Newest Lip Color Obsession: Fergie by Wet N Wild Centerstage Lipsticks!!

OMG, is this me doing a non-nail polish post? You bet it is! You see, I haven't completely abandoned my original intentions with this blog (to rant and rave about ALL reasonably affordable cosmetics)--it's just when I am short on time and/or money, I default to my original lacquerholism and all other beauty interests fall by the wayside (so, essentially, what I morph into is a disheveled, raggedy-ass mom in sweats who just happens to have fabulous nails)...

BUT I've recently stumbled across an amazing new lip product that brought me out of my makeup slump and despite the fact that there are already many posts proclaiming the awesomeness of these babies, I couldn't resist adding my voice to the choir of praise.

Behold the new Wet N Wild Fergie Center Stage lipsticks:

(click to enlarge. scroll to bottom for swatches)

from left to right, we have: V.I.Pink; Penthouse Sweet; Fuchsianista; Saraghina; Old School Glam; Ferguson Crest Cabernet.

There are a few other shades in this line--a nude shade, a very shimmery wine colored shade and even a black shade, but I passed on those because they made me go "meh." 

These lipsticks remind me of the Megalast lipsticks Wet N Wild released in 2012. Both lines have some similar shade offerings. Both lines are also very pigmented and they wear for a nice long time. However, I found the Megalast lipsticks super-drying and difficult to apply (too much tugging) and too matte for my liking. Also the Megalast lipsticks feathered on me but the Fergie lipsticks give me none of these issues. To make a long story short, here's why they won my heart in the end:

• They are nice and creamy but not slippery or thin and they are fully opaque in one pass over the lips.
• Like I said, they DO NOT feather at all--not even after hours of wear. This is pretty much my BIGGEST reason for loving these so much. Lipcolor LOVES to feather on me and I usually need to layer a lipliner and an anti-feathering lipbase under my lipcolor to keep that from happening--but I can wear these Fergie lippies with NOTHING else under them and they stay where they are supposed to.
• They are only $3.49 a piece at my local Walgreens!
• They stay creamy and lush. Their consistency does not change to a sticky goo or a flaky mess like some cheaper lipsticks do after prolonged wear. 

The ONLY thing I don't like about these lipsticks is the bullet of lipcolor does not fully retract into the tube--which means clutzes like me are doomed to accidentally nick the exposed lipstick tips when we go to put the caps back onto them. (doh!)

Ok, enough yapping and onto some swatches.

indoors, natural light

outdoors, direct sun

From left to right, we have:

V.I.Pink:  warm creamy pink.satin finish

Penthouse Sweet: a brighter, slightly cooler, more blue-based pink. satin finish

Fuschsianista: gorgeous bright magenta with violet flash. very slight shimmer but more or less a satin

Saraghina: the perfect blue-based red. satin finish

Old School Glam: coral-leaning warm red. satin finish

Ferguson Crest Cabernet: cool blue-based plum

Fuschsianista and Ferguson Crest Cabernet are my absolute favorites. I've been wearing them alternately ever since I got them and am seriously contemplating getting back-ups! Well done once again, Wet N Wild. Thanks for hooking up cheap girls like me with such affordable fabulousness!!

Have you tried any of these yet? Which ones are your favorites?

new stuff to stick on my nails: hot pink nail art studs from Born Pretty Store!

In posts past, I have professed and undying love for sticking junk to my nails. Glitter, poly clay slices, rhinestones, wee bits of metal--if it is small enough for nail art, you better believe I'll be featuring it in a mani. So, of course, when I was contacted by the folks at Born Pretty Store requesting a review for one of their products, I jumped at the chance to snatch up some brand new studs to experiment with. 

If you are not already familiar with Born Pretty Store, they are an amazing etailor of everything from jewelry to makeup to nail art supplies. They are an excellent source of all things sparkly and shiny and reasonably priced--nail art rhinestones and glitter, stamping plates, flocking powder, nail foils just to name a few items--and they are always adding new products to their inventory. Oh yea and they offer FREE worldwide shipping, too..sa-weeeeeeeeeet!

So, here's a pic of the studs I got. 

They're 2mm hot pink studs and HERE is the official link to the item's listing. The studs are completely smooth, domed and hollow on the underside. They come in the resealable plastic pouch they are pictured in above and you get TONS of them. The amount pictured in the bag  is actually AFTER I had done 2 different manis with the studs. I'll have these for a long time!

