Dupe Alert? Chanel Black Pearl vs. Revlon Black with Envy

I have been formally introduced to Chanel! Black Pearl is my first Chanel, and it did not dissapoint! I saw a few comparisons of BP with Revlon's Black with Envy, so I decided to do one of my own. I rarely get to take sunlight pics, so I had to do an impromptu bottle(s) shot in my car.

 

Can you spot the Ulta bag?





 

Do NOT honk at me! Can't you see I'm taking pictures? Yes, this is normal :)

 





First up is Black Pearl. At first glance, I thought I was going to regret getting this because of the green tones it has. I figured it would end up looking "dirty" on my nails. I do think that this polish is popular mostly based on its name brand. That being said, I really liked it. Is it worth the $25? Maybe. The applications on both of these was relatively easy. I applied 3 coats of each, but BP seemed to be harder to apply. I had to be carefult not to overlap strokes too much to avoid "seams". Here are some shots:



My favorite shot of BP, really captures the green.





No flash

Next up is Revlon Black with Envy. I ran into a bunch of these at Ulta. It reminds me alot of OPI Black Satin. It has a little thicker shimmer to it and it lacks the green undertones. It is beautiful nonetheless. I also picked up a lipstick (rare, I never wear makeup).

You can see just how much more shimmery this is.

No flash



Now here are the two side by side. Again, this is 3 coats of each (plus one of SV, which explains the shrinkage).



No flash



Final verdict: Are they dupes? No. But they are very similar (maybe even enough to save yourself the $25 and the sometimes snooty Chanel SAs)  Without the flash, they pretty much look the same, the finishes are both shimmery, they need 3 coats to completely cover. Other than the green undertones, I think Revlon majorly scored another one for the Thrifty Team! I think I will keep them both for now until I decide which one I like best.

Which one would you rather have? BP or BwE?

xox...Laura

Peace & Love

Happy Wednesday! I have been playing with this idea in my head for a while. I TRIED to do a another mani, but I need a whole lot more time for it. I think that will be my weekend project. (Stay tuned for that one). One of my favorite pieces of jewelry ever is a necklace that I have that has a dove (my favorite) and a blinged out peace sign. It's very similar to this one. I combined this idea and my favorite tee and came up with today's mani:

Index:

BM07 stamped with Konad black over MAC Obey Me

Middle:

WnW Black Creme with silver dots from bornpretty. I LOVE that Black Creme is a one coater! My "&" sign came out a bit lopsided :(

(Edit)

Ok, so here is a quick tutorial on how I did the ampersand. Since I had only done one coat of Black Creme, it was pretty much dry by the time I got to my middle finger (I did this finger last). With my dotting tool I scratched on to the nail where my design would be to use it as a guide. I then traced about the length of where 2-3 balls would go at a time (so that it wouldn't dry) and just pasted one little ball at a time. This one nail was actually alot faster than I originally anticipated. I found that when the balls started to dry, they actually dried as a "string". Once I was done with the design, I went back and just lightly repositioned the "strings" to where I wanted them to go (as they were easier to manipulate because they were already stuck together) instead of trying to move them around as I was placing them on the nail. Then I applied 2 coats of SV to "seal" the design in.

Ring:

Dotted heart using Milani Red Sparkle over Zoya Kelly

Pinky:

MAC Obey Me

I'm in a very Beatles mood today :)

Everytime I wear Kelly I remember why I love it so much! It's just sooo pretty.

So....here goes one from the vault:

It was Christmas-time, can you tell???

Thanks for looking!

Huemorista In Bloom Collection

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I want to show you Huemorista's Spring Line.

I got 3 out of the 4 (the only one missing is "Kiss the Tulips").

I tried to pick a favorite, but I honestly can't. I was so impatient to try them on that I didn't let the glitter come off the bottom, so the lack of glitter in these pics is purely my fault. I've turned them upside down and will remember to be a bit more patient next time :|



The best way I can describe Hidden Rainbow is a grayish Greige (it's more gray than beige). It kinda reminded me of Glitter in the Air, or more like what GitA should've been like. This is only 2 coats, so I think that with another coat, it would've been completely opaqued out. Again, my shotty application. But, I'm sick and I had taken too much medication, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it! It has big silver hex glitters, with smaller red, green, orange, and blue glitters.

I was most excited about Dewed. It is a beautiful Jade color with tiny holo glitters. The application was super easy and with 2 coats there was no VNL. I think if I had to pick a favorite, this one would be it. I have a lot of minty greens, but nothing like this!


Here you can really see what not waiting for the glitter to unsettle can do to application. There is a ton of glitter in Puddle Hop that I missed out on for being so flippin' impatient! This is a really cool blue, a bit darker than Bubble Bath; it's way more of a summer color. I went a little crazy with the Photoshop and gave myself crazy manequin hands. They look so weird! 

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