Friday 3 December 2010

When nail-polish hits your wallet

Another one of my attemps to do topic-related picture, bear with me.

Hey everyone! How are you? It's freezing in Ljubljana, I had to walk way too much around in this weather, I'd say! Almost fell once, humpf! At least the buses always arrived fast. :) I'm in a chatty mood today! So, you know the drill, put those kettles on, boil some water or milk, get warm tea or hot cocoa and let's talk some nail polish! I'm curious about this topic because I've met so many different opinions on it, I want to hear yours too. 

It's about brands and prices of nail-polish. We all know nail-polish can be sooo cheap or so insanely expensive, you halt for a moment, asking yourself if you really just spent so much money on just one bottle. It goes from under 1 euro and all the way up to 30€, even more, if you're searching for rareties on ebay. Of course, with the price comes the name too. And my question to you now is: do you prefer to buy the brand, although for more money or you don't care about it? For instance: Essence has a dupe of Zoya, OPI and Orly, as you all know. Would you prefer the other three just because they're brands and you feel better buying them? Ok, Essence has shitty brush, let's say Catrice dupe of Chanel. Chanel for sure, or are you just happy Catrice has a decent dupe?

Before I start, I feel I must emphasize one point of this chat. It seems as one of those questions, that have the right answer. You know: no, I don't care, I'm not that "posh". Please don't think that. I honestly want your opinion and I do not judge those who prefer brands nor do I look down on people who prefer only cheaper polish. I honestly think it's your money and your choice, you don't need to apologize to anyone about anything. I'm not saying that you do, just that I want your opinion on subject, and I don't want you to think about this as a given, right/wrong answer.

As for me, thing is, if I see beautiful colour, I don't care about the name and most of the time for the price. I'm a total nail-polish junkie, if I want it, I feel like I need it, you know what I mean? But. I do differ my polishes if I prefer the brush of one brand. Essence loses with me just about every single time. But I do love brushes of Catrice and S-he. 
I do have a borderline about the price. First, I can't afford, with my student budget, to buy very expensive polish every other day, second, I don't want to. Honestly, Chanel, Dior and so on have prices so high, I don't think they can make colour perfect enough for me to spend that amount of money. But then again, it might be like with Illamasqua - once you try it, you never go back. :)

Second thing that I notice about myself - I appreciate expensiver polish more than the cheaper one. It's silly, but I do. Perhaps because I know I can buy another bottle of S-he anytime I'm near DM, but if I break BB Couture, I'll have to wait for quite a while before I can afford another one. Not to mention some of my jewels were gifts from people close to me. Illamasqua was a birthday gift from my dear Tevta and means the world to me, BB Couture from my BF, I must tell you about this one, it's a new one! And so on and so forth. And I do have favourites, I won't lie. Brands that I prefer over others, but that's because of the amount of really awesome colours, very good brush, and sometimes even bottle shape. I'm a sucker for nice bottles. And in my favourites you have all kind of price range. From Illamasqua to China Glaze to Catrice.

So, where do you stand? Do you have a special polish, that means more to you than others? Even brand? Make this monologue a dialogue, will you? :) 

Hope you like the topic and chat away, my darlings!

Thank you for reading!

12 comments:

  1. Buduci da sam i ja na studentskom budjetu preferiram jeftinije lakove jer ne zelim zrtvovat druge stvari u zivotu da bi kupila skuplji lak, biti ce vremena i za to. Trenutno radije imam puno jeftinih stvari i probavam raznorazne boje da vidim sto mi bolje pristaje i koje boje vise volim. Jednom kad zakljucim da mi se nesto svidja onda mogu traziti i skuplje varijante, koje dolaze u obzir jedino ako su i kvalitetnije. Nemam zelju punit necije bankovne racune samo radi imena.

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  2. Više volim jeftinije lakove jer ih onda mogu imati puuuuno. ;) I ako se zgusne ili bočica razbije ili nešto treće manje mi je žao nego da sam dala hrpu love za lak i onda se nešto dogodi..Grrrr..

