Nail Combo of the Day

So, this my new favorite nail combo; China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy and China Glaze's For Audrey on the ring finger. So cute, so fresh, so summer. I can't wait for summer. I also can't wait till I'm tan and I get to put my Flip Flop Fantasy on my toes, gonna look so good next to tan skin.

The Tiffany Blue Debate...

Aahhh, it's every girl's dream, the little blue box with the white bow. To a certain extent, it's not even about what's actually inside, it's the fact that someone went to Tiffany's for you. (Of course, you hope there's a navy blue velvet box waiting inside the little blue one, but that's another story for another day.) The Tiffany & Co. blue is world famous, and, it is also trademarked up the wha-zoo. You cannot get the exact replica of that Tiffany blue without express permission from Tiffany & Company. (I think Star Jones had the Tiffany blue as one of her wedding colors and there was all this hoopla with her wedding planner and the Tiffany & Co. lawyers and permissions and all this other stuff.) However, that does not stop people from trying to copy it. Nike has done it...

And so has China Glaze, with their For Audrey shade...

And so has Essie, with Turquoise and Caicos...

But, as I said before, none of these, without specific permission from Tiffany's is actually an exact dupe. To test my theory, I pulled out a Tiffany & Co. pouch I had lying around, and Essie's Turquoise and Caicos and For Audrey. They're both close. But neither is an exact match. In the top picture, which is professionally edited, the colors match pretty much exactly, but, it must be noted that the color that's in the bottle is almost never the color that dries on your nails. That's totally the case with For Audrey. For Audrey dries a little more of a sky blue color, rather than the true robin's egg blue that's the Tiffany's signature. Essie's Turquoise and Caicos is also remarkably close in the bottle, but when it dries it is a deeper robin's egg blue than the Tiffany & Co. blue. The bottom line is that neither of them is an exact dupe, and everyone who says that is just hoping. Until Tiffany's approves a deal with a nail polish company, (OPI, anyone?) there will not be an exact dupe. Please, stop saying there is one. It's not happening.

China Glaze Nail Polish Review

I am perhaps the last beauty nut to jump on the China Glaze band wagon, but I made it! I finally went into a Sally's Beauty Supply here in town and picked up a bunch of polishes, several of which will be making the jump across the pond to my best friend in London Town!!! (It was her birthday last week.) So I'll start out with the ones I got for her. First there was Summer Rain, a lovely sheer, pearlescent pink... (None of these pictures are of my own nails, all have been found on Google Image Search)

Then Coral Star, a shimmery coral...pinks and corals are her favorites to wear on her hands...

And finally, China Rouge, a true red, which is her favorite for her toes... usually...

Then I ended up picking up a few for myself. I got some really good brights and neons and a couple really nice pastels. And I already have a favorite (duh!) and a wishlist (double duh!)!! The first one is Turned Up Turquoise, a neon with small shimmers... turquoise is my favorite color, but I don't have anything this bright for nail polish... (the only turquoise/teal color I have is Ski Teal We Drop by OPI, which I love!)

Then I saw Four Leaf Clover, a bright blue-ish green-ish turquoise color, which I couldn't pass up for obvious reasons... (hello, the name!) Love it.

And now we move on to the pastels. I'm obsessed with all light, minty green nail polishes, but have been disappointed with the way some of them come out looking against my skin. Maybe they'll look better when I'm tan again? But I couldn't resist so I picked up a bottle of Re-fresh Mint, which is really lovely and surprisingly, looks pretty good on me...

I also picked up For Audrey, which has been insanely hyped on youtube and beauty blogs everywhere as the perfect dupe for the Tiffany & Co. blue. The truth and fact of the matter is, the Tiffany & Co. blue is trademarked and it is therefore illegal to reproduce it on anything exactly unless you have express permission from Tiffany & Co. Further, it's not an exact dupe, something I will be talking about in another blog post, in the bottle it is very close but when it dries it is actually much more of a sky blue or robin's egg blue than the Tiffany & Co. blue... but here it is anyway...

And finally I picked up Flip Flop Fantasy, which is literally my favorite polish, maybe ever!!! I am not normally a neon kind of girl, but this one is too fabulous to pass up. It is literally the perfect summer-beach-on-my-toes-with-a-tan-and-a-margarita-in-my-hand color. (that rhymed!) I've painted it on my nails twice in a row now, and I have gotten more compliments on this color than on any other nail polish I have ever worn, with the exception of Cajun Shrimp by OPI, but that had more to do with the fact that my natural nails looked like acrylics, which was something the girls in my seventh grade class could not fathom.

Now, onto the wishlist. So far, it's pretty small, but I definitely intend on grabbing these as soon as I can. I am overall in love with China Glaze polishes. They are pretty much entirely opaque in two coats, and the base and top coats are fab. (So far, we'll see if the base coat turns my nails yellow.) First on the wishlist is Secret Peri-Winkle, a really nice powdery/pastel blue... also my ex boyfriend's favorite color...

I also am craving Peachy Keen, it looks similar to Essie's Haute Hello but in a more orange-y and less pink way...

And finally, Lemon Fizz, a really pretty pastel yellow... I'm really feeling the pastels this month, which is unusual. I don't go for neons and I don't really go for pastels, I like me some true to color, standard brights, I suppose. These, though, are too good to pass up! I am thoroughly impressed with China Glaze, to me they seem to be more or less on par with Essie or OPI, but more affordably priced.

So, that's my two cents on China Glaze. As I said, I am going to do a post on For Audrey, the real Tiffany blue and another polish by Essie which is also remarkably close. I was getting really annoyed with all these people who keep saying that For Audrey is a dupe for the Tiffany & Co. blue, so I decided to just see for myself. Stay tuned for that one, kids!