Desperately duping graphite

I have a rule against buying Chanel polishes. I lust after them, I render myself completely broke buying them, I apply them with a frantic anticipation, I am disappointed. This is how it always goes. I adore a luxury purchase as much as the next girl, but every Chanel lacquer I've had has ended up in the swap pile. But Graphite...*sigh*. I adore Graphite. Quite apart from the fact that I'm not supposed to be buying polish at all, never mind Chanel polish, this one has my heart. So I went rummaging through my stash to see if I had anything similar that would prevent me from hitting 'purchase!'.

This is what I turned up: 'Mischa' by Andrea Fullerton, a brand available in Superdrug in the UK. The colour is definitely not a dupe, but it's in the same vein, and a very fine colour in its own right. It's a foil with dominant colours of pewter, violet, and gold. From a distance it looks like a dark grey with warm undertones, and it sparkles nicely in the sun. This is three coats, and longevity has been good (I'm on day four of wear today with no issues, although I will be removing it tonight).

But, I'm not convinced by the brand. The bottles are teeny - 5.5ml - and are priced at £5.50 each. At £1 a ml, these are more expensive than my Illamasquas (£13.50 for 15ml, although I nearly always purchase in a sale, making them more like £10 each). They're not even far off Chanel, which is £17.50 for 13ml. I bought four of these when I first started my internship, and the colours are really gorgeous and unique (I'll swatch some of the others in the coming weeks) but they are expensive given the small quantity you get. Not sure why I'm complaining, given that I rarely dent my big 15ml bottles, but the size of these does feel a bit stingy.

Are you ever put off polish purchases by the quantity you get in a bottle?

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So Super Good and Yummy! - OPI Hot & Spicy

Confession: I LOVE Cartman's Jennifer Lopez hand puppet character from South Park. I know all the lines and songs and I think I've seen the episodes starring the lovely Ms. Lopez 20 times. Mildly offensive, yes. I just try to take it out of that context and enjoy it for what it is - a hand puppet wearing a fur coat. This polish reminds me of her.

For those of you who have no idea what the above statement was about, please just ignore and look at the pretty polish!

OPI Hot & Spicy was from the Hong Kong collection, but I only recently acquired it. I've been kind of loving orange polish this summer. (Helloooo Essie Geranium and Meet Me At Sunset!) This is a softer orange though. Not nearly as soft as Essie Cantaloupe, but less deep and red than the others I mentioned.

On my ultra pale skin, this still comes across a little strong, but I quite like it - it's summer after all! I think where this would really be a standout is on someone with more colour to their skin. Like the lovely Piff. (Do you have this one Piffy?) The formula was also excellent, like all of the other Hong Kong polishes I own, so I expected nothing less.

I know orange is trendy right now and I'm in no way original, but have you been wearing orange this summer as well? If not, what would you say is your signature summer colour?

kittytokaren

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Many, many pictures of OPI Rally Pretty Pink

I spent most of the three days I wore this staring at my nails. Staring at them indoors, staring at the outdoors, staring at them during the day, staring at them during the night... and taking photos of most of that process.

OPI Rally Pretty Pink (outdoors in direct sunlight)

(outdoors in indirect sunlight)

(indoors in lightbox)

(indoors, indoor lighting, no flash)

I never thought I'd ever go so nutty over a pink shimmer! But it's so much more than just a pink

shimmer. It's a ton of gold foil (and green shimmer, perhaps?... though that might just be a trick of the light) suspended with a pink-purple jelly that can look like a slightly dusty magenta or a really rich red-leaning purple, depending on light and angle. Three coats -- could've used a fourth because it's jelly and the more you put on, the more shimmer you get! But three coats was sufficient. There was no color that it looked like "most of the time" (hence the many photos in different types of lighting situations). So changeable, so lovely. It sparkles so hard, it burns.

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My lame nail art.

For some reason, I had the urge to engage in some nail art recently. Little nail art. Nail art is usually way, way, way out of my comfort zone, but I felt a burst of creativity! My mani at the time was Essie Geranium (which is actually much more orange-toned that this pic would suggest). I added three little dots of Essie Turquoise & Caicos on each thumb using a bobby pin.

Essie Geranium + Turquoise & Caicos

I thought the result was fairly cute and went well with my turquoise jewelry!

And yes, I took this picture in my car...I wasn't going to share it at first but then I felt like snapping a pic at the wheel. However, I was parked in a parking lot! Don't ogle your nails and drive ladies!

Please don't judge too harshly - nail art is not my thing! Have you tried any nail art lately?

kittytokaren

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Dior Nirvana

Dior Nirvana

Nirvana indeed! A wonderful teal polish that has a very subtle but very real blue shimmer. I'm so glad Dior has started releasing more interesting shades because for awhile there, I was afraid I would have to start to enjoy reds, pinks and beiges in order to ever get a Dior Vernis fix. :P Two coats. Looked great for all four days I wore it.

Closeup of Nirvana

I took maybe two dozen photos with the express goal of trying to capture the shimmer. You can kind of see it in this closeup photo. I didn't even notice the shimmer when I applied it. I only realized it was a shimmer polish when I got out in the sun. (It was a great moment because my first thought was, "Aw, man, did I accidentally get some shimmer polish mixed up with my Diamont again??" (No, I didn't.)

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