Nailing It. Swatch-a-thon 2.0

It’s been awhile since I updated the nail polish hauling I have done. The last nail polish swatch-a-thon I did was back in May already…time flies! In case you aren’t aware, I am a pretty big polish fanatic. I change my polish about every other day and love love love sparkle on my tips. Some of the new fall collections have launched and so I thought it might be nice to share some of what I have gotten so far, and what I hauled over the last two months or so.

Teal the end of summer...

Swatches L-R:

• Butter London Victoriana (Butter London has the best formula EVER)
• Sally Hansen Fairy Teal (another great formula and I love this shade, especially now when fall is coming up)
• Wet n Wild Diving for Pearls (totally random and found at CVS)
• Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (also random, found at CVS and was happy to snatch up a mini because I had been wanting to try this shade since last Christmas when it released. It’s such a unique green/blue shade)

Oooh sooo prettyyyyyy

Swatches L-R:

• Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular topcoat over two coats of Essie’s Ballet Slippers (you can see the post that inspired this purchase from the gorgeous Ebru of Ebrushka’s Makeup Bag here)
• NailStation in Forever Dubai (Love the name of this shade, and Nailstation is actually produced in the UAE, if I’m not mistaken. It also came from a very good and special blogger friend of mine, DelytefulSpeaks, making it that much more awesome. )
• NailStation in Wow Factor (My perfect mint. After DelytefulSpeaks showed me a swatch, I need I wanted it in our swap. It’s gorgeous)
• Essie Turquoise& Caicos (Finally picked this up. Lovely shade, but was surprised at how sheer/jelly like it was. Took 3 coats here which makes me sad. I don’t like having to do that many because I’m too impatient)

Ready for fall?

Swatches L-R:

• Essie Power Clutch (New for fall, and I think this shade is going to be my fall staple. Honestly it’s gorgeous and goes with everything. It’s smooth and pigmented and a must have in my opinion.)
• OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle (from the new Touring America collection. It’s an interesting shade. I wouldn’t call it taupe myself, as it doesn’t resemble any taupe eyeshadow I have. It’s got a nice murkiness to it and it’s a mix of olive, brown, camel and mustard, at least to me it is.)
• OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts (I featured this before, I got it for the name. My love of New Orleans cannot prevent any NOLA related purchases, so I was all in regardless of shade. Luckily, it’s a nice grey.)
• OPI My Address is Hollywood ( I would not have put this as a fall collection polish, but maybe that’s why it stands out. There is a slight golden shimmer throughout and it’s an elegant rosey-pink.)

Berrie, Berrie Vampy

Swatches L-R:

• Essie Splash of Grenadine (a purchase prompted by the lovely Tiffany of Will Work For Makeup several months back in her post here. I love this shade! I also did a glitter accent nail with this awhile back here.
• OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries (A shade that’s been on my list for ages and I finally got it this summer. It’s a classic berry shade and the formula is spot on)
• Essie Carry On (From the new fall collection. It’s the perfect brown-plum. It looks darker in the photo here than it does in real life and I prefer it to the next polish)
• OPI Honk If You Love OPI ( From the Touring America collection. I prefer Essie’s Carry On. This has too much burgundy in it for my taste and I really wanted something that leaned more brown. This is meh for me. Luckily I only have the mini because I bought the mini set so no worries about wasting the $$)

Le Metier de Beaute!

These are from the Rock ‘N’ Romance Set from Nordstrom’s. The formula on all of these is brilliant.

Swatches L-R:

• True Romance (Reminiscent of Chanel’s new shade in Quartz, it’s a lovely way to wear a “nude” nail this fall)
• Chrome Passion (Easily my favorite in the group because of the taupey-brown base and the super HOLO goodness)
• Heat of the Night (Love the name and the color. More on this shade in a second)
• Midnight Rendezvous (My second favorite of the set. It’s stunning and sultry… I adore this shade. )

Did Heat of the Night give you a flash back to another polish? Good, because it did for me too…

Hay BOO!

China Glaze Lubu Heels on left and LMdB Heat of the Night on the right. They both have that black/brown base to them but the shimmer in LMdB is so micronized. It makes it look so different, and gives it a coppery feel (typing that reminded me of David Copperfield) LOL. If you liked Lubu Heels, you will probably want to get your hands on this shade. They aren’t dupes, but I would say they are in the same family somewhere.

Metal Mania

Swatches L-R:

• Chanel Graphite (My first Chanel polish purchase. The sparkle factor was what won me over in the end. I feel ashamed for spending $25 which is a ridiculous amount to pay for one polish but I have to admit, it is also ridiculously pretty.)
• Revlon Carbonite (The supposed dupe and Revlon’s answer for Chanel Graphite for those of us who don’t want to get suckered in to paying Chanel prices. More comparisons later)
• Joe Fresh Gunmetal (A lovely polish I received in my swap from super talented Arianne of Glitter Geek. Again, I wish I could buy Joe Fresh makeup items here, I am sure I would own more polishes!)
• China Glaze Skyscraper (From their new fall collection. I had to buy this one. It looked too darn pretty in the bottle, which translates to very pretty on the nails)

Now I have heard and seen comparisons of Revlon Carbonite and Chanel Graphite…here are some of the photos I snapped to show how similar/different they are.

Indirect Sunlight, Graphite on far left, Carbonite to it's right

L-R: Indoors, Without Flash: Graphite, Carbonite

Normally I don’t do blurred pictures, but when I saw this next photo on my camera screen I thought it really illustrated the true difference in sparkle:

Graphite vs Carbonite Sparkle Factor

My conclusion is that while Carbonite and Graphite are both very similar in initial shade and tone…Graphite’s sparkle factor is about 100x that of Carbonite. The Revlon version is of course a better deal and if the sparkle doesn’t bother you, grab that one. But if you are in the mood to splurge and sparkle is everything…go for the Chanel. I cannot believe I am saying that. I feel like a criminal recommending buying a $25 nail polish.

Who do I look like?

One last comparison for you. At a CCO trip this past July I found MAC Soiree nail polish from the Cham-Pale collection this past winter. It was a “sold out” shade and I never have interest in MAC polishes because of how terribly they perform on me…but CCO prices make it more bearable. I picked it up out of curiosity to see how close it compared to my beloved Orly Rage.

Swatches L-R:

• MAC Soiree (A nice shade, but again the formula is lacking and isn’t great.)
• Orly Rage (This is the EXACT same as Soiree apart from two things: It has better sparkle factor AND a much better formula. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get this shade because Rage is way better in my opinion.)
• LMdB True Romance (I threw this in just because. You can see the difference between all of the polishes. This one isn’t really anything like the others.)

Whew. That was a lot to get through. I hope this helped you find some new polishes for fall or to add to your everyday collection. I am excited for other shades still to come and for winter shades (Christmas nails are always my favorite). What collection for fall has interested you most? Have you picked any up yet?