Mrs Mia Wallace - LE "Pulp Fiction" polish from Urban Decay

"Trying to forget something as intriguing as this would be an exercise in futility."

Hello ladies! After a long hiatus I have a very special polish to share with you today - "Mrs Mia Wallace" by Urban Decay.  This Limited Edition polish was part of their collection celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tarantino's legendary "Pulp Fiction" (20 years! Bloody hell that makes me feel old!).  Not only was this an iconic movie, but it was a pivotal moment in the history of nail polish...the blackened vampy red (Chanel Rouge Noir, or Vamp as it was called at that time) worn by Uma Thurman's character Mrs Mia Wallace sparked a trend that continues to this day and earned Chanel over $1m in its first year of sale.  In 2000 it was still in the top 5 biggest selling nail polishes of all time. You can read more about the Chanel "Vamp" trilogy of polishes here and on Wikipedia. 



Mrs Mia Wallace - LE Urban Decay

It's been a long time since I was this excited by a single polish.  I first saw it on the lovely Ommorphia's blog and went straight to the shops the very next morning to grab a bottle.  I was lucky - I got the last bottle (and in the sale too! *swoon*).  Pictured here I'm wearing two coats with Essie 'Good to Go' on top.



Mrs Mia Wallace...and the sad sad stained cuticles (sorry)

I'm a big fan of the movie, and I'm old enough to remember when it came out (although I wasn't old enough to legally see it I hasten to add).  Back then I was unaware of the impact that this film had on the nail polish trends of the time, but now realise I inadvertently jumped on that bandwagon too...Reading about Rouge Noir brought back my memories of the very first nail polish that I can remember falling in love with.  It was a shade called "Cruella" (by the Body Shop?). It was a dark burgundy/oxblood crelly that looked to me like congealed blood on my fingernails.  I adored it, and spent a lot of my teenage years wearing that shade.  My mum hated it with a passion, so of course that made me love it all the more.  I now realise that it was a Rouge Noir knock-off.  Enough reminiscing...onto the polish of the day!

"Mrs Mia Wallace" (MMW) is an intriguing shade, and interestingly bears little resemblance to Rouge Noir.  It is a blood red shimmer with ultrafine gold and bronze particles that give it an stunningly intense fire and depth that you can see here.  The gold is quite apparent in the bottle, but not at all on the nail (and in this case I think that's a good thing).  The shimmer serves to give a warm tone to the cold leaning red, and gives it that 'lit from within' finish.  Interestingly, in indirect light/shade this polish looks more to me like an oxblood crelly, which is what Rouge Noir is, and then the light hits it and you get the amazing glow.  UD have packed a lot of complexity into this one little bottle.

I'm also completely in love the packaging too...the cap comes with the little Day of the Dead skull icon that Urban Decay have on all their polishes and the box is a delight - inside the box on a blood red background is printed an excerpt from Samuel L Jackson's famous speech from the movie...The whole thing just screams cool and has obviously been made with a lot of love.  Hats off to UD for a triumph of marketing!  I would have bought this shade just for the polish, but these extra touches make this feel really special.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides....

But...and there's always a but isn't there?  I must admit that I found the formula to be pretty crappy on this polish.  On some nails it flowed as smooth as butter, but on others I had a strange lumpy effect with the first coat that was tricky to even out.  There were also little bubbles at the 'set down' point near the cuticle that I couldn't get rid of.  But by far the biggest problem was how much of a stainer this is! My cuticles look like I've been doing some axe-murdering in-between coats.  Even with pure acetone and my nifty cleanup brush, and even going over them twice, I just couldn't remove all the staining.  In future I will have to me much more careful with the application to minimise the amount of cleanup needed, because even though it was a b*tch to apply this is a shade I can tell I'll be wearing often.

This is my first Urban Decay polish.  I know that this is meant to be a very trendy brand, but honestly this is what I think of when I hear the name...

I'm absolutely delighted with my bottle of MMW, but unless they make something equally awesome I don't think that I'll be rushing back for more UD shades.  MMW has been a trip down memory lane, has reminded me of my first love, and despite the tricky formula is a stonking hot red shade to boot...really what more can a girl ask for?  If you fancy a bottle of your very own you'd best act fast, this LE won't be around for much longer.

I picked up my bottle for £9 (RRP £10) from my local Debenhams UD beauty counter.

"Dusky Mauve" by Barry M (Chanel Paradoxal dupe)

Hello ladies!  Today's mani is a lovely little nude - "Dusky Mauve" by Barry M.  I have only very recently started venturing into nuddy territory.  I mean, in a world where you can make your nails purple, why the hell would you choose to make them beige?  But recently I have seen the error of my ways and started branching out.  I feel like a proper grown up now.  Dusky Mauve is a lovely warm grey-toned wet clay sort of colour...I'm afraid I don't have any good adjectives for 'sort of grey brown with a dash of purple'.  I'll have to work on that.  But whatever colour this is it's jolly nice.

