Comparison Thursday: Purple Flakies

Well... Comcast came and determined that we need a whole bunch of crap to fix our low signal. Thus, I'm still without Internet and TV. I'll go ahead and get this posted, but I'm sure I'll have to fix the formatting when I get to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll do it in the order I upload them?! Doubtful. Here we go!

Tonight's Comparison Thursday includes OPI Merry Midnight and Cult Nails Seduction. Both are purple with green, blue, red, and orange flakies. Check out the bottle shots below.

Merry Midnight is in a base that is actually more maroon than purple. Think Clarins 230, but with shifting flakies instead of shifting pigments. The flakies are pretty, but they aren't very bright. It applied easily enough with the flakes spreading without much work. It was a bit goopy, though, because it's a pretty old polish, but that's remedied with a drop or two of thinner. This is three coats. Merry Midnight has been discontinued, but you can sometimes find a used one at salons.

Seduction has much more vivid flakies in a brighter purple, leaning almost indigo, base. The flakes are so vibrant and remind me of Essie Shine of the Times, SH Hidden Treasure, Color Club Snow Flakes, a Layla Ceramic Effects whose name I can't recall (and that I put down just before checking out at Ulta on Tuesday), and Nfu Oh 51. The purple base is about the same color as Max Factor Fantasy Fire. It applied well, but was a bit patchy. You can see how the Seche Vit pulled it back at the tips- probably because I had to use four coats to get full opacity... It's a much cheaper and more easily obtainable option than Merry Midnight. You can purchase Cult Nails at Overall Beauty and a few other Etailers. It's too hard to search on my phone, so I'll update this with links in the morning.

Take a look at the difference in the color shift between the two.  Both are gorgeous for different reasons.

(Indoor lighting)

(Sunglight)

I'm going to leave you with a haul pic! I may've posted some of these before, so I apologize for any redundancy! I've been on a buying spree, but that will end as soon as it hits January. I'll also be slogging through my stash for more things to sell. I pretty much got rid of all of my drug store brands, so I'll only have salon and indies for sale. I'll let you guys know when I've added it all to my sales page.

Haul front row: BL Black Knight, Elevation Colline du Charf, Zoya Storm, Zoya Blaze, Zoya Aurora, Elevation Elbrus (soon to be discontinued!!)
Haul second row: Glacier Bay Blues, Mrs O'Leary's BBQ, MPJ brown scattered holo, "Have You Seen My Limo?" (this has holographic particles in it, so I think it may be a salon franken), Standing Room Only, "Done Out in Deco" (again, I think they mixed something into it), and "Hey! get in Lime!" (again, it looks like a salon franken...)
Haul third row: Kelara Saturn, Mother Earth, Dragon Scales, Daydream, and Mercury, Amy's Nail Boutique ECOPLO and Silent Night, NVL Joker
Haul fourth row: Lynnderella Magic Fairy Stars, The Glittering Crowd, Mysterious Ways, Candy Wrapper, Spumoni, New Year's Eve Eve, Angel Food, and Happy Holodaze.

Which of the two comparison polishes would you rather have?

Oops!

Firstly, thank you, everyone, for the well wishes.  I'm feeling much better today.  Still exhausted, but not achey anymore.  I always manage to come down with small little funks with a low fever and a general run-down feeling.  They only last a few days, so I think the worst is over.  Hopefully it's nothing more serious!  Secondly, I ran out of comparison swatches...  I have tons of stuff to compare, but I just flaked and forgot to swatch them.  Oops!  I'll make sure to photograph a few comparison swatches this weekend so I won't get caught with my pants down again.

Let's take a look at Zoya Twila.  Twila is a clear based polish with silver and blue bar glitters.  Some people have complained that the glitters in their Twila bottle have either faded or that the bottle has more silver than blue.  My bottle, though, had the perfect mixture of both colors.

The bar glitters are on the thicker end of the spectrum.  The polish dried gritty with the bars sticking up a bit in places.  It's nothing that an extra coat of top coat couldn't fix, though.  This is three coats, and, as you can see, it's pretty much opaque.  I think it could also work well layered.

The silver bars aren't holographic, but they do shimmer in the light.

I'm not a huge fan of bar glitters, so this polish wasn't really for me.  It applied well, and the glitters spread evenly without any manipulation.  If you love bar glitters, you should definitely check it out.  You can buy Twila where Zoya's are sold.

In other news, did anyone get anything at the last Dollish Polish restock?  I snagged the mystery shade We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat and Space, the Final Frontier.  I also ended up picking up a few of the Color Club Halo Hues from that deal I posted on Facebook.  I'm pretty excited, too, because I got an extra Harp on It for a special friend.  I cannot wait to gift it to her!!!!!  (Originally, I bought it to hold onto for later, but I think I like the idea of springing it on an unsuspecting victim better, lol!)  I have a few more polishes and other gifts that need to be delivered for the giveaway, which I'm hoping will get here soon.  I may have to show you guys pictures of what I have now, and then update the pictures as more prizes trickle in.  Would you prefer that, or would you rather I wait until I have entire prizes gathered?  Lastly, I only have a little bit of Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream left.  It's devastating.  I ordered some balms from 365 Days of Color, but I'm afraid they won't get here in time for me to seamlessly replace my empty BB canister.  I suppose I'll have to use oil in the meantime.  Although, I do have some really tasty smelling oil from Northern Star Lacquer!  

Are you waiting on any nail mail?

Haulage

Tonight's post will be wicked quick... I apologize for any weird formatting as I'm writing this post up with the horrible blogger app. Anyway, I'm in the process of chopping off my nails, which I'm doing for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm trying to chop off as much of the previously damaged nail as possible. Secondly, I want to test out a new treatment I just received in a swap, Duri Cosmetics Rejuvacote. I've heard that this stuff works wonders, and my nails need a miracle... So, for the next 7 days at least I will have naked(ish) nails (this treatment without any color). I'll make sure to take pictures of before and after for you guys.

So, with that being said, I only have my week's haul to show you! This week is way atypical for me. An awesome new friend gifted me all of those minis when I swapped her for Candeo Sour Grapes. I also swapped for the Rejuvacote. Lastly, I purchased the Hares and Elevations with my monthly budget and for a weightloss goal gift. Granted, that was way before I realized how broke I was, lol! Anyway, I have plenty of nail mail to sate my need for pretties for a little while. ;)

What are your plans for the weekend?