Monday, October 24, 2011

A Comparison of 5 Similar Foil Type Polishes

Hello readers! This is my first polish post so I have high expectations and hope that everyone enjoys the comparison between these 5 pretty polishes. I will always try to be as descriptive as possible. Occasionally, I'll have access to a light box to get better photos. All photos were taken using the new iPhone 4S.

My 5 choices I compared:
  • Barielle's 'Brown Sparkles' - A warm silvery taupe melted molten foil 
  • OPI's 'DESIGNER...DE BETTER!' - A mostly silver foil/glitter with sparse ultra fine reddish-pink glitter
  • MAC's 'SOIRÉE' - A copper rose-gold silver foil glitter
  • Orly's 'RAGE' - A pinkish silver foil glitter (slightly less fine than MAC's 'SOIRÉE')
  • OPI's 'ROSY REFLECTION' - A cool pinkish-purple silver foil glitter (similar to that of Orly's 'RAGE') 

Photos of polish in natural sunlight:
Barielle 'Brown Sparkles', OPI 'DESIGNER...DE BETTER!', MAC 'SOIRÉE, Orly 'RAGE', and OPI 'ROSY REFLECTION'

Barielle 'Brown Sparkles', OPI 'DESIGNER...DE BETTER!', MAC 'SOIRÉE, Orly 'RAGE', and OPI 'ROSY REFLECTION'

Photos of polish in artificial light (in bathroom):
Barielle 'Brown Sparkles', OPI 'DESIGNER...DE BETTER!', MAC 'SOIRÉE, Orly 'RAGE', and OPI 'ROSY REFLECTION'

Photos of polish indoors with flash:  
Barielle 'Brown Sparkles', OPI 'DESIGNER...DE BETTER!', MAC 'SOIRÉE, Orly 'RAGE', and OPI 'ROSY REFLECTION'

Photos of polish outside in mostly shade (2 coats each):
Thumb - OPI 'Rosy Reflection' | Index - Orly 'Rage' | Middle - MAC 'Soirée' | Ring - OPI 'Designer...de better' | Pinky - Barielle 'Brown Sparkles'

Photos of polish outside in the sun (2 coats each):
Thumb - OPI 'Rosy Reflection' | Index - Orly 'Rage' | Middle - MAC 'Soirée' | Ring - OPI 'Designer...de better' | Pinky - Barielle 'Brown Sparkles'

 Photos of polish outside 1/2 shade 1/2 sun (2 coats each):
Thumb - OPI 'Rosy Reflection' | Index - Orly 'Rage' | Middle - MAC 'Soirée' | Ring - OPI 'Designer...de better' | Pinky - Barielle 'Brown Sparkles'
Photos of polish indoors with artificial light:
Thumb - OPI 'Rosy Reflection' | Index - Orly 'Rage' | Middle - MAC 'Soirée' | Ring - OPI 'Designer...de better' | Pinky - Barielle 'Brown Sparkles'

Overall what I thought of each polish:
  • Barielle's 'Brown Sparkles' - Nice thick formula, covered almost opaque on the first try, I really liked the brush. The color didn't have very noticeable glitter, appeared most like a foil or chrome polish.
  • OPI's 'Designer...de Better' - Went on sheer at first, covered pretty good after two and would be perfect after three. Offered by far the most light reflective properties and the hints of reddish-pink glitter were quite noticeable. More of a glittery/foil combination. Really shines!
  • MAC's 'Soirée' - A fine glitter foil, again I liked the formula and the brush. It covered almost as good as the Barielle. Not my favorite of the bunch which sucks because I paid a pretty penny for it. Definitely the most 'copper' hued out of the five.
  • Orly's 'Rage' - The glitter appearance is almost identical to that of the MAC shade, but much much more pink. The pinkest hued of all the shades, I'd say it's a bright silvery-pink foil with fine glitter. It covered similar to the MAC but the brush strokes were most apparent in this one. 
  • OPI's 'Rosy Reflection' - A pretty rare shade I had high hopes for and I'd say I like it a good bit but it definitely needs 3 coats just like the other OPI shade I swatched. A more glitter foil with a purple-pink hue. Gorgeous color!
All and all I really enjoyed all 5 shades (good thing since I own them all, huh?!) but my favorite is... just kidding I can't decide. Oddly, the OPI's are the most interesting to me but the Barielle formula and brush are a winning combination! Does anyone own any of these shades? I recommend all of them! (Of course, right!)

Thanks all for reading!

Cheers,
Bridget

 

4 comments:

KDow said...

What the heck! I left a comment two days ago but I don't see it! I SAID that I really like Opi's Rosy Reflection. Maybe you could put price ranges at the end of your entries? I'm curious to see if the most expensive brands have the best brushes and require the least number of coats to look smooth!

Libby's Pink Vanity said...

Comparison posts are my favorite!

bmwmchick said...

KDow - Thanks so much for the feedback, will do!

Kimberly - Mine too! There will be more!

Samantha@Shenailigans! said...

Thanks for this post, it was extremely helpful in my decision of which one of this type of polish to buy, I'm getting Designer De Better!

Post a Comment

I read every single comment and appreciate every one very much. If you ever have any questions, contact me via twitter @bmwmchick or on IG @bmwmchick. Thank you for reading and taking the time to leave a thoughtful comment! ♥