Thrifty Thursday! Starring Milani Orchidia (And a Cruelty-Free Announcement)

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Hello! It's time for more thrifty polish love...this time with Milani Orchidia.

But first, the "announcement"...there's something I need to address with you. If you look at my Cruelty Free list very often, you might have noticed some recent changes. For quite some time, I've been hearing things about Revlon gearing up to sell in China (where all products sold there must meet their animal testing requirements) and a few of you have emailed and messaged me about it. And about Revlon buying Bari Cosmetics (who owns Pure Ice) and Sinful Colors.

As far as I know, neither Pure Ice nor Sinful Colors have changed their cruelty-free policies, however, I go by the parent company when determining what brands are CF. This is a choice I've made for myself and my blog and I understand that there are other cruelty-fee bloggers who only go by the subsidiaries. That's what works for them. It's a personal choice and I'm not under the illusion that what I do on my little blog is going to make one whit of difference, but it's the choice I've made for myself. I don't judge others for their personal choices in the matter.

I haven't decided if what I already have of these brands will be blogged (with a disclaimer) or not. But I won't be purchasing more. This seriously cuts into the "thrifty" or drugstore brands available to me locally. Pretty much leaves Milani and Wet n Wild. Thankfully I adore Milani (and listen up Milani - you better not sell out to a company that does animal testing on beauty products!) and I like some of the Wet n Wild lines, so Thrifty Thursday will be around at least for a while.

Okay, so on to the pretty polish!

Milani Orchidia is from their Spring 2012 line and I'm just getting around to wearing it. Shame on me! It's a great shimmery bright violet polish and the formula and application are great. It has a stunning silvery glass fleck that makes it so shimmery. No issues at all. Two coats and no top coat for the photos. Although next time I will use three light coats because I can see, now that I see the close-up photos, that my index finger has some spots that are more sheer. I couldn't tell it otherwise.

Milani Orchidia

Milani Orchidia

Milani Orchidia

Milani Orchidia

What do you think? These polishes are still available in most drugstores and retail for around $4.49. Also available on Milani's site.







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Megan Miller Collection - Roja Swatches and Review

The Megan Miller Collections is a relatively new line of boutique nail polishes that are environmentally-friendly, 3-Free (free of DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde) and Cruelty-Free. They offer a wide range of colors which can be seen here.

Today I am showing you Megan Miller Roja. It seems appropriate since I've been called Roja off and on since moving to Texas. Roja is Spanish for red, which just so happens to be the color of my hair. Thankfully, my hair is not THIS particular shade of red.

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

As you can see, the bottle design is unique and pretty darned cute. But it's more than that. It holds a full .5 ounces of polish, has a great cork cap, which naturally provides a non-slip grip and has a little hand-tied raffia bow. The brush is round and cut well and the stem is short enough that it doesn't collect too much polish. It holds the perfect amount of polish for each nail.

Megan Miller's logo is a peacock feather, as shown on the bottle and the top of the cap. Here's their story behind their logo:

Inspired by the display the peacock portrays when its feathers are in full bloom, the Megan Miller collection aims to inspire you to show your grandest side with confidence and ease. Like the peacock, we look to blend a natural elegance in order to make you look good, feel complete and ‘Be Colorful’. 

The formula of Roja is smooth, flows well and application was easy. Roja is a medium, cool red creme and dries to a shiny finish. I used two coats and on most people that will provide full opacity. I have pretty thick nails and would take 3 coats to achieve full opacity. I had no issues.

All photos are shown with two coats of color and I used Cult Nails base and top coat.

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

Megan Miller Roja

I wore it on my errands today and got compliments from the USPS Clerk and the Chanel Sales Associate!

For more information, you can visit Megan Miller's site. The polishes will be available online and at Anthropologie. You can follow them on their Facebook page for availability, updates, new collections, etc. Retail is $12.00 for .5 ounces.

Based on this bottle of Roja, I WILL be trying more colors. What do you think? Have you tried them?


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Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. 

For more information, please visit my Disclosure Tab.