Barry M "Dusky Mauve" - artificial light

I'm wearing two coats sandwiched betwixt NE base and HK Girl topcoat.  Application was fine, about what you'd expect, but the silly skinny brush you get on the BM polishes is a pain to use.  Quality wise I'm afraid you get what you pay for with this polish.  I had tip wear almost by the time I'd finished painting my nails, so long lasting it ain't.  But for <£3 its still a helluva deal.  I'm a big fan of Barry M, and this is going to be one of my favourites I think.

Look at that amazeballs lilac shimmer in the bottle...isn't it lovely?  The sad thing is that it stays in the bottle.  There is the barest hint of purple-ness on the nail, but not shimmery, and only if you squint at it very carefully in just the right light and really believe that it's there.  Yes it's one of those.

I bought this polish having seen my friend wearing Chanel Paradoxal.  I'm not Rockafella, so I went looking online for a dupe and found this Barry M.  Now online swatches do seem to suggest that this BM and the Chanel are exact dupes, I'm not so sure.  I thought the Paradoxal in person had more of an evident purple shimmer, but other bloggers seem to suggest it's the other way round. 

Well, regardless, I think that this is a gorgeous and sophisticated colour and you'd have to be mental to spend £18 instead of £3.  I mean, think of how many polishes you could buy with your £15 change.  The change would get you a Deborah Lippmann polish...(or 3 if you go to TK Maxx!).  So it's not contest.  I'm sure the Chanel would last a lot longer, but I tend to change my polish almost as often as my socks so wear time really isn't a problem. 

I got my bottle of Dusky Mauve for £2.90 from Nail Polish Direct (link in suppliers page).  For some reason it seems this one is rarely in store, perhaps its and older polish, but it is easily available online.

Bargain Chanel Taboo Dupe - No.7 Galaxy

Hello Ladies! I have some very exciting news to share with you today....I have tested both and found that the new No.7 Gel-Finish polish "Galaxy" is, in my opinion, a 100% identical dupe for Limited Edition Chanel Taboo (Taboo review).

With the current Boots No.7 voucher scheme, that means you can pick up this shade for £4, compared with the spendy Chanel pricetag of £18.  Sounds too good to be true?  Well here's the pics so you can see for yourself...Click the pics to embiggen....



Chanel Taboo dupe test with No.7 Galaxy - artificial light

In this swatch I'm wearing two coats of each polish, over NE basecoat.  There is NO topcoat in these pics, so you can see the glossy finish of the 'Gel-look shine' on the No.7 and the natural high shine of the Chanel.  Can you see a difference? I couldn't!  I turned my hands every which way, and looked at the polish in a range of lighting and I honestly couldn't tell these apart.

Chanel Taboo dupe test with No.7 Galaxy - artificial light

Both polishes are a deep eggplant/aubergine base with blue and magenta shimmer particles peeking through.  In most lighting conditions this comes across as a dark blackened aubergine, the shimmer only pops in direct sunlight or under halogen lighting (why do all my polishes look so much prettier in my kitchen? I'm going with the halogen bulbs as the reason).

left: "Galaxy" by No.7, right: "Taboo" by Chanel

If you read my review of Taboo you'll know that this polish was one of the biggest disappointments to me in 2013.  I just didn't feel that for the £18 price tag it packed a lot of punch.  I also found the formula quite gloopy and difficult to work with and the wear-time dissapointing.  The No.7 dupe on the other hand is a fraction of the price (£7 full price, current voucher offer gives you £3 off) and the formula was really nice.  The gloss of the gel finish was surprisingly good too.  For this price point the No.7 is a fantastic bargain!



"Galaxy" by No.7

Here is the No.7 polish on its own, two coats, this time with SV on top too.  I really enjoyed this polish to wear, and I'm impressed with the level of quality from No.7 on this one - I got better wear out of this polish too in comparison to the Chanel.  For a bargain 'drugstore' brand this is a solid offering.  For the £4 I paid for this polish I'm very happy.  I feel I was duped by the Chanel in more ways than one.  It is still a mystery to me why so many bloggers listed Taboo as one of their favourites of 2013, unless their point was to boast that they'd bought a big spendy LE polish. 

So there you have it ladies - one more reason to get down to your local Boots and take advantage of the £3 off voucher/Buy one get one 1/2 price offer while it lasts - it finishes a the start of February!

