Urban Outfitters Moonstone and the Winter Blues

Hey all, long time no blog, eh? I completely missed my 1 year blogiversary and now that the winter has kicked in, my cuticles have taken a beating. I'm so embarrassed of my hands lately that I don't want to swatch anything. I finally did give swatching a shot lately, but dislike 99% of the pictures. The winter blues are surely here.

But not all hope is lost. I managed to get one or two shots that weren't horrendous so I'm sharing them with you all. I recently went to Urban Outfitters and found some new polish. One that I picked up is called Moonstone. It looked like a dupe for a Deborah Lippman polish, so I bought it. Now I don't own any DL polish, but I thought this could possibly dupe Sugar Daddy. Moonstone in the bottle has this champagne rose duo-chrome color going on.

Moonstone was really hard to capture accurately in photographs. You can see a bit of the rose color at the top of the bottle. 

Now I have to say that personally I was a little disappointed with this. I put three coats of Moonstone over a base coat. The polish is a bit sheer, yet it does build in three coats. I figured this may happen because it's a light color. The finish is a dull metallic finish, which I'm not a big fan of. I used Seche Vite to top it off and make the polish shiny on the nail. 

It's a pretty color in theory, but it was lacking the duo-chrome effect that I saw in the bottle. There is also a very pretty hidden shimmer in the polish, but due to the finish it's hard to see. Maybe I'm just not a fan because it doesn't do much for my skin tone. Plus, this polish seems to not last very long. I've only been wearing it for 24 hours and there's already a bit of wear showing. Warning: be very careful when applying, because any minor mess up or imperfection on the nail shows up. 

I would have loved to have said that his was the perfect dupe for DL Sugar Daddy, but I don't think it is. It's a nice polish, don't get me wrong, but it's just not for me. 

Moonstone can be found at Urban Outfitters for $5 or 2 for $8. Urban Outfitters does have holos ($10 each) and a flakie (review hopefully coming soon) that may be worth checking out.

What do you think of Moonstone? Has anyone else tried it? What other dupes are you looking for? 

Comparison: Essie Shine of the Times vs. Sally Hansen Glass Slipper (featuring Urban Outfitters Winter Berry)

A while ago I picked up Sally Hansen Glass Slipper from their revamped Diamond Strength collection. I hadn't used it yet, but when I (finally) picked up Essie Shine of the Times the other day, I decided it would be good to do a comparison post.

For my base coat I used another untried, Winter Berry from Urban Outfitters. I found Winter Berry as I was finishing up some Christmas shopping last month. Urban Outfitters actually surprised me with the amount of colors they have and an their interesting glitter polishes as well.

It looks gorgeous in the bottle. 

Also, here's my Christmas mani that I never made a post about. 

I didn't take any pictures of Winter Berry alone. I was a little disappointed with how Winter Berry looks when it's dry. It's a lot darker than I thought and even looks a bit black. I was hoping that it would have a little bit more shimmer, while still being a rich dark blue. However, the application and formula are impressive for the polish being from Urban Outfitters. I'm always a little hesitant when it comes to clothing store lines of polish, but I would be willing to try more Urban Outfitters polish in the future.

Next time I Winter Berry I'll wear it alone and post some swatches. I got ahead of myself because I was excited about my layering experiment!

After putting on 2 coats of Winter Berry and a top coat of Seche Vite, I decided to alternate nails between Glass Slipper and Shine of the Times. I started with Essie Shine of the Times and oh my gosh, I'm in love with this polish. It's from Essie's Luxeffects Top Coat collection and I've seen rave reviews, so I had to get my own bottle. As soon as you open the bottle, you can see the flake goodness and that gorgeous iridescence that shifts between yellow, green and orange. I believe I've heard some bloggers compare Shine of the Times to the way an oil slick looks in different light and as odd as it may sound, it's true.

Next I put on Sally Hansen Glass Slipper. Unfortunately, Glass Slipper is a lot less exciting right after using Shine of the Times. Glass Slipper is pretty much a straight forward white flake polish. It is a little iridescent, but you really have to look close to find it, especially since Shine of the Times is so in your face.

I tried layering two coats of each, but you really need only one coat for both polishes if you're layering. Here are my results (the pictures include one coat.)

My index and ring fingers are Winter Berry with Essie Shine of the Times over it and my middle and pinkie have Winter Berry with Sally Hansen Glass Slipper.

Shine of the Times in the bottle. You can just see the amazingness!

Here is each finger labeled. SOTT = Shine of the Times and GS = Glass Slipper.

Between these two flakes, there really is no comparison other than that they are flakes. They are definitely not dupes and not similar at all. Glass Slipper is a nice subtle flake, while Shine of the Times has the wow effect. I would definitely use both again though. I love that you only need one coat to get good coverage and I can't wait to try out other layering combinations with these!

What are your thoughts on Shine of the Times and Glass Slipper? Do you own both? Are flakes your new favorite trend? Leave your thoughts in the comments section!