The above is a shot of a mani I created with the studs. I wanted something fun & obnoxiously girly, so I went with a dotticure using a base of China Glaze Creative Fantasy (a neon purple hot mess of a polish--don't even get me started on the abysmal formula). The white dots were made with a dotting tool and Finger Paints Papier Mache. I then used the same dotting tool dipped in a bit of clear polish to pick up the hot pink studs and place them where I wanted them while my polish was still wet. A quick coat of Seche Vite sealed the deal and I was done. Altogether, it took no more than 20 minutes start to finish for me to do both hands. 

These studs are SUPER neon bright. Because of how saturated the color was, I was a bit afraid that the studs  might bleed when I applied topcoat, but amazingly enough, they were totally colorfast! Win!!

shot to show height of the studs

One thing I need to note about these studs is they DO have a higher profile than any of the other rhinestones or studs I've used before. That being said, though, I was amazed at how well they stayed on my nail. I wore this manicure for 3 days without losing a single stud. Probably has something to do with the hollow dome shape filling up with the clear polish & getting everything all good and stuck down when I put the studs on my nail (yes this is me trying to sound scientific--scary isn't it?)...

So do I recommend these studs? Without a freakin doubt! In fact, I'm planning on getting the other neon colors Born Pretty Store offers. They are cute, bright, don't bleed, stay put and I can't wait to do more manis with them!

If you, too, feel moved to give some moneys over to crazy fun bright nail art, then be sure to use this coupon code the peeps at Born Pretty Store created especially for The Awesome People (aka, all you fine readers of my blog).

(disclosure statement: yes products in this post were provided to me for review. no that does not mean I lied about liking them)

Dupe comparison: Butter London The Black Knight vs Pure Ice Private Show

Omg youze guise, we have a $1.98 dupe of a $15.00 polish over here. Yep, Dupetastic and dupe-alicious, that's what Butter London The Black Knight and Pure Ice Private Show are! I LOVE when this happens, though granted I love it more when I haven't already bought the expensive version (but hey, at least I got the Butter London during a big holiday sale, so that helps it sting a little less!)

Check it!:

Bottle shots in shade

Bottle shots in less crappy lighting (indirect sun)

(indirect sun. 3 coats each, no topcoat)

Nail wheel swatches in indirect sun. The Black Knight is on the left and Private Show is on the right. The only real difference I see is TBK has slightly larger, slightly less dense glitters. Other than that, the shapes and colors are identical, as is the black base. And they're EVEN pretty much the same formula-wise. The above swatch is 3 coats of each polish with no topcoat. Same general consistency and opacity for both of these (i.e., they both start out frighteningly sheer, then about 75% opaque at coat 2 and then coat 3 gets full coverage. Now that I think of it, I should have taken pics of each coat--bad blogger!!)

(indirect sun. 3 coats each. Seche Vite topcoat)

And here is a shot on my nails.  The swatch order from left to right goes Private Show, The Black Knight and then Private Show again. In this light, you can't even see the difference in glitter sizes. 

(indirect sun. 3 coats. Seche Vite topcoat)

This is Private Show by itself. I must mention that, in addition to this polish being $13.00 cheaper, you also get more of it--Pure Ice bottles contain .5 oz of product while Butter London bottles only have .4. DOUBLE SCORE!!

So there you have it, kids. If  you love The Black Knight but aren't crazy enough to pay $15 for it, Pure Ice Private Show is sure to kill that lemming. And if you are amongst the crazies like me who have already dropped the big dough on TBK because you just hadtohaveitomgitissogorgeous, then hey at least you can get a nice cheap back up!!

You can find Pure Ice polishes at Walmart.

Pure Ice Haul + NOTD of Pure Ice Irreplaceable

Much to the delight of lacquerheads everywhere, Pure Ice, purveyors of gorgeous, cheap nail polishes, recently came out with, like 7 zillion new shades for 2013 (ok it's more like 29). Well, I stumbled upon a display for all their awesome new pretties the other day and this happened:

(click to huge-ify and please cut me some slack while I figure out how to finesse the best pics out of my new camera)

Oopsy. Yea and this is actually AFTER I made myself put several bottles back. SO MUCH GLITTER!! and they're only $1.97 each!!

Can we get some shade names up in here? Top row from L to R: Over You (holographic teal hex and bar glitter with lavender microglitter in a clear base); Irreplaceable (silver and black microglitter with larger gunmetal hexes in a black jelly base); Look My Way (bright blue hexes with smaller purple glitters in a clear base); Watch Me Go (super fine blue and green glitter in a clear base). 

