Woohoo, a post during the week! Daniel went to bed early, so I had a couple of hours to do what I wanted without feeling like a jerk for not spending time with him! :D
I bought the Miss Universe collection on eBay before seeing any swatches and honestly, I don’t regret it! I love these mini collections that are only a few polishes, it makes it so much easier to pick them up!
I’ll start with It’s My Year, since it was the one I was most looking forward to. Purple/Pink base with TONS of gold shimmer. It’s not a glitter and it’s more like glass fleck foil than regular shimmer – think the Zoya Sparkle collection (and Sunshine collection). Very similar to Rally Pretty Pink and Zoya’s Faye, but with a bit more purple to the base. When I say a bit, I mean it. When I pulled it out of the envelope, I was sure they had sent me the wrong shade. Even compared to RPS in my living room, I couldn’t tell the difference between them. However, on the nail, side-by-side, under my OTT light, they are a bit different.
I *think* RPS is on my ring finger and Faye is on my index, but don’t quote me on that. Those two are pretty much dead-on dupes and I took these pics last weekend, so I can’t really remember. It’s My Year is a bit different, but not a ton. I know a lot of people were looking forward to Faye being more purple than it turned out to be, and if you are one of them, It’s My Year is for you. If you already have RPS and Faye and are happy with the warm mauve base… well, you might be a bit disappointed here, as It’s My Year isn’t as different as I thought it’d be.
Sorry for the desk shot, but Congeniality Is My Middle Name was extremely hard for me to capture. It is a deep berry color with a foily shimmer that hides a bit in the base. It will be gorgeous for fall – a bit of bling, but subtle enough to wear to work easily. I have seen a lot of speculation that this is a dupe or similar to The One That Got Away, so I have compared it below, along with Lourve Me, Lourve Me Not.
If The One That Got Away (ring) and Lourve Me, Lourve Me Not (index) had a baby, it would be Congeniality Is My Middle Name (middle). It has the deeper color like LMLMN, but the foily sparkle of TOTGA. There is a bit of shimmer to LMLMN, but it’s not very noticeable. I was surprised to see other blogs showing TOTGA and CIMMN as dupes or close… either their lighting is way different than mine (OTT for me!), or we have different bottles – they are VERY different!
I was expecting Crown Me Already to be a layering glitter, a pure silver version of Spark de Triomphe, but it really is it’s own thing. It is a silver glitter, but it really isn’t good for layering – there is SO much glitter here, it will cover up whatever is under it. This is just two coats and it is almost opaque. If you put it over a silver foil, you might even be able to get away with just one coat. It is full of different sizes of glitter – including some very large hexes you can see on my ring finger. This one is crazy blingy – beware if you are in the sun!
I was going to compare this to Sephora by OPI’s Flurry Up, as it is also a silver glitter with different size particles, but it truly is a layering glitter and it would take A TON of coats to ever get it this opaque. Instead I compared with Spark de Triomphe (middle), just to prove that they aren’t dupey in any way. No huge hexes!
I am saving the best for last here… honestly, Swimsuit… Nailed It absolutely blew me away. I am not a crazy huge fan of blues and hardly wear them, but this one knocked it out of the park for me. It looks so amazing in the bottle – there are all these little tiny shimmers. I don’t really know how to describe it, but if you see a bottle, just pick it up and look at it. It doesn’t look anything like any other bottle of polish I have. The shimmers are all one color, so it’s just… wow. Even my hubby, who cares nothing for polish and barely tolerates my obsession, took a look at it in the bottle and said “hrmph, that’s kinda neat looking.” That’s a big deal for him, trust me! Usually I just get an eye roll and a snort. :P
Anyhoo…. Swimsuit… Nailed it is an awesome blue foil that could easily be a one coater. I did two, but it wasn’t necessary. It is an absolutely stunning color. I did not want to take it off. Hell, I didn’t, even when I should have. I went to a wedding this weekend and was planning on changing my mani to Essie – Braziliant, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take this one off, so I went with blue nails. I have seen a lot of people say this one isn’t all that unique, but I beg to differ… I have nothing like this in my stash. I would love to see someone pull out an exact dupe – I might need a back up here! Honestly, this one entered my top 20 before the topcoat was even dry. One tiny downside… smurf fingers and major staining. After wearing this over 2 basecoats for 3 days, my nails were a lovely green. o.O I was able to get it off by scrubbing with a nail brush in hot soapy water for 10 minutes or so, but I don’t recommend removing this one if you are in a hurry! I have seen questions as to whether it is similar to China Glaze – Blue Iguana (and its dupe, Nicole by OPI – S-Teal the One), but the medium blue hue is all that they have.
I changed things up a bit this time and so Swimsuit… Nailed it is on my ring finger, Blue Iguana is in the middle, and GOSH – Blue Monday is on my index. This is two coats of the OPI, 2 coats of China Glaze, and 3 coats + a bunch of blobs of GOSH. Seriously, that is one of the sheerest polishes ever. Gotta remember to layer that puppy from now on. Swimsuit is a fabulously opaque foil, while Blue Iguana is a much more sheer glass fleck with a hint of pink flash, and Blue Monday is a really sheer glass fleckish (not quite, but almost?) with pink and purple flashes.
Overall, I’m quite happy with this collection. No dupes, though I was a bit disappointed It’s My Year wasn’t quite as purple as I expected. I am in LURVE with Swimsuit… Nailed It and might even be looking for a backup. Congeniality Is My Middle Name will be worn a lot in the fall, and Crown Me Already will be great when I feel the need for bling! Formulas were great on all of these, just 2 coats on each.
How do you feel about this collection? Any you are really loving or hating?
Basecoat: none
Topcoat: none
Number of coats: 2
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