Of all the beauty brands out there these days, I think the award for most beautiful packaging has to go to Paul & Joe (I mean seriously, these lipsticks?!).
When I saw their Summer 2012 A Midsummer Night's Dream Collection nail polishes, I swooned so hard I think the neighbors heard me. For some reason, only the shades Sprite and Pixie have managed to make their way over to the US (there's another shade called Fairie Queen which I'll talk about in a moment).
So when I saw Sprite on the Urban Outfitters site (which is a great site for viewing beauty products since they feature actual, high-quality close-up images of everything they sell), it was Lemming Number One on my list of summer-must haves:
image source: urbanoutfitters.com
Paul & Joe Nail Polish in Sprite
From the Summer 2012 A Midsummer Night's Dream Collection
But then, I saw this post with swatches of Sprite and, well, lemming killed. BUT, in that same post, I saw swatches of the third (and harder-to-find-in-the-US) shade Fairie Queen. Oh my, the flakie, multi-colored goodness of that polish made me soon yet again.
I'll be the first to admit that $14 for a bottle of polish is pricey. And, to my knowledge, the only site that ships to the US and has Fairie Queen for sale is ASOS. Shipping to the US is free on ASOS, but this polish also retails for $17.40 on the ASOS site.
So here's what I do when feel the urge to splurge: I think long and hard about what I'm about to spend my hard-earned money on, and I survey my stash to make sure that I don't already own something...something that's close or similar to the product in question.
Thankfully I have a beauty blog, so all I had to do was search my own darned blog for flakies and here's what I found: Finger Paints Twisted is close enough for me. Buh-bye, lemming! See ya in a few weeks!
I know I'm all about budget-beauty here on Nouveau Cheap, but even I have my weaknesses, so I guess I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone when it comes to the temptations of higher-end beauty products. We're human and sometimes we cave (even when our finances tell us that we shouldn't). Don't beat yourself up over past beauty splurges, but try to keep in mind that there are so many similar, and less expensive, products on the market that sometimes, you can squash a lemming just by looking at it long enough.
Do you own anything from Paul & Joe? Are you tempted by any other higher-end brands at the moment? And if so, do you find that window-shopping (aka google-image-shopping) helps to curb your urges, or make them stronger?
That flakie looks a lot like the Color Club "Covered in Diamonds" to me(the big chunks anyway) so without the small square pieces. But the colors do seem spot on.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the tip!! :)
DeleteFairy Queen would be reaaaally hard to pass. However, if it is even close to any of those from the same Finger Paints collection that Twisted came from, I'm like 'meh'.
ReplyDeleteSounds like, according to other commenters, it's closer to China Glaze Luxe and Lush (which I already own and swatched a while back--yay!) and Color Club Covered in Diamonds. Do you have either of those? :)
DeleteMy current lemming is OPI's Black Spotted top coat which AFAIK is a France-only release. It's going for $50-$70 on eBay (U.S.) and there's no way I'd pay that. All I can do is hope OPI releases it here, and if they don't that someone else makes a dupe.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I never even knew what that polish was until last week, and I can TOTALLY understand the lemming. It's unlike anything I've ever seen, but when I saw the effect, I had to think to myself, "How long will OPI keep this a France-only release? Are spots going to be the new crackle eventually??". I have no idea of course, but I think that, due to the wild popularity of the French release, it's GOT to come here eventually, and then we'll have a whole wave of copy-cats. Don't ya think? *fingers crossed*
DeleteI just read that it was also available in Poland, and yeah, I've written OPI to beg and grovel that they pleasepleaseplease release it in North America.
DeleteAre you familiar with the French blogger Pshiiit? She did a post with the spotted top coat over the gorgeous red shimmer Sarah from Zoya. Reading the comments, though, it sounds like a lot of people hate the look. I love it, though, and WANT. WANT REAL BAD!
Those are actually completely different kinds of flakies from the Finger Paints flakies (different materials). But China Glaze's Hunger Games polish, Luxe and Lush looks very similar! There's a good swatch here by Rie: http://nailsandnoms.com/2012/03/china-glaze-hunger-games-collection-swatches-part-1/. Also, Color Club Covered in Diamonds (Scrangie's swatch: http://www.scrangie.com/2010/08/color-club-fall-2010-untamed-luxury.html).
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I am not very good at telling myself no with higher-end beauty items, particularly Chanel. I have been getting better, though. I try to think most about how often I'll wear it, and that's helped me pare down.
