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Just thought I’d mention that I tried water marbling for the first time today. It was sort of a failure :P, but I’ll post pictures soon!

Ever since product pictures were revealed for MAC’s Venomous Villians/Maleficent nail polishes, the beauty community has suspected that two of the polishes from Orly’s CosmicFX collection, Galaxy Girl and Space Cadet, were dupes for MAC’s Formidable! and Mean & Green. I wanted to post some comparison swatches of the four polishes along with my thoughts.

To get it out of the way, you definitely don’t need all 4 polishes. Space Cadet and Mean & Green, and Galaxy Girl and Formidable! are so similar to one another that unless you’re an avid collector of some sort, it’s be redundant to add them all to your collection.

Pictures are below. I’ve posted several because getting the same light on each finger while photographing proved to be impossible. Please forgive the messiness!

USED: (no base or top coat)
Orly Galaxy Girl (index finger): 2 coats
MAC Formidable! (middle finger): 3 coats
Orly Space Cadet (ring finger): 3 coats
MAC Mean & Green: 4 coats

Reviews

MAC Formidable! is beautiful, but is exactly the same as Orly Galaxy Girl. (Full review here.) I have seen people say that Formidable! has more of the blue sparkle than Galaxy Girl, but this was not my experience at all. Formidable! was perhaps slightly more sheer, but when coated to opacity (I used 2 coats Galaxy Girl and 3 coats Formidable!), they look exactly the same.

Mean & Green was EXTREMELY sheer in one coat. And although Mean & Green and Space Cadet contain the same colors and the same multichrome, Space Cadet appeared to be much more “sparkly” than Mean & Green. Space Cadet (full review here) is, for lack of a better description, all bling-bling all the time. Even in low light, the pink sparkle is beautiful and stands out against the olive/emerald green base. Mean & Green, disappointingly, did not exhibit as much of this pink sparkle as I would have liked. That being said, these are pretty much the same polishes. If you have one or the other, you shouldn’t be disappointed.

So what’s the bottom line? Here we go: Orly raised their prices with the CosmicFX collection for the first time, so Galaxy Girl and Space Cadet go for around $10 online. Formidable! and Mean & Green, on the other hand, cost $13 at MAC. What’s more, all of the MAC polishes are sold out online and likely at every counter and store you’ll find. Case in point, MAC is amazing at marketing limited edition collections. You may still have a chance to find the Orly polishes at Sally’s and on online retailers. In addition to being cheaper, the Orly polishes have a more consistent formula which means quick drying time, beautiful sparkle finish, and long-wearing quality polish. Also, I’ve seen at least a dozen complaints online about some of the MAC polish brushes being wonky. (If you received a polish with a wonky brush, you should be able to contact customer service to get a replacement cap.)

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Wow, so before I start, another disclaimer about my nail shape: I was experimenting and went for this sort-of-rounded-but-really-just-effed-up-looking shape. Also? For the past two or so weeks, I’ve been trying to live life with cuticles for the first time in, oh, 12 years? I’ve been addicted to snipping, but looking back at these pictures makes me realize how much happier I am with well-kept, moisturized cuticles! It looks ten times better. More on that soon. ;)

As I predicted during my review of Orly Space Cadet from the CosmicFX Collection, I had to go out and get Galaxy Girl.

Galaxy Girl is another gorgeous color-shifting polishes from Orly. This time we’ve got a deep red-purple base with shimmer throughout that changes from fuchsia to blue. It’s beautiful, looks different in every light, but is always sparkling.

Color

Like most nail enthusiasts it seems, I looove duo- and multichrome polishes–polishes that shift colors, especially in sunlight. I love it when I’m wearing a polish so unique it catches my own eye during the day at the times when I least expect it. Galaxy Girl was certainly no exception. Initially it reminded me of MAC’s Blue Brown pigment, one of the first MAC products I owned and a long-time favorite. And it’s similar, but definitely not Blue-Brown-in-a-bottle. The base leans much more deep red/purple, and the blue shimmer shifts in the light to a striking fuchsia with an eggplant base. Until MAC’s Formidable! launched with Venomous Villians, Galaxy Girl was truly unique. And even now, it’s gorgeous (and cheaper!).

Formula

The formula for Galaxy Girl was good, just like for Space Cadet. Not too thin, not too thick, really just perfect. Drying time was average, even on the quick side. I was so excited to put this on I forgot a base coat, and it didn’t bubble or stain my nails at all. One coat is sort of sheer, so upwards of 2 coats is necessary for opacity.

Final Recommendations

Go scour your Sally’s for the remaining Cosmic FX colors, and definitely pick this one up if you haven’t already. I will mention that Orly decided to charge a bit more for this collection, raising their middle-of-the-road prices to $8.50 (at Sally’s) and $10 (online at OrlyBeauty.com). I think the general consensus online was that this was lame of the company, but since the colors are so awesome there haven’t been any boycotts so far as I know. :P

Base: Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Topcoat
Layer 1: Orly Galaxy Girl
Top: Sally Hansen Mega-Shine Topcoat

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Before I start with another polish from MAC’s 2010 F/W trend collaboration with Jin Soi, I think it’s fairly obvious that with this manicure I decided to experiment a little bit with my nail shape. I went for a round shape (whereas I usually rock the squoval) but immediately after this manicure I went back to my comfort zone. Squoval fits me better, I think! Now, on to Jade Dragon. To see my review & swatch of another polish from this collection, Earthly Harmony, click here.

Jade Dragon is described as an emerald green frost. As was the case with Earthly Harmony, the description of Jade Dragon on their website and the actual product differ quite significantly. I think it is important to review this for readers who may not be able to get to MAC to check it out for themselves. If you’re in love with the color based on MACCosmetics.com, you’re going to be disappointed.

