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Cali Clarke

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  • Max Factor - Fantasy Fire Gorgeous sheer purple/green duochrome and possible Clarins 230 dupe?  

    I'm sure most of you have heard of and seen Max Factor's Max Effect Fantasy Fire 45 by now.  It's a newly released potential dupe to the elusive, HTF, Clarins 230 aka Unicorn Pee.

    I have to say straight up that I don't have Clarins 230.  I've toyed with those ebay auctions but always managed to talk myself down from paying £50+ for a single polish.  So this won't be a comparison post, I'm just gonna bombard you with pics of Fantasy Fire because whether it's a dupe or not (and it's certainly similar) it's still totally gorgeous.

    I picked up Fantasy Fire in in a tiny branch of Boots a couple of days ago.  There were several new colours including some interesting metallics. This afternoon the sun came out long enough for me to grab the following pics.  As the weather was pretty variable I didn't know how long the sunlight would stick around I just popped a couple of coats over my existing manicure, a-England's Elaine.  As it turned out it was a pretty excellent base coat for FF.  I'd already seen swatches of the polish alone on BeneBelles blog and knew it was super sheer and that layering was the way to go

    So first up a couple of bottle shots


    In the bottle it's predominantly a pinkish purple with lots of shimmer and a duochrome of blue and some green and maybe a hint of gold around the edges.

    The bottle is tiny, just 5ml and they cost £3.99, pretty expensive for such a weeny amount of polish but in this case totally worth it!

    All the following swatch shots are 2 coats of Fantasy Fire over my existing mani of a-England Elaine, a dusky purple.  Looking at the swatches now I wished I'd added a topcoat to really make the shimmer sing but never mind....

    With all of these pics you can click for bigger versions.

     This was the only shot I got that just about showed all the different colours - I think 230 maybe more overtly duochrome.


    Love how it looks like a gradient in this shot, just wish my ring finger had been at the same angle!

     One of the few times you can see the green strongly in the bottle.




    I hope you can see the range of the duochrome in these shots which starts as a sheer purple with a red shimmer and then switches between gold shimmer and a strong green with a green/gold shimmer.

    Out of the sunlight the shimmer is much redder and there's no hint of the duochrome.



    These are both under electric light and IRL the shimmer is redder still.

    It is totally gorgeous and to be honest it's close enough to 230 for me!

    There doesn't seem to be any information about the new colours on the Max Factor site, they still only have the old colours up so I can't tell you if this is part of a collection or just a new release of colours.

    So, what do you think?  Totally stunning or what?!
    5 days on
    Polishtopia
  • Ciaté - Sharp Tailoring Warm grey with secret shimmer 

    A blast from the past this one, I've shown a fair few of my Ciaté Paint Pots collection before but this one got missed for some reason

    So here is Sharp Tailoring



    Sharp Tailoring is a warm grey with a white gold secret shimmer.


    It's an unusual colour/shimmer combination,  at first I thought it might be similar to Zoya Harley but as you can see from the comparison...


    ...Sharp Tailoring is much warmer and the shimmer is less pronounced.

    Swatch shown is 2 coats, with no topcoat.

    Application, brush and formula were all good.

    I'm a fan of grey polish anyhow but this is a clever twist on regular grey, being warmer, with perhaps even a nod to the 'greige' trend of old (that was probably current when this was released) and an unusual secret shimmer.

    Overall, a complete win for me, what you you gals think?
    9 days on
    Polishtopia
  • Beyu 381 Glittery mid blue




    Beyu 381, despite it's rather dull name, is a gorgeous polish.

    A slightly purple toned shimmery blue with a good amount of fine, smooth silver glitter.

    Beyu bottles are pretty tiny, only 8ml,  and have small brushes but I found application was fine with the small brush.  **disclaimer - I have pretty small hands/nails, although as you can see in the last pic I still managed to get polish on my thumb - d'oh!

