Dupe test: Girly Bits 'Shift Happens' vs Max Factor 'Fantasy Fire'

Hello ladies! Today I have a comparison to show you of two fabulous topper polishes: Shift Happens (love the name!) by Girly Bits and the famous Fantasy Fire by Max Factor.  I know that the Max Factor is about as easy to come by as leprechauns outside the UK, whereas Girly Bits is a US brand (and cheaper by the ml to boot!).  So perhaps this comparison will help you get the topper effect you want without breaking the bank or paying to import...

Looking at these in the bottle, its not obvious that there should be any similarity between them
 - Shift Happens has a soft opalescent rainbow effect in the bottle, whereas Fantasy Fire has a strong indigo background with pink and purple shifts.  From the bottle you'd guess that the Girly Bits polish would give you a soft pearly shimmer in a whole rainbow of colour and the max factor would give you purple or pink sparkle only.  If you guess that, surprisingly, you'd be wrong.



left: Shift Happens right: (l-r) Fantasy Fire and Shift Happens

Without further ado, let's see these on the nail (please excuse the splodgy mess I made of my index finger when I was getting out the camera...) All swatches are in artificial light:


index: black base + SH, middle: black base + FF, ring: EMIO + SH, pinkie: EMIO + FF

I chose two different base colours to compare these on: plain black (No7 "Just Black") and a purple based shade (OPI "Every Month is Oktoberfest").  I used one coat of each undies shade, and one coat of each topper.  I was keen to see whether having a purple base shade would make the indigo based FF appear different to SH.  In fact, from this you can see that they are practically identical.  The main shade that I got from both these toppers was this gorgeous cinnamon shimmer.  By changing the angle of the light source this deep russet shade shifted through gold, amber and right through to green:



index: black base + SH, middle: black base + FF, ring: EMIO + SH, pinkie: EMIO + FF

The green was a big surprise for me, coming from the Fantasy Fire.  I see absolutely NO evidence of green in the bottle, no matter which way I turn it, yet it's clearly right there on the nail!



(l-r) SH over black, FF over black, SH over EMIO

Seen here in closeup of my middle finger, you can see those green and gold shades popping from the FF and it's just stunning.  Both of these polishes were like pure bottled Autumn leaves....gorgeous.

I would say that IMO these two polishes, at least over the two shades I tried here, are close enough to be dupes.  Certainly I wouldn't advise that you shell out for both of them if you have neither (personally I'm always keen to save my polish funds for something new, I'm always sad when I find I've accidentally bought a dupe, as in this case).  

In terms of value for money, Shift Happens is a full size polish and I picked mine up for £10 from Rainbow Connection. The Max Factor (in the UK) can be bought in any Boots/Superdrug etc for £3.99 for the mini size bottle (with its fiddly brush).  So the Girly Bits is cheaper by the ml, but depending where you live you might find one easier to find than the other (and really who of us will manage to use up even a mini size topper polish? Not me!).

Later on I'll post a fabulous mani I did with Shift Happens on top of OPI Germanicure, which was all kinds of warm toasty brown cinnamon loveliness...until next time :)

Polka Dot Heaven

Today's NOTD is the utterly fabulous Polka Dot Heaven by Liquid Sky Lacquer.  This is my first experience of circle glitter and it's love at first sight.  This polish is like having a birthday party on my nails.

Polka Dot Heaven by Liquid Sky Lacquer - Artificial Light

Even for me this is a lot of layers - I'm wearing Nail Envy base, two coats of black ("Just Black" by No.7) , two coats of PDH, and two coats of Seche Vite to seal in all that goodness.  It's impossible to tell if its the layers, the No7, the PDH, or my awesome technique but this mani is Rock. Solid. I've been wearing it for a week and there is only the teensiest bit of tip wear.

Polka Dot Heaven by Liquid Sky Lacquer - Natural Light

PDH is chock full of circle glitters, in every colour, and a range of sizes from teensy (about 1mm diameter) to large (approx. 5mm).   What I wasn't expecting was the mirror like finish on these glitters, they are MASSIVELY shiny (and the bigger ones have a holo finish too). In the sunlight pic below you can see a green spot projected onto my ring finger by a sparkly glitter on my middle finger - in bright light this polish makes your nails into a multi-coloured disco ball.  What's not to love?

Polka Dot Heaven by Liquid Sky Lacquer - Sun Light

I need to work on my fishing and placement technique.  As the macro shot shows this is so dense with glitter that it's really easy to get a large amount of glitter on the nail and I think it would have looked better if I'd managed to make it a little sparser.  I did find it trickier to fish out the largest of the glitters, since these seem to enjoy sticking to the sides of the bottle, but with some shoogling and scraping they can be grabbed well enough.  The suspension base is a thick clear polish that spreads easily and dries nice and glossy, but I'd still use top coat to seal the glitters in securely.

Polka Dot Heaven by Liquid Sky Lacquer - Macro

I picked up this beauty from new UK Indie polish supplier Rainbow Connection for £8.80, and it came wrapped in the cutest little ribbon-tied voil bag.  It's all kinds of awesome, and it definitely won't be my last circle glitter or last Liquid Sky Lacquer.