Comparison post: Fleck-finish greens

Hello!!

I've had a few requests for comparison posts and dupe posts, and it's a good reminder that it's been a while since I've done either. So I decided to pull this forward in my rotation a bit, and show you a comparison of 8 green fleck-finish polishes that I own. :)

Here is the bottle shot for the first 5:

Hard Candy Crush On Ivy; Zoya Rikki; Brash Sergeant Khaki; Zoya Ivanka; Zoya Logan

I wanted to do with comparison initially because I suspected Hard Candy Crush On Ivy and Zoya Rikki might be dupes, so I wanted to put these two together; can you guess which two they are, lol?:

From left to right we have:

Zoya Ivanka
Brash Sergeant Khaki
Zoya Rikki
Hard Candy Crush On Ivy

As best I can tell, Zoya Rikki and Hard Candy Crush on Ivy are not quite dupes, but they're close; they both sage green but Rikki has gold flecks in it that Crush On Ivy don't have, and I love that (Rikki also has a slightly better formula, imo). But, they're close enough that if you have one, you can easily skip the other.

As for the other polishes, Brash's Sergeant Khaki is true to its name and has a much deeper, more olive color, while Ivanka is a brighter, more grass-green polish. SK has a wonderful formula and is a one coater; did I mention it was only $2.99 at Payless Shoe Source? They have a whole line of polishes there, and I never had a clue about that before stumbling on this (actually, a friend I was shopping with noticed them and called me over!). I can't find any information about whether or not they're cruelty-free, which is why I haven't bought anymore--I can't say for sure they aren't, but I can't find anything saying they are, either.

But wait, didn't I say 5 polishes? Oh yeah:

On my thumb I have Zoya Logan, which is a more forest green with subtle gold flecks. This was from their holiday collection and is certainly a pretty, Christmassy green. The color is so rich, it actually washed out the other colors in the picture. I love love love the play of yellow-gold and green in this polish. :)

To continue on the comparison over both hands so you can see how they all compare to one another, I swatched Zoya Rikki on the pinkie of my other hand, then put on the final three polishes. Here is the bottle shot first:

Julep Etta; Zoya Meg, Apple and Rikki

Here they are on the nail:

From left to right:

Julep Etta
Zoya Meg
Zoya Apple
Zoya Rikki (again)

Zoya Apple turns out to be well named, as it's a pretty green-apple color; the formula on this was very thin and with two coats it was still patchy and needed a third; this is really the only one of the bunch I probably wouldn't buy again. Zoya Meg had no such problem--her formula was wonderful and she was nearly a one-coater. Her brand of green is more of the lime persuasion, and I could look at that color all day ::sigh::. Finally, Julep Etta is an almost yellow avocado sort of green; she also had a good formula.

And that concludes my first comparison/dupe combination post! I hope it was helpful. What are your favorites? And which color/finish would you like to see me compare next?

Hugs and loves,
M.

Before & After (& After): D is for Duochromed Stamping Sandwich

Hello!!!

Today's theme for this week in Llama Nails, we're on the letter 'D', and my 'D' is for Duochromed Stamping Sandwich. :) This manicure was an awesome happy accident that I'd love to claim I had planned out from the start, but I didn't...it evolved into something that I finally loved. :)

This started out with an awesome discovery as I was looking for shoes at Payless Shoe Source...a brand they sell there called Brash. There were a number of colors, but the one that I had to have was this one, Sergeant Khaki:

Brash Sergeant Khaki in the shade

Brash Sergeant Khaki in partial sun

Sergeant Khaki is an olive green with a silvery-green glass-flecked finish. I love the texture on this and the deep shade of green. I wanted to add a metallic stamp to complement the finish, so I stamped over it using China Glaze Passion and Cheeky plate CH16; to give it some definition, I put Lush Lacquer Camo Queen (Indie Alert!!) on the ring finger:

Lush Lacquer Camo Queen over Brash Sergeant Khaki

I liked this, and I wore it this way for a day, but it just felt a little too stark and chaotic to me, and I wanted to put something over it to mute the effect. And then Enchanted Polish Hey Jude (Indie Alert!!) came in the mail and I decided it would be perfect! So I threw a coat on over the manicure, and here's what I got:

Enchanted Polish over the stamping and glitter

Enchanted Polish over the stamping and glitter

Enchanted Polish over stamping and glitter

I've done glitter sandwiches before, but I've never thought before now to do it with stamping--a stamping sandwich! But rest assured, I'll be doing this again. I love the way the duochrome shines but the stamping still peeks out from under it, and the stamping is now calm enough to be enjoyable. And how amazing is that Enchanted Polish to be able to keep that gorgeous color shift even when it's sheer enough to have something else visible under it? Beautiful.

So there it is, my duochromed stamping sandwich! Thanks for taking a look, and please check out the other 'D' manicures by my fellow Llama bloggers! :)

xoxo,
M.