Bottom row L to R: Never Satisfied (large silver, magenta and purple hexes with smaller teal glitters in a clear base); Tame Me Now (red and orange glitters with larger silver hexes in a clear base); Freedom (blue hexes, silver stars and large and small red hexes in a clear base); Private Show (magenta, red, blue, and silver microglitter in a black base...I smell a Butter London The Black Knight dupe here!!)

Ok, SOMEONE in the Pure Ice polish naming department obviously has one hell of a sleazy, jilted love life...but I digress...

Being the black glitter  polish nut that I am, the first shade I picked to wear was Irreplaceable:

I have yet to see anyone come out with a black polish that has such interesting glitters in it. I LOVE the larger gunmetal hexes. They're rather unshiny and they give the polish an industrial feel--they look like rivets or bits of antique metal or something, and since I am all about bad-ass deconstructed grime glam (yes these are my terms--who else would cook up such ludicrous phrases), I am falling all over the place for them. The smaller silver and black glitters in the base lend an almost mineralistic feel to this polish. If someone pulverized obsidian gemstones and made them into a nail lacquer, this would be what you'd get. 

The aforementioned awesomeness pretty much makes up for the fact that the formula is evil in a bottle. Thick, gloopy consistency that drags into bald spots all over the place, glitters that clump together, craptastic mop of a brush...all the shizz that polish addicts hate--it's all there. I basically had to glob one layer on, let it dry and then glob a second layer on & push it around. It was more like spackliing than painting. A good thick coat of Seche Vite helped even everything out for the most part...but on its own, the polish has an uneven, gritty texture. 

So my final word on Irreplaceable by Pure Ice is it is only for true die-hard black glitter polish fanatics.  Its merits are in LOOKS alone. The only way you will get complete fulfillment out of this stuff is if you secretly like to be tortured. 

Stay tuned for swatches of the other polishes in this latest Pure Ice haul!! 

My week in nails

Welp, another week has come and gone with nary a post from yours truly. Sad and triflin' I know. I want to be able to post more but, the only way I'm going to accomplish that is if I either get rich enough to afford hired help or miraculously stumble upon human cloning technology and make enough mes to go around. As always, though,  I have been taking pics of my manis (well, the ones that lasted long enough for me to get pics of, that is) and I have a few of those pics to share with you today.

The mani above is brought to you by Maybelline's Color Show Line. They have recently released a set of limited edition kryptonite glitter polishes called 'Sequins.' Of course, whilst out running errands, I happened upon a display of said polishes and 3 of them somehow found their way into my cart (go to the store for diapers, come home with diapers....and several bottles of nail polish. Story of my frickin life). This pretty is known by the name "Sapphire Masquerade." It consists of multiple sizes of blue-violet glitter (I wouldn't consider this a true blue) with some larger bright purple glitters thrown into an inky blue jelly base. Freakin LOVE. Easy to work with. GREAT coverage and it actually managed to not feel like sandpaper despite being a glitter bomb. Pictures are 2 coats of Sapphire Masquerade with 2 coats of Seche Vite on top. Moving right along......

This is the crazy ass mani I came up with to celebrate the fact that, after last week's election,  gays can get married in even more states now!! YAAAAAY!! Granted I intentionally keep politics off this blog because I want it to be simply about the awesome escapism that pretty shiny things bring into our lives BUT  I have no problem publicly stating that I am all for equality for ALL human beings, no matter what they look like, what they have between their legs,  how much money they make,  where they live, what they believe or who they take to bed with them. And where else is a nail polish fiend supposed to express her happiness over more victories for gay rights than on  the tips of her fingers??

 This mani was done with Wet N Wild black creme., then came a coat of an old and unfortunately pretty impossible to  find Fantasy Makers rainbow bar glitter polish from a few years back called Black Magic (yes the other OTHER version of that polish). After that,  I  free-handed some half moons with Essie No Place Like Chrome, glitterfied the half moons with a silver glitter Kiss nail art striper, stuck on a rainbow combo of rhinestones &  Badda-boom badda-bing, ya got some Yay for the Gays nails. 

After I used Essie No Place like Chrome for those half-moons, I decided I needed even more of that awesome shiny in my life. And, to shiny it up even more,  I reached for Color Club Platinum Record (from last year's insane Backstage Pass glitter collection). The above mani is 1 coat of No Place like Chrome with 2 coats of Platinum Record dabbed on & 1 coat of Gelous + Seche Vite to finish. Gotta love BLINDING disco ball nails. Trying to get pics of this was pretty much im-freakin-possible. Seriously, my camera was about to jump out of my hands & walk out the door it was so fed up (us nail bloggers always put our poor cams through such hell). 