OMG I actually OWN Luxe and Lush and swatched it here:
Deletehttp://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2012/02/swatchfest-six-colors-from-china-glaze.html
Hahahaha! Well, thanks for killing my lemming AGAIN! :)
When China Glaze's Hunger Games polish, Luxe and Lush, came out it already had a dupe: Color Club "Covered in Diamonds":
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Sometimes there is nothing new under the sun. ;-)
Fairy Queen looks like Luxe & Lush from ChinaGlaze (the hunger games collection). Icing has to glitter flakies like that too, though the bases are sliightly tinted...
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful! I always ALWAYS try to find a cheaper alternative. My mom likes to splurge and buy the "Original". Case in point: Browsing Nordstrom's nail polish, my mom insists she has to have Candy Shop by Deborah Lippman. I tried to talk her out of it and drag her over to Claire's, but she said, "I'm 64 and I want the real thing, its ok!" haha and she doesn't spend much on herself besides her growing nail polish collection, really! I got her hooked :) So the next day I trotted over to Claire's and got the dupe ;)
ReplyDeleteOh man, as an English lit grad student focusing on the early modern period... something called "Fairie Queen" is hard for me to pass up for sentimental reasons! This is a dangerous (to my wallet!) intersection of my interests right here... Nooooooo!!! It's instances like this where I tend to splurge, when I know that the dupe won't fulfill that psychological desire for the item. However, luckily for me, I can talk myself into a dupe in most instances! Now, off to try to forget that this nail polish exists... *goes back to reading Shakespeare*
ReplyDeleteI always prefer to find cheap dupes of expensive products. :D Or sometimes I try to franken them. I really wanted Essie Bikini so Teeny, but I don't usually spend $8 on a single nail polish, and I've read very conflicting reports about the formula, so I started mixing my own version yesterday morning. I'm going to take it to CVS tonight and see how close it is to the original. XD
ReplyDeleteI've seen a couple of those shard glitter topcoats at Icing, so if you want more colors you might want to check there.
I have one of Paul & Joes cat lipsticks, and I honestly LOVE it to death. I think that this is one product worth the splurge! (along with the UD Naked palette!) BUT, I'm so glad you made this post. I don't have the budget to buy only high end products, so I love drugstore products and inexpensive indie products (like Fyrinnae, Makeup Geek, Glamour Doll Eyes, Darling Girl, etc). Sometimes I get a lemming for a product soooo much, but I just can't afford it. So thank you for showing me I'm not alone! :)
ReplyDeleteBrowsing on the Internet definitely helps kill my lemmings! Otherwise I might be broke by now. ;) Occasionally, I will make a splurge purchase.
ReplyDeletePaul & Joe products that I want are usually sold out before I get to them! And yes, $14 is a lot for a polish... BUT, if the polish is unique, then I think it is worth splurging on! I gravitate towards less expensive polishes, but will spent $13-$20 on something pretty from Nfu Oh or Rescue Beauty if I can't find anything similar. Still a small splurge compared to other indulgences. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, Faire Queen is gorgeous~~ And packaging is so pretty and cute!
ReplyDeleteBut I don't own many flakies at all.
I'm gonna check out the flakies post (with the Finger Paints) you linked instead. ^^
And China Glaze's Luxe & Lush and Color Club's Covered in Diamonds. Thx for the links, everybody!!~
I'm pretty good at not splurging on many higher-end brands. I usually read reviews and look at plenty of swatches before I decide to buy something. And I wait for sales.
I must have missed the whole flakies trend. Now I want the twisted one xD
ReplyDeleteI almost spent my entire sponsorship money on just a handful of P&J polishes, trying to look up swatches for them and since I couldn't find them I wanted them even more (bad blogger, lol!). Well, I let them sit in my cart for a week and I went back and decided, no, I'd rather have armfuls of mini SpaRitual polishes than a handful of P&J polishes. I love my SpaRitual polishes, and I haven't even thought of the P&J polishes I *thought* I needed :)
ReplyDeleteI always give my lemmings some time to sit, within a week I don't feel that stinging urge to buy buy buy :)
I've recently started mixing my own eyeshadow colors ( hey, am I the only one here whose not obsessed with nail polish?? Lol I guess it's because I work all day with latex gloves on so that totally kills any nailpolish dreams...I digress) so mixing your own Es is a ton Of fun and it's great to be able to customize your own cosmetics, and know what's going into what u put on ur face :-) I've saved alot already because I've resisted spending alot in sephora bc now I can pretty much look at a color I like and make something pretty darn similar at home !!
ReplyDeleteI noticed I was getting a lot of traffic from this site and found this post - thank you so much for linking to me :) It sucks that you don't get Fairie Queen! I hope you manage to get your hands on it as it is truly beautiful :) x
ReplyDeleteMy blog name has changed so this post can now be found at http://maliberrymakeup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/paul-and-joe-summer-2012-nail-enamels.html x
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