Comparison OPI Not Like The Movies vs. Catrice Iron Mermaiden

OPI Not Like the Movies vs. Catrice Iron Mermaiden (sun)

Full collection swatches of OPI by Katy Perry

Dear Lacqueristas, 

My taste in nail polish is pretty broad. But I'm a sucker for color's that would be considered outrageous to most non-Lacqueristas. The more glitter, holo or *ugly* the better. I would literally DREAM about funky collaberations in the nail polish world. My wishlist: Lady Gaga, Bjork, Nelly Furtado, Lilly Allen, Kat von D, MIA, Ivy Queen, Macy Grey but most of all Katy Perry. And that last one just came true!

Katy Perry for OPI was released on January 1st, the collection exists of 4 different shades and one black shatter topcoat. All four shades can be topped off with the Black Shatter to create an unique leopard pattern.

Teenage Dream
A transparent mellow pink shade with shimmer and holographic particles. In the bottle it looks like the polish is pink but it's actually a clear base packed with pink shimmer particles. That's what makes it look pink. On the nail you don't really get the pink. It applies VERY sheer. Teenage Dream would make a great topcoat!
Besides the fine pink shimmer, this polish is also loaded with small perfectly round holographic particles. These look like tiny mirrors that make the finish extremely vivid in the right light.

Teenage Dream in daylight

Teenage Dream in sunlight

Teenage Dream with Black Shatter, no topcoat

Teenage Dream with Black Shatter and topcoat

Here's a video I made of Teenage Dream. Incredibly vivid glittah and holo! And in the video I didn't even have sun, so imagine what the sun would do...

Last Friday Night

In the bottle this looks like a vibrant blue with lots of glitters. A closer look tells us this is in fact a clear polish with the slightest touch of blue, with sparse blue micro shimmer and small turqoise and silver round particles. I'm not sure if these silver particles have a holographic quality to them. So far, I do not think so.

Last Friday Night applies the sheerest of sheer. After four thick coats there is finally some blue visible. The glitters are also very sparse, it does not even come close to Teenage Dream (that is packed with these goodies). I experienced a strange change in color when I was taking pictures of Last Friday Night; in some light setting the polish appears more pinkish then blue-ish...

Last Friday Night, daylight

Last Friday Night with Black Shatter, no topcoat

The One That Got Away

OPI describes this as a deep berry pink. I would say they might be right :-) On some websites I have read that The One That Got Away is considered a multi-chrome (Showing different colors depending on angle/light). In the bottle I do see a golden duo chrome going on, but once applied on the nail I was not able to catch that again.

Either way, this is a pretty and flattering pink although it's not unique. In the formula you find tiny glitter.The finish and formula falls somewhere between Let Me Entertain You and Teas-y Does It. I did a comparison with LMEY and they don't come close.

The One That Got Away, sunlight

The One That Got Away with Black Shatter

(look at how ugly the shatter pattern turned out. This is what happens when you are impatient! Have a look at my tips n tricks at the bottem of this post ;-)

Not Like The Movies
My favorite of this Katy Perry Collection. A multi chrome with a dominant grey base color. Once applied the pink becomes more dominant and depending on the angle you will catch green, pink, purple, grey. The color shifting is not bold but subtle and that makes this polish stand out. It is elegant, office appropiate yet funky baby. There's also some speckles of micro glitter in the formula. Awesome!

Not Like The Movies in day light. Check out the (subtle) color shifting

Another one, just because I can

Artificial light

Not Like The Movies with Black Shatter, no topcoat

Overview
Katy Perry for OPI is a fun collection with some funky shades. The formulas of Not Like The Movies and The One That Got Away are excellent. The formulas of Teenage Dream and Last Friday Night are very thick, gel-like but still manageable. Overall I found that the four polishes dried quicker then usual. The concept of a crackle polish is not new but I think OPI is the first big high end brand to release a crackling polish.