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Glitter Gal Lizard Belly - Swatches and Review

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

I waited on getting Glitter Gal Lizard Belly because I wasn't convinced it would read anything other than black on me. I was so wrong! Then I started seeing more swatches where the blue/green/teal really stood out, as did the linear holo. And I am so glad I waited until after the new large bottles came out. They're square and chunky and hefty and perfect.

The base color reminds me of a-England's Saint George but rather than a tightly scattered holo, it's a perfect linear holo. The depth of color is amazing!

The formula is creamy and smooth and almost applies itself. I'm not sure even the best photographer could capture its beauty, so I know I won't be able to, but I'm going to give it a shot. It truly is something you have to see in person to fully appreciate though.

Two coats, no top coat (except where indicated)

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly (with top coat)

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly with top coat

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly with top coat

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly can be purchased from glittergal.com.au (international delivery) and llarowe.com - the bottles are now a full 15ml (0.5 ounces) and retail for $20AUD / $20USD respectively. Harlow & Company in Canada also carries Glitter Gal products.

Lizard Belly is frequently sold out, but if you like llarowe's Facebook page, Glitter Gal's Facebook page and Harlow & Company's Facebook page or visit their sites and sign up to be emailed when it's back in stock, you'll save yourselves a headache.

Glitter Gal, an Australian-based company, is 3-Free and Cruelty-Free and has a wide range of other polishes worth seeing.

Do you have this? Are you a linear holo fan? What's your favorite Glitter Gal polish?

G'Day, Mate!


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Dior Apparat vs Essie Wrapped in Rubies

Someone mentioned the difficulty in obtaining Dior Apparat and wondered if there were any dupes available. Well, since I don't really go looking for dupes, I didn't know, but I checked my stash on the off chance that there was something close to Apparat to hold her over until she could get it. Lo and behold, I found one that's pretty darned close! Essie Wrapped in Rubies.

It's NOT a dupe, at least as far as I am concerned. I don't even really like the word dupe. But it is in the same color and finish family and from 3 feet, no, you really can't tell the difference.

Obviously, I am a huge Dior fan. I really love the formula. And I no longer buy *Essie products since I went Cruelty-Free. (*Essie is owned by L'Oreal, who does testing on animals.) So before we even get to the photos, my pick is Dior Apparat for sure. And not just because of the cruelty-free aspect of it. The formula is better and it goes on like butter! It also is very saturated and gives complete coverage in one easy coat while Wrapped in Rubies took two coats and I had a little clean up because of the brush not being cut the way I like.

So those of you who've seen my Chanel comparisons and seen that I've picked the cheaper ones over Chanel (on the ones I've done so far) I DO sometimes pick the pricier ones. IF they're actually better in my opinion.

So there you have it. You be the judge. My pick on this one is Dior Apparat.

Cosmetic Arts Nail Polish

So today I decided to try out the two Cosmetic Arts polishes I picked up for $1.99 each at Ross the other day. There aren't names on them, but one is a dark green creme - I'd call it a Hunter green - and the other is in my favorite color family - mushroom! It's a darkish brown creme that has some grey and purple in it, making it a dark mushroom/taupe color.  Cosmetic Arts is a part of the Color Club family. Don't have all of the details on it yet, but based on the formula, I'd say it was their cheaper line for a reason. But they are cruelty-free and ya gotta give 'em points for that!

First is the green one.

Last, the mushroom one.

Then I did a comparison with OPI You Don't Know Jacques, formerly one of my old stand-by polishes. Not 100% dupes, but I'd say it's about 98%, formula not withstanding. They're plenty close enough for me to not miss YDKJ.

These actually aren't bad for the price! There's plenty of polish in those square bottles (a full .5 ounces) and the brush is okay. Not spectacular, but I didn't have clean-up, so definitely adequate. The first coat was a little runny and gloppy at the same time. I was not hopeful. Then the 2nd coat made all the difference. I did need a third coat to even everything out and fix the cuticle drag I had because I didn't wait long enough between coats.

I'd buy the brand again.