The Great, Big Night Sky Lacquer Round-up

(Eye of Copernicus is a press sample.)

Back in 1996, Chanel and Seventeen magazine sponsored a “color of the year” nail polish color competition.  The inaugural winner was the now-legendary Ciel de Nuit/Night Sky, the birth of my first lemming.

I didn’t pursue this lemming until I saw it for auction on eBay in 2009.  By then I had started to collect nail polish and I HAD to have it in my collection…which resulted in my highest-priced polish ever.  I lost the auction initially, but the seller offered to sell me another for my bid price ($140) in a second-chance offer.

Ciel de Nuit/Night Sky is a deep navy jelly filled with fine silver glitter.

As with many trends, Ciel de Nuit spawned knock-offs galore.  The most well-known one is Essie’s Starry Starry Night, released in 1997.  I admired SSN from afar, initially thinking in 2008 that $50 was too much to spend on a polish…little did I know that I would eventually bid $120 in an eBay auction to obtain it at the end of 2009.

Starry Starry Night is a dark royal blue jelly filled with fine silver glitter.

Now that we’ve addressed the two main night sky polishes, here are the myriad knock-offs. 

Essie's Retro Revival of Starry Starry Night was a huge let-down.  I feel like they didn't even try to emulate the original.

Chinoiserie Stellar Night

Christian Dior Sparkling Blueberry

Wet 'N Wild The Nail Zone Starry Night

Bonne Bell NailGear Scandal

Fing'rs Bear Blue Glitter

Revlon Street Wear Dark

Rescue Beauty Lounge Under The Stars

Nat Robbins Midnight Hour

Jessica Twilight

Naturistics Super Shine Crystal Blue Pearl

Maybelline Express Finish Zip Fly

Chi Chi Moondust

China Glaze Skyscraper

Orly Silent Night

BB Couture For Men Night Ops

L'Oreal LaquiResist Ocean

Here are differences I’ve noticed while swatching:

Base color:  CdN has a deep navy base, while SSN is a dark royal blue.  Jessica Twilight and Naturistics Crystal Blue Pearl have indigo-leaning bases.

Glitter:  The traditional glitter is a fine silver glitter.  SW Dark and RBL Under the Stars have glass-flecks rather than glitter.  The glitter in the Bonne Bell and Retro Revival SSN is significantly larger.  The glitter also differs in volume, from heavier proportions in ChG Skyscraper and Chi Chi Moondust to sparser in WnW Starry Night.

Opacity:  The glass-flecked polishes are more opaque than most of the glitter polishes.  Zip Fly has an opaque shimmer base.

While reviewing my polishes, I realize I don’t have Picture Polish’s Cosmos and Orbit, two night sky-esque polishes.  Here’s a link to the Polishaholic’s posts about Cosmos and Orbit.

If you’re looking for ready-to-buy options, here are two:

Pretty Serious Cosmetics Eye of Copernicus was developed from Chanel Ciel de Nuit.  Kaz, the overlord of Pretty Serious Cosmetics, sacrificed more than half of her bottle for the cause.  I was ecstatic when this was released, because I was down to 40% of my bottle of CdN and could finally conserve it.

Colors by Llarowe Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is a close facsimile of Essie Starry Starry Night.

Phew, that was a lot.  I hope you enjoy this post...I spent 2 weekends swatching!  Thanks for reading if you made it all the way down here! 

Morgan Taylor Platinum Journey To Wonderland

Hey everyone!

I enjoy seeing mainstream companies release holographic nail polishes.  I don’t mean any offense to indie brands, but it’s nice to just stop by a store and pick one up at your leisure, which is how I got today’s polishes.  My husband has been borrowing my shampoo and conditioner, so I decided to stop by CosmoProf and get him his own bottles.  It’s kind of frustrating when you’re ready to take a shower, but your shampoo and conditioner is in another castle!  Anyhoo, I saw these beauties on display and decided to add them to my purchases.  I can’t say the same for OPI Grease, which made me say, “meh”.

Morgan Taylor released their first Platinum collection earlier this year, mostly consisting of lighter shades of color.  Journey To Wonderland had more vibrant colors that caught my eye.   The holographic effect is a combination of linear and scattered holographic, much like Orly Mirrorball.

Caught In A Dream is a very vibrant teal holographic, which is muted in the picture.  This is currently my NOTW and I can’t keep my eyes off of it.

Frolic In Fairy Dust is a denim blue holographic, similar to OPI Glamour.  It may be a touch more violet than Glamour.

Not Your Average Damsel is a purple holographic and has the strongest holographic effect.

Journey To Wonderland is making me rethink passing on the previous Morgan Taylor Platinum polishes.  You may see the originals here in the future!

China Glaze OMG (spring 2008)

My generation is the last generation that will experience life without the internet.  I clearly remember when we first got AOL, the advent of high-speed internet and the birth of social media.  I have a Facebook account that goes back 13 years (so much cringe!).

The internet has brought us many various acronyms and abbreviations, many of which are featured in China Glaze’s OMG collection.  Unlike 2007’s Kaleidoscope collection, OMG is full of linear holographic polishes.  They are a bit finicky to apply.  You will have to allow each coat to dry before the next coat, or else it will result in bald spots.