Tips and Tricks
Working with the Black Shatter, a so called crackle polish is something you have to get the hang of. Here are some tips I want to share with you:

• Make sure your colored polish is completely dry before you apply the Black Shatter. If you apply the Shatter on a semi-dry polish, you will not get that nice *leopard* look but ugly thick streaks (like in my picture of The One That Got Away
• Experiment with the amount of Shatter polish on your brush when you apply. When you apply a thin layer you will get a fragile fine craquelé look. On the other hand, when you apply too much, the Shatter will "break" into huge pieces. Personally I like to apply the Shatter like this: I take the brush out of the bottle but I don't swipe away the excess
• When you apply the Shatter, don't worry about how tidy you do that. You won't see smudges or missed spots after all
• After the Shatter has crackled, I like to be precise with my clean up. The crackle look is funky and can crackle all it wants on the nail, but because it is so out there it can easliy end up looking trashy. So I make sure my cuticles are clean. I use a thin brush dipped in acetone to achieve this, have a look at my Tutorial how you can learn this too
• The Black Shatter dries up matte. I do like the contrast of the sparly, shiny base color peeking trough the matte crackle but you can also apply a regular topcoat on top to add shine. This will also deepen the black of the Shatter itself.
• Experience with different base colors

Skittles of Katy Perry by OPI
Here's a lil bonus for yous! Interesting to see how the extra layer of topcoat intensified the color of the Black Shatter...

All three coats, exept for LFN (4 coats)

Same order as above, with Black Shatter, without topcoat

Same order as above, With Black Shatter and a layer of topcoat

Well dear readers, that was a quite an article. I have not posted in months, due to professional and personal occupations but I certainly didn't lose my love for polish! I hope you guys enjoyed my review and pictures. I'd love to hear from whatever remarks or questions you have.
 
My questions for you: What is your favorite shade of this collection, and how with what nail polish would you combine the crackle polish?
 
Hasta la vista, Lacqueristas!

MAC Bad Fairy... No dupe here! A comparison.

Dear Lacqueristas,

MAC Bad fairy is supposed to be dupe-ed by OPI The Show Must Go On. See for yourself:

No dupe to be found.

Personally, I don't see the dupe. The Show Must Go On is more vibrant toned and doesn't have the foil/glitter finish as Bad Fairy has going on. The duo chrome is 10x more evident on Bad Fairy, in TSMGO is kinda dies on the nail.
If anything, color wise Bad Fairy reminds me a little bit of Chanel Salsa (swatches here)

Now on to more pics of Bad Fairy.

Duo chrome!!!

Mac's Bad Fairy is a pretty unique polish if it were to be released a year ago. Nowadays there's TONS of these glittery/foil/duo chrome polishes. The thing that does make Bad Fairy stand out is the color. In the pics it is a bit washed out but inreal life the color switches between a warm pink and a gold. I don't love it on my skintone but I'm sure it's awesome on warmer toned fingers.
I don't think Bad Fairy is available anywhere anymore, it was sold out in a flash. If you are lucky you could find one on Ebay.

Can you think of a polish to dupe Bad Fairy?

Hasta la vista, Laqueristas!

Is this the wonky magic stick of the Bad Fairy?

Dear Lacqueristas,

Look what brush my Bad Fairy has:

W-w-w-wonky!

On to the polish. Bad Fairy is a limited edition from MAC, part of the Venomous Villains collection that was released this month.  Bad Fairy is one of the three polishes from this collection, and supposedly the only one that doesn't already have a dupe out there.

Bad Fairy in the sun

This polish is a duo chrome. The base color is pink but when hold under a certain angle you see a strong copper/gold. This shifting of colors is best to be photographed when doing like this:

Finger workout

I'm a bit upset about the brush though. Can you give me tips or tricks how to fix wonky brushes?

Hasta la vista, Lacqueristas!

My overkill has been cured. Bring on the bling!

Dear Lacqueristas,

This seems to be the year of the foil type a duo/multi chromes. In one of my last post I stated I felt the need to take a break of the extra special sparkly special effects polishes. I found my zen back by having a good ol' creme mani.
Ok, so I have recovered from this lil overkill I experienced. I feel brand new and eager to further explore the world of bling bling finishes. Guess what I just got in the mail?

See the green around the cuticles and the purple near the tips?

 There are many, many reviews out there already and I'm pretty late to the party but boy was I amazed by this very polish. I don't have anything like this in my stash. Mesmerizing. Green, gold, purple... And glossy like outta this world. Maybe not that flattering on my skintone but it's too pretty to care about that.

Daylight, overcast

Artificial light

Akward finger position toshow the color shifting

Bottle pic!

