Girl on a Budget Part 1: Nail Junkie vs. Across the Universe

We've decided to start a girl on a budget series to show you good alternatives to more expensive brands! The first set of polishes I've decided to do is Deborah Lippmann. Now, I LOVE Deborah Lippmann glitters, they are amazing and beautiful and I just can't get enough of looking at them, but as some of you may know they are $18 a bottle and that is prettyyyyyy expensive. I'm not made of money here, so I've been noticing lots of cheaper polishes that are replicating a similar look.

The first I'm going to show you is Sinful Colors Nail Junkie(left) versus Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe (right)

 


Now right off the bat you will notice some differences, like that Across the Universe has much bigger glitter. Somethings you can't see are the different color glitter in Nail Junkie, it actually has some greener pieces, gold-ish pieces and even more purple-pink pieces. Also, Across the Universe has some large hexagonal glitter while all the glitter in Nail Junkie is round. Nail Junkie also has a lighter blue sheer base while Across the Universe has a navy sheer base. But they both have blue bases and dark and light blue glitter.

This is one coat of Nail Junkie over 2 coats of Brucci Black and Blue. Yes, this really is only one coat, the amount of glitter is CRAZY! I was expecting it to be a little more sparse but it's not at all. If you want a thinner coat of glitter you have to make sure to wipe off all the excess. I also did a coat of Seche Vite on top. I really love the tiny dark blue glitter in the polish, it's seriously amazing. 

So, I don't have my own swatch of Across the Universe, and I really didn't want to steal anyones but their are plenty on google so you shouldn't have any problems finding one. 

But overall I think this is a pretty good alternative and for $2.99 versus $18 I think it's great! You can find all the Sinful Colors collections at Walgreens and Deborah Lippmann at Nordstrom. If you guys have any good alternatives to more expensive polishes we'd love to see them! Sent us and email or  comment and sent us a picture and we'll put it up for all to see! And remember to follow us!

Until next time,

The Wicked