Demure Vixen vs. Venus di Violet (comparison)

Every now and then I post spam on MUA (MakeUp Alley) of random polishes, and in one of those posts I had OPI - Venus di Violet (which I showed you earlier here) Someone asked to see how it compared to Essie- Demure Vixen. So here we go!

Three coats of each color, Venus di Violet on index and ring fingers and Demure Vixen on middle and pinky fingers.


sunlight

shade

indoors

bottle shot!

The Verdict? Obviously they aren't dupes, Demure Vixen is darker and more mauve, but they are relatives. Demure Vixen is somewhat of a darker version of Venus di Violet. The shimmer in DV is a little more "secret" and VdV is a little more obvious. Also the shimmer isn't 100% the same, although it is very similar. It feels almost identical but VdV is a little pinker, more of a purpley-pink shimmer.

If you like one you'll probably like the other polish, I hope this helps :) Are there other comparisons you'd like to see? Tell me in the comments!

Venus di Violet

So, it's been a while, eh? Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging and as much as I wish this could be my number one priority, realistically other things have to come first. But everything has settled down (or at least as much as it's going to haha) so I'm back! I never intended to go on that hiatus, so sorry for no heads up.

Today I have OPI - Venus di Violet to share with you. This is a polish I had put on my wishlist early on in my nail polish addiction and never really got around to getting until one day I found it on sale at a Trade Secret store. I was pleasantly surprised by it!


sunlight

shade

indoors (and apparently a little rough on the clean-up, sorry!)

This is a soft and sophisticated color, kind of a palette cleanser if you will. The application was good for such a pale color, sometimes they can be streaky and tough to work with but this wasn't. I used three coats in these pictures. Venus di Violet is a pale pink with pretty shimmer that is purple-leaning pink. I'm glad I ended up picking this polish up, because I ended up really liking it :) I'll do a comparison with this in my next post, so check back for that! What do you think of Venus di Violet?

Just a couple of other little notes - I will be notifying the winner of the crackle polish giveaway hopefully this weekend. I have some new reviews coming up as well as another giveaway very soon!

Have You Ever Woken Up In Vegas?

Well, I haven't, but if I ever get married I already told my dad that it's happening in Vegas haha. I have an incredible polish to share with you today. I'm sure you've seen it other places, most notably on Lady Gaga. It's Deborah Lippmann - Waking Up In Vegas. I was lucky enough to win this from the lovely Kellie over at Also Known As... and honestly I didn't expect to like this color on me at all, but was I ever wrong about that! Check out these pictures first

sun

shade

inside (the light hit my nails differently in this picture making the nails photograph looking different - that doesn't happen in real life)

GUYS! The application is out of this world on this. I've heard people say "it practically applies itself" about polishes before, but this is the epitome of that phrase, seriously. 2 coats and it looks perfect and dries fast all on it's own. Now before I got Waking Up In Vegas in my hands, I really thought greige would never work on me, because I'm so pale I thought I'd look like a corpse. I think it actually ended up looking very elegant and sophisticated! I can't gush enough about this polish. I think it would be an interesting base for a little konad or nail art too. Looooove it!

Have you ever tried Deborah Lippmann colors? What are your favorites or number one on your wishlist?

I Have Concrete Evidence That This Is A Pretty Polish

Sally Hansen - Concrete doesn't really look like concrete to me, and that's a good thing. This was a part of the last "limited edition" Xtreme Wear release. It came out with the much coveted Mystic Lilac (which I will be showing you another day.) This color initially didn't really jump out at me, and it wasn't until I saw a display for the second or third time that I picked this up. Mainly because it was purple and I think I had a coupon haha. But oh man am I glad I did!

sunlight

shade

indoors

This a really nice gray-ed out purple with hints of pink. Very interesting neutral color. Application was good, two coats and you're good to go. This is like the little sister of colors like OPI- Parlez-Vous OPI? and Confetti - Moonstruck. A nice color for work, job interviews, or any other places you would need a neutral nail look.

