Smackdown: Misa Paradise Shore and China Glaze Island Escape

That’s right guys. When I swatched the CG Island Escape collection over white, I thought… hmmm.. something is uncanny here. Then I realized this “uncanny-ness” was found in a recent head2toe order, containing my Misa Paradise Shore! I matched them up, and the similarity is… well, mentionable. No exact dupes, that’s for sure, but the theme is strikingly similar!

Same color themes, same summer theme (Paradise Shore, Island Escape =) ) Their lab rats must have had the same wavelengths or something when they came up with this collection. Have a look:

Hmmm.. I’m onto you!

Before we begin the comparisons, I only compared five out of six possible matches. This is because Senorita Bonita, from China Glaze Island Escape, has no partner 😦 She is all alone. I feel sorry for her, especially considering she’s a PURPLE. Misa threw off the matching-up with their two blues in a six-piece collection (Krystal Water, Mermaid Dreams). I also threw in a little Zoya for good measure. You’ll see 😉

Electric Pineapple with Under My Sunbrella. In this picture it appears some of the yellow flakies from Under My Sunbrella has also migrated over to Electric Pineapple??
The Misa is a lot more yellow, while Electric Pineapple is all about a saturated, neon-ish yellow creme.

And here we have the blues: Krystal Water, Blue Iguana, Mermaid Dreams.
I thought this really cleared up where all the colors fall in the blue gradient scope. These polishes, combined, would make a GREAT gradient manicure I think!

Papaya Punch with Endless Keys.
Easy to see they share the same origination, and are pretty close-knit already. I can’t believe I didn’t think to layer Endless Keys over Papaya Punch!! They were obviously meant to be. 😦 I don’t have Papaya Punch with me, and alas cannot test these layering ideas out. The CG Island Escape collection are all chilling in a Helmer, (safely I hope) in a storeroom up at DC.

Bottle picture of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, Misa Mega Margarita, and Zoya Apple. When I pulled the China Glaze and Misa out, the shimmer and green made me think of Zoya Apple as a possible dupe. When I pulled it out, the answer is: it is clearly not. But I swatched it anyway, to give you ideas of their finishes, which vary a bit.

As you can see Apple has a strong golden foily feel, it catches and reflects a lot of light. Cha Cha Cha isn’t related at all in these two families– he’s the milkman’s kid. If you catch my drift. Neither is Zoya, but I wasn’t talking about Zoya.

And now here, the possible dupe:

Bottle, side by side picture of China Glaze 108 Degrees and Misa Summer Love.
I am still a bit stuck on this one. They LOOK like dupes don’t they? They have the exact same hot-pink flash going on through the bottles, and of course the sheer dark-grapefruit pink base.
Well…

They are clearly not dupes. But I wouldn’t justify owning both. The China Glaze has a far superior formula and shimmer. The Misa has hot pink flakes scattered throughout, which the CG bottle lacks– again making it ideal to layer over a, perhaps, honeysuckle shade.

And, that’s all I have for you guys 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them.

The only regret I have is not layering them over each other! They look like perfect partners. What do you think? What combinations would you try out?

Smackdown: Misa Paradise Shore and China Glaze Island Escape

That’s right guys. When I swatched the CG Island Escape collection over white, I thought… hmmm.. something is uncanny here. Then I realized this “uncanny-ness” was found in a recent head2toe order, containing my Misa Paradise Shore! I matched them up, and the similarity is… well, mentionable. No exact dupes, that’s for sure, but the theme is strikingly similar!

Same color themes, same summer theme (Paradise Shore, Island Escape =) ) Their lab rats must have had the same wavelengths or something when they came up with this collection. Have a look:

Hmmm.. I’m onto you!

Before we begin the comparisons, I only compared five out of six possible matches. This is because Senorita Bonita, from China Glaze Island Escape, has no partner 😦 She is all alone. I feel sorry for her, especially considering she’s a PURPLE. Misa threw off the matching-up with their two blues in a six-piece collection (Krystal Water, Mermaid Dreams). I also threw in a little Zoya for good measure. You’ll see 😉

Electric Pineapple with Under My Sunbrella. In this picture it appears some of the yellow flakies from Under My Sunbrella has also migrated over to Electric Pineapple??
The Misa is a lot more yellow, while Electric Pineapple is all about a saturated, neon-ish yellow creme.

