But first... I got my OTT light, and while it does provide me with lots of light, it also causes some evil glare in my super-shiny polish pics... so methinks I'm going to have to create a light box. We'll see when I get time for that! :P Until then, you'll have to put up with my glare, especially since winter is almost here and there is no possible way I will be able to take any pics in the sun, at least not during my work week (Mon-Sat)!
So there was a really decent sale at Ulta a couple of months back and I wanted to order some polishes, but I could not for the life of me find swatches of them... which was how this blog was born. Wild Night was one of the polishes I bought and had I seen swatches, I wouldn't have gotten it.
Wild Night is a deep shimmery blue, similar to OPI's Yoga-ta Get This Blue and Essie's Midnight Cami. Here's a close-up so you can see the shimmer:
The color is really pretty... but this bottle was THICK. I don't have to thin polishes as often as a lot of people - not sure if I just don't notice how thick they are or what, but this one was a mess. Not only was it super-thick, but the brush was just slightly wonky, enough to make a mess out of my cuticles. This was post-cleanup, btw... so you can see how badly it stained! UGH!
Once I got a look at this on my nails, I decided to compare it to the other shimmery navy I have, Essie's Midnight Cami. I picked it up at Meijer on clearance - it said $4, so that's what I thought I was paying, but it rang up for $1.99! What a deal!
Here's a bottle comparison:
In this pic, Midnight Cami looks slightly more purple than Wild Night.
Midnight Cami is in the middle here... and as you can see, they aren't *quite* dupes, but close... close enough for me to not have both. Here's another shot:
You can see the differences a little more here. Midnight Cami is brighter than Wild Night, not quite as blackened on the nail. They aren't dupes, but unless you have a hankering for shimmering navys, you probably only need one of these... and if I were choosing, it'd be the Essie. However, Ulta's Wild Night would be a good substitute if you didn't want to spend the money on a full-priced Essie. In my experience, it needs to be thinned quite a bit to get a good application and don't skip your basecoat or you will have LOTS of staining! This might be the time to use the old Vaseline-on-the-cuticles trick because cleanup here is MESSY to say the least!
Even though the polish was thick, drying time was good, especially with a layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. No bubbles this time, so it must have been the Seche Vite / Insta-Dry combo causing that. I can't comment on wear of this one, as I didn't leave it on more than a couple of hours.
After swatching both and deciding I didn't need both, I passed Wild Night on to a very grateful friend who has worn it several times since. Glad I could make someone happy! :)
Ulta Salon Lacquer in Wild Night currently retails for $5 at Ulta and is often on sale.
Number of coats: 2
Basecoat: Instant Artificials
Topcoat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dry
