Dupe Or No Dupe? and Review: China Glaze Rare & Radiant vs. OPI Just Spotted The Lizard

Hey there!

As you know, I recently reviewed 5 of the 6 polishes in the China Glaze Bohemian collection; you can see those posts by clicking here and by clicking here. Today I'll be showing you the final polish from the collection, Rare & Radiant, by comparing it to OPI's Just Spotted The Lizard. Both of these polishes are supposed to be dupes for Chanel's Peridot, and therefore, for each other. Let's see if that turns out to be true...

Both of these polishes are gold-green duochromes that have a strong color shift. Here are the two polishes in the bottle:

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard vs. China Glaze Rare & Radiant

Hmmm...Pretty darned close in the bottle. Very hard to tell apart...Let's see what they look like on the nail. To make this a little bit more fun, I'm not going to tell you until the end of the post which nails have the OPI, and which nails have the China Glaze, although I will say I put each of them on two nails. Both colors have two coats on the nail. Can you tell which nails go together?

OPI Just Spotted The Lizard vs. China Glaze Rare & Radiant

What do you think? Do you think you know which nails are the OPI, and which are the china Glaze? And what do you think, dupe or no dupe?

I believe we have ourselves a clear case of DUPE. I could only tell one difference between these two polishes, and that's that the OPI was a bit less opaque than the China Glaze; two coats definitely covered for the China Glaze, while I'd probably go with three on the OPI to be sure in all lights. But in terms of color, I could not tell the difference.

So, here's the reveal:
China Glaze Rare & Radiant: Index and Ring fingers
OPI JSTL: Middle and Pinkie

If you were able to tell them apart, you clearly have better eyes than I do!

So, in my opinion, there is no reason to own both of these polishes. If you already own one, you don't need the other. And if you don't have either yet, my vote goes to the China Glaze for three reasons: 1) it's cheaper 2) it covers a titch better and 3) China Glaze is completely free of any animal testing, while OPI is owned by a parent company that tests on animals.

I hope this post has helped you...Thanks for stopping by. :)

M.

(the products reviewed in this post were purchased with my own money.)

NOTD: MSMD Duochrome gradient!

Hello!

For my MSMD manicure this week, I was inspired by a nail artist whose work I adore, Laurie of Dressed Up Digits. I have drooled over her manicures for some time now, particularly her gradients...but one of my very most favoritests of them all is this duochrome gradient. Wait, ME interested in something to do with duochromes?! I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. :P It was really only a matter of when I got brave enough to try it myself, not if.

The other day, Nubar's Wildlife came in the mail. I've been wanting it for several months, and I finally got it...and it was worth the wait. I put it on and stared lovingly at it...and then realized it reminded me of something. Not a dupe, but something in the same family. And before long it came to me: OPI's Just Spotted The Lizard.

Here is Just Spotted The Lizard:

OPI Just Spotted The Lizard

And here is Nubar Wildlife:

Nubar Wildlife

As you can see, JSTL is lighter, with less green and less brown. It has much more gold than Wildlife does. They are similar, but different enough that I began to dream of what a gradient with the two of them would look like. So I did it, and here it is, with Wildlife at the tips and JSTL at the base of the nails:

Gradient of Nubar Wildlife and OPI Just Spotted The Lizard in the sunlight

And in the shade...how pretty is that!

Shot 1 of 3 that attempt to show the shift in sequence

2 of 3...

...and 3 of 3.

I think I could have made the line between the two a little more blended, but I do love how this came out, and found myself staring at it throughout the day. My favorite moment was when I was petting one of my kitties, and looked down to see this:

The gradient atop my Sephy's gorgeous fur :)

Of course I had to stop petting her to take a picture of it, which I assure you annoyed her NO END.

And also of course, after wearing it for a day, I had to stamp on it. I wanted to reverse the light/dark effect by stamping a lighter polish at the tips (Sally Hansen Insta-Dry's Silver Sweep), and a darker one at the base (China Glaze Awaken). I used Shany plate 18:

This one's a little bit blurry because when I replicated the backdrop the next day, she wasn't falling for it a second time. Luckily, I have fast fingers. :)

I was really pleased with how this came out and can't wait to try this with some other duochrome gradients. My thanks to Laurie for giving me the confidence that it could be done!

Thanks for looking, and please take a moment to check out the other bloggers who participated in today's Monkey-See-Monkey-Do, shown below. :)

M.

