I picked up a few polishes from the Metro collection this week – yay for not buying an entire collection! *pats self on back* I have been so overwhelmed with life (and polish) that it is honestly a relief to only be getting 4 from this collection. Normally the fall collections kill me, but this year doesn’t look like it’s going to be too bad! I’m planning on getting 4 from Zoya (Neeka, Yara, Petra, Cynthia), 3 from OPI (A Color to Diner For, I Eat Mainely Lobster, Uh-oh, Roll Down the Window), one from Finger Paints (Cordur-Orange), and nothing from Essie or Color Club – woo hoo! :D I’m sure I’ll end up with a couple more than I named, but at least I’m not planning on buying all of them from the start – that’s an improvement, right?
I’ve lured a couple of the girls I work with into the addicting world of nail polish, so now I have ladies to split the shipping with, and I can pass on a bit of knowledge here and there. It actually makes it harder NOT to buy more stuff, but I am doing ok. I received my biggest lemming a couple of weeks ago and since then, polish buying has tapered. I purchased the Metro polishes on Thursday, received Monday… and I haven’t bought anything else since Thursday. I also didn’t buy anything for over a week on Thursday when I purchased these. Maybe I’m finally starting to get a handle on this mad, mad, mad, mad hobby?
Trendsetter is one of those ugly polishes that you either love or hate. I tend to like these really funky ones, they are so unique that I can’t help but buy it. It’s a baby-poo greenish mustard color with a heavy dose of multi-colored shimmer. The shimmer leans gold, but it also flashes green and a bit of red, so I don’t think I can truly call it a gold shimmer. It also has a bit bigger particles than the typical shimmer. Formula-wise, this one is pretty danged thick – but not unmanageable. It did have some self-leveling issues (which you can see in the pic), but it has been insanely hot and humid in the Midwest, so I won’t write it off just yet – maybe it will be ok when the weather normalizes. The idea of this polish is very similar to Classic Camel from last fall, but the color is quite a bit different.
I went searching my stash for similar things and didn’t really find a lot. I even pulled all my uglies, but this one is pretty unique! I ended up going with American Apparel – Mac Arthur Park (ring), and since I mentioned that Trendsetter is this year’s Classic Camel, Classic Camel (index). Classic Camel is a totally different color, but they both contain the same kind of shimmer. Mac Arthur Park has a swoon-worthy formula and is actually the closest thing in my stash, though they are pretty different. I wonder if you mixed Classic Camel and Mac Arthur Park, you would get Trendsetter? I’m not a frankener, but it is an idea! I also pulled Butter London - Bumster and Barielle – Aura Angora – both are too yellow to really compare, more yellow than Classic Camel. In the bottle, China Glaze – GR8 is similar in hue to Trendsetter, though it is a totally different finish. However, on the nail, GR8 shows much more gold compared to Trendsetter’s green, and the finishes are so different, I didn’t include it in a pic.
Traffic Jam really isn’t all that unique looking – a berry crème – but I don’t have a dupe and the formula is fabulous. I only wear pinks, reds, oranges, corals, berries, etc., on my toes – no crazy colors! I’m weird like that… most people will try the odd ones on their toes, but not their hands, and I am the exact opposite. I painted my mom’s toes green recently and it was so weird! It looked cute on her, but I couldn’t handle it. I’m pretty much crème only on toes too. Occasionally I can handle a shimmer, but usually I take it off before it even has a chance to dry. *shrugs* I bought this polish for pedis, and I think it will get A LOT of use. It’s a great non-seasonal color and I think it would flatter just about every skin tone.
I was sure I was going to find a dupe in my collection, but surprisingly, I didn’t. Apparently it is a bit more unique than we think. The closest I had was OPI – Dim Sum Plum (ring) and OPI – Houston, We Have A Purple (index) – actually, HWHAP and Traffic Jam look nearly identical when you compare the bottles. However, HWHAP is a jelly and Traffic Jam is a crème, so they don’t turn out to be dupes at all. Here’s a bottle pic though, just to prove I’m not crazy! ;)
Next up is one of the more anticipated polishes in this collection…
Skyscraper has been getting a lot of buzz as a possible Starry Starry Night dupe, but they are really just similar ideas, not really similar in look. Skyscraper has a deep blue (with slight purple leanings) jelly base and is packed with silver glitter. The first coat looks like it is going to be really sheer, but 3 coats makes it totally opaque. I have a slightly wonky brush, so it doesn’t really want to apply evenly at the tips, but it really is a nice formula and wonderful polish. It isn’t an SSN dupe, but it might satisfy lemmings for some!
The color of the jelly base makes this a hard polish for me to compare. I don’t have anything similar to that color with glitter, so I chose two other blue with silver glitters to show you how different Skyscraper is. Deborah Lippmann – Lady Sings The Blues (ring) is obviously darker with different shaped glitter, and CM – Midnight Imposter (index) also has a darker base with different glitter, but the differences are more than just that. The glitter in Skyscraper is quite small – not as small as SSN (which I do not have, but I do have Essie – Bonded, which is the red counterpart to SSN, so I have seen the tiny glitters), but still quite a bit smaller than the usual glitter polishes out there. It also has a jelly base, so the glitter really does show and doesn’t get buried in the base like LSTB and Midnight Imposter. The are all beautiful, but Skyscraper is more like the midnight sky in a big, busy city with tons of lights.
The last of the Metro collection I have is Midtown Magic – a very deep burgundy/brown with that same gold / multicolored shimmer that appears in Trendsetter. Another great formula – you might be able to get away with one coat, but I suggest two for this amazing color. I am totally smitten and this will be on my nails often this fall. When I initially saw promo pics, I swore this was going to be a dupe to Side Saddle, from the Rodeo Diva collection, but was proved wrong when I saw swatches. Then I decided it was a dupe to OPI – DS Mystery. Again… wrong!
While DS Mystery is definitely similar, the base color is different, plus the shimmer is more like little flakes and is more sparse. It is that same color though – gold that leans green and flashes a bit of red. Mystery’s base is a deep royal purple, while Midtown Magic’s is more brown. Side Saddle is a burgundy / purple with a gold shimmer that is the typical shimmer size in comparison. Midtown Magic is more what I wanted DS Mystery to look like – it really is gorgeous and is a perfect fall color.
Since I don’t have all the polishes from this collection, I can’t really make an overall opinion, but I did only buy 4… and I think that is my statement. I love the ones I have, but I wasn’t overly thrilled with all the colors China Glazes went with this fall. I have the entire Spring and Summer collections by them for this year, so I was a little disappointed with this collection. I can’t really put my finger on it – I have dupes to a couple, and I’m sure a few won’t look so good with my yellow/green undertones, but overall, this collection was just meh to me. I have seen CG In The City in person and wasn’t wowed, even though it does seem to be a unique glitter. It’s just kinda dull and all the colors just blend together, at least in the bottle. One of my co-workers bought it, so I’ll let you know if that opinion changes when she wears it. Formulas on all of these were nice – thick, but not too thick, though I did have some trouble with Trendsetter self-leveling.
Any you are lemming?
Basecoat: none
Topcoat: Beauty Secrets Fast Finish on all but Traffic Jam, which has no topcoat
Number of coats: 2 except Skyscraper, which was 3
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