I found a dupe! China Glaze Techno dupe!

Today I was randomly looking through some swatches of China Glaze upcoming Electropop collection on Scrangie's blog, when something very familiar caught my eye.  

Hmm ... I already have this polish, I thought checking out a picture of Techno, a silvery glitter polish with small and large holographic glitter pieces. Damn, this is MY MANICURE was my next reaction, when I saw Techno layered over Wicked Style from the same collection (you have to scroll down when looking at Scrangie's swatches, Techno swatches are at the end of the post).

One coat over Orly Belle Of The Ball.

Aren't the polishes and the mani similar? I had this manicure planned for New Year's Eve, but as usual, life was what happened and I ended up  wearing totally different shades. But that's why I have the swatches and pictures ready :)

The polish that could be a twin of Techno is Alix Avien nr.110, a clear base packed with large hexagonal and small round silver holographic glitter particles. (See, even the descriptions are an exact match!) It covers quite smoothly and evenly and the drying time could be described as "normal", as opposed to "superfast".

Techno is actually not a new polish, but a repromote from China Glaze's 50 Specialty Colors collection that was launched in 2009. This is the collection that had Atlantis, Nova and Cosmic for example.

While I don't own Techno (nor are planning to get it), deciding from the picture the differences between these two polishes are minor to my eye. Might be that the Turk has a bit more glitter particles and they might be slightly larger, but surely this is not something to complain about. Both polishes can easily worn by themselves, but look amazing as layering polishes too. 

One coat in the left, two coats on the right.

Alix Avien polishes are sold in Estonia in L-Cosmetics stores. I believe they cost about 3 euros or so. There are some other great holos in their collection.  

I don't engage in determined dupe hunting, but this was fun discovery. Do you do dupe hunting? Have you discovered any good ones?  

Yours Truly,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies: 

Vaatasin netist China Glaze uue kevadise Electropop kollektsiooni swatch'e, kui korraga pauh! jõudis mu ajju teadmine, et täpselt selline lakk mul ju on ja täpselt sellist maniküüri kui pildil kavatsesin uusaastapeol kanda. Tuleb välja, et Alix Avien'i lakk nr. 110 ja China Glaze Techno on üsna täpselt ühesugused!

Siiralt teie,

Tolmu Rull

Empties: December

Here it is: part two of my empties project. The aim is to use up as many half-used beauty products as I can in a month's time, in order to discipline myself and free some space for new things. See, even more empty bottles, jars and tubes than last time. So far the project has been a great success -- just look how many things I managed to finish in the month of December only!

Would I buy and use something from this sad bunch again? (That is, if I wasn't such a product junkie and always on the quest for something new and exciting, of course.) Yup, here they are, the good stuff I would use myself and recommend to others.

My special irreplacable favourites from this pile are:

• China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat  --  the best fast-dry top coat I've ever used; 
• Garnier Color Naturals hair dye -- cheap but fool-proof hair dye that gives great results every time; 
• Delia Good Foot tired legs lotion -- cheap foot cream from supermarket that has fantastic smell as well as fantastic moisturizing properties and an ability to sink in a blink of an eye;
• Decleor Rasage Express shaving foam -- a great shaving foam that is actually meant for men, but is good for lady shaving too. It really helps the razor to glide more smoothly and lasts for a really long time.

And by the way, did you notice the anti-hangover shower gel, LOL? I wish that hangovers could be cured by shower gels :)

Actually, I'm really glad about the the empties project, as I'm getting a better vision of what products I have and how long it takes to use them up. Plus, the extra motivation to take better care of myself. It is a strange satisfaction to see all these used-up bottles. The month of January looks really promising too!

My only regret is that there are not many make-up products among the empties. I hope to do better next time.

Yours Truly,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Minu tühjade potsikute projekti teine postitus ehk kolmas kuu. Senini on projekt olnud väga edukas, sest olen suutnud ära kasutada paljud riiuleil seisnud "jäägid" ja kogu projekt on andnud mulle parema arusaama, mida ma igapäevaselt kasutan ja kui palju tooteid päriselt kulub. Soovitan!

Siiralt teie,

Tolmu Rull

Burlesque revisited: OPI Simmer and Shimmer, Show It and Glow It and Glow Up Already

These polishes are nothing new – they came out at the end of 2010 as a part of OPI Holiday Burlesque collection. The collection was dedicated to the musical Burlesque with Christina Aquilera and Cher starred as leading characters. While the musical has certainly some nice songs and dances and offers lots of eye-candy to burlesque lovers, it's plot is quite naive and even boring in my opinion. A small town girl becoming a big star and finding love, that's highly unique storyline, eh? So I was much more excited about OPI nail polishes than the actual movie :)

OPI Burlesque collection actually consisted of 12 polishes, six of them were glitter polishes in different hues and the other six were red and orange shimmers. You can see full swatches here.

I really wanted to get my hands at the time this collection came out, but they were quite expensive in Estonia. Regular OPI polish costs 10 euros in Estonia and glitter polishes even more. Besides, my favourite shades of this collection were constantly sold out in eBay shops I frequent. So I decided to postpone the purchase and eventually forgot all about Burlesque polishes.

Simmer and Shimmer, three coats.

When I noticed them in a Douglas store discount bin during my trip to Germany last autumn I was immediately hooked and Simmer and Shimmer, Show It and Glow It and Glow Up Already found their place in my luggage in no time. I was sooo-ooo lucky all three were among my initial favourites! 

Show It and Glow It

All three polishes have multi-colored glitter particles in clear base and can therefore be used as layering polishes too. The quality is OPI-worthily great and seriously sparkly. Achieving opaqueness (as on my swatches) takes three coats and I would certainly use a top coat, as the finish is quite gritty.

Needless to say, I wore them several times during holiday season :)

Glow Up Already

These polishes were 7 euros each and I got some free scent samples with my purchase. Cool! I only wish there would have been more shades from Burlesque collection (especially Sparkle-iscious!) available.

Are you sometimes happy to find your old favourites from bargain bin? Or are you just interested in latest hits and forget all about previous ones?

Yours Truly,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

OPI Simmer and Shimmer, Show It and Glow It and Glow Up Already pärinevad 2010. aasta pühadekollektsioonist, kuid minust sai nende õnnelik omanik alles tänavu sügisel kui nad Saksamaalt allahinnatuna müügilt leidsin. 

Kas ka teie olete soetanud mõne ammuihaldatud kosmeetikavidina soodusmüügist, tükk aega pärast seda kui sellest müügihitt sai? Või tunnete huvi ainult parasjagu kõige kuumema kauba vastu?

Siiralt Teie,

Tolmu Rull