These pictures were taken after a couple days of wear, so please excuse tipwear!

Color

Jade Dragon has a deep emerald green base with beautiful blue specks of shimmer throughout. While the sparkles cling to the side of the bottle, in application they are a bit less prominent. I found that mostly they are obvious in flashes of direct sunlight and especially on the sides of the nails. Even though it’s described as a frost, Jade Dragon is definitely a sparse shimmer.

Formula

Formula was great, nothing noteworthy which is generally a good thing. Even with my favorite top coat, Sally Hansen’s Mega-Shine, it was completely dry really quickly. As I mentioned in my review of Earthly Harmony, I’m actually not sure if MAC knows how to make a polish with the shimmer (or, in the past, flakies) sufficiently suspended in the base. However, I think Jade Dragon was more successful in this venture, though it definitely wasn’t a homerun.

Final Recommendations

I have no regrets with Jade Dragon! I’m really happy with the color, so even though I was looking forward to a bit more blue shimmer, it is present enough to not be a complete disappointment. This color is a gorgeous unique addition to my collection.

MAC, please step it up and start taking actual pictures of your products! It can be downright misleading when you fake it, and it’s painfully obvious that even though there have been rumors you’re going to switch to actual swatches for years, you still haven’t done it.

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I am so excited to bring you swatches of 3 new colors from China Glaze’s Fall 2010 collection, Vintage Vixens. This looks to be an amazing collection with beautiful warm, Fall colors like you’d expect as well as more trendy colors like Classic Camel, Swing Baby, and Ingrid. I love the mix of the familiar with the different, and it seems like each of the polishes are pretty unique. My love affair with China Glaze continues…

direct sunlight

flash indoors

no flash indoors

multicolor microglitter in direct sunlight

Bogie is a deep plum with multicolored microglitter. Of the three I swatched, this is the least sheer in one coat. I used two and it was perfectly opaque. Formula was perfect. This polish definitely is the biggest hit in the sunlight. The silver/multi-color sparkles are unreal.

direct sunlight

flash indoors

no flash indoors

copper sparkles in direct sunlight

Foxy is surprisingly red–in the bottle it looks much more coppery brown, but on the nail it is definitely a burgundy red base with copper microglitter. The copper sparkles are no where near as intense in Foxy as they are in Bogie or Midnight Mission.. definitely more of a traditional frost. Formula is pretty good–I found mine a bit thin, but not impossible to work with. One coat was patchy and sheer, but two coats turned out to be smooth and totally opaque. I was expecting this to look more brown on the nail, but it’s still not a true red, so this is definitely unique to my collection!

direct sunlight

flash indoors

no flash indoors

silver microglitter indoors with no flash

Midnight Mission is a gorgeous navy with silver glitter that really shines through the dark base. This has been on my wishlist since, oh, the moment I saw a swatch of it. The navy base was surprisingly sheer, so two coats was a must. Again, this color really is amazing in the sunlight, but even in low light settings it’s a gorgeous night-sky blue. I love love love this color.

This a huge collection with 13 different colors. Here are ones that I haven’t yet been able to see and swatch:

Riveter Rouge – Deep red shimmer
Goin’ My Way – Deep copper shimmer
Classic Camel – Khaki creme with gold micro glitter
Swing Baby – Taupe with silver micro glitter
Ingrid – “Greige” creme with copper micro glitter
Hey Doll – Deep rose shimmer
First Class Ticket – Deep purple shimmer
Emerald Fitzgerald – Turquoise shimmer
Jitterbug – Grey chrome with silver micro glitter

I also think I must have Classic Camel, Ingrid, and Emerald Fitzgerald… and maybe Jitterbug too. Darn it.

Per FTC regulations I must disclose that product(s) in this post were sent to me by a brand or PR firm for consideration for review on my website. I guarantee honesty above all. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

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I’m a nerd, so I love doing themed nail art. I can’t find my camera cord at the moment, but I will post higher quality pictures as soon as I do! I also did my toes and am considering posting those here The bottom two photos are my left and my right big toes respectively. I cropped them so you could only see the nail art, so hopefully that doesn’t skeeve anyone out too badly! (I know it’s a little bit of a faux pas to post pedicure pictures, but I do nail art on my toes, too!) Here goes…

USED:
OPI Russian Navy
OPI Dorothy Who?
China Glaze Ruby Pumps
MAC Vestral White
White nail art striper
Black nail art striper

Left hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
L, index: Black “U” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, middle: White “S” using white nail art striper over diagonal half OPI Russian Navy and CG Ruby Pumps.
L, ring: Black “A” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?
Right hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
R, index: Gingham-inspired design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and checkered using white nail art striper, accented with black nail art strpier.
R, middle: OPI Dorothy Who? layered over OPI Russian Navy as a base, white star outlined in black using white nail art striper and black nail art striper. (*This is the only nail I’m not really happy with. I think I should have done several smaller stars instead.*)
R, ring: Playful polka dot design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and white dots using white nail art striper accented with dots of OPI Dorothy Who? Dotting tool was used.
R, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?

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This is an FOTD from April; sorry I’m just getting around to posting it. Because it’s been a while, I may not remember exactly everything I used…

USED:
Studio Fix Fluid
Instant Chic Powder Blush
Showstopper (brows)
Painterly Paint Pot
Fly-by-Blu Pearlglide Eyeliner
Blue Flame Eyeshadow
Talent Pool Eyeshadow
Blanc Type Eyeshadow
Feline Eye Kohl
Blacktrack Fluidline
Zoomfast Blacklash Mascara
Spice Lip Pencil
Archetype Lipstick
VIVA GLAM V Lipglass