Clarins 230 / Max Factor Fantasy Fire Franken-dupe

This is a franken I made using the red to green color morphing powder I got from More Nail Polish (she is sold out of color morphing powders but also offers Spectraflair for frankening holo polishes. She has a link to someone who sells the color morphing top coats, though!).

There are a lot of pictures for this one! It is shown at two coats over Diamond Cosmetics Not Your "Hum Drum" Plum (a royal indigo creme).

The duochrome is awesome, but my favorite part is just the glowy red sparkles on the indigo background.
So insanely gorgeous!

Kind of a bad picture, but it shows the red and green togther!

Normally duochromes tend to show off their colors more in low/indirect lighting, but this one was even more vibrant in the sun! Check out the beautiful greens in this!

It also didn't show as much in the water as normal duochromes. Maybe I'll have to try and take a picture of it in water in the sun.

From the pictures I've seen, this LOOKS like a close dupe for Clarins 230 or Max Factor Fantasy Fire. I don't have either to actually compare, but I'm pretty sure it's the same pigment that they used (it's sort of a standard color change). What do you think? For those of you that have 230 or Fantasy Fire, do you think it compares?

The recipe I used was about three "scoops" (using a nail swatch stick) of powder with about a 1/4 bottle of Milani Rad Purple, a few drops of a blue jelly (like Barielle Berry Blue, but I can't remember which I used) and the rest filled with Glamour Base from TKB Trading (for glitter suspensions).

Some Sally Hansen Star and Fire Opal Swatches

Although the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms are the most popular, the Star Opal and Fire Opal collections are pretty awesome, too. Here are some skittles showing a few of the cool ones: Wildfire Opal (Fire), Goldspun Opal (Fire), Amber Opal (Fire), Red Opal (Star). The order listed in the first picture is the same for all the other pics following.

Sally Hansen Wildfire, Goldspun, Amber, and Red Opals (1 coat over black)

Sally Hansen Wildfire, Goldspun, Amber, and Red Opals (2 coats over black)

And an underwater picture that shows off the duochrome:

Here they are on their own at 3 coats:

Sally Hansen Wildfire, Goldspun, Amber, and Red Opals (3 coats)

I got these from NailXchange's blog sale, and she may have some still available! She is very awesome and even threw in a couple of these as gifts (maybe because I ordered SO MANY from her :o)

Model's Own Beetlejuice Collection Swatches and Review

As soon as the Model's Own Beetlejuice Collection was announced, I was super excited. So when they were released, I ordered them all (except for Pinky Brown, which was out of stock already). Since this is my favorite picture of the bunch, I wanted to put it first so it shows up in the blogroll:

This is an underwater pic of Purple Blue (the one that resembles Orly Galaxy Girl), and you'll see it again at the end.

On to the polishes:

Model's Own - Golden Green

This one is the one I thought might dupe Chanel Peridot (I was hoping, because I desperately need a backup). It turns out it's quite different, but still utterly gorgeous. It looks like a bright olive/lime green from straight on, and takes on a more grassy green at the edges and at high angles. Unfortunately, it didn't look spectacular underwater, so I didn't bother taking pictures. I really do like this one, and it had nice depth at three coats (shown).

Model's Own - Aqua Violet

This, too, was one that didn't show its colors underwater, but the prominent sky blue and lavender both show most of the time in person. While the colors aren't intensely bright, the duochrome is almost always apparent. Very pretty. I'll have to get Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst out to compare them sometime. This also took three easy, thin coats to get nice depth and coverage.

Model's Own - Emerald Black

Holy gooses. I didn't think this would be such a stunner. Even thought the duochrome is a lot harder to see in this one, it is such a rich dark emerald green that I was captivated by it right off. I think this is a perfect Christmas green if you like dark vampy colors. At high angles you can see a navy blue side to it, but it's not often visible, and it covers in two easy, thin coats. So lovely.

