Swatch & Review: Color Secrets Amelie and Moulin Rouge

Hey, everyone! Thanks for sticking with me this week... I appreciate it! I'm so glad to be back!

Today, I have two polishes to show you from a new brand called Color Secrets. One of the really cool things about their polishes is the fact that every single one is named after a movie, most of which are chick flicks. Some of my favorites used are Casablanca, Miss Congeniality, Clueless, She's All That, Tangled, Notebook, Pretty in Pink, Never Been Kissed, Dirty Dancing, Devil Wears Prada, Love Actually, the Breakfast Club, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Night at the Roxbury, and Across the Universe!

I received Moulin Rouge and Amelie! How Academy Awards appropriate, right?

Disclaimer: 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 Disclaimer page.   

First up is Moulin Rouge, a juicy strawberry polish with electric pink glass flecks.

Dupe or No Dupe: Layla Ceramic Effect 52 vs. Nfu Oh 51

Hello, lovelies! I'm so happy to report that finals have officially ended for me and I have a life once more. My last exam was on Wednesday and I'm currently typing from the Queen Mum's apartment in Florida, which is a nice change of pace from the cold, windy, and overall dreary New Jersey weather.

I picked up the Layla Ceramic Effect 52 a week ago after I spotted it at Ulta. It was kind of buried in a corner with the false eyelashes, oddly enough, and I really just stumbled onto it.

I've heard around the internet that CE 52 is a dupe for Nfu Oh 51, so it's time to play...

DUPE OR NO DUPE!

Here are the bottles: Layla Ceramic Effect 52 on the left, Nfu Oh 51 on the right.

Upon a closer inspection, you can see both have a wisteria purple base. Also, the flakies seem to be in the same color spectrum of cranberry red with lime and bright yellow shifts.

CE 52 is on the index and ring fingers, with Nfu Oh 51 on the middle and pinky. With one coat over Cult Nails Flushed, you can see there's a distinct difference. The Layla polish seems to have much finer flakes that can almost be mistaken for microshimmer. They're also kind of sparse. Nfu Oh 51, on the other hand, has much more visible, dense flakes.

With two coats, the distribution of flakes seems a little more dense for CE 52. But still, there is a noticeable difference in flake size and density.

Here's a close up of Nfu Oh 51 (left) and Layla Ceramic Effects 52 (right).

So what's the verdict? Definitely, no dupe. While they are similar for sure, CE 52 isn't a dense and doesn't flash different colors in quite the same way as its Nfu Oh counterpart. They're certainly different enough to allow you to own both, with equally good formulas.

Ultimately, I still prefer Nfu Oh 51.

What do you think?

Day 11: Dupe or No Dupe (Zoya Noel)

The closest Ulta to my house has always been forty-five minutes away and not even remotely on the way to anywhere else I might need to travel, preventing me from making an excuse to drive there.

But, as of yesterday, a new location opened up ten minutes from Rutgers and fifteen minutes from my house, giving me little to no excuses any longer. Combine that with the fact that Torrid and Five Below are in the same shopping center and, well, you can deduce where my entire paycheck is going to be going in the near future.

One of the great things at Ulta is the fact that they constantly have sales going on. So yesterday, I took advantage of two of them. The first, was the Buy 2, Get 1 (B2G1) on Orly, China Glaze, and Nicole by OPI. I really wanted Fowl Play (FLAKIES!!!!), so wound up going with Orly.

But the other sale, which happens to be partially the subject of today's post, was the Mix n Match 5 for $5 sale. This included some shades of Ulta polish, so how could I resist? I picked up five shades, along with some other goodies, and came home to enjoy my haul.

After rifling through my bag, I picked up Ulta Alter Ego:

Does this look familiar to you? Because it should...

This is my brand new bottle of Zoya Noel. So new, in fact, that I had yet to even open the bottle... until now.

Let's play...

Dupe... or No Dupe!



Noel is an icy blue with silver glitter, a cousin to last winter's Crystal. The main difference is that Crystal has gold glitter. But the base color blue is virtually identical.

Alter Ego is also an icy blue with silver glitter.

From index to pinky: Alter Ego, Noel, Alter Ego, Noel

They look pretty similar after one coat, though Noel (middle and pinky) looks slightly darker.

After two coats, Noel might be a tinge darker. But look at the index and pinky fingers. Did you have to scroll back and see which were which? I know I had to double check my notes.

Just for fun, and to confuse you a little more, I added a coat of the new Essie Shine of the Times from the Luxeffects Collection. Ignore the pinky, I'm a KLUTZ. (Note: SotT is a dupe in and of itself of Nubar 2010 and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure)

So are they a dupe? Let's find out!

Leila, open the case...

...

...

IT'S A DUPE!

I love Zoya more than I can possibly say, but to get the same shade for $1 at Ulta would be much easier than ordering online and save me some money I could spend on another shade via a promo.

I received Zoya Noel via the Halloween Promo, so all I paid was shipping. I just would have picked Kissy over Noel, had I known.

This will be the first time I'll ever advocate another polish over Zoya, solely because it's less expensive and of virtually the same quality. Just make sure you check the brush to avoid having a stray bristle like I did. None of the other Ultas I bought had that, so just be aware.

Your regularly-scheduled programming will continue tomorrow with Day 12, which will now be the designated day of glass-flecked polishes! Be sure to vote for Reva, Yara, or Neeka in the comment section here and on Facebook for a bonus entry!

See you all tomorrow! Happy shopping!
Princess P

Dupe or No Dupe?

On Monday, I swatched Revlon Gold Coin, which you can check HERE in case you missed the post.


On Monday, I swatched Revlon Gold Coin, which you can check HERE in case you missed the post.

Coincidentally, I also happened upon a polish that looked eerily similar in the bottle while checking out the grand opening of a new Five Below in my area, called Down to Earth.

So I picked it up, along with the rest of the Funky Fingers Heavy Metal collection, and headed home to compare.



Here are the polishes after the first coat. The pinky and the ring finger are Down to Earth, while the index and middle fingers are Gold Coin. There is definitely a clear difference here, but let's give it another coat.



And here they are again, DTE, GC, DTE, GC, with two coats. They're kind of similar, but the Funky Fingers has much more of a champagne tone to it, where as gold Coin has a blacker, aluminum-like base to it. In fact, I'd venture to say that Down to Earth isn't a foil like Gold Coin, but rather a shimmer. I would say DTE is more in the vein of OPI Glitzerland.

So are they a dupe?

Leila, open the case…

DUPE BUSTED!

Check back tomorrow for a new post and stay tuned for the rest of the Funky Fingers Heavy Metal Collection.

- Princess Polish