Fairy Dust vs Electric Lane Comparison

Hey there people, now here's a question.  Who doesn't want sparkly rainbows on their nails?  I know I do!  Nails Inc Electric Lane is the nail polish that made number one on my all time top ten polish list. If you want to look at that, here's the (link) which also includes a couple of Electric Lane swatches.

But I've seen manicures online using China Glaze Fairy Dust.  The difference between these two polishes is something I've been wondering for ages.  Finally, I couldn't wonder any longer so I bought some Fairy Dust so I can compare the two. 

I bought my China Glaze Fairy Dust from Amazon, and when it arrived, I couldn't see much difference at first glance:

The glitter pieces seem to be exactly the same size and colour to me.  So I made up some nail wheels with lots of different colours to try over:

Black: Deborah Lippmann - Fade to Black

White: Poundland Jess (link to full review)

Grey : Leighton Denny - Zero Gravity

Green: Barry M Gelly - Key Lime

Blue: Bourjois One Seconde - Bleu Water

Red: OPI- Big Hair...Big Nails

 

I decided to do one coat of each and no topcoat so you can fully tell the difference (if any).  Here's what I got:

I think you'll be able to guess, but the N's are the Nails Inc Electric Lane, and the C's are the China Glaze Fairy Dust.  As you can tell, more noticeably on the red and black is that the Electric Lane has a denser consistency.  However, in this light you can't really tell so well.  I have a couple of close ups which show it better:

 

Firstly the black:

I think this shows the difference in density much better, although in this lighting my photo seemed to come out a bit blurry, strange.  I think it might be the holo freaking my camera out.

 

Here's the red:

Again, a heavier glitter presence from the Nails Inc.  However, in my opinion, for a glitter topper, that's not necessarily a good thing.  The heavier covering of glitter is hiding the base polish somewhat, rather than enhancing it.

 

Also, Electric Lane dries to quite a sandy matte finish, which I like, but is another difference from Fairy Dust, which dries to more of a gloss as you can see.

 

Here's a picture I took in a rare sunny moment:

Definitely on the black you're starting to see the holo.

 

Here's how the brushes differ:

They both performed admirably, no problems with blobbing during application, and both glitters went on pretty evenly.

 

Here's a full nail swatch of Electric Lane over Nails Inc Devonshire Row:

So how much do they cost?

Nails Inc Electric Lane costs £12 for 10ml

China Glaze Fairy Dust costs £6.49 for 14ml

 

However, there isn't anywhere on the high street I can buy China Glaze, and Amazon have stopped free Super Saver Delivery unless you spend £10, so there will be extra to pay for shipping.  There is a Nails Inc stand in larger branches of Boots, so you can get them with no P&P to pay.

 

However, even with this taken into account, Fairy Dust is cheaper, and you get more.

 

I have managed to get full coverage on my nails with Electric Lane with four coats, I doubt you'd ever manage that with Fairy Dust.

 

So, which do I recommend?  Amazingly, I actually recommend Fairy Dust!  Electric Lane definitely has more bling, but I prefer the glossier and less overwhelming finish of the China Glaze.  Plus of course it's cheaper.

 

No one could be more surprised about this outcome than me, but that's the conclusion I came to.  I still like them both though in different ways, so you could certainly justify owning both.

 

Do you own either of these polishes? Or do you have a different favourite holo glitter topcoat?  Would love to hear about it if you do.

 

Until next time...

 

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

My All Time 10 Best Nail Polishes

Hi everyone!

Back to normal blog posts again at last.  I really enjoyed the nail art challenge, and have met some lovely new people because of it.  A big thanks to the organisers Pink and Polished and Overpolished for organising it and doing such a great job.

This is a post I've been wanting to do for a while, I have probably about 250 polishes, which is a puny amount to some people, and alot to others, for me its not enough as I'm still missing some colours, and I don't have many of the 'famous' ones.  I've finally managed to get the Layla flash black holo polish that I've been craving, and I can't wait for it to come.  Nail mail is possibly my most favourite thing in the whole world!  I've also ordered some nail art supplies, and a few experimental purchases, which I'll share with you if they're any good.

Quite a few of these polishes, being my favourites, will have their own post, and where they do, I'll link to them so that you can see more photos and probably nail art involving them.  It was soooo hard to wheedle my favourites down to 10, and then put them in order.  Unless stated, none have a top coat, and all have a base coat of Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment Growth base coat, just because it's the one I'm currently using up.  It's taken me two days to do these swatches, how the big bloggers keep up I've no idea, there must be a knack to it.

