Tonight I have three polishes from Color Club's Fall 2013 Girl About Town collection to show you!
First, is Color Club- Pearl District:
Pearl District is a brassy-bronze shade with a metallic shimmer finish. I purchased this knowing it would look icky against my skin, but I couldn't resist since it reminds me of tiger's eye quartz.
Artificial light, two coats:
In a weird, fugly way, this color is very beautiful; it's just not going to flatter every skintone, unfortunately.
Window-filtered daylight:
Outside, shade:
Sun:
Formula: Thin and on the sheerer side; it might flood your cuticles if care is not taken to avoid that. Still, it doesn't cuticle drag, and it built up to full opacity in two coats with minimal brushstrokes.
I didn't have any good polishes for comparison with Pearl District!
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Next, here is Color Club- Williamsburg:
Williamsburg is a rich, midnight blue with dense, royal blue glassfleck shimmer. The base color actually has a teal quality, as well...so midnight-teal, if that's a thing.
Artificial light, two coats:
Window-filtered daylight:
It's an absolutely stunning shade of deep blue, and easily my favorite out of these three.
Outside, shade:
Sun:
Formula: Medium-thin consistently, but pigmented, and glides on evenly. The base is almost jelly-like. You could easily wear this at one coat- it's that pigmented and non-streaky- but I chose to show it at two to demonstrate full opacity. Beautiful formula, overall.
Quick Comparison!
left to right: Color Club- Williamsburg, Essie- Midnight Cami, Illamasqua- Phallic
Artificial light:
Outside shade (and overexposed to show detail):
You can probably tell from the above photo that the base of Color Club- Williamsburg is more teal-leaning than the other two. Illamasqua- Phallic and Essie- Midnight Cami both have bases that lean more indigo in comparison. Additionally, the shimmer in Williamsburg and Phallic is much more "glassflecky" than what's in Midnight Cami.
Conclusion: There are no true dupes here, but these three can be indistinguishable in low light. However, if you're looking for a more affordable version of Illamasqua- Phallic, Williamsburg is a great option!
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Last, is Color Club- The Uptown:
The Uptown is a purple jelly base filled with rainbow holographic flakies which mostly come off as red-orange in person, although you do notice green and yellow toward the edges of the nail.
Artificial light, two coats:
The flakies in The Uptown aren't the shiftiest rainbow flakies I've ever seen, but I don't even care because the combination of the warm orange/ pink against the purple base is really gorgeous!
Window-filtered daylight:
Outside, shade:
Hnnnnnnnngg...
Sun:
Formula: Sheer (it is a jelly), and does smell sort of strongly. However, it goes on smoothly and the base carries the flakies well. Three coats would probably be perfectly opaque, but I used two since I like a squishy jelly look...and really it was close enough for me. Actually I really sort of liked it at one coat also.
Quick Comparison!
left to right: Nfu*Oh- 51, Color Club- The Uptown
When I wore The Uptown, it immediately reminded me of the famous Nfu*Oh- 51. Let's take a look-
Artificial light:
From left to right is Color Club- The Uptown 1 coat over black, The Uptown 1 coat over white; The Uptown 3 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat, respectively. Then, Nfu*Oh- 51 at 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats; then, Nfu*Oh- 51 1 coat over black.
You can see, that at 1 coat, these two polishes are very similar, although the density of flakies is a bit different (they're denser in The Uptown). Additionally, the base colors of each polish are subtly different. The base of Nfu*Oh- 51 is slightly more of a red-toned purple, and The Uptown has a cooler toned base.
Outside, shade:
Up close, over black:
Above, you can see that the quality of the flakies in each polish are different; Nfu*Oh- 51's flakies are slightly smaller, less chunky, and less dense within its base than the flakies in The Uptown, which are chunkier and more dense in its own base.
Also, you may notice that the color shift is slightly different. It's subtle, but 51 is slightly more red-pink, probably due to the base difference.
Conclusion: These two aren't perfect dupes, but they're pretty damn close, and I can see myself reaching for Color Club- The Uptown when I don't want to deplete my precious Nfu*Oh- 51 !
wow! very interesting collection and great swatches! Thank you!
ReplyI have nfu oh 51 and cult nails seduction, and I think The Uptown will be good company for them)
Never too many flakies, lol!
oh wow! I love the colors but I have (almost) dupes or better versions :) So even though I love the colors I think I can pass ;)
ReplyI kind of enjoy that feeling...your wallet can breathe a sigh of relief! :)
Williamsburg is gorgeous <3
ReplyI thought so too!
Woah, The Uptown looks amazing.
ReplyIt is! Especially if you don't already have something similar. :)