    I picked up my Beyu on one of my many trips to Germany, in a high end drugstore IIRC.  I just wish they were available in the UK.
    17 days on
    Polishtopia
  • Models Own - Raspberry Crush Bright pink jellyish creme



    Something bright and cheery to belatedly kick of the New Year

    Models Own Raspberry Crush is a bright jelly/creme.  It's super shiny but probably could've done with another coat. I find the jelly always looks more pronounced in photos than on your nails.

    I'd say it was a little more pink toned IRL.

    Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat.
    19 days on
    Polishtopia
  • Happy New Year Blog Readers! Gawd, what happened to the rest of December, huh?

    Mostly Christmas shopping and planning happened, and a couple of gigs and my bff injuring her back and being laid up for 2 weeks.

    In summary stuff happened and I lost all my blogging time.

    But, New Year, new start.  My plan for this year is to be a slightly more frequent blogger, it's not like I don't have the polishes or photos, it's just the putting it out there that's missing!

    So Happy New Year to all of my 473 readers and here's to a better 2012 for all of us.  Unless your 2011 was perfect already, in which case, more of the same!
    23 days on
    Polishtopia
  • Nails Inc - Wardour Mews Purple/lilac foil with golden shimmer 

    Wardour Mews is part of a QVC collection I picked up a few months ago.

    The collection of four polishes was called 'Midas Touch' and was billed as a collection of sparkly polishes.

    To be fair some of the collection are less sparkly than others, IIRC there were two sparkly foils (like Wardour Mews) and two cremes with more subtle sparkly shimmery accents.   I was quite happy with them but the reviews on QVC were pretty mixed due to the non-sparkliness!









    Wardour Mews is a purple toned lilac with gold shimmer, so much shimmer it's pretty much a foil

    Swatch shown is 3 coats, it was fairly sheer.

    The finish is similar to the Orly Cosmic fx collection but I don't think there was a dupe of this colour?
    From looking at swatch pictures it could be similar to OPI's It's My Year?
    ~1 month on
    Polishtopia
  • I wish I was a Fisherman - Foreign Slippers & Duke Special
    Recorded live at the 2nd night of Duke Special @ Wilton's.
    From: Cali369
    Views: 2
    0 ratings
    Time: 02:35 More in Music
    ~1 month on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Condition - Duke Special @Wilton's
    Recorded live at the 2nd night of Duke Special @ Wilton's. Supported by Foreign Slippers
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 05:02 More in Music
    ~1 month on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Unknown Song - Duke Special
    Recorded live at the 2nd night of Duke Special @ Wilton's.
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 02:45 More in Music
    ~1 month on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Zoya - Meryl Glossy red-toned brown creme

    The second of my 'vintage' Zoyas is Meryl






    Meryl is a deep, red-toned  brown creme.

    This swatch is 2 coats, with no top coat and again it's super shiny

    Another win from Zoya, it's nice to see that these old bottles are in such great shape.
    ~1 month on
    Polishtopia
  • Zoya - Andrea Rust toned toffee creme

    I picked up a small number of 'vintage' Zoya and Zoya family polishes on ebay.


    The bottles and brushes are the same size and shape and the polish quality seems the same but as you can see the design/printing on the bottles is a little different to todays bottles.





    Andrea is a red toned brown creme, a perfect autumnal colour.  I know it's December now and a little past Autumn but bear with me, I took the pics in early November!

    Andrea needed 3 coats, at 2 it was opaque but a little streaky.  And look how shiny it is without a topcoat.

    I really like the Zoya bottles and brushes (I have smaller than average nails) and this colour just screams autumn.  A win.
    ~1 month on
    Polishtopia
  • Nails Inc - Prince Albert Road Purple toned Blue shimmer

    Prince Albert Road was part of a QVC set called OMG! that I couldn't resist.  OMG! is a small collection of 3 shimmery,  almost foil finish polishes.





    Application was great, this was 2 coats, but you could probably get away with 1 if you were careful.