    Moram priznati kad sam prvi put kupila 3 Zoya laka da me malo grizla savjest koliko sam to dala za 3 laka, a koliko sam tek jeftinijih mogla kupiti za to. ali sad mi više nije žao. Odredila sam si da više od 50kn (10$) ne dam za lak i to je to.

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  3. Nfu-Oh 44 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 45 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 49 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 51 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 52 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 53 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 55 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 56 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    Nfu-Oh 60 10,00 Affinity 5 3.6.2009
    OPI ? 10,00 darilo 15.7.2010
    OPI DS Glamour 10,00 Sparkling Nails by Jewels 5 15.1.2009
    OPI Maine-iac mauve 10,00 Sparkling Nails by Jewels 4.5.2010
    OPI I only drink champagne 10,00 Lemon darilo 15.7.2010
    Scratch 405 Green Gold 10,00 Stockholm 27.12.2009
    Scratch 504 Jewellery box Brown Sugar 10,00 Stockholm 27.12.2009
    OPI Concord Grape 11,00 Sparkling Nails by Jewels 5 15.1.2009
    Face Stockholm ? Green shimmer 12,00 Stockholm 27.12.2009
    Face Stockholm 60 Dark Teal 12,00 Stockholm 27.12.2009
    Face Stockholm 12,00 Stockholm 27.12.2009
    MAC Bad fairy 12,00 Lemon darilo 17.9.2010
    MAC Formidable! 12,00 Lemon darilo 17.9.2010
    MAC Mean & Green 12,00 Lemon darilo 17.9.2010
    OPI Black Tie Optional 12,00 Sparkling Nails by Jewels 5 9.6.2009
    Illamasqua Hectic 13,00 London 17.2.2010
    Illamasqua Milf 13,00 London 17.2.2010
    Illamasqua Muse 13,00 London 17.2.2010
    Illamasqua Rampage 13,00 London 17.2.2010
    OPI Eat'n Eggplant 14,00 Sparkling Nails by Jewels 5 15.1.2009

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  4. I hope you don't mind me posting this exerpt from my list of nailpolishes. These are the most expensive ones. MACs were given to me, so I had no upper hand on it (although I was sooo glad because I got them before the official sale started). Nfu-oh I have to have, and these were bought from the only european seller that would ship to me (back then).
    Others were mainly bought on my trips to London and Stockholm (this is why they were expensive, heh heh).
    I am at peace with the fact I will (probably) never own a Chanel, or other high end nailpolishes. At the price they are selling them, I could not care less. Maybe one day I will make a swap with someone who would want to get rid of them, than maybe....
    Or perhaps, just like I got my RBLs and BB Coutures, a sale of Diors will happen :D

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  5. Kupujem cenejše lake, razen če je kak poseben...
    Mogoče bo potem, ko bom v službi drugače :)

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  6. Lendoxia, hvala i slažem se sa tobom, super naćin izbora boja imaš. :)

    Lalica, i to je dobar sistem - i kad kupiš Zoyo nikad ti ne smije biti žao, Zoya je perfektna, posebno na tvojih noktih. :) Hvala i za tvoje mišljenje.

    Erzebeth, thank you for such an expansive reply! And yeah, that'll probably be the only way for me to by Dior, Chanel and so on, too. Although I can't think of one colour made my them I'd really like to have. Hm. Otherwise, I must admit I'm a bit surprised at your top paid list, I thought you gave much more for some lemmings. :) So no need to have bad feeling about it. :D

    Katkoc, jaz tudi tako pravim! ;) Takrat ob več cekinov tudi za lake. Hvala ti za komentar!

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  7. Mene jezi, da so pri nas laki tako dragi. :( Zato se raje poslužim Essence, ker me do danes še niso razočarali. :) Od dražjih... Mislim, da sem malce več odštela le za MAAH, ker sem ga res želala imeti pa je bil povsod že skoraj razprodan in za Suedkota, to je bil moj prvi OPI.

