Zoya VS. L.A Girl

Well hello there! Wow its nice to be back writing here at the blog! As you know things have been crazy over the last month but now that they are al settled down for the most part I hope to get back into a routine and start Free For All Beauty Fridays, like I had mentioned in my post a couple weeks ago.

Today's post is going to my very first dupe post! Back at Christmas time Zoya released their Ornate collection which held highly sought after holographic polishes! I know that I was on the look out for them when they were released, and even though they were not linear holographic polishes, none the less I wanted them for my ever growing collection!

Just before Christmas I was lucky and found them at the Beauty Plus Salon, I also had yet to swatch them or wear them for the blog. Such a fail I know! But now almost five months after Christmas L.A. Girl released a scattered holographic collection. L.A. Girl can be found in some Rite Aids (that's where I got mine) and I believe on Cherry Culture's Website.

When looking at the L.A. Girl collection I had remember someone said that three of the polishes looked like dupes of the Zoya Xmas polishes, and to my surprise I had bought one and didn't realize it. The L.A. Girl Purple Effect was the first one I had purchased and thought that it was actually darker than its counter part Aurora from Zoya. But when I compare the two bottles side by side, there was no denying that they were sisters, identical twin sisters. I even posted a picture on Instagram about it. That became the deciding point that I wanted to purchase the other two to do an official dupe post!

**NOTE: In all pictures I am holding the Zoya bottle since it was easier to get a better picture with it.
Except for the last one... so much for continuity.

**On my middle and pinky fingers I am wearing the L.A. Girl 3D Effect and on my pointer and ring fingers I am wearing the corresponding Zoya polish. Goes for all pictures***

So we shall start with the polish that began my dupe adventure. Zoya Aurora Versus L.A. Girl 3D Effects: Purple Effect.

When wearing both polishes on your hands you really cannot tell a difference at all. The sparkle is the same on the nail so neither polish has more scattered holo than the other.  So if you don't own the Zoya or don't have access to it, then the L.A. Girl might be a nice alternative for availability  and price point. Zoya sells for a bout $8 and L.A. Girl was $3.99

If your a nail blogger you will notice the subtle differences, such as L.A. girl is a bit thicker than the Zoya and applies to the nail thicker as well. Even though L.A. Girl is thicker drying time is not affected.

Next up is Zoya Blaze Versus L.A. Girl Sparkling Ruby.

I noticed that the names of the L.A. Girl Polishes were not very unique at all where as some had fitting names. Some just said the name of the color and then 'effect' after and some have names like this one.

With Blaze and Sparkling Ruby once again identical twins, even formula wise they were the same not thick but not watery either. The holo effect is nice in person and most difficult to capture on camera. One detail I did notice is that in the bottle Zoya Blaze looks like it has more chunky pieces of holo than L.A. Girl but it doesn't translate on to the nail that way.


Finally we have Zoya Storm Versus L.A. Girl Black Illusion.

Who doesn't love a black holo? I have to say I do not like black polish on me unless its being used to stamp with. It makes my fingers look stubby and overall its just a hard color to clean up. I think I had black polish on my cuticles for days and still a little bit on my thumbs.

Anyway Storm and Black Illusion conclude as the identical twins, once again formula wise they are the same, a bit sheer on the first coat but by the second its opaque and ready to go. The holographic bits are no different; as like I said with Blaze; Storm also looked more holo in the bottle than Black Illusion.

So all in all if you have the Zoya you don't need the L.A. Girl or vice versa, unless you want back ups of course. If your a polish addict who doesn't need a back up of a polish once in a while.

Going toe to toe, Zoya is slightly more expensive at $8 a bottle and L.A. Girl at $3.99 a bottle. Please also remember prices may differ where you live due to location. I believe the $8 price tag for Zoya is always the same on their website, as for purchasing Zoya polishes in beauty supply stores like Ulta or Beauty Plus Salon the prices may vary.

 That's all for today! Hope you enjoyed and I will talk to you all soon!
<3 Nicole

China Glaze Immortal vs. Claw Polish Phantom

Good Morning!

Hope you all are well! For those of us here in the Northeast we are currently watching and waiting on Hurricane Sandy. She is supposed to hit some where near New Jersey late Monday night and bring lots of rain and wind :( This would be my second hurricane, the first one being Hurricane Irene, (really she was a tropical storm) but it certainly caused a huge mess. I'm hoping Sandy doesn't do that much damage this time, since most places are just getting back on their feet over a year later.

Anywho on to today's post! I hinted a few post back that I had another dupe post for you, and if you read the title then you know exactly what I am talking about! This year China Glaze put out this amazing grey creme polish that has the slightest shimmer of blue and silver and a hint of magenta. When I first saw bottle shots and early swatches I thought that it could be close to a polish I got last Halloween.

So when I saw it in person at Sally's I knew it most likely was a dupe but I had to have it anyway!

So today I bring CG Immortal vs. Claw Polish Phantom.

Lets talk about the Claw Polish. I only bought this polish because I had seen swatches of it on my all time favorite beauty blog Nouveau Cheap! I thought it looked unique and I did not have any grey polishes at the time, when I saw it in CVS I thought okay its pretty but it might be sheer. It is a buildable sheer polish. The shimmer in it is significantly silver/grey but you occasionally see a small speck of blue or magenta  After wearing it for a short time last year I included it in my top 11 polishes of 2011.

The formula on these two polishes is different but not in a way that will shock you. Immortal is a tad thicker than Phantom and only needs two coats to be opaque, where as Phantom looks best at three. Both polishes after four coats are this very dark graphite grey which to me wasn't very appealing. In my photos below are three coats and one coat of top coat.

So to compare, China Glaze Immortal is on my pinkie and middle finger and Phantom is on my ring and pointer finger. These two polishes are dead on dupes for each other, the only difference being the formula. I would say that if you didn't have access to the Claw Polishes from last year, although I hear they are out at Kmart this year then the China Glaze polish is a good pick.

I hope you enjoyed my dupe post! And thanks for taking the time out to read it!
Until next time <3 Nicole