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Vampy Nails on any Budget

I love this time of year. I get to break out all my dark colors...without getting the "Oh cheer up! It's Summer!" Look here, random lady at the grocery store: I like dark colors. They were made for me. This is the time of year when everyone and their mom starts pumping out deep oxbloods, wines, and plums...and often charging through the roof for them. I took a peek through my stash, and found five options for pretty much any (reasonable) price point.


I realize that there are a ton of vampy colors out there. Chanel really made the entire market explode in the 90s when Pulp Fiction became the movie. But I am not about to spend $27 dollars on a nail polish if I can find a dupe for under $5...well, I might. But not normally. I promise. 


OCC Black Dahlia $10

two coats + seche vite
I've got a full review on this coming soon. It's a perfectly serviceable deep maroon polish. At $10, it is at the higher end of my personal "do I need it?" scale. It definitely fits the bill for fall.

Orly Plum Noir $8.50

two coats + seche vite
This is a great color for people who like their vampy colors to be a little different. It is still dark and fall-appropriate, but the purple makes it a little bit different from the norm.

Revlon Vixen $4.99

three coats + seche vite
This polish (not this bottle) was actually my first "family friendly" dark color ever, at the tender age of 15. I picked it up at the Walmart in Searcy, Arkansas...and I wore the shit out of it. I think I used up 75% of the bottle before I turned 16. In the picture, I tried to get close to my light so you could see how perfectly oxblood this color really is. I love it, but I might be biased.

NYC In a Minute Manhattan $1.99

three coats + seche vite
Another plummy color, but much farther down the price list. It is actually one of my favorite polishes. It's hard to not love a fast-dry polish that applies nicely. The price also makes it very attractive.

NYC Plaza Plumberry 99c

three coats + seche vite
The least expensive polish (not counting coupons) that I could find in my stash. Compared to other brands at this price, it is fairly spectacular. It is almost a perfect dupe for the OCC color and you can buy nine bottles of this for the price of one of those.

Do you have a favorite vamp color for fall? Is it more red than purple? Or perhaps you like the brownish shades? Let me know if there is one that I need to check out!

12 comments:

  1. Great post! I like Sinful Colors in Georgio, Black Cherry (which is matte), and Inkwell (the absolute darkest purple I've ever seen).

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    Replies
    1. Sinful Colors is so hard for me to get ahold of here. Only Walgreens really carries them, and I never get to walgreens :( I will definitely keep a look out!

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    2. I nearly forgot about Under Your Spell and Disturbia from Wet n Wild, love those two, as well.

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  2. I love really dark polishes of any color! I like Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Flirt, it's a nice dark oxblood that's almost a one coater when my nails are short. The two dark red and purple shades from OPI's Germany collection a while ago are also favorites of mine. My favorite super dark colors are inky blues though, not the reds or purples.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't end up with any of the Germany collection. :( And I was ultra tempted to add some deep vampy purples and blues to this...but then it would have been hundreds of pictures! I think Amanda needs to do a deep blue post. She has way more than I do.

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  3. This post is exactly what I was looking for, way to go nichole ;)

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  4. Opi's every month is Oktoberfest at one coat is amazing. At two you have a maroon plummy shade that is pretty in its own right but at one coat, if you can apply it smoothly, it has a lovely lovely dark blue base. Scrangie has wonderful swatches of it

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  5. I wore a manicure with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Summer Plum and China Glaze Strike Up a Cosmo last week, and while it wasn't super vampy, it was still pretty dark and gorgeous. And this year I'm really looking forward to wearing: Zoya Valerie, Zoya Anja, Sinful Colors Race Rubber, Pop Beauty Purple Plum, OPI Viking in a Vinter Vonderland, and Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Glossy. But with the amount of other polishes I've got in my "Autumn Bucket", I don't know how many I'll actually get to. -_-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I need to do a major purge so I can make room for more fall colors.

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  6. LOVE this post! Now I really need to dig out some of my drugstore vampies :)

    ReplyDelete

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