So that's all I got for ya this time. Thanks to those of you who actually still bother to stop by!  I like to think I will be able to post with some semblance of consistency one fine day--like maybe 20 years from now when all my boys are all grown up... Until next time,  Peace and pretty things to all!

NOTD: Nicole by OPI All is Glam, All is Bright

Nicole by OPI has been on a roll lately as far as I am concerned. Their Target exclusive fall collection was stunning for the most part and their new Target Exclusive Kardashian holiday collection (I know I cringe at the idea of giving that family a cent of my money but cannot.resist.gravitational.pull.of. awesome.polish!!!) has a few gems too. When   I saw this beauty in the store, I absolutely had to have it. People meet All is Glam, All is Bright:

outdoors afternoon sun

outdoors shade

Itty bitty adorable little nano glitters make this polish up--I see red and silver and baby blue. Absolutely stunning--like a christmas ball in a bottle. When on the nail, the polish almost gives off a sort of lavender hue but all the individual glitter colors are still discernable and the red just pops out so beautifully. This polish is definitely unique and gorgeous and the absolute must-have of the Holiday collection if you ask me. 

The formula takes a little coaxing. I applied 3 thin coats to reach opacity and there was a bit of balding and dragging involved. I applied a coat of Gelous before finishing with Seche Vite because the polish had a slight grittyness to it by itself. Also, alone, the polish dries fairly matte so if you want smooth shinyness you're gonna have to work a little for it but in the end it is sooooo worth it.

Have you picked up any of Nicole by OPI's recent offerings? They really have been impressing me lately!! It's hard to find unique polishes to add to your collection when your stash is 1000+ bottles strong, but Nicole keeps hooking me up!

some "Hooray I survived Sandy" swatch spam

WOOOHOOOO! Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you heard about Superstorm Sandy and how shizz for us east coasters was all like:

well, I am happy to say my family and I made it through the storm. We lost power for a while and saw some trees out back come down (NONE of which came down ON us, thankmyeverlovingod), but we're good now. So, in celebration of our new lease on life, and also because I desperately need to clean out my "to post" folder, howzabout a ton of pics of lots of awesome recently released polishes? You down? Ok sweet. Let 'er rip!

First up, lets all admire the gorgeousness that is Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Twist of Lime, from the Fall 2012 Limited Edition Collection that started popping up about a month ago. This is 2 coats of Twist of Lime layered over 2 coats of Zoya Midori. On its own, this polish is really sheer so I definitely  recommend layering it and BELIEVE me, it is worth the layering. Freakin beau-dee-ful!! Gorgeous glass fleck yellow green that flashes either kelly green and gold depending on your angle of view. 

Next, we have another shade from the limited edition Diamond Strength collection. This one is called Blue Frosting and it is another multichromatic stunner. This one shifts from sky blue to lavender to a deeper purple and blue. I have2 coats of Blue Frosting layered over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac. Like Twist of Lime, Blue Frosting is painfully sheer on its own and definitely needs underwear to bring out its true awesomeness.

Moving on we have YET ANOTHER limited edition Diamond Strength shade (yea, I admit, I bought the whole damn collection when I saw it). This one is Moonlit Dance--gorgeous gold-flashing orange glass fleck amazingness. This is 2 coats layered over Sinful Colors Courtney Orange.

Here's the 4th Diamond Strength shade I have to show you today (I haven't gotten a chance to try the others yet). This one is called All Aglow. This one lacks the color shift that the others have but it is still a beautiful glass fleck finish polish. This one requires no layering--this is 2 coats of All Aglow on its own. Oh Sally Hansen, why you do spoil us so?!

(nail decals courtesy of Kiss)

Here we have Nicole by OPI If the Blue Fits, which is from ANOTHER amazing fall collection--this one Target Exclusive. Beautiful sapphire blue and purple flecks in a navy blue base. I am seriously loving the ubiquitousness (not sure if that's a word or not--meh...) of this polish finish this season as it is one of my absolute favorites. I love the depth & multi-dimensional shimmer  it lends. This is 2 coats of If the Blue Fits on its own--seriously glossy even without topcoat!

