Nubar in Petunia Sparkle + Comparisons

Indirect sunlight

Sorry for my absence around here the past week - it's my last few days before I go back to school, so I'm trying to take advantage of them! Also, I spent 5 days trying to accurately capture this polish. Yes, I picked another hard-to-photograph polish, but it is an irresistible choice for when the sun is shining all day - it is the polish I have gotten the most compliments on ever. Literally every place I go someone compliments me on my polish, and I rarely get in-person compliments on my nails. This special polish is Nubar in Petunia Sparkle.

Petunia Sparkle was released with the Spring 2010 "Sparkles" collection, which is an amazing collection of opaque-coverage glitters with the most insane - you guessed it - sparkle, imaginable. Nubar has kind of dropped off the radar in the past few years in terms of hype, but they remain a really solid, dependable brand. Their polish is reasonably priced and has a very nice formula, they generally don't have limited-edition items so you don't have to frenzy yourself into a purchase, their website has fairly accurate pictures, and as a brand they really seem to try to fill in that every-color-of-the-rainbow gap with their line. They first came to my attention with their duochromes (some of which are now discontinued) - check out Scrangie for great swatches. Some of my absolute favorites polishes from them are Pasadena Purple (probably my favorite purple ever), their "Chocolate Truffled" collection, their "Fortress" collection, Indigo Illusion, Purple Beach, Wildlife, Greener, Violet Sparkle, Pink Cami, and of course, Petunia Sparkle. I haven't paid much attention to them lately, but they still produce some of my favorite polishes.

The formula on Petunia is great for a glitter. It's too opaque to use to layer with, but I used 2 medium coats and got full coverage. It lays down a nice, even coat, so you don't have to play around with the glitter placement, and it's not a thick formula. I topped my nails with 2 coats of Gelous (my Gelous was pretty thinned, since it was almost empty, and I used thinner to fill it back up halfway, so you might only need 1 coat) and 1 coat of Seche Vite, and it was glass-smooth. I really like the Nubar brushes, but this one was a bit bushier than normal, so I had less control near the cuticle. I just cleaned up with an orange stick and then scrubbed off any stray glitter with a nail brush when I washed my hands in the morning. Over 7 days of wear, I had extremely minimal tip-wear. Other than that, the only way you could tell that this wasn't a fresh mani was nail growth at the the cuticle.

This polish is so sparkly that it's mind-boggling how simple fine fuchsia glitter can result in a finish this insanely reflective. If you own Lynnderella in Telltale Heart, the glitter looks similar in color according to More Nail Polish. The glitter in polishes like Deborah Lippmann in Bad Romance or Revlon in Facets of Fuchsia/Scandalous is a little more purple. I did have to color-correct the photos in this post using Photo Studio, but I only used it to correctly portray the color of the polish (my photos had too much blue in them). For reference, below is the same photograph; the first one is color-corrected, the second is the original. Worn August 24 - 30, 2012.

Indirect sunlight (top photo is color accurate)

Indirect sunlight

Indirect sunlight

Flash

This photo shows what Petunia looks like when I just try to take a normal flash photo using white balance! The top four were the closest to accurate I got out of around 250 photos - and I still had to color-correct them!

Direct sunlight

I apologize for how INSANE my skin looks in this picture, but I wanted to show how sparkly the polish is and had to color-correct it to make it less purple.

Left to right: Milani in #524 Purple Gleam, Orly in Bubbly Bombshell, Nubar in Petunia Sparkle

Milani in #524 Purple Gleam is much darker than Petunia Sparkle and it has two different tones of glitter, but it is the same size glitter and has the same full coverage in 2 coats. It is definitely not as sparkly as Petunia. Orly in Bubbly Bombshell is very similar in color, the base of the glitter is the same size as that of Petunia, but it is a warmer pink, although they are closer than the second photo depicts (Petunia is much warmer, as shown in the first comparison photo). There are also medium hexagonal glitters in Bubbly Bombshell that are the same color as Petunia. It also has full coverage, though it needs an additional coat. Even though Bubbly Bombshell is similar in color to Petunia, it is so much less sparkly than Petunia, so I would say they aren't comparable as dupes.

Most of the blogs I follow don't have this polish swatched, but here are some color-accurate ones I've found: Fleur de Force, Musical Houses (photoshopped picture), Ivana Thinks Pink. Vampy Varnish, Scrangie (2nd photo is most accurate) and Temptalia (3rd photo is most accurate) also have pretty color-accurate pictures, but they don't capture the insane amount of sparkle this polish has. Beautopia has a nice picture and a video.

Do you love Petunia Sparkle as much as me? What's your favorite opaque glitter?