And here we have the blues: Krystal Water, Blue Iguana, Mermaid Dreams.
I thought this really cleared up where all the colors fall in the blue gradient scope. These polishes, combined, would make a GREAT gradient manicure I think!

Papaya Punch with Endless Keys.
Easy to see they share the same origination, and are pretty close-knit already. I can’t believe I didn’t think to layer Endless Keys over Papaya Punch!! They were obviously meant to be. 😦 I don’t have Papaya Punch with me, and alas cannot test these layering ideas out. The CG Island Escape collection are all chilling in a Helmer, (safely I hope) in a storeroom up at DC.

Bottle picture of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, Misa Mega Margarita, and Zoya Apple. When I pulled the China Glaze and Misa out, the shimmer and green made me think of Zoya Apple as a possible dupe. When I pulled it out, the answer is: it is clearly not. But I swatched it anyway, to give you ideas of their finishes, which vary a bit.

As you can see Apple has a strong golden foily feel, it catches and reflects a lot of light. Cha Cha Cha isn’t related at all in these two families– he’s the milkman’s kid. If you catch my drift. Neither is Zoya, but I wasn’t talking about Zoya.

And now here, the possible dupe:

Bottle, side by side picture of China Glaze 108 Degrees and Misa Summer Love.
I am still a bit stuck on this one. They LOOK like dupes don’t they? They have the exact same hot-pink flash going on through the bottles, and of course the sheer dark-grapefruit pink base.
Well…

They are clearly not dupes. But I wouldn’t justify owning both. The China Glaze has a far superior formula and shimmer. The Misa has hot pink flakes scattered throughout, which the CG bottle lacks– again making it ideal to layer over a, perhaps, honeysuckle shade.

And, that’s all I have for you guys 🙂 I hope you enjoyed them.

The only regret I have is not layering them over each other! They look like perfect partners. What do you think? What combinations would you try out?

China Glaze Island Escape Revisted

Yep, we’re revisiting the CG Island Escape Summer 2011 collection. Why? Well, when I swatched them here a bit of them showed up sheer. Some of you commented and shared the same sentiment about disliking the amount of VNL we were all seeing.

I decided to layer them all over one even base of white polish (In this case, it was my China Glaze Snow, or my “white-out” as I call it XD) It only took two coats to achieve full opacity and near bottle color!

I think it is worth it, the white base really brings out the gorgeousness of these polishes. I would have done 3 layers with a single Island Escape sheer, and still had VNL anyway. Basically, the same amount of layers but with an extreme amount of bling!

Here’s some more close up comparisons of the swatched over white and the old swatches on my nails with all its VNL glory.

Starting with the cremes, and the ones I was “uncomfortable” with.

Papaya Punch
On my nails, without a white base, it looks a bit more of a light papaya color. With the white base the orange is brought out much more strongly, almost mango.

Electric Pineapple
Washed out yellow, but over white it almost is neon. It comes pretty much to life.

108 Degrees
108 Degrees was not exactly a “sheer” polish, I did achieve full opacity with three layers (of course) but it just looks a lot more yummier over white. You can see the silvery white fleck glitter here.
(and why do animal hair always haunt me?! This was in a pet-free DORM room. agh).

Blue Iguana
Sorry about the dent. This one I was not able to get a very good picture of. Over white, I achieved a more bottle color rather than the paler blue that is being shown on my nails.

Senorita Bonita
On my nails the pink fleck shimmer was almost undetectable, and it pulled too pink in the photo. The nail wheel swatch, over white, is definitely ALMOST (haha, an oxymoron. See what I do?) color accurate. This is a hard color to capture. Anyway, over white, the pink shimmer showed through so much more strongly and confidently. This was a color I had always looked forward to when I first heard of the collection, and was disappointed to find how “meh” it looked on the nails 😦 However, over white, it’s revived some of my original faith and love in this color.

And my favorite, layered over white:

Cha Cha Cha!
I was “meh” about it when it was on my nails, but over white? OMG. If I didn’t have so many untrieds, this would be my “go to” color. Hell yeah!

