Elianto Brown

I swear this looked like a creme in the bottle! It's actually a brown jelly, how weird is that?

It's a four-coater, but it dries to an impossibly glossy shine that reminds me of chocolate glazed donuts.

The Black Russian Dupe

(aka My Halloween Mani)

RBL's Black Russian is at the top of my list of dream polishes. Red glitter on a blackish burgundy base is such an awesome combination! I'm not too keen on paying a whopping $18.00 plus shipping for just ONE measly bottle of polish though, so the real thing will have to stay a dream (for now LOL).

This is what I wore to a small Halloween gathering last Saturday:

Already pretty close to the original, yes? Wait til you see it with a layer of Elianto's Grape Wine:

So ladies, do we have a dupe or DO WE HAVE A DUPE? :D

If you're not convinced yet, have a look at the swatch of the real thing here.

This "dupery" was made possible with two coats of Orly Goth topped with a layer of Winmax Nail Enamel #11, and of course, finished off with Grape Wine.

Elianto Grape Wine

Was studying for three big exams when I swatched this, so I only had time for one finger.

This is an awesome blood red jelly three-coater, though.

The way the color pools around the edges is really pretty and gives the polish more depth.

It's almost as if you dipped your nails in real blood. I should've worn this last Halloween!

Chic: Neon Green

This is a local brand which seems to specialize in neon colors. (At least that's what I observed at the drugstore I visited.) I already had some close matches to most of its shades, except for this vivid green one:

This kind of green reminds me of highlighter ink!

The polish is a jelly, and takes four coats to reach opacity because of that.

What's nice about it is that it dries super quickly even without a quick-dry topcoat.

The Face Shop: Red Sparkle

The second polish in Vintage Face Shop II is a super cute red jelly glitter. Jelly polishes and glitter polishes are already awesome enough on their own, but I think they're even more amazing when combined.

It's quite sheer, unlike Skin Food's one-coat-wonder glitterbombs,

but it builds up very nicely in three coats.

In their current line, the closest polish to this would have to be OR204.

The Face Shop: Pure Green

I used to wear this turquoise blue-green a lot two years ago. Like yesterday's Hot Pink, it's also very similar to an Elianto polish I previously posted about.

The years have not been kind to this polish. Application was terribly lumpy, which is sad because Fluorescent Orange and Hot Pink weren't.

Still, it looked pretty okay in the end. Hard to put on, though.

In the current line, the closest color to this would be GR502, although that one is shimmery.

Part II of Vintage Face Shop will be posted the week after next. I think I need to grow my nails out a bit more for those colors!

The Face Shop: Hot Pink

Like Elianto, The Face Shop also has a Hot Pink. (Or should that be the other way around, since The Face Shop is much older? XD)

Unlike Elianto's blue-toned creme version, however, theirs is a warm-toned jelly:

Like Fluorescent Orange (and most other TFS polishes), this one reaches "Pretty!" in 3 coats.

In their current line, I suppose this polish's equivalent would be PK106.

The Face Shop: Fluorescent Orange

Welcome to the first half of the Nail Polish Ninja's third polish series! Vintage Face Shop will feature discontinued polishes from The Face Shop's line. These TFS veterans actually have names unlike their newer counterparts!

You know how they say warm colors increase your appetite? Well, this pretty orange jelly makes me want to eat my nails.

Yum. Shiny (and totally edible looking) in three coats.

OR203 is this polish's closest approximate in the current line.

Sneak Peek: Vintage Face Shop I

This two-part series focuses on my very first Face Shop polishes, which I bought at their pioneer branch at Bonifacio High Street way back in 2006.

Their old packaging is very similar to Elianto's, isn't it?