Comparison: Sally Hansen Infinity Band vs. Golden-I vs. Fergie by Wet N' Wild Grammy Gold

Here's a comparison requested by Raechelly!  These are 3 drugstore brand golds.  Golden-I is from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line, Infinity Band is a LE from Sally Hansen Diamond Strength, and Grammy Gold is from the new Fergie by Wet N' Wild collection.

First impression from the bottle shot: Grammy Gold is a lot smoother than the other 2, with Infinity Band with the coarsest particles.  Infinity Band is paler than the other 2, Golden-I looks to be the most warm-toned.

From left to right: Grammy Gold, Golden-I, Infinity Band

At the first coat, Grammy Gold is the most opaque.  It could probably be a one-coater if you were careful.  However, I hate the brush on it; it's quite similar to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon brush.  Grammy Gold is the slowest to dry.

Grammy Gold on pointer and ring.  Infinity band on middle.  Golden-I on thumb and pinky.

Golden-I and Infinity Band look to be pretty similar; both are a shade lighter than Grammy Gold, which is warmer and more saturated than the other 2.  Grammy Gold actually has the largest, chunkiest particles, and Infinity Band had the smoothest finish.  All 3 applied pretty well, with Golden-I having the thinnest formula, and Grammy Gold with the thickest.

Final verdict:  You really don't need all three of these.  The two Sally Hansens are pretty much the same, there is no real difference on the nail.  If you want a one-coater, the Fergie polish is the way to go.  It'd probably be good for stamping.  However, the brush kind of puts me off the Fergie; it's just way too big to handle neatly.

Comparison: OPI Done Out In Deco vs. Planks a Lot

Today, I've decided to do a comparison on two OPI polishes: Planks a Lot, and Done Out in Deco.  In the bottle, the two really remind me of each other, but when you put the bottles side-by-side, there is a very noticeable difference.  There are definitely no dupes here.

PaL is more of a lilac color, whereas DOiD is more of a lavender.  PaL has a lot of pink in it, but it's a darker, more saturated color.  Also, I don't know if its because of the age of the bottle, but DOiD separates in the bottle, whereas PaL doesn't.

I would also say that the coverage of DOiD is better.  I only needed 2 coats for opacity with DOiD.  This picture shows 2 coats of both polishes, and while DOiD was completely opaque, PaL could have used another coat.

30DC: Day 9 - Rainbow

Hey everyone!  Today's challenge is rainbow nails!  They look cool, don't they?  They remind me of beams of light, kind of like those diagrams they show in physics textbooks where a prism defracts white light into the individual colors.  To read about how I created this look, look after the jump!

89. OPI - Planks a Lot

Today's quick and dirty swatch is Planks a Lot, a very lilacy purple.  This is a really nice color, I just wish it covered a little bit better.  Not really much to say about this polish; it's kind of similar similar to Done Out in Deco.  I think I like Done Out in Deco better though, since it matches better with my skintone.

This picture is 3 coats, no topcoat, no clean-up.  You can see that the polish dries a bit darker than the bottle color.

88. OPI - Done Out in Deco

I got this polish a long time ago, back when I was just dabbling into nail art.  For a long time, this was my favorite polish, and even today I still get a lot of compliments on this.  Done Out in Deco is a very flattering lavender color.  It's got a lot of white in it, but it's nice because it's not overly chalky.  It's actually a touch dusty, and I love dusty-colored polishes like no other.  I love wearing this color in the spring!

This is a quick and dirty swatch: 2 coats, with no top coat, no clean-up.  The polish was separating a bit in the bottle, but the formula is still good, even after a good 2-3 years.  Typical OPI formula, a little sheerer and more watery than Zoya and China Glaze, but glides on the nail more easily.

30DC: Day 8 - Metallic

Hey everyone!  So for this day of the challenge, I decided to do a metallic gradient.  I love doing gradients, they're pretty, so easy to do, and often are faster than doing a regular manicure where you just paint the color on.  I did green and gold because I thought it'd be a nice combination (kind of like money, you know), but in retrospect, I'm thinking I would have liked silver more.

Colors Used:

China Glaze - Passion

Color Club - Perfect Mol-ten

30 DC: Day 7 - Black and White

Today I have tuxedo nails to show you!  This design is cute, yet simple, so everyone can do it!  The lines aren't as crisp as I'd like them, but that's my fault for not using the right kind of tape...

First, I painted my nails white.  It was weird walking around with white nails, but I was too busy to do the design until later.  Then I taped off a triangle at the base of my nail and painted black on top of that.
Using a dotting tool, I added the white and black dots down the center of the nail, and did two big dots and a little dot for the bowties.  Voila!  A cute tuxedo on my nails :)

Colors Used:
China Glaze - Liquid Leather
SH Xtreme Wear - White On

87. Wet N' Wild - A Show at the Palladium

A Show at the Palladium is the base of my subtle sparkle mani.  This is a gold foil with particles on the medium side.  There also appears to be some copperish particles too.  This polish was part of the Chrome collection, so I was a little disappointed with the grainy-looking surface.  However, it did dry without brushstrokes.

See the dark particles?

This picture was 1 coat.  The polish itself had a good consistency and dried fast, but the brush is big and unwieldy.

30DC: Day 6 - Violet

Violet can mean purple right??  I assume these first 6 days of the challenge are the rainbow.  Anyways, for this day, I did a skittles mani with 5 different polishes, since I actually have enough purple polishes to choose from.  Some fingers could have used another coat, as I realized over the weekend, but it was still really pretty!

Colors Used (from thumb to pinky):

Zoya - Anja (2 coats)

Diamond - Plum Pie in the Sky (3 coats)

OPI - Planks a Lot (2 coats)

OPI - Done Out in Deco (2 coats)

American Apparel - L'Espirit (2 coats)

86. American Apparel - Passport Blue

Hey guys!  It's been a while since I posted, but I've just been swamped this last week.  We had a big dragonboat race last weekend down in SoCal, and then this week was finals week for summer classes.  So here's a quick and dirty swatch for you guys.  This is Passport Blue, the blue that was used in my last mani (the striped gradient).  I love this kind of blue; it's dark and creamy, but it doesn't look at all close to black.

American Apparel polishes' formula is amazing!  They're always the right consistency, and are very opaque.  I used 2 coats here, no basecoat.  It didn't leave any staining, despite it's really dark color, and you could probably get away with one thicker coat for full opacity.