Now, over white, I would suggest/recommend these polishes even more! 🙂 It is not much trouble for me to layer them, and I do enjoy layering polishes to achieve bottle color. The only thing I have to watch out for is making sure the white was applied evenly and is not “too” wet when I apply the first base of color on it, or else it will become a draggy, streaky nightmare. We don’t want that.

China Glaze Island Escape Revisted

Yep, we’re revisiting the CG Island Escape Summer 2011 collection. Why? Well, when I swatched them here a bit of them showed up sheer. Some of you commented and shared the same sentiment about disliking the amount of VNL we were all seeing.

I decided to layer them all over one even base of white polish (In this case, it was my China Glaze Snow, or my “white-out” as I call it XD) It only took two coats to achieve full opacity and near bottle color!

I think it is worth it, the white base really brings out the gorgeousness of these polishes. I would have done 3 layers with a single Island Escape sheer, and still had VNL anyway. Basically, the same amount of layers but with an extreme amount of bling!

Here’s some more close up comparisons of the swatched over white and the old swatches on my nails with all its VNL glory.

Starting with the cremes, and the ones I was “uncomfortable” with.

Papaya Punch
On my nails, without a white base, it looks a bit more of a light papaya color. With the white base the orange is brought out much more strongly, almost mango.

Electric Pineapple
Washed out yellow, but over white it almost is neon. It comes pretty much to life.

108 Degrees
108 Degrees was not exactly a “sheer” polish, I did achieve full opacity with three layers (of course) but it just looks a lot more yummier over white. You can see the silvery white fleck glitter here.
(and why do animal hair always haunt me?! This was in a pet-free DORM room. agh).

Blue Iguana
Sorry about the dent. This one I was not able to get a very good picture of. Over white, I achieved a more bottle color rather than the paler blue that is being shown on my nails.

Senorita Bonita
On my nails the pink fleck shimmer was almost undetectable, and it pulled too pink in the photo. The nail wheel swatch, over white, is definitely ALMOST (haha, an oxymoron. See what I do?) color accurate. This is a hard color to capture. Anyway, over white, the pink shimmer showed through so much more strongly and confidently. This was a color I had always looked forward to when I first heard of the collection, and was disappointed to find how “meh” it looked on the nails 😦 However, over white, it’s revived some of my original faith and love in this color.

And my favorite, layered over white:

Cha Cha Cha!
I was “meh” about it when it was on my nails, but over white? OMG. If I didn’t have so many untrieds, this would be my “go to” color. Hell yeah!

Now, over white, I would suggest/recommend these polishes even more! 🙂 It is not much trouble for me to layer them, and I do enjoy layering polishes to achieve bottle color. The only thing I have to watch out for is making sure the white was applied evenly and is not “too” wet when I apply the first base of color on it, or else it will become a draggy, streaky nightmare. We don’t want that.

Misa Paradise Shore

I was shopping on Head2ToeBeauty the other day, and noticed Misa had their Summer 2011 collection out, called Paradise Shore. I ordered all the polishes and thought it was weird that I hadn’t heard of it before from other notable bloggers. It’s a really good collection, or so I think. 🙂

Notes:
— All shimmers, actually more like flakies suspended in a shimmery base. No cremes here. I like it, very summery! 🙂
— Most were pretty sheer, will want to layer over something else
— All were about 3 coaters
— Formula was generally no issue, but like with glitters gave me issues on removing, and one polish was kind of goopy and pooled over my nails.
— Names are creative and cute (except Krystal Waters, why spell it with a K? uggh)

Onto the swatches!

Mega Margarita
A bright lime green jelly base, sheer with lots of golden/lime green glass flecks. This one is what pooled on me, and I think you can see it in the pic 😦

Summer Love
This one was so hard to photograph! It’s a bright reddish pink, like fuchsia or something. Strawberry? I’m not even sure myself. The camera/Photoshop saving process washed it out quite a bit, but it’s a lot more darker pink than what is being shown. Sheer jelly base, with small glitter suspended within rather than strong flakies. It’s not my favorite at all, hmm.

Mermaid Dreams
I love this one!! Beautiful. A dark aqua shimmer, almost a frost finish but not really. More pearly. A bit brush-strokey, but the formula was fantastic.