 Lastly, we have Python from New York Color. This polish is from their limited edition fall 2012 Fashion Predator collection. This is the only polish in this post I am "meh" about. It's pretty enough--nice olive green glass fleck polish but I've seen it done better. Also, the formula on this one was thin and runny. I'm wearing 4 coats in the pic. C'mon, NYC, I know you are capable of better!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed my spam. And hoping all east coast peeps are safe and haven't experienced too much Sandy-induced drama!!

China Glaze Cast A Spell

Just a quick post today to show you one of China Glaze's Halloween 2012 polishes. This is Cast A Spell:

Cast A Spell is made of orangey-gold, lime and emerald green micro-flakies in a blackened olive base. This polish is stunning! It's murky yet still glows--even in ugly gray, foggy New England fall weather (I like to hope that, one fine day, we'll see the sun again). 

Formula is is a little on the thick side--practically a one coater but I did 2 because apparently I like wasting polish (any one else a habitual multi-coater even when they don't need to be?), then topped it with my trusty Seche Vite. 

Well done, China Glaze! You can always count on this brand for some awesome Halloween nail candy!

The Temptress' Touch, AKA the most STUNNING chartreuse polish I have ever met

Lime green, yellow green, chartreuse-- whatever you call it, it is one of my absolute favorite colors and, therefore, every time I see a new polish in this shade, I must track it down and buy it. When I saw the promo shots for the L'Oreal Project Runway 2012 collection (check 'em out here), I KNEW I had to have The Temptress' Touch (which, incidentally is erroneously referred to as "The Temptress' Power) in the promo pics)...well, I finally tracked down a brand new Project Runway display and, of course, I Ninja grabbed me up some lime green goodness and let me tell you I am SO glad I did!! INSTANT new favorite here!!

outdoors on a depressing & dreary gray day

dreary outdoor shot with flash 

Ok here is why Temptress' Touch has stolen my heart:

• SUPERB formula--practically a 1 coater though I did 2 because I'm excessive like that
• the base is a yellow-leaning lime green but it is filled with this amazing emerald and orange micro shimmer that I of course could NOT capture with my camera
• the above-mentioned shimmer actually shows up brilliantly on the nail
• There's a gorgeous golden flash to this shade that makes it all the more awesome

The one and only thing I dislike about this polish is the brush--it is super stiff--almost like painting your nails with a little paddle or something. It requires you to have an extra light touch to make sure you don't accidentally create streaks or bald spots by scraping. Other than that, I am in LOVE and am seriously contemplating buying a back up bottle of this little bottle of gorgeocity (oh yea, you KNOW something's fierce when I invent new words to describe it!!)...

Have you spotted the new L'Oreal Project Runway collection in your area yet? Anything caught your eye?

NOTD: Can't be Decoded

S'up peeps. Look at me posting twice in the same week! You'd think I was, like, a good blogger or something O_O...

Today, I have another nail of the day post. I just wanted to mention that despite the fact that my posts have been nothing but nails lately, I have NOT switched to polish-only blogging. It's just that, when I get super duper rushed like I have been for the past few months (when will it END), pretty much all my makeup habits fall by the wayside, except for my nails. Nail polishing is the one thing I never lapse on because 1) my nails are absolutely FRIGHTFUL when nekkid and 2) polish is my one true original cosmetic addiction--therefore, it's the one form of self-pampering that I absolutely refuse to give up, so even if I'm bumming it in sweats and flip flops and no makeup and bandanas tied to my head to hide the birds nest underneath, my nails are still always impeccably polished. It's just how I roll.

Ok enough yammering and onto some pics:

This mani was just kind of randomly thrown together but I ended up loving it. This is 1 coat of Orly Can't Be Tamed over Orly Decoded (hence the dorky post title). I got both these polishes for pennies at Sally Beauty Supply's most recent red tag clearance sale (LOVE when they do those...half off already clearanced polishes??? YES PLEASE!)....

Decoded is from Orly's fall Electronica collection. It is a grey creme that seems to lean a little lavender to my eye. Layering Can't be Tamed on top definitely brings out that purply goodness.

.

Now decoded is an absolute dream formula wise. Smooth and buttery and 2 easy coats to perfection. Can't be Tamed on the other hand, not so much. I said it before and I'll said it again, Orly you have GOT to get a handle on this sinking glitter issue. This is the 4th Flash Glam polish that I have used and, so far, all 4 have had this problem. And its a shame because the polishes are gorgeous and it's so nice to see such unique, chunky glitters being produced by mainstream polish makers (not that I have anything against indie polishes--I love them but they are very hard to get ahold of and they are significantly more expensive than your average store-bought polish). 