Pretty BCA Polish

I know it's almost the end of October, but I wanted to wait to do my breast cancer awareness post because so many happen at the start of the month. I have been fortunate enough to never have a member of my immediate family affected by breast cancer, but many other kinds of cancer have taken people that I love from me. Please make sure to check yourself periodically and remind your friends and family to as well! It's not about saving boobies, it's about saving lives.

Today I have one of the polishes from this year's China Glaze - Fight Like A Woman collection, Encouragment. This is a very delicate and sophisticated looking pale pink color.

sunlight

shade

indoors

I love just about everything about Encouragment. As I said above, it's very delicate looking, at least in my opinion. Although, it is a little sheer, so maybe next time I wear this I'll use a pale pink base and layer a coat or two of Encouragment on top, but I will definitely be wearing this color a lot! It's appropriate for any setting and a little more interesting looking than regular pinks, because of the silvery shimmer. I have two weddings in my future and this is a front runner for my mani for them especially since I will be a bridesmaid. What do you think? Did you get any of this year's Breast Cancer Awareness polish offerings?

It's Diamond Cosmetics Week!

Guess who's back, back again. That would be me, haha. I'm about to pick the giveaway winner, and after I contact them tonight - I'll post the winner in the next day or two (whenever they get back to me!) I already have the next... 5 giveaways planned for you guys! One is coming veryyyy soon, so keep watching here.

This week I'm having a theme week - featuring Diamond Cosmetics polishes, 6 different colors and some layering (for Wednesday, of course). This is one of my favorite brands and all of these colors are 1-2 coaters, so I wanted to share them with you. First up is Diamond Cosmetics - Free N Easy. I actually didn't love this color when I first swatched it but now I really really do. Check out the pictures below!

Sunlight

Outside, shade

Indoors

The first picture is color accurate; the shade made my camera go a little nutso.  This is a very pink leaning purple.  When I ordered from the little swatch on the Diamond Cosmetics website, I thought was getting a light purple, but I still like the color it actually turned out to be. :) It's very simple, elegant, and pretty in my opinion.  Reminds me a lot of the base color of Essie- Demure Vixen - but wthout the same shimmer.  If you like Demure Vixen, I imagine you would probably like Free N Easy as well - I know I do!  This color is very appropiate for work and any other formal setting.  Everyone needs a couple of polishes like this in their stash.   What do you think of Diamond Cosmetics and Free N Easy?  Have you tried this brand before?  If not you're missing out!  Hopefully after this week I will have convinced you of that :)

I'm not a Demure Vixen, but I play one on TV.

Okay, I lied I don't play one on tv. But I was in commercials as a baby, does that count for anything? hahah. I do really like this nail polish though. I have a handful of pictures of Essie - Demure Vixen to show you because it can look so different! I'm sure you've seen a million pictures of this before, but here are mine.




both in sunlight; sometimes you see shimmer and sometimes you don't! I like it both ways


shade (that's shine at the edge of my nails, not unpainted spots haha)




indoors.. see how different it can look in the same spot of my house? Same time of day even!

I'm assuming by now everyone pretty much has decided whether or not they like this color, so what's your take on it? I love it! I feel like it's super versatile, you can wear it anywhere. I like the pink shimmer, it gives this a little extra oomph, if you will. Normally I'm not a huge Essie fan. I have about 10 colors in my stash. The streakiness of Essie drives me insane, but the formula on this wasn't bad. I felt like I could control it better than most Essie colors. Any big time Essie fans out there? I make exceptions for buying Essie when I find a color that really wows me, like this and the recently released Sew Psyched; or for a staple like Madamoiselle. And the North Fork collection, love that one. But maybe now that the brand seems to be branching out into more bold colors I'll try more of them? Guess there's only one way to find out ;-)

Just a reminder - don't forget about my giveaway! And I updated my stash spreadsheet yesterday, the link is on the right side of the page - feel free to let me know if you want to see a certain color or a comparison.