Comparison: Chanel Taboo & Nails Inc Regent's Palace



Today I have a new comparison to show you - Chanel Taboo vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace.  I'll start by giving away the ending - these are not dupes.  However, it's worth taking a closer look, the comparison isn't as crazy as you might first think.

Readers of this blog will know that I have never been so excited, or so disappointed by a polish than I was with Chanel Taboo (my Taboo review and swatches).  I won't repeat my review here but the main reason for my disappointment was the vast difference between the in-bottle and on-nail impact of this polish.  In the bottle it looks like instant galaxy nails - it's utterly packed with phenomenal looking colour, sparkly bits and what-not.  On the nail, it looks for the most time, like a dull dark black/purple.  The 'pop' in the bottle is only seen in flash, and direct sunlight, and even then only when you're really looking at it.  The formula is also pretty pants, quite gloopy.

So I wondered - supposing you don't want to spend £18 or can't get a hold of this limited edition.  What else could you get that would look as good or better?  Step up to the plate Nails Inc Regent's Palace....



Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace (middle, pinkie)
Natural Light

In close up here you can see some evidence of the sparkly bits in Taboo, and you can also see it's in a much darker base than RP which has a fairly indigo base to it.  Both polishes have a lovely shimmer, but the brighter toned base of RP means that this shimmer is much more evident on-nail in a variety of lighting conditions.  Pictured here is two coats each of colour atop a Nail Envy base.  There's no top coat here.

Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace (middle, pinkie)
Flash

When you look at these under flash, you can see more of the bottle-beauty of Taboo coming out and the tonal difference in the bases is more pronounced.  I don't often take swatch pics with flash on because a) it makes me look like a scary albino lady and b) 99% of the time you're not going to be looking at your polish by flashlight so it's not really a fair test of how pretty it will look (I wouldn't have had such a lemming for Taboo if I had seen it in more natural lighting pics I think).
Taboo does have more sparkle than RP for sure, although bear in mind that this sparkle is not actually visible by eye a lot of the time.  So to add some extra zing to the RP I then popped on a thin coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire (possibly the best layering polish of all time, there is nothing that this won't make more fabulous.  It's like the mani equivalent of bacon).
 


Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace with Max Factor Fantasy Fire (middle, pinkie)
Natural Light 

Wowza! Regent's Palace on its own is a fabulous metallic purple shade (see my purple metallics comparison post here) but layered with Fantasy Fire it's stunning.  Again, not a dupe for Taboo, but certainly punching far above its weight in terms of price comparison and on-nail 'pop factor'.
Finally with flash, it's the return of the albino:



Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace with Max Factor Fantasy Fire (middle, pinkie)
Flash

In terms of on-nail impact, sparkle, and purple-ness (I know that's not a word, but it should be) for me Regent's Palace plus Fantasy Fire is a clear winner.  In terms of price it's also a no-brainer: the Chanel will cost you £18 but it's Limited Edition so if you miss out in store I've seen this changing hands for £30-£50 which is just insane.  I got the Nail's Inc in a set of 3 from TK Maxx (bargain polish heaven) for £9.99 which by my maths makes this £3.33, but full price would cost you £11.  Fantasy Fire is £3.99 in Boots/Superdrug for a mini bottle.

So for my mani that's £7.32 vs £18, or full price it would be £14.99 vs £18.  At full price the argument is less compelling, but Regent's Palace is one of the few Nails Inc polishes that I would be happy to pay full price for.  Even on it's own, without the Fantasy Fire topper, I feel that Regent's Palace is a better all-rounder than the Chanel.  Blasphemy I know, but there you have it.
 

Chanel Taboo

Today's NOTD is the highly anticipated Limited Edition polish from Chanel - "Taboo".  This was released in the UK on 28.06.13 and I headed straight to my local Chanel counter to grab a bottle! I've been eagerly waiting for this to come out since I saw the promo swatches in February.


Chanel Taboo - Artificial Light

This is now only my second Chanel polish. At £18 a bottle it's a significant investment for me, but from the swatches this looked like it had been designed specifically for me.  I am crazy for purple and red shimmer polishes, so Taboo which is a combination of both, is pretty much my ideal combination.  Described as the secret lovechild of "Vendetta" and "Malice" this is a purple based polish with purple, royal blue and burgundy shimmer particles.  In the bottle there also appears to be larger silvery particles, that look like the 'scatter chrome' particles you find in the Ozotic 900 series.

Chanel Taboo - bottle shots

These bottle shots show the predominant shades in this complex polish - purple and burgundy.  Sadly, and it pains me to say this, I'm a bit dissapointed in this polish.  That incredible fire and complexity of colour seen in the bottle doesn't translate to the nail.  On the nail this appears a rich blackened purple, but there is very little spark from all that shimmer.  I suspect this polish will be a lot more impressive in sunlight, but I live in Scotland and sunshine is a rare event so I couldn't swatch this in full sun.

