One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong . . .

Remember the other day when I was speculating that Zoya Jana might be pretty similar to SpaRitual Pebble?

It's not:

But it's strikingly similar to China Glaze Below Deck and Essie Merino Cool.  I guess that explains why I liked it so much.

Here's my little comparison swatcheroo:

top to bottom:
Zoya Jana
SpaRitual Pebble
Essie Merino Cool
China Glaze Below Deck

The SpaRitual is quite a bit greyer than the others.  But the similarity between the other three is even more evident in this side shot:

left to right:
Zoya Jana
SpaRitual Pebble
Essie Merino Cool
China Glaze Below Deck

To my eye, Jana and Below Deck are identical, with Merino Cool being just the tiniest smidge lighter.

This comparison was brought to you by Sesame Street and my wonderful new storage boxes, bought on a tip from SoKnitPicky - thanks, girl!

These are from Office Depot, and they're called Really Useful Boxes.  This is the 1.6 L size, and it holds twelve China Glazes, Nubars or SpaRituals, or fifteen Essies. (I didn't try it out with my Zoyas, but it probably holds fifteen of those as well.)  

I love these, because they make it easy for me to have one complete collection in one box.  The boxes stack well, are sturdy, and are not unwieldy when full.

And because I spent a nice hour reorganizing all my polish into these nifty boxes, I was easily able to put my hands on the ones I wanted for the comparison.  I only got six, but I think I'll have to go back for more . . .

Twig + Magical

Here's a mani I did a couple weeks ago, pre-kids, LOL!

Polish number five from the SpaRitual Evolve collection, Twig:

A nice, conservative color.  I did a very subtle stamping over it with China Glaze Magical:

SpaRitual Twig
China Glaze Magical
Bundle Monster plate BM210

Sacred Sands + Tarnished Gold

Here's another polish from the SpaRitual Evolve collection, Sacred Sands:

This one applied much more easily than the others I've tried from this collection.  I like the color a lot more than I expected too; it's not as peachy as I was expecting. Rather, it has more pink.

Inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, I decided to add China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle on top of it.  Here it is in full sunlight:

I really like the effect.  It's very subtle and midas-y.  The shade of gold on this crackle is just perfect in my opinion: not too yellow,  not too brassy.  Just the right amount of sparkle.  I'll definitely be trying this again.

Unsure

I'm not sure I like this.

SpaRitual Driftwood
stamped with Essie Little Brown Dress
and Bundle Monster plate BM10

I want to be the kind of girl who wears animal prints, but I really don't think I am.  I think I'm more the kind of girl who wears floral prints.

Also, it would seem I don't really know what a giraffe looks like.  I thought it looked like this stamp.  It actually looks like this:

Giraffes at Lincoln Park Zoo, February 2011

Oh well.  It's only polish!

Driftwood

Here is the third polish from the SpaRitual Evolve collection for summer:

SpaRitual Driftwood

This color and Moss were the two I was most looking forward to when I bought the collection, and this one didn't disappoint.  It is a yellow-leaning cream which shows slightly pinkish in some lights.  Very lovely, a color I was looking to add to my collection for quite some time - and not at all like real driftwood, thankfully!

Above is three coats; application was patchy, which, given the color, didn't surprise me.  This one was on the thick side as well, making it a little harder to apply evenly.  Still, it evened out nicely after three coats and I didn't get shrinkage after applying China Glaze Fast Forward, so I'm quite happy with it!

Girl

I changed my mind about the white shatter.  I decided I'd like to do some really feminine stamping in white on this dusty mauve.  It doesn't get much more feminine than this:

SpaRitual Native Rock
Konad Special Polish in White
Konad plate m71

I'm not usually great at aligning patterns that need to be straight, but I've been practicing.  I'm pretty happy with this one, it's the best I've done so far:

This lace with floral tip is on all fingers except the right thumb.  So pretty!  I can't stop looking at it!  There are a few places where the mesh design didn't transfer completely because I was too lazy to clean off the plate after each stamping.  But overall I'm really happy with it!

Native Rock

Here's the second polish from the Evolve collection, Native Rock:

SpaRitual Native Rock, Evolve collection, summer 2011

Although this color also wasn't what I was expecting based on the website's color drops, I really like it.  It's like Essie Merino Cool's summery, sun-bleached sister, a really lovely medium greyed mauve.  Above is two coats.

I decided to try this one before the cream colored shade that's my favorite from this collection (Driftwood) because I wanted to see if a darker color would apply any easier.  But I still had the same troubles I had with Moss.  So my experience so far with SpaRitual is mediocre in terms of application.  Not so horrible that I would never buy them again, but not as flawless for me as Essie or China Glaze.

When I used Moss yesterday, I used Essie base coat and top coat, and I did get some shrinkage.  Today I used China Glaze base and top coats and I have a feeling this one will shrink too.  Unless I put something on top of it.  I'm leaning toward White Shatter.

Something New

I just got some new SpaRitual polishes - the Evolve collection for summer.  I think these are really lovely, soft colors, so different from all the other summer collections.  I was most excited about Moss and Driftwood, and I started with Moss:

SpaRitual Moss, Evolve collection, summer 2011

This green isn't really what I was expecting.  I thought it would be a little darker, but I like it. I don't think these colors look so great on me though!  Especially in photos!  Once it was on my nails, I thought it might be a dupe for OPI Mermaid's Tears, but a side-by-side comparison in the bottle shows Mermaid's Tears to be slightly bluer.

I've never used SpaRitual polishes before.  I found this a little tricky to apply, but not any more so than other pastel polishes.  I only needed two coats.  The brush was nice and the cap is rubberized, making it easy to hold on to.  

After I did my nails, I sat down and knitted on my new project, Capri, and watched Netflix.  Then I decided the green could use a little something.  So I got out my China Glazes and stamping plates:

stamped with China Glaze Poetic and
Bundle Monster plate BM07

Just a subtle little scroll design; I didn't want to cover up the green too much.  I actually did a better job with the placement of the stamps on my right hand:

Has anybody else used SpaRitual polishes?  I'm really curious why they market their polishes as 'vegan.'  Does nail polish have animal products in it?