[NOTD] Halloween Manicures

I usually don't dress up in costume for Halloween, but I will take any excuse for a themed manicure.  These are the Halloween manicures I've sported over the past couple weeks.  For all manicures, I used Zoya Anchor for my basecoat and New York Color Grand Central Station for my topcoat.

1.  Milani Purple Passion (2 coats) topped with Hit Polish Witches Brew (1 coat)

Halloween mani #1:  Milani Purple Passion and Hit Polish Witches Brew (modeled with my favorite book, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury)

2.  Zoya Pia (2 coats) with Color Club Status Update used to stamp a pumpkin design from Bundle Monster BM-222 plate

Halloween mani #2:  Zoya Pia and a stamp from Bundle Monster Plate BM-222 using Color Club Status Update

3.  Orly Steel Your Heart (2 coats) topped with Hit Polish Harley (1 coat)

Halloween mani #3:  Orly Steel Your Heart with Hit Polish Harley

[Comparison] Essie Splash of Grenadine Dupes

Essie Splash of Grenadine is one of my favorite nail polishes.  I love the bright plum pink color.  Maybe that's why I accidentally bought two very similar polishes: Maybelline Love Me Lavender and Color Club Sweetpea.

Maybelline Love Me Lavender | Essie Splash of Grenadine | Color Club Sweetpea

Love Me Lavender (not a lavender shade) and Splash of Grenadine are nearly identical.  In some lighting, Splash of Grenadine looks a smidgen more purple.  Sweetpea is more gray and a shade darker than the other two.

Essie Splash of Grenadine (pinky & middle fingers)  with Color Club Sweetpea (ring finger) and Maybelline Love Me Lavender (index finger)

All polishes have thin consistencies and look opaque in two coats, but Color Club Sweetpea does not level out on the nail.  Splash of Grenadine wears the longest - almost a full week!  Love Me Lavender lasts a few days while Sweetpea chips within a couple days.

None of these nail polishes are available in permanent lines.  Splash of Grenadine was originally in a Summer 2010 collection.  I'm not sure if it has been moved to Essie's permanent line or not, but it can still be found online.  Sweetpea and Love Me Lavender are in Spring 2012 collections.  Essie retails for $8, Color Club retails for $8, and Maybelline retails for around $5.50.  I bought Splash of Grenadine and Sweetpea from Transdesign.com at discounted prices, and I bought Love Me Lavender at CVS.

Since Love Me Lavender and Splash of Grenadine are very nearly dupes, I recommend buying only one.  (I do not recommend Sweetpea at all.)  While Love Me Lavender costs less, it does not wear as long as Splash of Grenadine.

[Comparison] Color Club Lavendarling v. Zoya Malia

Although I had previously never tried a Color Club nail polish, the Spring 2012 colors from Color Club caught my attention, and I purchased a few polishes from the Blossoming Collection.  When my order arrived, I realized that Color Club Lavendarling looked awfully similar to another polish, Zoya Malia.

Color Club Lavendarling versus Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia is one of my favorite nail polishes.  It is a creamy medium grape purple.  Its formula is perfect - self-evening, not streaky, and looks fabulous in one to two coats.  However, Malia costs $8, and I purchased Lavendarling for only $3, so I would be happy to find a more affordable dupe.

In the picture below, I am wearing two coats of Zoya Malia on my middle and pinky fingers and two coats of Lavendarling on my pointer and ring fingers.

Zoya Malia (middle, pinky) | Color Club Lavendarling (pointer, ring)

While the colors of the two polishes are indeed identical, the Zoya formula far outshines the problematic Color Club polish.  As you can see, Lavendarling was thick, streaky, and did not even out on my nails.

I'll stick to Zoya Malia.

[NOTD] Color Block Aqua & Purple

This weekend, I had cheery spring color blocked nails.  I wish my pictures showed how cheery they were in person, but I took them at night.  I wore Color Club Lavendarling (3 coats) on three fingers and Orly Gumdrop (2 coats) on two fingers of each hand.  As always, I used Orly Bonder for my basecoat and New York Color Grand Central Station for my topcoat.

[Color block nails] Color Club Lavendarling and Orly Gumdrop

[Color blocking aqua & purple] Color Club Lavendarling with Orly Gumdrop

[NOTD] Easter Skittles Manicure

Easter is approaching, and to celebrate, I painted a pastel skittles manicure featuring Color Club's Blossoming Collection.  The featured color is Color Club Sweetpea.  The accent nails are Color Club Lavendarling, Color Club Hydrangea, Color Club Blushing Rose, and Wet n Wild On a Trip.

Pastel Easter skittles manicure, featuring Color Club Blossoming Collection

Easter skittles manicure using Color Club spring 2012 polishes

These were my first Color Club polishes, and I'm disappointed.  The consistency of the polishes is poor.  They don't even out, so they look textured on my nails.  Blushing Rose is the worst, and Hydrangea is slightly better than the rest (also my favorite of the collection).  Because the consistency is poor, I used only 2 coats of the Wet n Wild color but 4 coats of Blushing Rose and 3 coats for each of the rest.  I used Orly Bonder for my basecoat and New York Color Grand Central Station for my topcoat.

[NOTD] Color Club Blushing Rose with Glitter

I don't like Color Club Blushing Rose.  It's from the new Color Club Blossoming Collection for spring 2012.  It is incredibly streaky and does not even out on my nails.  I had to apply four coats to hide the streaks, and I would have had to applied five if I wasn't covering it with glitter.  The color is also too stark against my cool-tone pale skin.  It is a milky bubblegum pink that is almost neon.  I had been hoping it would be less stark and more muted.  I hate it.

Shown below is 1 coat of Orly bonder, 4 coats of Blushing Rose, 1 coat of China Glaze Techno (on all fingers except my accent fingers), and 1 coat of New York Color Grand Central Station.  My accent fingers have 3 coats of Sally Hansen Strobe Light.  So my accent fingers have 9 coats of polish - 3 of those glitter - to remove.  That will be fun.

Color Club Blushing Rose (4 coats), China Glaze Techno (1 coat), and Sally Hansen Strobe Light on accent nail (3 coats)

I do love the glittery China Glaze Techno.  It looks great with only one coat, and it sparkles in the sunlight.  It sparkles so much that my camera had a difficult time focusing on my nails.

China Glaze Techno sparkling in the sunlight