Comparison Friday: Black and White Glitter Toppers

So, I'm writing this post on Thursday to auto post today because I'm at Six Flags with the hubby and a friend!  Yay!  It's been so long since I've been, so I'm pretty excited.  This week's comparison is a bit of a rehash, sort of...  I've already done a comparison here with four black and white glitter toppers, but I've since acquired the mother of all black and white glitter toppers - Lynnderella Connect the Dots!  Every time I hear Connect the Dots I think: 

So, that being said, let's take a look at Connect the Dots versus Cover Band's Sticks 'n Stones!

I purchased all of the polishes in this review.

First, here's a photo of the first comparison in case you don't feel like clicking on the link up top.

And now on to the main event!  First, the similarities.  Well, there's the obvious that they're both black and white with hexes, squares, and bars.  Also, both have some sort of iridescent shimmer to them, but that's pretty much where the similarities end!  All photos are taken with one coat of glitter topcoat over OPI Rumples Wiggin and one coat of topcoat in my old lighting setup.

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots has a densely packed silver iridescent flakie shimmered base where Sticks 'n Stones is in a clear base with larger iridescent glitters.  Furthermore, CtD has several smaller glitters than SnS, too, with a bevy of tiny black hexes.  Application of CtD is easiest of the two, with a great glitter to base payoff.  The glitters come out of the bottle easily without the need for fishing and spread without much manipulation.  There was no danger of flooding my cuticles because I didn't feel the need to load up on polish to get enough glitter on the brush.  Cleanup was easy, and removal wasn't too bad.  You can purchase Lynnderella polishes at their store here, and since Connect the Dots is a mainstay of their core line, you can easily purchase it here!

Sticks 'n Stones

Sticks 'n Stones is lacking in the smaller glitters and the shimmered base as compared to CtD.  It's got a clunkier look as compared to CtD.  Application wasn't that great, to be honest.  The glitter to base ratio is in favor of base instead of glitter.  If you loaded up on glitter on the brush, then you'd definitely have flooding of the cuticles.  So, if you want a more dense look, you'd definitely need more than one coat.  As you can see, the middle of my nails with SnS on them have some bald spots.  That's because the glitters slid down to the sides of my fingers while it was drying.  Not awesome or cute.  Furthermore, I did have to dig some to get the glitters out of the bottle.  You can purchase Sticks 'n Stones from Ninja Polish.

So, it's pretty obvious that my choice is the Lynnderella.  What about you?  Which is your favorite?

I purchased all of the polishes in this review.

Comparison Thursday: Black and White Glitters

Wow, guys!  You kinda rock my face off!!!  Welcome to my new readers who were guided here by Kyoti's Nails' giveaway!  I'm a lucky gal to have so many followers, and I hope to repay you guys once a month (with the reader of the month giveaway).  Let me hear your beautiful voices and see your shiny talons!  If you haven't already, come and check out my Facebook and Twitter pages.  Thanks for coming along for the journey!

Two quick announcements before we get to the comparisons.  Firstly, my big Halloween giveaway is still going!  It ends at midnight on Friday, October 19th, so if you haven't entered, hop to it!  Second, I wanted to announce that I am participating in Kyoti's Nails' Halloween giveaway as well!  My prize is a brand new bottle of OPI Coral Reef, which is a discontinued orange linear holographic polish, plus some Halloween decals, a file, and tons of candy!

There are several bloggers and polish makers involved with this epic giveaway, so go and check out Kyoti's post with all of the prizes.  Enter below or at Kyoti's blog.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok, now let's get on to the comparisons!!  Today, I'm showing you the four black and white glitters I own.  I used Nicole by OPI I'm Be-Cider Myself for undies, which is a peachy-orangey-pinky multichrome polish that, I believe, has been discontinued.  I've had this polish since college, which has been a very long time.  I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep it or sell it...  Needless to say, I'm keeping it.  The polishes I'm comparing today are Cover Band's Sticks 'n Stones (a dupe of Lynnderella Connect the Dots), Candeo Sprouse, Pretty & Polished Valentino, and Dollish Polish Putting on the Ritzzz!

Here are macros of the bottles.

Here they are side-by-side on my hand.

Sticks and Stones is a clear based polish with several sizes of black and white glitter, fine holographic glitters, and black and white bars.  It has the best application of the four.  Plenty of glitter came out on the brush, so I didn't feel like I had to gob it on to get enough to cover my nail.  I've had this polish for several months, and so far the bars show no signs of curling.

Candeo Sprouse has extra fine holographic particles which make the base look a little cloudy, plus various sizes of black and white hexes, black and white bars, and gorgeous blue holographic hexes.  It applied well, spreading out easily without having to dab.  Unfortunately, it did pool a bit, but that was user error.  I wasn't really sure how much I needed to put on to get enough glitter, so I went a little overboard.  Because of the pooling, there are a few bubbles, but most of the cloudiness you see is from the holographic particles.

Pretty & Polished Valentino has fine, medium, and large black hexes and medium and large white hexes.  If you don't like bar glitters and want a black and white glitter polish, this is the one for you.  I had to dab this one to get enough glitter on the nail and to place them where I wanted them.  Since it required a bit of work, I have some bubbling.  I have decided not to keep this one, but if I had kept it, I would apply two thin coats next time instead of trying to pile it all on in one.

Dollish Polish Putting on the Ritzzz! was the hardest one of the four to apply.  The glitters were extremely shy and refused to come out of the bottle despite storing it upside down for hours before I painted the just one nail.  There was significant pooling and bubbling because I tried really hard to get as much glitter onto the nail as possible.  PotR is a clear based polish with three sizes of black and white hexes.  Like Valentino, PotR also does not contain any bar glitter, but, after the application hassle, I would recommend Valentino over PotR any day.

So, there you have it!  I'm constantly trying to weed out the dupes/near dupes, so I have decided to only keep Sprouse and Sticks 'n Stones.  I feel that the pop of blue makes Sprouse just different enough from the regular black and whites to warrant keeping both.  I probably could've tossed Dollish Polish Something's Up with Jack in with these guys, but I totally forgot!  Check out my swatches of Something's Up with Jack here.

Here's purchasing information for the indies: Cover Band can be purchased at Ninja Polish, and you can follow Ninja Polish on Facebook here.  Candeo can be purchased at their store and Llarowe, and you can follow them on Facebook here.  Pretty & Polished can be purchased at their Etsy store and on Llarowe, and you can follow Chelsea on Facebook here.  Lastly, Dollish Polish can be purchased at her store, on Llarowe, and on Overall Beauty, and you can follow her Facebook here.

Don't forget to enter both Halloween giveaways!  There are tons of amazing prizes to be had!  Check back tomorrow for part two of the Dollish This is Halloween collection.  Have a great night, all!

Do you have a black and white glitter from another maker?  Which of my black and white polishes would you rather have?