Essie Starry Starry Night - Franken/Dupe

No, I STILL haven't managed to get my paws on Essie Starry Starry Night. And I can't even catch it on eBay for what I am sure would be exorbitant prices.

So I set about trying to get a close enough dupe to satisfy me. Will it satisfy everyone? Probably not. But I'm happy with it.

I started out with about 2/3rds of a bottle of Orchid Royal Engagement. Then I added 5 drops of each of the following:

*Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart
*Orchid Starry Night
*OPI DS Magic
*China Glaze Dorothy Who?

Then I added some Sterling Silver micro glitter (SuperNail brand from Sally Beauty Supply NOT the holo one) - about the size of 2 grains of rice.

This was the result, which I still wasn't completely happy with...

Used Essie Matte About You on accent nail

So...I layered over a coat of the top coat I had made last month using Seche Vite and the same Sterling Silver micro glitter and VOILA!

No, it's probably not an exact dupe, but I don't have the Essie one to compare and I'm actually totally happy with it! It's completely smooth - no "glitter feel" at all.

What do you think?

Those of you who have Essie Starry Starry Night, is it close at all?

Milani Dress Maker Swatches and Review

Milani Dress Maker

After seeing photos of Chanel Jade and being a little too indecisive to pay outrageous prices for the VHTF polish since I'm pretty sure it won't be the *best* color for my skin tone, I decided to get Milani Dress Maker to see how I liked it first.

Sometimes my brain actually WORKS!  It turned out to be a good idea. I like it almost enough to go ahead and get Chanel Jade, but not quite. As predicted, it's not the best with my coloring. It's not so bad that I'll never wear it at all though. It really is a pretty color! And from the comparison photos I've seen, it does look like a flat-out dupe. So I made a deal with myself. If I actually go through this entire bottle of Dress Maker, I'll shell out for the Chanel Jade. But I see no reason, since it's not readily available or even close to a reasonable price, for me to have it just to have it.

In many ways I am so NOT frugal. In other ways, I'm extremely frugal. And of course as always with me, there's no decipherable rhyme or reason to either.

Okay, down to it! This is a drug store polish that goes for about $4.49. If you can't find it in stock locally, the Milani website has them for the same price plus very reasonable shipping.

The application isn't like a Dior one coater, of course (whaddya want for $4.49?) but it's not bad. It takes two thin coats for opacity and a third thin coat to even it all out. I was pretty careful and had no clean up. As you all should know by now, the no clean up part makes everything okay!

Photos shown are with a base coat, 3 THIN coats of polish and a top coat.

Milani Dress Maker

Check out the shimmer!

Milani Dress Maker

Milani Dress Maker