Perfectly Polished Tips 183 - NOTD Monday

To get me on track with posting and to force me to photograph my Nail Of The Day more often I'm going to try to do these once a week. I don't change my polish nearly as often as I would like. I used to do 3 or 4 manicures a week. To start it off I have Orly Luxe topped with China Glaze Lightening Bolt.

I saw a manicure similar to this sometime last year when the news the crackle polish was making a comeback was released. I remember using the Cover Girl crackle polish when I was younger and loving it. I didn't keep any of the polish I had when I was younger and I often wonder what gems I tossed out! Anyways I saw the manicure and I needed to replicate it ASAP. The China Glaze crackle was hard to come by in my town. It sold out immediately. My lovely sister was able to find it online and got it for me for my birthday. I finally wore it and was happy with the results.

Even though crackle polish is everywhere right now it seems to get mixed reviews. I personally love it. It's nice for a funky/fun mani and my favorite thing about it? I can slap it over an old mani or one I may have smudged and I am good to go.

I picked up Orly Luxe from my local Sally Beauty I believe it's part of the core collection. Crackle polish can be found just about anywhere in a variety of colors.

Perfectly Polished Tips 93 - Orly Gems Collection

I'm a little late to the party with these I suppose. For fall 2008 Orly drew inspiration from precious gemstones found around the world. The Gems collection contains 6 rich colors and each comes with a corresponding cocktail ring. I have three of the polishes here, sans rings because I had to hide them from my 2 year old son. Ever since Orly went big three free I've had a horrible time applying their polishes. I was hoping it was going to be different because I haven't purchases an Orly since May or so, but nope. I had a terrible time with Golden Jubilee, I had to remove it twice before I was able to get it on nicely. I had Star of Bombay (but gifted it to my sister because it was too similar to other polishes that I owned) and it didn't have too much of a drying issue. So maybe it's more hit or miss.

Mandalay Ruby is a bright ruby red. To me red is classy and is never out. I don't wear red nails as much as I used to but this polish might have rekindled my love for red cremes. This one applied fine, this is three coats. It's more on the jelly side in my opinion so while it was fine at two I preferred three.

Golden Jubilee is an amazing glowing golden amber. It's so much prettier in real life and I wish it didn't clash so much with my skin tone. I was amazed when I put it on and fell in love instantly, however it looks like i swirled my hands around in a bowl of mac & cheese.

Golden Maharaja is a glimmering dark brown topaz shade. I'm in love with color as well but I don't think it loves me. This one has similar application problems as Golden Jubilee, it was a bit thick but nothing too horrible.

This collection also contains Star of Bombay (shimmering sapphire blue), Midnight Star (shimmering deep amethyst), and Sea of Light (creamy pink topaz).

Orly can be found at OrlyBeauty.com, Sally Beauty stores, and the etailers that I have listed on my side bar.

Perfectly Polished Tips 83 - More Pink

This post had started out as me sharing more of my favorite pink polishes but as I was pulling them out of the container I noticed some were very similar. So I turned the post in to here are my favorite pinks and their possible dupes.

Orly Taffy and CND Pink Chrome. Terrible picture but it was the only one that showed the shimmer. Taffy is a bit more on the peach side.


Essie Skin Deep and CND Love Struck. This Essie is my favorite, the CND has bit silver sparkles.

China Glaze Sex on the Beach and OPI Sweet Love at Ferris Wheel. I always thought the OPI was more peachy but I guess I was wrong. Under this lighting the two are pretty much identical. The OPI is also said to be a dupe of OPI Beachen Peachen.

China Glaze Pink Rox-E and OPI Chaple of Love. Pink Rox-E's sparkles are a bit larger and more pronounced.

OPI Passion for NY Fashion and CND Scorch. Some would argue that PfNYF doesn't have a dupe but this CND comes close in my opinion.

Pue Ice Iced Merlot and Urban Decay Big Bang. Not dead on dupes but similar, the Pure Ice can be found at Walmart, the UD is long gone.

Jessica Godiva and OPI My Big Break. These colors are pretty close in real life, right down to the minty green shimmer.

As always if you would like to see anything swatched please ask!

Perfectly Polished Tips 82 - Pink Creme Pic Spam

I love my pinks, and being that it is still BCA month I figured I would pull them out and share. As I was doing that I discovered; A) I have waaaayyyyy too many pinks and B) most of them are the same exact color. So this is a pic spam and dupe alert post. I have another too but they are pinks with glitter and shimmer, that post will follow shortly.

Essie Steppin' Out and OPI Pink of Hearts (07 version). These polishes are very close in color, the Essie is more opaque though.

Lippmann Collection Constant Craving and Color Club Yachty Yadda. The Lippmann is slightly more purple in real life, but they are very close.

OPI You're A Pisa Work and OPI Koala Bear-y, very similar KB is slightly darker.

OPI Strawberry Margarita, Orly Butterflies, OPI Elephatasic Pink, Color Club Lady Like. Strawberry Margarita is a hair darker than the rest and Butterflies is a jelly.

China Glaze Rose Among Thorns and Color Club Electric Coral. The Color Club is a bit lighter and brighter.

OPI My Throne for a Cranberry Scone and CND Regal Revenge. RR is pinker however being that My Throne can be hard to find I would say it's a good alternative.


OPI All That Razz-berry, OPI My Throne for a Cranberry Scone, and CND Regal Revenge. ATR is more well raspberry colored, however I just wanted to picture it here.

OPI I'm India Mood for Love, OPI Don't Know Beets Me, China Glaze Make an Entrance. The China Glaze is darker in real life but the other two are basically the same.

CND Hot Pop Pink and Orly Basket Case. The CND may be a little brighter but these two are very close.

Color Club Fast Paced and OPI Elephantasic Pink - basically dupes.

OPI Charged Up Cherry and Nocti Kiss & Tell. The Nocti is a smidge brighter and little more orange.

If you would like anything swatched please feel free to ask. I would have loved to swatch all of these but it would have taken forever. I do plan on swatching my entire stash eventually just not tonight. ;)

Perfectly Polished Tips 51 - SpaRitual Surreal & Blue Comparisons

I'm really big on blues, it's funny because when I first started wearing nail polish regularly I would only do pinks. Then I moved on to red and sometimes purple. I think my first blue was CND Blue Blood and it was so out of my comfort zone. I kept on collecting blues though, but it wasn't until I purchased OPI Dating a Royal that I felt comfortable in blue. Now it's my favorite color to wear. I've praised SpaRitual before for it's amazing colors and formula. Here is another polish from the fall 2008 Inspired collection, Surreal. It's a dark, blackened blue with amazing blue shimmer. The only thing that sucks is that you can't see the shimmer unless you are in bright light. So it's one of those ones that just looks black. SpaRituals have a beautiful glow about their shimmer though so I don't mind.

Dupe Alert! Surreal and Orly Star of Bombay are basically the same polish. I also compared the two to Chanel Blue Satin. Blue Satin is lighter than the other two though and you can tell you are wearing a blue polish and not black in all lighting. I prefer SpaRitual's formula to Orly so I will be passing the Orly on to another blue lover.

SpaRitual can be found at SpaRitual.com, SkinStore.com, and Aveyou.com. Orly can be found at Sally Beauty, head2toebeauty.com, 8ty8beauty.com, and transdesign.com.

*I am not affilated with any of the websites/stores/sellers that I post about on here.*