Somebody needs to let Orly know that there is this amazing thing called SUSPENSION BASE and if you're going to come out with glitter bomb polishes, you HAVE to use it. Can't be Tamed has beautiful purple hexes mixed with smaller gunmetal glitters but it is seriously annoying to have to shake up the bottle every 2 seconds during your manicure just to be able to reach glitter with your brush. (sheesh did I use the word GLITTER enough in this post? I promise I am NOT going for a record or anything)...

So anyway, that's all I got for y'all today. Maybe someday soon I'll be able to get back to swatching, reviewing and even using all the makeup that is currently gathering dust in my bedroom but, for now, I hope you can survive on mani posts only. I know a majority of my followers are fellow lacquerholics, so I have a feeling you won't have a problem with it! :)

I'm already rockin Halloween polish, early September be damned!

OMG, you guys!! I don't know if you've heard but the peeps at Orly have glittered up Halloween something fierce! Check out Monster Mash:

DEATH by green glitter. LOVE!! Monster Mash is big green holo hex glitter, gold  micro glitter & gold bar glitter--all in a slightly tinted chartreuse base. I've never seen glitter quite like these big hexes. If you enlarge the photos, you can see there is actually a cross-hatch pattern on the glitters--probably has to do with their reflectiveness. It's STUNNING!

Formula wise, this polish is a little thick--of course--because they STUFFED this bottle full of as much glitter as physics would allow. The glitters spread out well and they are DENSE. My swatches are 2 coats of Monster Mash over black, but the black can barely make its presence known under all that bling!

I topcoated this mani with 2 coats of Gelous and 1 coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out....and then I proceeded to STARE at my hypnotically twinkly nails for 2 days straight.

Monster Mash is part of a glitterfied trio that Orly has released for Halloween 2012. The other 2 polishes are R.I.P. (BIG orange glitters in a black base) and Right Amount of Evil, which looks to be the orange version of Monster Mash. The only thing I love more than Halloween themed stuff is SPARKLY halloween themed stuff so, of course, I got all 3 polishes and will be posting the other 2 soon!

NOTD: Revlon Sparkle Aplenty!

The other day, I was wasting money time in Walgreens and stumbled upon Revlon's latest runway polish release, Sparkle Aplenty. I first learned about this little pretty via Nouveau Cheap and I was SO excited to come across it in person. I have a black glitter polish obsession and this one is instantly my new favorite.

come a little closer

closer

closer

ok that's close enough.

This is .5 ounces of fabulocity!! Sparkle Aplenty is a sheer black jelly polish with large black, matte silver (think OPI Pirouette my Whistle) & translucent greyish hex glitter mingling with silver micro glitter . LOVE LOVE and LOVE some more! 

Formula wise, it was a bit runny, but not impossible. The above swatches are 3 coats of Sparkle Aplenty on its own with Seche Vite on top. I love the look of the layered glitter suspended in all that black jelly awesomeness! I also love that these glitters are nice and flat. No tacos and no pokey bits sticking up here. 

Now usually the Revlon Runway Report polishes are dupes of much more expensive polishes, but this particular polish doesn't seem to have an obvious high-end twin. The closest anyone could come to pinpointing a match is OPI's Metallic 4 Life (part of the Nicki Minaj collection from earlier this year), so I thought I would include a side by side comparison of Sparkle Aplenty and Metallic 4 Life.

Sparkle Aplenty on the left, Metallic 4 Life on the right

No dupes here! Sparkle Aplenty's glitters are larger, more sparse and, of course, Metallic 4 Life only has silver glitters, whereas SA has black glitter & grayish glitter, too. Also, Metallic 4 Life's glitters are much shinier. If I had to pick one over the other, I would definitely go for Sparkle Aplenty. I think it has much more depth and interest to it. But really, in my mind, the polishes are so very different that pitting them against each other doesn't make sense to my polish hoarding brain. 

 After a day of wearing Sparkle Aplenty as my mani, I decided to bust out the crack. It's been forever since I used any of my crackle polishes. For some reason, I suddenly got the urge to play with one and I chose my Barry M pink crackle. I love how you can see the large glitters peaking through the cracks--almost like the eyeballs of some creatures lurking in the dark lol....ok maybe I'm the only one who would ever make that analogy. My point is, it's a cool effect.

Have you spotted this polish yet?