I'M BACK! - kind of

More like... I sort of miss having a web presence (though I moved to Tumblr, it's way more anonymous). Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself Illamasqua's Baptiste - after seeing so many pretty swatches. Once I got it though, I sort of put it in a box (inside of its own box) - because I have way too many polishes. Today I decided to organize my stuff (as well as list up blogsale items!) and realized - what the crap. I use too many dashes.

Also, that Baptiste looks a LOT like China Glaze's Let's Groove.

However, there's a minute difference: let the (crappy/iPhone4) pictures illustrate.

With flash. Can you tell which is which? :P I'll give you a hint, pinky/middle is ChG and index/ring is Illamasqua (there really is no shortening of that name, is there?). There's a slight different, ever so slight.

In the bottle, ChG looks more warm toned, Baptiste looks more... blue. Blurple. Illamasqua doesn't look anything special in the bottle, whereas ChG's shimmers come out more... making it look more interesting. In the bottle, anyway. On the nail, they're both equally interesting IMO.

HOWEVER, I decided that I really don't like Illamasqua's packaging. Do I like squares? Yes. Do I like this packaging? NO.

Not only does the top not fit on squarely (harhar, pun intended) it feels like it's very... thin. Squishy? Like it could break if you used it a lot, or even had it stored the wrong way... like it would mold and bend. ChG is hardy and will not budge. Also, it doesn't go back to being "straight" without some effort - not much, but it takes some. What do I mean? If it's a square bottle, I want the cap and the bottle to be at the same angle when closed. However, when you close the polish, the top swivels slightly past straight... which annoys me all of the 4-5 times I opened and closed it.

Plus, Illamasqua's smooth packaging leads more towards dust and fingerprints, as you can see. If this were FaceBook, I would be pressing the dislike button... or commenting that I wanted a dislike button to press.

In nice super-mega-yellow light. You can still see the slight difference between the two shades.

So, what does that all boil down to?

Availability: ChG Let's Groove came out in Fall 2009. Looks like it's fairly available (clicked on the "shopping" tab of google). Illamasqua Baptiste is always available, but it's $14 per bottle.

Packaging: ChG wins due to aforementioned qualities.

Color: Since I tend to lean more towards cool colors (and more inky black colors as well).... I'd have to say Illamasqua. But I really do love the ChG too! Where it really gets me though is that Baptiste's shimmers seem a little more dimensional - deeper - purple, whereas ChG is definitely fuchsia/pinkypurple.

Brush/handle: ChG wins for the handle. The brushes are actually about the same.

Application: They seemed... about the same. Illamasqua seemed slightly more finicky to me - but maybe that's because I'm not used to the square handle? Either way, both were one-coaters to me (but I prefer slightly thicker coats). I did two anyways just for funsies and it worked out just fine.

Amount: The same for both, .5 fl oz. So, for the price, you can purchase two ChG for one Illamasqua.

Final verdict?

I'm going to wear this mani on my nails for a few days, see about the wear... but overall, I'm pretty sure that I'm sending Baptiste back. No offense Illamasqua, but with ChG around (and not being a HUGE nail nerd), I could use my $14 back. As much as I love you, Baptiste, I don't think the difference between the two is that big of a deal to warrant me having BOTH shades - plus your packaging annoys the crap out of me, haha.

BUT, had I been debating between the two, based on color ALONE, I think I would've chosen Baptiste - IF they were priced the same. But they're not. And that's definitely something I can't ignore, especially with the lesser packaging.

Prepare yourself for more sporadic posting. It is quite annoying to me that I have to switch google accounts to be able to post to this blog though.. so.. we shall see.