OPI Jade is the New Black Dupe? Asos Paints by Ciate Pixie

Of course, we've all been looking at pictures of OPI's upcoming Hong Kong collection that will be released in Spring, and while I was browsing the gorgeous pictures of many a beautiful finger, a thought suddenly struck me - Jade is the New Black looked hauntingly familiar. In fact, it kind of looked like something I already had in my stash, and that was released in Winter!

Ooh. Just goes to show you that these types of emerald-jade slightly dustied jewel greens are awesome and chic year round, be it Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall. Anyway, regular readers of this blog will probably be able to guess what I was talking about, because awhile back, I posted bottle pics of potential-dupe-in-question here. But of course bottle pictures are inconclusive. And as it so happens, I've actually used it for a mani since then!

Behold, a potential dupe-or-not for OPI's Jade is the New Black. Maybe it's not a dupe, but it's definitely in the same family, or if not, a close neighbour. From what I could tell based on other bloggers' swatches, the main difference is that Pixie is a little more blue-toned, while the OPI is more yellow-based. I do think they are close though. I only wish I had the actual OPI colour so I could do a side-by-side comparison. But anyways, this maybe-it's-a-dupe-maybe-it's-not isn't too shabby either. It's cheaper (for the UK ladies, that is), it's beautiful and creamy, it covers in one coat (although I used two out of habit) and it's none other than Pixie, from the Asos Paints by Ciate Winter Collection!

Observe it's beauty, in natural light:



And here it is indoors:



Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I had to pair it with $OPI's Run With It, a beautiful, albeit streaky and sheer, silvery grey, and I konaded over the ring finger with Pixie, using Konad plate M57 (I think. I'm bad at remembering which plates I used).

Anyway, can I just sing the praises of Pixie again? Oh Asos and Ciate, you have done it again. Beautiful, pigmented, creamy, good texture, and very smooth creme. Unfortunately, it's let down by a brush that likes to skip and make application not as great as it could be. Which is really unfortunate, because the formulation of this was near perfect, and it was a shame that it was let down by the brush.

I also really liked Pixie, because it is something of a chameleon, colour-wise. Indoors it leans a little blue, and sometimes I swore it looked rather teal on my fingers. But outdoors, it looks most mostly green. And this isn't a wimpy mint-jade green (haven't we had enough of those already?) but it's a much sexier, much more sophisticated, much more chic older sister of those green wannabes. It's deep, but not too deep, and it's a mix of emerald and jade colours, and is bright but still a little dusty, making it eyecatching but still very wearable. And of course it likes to tease me by being bluish and teal sometimes.

So OPI, don't say I didn't warn ya, but you have competition! I only wish I could get my hands on OPI Jade is the New Black to do a side-by-side comparison!

Barry M Lip Lacquer Crayons Swatches and Review

Barry M has launched a new line of lip crayons, called the Lip Lacquer Crayons, and they are 4.95GBP each. These come in 5 colours, most of them variations of red, with the exception of one pale, pastel pink.

I don't know about you, but I was so excited when these were launched - although I don't actually own any, I'm a huge sucker for lip crayons. I just don't have any because I haven't found any I liked. Stila had the best texture and colour payoff, but all their colours had too much glitter, and Bobbi Brown's lip crayons were nice, but had a very dry texture and tasted like wood mixed with mint. Eeeww.

And Barry M? Well, these had a really good texture, and had above-average decent colour payoff (particularly for the darker colours), but unfortunately, they were full of huge bits of glitter. Now this won't deter some people, but it's definitely a no-no for me. I do like the formula on these though, I hope they release some in a creme or gloss finish soon.

Here are swatches:



L - R: No 1 Scarlet Red, No 2 Cherry Red, No 3 Mandarin, No 4 Party Pink, No 5 Ballet Pink

OK. So my camera didn't capture the glitter, but I swear it's there. And I'm sorry the swatches for No 4 Party Pink and No 5 Ballet Pink are so small - the Superdrug girl told me I was "using too much" of her testers.

No 1 Scarlet Red is like China Glaze's Ruby Pumps nail polish, but in a lip crayon form. It's got bright big bits of red glitter in a red base. This is one kickass colour, it's a true fire engine red that I really quite like (sans glitter). This one was also the most pigmented of the lot.

