swatch

March 27, 2012

Glittery Pinks – Essie “Luxe Affects” Multidimensional Top Coat in “A Cut Above” vs Wet N Wild Shine in “Sparked” or 435G

Posted in Nail Polish, Subscription boxes

Right to Left (reverse of what you’re probably used to): 1 coat of Essie “A Cut Above” then 3 generous coats, 1 coat of Wet N Wild “Sparked” then 3 generous coats, and the last one on the left is one coat of “A Cut Above” over 2 coats of Essie “A Crewed Interest.”

The color is almost identical but the application is totally different. I almost would say you shouldn’t compare the two and would not consider this a “dup.”

If you’re looking for a finer glitter I would go with the Wet N Wild but if you want a more confetti glitter look I would go with the Essie.
If I had to pick between the two and could only buy one, I would go with the Essie even though it’s more expensive because it just somehow looks a bit more upscale and classier. I did however get the Essie in the March “Teen Vogue” Birchbox.

There is also apparently a Revlon color that is, based on the swatches I see online, somewhere in between the two I’ve reviewed here. Revlon 261-Sparkling.

And Butter London also has a pink glittery color called “Rosie Lee.” B-you-tifullness via Pretty Project via High on Polish via Snappette (aka I saw it on Snappette and the source is B-you-tifullness) has a great example of a pink glitter and nude mani using the Butter London “Rosie Lee.”

I did a quick little video so you can see the two colors I reviewed just a little better.

via YouTube

January 18, 2011

Zoya – they’re here!

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Nail Polish

Just got my freebies from the facebook promo code in today.

I also purchase the Zoya Renew for a couple of other polishes I currently have that were getting old. Quick review on it is that it did make one sheer less streaky and easier to apply but I didn’t take a photo to share. I’ll probably do a more in depth review at another time.

The first photo is taken in my car in daylight and it’s the truest to actual color of the quick photos I took. Lulu, Shiloh and Loredana.

Please excuse the quick application and dark photo.
Shiloh is a great easy red. It’s very glossy looking. Slightly sheer for a red but not by much. It reminds me of a lollipop or some other red hard candy. Not orangy and not purple-y. I think it’s going to work well on most skin tones. There are little tiny tiny tiny sparkles. Super easy to apply and fast to dry. I’m going to redo my nails in this color tonight for a longer test-run.

Next up is Loredana which is a matte gray. It’s a little surprising going on because at first it looks like a glittery dark gray and then once it dries it looks like this:

I don’t remember ever owning a matte nail polish before. One downside I hear is that they don’t last as long. I will let you know what I find out. I wish the shade were just a hair lighter gray but I do really like this for a fall, winter sort of color.

I did not take a photo of Lulu. It’s a very sheer color and my inside photos were bad enough as it is. You really wouldn’t be able to get a good sense of the color. I will review it at a later date. It did go on well, just more sheer than I expected. I like it but I think it would take a lot of coats to get to the color of the spoon sample I had.

November 3, 2010

Burt’s Bees VS. Wet N Wild Natural Blend LIP SHIMMERS

Posted by By Hilary Baumann

Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

I previously talked about the WNW Natural Lip Shimmers here:
http://clothingcult.com/2010/08/12/wet-n-wild-natural-blend-lip-shimmer-review/

Now I have some photos so you can see these Lip Shimmers compared to the Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers. I also did the swatches on my arm in different lights since it can often be hard to tell what color something is online. Sorry that the first photo is a little blurry.

Burt’s Bees VS. Wet N Wild Natural Blend LIP SHIMMERS bottom line:

As you can see, many of the colors are similar but only a few could be mistaken for one another. Wet N’ Wild’s “Frost” is almost indistinguishable from Burt’s Bees “Champagne” Lip Shimmer and both “Nutmeg” colors are pretty darn close.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the ingredient list is natural with no parabens, no synthetics etc. which is very surprising for a cheap drugstore brand that doesn’t usually focus on natural products.

And when I say cheap drugstore brand, I really do mean cheap. Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers are $5 each whereas the Wet N Wild Natural Blend Lip Shimmers are only $2 each. You can typically find then at Walgreens but if you don’t see them in the stores you can still buy them online. Amazon.com carries them but at a much higher price so I would recommend Walgreens.com or Drugstore.com if you’re having trouble finding them locally.

UPDATE: If you prefer lip gloss in tubes, check out my post on the Burt’s Bees new Lip Gloss:
http://clothingcult.com/2013/03/13/burts-bees-new-lipgloss-tubes/