2NITE (two coats):  cornflower blue linear holographic

BFF (two coats):  fuchsia pink linear holographic

DV8 (two coats):  teal linear holographic

FYI (two coats):  nude linear holographic

GR8 (two coats):  yellow gold linear holographic

IDK (two coats):  lilac linear holographic

L8R G8R (two coats):  light green linear holographic

LOL (two coats):  purple linear holographic

OMG (two coats):  silver linear holographic

QT (two coast):  cerise linear holographic

TMI (two coats):  coral red linear holographic

TTYL (two coats):  peach linear holographic

There is very little information online, but China Glaze is about to release a 10-year anniversary version of this collection named OMG Flashback.  I did learn from a Canadian beauty supply Facebook page that the re-released colors are 2NITE, BFF, DV8, IDK, OMG and TTYL.  I will definitely be back with these once I get a hold of this collection!

Chanel Neon Wave (fall 2017)

While most of my current purchases are vintage/discontinued polishes, sometimes new releases catch my eye.  Last fall, Chanel’s Neon Wave came into my radar.  I have a weakness for Chanel polishes, especially when they release unusual colors.  How deep is my passion?  Back in September 2009, I stayed up until 2AM to order Jade from Chanel.com.  I will sometimes do crazy things for Chanel polish.

Electric (two coats):  neon blue; this is far more vibrant in person.

Fantastic (two coats):  neon green; like Electric, also more vibrant in person.

Magnetic (two coats):  neon pink

Ultraviolet (two coats):  neon orange

The formula is a bit thick, but still shows visible nail line after 2 coats.  3 coats is needed for full opacity.

Chanel released 2 more neon shades in Spring 2018, Neon Rose (neon coral pink) and Scenario (neon red/pink).  They’ll be featured soon as well.

China Glaze Kaleidoscope (Spring 2007)

Hey everyone!

I’ve been suffering from a bad case of writer’s block.  I have lots of ideas circling around and a lot of polish to choose from but I still can’t find the right inspiration.  Instead, I’ll bring back some polishes I’ve reviewed in the past.

2007-2008 was when OPI and China Glaze released some of their best holographic polishes.  OPI released My Private Jet and their original Designer Series while China Glaze released Kaleidoscope and OMG.  Today I have Kaleidoscope, but stay tuned for the rest!

Don’t Be A Square (two coats):  medium pink scattered holographic

He’s Going In Circles (two coats):  seafoam green scattered holographic

How About A Tumble (two coats):  pale pink scattered holographic

It’s My Turn (two coats):  gold scattered holographic

Kaleidoscope Him Out (two coats):  ice blue scattered holographic

Let’s Do It In 3-D (two coats):  charcoal gray scattered holographic

Octa-Gone Wild (two coats):  light amethyst scattered holographic

Rated Holographic (two coats):  morganite pink scattered holographic

Sexagon (two coats):  silver scattered holographic

Spin Me Round (two coats):  rose gold scattered holographic

Tickle My Triangle (two coats):  Barbie pink scattered holographic

Visit Me In Prism (two coats):  silver lavender scattered holographic

Chanel Robertson Boulevard Nail Colour Collection (2008)

I recently asked in a vintage nail polish Facebook group what constitutes as vintage...I personally believed it to be a polish 5 years and older, but the consensus was 10 years and older.  This year, these beauties will officially be considered vintage.

In 2008, Chanel opened a boutique on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles.  This limited-edition collection was released to celebrate the opening. There are four polishes in the collection:  L.A. Sunrise, L.A. Sunset, Melrose, and Rodeo Drive.

L.A. Sunrise is a lemon yellow creme with a subtle shimmer.

L.A. Sunset is a coral orange creme.

Melrose is a bubblegum pink creme.

Rodeo Drive is a lilac purple creme with a subtle silver shimmer.

Essie would release their first Neon collection in 2008, with colors similar to the Robertson collection.  Essie even went as far as imitating the Robertson advertisement for their 2009 Neon collection.

I will eventually review Essie’s 2008, 2009 and 2012-2014 collections in the future.

A formal introduction...

(Pretty Serious Disc of the Heavens - PR sample)

Welcome to Throwback Lacquer.  I’m The Asian Girl, a long-time collector of discontinued and vintage nail polish.  I started collecting in 2007, blogged briefly in 2009 and 2013-2016. I created Throwback Lacquer as a way to share my past pictures and a little bit of myself.

If you had told me at 18 that I would be collecting nail polish in 4 years and would continue to do so in my 30s, I would’ve said you were crazy.  I was a degenerate nail-biter for as long as I can remember, only stopping whenever I had the luxury of acrylic nails. Yes, THOSE acrylic nails...pornstar pink-and-whites. (It was the early ‘00s, sue me.)

How did this addiction begin?  I became obsessed with acrylic nails during college and was rarely seen without them.  However, I lost my job just prior to my senior year and could no longer afford them. I left for my study abroad stint in England in 2007 shortly after losing my job.  I would look wistfully at the nail salons there, but the prices were 3 times more than the US. I was a broke college student, what else could I do?

Strangely enough, I bring along my only bottle of nail polish (a wine shimmer) and other nail accessories.  I started giving myself manicures, which led me to quit biting my nails. When I came back to the US, I started collecting polishes...and here I am, over 10 years later.

Urban Decay XX Vintage

In 2016, Urban Decay celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of their XX Vintage collection.  They re-released 12 of their original nail polish shades (Asphyxia, Bruise, Frostbite, Mildew, Oil Slick, Pallor, Plague, Radium, Roach, Smog, UV-B and Uzi).  When I purchased this collection, Asphyxia was out-of-stock.  Luckily, I just bought Asphyxia off of eBay!