    Ampak neumno se mi zdi, da so laki v ZDA tako poceni, pri nas pa 4× dražji. :/ Zato se raje poslužim swapa. :) Za kakšen res poseben odtenek bi sicer še odštela malce več, ampak še vseeno raje dobro premislim in prespim, ker k pride do lakov ne razmišljam več razumno. xD

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  8. Ivana, se čisto strinjam, cene lakov so pri nas res trapaste. Glede na to, da še vedno prideš ceneje skozi, če naročiš iz ZDA s poštnino vred, je to res absurd. Pa mislim, da bi jim bilo pametneje, če bi znižali ceno, ker bi potem ljudje dejansko kupovali veliko več kot sedaj pri njih. Ampak kakor želijo ... Swapi so pa vsekakor odlična ideja, ja! In mislim, da super rešitev, za kaj pa imamo globalizacijo, če ne za tovrstne zadeve. :D

    Glede razumnosti okoli lakov bom pa jaz raje tiho ... na nujni WL imam okoli 30 BB Couturjev. In sem že nekajkrat prespala. Mislim, da mi ni pomoči. ;)

    Hvala za komentar in mnenje!

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  9. Glede cen lakov imam trenutno mejo 15€. Mislim, da so bili do 15€ tudi najdražji laki v moji zbirki - OPI, Illamasqua, MAC. Imam celo en Chanel, ampak tisto je nadlak in je bil prav tako okrog 15€. Od Chanela bi imela mogoče samo še Paradoxal, drugače pa ne dam kaj dosti na znamke. Essence, Catrice, Depend - tudi to je kul in zna biti kvalitetno. :P

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  10. Interesting topic!

    I used to buy cheaper nail polishes (about $1-$2 Australian Dollars) but they dried up quickly, didnt last very long, got clumpy, and stained my nails (like if I used a blue... after removing it with nailpolish remover my nails were blue!)

    I didn't really want to spend much on nail polish because I didnt think it was worth it

    that was... until recently!

    I mean, not too much - like Chanel, Dior - I dont think i would spend THAT much ... i think i wont be able to justify it! Im a student myself!

    But midrange - OPI & china glaze & Essie (they run about $15-$20 a bottle here) - I must say the quality is great - no clumps, no lumps,when applying :)

    great blog! following! :)

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  11. In fact - it depends. For me the most important are colours (effects) and lasting. The second is the price. I don't buy Chanel - I don't feel any polish is worth such much. Especially is not extremely lasting on my nails (I checked ;)). In the same time I don't like Essence Color&Go very much - it's cheap, has a lot of beautiful colours, but lasting... 1 day is too litlle for me (2 is ok :)).

    I love China Glaze - good price, very good quality and wonderful colours. But sometimes I'd like to buy Orly or OPI - they have higher price, but some of their colors (or rather effects) are great - so I pay for that effect :)

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  12. Kaneli, jaz imam tudi tam tam mejo. Morda 20€, ampak bi res moral biti hardcore perfection. Nekaj, kar bi me ganilo do solz ob gledanju swatchev. :D

    Lara, hello and welcome to my blog! Thank you for sharing your opinion, and yes, I completely agree. OPI, CG, Essie, that price range is great, because you really get an awesome quality for the price. Sadly, they are all very expensive in Slovenia, but we can still get it cheaper from the USA (shipping included!), and the difference is amazing. Although we're lucky to have cheap and very good polish too. :)

    Ania, hey! Welcome to my blog (the second welcome in one comment, wow!)! I think you nailed my system. Price is very important, but I am willing to give more money, if the quality is worth it. Although there is a borderline, of course. And I can't make myself love Essence because it lasts for such a short time. And the brush.
    And yes, I think China Glaze really is a jewel of a brand. Really really awesome colours for great price. :)

    Thank you for the comments!

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