Milani Golden Romance Swatch

~purchased by me~

When the Maybelline Brocades collection came out a LONG time ago I wasn't initially impressed, but as time went on and more and more swatches came out I developed a deep lemming for the shade Gilded Rose. Unfortunately for me, the brocades collection never came to my stores. Any of them. And then, as if the nail polish gods had heard my prayers, Maybelline decided to make Gilded Rose core. I immediately ran to the drugstore, in search of the elusive shiny but alas, no luck. The store I went to hadn't updated their Color Show shelf yet and there was simply no shiny to be had. So I wandered around the CVS, a bit dejected when my eyes landed on what looked like the aforementioned shade in a very different bottle.

What was this sorcery? I hadn't even heard anything about this polish at all among the nail bloggers I follow, though its assumed Maybelline twin had made quite a big splash. Surely it wasn't a dupe? I had to find out.

So pretty that I couldn't wait for daylight before snapping a pic!

ooh, shiny. Even better the next morning

It sure looked like it. I did a quick google image search at home and it looked like an exact dupe for the Maybelline Gilded Rose! And it only cost me $1.99!

This was opaque in 2 coats and dried quickly. I'm not one for sheer polish but even at one coat, where you could still see VNL, I loved it. It's extremely reflective; so much so that you can even see yourself in it. Pictures do it no justice; this is one that you have got to see in real life. For a polish that is so glitter/particle heavy, it dried smooth. I only used one coat of topcoat (Seche Vite) and it was perfect! Formula win!

In case you didn't know, Milani is clearancing out this line currently at most if not all drugstores. In fact, you can get this polish on the Milani website for only $1.99! Score! It's gorgeously shiny in the sun as well.

So shiny apparently, that it attracts big black nasty bugs :(

I didn't notice it until I was editing the picture!

The one chief complaint I heard about the Maybelline Brocades was that they were notorious for chipping something fierce. I worried about that being a problem in this polish since they both look like they are made of the same material but my worries were unfounded ^_^ This polish wore like iron for me, lasting 5 days without chips. Ignore the strange line of my middle finger. I think it's just a reflection because I definitely don't see it on my nails now.

5 days and going strong!

Most impressive, no? Even more remarkable was the fact that I didn't wear my usual Orly Bonder as base coat for this polish. I had a scary bendy moment with my pinky nail so I wore Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener (which I highly recommend) as my base. Grand verdict: if you don't have this yet or have problems with chipping for Gilded Rose, consider getting this! It's achingly beautiful, cheap as all heck and wears very well. You might still be able to catch it on clearance at the drugstore or you can buy it direct from the site. Go get this bug attracting polish today!

Silver Foil Comparison! Sinful Colors Heavy Metal vs Orly Shine

~purchased by me~


Ah, silver. My first love. When it comes to metallic colors anyway ;). I actually have a few silvers but these are the only ones that I thought were similar enough to compare. O.P.I This Gown Needs A Crown is a matte silver glitter, their Push and Shove shade is a chrome and Pure Ice Mercedes is too smooth to be a foil. I guess it's a chrome too? A brushstrokey, not as shiny chrome? Also Sinful Colors Charmed has tiny multi colored glitter in it. Pretty, but no dupe. Sally Hansen's Celeb City, Wet N Wild Silvivor, Zoya Trixie and Revlon Sequin probably are also dupes, (just to name a few!) but I don't own those. Nearly all brands have come out with a silver foil and they all pretty much look the same.

In sun

Indoors

I got the Orly from one of those 3 pc nail art sets that Sally's Beauty carries, that's why the bottle looks so skinny and tall lol. These Orly mini's are really nice though because they use the same brush as the original Orly's and the brush handle is nice and long. Two coats each, no topcoat.

Sinful Colors Heavy Metal (I+M) and Orly Shine (R+P)

Foils are nice and easy to wear, even if they leave flecks all over your fingers after cleanup.

Formula is the same, opacity is the same, brush is good on both. No complaints here. Solid dupes; you only need one. The Sinful Colors one is probably cheaper.

Heavy Metal is from their past Hot Flash Metallics collection so you might have trouble finding it now. I believe the Orly is core. There are a ton of dupes out there if you are looking for a good silver foil though. I know that Zoya Trixie is really popular but I never bought it since I know I already own two dupes of it. Also, I rather get new unique Zoya shades then waste my money on a dupe! Sinful Colors can be bought virtually everywhere for $1.99 retail and Orly can be bought from beauty supply stores like Sally's or Ulta for $8.00.