Nail of the Day: Gradient Dotticure

Nothing to Disclose 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

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Happy Hump Day! My NOTD today is an extension of my manicure yesterday..and the day before.

I started out with one of my favorite Nails Inc. polishes, Devonshire Row. The following day, I did a quick gradient over it with Nails Inc. Baker Street. And today I decided to "dot it up" a bit.

Great way to extend a mani AND practice various nail art techniques! What do you think? I practice my stamping this way too - on my existing manis. And if it doesn't work, well you were going to change it anyway, right?




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Comparison Request with Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo - Electric/Royal Blues

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If you haven't seen my post on Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo - GO! I'll wait...

Okay, understandably, a few people have already asked how it compares to some of the others out there. So I thought I would do a quickie comparison post for you using Revlon Royal, Nails Inc. Baker Street, Nails Inc. Southwark and Essie Butler Please. (UPDATE: I've added a nine polish comparison of blues at the end!)

Bright Blue Comparison

More swatches and my thoughts after the jump...

Nails Inc. Southwark - with a Baker Street Comparison

And you thought Baker Street was electric blue?

This morning I have a fantastic, almost electric, royal blue crelly (creme/jelly hybrid) from Nails Inc. - Southwark. (For the Americans, it's pronounced "Suthuck" just FYI.)

I will apologize in advance for the poor quality/blurriness of some of the photos, but this one was hard to get a color-accurate shot of and I did NOT want to color adjust so I will admit to walking around taking pics near every light source in the entire house...light bulbs, windows and there may or may not be a photo taken inside the refrigerator. I'm not admitting to anything.

Nails Inc. Southwark

Nails Inc. Southwark

But how does it compare to Baker Street? Well here ya go...

Nails Inc. Southwark vs Nails Inc. Baker Street

Nails Inc. Southwark vs Nails Inc. Baker Street

Nails Inc. Southwark vs Nails Inc. Baker Street

Nails Inc. Southwark vs Nails Inc. Baker Street

Nails Inc. Southwark vs Nails Inc. Baker Street

Told you they weren't the best quality, but 1) I hate color-adjusted photos when I'm trying to decide where/whether to spend my money and 2) I don't really know how on the photo editor (for dummies) that I'm using.

Application was fantastic. No issues at all. I used two coats and no top coat for the photos. It dries to a semi-glossy finish but with a top coat it positively glows. What do you think? Baker Street was the most "electric" blue I owned...until this one. It's really amazing.

A limited selection of Nails Inc polishes are available through Amazon.com or Sephora.com for around $9.50 in the US and the entire line is available through Nails Inc's own site nailsinc.com for around £11.00. Nails Inc. doesn't ship to the US so I'm ever thankful to my UK buddies for keeping me supplied.



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Blue Comparisons - Royal Blue

Just after I chopped off all of my nails, I did a quick and dirty comparison of a few blues to see how they looked.  Apologizing in advance for my cuticles and lack of clean-up. When I cut my nails short, I do a lot of cleaning for some reason and I HATE gloves.

For this comparison, I used:

Pure Ice French Kiss
Dior Electric Blue
Nails Inc. Baker Street
Nails Inc. Tudor Way
RBL IKB: 2012

Blue Comparison

There are two very close matches among those five.  Can you see them? Can you pick out which is which?

Blue Comparison

Okay, FINE, I'll tell you which is which. Tudor Way was easy, but how did you do on the others?

Blue Comparison

Blue Comparison

Blue Comparison

Blue Comparison

So, as you can see, Dior Electric Blue and Nails Inc. Baker Street are very similar. I don't really have a favorite between the two. Both had extraordinary formulas. Very smooth, easy application.  The Dior is the tiniest bit brighter in person and is just slightly less opaque. Dior is $23 and Nails Inc. ranges from $9.50 to $14.

I am sure you also noticed how close Pure Ice French Kiss and RBL IKB: 2012 are. I DO happen to have a favorite between these two. The Pure Ice formula is infinitely better than RBL's formula. Yes, I said it. I'm sorry, but I have to be honest or else what's the point? I absolutely hated the RBL formula. It was gloopy and not even slightly self-leveling. Pure Ice was smooth and easy. Is the color 100% identical? No, but I'd say it's "almost" identical. Pure Ice is $1.98 and RBL is $20. Doesn't compute. If it's a polish I love, I'll gladly shell out the $$ for it, but NOT for a label only.

Here's a close-up of RBL IKB: 2012 - trying to show how lumpy it was. And I'm no amateur when it comes to polishing my own nails. Even "quick and dirty" I can get a good result. Some formulas have different characteristics and I adjust accordingly when I can, i.e. two thin coats, don't over-manipulate, etc. to avoid issues. This one just simply wasn't cooperating.

What do you think? Do you have any of these? Do you like the comparison posts?



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