Nars Zulu dupe: Nfu Oh 569

I'm a HUGE fan of green nail polish, and I've always loved the color of Nars Zulu, but not the hype about it. So even when it was re-released I passed on it because I already had this one from Nfu Oh: 569.

Nfu Oh - 569

Nfu-Oh 569 is a super deep (almost black) green jelly that definitely looks GREEN in direct sunlight or a camera flash, but looks nearly black in all other lights.

Like I said, I love the color of this, but this application just sort of turned me off to it for awhile. It looks pretty nice indoors and in dim light, although the shiny top (China Glaze Fast Forward) has gotten a little scuffed and it just doesn't always look shiny and pretty. But then I stepped out into the sun and HOLY BUBBLES, BATMAN. It ruins the awesome deep green jelly that would look so squishy in the sun. Instead it looks more like a green sponge... not pretty.  Over a couple hours some of the bubbles even breached the shiny surface. I remember I've had the same problem with another one of my favorites: Illamasqua Rampage. It's probably my own fault for not waiting long enough in between coats.

The formula is kinda hard to work with. It's a little thick and tends to end up looking streaky. The best color was at two coats, but to get rid of the uneven parts I had to do three. It also likes to run into cuticles a lot, and is a real pain to clean up.  And it tends to shrink away from the tips.  Maybe I'll add some thinner and wait longer between coats next time... like next winter, haha.

Sinful Colors Let's Talk and Nfu-Oh 51

Just a quick layering combination that I had in mind when I first got Nfu-Oh 51. I'd seen it over purples and blues and loved it, so I wanted to try it with the most vibrant purple I own: Sinful Colors Let's Talk. This color is crazy I tell you!

I tried to capture the color shift of the Nfu-Oh flakies in the next couple pictures. You can see the bright green at the extreme angles. Soooo neat!

Here's a quick pic of Let's Talk on it's own... isn't it amazing?!

Lincoln Park After Dark and Nfu-Oh 49 Matte

So for today, I figured I'd give the matte version a shot, even though the manicure is getting a little ragged at this point. I used China Glaze Matte Magic.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark w/ Nfu-Oh 49 and China Glaze Matte Magic

I really like the matte version! It looks even more like fall leaves! What do you think? Matte or shiny??

NOTD - Lincoln Park After Dark and Nfu-Oh 49

Today's NOTD is a pretty cool one, but one that you've probably seen before elsewhere. I used OPI Lincoln Park After Dark for the base, then one coat of Nfu-Oh 49 on top. I really like it, 'cause it looks a little like fall to me.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark w/ Nfu-Oh 49

And I figured I'd take a sun picture as well. I don't know how to feel about sun pictures, because sometimes they really don't show colors well at all. What do you think?? In this case, it shows a little better that it's actually dark burgundy and not black.

I may try it tonight or tomorrow with a matte topcoat as well.

Zoya Sparkle Swatches

So I didn't quite realize how much of my time school would be taking up for the next few weeks, and I technically should be doing homework instead of posting, but oh well. I took these pictures a couple days ago, and wanted to get them up here for you to see.

Zoya - Ivanka

This green is AMAZING and is a little tiny bit more yellow green than in the photo, but it's pretty close.

Zoya - Charla

Gorgeous teal blue! It's actually quite a bit more green (more true teal) than it shows, and absolutely mesmerizing in the sun!!

Zoya - Mimi

I have a lot of purples (including Milani Totally Cool and Hot Topic Iridescent Purple), but this one is still different. It's almost like the little gold-ish flecks stay underneath the surface, so they appear more rosy-purple. And still crazy sparkly!

Zoya - Alegra

So this one really surprised me. It's PERFECT. I don't normally like pinks much (I'm more of a blue/green/purple polish kind of girl), but I didn't want to take this one off. I started wishing I'd swatched this last so I could just leave it on. I think it might be my favorite *gasp*.

Zoya - Gilda

So apparently I didn't do a good enough job of capturing the difference between Alegra and Gilda. Gilda look much more "hot pink" than Alegra, which is more of a magenta.

Zoya - Gilda (sun)

It was at this point that I realized I should probably be taking pics of these in the sun as well to show the crazy sparkle... after I'd already swatched the others... oh well.

Zoya - Nidhi

Pretty awesome color, and it really stands out from the rest because the base is much more creamy and opaque. Really, really cool.

Altogether, I'm SO in love with this collection. I took the set to show my mom and sister and they decided they need a set of them as well! I usually never feel the need to buy a whole set of nail polishes because not all of the colors are "me," but even the pinks and reds in this one were so PERFECT, and I'm even considering that I need a backup set... whoa.

Nfu-oh 062 (sun)

And last but not least, this was my NOTD after swatching. It's my first Nfu-oh holo, and it's SOOOO rainbow-y! Even in shade and artificial light, it was very distracting!