OPI "Chatters Me Up" vs. Orly "Rococo A-Go-Go" - - - PICTURE HEAVY!

Happy Friday, everyone! I LOVE these 4-day work weeks!  :-)


I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! My day was pretty low-key, but quite long. I volunteered to be a balloon handler in the annual St. Louis Thanksgiving Day parade downtown. I even made it on TV (there was just a close-up shot of me walking, no interview!)! It's a lot of fun to be a part of, but it's very early in the morning, and it was reeeeeeally, reeeeeally cold yesterday morning. After that, my mom and I went and had Thanksgiving dinner at a nearby restaurant. After that, we went and saw The Muppets movie! It was so cute! I wish I had painted my nails in one of my Muppets polishes!


When I got home from work tonight, I had a lovely package from Canada from my friend Linda! She was kind enough to purchase a bottle of the Chatters exclusive OPI polish, "Chatters Me Up". I don't even know what a Chatters is (I'm thinking it's similar to a Trade Secret or Beauty Brands?), but I know that this polish was only being sold at the Chatters salons, so my only way of getting a bottle was if I knew someone in Canada - and lucky for me, I do!


Before my package arrived, I had heard that "Chatters Me Up" was a dupe (or very close dupe) of the new Orly "Rococo A-Go-Go", which I already had, but never tried. So, as soon as I opened my package, I knew I wanted to see for myself how close the two are.


Sure enough, they are almost exact dupes...

L to R on all hand pictures: Orly, OPI, Orly, OPI
(no base coat or top coat used)

What do you think? In the bottle, they don't look like dupes. But on the hands, it's my opinion that they do.


My reason for posting so many pictures is because there aren't a lot of pictures of "Chatters Me Up" online. Before I decided to purchase this, I wanted to check out swatch pictures, first. If I remember correctly, there was only one blog post which showed pictures of CMU. And at the time, there were no swatch comparisons of it with the Orly polish. 


Because I'm such an OPI hoarder/collector (just all-around FAN of OPI!), I'm not regretting buying CMU (even though it was the most expensive OPI I've ever bought!). I love it, and am anxious to wear it soon. That said, the Orly version *might* just have to go in the swap pile, since there's no need for me to own both.


Have a fantastic weekend, and thanks for stopping by to check out this post!


Love,
K

Revlon - "Facets of Fuchsia"

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you've been enjoying your first Fall weekend of the year! Here in St. Louis, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! As my mom always says, "If the weather were like this all year-round, we wouldn't be able to afford to live here!" Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year. I just hope we get a full Fall this year, and we don't get ice and snow too early!


Today, I wanted to share with you my mani of the day: Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia. I recently purchased this at Target for around $4. Except for wearing Revlon's Perplex, I don't have a lot of experience with their polishes. But let me tell ya, so far, so good! Talk about an all-around bargain! I just was amazed at their quality, and am quite impressed with their color selections! And you can't beat their price and availability!


Facets of Fuchsia is supposed to be a dupe of Deborah Lippman's Bad Romance. Now, I can't claim this to be true, since I don't own Bad Romance. Based on the swatch pictures I've seen online though, I think it's safe to say they're close to identical. If you like BR but don't want to fork out the $18 for a bottle, go get yourself a bottle of FoF - you won't be disappointed! But go quick - this is a Limited Edition color from Revlon and won't be around long!


I layered FoF over 2 coats of OPI Black Onyx. I didn't want any VNL and I was afraid it was going to be sheer, so I figured I'd be safe and just layer it over black. 


I do recommend using either Poshe or Gelous Top Coat (I used both for this mani!). They will smooth out your nail and give you a high-gloss shine! 


Application:
Deborah Lippman 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula
2 coats of OPI Black Onyx
1 coat of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia
1 coat of Gelous Nail Gel Coat
1 coat of Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat
CND SolarSpeed Spray

Thanks for stopping by! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


-Katie

Revlon - "Perplex"

WARNING: PICTURE-HEAVY!!!!!!!!!


"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"


Those were the exact words that came out of my mouth when I was in the cosmetics aisle at Big Lots today and saw a lonely bottle of Revlon's "Perplex" sitting by itself on the bottom shelf - with a $1 price tag on it!!!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted it! I immediately picked it up (for some reason, I was worried if I didn't snatch it up immediately, someone else might...?!? Weird.). Anyways, I ended up purchasing this, along with 2 other Revlons (again, for $1 each) and 3 older Sally Hansen's (for $1.50 each). I was all smiles when I left the store today. My thoughts were, "MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED"!


I should also mention that I found these goodies at a Big Lots 3 hours from my house. I was traveling for work today in Pekin, IL and on my way home, I was going to pick up a bite to eat before I hit the highway. In the same strip mall as the fast food restaurant was a Big Lots. I've always heard that each Big Lots has different inventory, so I figured I'd "bop on in" to check out what they had. Boy, what a great unintentional find!


Thennnnnnnn, when I got to Springfield, IL (1 hour away from my first stop in Pekin), I stopped at their Big Lots. And guess what?! They had a TON of Perplex's!!!! Again, I found myself grabbing everything I could find, without a basket! After much debate with myself, I ended up only buying 2 at that store (for a total of 3 in one day), along with a couple other Revlon's (the scented ones!) and a few other things. All in all, a GREAT day for me, indeed! :-)


"Perplex" can easily be a 1-coater, but I chose to use 2 coats. I haven't used a Revlon polish in years (probably 15+), so I was curious about the quality. Honestly, not bad at all! Easy to apply, no streaking, no bubbling, dried pretty quickly. Definitely not $1 quality with this beauty. I believe this polish originally retailed for $4.99, and to me, even that would be a killer price for this polish! I'd pay double that, without question!


I think it's safe to call this color a duochrome. In some lights, it looks taupe-y, in others it looks almost violet. Then in these pictures, it even looks gray. Love it!


Apparently, "Perplex" is a dupe of Chanel's "Paradoxal" (which I believe retail(ed) for around $23). From swatches I've seen online, it's a perfect dupe, too! I love deals, I really do! :-)


Enough babbling, right? You probably wanna see pictures of this beauty!


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
1 coat OPI Nail Envy, Soft and Thin Formula
2 coats of Revlon's "Perplex"
1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

In summary, if you're looking for "Perplex", try your local Big Lots soon! Before some crazy twenty-something comes in and takes all they've got left!