The last time I was in an Ulta store, I’m sure I looked like a madwoman on the security cameras. Dashing from one end of the store to the other, back and forth, bottles of polish in hand as I compared Butter London to OPI to China Glaze to brands I’d never heard of. New spring collections abounded and I felt like a kid in a candy store.
Remember my dithering over trying to find a dupe of the pricy limited edition light periwinkle blue called Skyline from Chanel? See my musings and pictures here. I ended up settling — so I thought — for a coat of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Frozen Solid over two coats of Essie’s Blue Rhapsody.
But I found something better!
Meet Stand By Your Manny from Nicole by OPI, in the company’s new Modern Family Collection. I don’t watch the TV show so have no idea what the polish name refers to; all I know is that I love the color. I even need a sound effect for this polish (click to play below the photo).
It’s a pale periwinkle blue with silvery microflakes. Some other great shades in this collection:
The only caveat with Stand By Your Manny is that it’s very sheer. I needed four coats. But the shade is exactly what I’ve been looking for — not just light blue, not greenish at all, a true pale periwinkle blue. This is with no top coat under cloudy indirect outdoor light, but my one photo doesn’t do this polish justice at all:
How I wish I had some bright sunlight to photograph this under, but it’s been dull as dishwater for weeks. Ugh. I tried it with the flash, but that just washed the color out.
Here’s how it compares to Frozen Solid. You can see the shade differences I mean:
How does it really compare to Chanel’s Skyline? I don’t know because I don’t have that one and never will ($30!). I suspect the Chanel covers better and in fewer coats, but I’m very pleased with Stand By Your Manny.
I love Modern Family. It’s really a funny show. But, it seems silly and kind of funny to name polish after each of the characters. I wonder if that’s typical. They must be running out of names for polish, I guess. HaHa The Stand By Your Manny is pretty, but probably too many coats for me. One or two coats with a base and top coat are more my speed. I’m wearing Zoya’s Jo today, and I love it. I wonder how this OPI blue compares to Zoya’s blue from their new Spring Collection, I think it’s called BLU, and if it covers better with less coats. Good blog. Suzy
Thanks, Suzy. Zoya’s Blu is a creme and is more of a light pastel sky blue, no shimmer or flakes, no lavender/periwinkle tint. But this Stand By Your Manny polish would be real pretty over Blu as a base and you’d need fewer coats too.
That actually reminds me of one of their other colors called “Nothing Kimpares to Blue” – or somesuch spelling. It’s one of those Kardashain colors (don’t judge, lol – I’ve never seen the show)
Pretty colors, both of them !
By gosh, you’re right! Just found these comparison swatches from The PolishAholic: http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2012/12/Nicole-by-OPI-Modern-Family-Collection-Comparisons-Dupes.html