This polish is so special and has so many faces that it needed many pics. I hope yall don't mind?
What is the most over-the-top or akward polish in your personal stash?

Hasta la vista, Laqueristas!

My number 1 favorite nail polish of all times....

Dear Lacqueristas,

As a nail polish fanatic I always see the positive in each mani I wear. Even if it's not so flattering. I just appreciate the uniqueness and different finishes. For example, I had OPI's Kreme de la Kremlin for a long time butnever even tried it as it looked too *fleshy* and *obscene nude* to me. But once I wore it, it grew on me and it's one of my fav's now.
It is so nice if random people compliment me about the nailpolish I'm wearing, a lot oftimes Irespond by saying "yeah that's one of my favourites". I guess I have many, many favourites.

But, my very favourite ever, no doubt about that, is...

Zoya Charla. See the green, blue, and even purple? Hands down, my favourite nail polish ever. Ever!

What's your favourite nail polish ever?

Hasta la vista, Laqueristas!

Chanel vintage trio

Dear Lacqueristas,

Today I'll show you a vintage Chanel trio. I had never heard of these before, my friend gave them to me.. for free!

Tango, Samba and Salsa

Salsa. A Pink/copper duo chrome. The pink is most evident but when your nails are quite rounded, you will see the copper peek through at the edges of the nail. This color is just fine, not too spectecular.

Salsa, akward finger positions to show the duo chrome

Tango. A peachy pink, just right up my alley. I love colors like this since one of my favorite make up artists educated me about just how flattering peachy/pinkish colors are for skins like mine (light, cool skin)
Tango has a fair amount of golden shimmer in it's formula, but that's not visible on the nail once applied.

Samba. This polish is just plain ugly on me. A gold/copper/yellow/mustard duo chrome. Extemely unflattering. In fact, this must be the single most unflattering shade I own. Probably better suiting a warm/deep colored person.

I had trouble capturing the yellow-ness of this polish. Believe me when I tell you it is... yellow and bling in a baaaad way. Like Paul Wall's grill after eating a hotdog with too much mustard.

In real life, I love salsa (the music)  uueeeeppaaaa  Hector Lavoe, Tito Nieves, Celia Cruz, ... My MP3 is full of it, I don't think I have one english song on it. The only music I listen to more, is bachata (El Mayimbe, Joe Veras, Zacarias Ferreira, Luis Miguel del Amargue) 

Back in the days I used to dance a lot as well. So I was pretty exited about the Chanel latin dance trio.

Conclusion: I'm very thankfull to receive such vintage polishes. I love Tango, I like Salsa, but Samba isn't for me. Up for swap? Feel free to contact me if interested!

Question for you: Do have any info when this trio came out,what collection etc?

Hasta la vista, Laqueristas!

Chanel 457 Tulipe Noir

Dear Lacqueristas,

This monday I had a lil Chanel swatchaton and today I will present you one of the prettiest:

Tulipe Noir is a polish that is hard to describe. A plummy red maybe? A burgundy with plum and a hint of fuchsia? If you know the answer, feel free to comment.
I discovered a golden/bronze duo chrome in the bottle, that more or less vanished on the nail. I tried to capture some of in in the bottle pic:

And here is a bonus picture

See how much dept TulipeNoir has? Yummy! I love polishes with these complex finishes. What do you think?

Hasta la vista, Laqueristas!

Zoya duo chrome heaven...

Dear Lacqueristas,

One of my dreams is to work as a polish designer. I would travel around the world for inspiration and create the most unique shades of polish with high teck finishes. This next polish would be something like the ones I would have invented:

In the sun, in the right angle you see only the purple

In the shade, at any angle you get the green

Most of the times, you get both the green and purple together. Look at the bottle!  *drool*

Zoya Adina is a true duo chrome. I have no other polish in my stash where the duo chrome is this obvious. I actually had difficulties to capture *just* the purple shade of this polish because the green would always peek-a-boo right through the purple.

This polish is a stunner and regardless if the shades are flattering or appealing, this is just a liquid miracle every lacquerista should at least see in person. Formula was good, though the finish was a little frosty and left some minor brush strokes (visible in the first picture)

Oh how I love my Zoya's! If they were only available in the Netherlands...

What's your favourite duo chrome?

Hasta la vista, Lacqueristas!