. Pepper Treatment:

China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps over Icing Blackout

No, it's not a super new process in which you dip your fingers into syrupy cola and they come out white and strong and long and impressive. Sorry. What it IS, however, is a lovely layering of China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps over a dark polish (in this case, Icing Blackout) where the result is a deep-vampy-red-black-jelly-glittery-glossy-fabulous-awesomeness. Here is a better look:

Yum. Yum. Yum. Like I said, I can't take credit for this one - some incredible manicurists at a salon in Skippack, Pennsylvania introduced this to me a year ago. It truly is fabulous for both your fingers and toes - I'm sure you won't be disappointed!



Happy day, all!

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Picture Polish: Mellow Yellow and Malteaser

Yay! My first two Picture Polish NOTDs. One is fabulous... and the other one, not so much. Both were sent to me for review by Picture Polish.

First the fabulous one:

Picture Polish Mellow Yellow

I love pastel yellow cremes. This is a perfect example of one and it went on so very well! If I had done thicker coats, I could've made do with two coats but I did three thin coats for this one and it was perfectly opaque and smooth (and utterly non-streaky) by the third coat. I wore this for a couple of days (using Gelous/Diamont) and there were no chips or shrinkage, and minimal tipwear. Decent dry time too with a quick dry topcoat.

Picture Polish Malteaser

This dark taupe creme was a nightmare. It applied a little goopily and was more sheer than necessary for the darkness of the color. It took three coats to get opaque... and it wasn't a fun three coats to apply. But the worst part was... it bubbled BADLY. I don't know if it reacted negatively with my basecoat or what but I had a ton of little bubbles on my nails. It drove me so crazy, I couldn't stand it for more than half a day.

It's so odd to me when a pastel yellow from a company applies beautifully... but a dark taupe doesn't. Oh well. Ten more Picture Polishes to go... :)

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OPI DS Magic

ETA: WOW! 1000 followers! You guys are amazing. Thank you so much for reading our blog! :) (And thank you, too, to those of you who subscribe in other ways. :D)

I should, in theory, love this polish but I feel kinda meh on it.

OPI DS Magic

It's big, blue and beautiful... but leaves me lukewarm! Shimmering, metallic, subduedly sparkly and very, very bright. It even has slight purple duochrome going on (click on the pic and look at the sides of the nail). I think I wanted more of the purple duochrome. I think maybe I don't like vibrant metallic blues? It's kind of a mystery as to why this is on my swap/sell pile. Three coats.

So... another month went by. Let's tally up my "earnings" from my exercise: 22 polishes! I totally didn't adhere to my "only buy 20 polishes in September" plan at all. :( I went to an amazing dusty that time forgot and came out with 60 polishes in one go. And then I hauled a bunch of expensive LEs. I mean, it was a real bust, guys. But maybe I'll try to stay within the 22 this month... should I even figure out how much each polish should be worth? I mean, I'm sort of on unofficial low-buy anyway since my 60 polish bender at the dusty...

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