Really Deep

Today's comparison is a perfect illustration of why I either need to exercise a great deal more self-restraint in beauty supply stores or just admit I'm basically running a nail polish museum in my bedroom closet. The topic is vampies, namely OPI Naughty or Nice, China Glaze Naughty and Nice (ChG doesn't make you choose), Finger Paints Shades of Dark, and OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. These are all dark, dark cremes, so dark it's hard to tell if they're purple or plum or burgundy or what. They all look pretty much the same in the bottle.



I bought Lincoln Park After Dark partly for the name (I grew up near Chicago) and partly because it seems like this one is a classic that any complete stash should have. I have no idea when or why I got Shades of Dark; I'm sure I had a good reason at the time. Naughty or Nice I got because I had all but two of this year's Orly holiday collection, and I do love a complete set. Naughty and Nice I bought because I wanted to compare it to Naughty or Nice, since both were released about the same time. If I had more fingers on my photo hand, I could have added more deep darks into this mix, but let's just focus on these four.



Top to bottom: Naughty or Nice, Naughty and Nice, Shades of Dark, Lincoln Park After Dark.

I used two coats of all of these. If one of these things is not like the others, it's the China Glaze, which is redder, more of a berry base color. Finger Paints is the darkest, such a deep purple it might as well be black as far as I can tell. The Orly and OPI are the closest to each other, both just a touch less dark of a purple than the Finger Paints. It's really hard to see the differences in normal room light, though, so here is an overexposed flash picture:



I'm thinking I can probably let go of the Finger Paints and the Orly (if the OPI didn't come from the Chicago collection, I'd keep the Orly and give up the OPI because I like the Orly bottles better) but not until I do a vampy nail wheel for documentation purposes.