New NYC core collection shades (and a NARS Zulu dupe???)

In the world of nail polish, there are those mystical, unattainable shades that seem to make everyone's top ten lists of "dream polishes". One such shade is NARS Zulu. It's one of those deep almost-black greens that caused quite a frenzy when it was originally released back in '06. Sadly, it was discontinued when NARS dumped all of its non-Big-Three-Free formulas (I believe it actually reappeared for a hot minute on the Sephora site in '07 but it sold out instantly). Since then, the NARS Zulu fervor has not really subsided much, as it's still talked about even to this day (heck, there was even a petition started to bring it back). So when NARS announced that it was actually going to re-release Zulu (in Big-Three-Free form) in October of this year, I know it made a lot of people very, very happy.

Well, since I never had the original, and probably won't get the reformulated version before it sells out (because you know it will), I've been trying to get my hands on something that even remotely resembles this shade--in drugstore form, of course. But I gotta tell ya, it's very difficult to find a dupe of something you've never actually seen in person. Sure, I've seen plenty of swatches of NARS Zulu over the years (just google "NARS Zulu" and you'll see what I mean) but it's pretty crazy to say, "I've found a drugstore dupe for NARS Zulu!!" without ever really seeing NARS Zulu.

Anyway, the other day when I strolled into my CVS not really expecting to see anything new, I spotted new nail polish and eyeshadow shades within the NYC core collection (in the permanent display). One of these new polish shades immediately caught my eye, and I think it might be pretty close to what NARS Zulu is (in my mind). So without further ado, here's my "interpretation" of a NARS Zulu dupe:

(click once to enlarge, again to magnify)

NYC Flat Iron Green (retail: $1.99)

I know that NARS Zulu is a jelly, but I really suck at being able to tell the difference between cremes and jellies (hey, I never claimed to be an expert at these things). I think Flat Iron Green is a jelly, because on the first coat, it appears to be a sheer olive green. It takes three coats to get to the shade you see above, and it's got a deepness and dimension to it that make me think it might be a jelly. Note: when one of you true nail fanatics gets this shade (or if you have it already) can you let me know if YOU think it's a jelly? I'd love to know if I was correct in my estimation! :)

Whew! Thanks for hanging in there if you've made it this far. I'm just super excited to see a new shade from NYC that so closely resembles (again, just my opinion) a color I've been pining over for years now! And it's just $1.99!

NOTE: There's a $1 NYC coupon in this month's All You Magazine, so if you want this shade, or anything from NYC, be sure to clip that coupon before you make a purchase! I picked up Flat Iron Green for just 99 cents, which makes this whole NARS Zulu "dupe" even sweeter!

Moving on to the other new shades in the core collection:

Let's start with the polishes:

Pier 17 is a deep royal blue shimmer, Flat Iron Green is obviously an almost-black green jelly(?), MOMA is very similar to OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti (a purple/mauve/raspberry/plum creme) and Prince Street is a deep purple shimmer. All of these shades are beautiful in person and I have a feeling I'll eventually own them all.

The new shades of the City Duets are neat because they changed the embossed pattern and now it's a big "NYC". The picture above is pretty accurate (obviously you can see that the Bowling Green duo is missing) and I want to note that the NYC Times duo is a true black and a true white (the picture makes it look like it might be dark brown and cream but it's not). Also, from what I could tell, all of these duos are mattes (though I could be wrong).

That's it for this drugstore report! Do you see anything here that you're anxious to get your hands on? What about that Flat Iron Green? If you are lucky enough to own NARS Zulu, do you think it's a close enough match to be called a dupe?