Debbie at The Crumpet - http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk

Missy @ Gnarly Gnails - http://gnarlygnails.blogspot.com

Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Laurie - http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/

Layka- http://www.kawaiinize.es

Elizabeth http://nailpolishismycrack.blogspot.com/

Kristin http://www.manicuredmonkey.com

Erin http://erinsbeautybumbles.blogspot.com

Nayade at Toxic Vanity - http://www.toxicvanity.com

Jenn at Polish Crazed http://www.polishcrazed.blogspot.ca/

Jen http://jenspaintedtips.blogspot.com/

Amber www.amberdidit.com

Cristina http://theclockwisenailpolish.blogspot.pt/

Kirsten - http://geekyowl.blogspot.com/

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/

Ashley http://followtheyellowpolishroad.blogspot.com/

Amber http://nevernakednails.blogspot.com

Emily Esqueleta: http://macabremanicures.blogspot.com/

Misha @ Enigmatic Rambles: www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com

Carrie @ LeSamowen:Life, Love, and Nail Polish: http://lesamowen.blogspot.com/

Basia (or Bazzia) @ polish my mind: http://polishmymind.blogspot.com/

Helena: www.nailwish.blogspot.com

Ana Cris: http://www.estacerradaladrogueria.blogspot.com.es/

Kim @ www.apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com

Emma http://manicurity.blogspot.com/

arlene @ : http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com

Gwenn: http://www.sugar-nails.com

Ney "Neivys": http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/

Ana at cherrys Sweets http://cherriessweets.blogspot.com.es

Isabel - Little Fairy: http://isaspinods.blogspot.com/

Stella - My Wet Nails: http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Michelle-Lacquer Or Leave Her!: http://lacquerorleaveher.blogspot.com

Sheila: http://pointlesscafe.com/

Angie: http://ourpaintedworld.wordpress.com

Veronica http://gorgeois.blogspot.com

Angi @ Angelina´s Nails & More www.angelinaswelt.blogspot.de/

Susy @ http://susyincolor.com

NOTD Before & After: Color Club Metamorphosis (Or, Accidental chip disguise!)

Hello!

Today I have a story of redemption...::wipes tears from eyes::

I made the sad, sad mistake of forgetting to wrap my nails when I painted them with Color Club's Metamorphosis. A while back I reviewed this color as part of the new Color Club Take Wing collection, and I love it; the whole collection is gorgeous glass-fleck-finish goodness and this one is one of my favorites. Here is the before picture:

However, because of my sorry application, the color chipped in less than a day. I was out running errands when I realized it, and of course did not have my bottle to cover it. And it was a pretty big, pretty yucky chip.

Well, just before, I had been in Ulta and had purchased a polish I'd been lusting after, OPI's Pirouette My Whistle. I looked at it and realized...it is actually the perfect camouflage polish for a chip. Take a look:

Sure, it's still there if you look for it. Especially you experienced polish-istas. But if you weren't looking for it? If you didn't know it was there to start with? You'd never know. It certainly doesn't jump out at you anymore. So, I think I'll be buying a back-up bottle to keep in my purse so that if I ever need to (on the way to something), I can quickly go over my mani and hide my chips with a little bling.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention--I love this way this looks, especially as an accent nail. The glitter doesn't show up too much in this picture, but it's there, subtly. This would go extremely well over almost any other color, but I think it looks spring-y and fun over this sparkly teal. :)

Thanks for looking!

M.

Review and NOTD Before & After: OPI Just Spotted The Lizard (or, obvious manicure is obvious)

Hello!

Today I have an obvious manicure for you. But then it gets very, very counter-intuitive.

The only polish I really like from OPI's The Amazing Spider-man collection is Just Spotted The Lizard. The other ones just don't do it for me, although I may end up getting the shatter at some point...Anyway, turns out, this is a dupe for Chanel's Peridot, which is even more exciting for me, because I love that color, but can't bring myself to pay that price. Thank heavens for reasonably priced dupes! :)

So here is the color as I wore it on its own:  

Seriously. How gorgeous is that? Green-gold-yellow-orange duochrome magic...

The formula on this applied like a dream. No complaints here! :)

As for stamping...I tried to resist. I did. I really, really did.

Okay, I didn't.

What else are you going to put on your first manicure with a polish called 'Just Spotted The Lizard'? Well, duh, some version of a lizard. And maybe some lizard-skin-like pattern, too. Sure, it's obvious. But who could resist?! If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it, I betcha you would have done the same! (Sorry, I really love that musical. But I'll try to control myself. See how happy this polish makes me?!)

So here it is stamped:

I used China Glaze's Agro to stamp with, Cheeky large image plate D for the lizard skin, and Shany plate SH-13 for the little lizards. I love how well the gorgeous multichrome colors come out even with all of the stamping. I bet it would work well even with mostly full coverage stamps...I'll have to try it.

And then after wearing this for a day, well...Yeah. Sometimes I can't leave well enough alone, and I got it into my head that when it came time to remove this, I wanted to try China Glaze's Jade-d glitter crackle over it. Probably because I just got it and needed an excuse to try it:

...And now the whole mani looks like real lizard skin that's been sitting out in the sun for too long. Yes, this is how you ruin both a beautiful polish and a beautiful glitter crackle all at the same time with an inappropriate pairing! The glitter hid the color of the polish, and the color of the glitter somehow washed completely out on top of that polish. Ah well, how do you know if you never try?

Thanks for stopping by,

M.

(the products in this review were purchased with my own money.)