So, I'm rambling again, without further ado, lets get on with it (imagine the Top of the Pops music here):

Aaaattttt 10:

NAILS INC WARWICK STREET
This is two coats.  It used to only need one, but I thinned it out a bit too much.  Very fast drying, and manages to be work appropriate with a twist.  I imagine the finish to be how the new 'cement' line will look.  You can see from the bottle that it's really cute red glitter in there.  THIS is the link to the post where I first swatched it.  Needless to say, a fab formula, which glides onto my nails, which is part of the reason I love it

Aaaaatttt 9:
JESSICA HOLOGRAM CHIC DISCO DIVA
This one nearly didn't make it into the top 10 because it's winter, therefore no sun to make it look good.  I debated to and fro for a while.  But it is one of my favourites, so deserves to be there, and holo is always a good thing.  It comes with its own base coat, which I used.  A full post including nail art on this polish can be found HERE and also on my dalek nails HERE

Aaaaattt 8:
COLLECTION 2000 HOT LOOKS MINT MOJO
This is one of only a few polishes that I've ever bought a back up of.  The formula is lovely, but because I've had it a while I had to thin it, and got carried away.  Therefore I had to do three coats instead of the normal two.  Of course it will thicken up again eventually and it's so fast drying it wasn't really a pain to do.  It's everything that I wanted Essies Navigate Her to be, without the yukky formula.  Not a dupe though as this is paler and milkier.  Superbly shiny as you can see.

 Aaaatt 7:
NAILS INC DEVONSHIRE ROW
I love the formula and finish to this.  You could easily get away with one coat if you have smooth nails.  Mine are quite ridged so I did two to get a nice finish.  Crazy reflections!  I used it as a base for THIS nailart

 
Aaaatttt 6:
OPI MOD ABOUT YOU
For me, this is the perfect light pink creme polish.  First coat is a bit streaky, the second coat is opaque perfection.  Dry time is medium to fast.  I used it as a base for THIS nailart.

And now we go into the top 5!

Aaaaatttt 5:
COLLECTION 2000 HOT LOOKS ALL THAT JAZZ
A lovely graphite grey shimmer, the formula to this is flawless.  It virtually applies itself, again you could get away with one coat of this if your nails are smooth.  This is two coats.  I did a full review post HERE and I used it for my halloween nails, which were one of my favourites HERE

Aaattt 4:
NAILS INC ALBERT PLACE
Another one coater for smooth nailed people.  I did two coats to get a nice finish.  It's kind of the blue version to Devonshire Row, similar colour tones.  It's the perfect sky blue, and I used it as the base for my skyscraper nail art tutorial HERE

 
Aaaattt 3:
NYC IN A NEW YORK MINUTE CANAL STREET
This was a super lovely online surprise buy.  I did a full review HERE it's fast drying and lovely to apply

Aaaattt 2:
OPI MY BOYFRIEND SCALES WALLS
If you've been following me for a while, this choice will be no surprise to you.  It's just off-white enough to be wearable, and for a white the formula is lovely.  Similar to Mod About You, coat one can be a bit streaky, but coat two sorts that out nicely.  I've used this one lots, and I did a comparison post to Alpine Snow HERE

And now we get to the numero uno spot.... I picked... drum roll.....

Number 1:
NAILS INC ELECTRIC LANE
Typically I picked a polish that's difficult to photograph!  It's a holographic glitter topcoat.  I can't imagine my polish life without this little magical beauty.  I do own a backup of this, and I will need to use it soon as I'm nearly at the bottom of this one, which is unheard of for me.  I've taken two pictures, as it's number one it's allowed, over Devonshire Row and Albert Place.  You will see that it does change the colour of the polish slightly, but it also gives it a super duper glitter holo finish which I love.  Removal isn't too bad for a glitter, but it still does take a little bit more elbow grease than a creme (of course).  It glides on, but it does dry slightly matt.  If you put a top coat on it really makes it pop.  These pictures are taken without though.  It dries in a flash too

You can see the holo awesomeness on my little finger - just love it!

Here's a lineup of all the polishes I've used in this monumental post, boy oh boy it's going to have alot of labels haha

These are my desert island polishes,the ones I would recommend to anyone starting out.  They all have great formulas, and I haven't needed to do clean up on any of these swatches.  If you see any of them for sale, snap them up!

I hope you've enjoyed this post as much as I've enjoyed making it.  Do you have a top ten post?  I'd love to see it!

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~

Christmas Nail Art Challenge - Day 7 - Snowflakes

Hi again,

I finally got all my Christmas shopping finished today, yayyy! I just have my cards to make and the wrapping to do, and I'm all done.  AND I managed to go into TK Maxx twice without buying any polish, so my self control was laudable. 

Although I did manage to pick up other halfs present to me, he didn't know until I got home haha, he bought me a sewing machine that was in the sale at BHS, I already have one but it doesn't work very well, which puts me off getting it out.  This one's only small, and pink, and hopefully it works ok, if not I'll take it back after Christmas.  It was reduced from £50 to £35. 

Speaking of pink, lets get on with the nails.  Todays challenge is snowflakes, and I decided to go pretty much straightforward, aside from the colour scheme:

I love light pink and black together, I think the black stops the pink from looking too twee.  The pink is my favourite light pink, OPI Mod About You, this is two coats.  I then painted the snowflakes on in black acrylic paint, and topped it off with an unknown Claire's Accessories multicoloured pastel glitter, which looks so much prettier in real life.  Here's another pic:

As you can see the cuticle on my ring finger is playing up, I have no idea why, I must have caught my finger at some point and not noticed, never mind!

I did a similar mani last year:

I can't remember the red I used, but the glitter topcoat is Nails Inc Electric Lane, and the snowflakes were drawn with a Claires Accessories white striping polish.  I think I actually prefer it!

Well I hope your Christmas shopping is nearly done too, just over a week to go!

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~