Model's Own - Purple Blue

I'm pretty sure this is the one of the group with the strongest duochrome, and it does resemble Orly Galaxy Girl, but is not quite the same. It shifts from blue to pink and into the orange/gold realm. Three coats are shown.

This is one that DID show off nicely underwater:

There are a couple of these that I thought might have dupes, but so far I haven't seen any true duplicates.  The Polishaholic did some awesome comparisons here if you'd like to see.

What do you think of the Beetlejuice Collection? Did it live up to your expectations?

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Amber Ruby Swatch

Here is another of the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line:  Amber Ruby.  This is one I love so much I had to get a backup bottle of it.  It has a strong duochrome/multichrome shift between red, copper, gold, and green (and apparently it goes all the way to blue, but it can only be seen in the underwater pictures).  I swatched it recently but was unsatisfied in my capture of all of the colors, so I re-swatched it over OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and it seems to bring out the colors just a tad more (two coats Royal Rajah Ruby, one coat Amber Ruby).

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Amber Ruby

What can I say? It's just STUNNING. See the beautiful mossy green on the edges? Yes, it does show up like that in person. In low lighting this polish is constantly shifting between all of its colors. It also has a very nice metallic finish without showing brushstrokes. Here's a picture taken at an angle where you can see the mossy green by itself:

And now for the underwater pictures (I love taking these - it's so fascinating!)

*gasp* I can't help it - it's so wonderful.

And here is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby on it's own, which is quite nice in itself!

Glitter Gradient - Finger Paints It's an Original and Ozotic Elytra 528

Now, before you move on to the pictures I want to say that this wasn't nearly as spectacular as it looks here. The first three pictures are taken underwater, and the rainbow is much more prominent than it is in person.

This is Finger Paints It's an Original (shown alone here) with Ozotic Elytra 528 on the tips (about three coats starting father down the nail each time).

The following two pictures are not taken underwater, but are in very indirect, dim light, which is the only other time I could see the rainbow at all (besides in the water).

Unfortunately, this was so disappointing that I ended up taking it off pretty quickly. Mostly, it looked like simply teal glitter on the tips of the purple, and it just didn't "pop" like I wanted it to. Oh well, at least the pictures look pretty.

Nubar Wildlife Swatch

Nubar Wildlife seems to be a true DUOchrome in that it switches (almost "flips" between a pink/copper and a grassy green). It's one of those that looks very nice on my skin with the mossy green and earthy tones.

Nubar - Wildlife

It's too funny... for some reason I ALWAYS want to call this one "Wildfire" instead of "Wildlife." Oh well :o)

Here are the underwater pics for this one. You can see that the color range is not very big on this one, but the colors altogether are quite beautiful!

As you can see, I had a pretty low break on my middle finger (which I tried to patch, but that only lasted a couple days, then it snapped off while I was building my Lego Yoda). But I recently had a company called KKCenterHK contact me and as me to do a review of one of their products, so I wanted to give you a sneak peek:

These are French tip water decals, and I love the pattern because it looks so "autumn" to me!  I can't wait to try them, but with my short, stubby nails you wouldn't be able to see any of the pattern.  I'm going to wait until my nails grow out so that I can get nice, pretty pictures of them!

In the meantime, you can browse all of their neat nail decals and such at their website: KKCenterHK.  They have so many awesome decals and there are so many I'd love to try!

Sally Hansen Burgundy Orchid

This is actually probably one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prism line, but it doesn't get much publicity (compared to Garnet Lapis and Turquoise Opal). I love the awesome sunset colors in this one: Sally Hansen Burgundy Orchid.

Sally Hansen - Burgundy Orchid

Here are the underwater pictures for this one. Isn't it STUNNING?! I can't believe how the colors absolutely pop in these pictures (and it really does look like that in the water in person)!

One of the most interesting things I noticed is that the multichrome never reaches green. Instead, after the gold at the most extreme angles it just turns a purple grey (you can see it on the index finger in the last picture).

Someday I'll have to do a "Top 10 Favorites," and I'm sure this polish will be on the list!