Chanel Taboo - Natural Light

The formula is very thick, this is definately a one-coater, although I'm wearing two here (plus Nail Envy base and Seche Vite topcoat) because I made a poor attempt of the first coat and left a few thin patches that I needed to even out.   It also smells very strongly, I don't know what chemicals they've used in this shade but they must be powerful.  Perhaps they needed it to suspend all that shimmer.

All in all I'm not sure that I'd recommend paying £18 for this polish.  It is lovely, but it's one of those dissapointing polishes that looks so much prettier in the bottle that on the nail.  Unless you can walk around in permanently sunny conditions, or with a camera flash pinging off you nails, then you won't see a lot of evidence of all that lovely shimmer. 

Perhaps I'm just sad because I waited so so long for this to finally get its UK release.  The previous Ltd Edition shade "Malice" is one of my favourite polishes ever, probably in my top 3, but I don't think its sister shade Taboo will make the top 10....

Postscript:

The next day the sun obliged me by popping out for a few minutes so I took a picture of Taboo in the sun.  You can see here that there is a but more evidence of those shimmer particles, but still nowhere near the sparkle power of Malice.  You can also see the significant tip wear - this was after just one day (although admittedly I did do my cleaning in this...but I do wear marigolds!)

Chanel Taboo - Direct Sunlight

Comparison: OPI Germanicure, Every Month is Oktoberfest and Chanel Malice

Today's post is a comparison of some of my absolute favourite polishes from 2012, and actually these might be some of my favourites ever: Chanel Malice, and two from OPI - Germanicure and Every Month is Oktoberfest.  I've been meaning to dupe test these for a while, and you can see from this bottle shot why I thought they'd be pretty similar....

L:R - Chanel Malice, OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest, OPI Germanicure - sunlight

Malice was the limited edition Christmas release for 2012 from Chanel.  The OPI polishes - Every Month is Oktoberfest (EMIO) and Germanicure are part of the Fall 2012 'Germany' collection.  The Germany collection is my favourite OPI collection since the legendary Russia Fall collection in 2007.  I'm definately a Fall/Winter shades kind of girl, I much prefer vampy juicy Fall colours to insipid Spring pastels and these three polishes are right up my alley.

There is significant debate online about the similarity between the two OPI shades.  Germanicure has also been touted as a dupe for the HTF Malice.  So...on with the comparison!



Chanel Malice (index finger), OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest (middle), OPI Germanicure (ring finger) - sunlight

Immediately you can see that these couldn't be more different.  Malice is a lush blackened burgandy with incredible shimmer, EMOI has an inky violet base with golden fiery shimmer and Germanicure has a dusky brown base with golden fiery shimmer.  The in-bottle similarity of the OPI's I think is because the shimmer particles look the same to me, and its the base colour that differs.

Chanel Malice (index), OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest (middle), OPI Germanicure (ring) - articifial light

Pictured here I'm wearing one coat of Nail Envy as base, and two coats of each colour, with no top coat.  These polishes are beautifully glossy on their own.  The formula on the Chanel is incredible, this is pretty much a one-coater its so pigmented, but I'm a habitual two coater regardless.  No streaks, perfect leveling, top marks.  The OPI's are both pretty streaky on the first coat, but the second sorts that out completely for a smooth finish.

For giggles I then layered these with another firm favourite from 2012 - Fantasy Fire by Max Factor.  This is the ultimate layering polish - its too sheer to be much use on its own (it took 5 coats to get the in-bottle colour on my nails).  It's a violet base with pink, purple and gold shimmer particles.  So it layers brilliantly with any colour that has any of those three colours as a base....

Chanel Malice (index), OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest (middle), OPI Germanicure (ring) - all layered with one coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire - sunlight

Phwoar! As if any of these shades needed something extra, the Fantasy Fire just gives these an extra edge of sparkle. 

For my manicure this week I picked my favourite and painted the rest to match: OPI EMOI with Fantasy Fire...love it! This is the fourth time I've used EMOI since I got it, which makes it officially my most used 2012 polish.  It's like they designed this one with me in mind.  Can't wait to see what OPI brings out this Fall!

Nail Envy (1 coat), OPI EMOI (2 coats), Max Factor Fantasy Fire (1 coat) and Seche Vite (1 coat)

OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest - layered with Fantasy Fire - sunlight

OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest - layered with Fantasy Fire - indirect sunlight

What were your favourite polishes of 2012? Do you wear Fall shades all year round or are you a seasonal girl?