No 2 Cherry Red is a pretty colour, a pinky-red leaning to the cool side. This one also has glitter in it, and the gliter is actually visible by just looking at the pencil itself. You can see bits of glitter in the pencil.

No 3 Mandarin is a corally orange colour that also has orange glitter bits that you can see even in the pencil.

No 4 Party Pink is a bright lilac pink, with matching colour glitter. Still, glitter-averse girls might want to avoid this.

No 5 Ballet Pink is a pale, pastel pink that's not glittery, but quite frosty. This one required some building up to acheive the colour intensity you see. It's not that pigmented.

So all in all, I can't say I'm a huge fan of these, mainly because of the glitter. I really liked the formula on these though, they were smooth and well-pigmented, with the exception of Ballet Pink. If you don't mind the glitter, this is a good place to look for a daring red colour.

Asos Paints by Ciate: Mary-Kate NOTD: Black Blah

So a long time ago in this post I said I would show you guys my NOTDs of the Asos Paints by Ciate when I eventually got around to doing them. Well I did, and here you are.

The first one (because my nails are nubbins now and that's the perfect excuse for wearing black) is of course Mary-Kate, the black I was so excited about. In the bottle it was a black with gold glitter that looks a little yellow or orange in some lights, and I was hoping that it would be a jelly, for that super cool glitter-suspended-in-black-jelly effect a la ChinaGlaze's Lubu Heels. And honestly, this one had the potential to one up Lubu Heels, because the glitter is a lot more noticeable in the bottle.

Well you notice I said "had". Turns out the black base was a creme, not a jelly, so although this polish is positively LOADED with glitter, most of it got buried under the opacity of the creme. Now opacity isn't a good thing - those of you who know me know that I LOVE polishes that are opaque in one coat, as they do double duty as nail colour and Konad colour, but when it comes to glitter in a black base, I personally feel a jelly or a sheer finish is best for showing off the glitter. Anyway, this one was still cool, but didn't live up to it's full potential.

Check out this photo. Once again, this was pre-cleanup, so please forgive the mess everywhere. I was just so excited to show you guys a pic of these that cleanup couldn't wait! I know, I'm such a slob when it comes to painting neatly. I'm learning!



Ah, Mary-Kate. I'm so sad for you. It's not that you can't see the glitter - as you can see, when the glitter catches the light it does sparkle - but why is this in a creme and not a jelly base?! It almost makes me want to cry, because that is such a waste of good gold glitter. Seriously, when you remove this thing you'll realize how glitter packed it was - it does tend to get everywhere, as is common with glitters - but you only really see the top layer of glitter when it's actually on your nail. The rest are just buried in the opaque creme base and are invisible.

Anyway, this one was a pretty awesome polish otherwise. It was opaque in one coat, although I did two, and the formula on this was smooth. I was really impressed! In fact someone mentioned on a forum that she thought these applied better than the regular Ciate, and I wouldn't be surprised, because this was really smooth and nicely pigmented. The only thing is that the brush was a bit unwieldy for me, which resulted in a greater amount of mess than usual. I personally thought that this was an awesome formula ruined by a terrible brush, but then again brushes are very much a personal preference (you know, like how some people like the OPI Pro-Wide brushes and some don't), so my word isn't final authority, of course. It doesn't dry smooth of course, like most glitters, but that isn't an issue for me, and isn't anything a couple of layers of topcoat can't fix. Wear time was good on this one - I didn't experience any major chipping or tipwear issues.

And because you know I love to mattify everything with glitter in it, here's a lousy swatch of it with RBL Matte Topcoat over. (Sorry for the one-finger and lousy swatch, I did it after I took off the polish from most of my fingers. That also explains why the polish is seeing some wear.)



I think it's pretty cool mattified. But I also wish it had a jelly base so it'd be even more cool mattified. Still, can't complain - it's opaque enough to Konad with, and it does have a pretty good formulation. I hope Ciate polishes in general are this nicely formulated, I'm looking forward to trying out the rest of my bottles.