Under My Sunbrella
Isn’t the name cute? A lemon yellow with intense yellow flaky action. Actually looks good on me.

Krystal Water
Turquoise shimmer. Another lovely one =) Jampacked with a light shimmer!
…But doesn’t this look familiar? Yes. It’s a cousin to Mermaid Dreams earlier. Here is a swatch of them side by side:

They are definitely close, one is more blue while the other leans to aqua.

Endless Keys
Last but not least, the interesting orange jelly base with bright reflective orange flakies mixed with shimmer. This was the most opaque besides the two blues.

This also reminded me incredibly so of another certain collection, comparisons upcoming very soon… 🙂

Misa Paradise Shore

I was shopping on Head2ToeBeauty the other day, and noticed Misa had their Summer 2011 collection out, called Paradise Shore. I ordered all the polishes and thought it was weird that I hadn’t heard of it before from other notable bloggers. It’s a really good collection, or so I think. 🙂

Notes:
— All shimmers, actually more like flakies suspended in a shimmery base. No cremes here. I like it, very summery! 🙂
— Most were pretty sheer, will want to layer over something else
— All were about 3 coaters
— Formula was generally no issue, but like with glitters gave me issues on removing, and one polish was kind of goopy and pooled over my nails.
— Names are creative and cute (except Krystal Waters, why spell it with a K? uggh)

Onto the swatches!

Mega Margarita
A bright lime green jelly base, sheer with lots of golden/lime green glass flecks. This one is what pooled on me, and I think you can see it in the pic 😦

Summer Love
This one was so hard to photograph! It’s a bright reddish pink, like fuchsia or something. Strawberry? I’m not even sure myself. The camera/Photoshop saving process washed it out quite a bit, but it’s a lot more darker pink than what is being shown. Sheer jelly base, with small glitter suspended within rather than strong flakies. It’s not my favorite at all, hmm.

Mermaid Dreams
I love this one!! Beautiful. A dark aqua shimmer, almost a frost finish but not really. More pearly. A bit brush-strokey, but the formula was fantastic.

Under My Sunbrella
Isn’t the name cute? A lemon yellow with intense yellow flaky action. Actually looks good on me.

Krystal Water
Turquoise shimmer. Another lovely one =) Jampacked with a light shimmer!
…But doesn’t this look familiar? Yes. It’s a cousin to Mermaid Dreams earlier. Here is a swatch of them side by side:

They are definitely close, one is more blue while the other leans to aqua.

Endless Keys
Last but not least, the interesting orange jelly base with bright reflective orange flakies mixed with shimmer. This was the most opaque besides the two blues.

This also reminded me incredibly so of another certain collection, comparisons upcoming very soon… 🙂

China Glaze Island Escape

Hi guys, my China Glaze Island Escape set came in! I’m not that crazy about this set, I was convinced after seeing some really awesome swatches but on me… They’re just meh.

Overall notes:
Formula is fantastic; unique colors that do remind me of an island
The cremes are great, although I’m not a raging fan. Two coats for all the cremes.
The shimmers are sheer (see Senorita Bonita, Cha Cha Cha, 108 Degrees and Blue Iguana) and they were three or more coats.

The Shimmers:

108 Degrees

Cha Cha Cha, a lime green shimmer. This reminds me a ton of Zoya Apple, and I like Zoya Apple a lot better.

Blue Iguana

Senorita Bonita, a light purple-almost fuchsia (this picture pulls too slightly purple)

The Cremes

Papaya Punch. This is really the color of a slightly underripe papaya. This is such a strange color, and I’m not sure how comfortable I am having it on my nails. Pedi color maybe. Or to stamp over.

Electric Pineapple. This color reminds me of something from Illamasqua, maybe Radium. Again, another weird color on me and it’s pushing my comfort zone

Thoughts anyone?

China Glaze Island Escape

Hi guys, my China Glaze Island Escape set came in! I’m not that crazy about this set, I was convinced after seeing some really awesome swatches but on me… They’re just meh.

Overall notes:
Formula is fantastic; unique colors that do remind me of an island
The cremes are great, although I’m not a raging fan. Two coats for all the cremes.
The shimmers are sheer (see Senorita Bonita, Cha Cha Cha, 108 Degrees and Blue Iguana) and they were three or more coats.

