I have a super pretty polish to show you for today's ABC Challenge. The letter for today was "U" and I dug out this China Glaze color that I haven't used since I originally got it. It's called Unpredictable and it's from the New Bohemian collection.  The collection was made up of mostly duo chromes and this is no exception.  It's a green to blue shift and it's just gorgeous. I also loved that these have some shimmer to them and an overall metallic effect so they're just really cool from all angles. This is two coats of Unpredictable and it's got a pretty flawless application. Happy to fall in love with this one all over again!

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Kerrie had for the letter "U"!

It's time for the letter "P" for my ABC Challenge!  This one was a no brainer for me.  My husband got it for me for Christmas and I'm just NOW getting around to wearing it.  I was skeptical of it at first....purple isn't always my cup of tea.  But this polish IS. STUNNING.  The shift in it is VERY obvious and really super cool.  It changes in different lights and has a really neat kind of metallic sheen to it.  The above picture was taken in natural light. It's sort of a deep purple with a pinkish lean to it although you can see some grey-ish green creeping along the edges too.  Now let's see how it looks in artificial light, shall we?

Check out that bronze/green shift!  It's a very unique polish and unlike anything else I have in my stash!  Do you have Private Dancer?  

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Kerrie have for the letter "P"!

Is there anything better than nail mail?  I would normally disclose this subtly at the end of my post BUT I want to draw your attention to a wonderful website and seller.  The website is called Overall Beauty and they sell all kinds of great polishes, like the Ozotic I'm going to show you today.  I was given this polish to give an honest review on and when I opened the package I expected the one polish and perhaps a business card.  I found an extra polish, a few nail wheels, a business card AND a handwritten personal card. I literally was blown away.  It's such a sweet surprise.  And now onto the gloriousness of this Ozotic.

I flaked on a bottle shot. I suck, I know. I meant to go back and take one but I already have a TON of pics of this bad boy so here is a lovely stock photo.  This is Ozotic 901, Sugar.  These new Ozotics....well really MOST Ozotics in my opinion, are NOT meant to be worn on their own.  They have a really amazing ability to change before your eyes over other colors.  However, just to be thorough I went ahead and put two coats on my nail so you can see the pretty crystals.

As you can see it gives your nails a nice pink, shimmery effect but it's nothing exciting.  If you click the picture to blow it up you'll really be able to see the glass flecks in this and even though it's pretty tame looking right now it's absolutely STUNNING the way these shimmer.  The color feels very princess like when it's on it's own.  Now let me take you over to the dark side...muahahahaha....

Quite the transformation, no?  It's still has a pink effect although I think it leans almost purple over black.  This is ONE coat over Zoya Raven.  Because there are SO many gorgeous angles to this polish I have a few more pics for you to drool over...

and some close-ups...

There is a pretty strong duochrome effect on this polish. It leans mostly gold but you can catch flecks of blue through it as well.  Now for some extra fun because black is definitely not your only color option for these polishes!!

Here we have one coat of Sugar over Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Models Own Moody Grey, and Zoya Purity.  It's still giving off the pink/gold duochrome effect on the grey although it's less obvious than on the black.  The pink is nice but it looks more like a pink and purple shimmer which is a bit sickly girly to me!  And then we have the white.  It sort of looks pearly over the white.  It has a shimmery effect but just a hint of pink.  Here are some closer looks at these colors:

So by now I'm sure you've all heard of the elusive OPI Spotted polish.  It was a limited release, only available at Sephora.fr.  For whatever reason, in the US (and all other countries to my understanding) we got saddled with yet ANOTHER shatter polish (though, admittedly a pretty sparkly teal!) to go alongside our Spiderman collection.  Yet France got this amazing gem.  It's not really a shatter but it definitely has a sort of similar 'spread' effect on the nails.  One thing I learned very quickly with this polish is that it definitely doesn't apply like shatter!  Spotted is VERY thin and if you use more than a bit it runs all over the place.  You can't just apply it either. In order to get the best spots you need to repeatedly run the brush over the wet polish until you get a nice amount of little bubbles.  They do change a tiny amount as well as the polish dries.  But despite a bit of a learning curve, I'm totally loving the effect on the nails!  I tried it over several things including neons!! But I think I liked it best over this duo-chrome, also from the Spiderman collection, called Just the Spotted Lizard.  An apparent dupe for Chanel Peridot, this polish shifts from green to gold and it looked SUPER cool under the spotted. VERY lizard like!  

Thanks for following! Do you like Spotted more than Shatter?

It's time for another edition of Dupes Up! This weeks contenders:

Barry M Silvery Lilac

Retail Cost: £2.99 (approximately $4.75)

vs.

OPI: Not Like the Movies

Retail Cost: $8.50

I just recently got this Barry M and a lot of people online have compared it to butterLONDON's Knackered which I have yet to snag.  When I got it though, I was more drawn to a different polish in my collection: Not Like the Movies.  Now, I'll start by saying there are TWO versions of the OPI color Not Like the Movies.  One is a duo chrome which was released with the original Katy Perry Collection.  The other is a silver version which came a bit later.  I have the duo chrome version and that's the one I'm comparing today.

Here is a close-up of the bottles.  Both have a silver base with a lilac/green duo chrome.  The OPI looks like it has MUCH more of a color change in this shot. You can clearly make out the purple as it shifts from green to silver.  The Barry M looks more of a silver/lilac without much change in between the two.  They both also have silver micro glitter throughout.

So here's the lowdown:  First of all, the Barry M had a much better formula, which is surprising given it's a drugstore brand vs. a salon brand.  I only needed two coats of the Barry M for coverage and I needed three of the OPI.  Both were still a smidgen sheer but I think that's just the way this polish is meant to be.  This photo was taken in natural light.  Both have a silver to lilac shift, shimmery silver flecks, and a slight greenish tinge at the edges.  I showed them to numerous people and none could tell a difference, not even my husband who is well trained in the art of differentiating polishes from one another!  The Barry M is on the index and ring finger, while the OPI is on the other two. The OPI looks a BIT darker in this photo but it's not really. If you blow this up (just click it!) you can see that they're the same.  You'll also notice the OPI is a bit streaky though it's not noticeable in person.  There is also a VERY slight shift more towards green on the OPI where the Barry M is more lilac than greenish.  But for all reasonable intents...these are the same in my book.

Verdict: Dupes. Yes there are some VERY SLIGHT differences (the streaks in the OPI, the TINY shift more towards green.)  but honestly, on the nails the differences are not noticeable at all. So I feel comfortable labeling these dupes.

Availability: Barry M Silvery Lilac is available at Boots, Superdrug, and BarryM.com.  OPI Not Like the Movies was part of the now defunct Katy Perry Collection and can no longer be purchased in stores.  It has limited availability online but there are TWO versions.

Wondering how these stack up against another silvery lilac duo chrome, Zoya Ki? Debbie has you covered over at The Crumpet!