    The finish is very shimmery, almost a foil really.    I love the finish and the colour, a win for me.
    2 months on
    Polishtopia
  • Badly Drawn Boy - Is There Nothing We Could Do
    At the MAK 10 album launch - Union Chapel, London.
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 02:35 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • David Ford teases with the Wonderwall intro
    From the I Choose This book reading gig at the Borderline, London
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 00:14 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Liam Frost - New Song
    Liam Frost (with missing tooth) performs a new song at the MAK10 gig at Union Chapel
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 03:28 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Badly Drawn Boy - Once around the Block
    From the MAK
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 01:22 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Badly Drawn Boy - I Wanna be Adored Stone Roses Cover
    At the MAK 10 album launch - Union Chapel, London.
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 01:58 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Katie (Derhem) - David Ford
    David talks about the inspiration behind his song Katie and tweaks the words
    From: Cali369
    Views: 0
    0 ratings
    Time: 05:35 More in Music
    2 months on
    Uploads by Cali369
  • Models Own - Nude Beige Nude creme

     Models Own Nude Beige is one of those 'does what it says on the bottle'.  It's a lovely, easy to apply nude beige creme.



    Swatches are 2 coats, no top coat and as you can see it's lovely and shiny.

    I really like this one, as you know I'm a big fan of taupe/mushroom polishes and although this one is lighter than most it still has a hint of grey to stop it being BBB
    2 months on
    Polishtopia
  • Boots 17 - Fury and a Peridot comparison Warm gold/green duochrome

    **Heavy pic spam alert**


    Fury is from the latest Boots 17 collection which I think is the Autumn collection.

    Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room - it's not a Chanel Peridot dupe although they are kissing cousins!

    So, onto the many swatch pics - hey it's a duochrome, 3 or 4 is the minimum, right?






     
    Fury is a slightly copper toned gold with green duochrome.  It is really gorgeous and even looks good with my skintone which I was a bit worried about.  The gold is a rich warm gold and the green is warm too, I'd probably say olive toned.  Overall I love it, it's stunning.

    Swatch is 2 coats, it's a little brush-stroky but I'm gonna forgive it.

    At the time I was slightly obsessed with all the Peridot pics but it seemed to be sold out everywhere and I don't have a close relationship with my local Chanel counter so I unless I stumped up the fearsome delivery charge and ordered it from the Harrods site, I had mostly resigned myself to not getting my sticky mitts on it!

    But then, on *another* trip to Germany, I'm killing time in the airport and yay, they have it in stock and it's cheaper than the internet (about £14) and no delivery charge, so I succumbed.  And spent a week in a hotel room twisting the bottle and admiring the gorgeousness.

    So long story, here's the comparison...





    Here's the comparison, in sunlight and indirect light.  Peridot is index and ring finger, Fury is on middle and little fingers.

    As you can see they're not dupes but are similar.  Peridot is much cooler toned, both the gold and the green.  And Peridot is much greener.

    And if you want to see an amazing Peridot franken made from this polish then check out this Fab Fingertips post
    2 months on
    Polishtopia
  • Pop Nail Glam - Neons Pink and Purple Neon

    Couple of Pop Nail Glam polishes that I picked up in the ASOS Sale. Actually they were part of a trio but I'm saving the other one for another day.

    First up is Violetta

    Violetta is a pink toned purple neon.  Like most, or is it all? neons, it dries with a satin finish.

    This swatch was 2 coats and now looking at the pics I should've done 3, at least!

    The photos have pulled a little pinker and lighter than real life.

    Next is Pinkest


    This swatch is 3 coats and I can still see VNL in the pics although it wasn't so visible in real life.

    Again it dries with a satin finish and the pics aren't colour accurate, the bottle pic at the top is closer to the real colour.

    Hmmm, so unfortunately these polishes just prove that me and neon don't get on.  I love the concept but I just don't like them on me.  Which means these, and the unopened box of Color Club Scented Neons I have, need to go straight into the Blog Sale pile.  If I get myselft organised I'm gonna try to do a blog sale before Christmas - famous last words!

    What about you gals, are you fans of neon?  And is there a polish you'd recommend to change my mind?
    2 months on
    Polishtopia
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