The Shimmers:

108 Degrees

Cha Cha Cha, a lime green shimmer. This reminds me a ton of Zoya Apple, and I like Zoya Apple a lot better.

Blue Iguana

Senorita Bonita, a light purple-almost fuchsia (this picture pulls too slightly purple)

The Cremes

Papaya Punch. This is really the color of a slightly underripe papaya. This is such a strange color, and I’m not sure how comfortable I am having it on my nails. Pedi color maybe. Or to stamp over.

Electric Pineapple. This color reminds me of something from Illamasqua, maybe Radium. Again, another weird color on me and it’s pushing my comfort zone

Thoughts anyone?

China Glaze Island Escape

Hi guys, my China Glaze Island Escape set came in! I’m not that crazy about this set, I was convinced after seeing some really awesome swatches but on me… They’re just meh.

Overall notes:
Formula is fantastic; unique colors that do remind me of an island
The cremes are great, although I’m not a raging fan. Two coats for all the cremes.
The shimmers are sheer (see Senorita Bonita, Cha Cha Cha, 108 Degrees and Blue Iguana) and they were three or more coats.

The Shimmers:

108 Degrees

Cha Cha Cha, a lime green shimmer. This reminds me a ton of Zoya Apple, and I like Zoya Apple a lot better.

Blue Iguana

Senorita Bonita, a light purple-almost fuchsia (this picture pulls too slightly purple)

The Cremes

Papaya Punch. This is really the color of a slightly underripe papaya. This is such a strange color, and I’m not sure how comfortable I am having it on my nails. Pedi color maybe. Or to stamp over.

Electric Pineapple. This color reminds me of something from Illamasqua, maybe Radium. Again, another weird color on me and it’s pushing my comfort zone

Thoughts anyone?

Collection Swatch: a-england

So being the geek I am, when I found the a-england polish site I had to buy them all because OMG AWESOME NAMES. They arrived about last week (or maybe two weeks ago, okay, I’m kinda behind) and while I was staying up with Nick supervising him doing his homework, I swatched them all.

General notes before we begin:
— Most are two coaters, with the exception of Merlin, which is one-coater.
— No topcoat, only basecoat
— Formula was great with them all with a few exceptions
— I am still not exactly sure if they are deserving of their price tag, as the bottling and formula is kind of typical and their colors are not extremely unique (however beautiful).
— I am extremely, I mean EXTREMELY surprised there are no greens in this collection!! Green is a very medieval color, at least to me.

Here we go.

 Dark purple duochrome, with a slight blue flash.

 Excuse the horrid picture. Camelot is a gorgeous black, with a brown base and is an one-coater if you’re careful.

 Elaine is a very dusty purple/gray and I love it. Very muted, a nice color.

 There’s a saying among us nail bloggers– everyone needs one nice silver foil in their collection, and I can definitely say this one is mine. Not to mention the kickass name 😉

Galahad is an interesting light blue. This picture makes it look like a shade of the sky blue family but I would say it borders on being teal. Again, another favorite. 

 Guinevere is a dusty lilac creme. Pardon the hair on my ring finger– a piece of the cotton ball I used earlier.

 Holy Grail is a very nice warm gold, with a shimmer.

 This one kind of gave me trouble. A very pale sheer pink, almost a french pink. The formula was an issue and even after THREE coats there’s a visible nail line up there. The brush on this one was wonky too, and threw me off.

 Grey duochrome with a hint of … I don’t know? Green?

 Dark purple holographic goodness! I love this one too.

 Lancelot.. Good lord it’s an extremely dark plum. It’s pretty much another black. I included a picture of the first coat, so you can see its true color.

 Merlin is a silver glitter suspended in a clear jelly base. Extremely dense, what you see above is one coat.

 A sheer duochrome silver/white/pink, great for layering. Three coats above and it’s still sheer which is why I think it’s for layering on other polish (something I haven’t tried, this was swatched at the end– dammit)

 Lovely red. This is THE red, for me. Shimmery.

 Blue holographic goodness. What’s the difference between Tristam and Lady of the Lake, I asked myself? See below.

All two coaters, but you can see Lady is more pulling on purple while Tristam is on the navy side.

Thoughts? 😉