Wednesday, December 9, 2009

How to save $10 (maybe more, maybe less) when buying nail polish...


I originally posted this on the Nail Board but not everybody who reads blogs also reads NB so... NB'ers, forgive me for being repetitive.

We all know that the price we pay for cosmetics items is marked up way over the cost of manufacturing. That's fine. That's the way it works. We also often suspect that prestige and luxury brands are also probably not that much better than the cheapie stuff... that is, proportional to the price differential.

So it's incredibly funny to me that my love of "cheap thrills" could have been my love of expensive polish in this one case: Priti. Priti markets itself as an "organic" cosmetics line (and I wonder if that's just supposed to mean "B3F") and their polishes are often sold at higher end spas and healthy alternative living stores for at least $12 each. (They're $12.50 on the Priti website.)

$12.50 is a lot to pay for a polish.

But $2.00 isn't. And what company makes awesome polishes for $2?

Diamond Cosmetics. My favorite cheap thrill. :D

When All Lacquered Up posted about Priti's teal-colored Tulip Tree polish, someone on NB commented that it looked a heck of a lot like Diamond Cosmetics' Don't Teal My Heart Away. Same color, same shaped bottle. Combined with someone's recent experience going into Henri Bendel's and being led to a display of overpriced "organic" polishes, only to find one called Never So Ever-Green, it didn't take long to develop the opinion that Diamond furnishes Priti's private label polishes. Even little polish dollops on the Priti website look identical to the little polish dollops on the Diamond website. Check out the Tulip Tree dollop and the Don't Teal My Heart Away dollop. The Bluestar dollop and the Oh Tiff! dollop. The Lambstail Cactus dollop and the Chainmail Charm dollop.

So for anyone who sees a Priti polish that they REALLY REALLY want, here is a handy dandy little conversion chart based on matching the dollops to help you save money. ;) (There are more but I got tired of looking at dollops and some of the Priti polishes are missing dollops.)

Priti Diamond
A Times Rose Warm Coral
Aureola Honey Glace
Baby Toes Cactus Lemon Yellow Zest
Bachelor's Buttons Not Just Your Hum Drum Plum
Bella Donna Lily Pink Starburst
Blue Moon Clematis Iced Plum
Blue Parrot Tulip Very Berry Smoothie
Blue Poppy Blue Diamonds
Bluestar Oh Tiff!
Bristol Beauty Twilight Violet
Cambridge Scarlett Smokey Rose
Chelsea Star Midnight Passion
Cherry Ripe Mulberry Mayhem
Chilean Bamboo Cafe au Lait
Chocolate Cosmos Cherry Tobacco
Constant Nymph Mystical Nights
Cornflower Metallic Blue
Crown Imperial French Beige
Dandy Dahlia Tropical Dreams
Darjeeling Mauve
Dreamland Tulip Sun-Kissed Coral
Fireglow Orange You Sexy
Flamingo Flower Romance
Floral Dance Matte Matte Burgundy
Goldilocks 18K Gold
Great Maiden's Blush Iced Pink Parfait
Hardy Water Lily Party Hearty
Iberica Iris Decadence
Iced Maiden Violet Lavender
Japonica Raspberry Ice
King Protea Bubbly
Lady Derby Hyacinth Rose Suede
Lady Killer Crocus Joust for Kicks
Lambstail Cactus Chainmail Charm
Lucida Waterlily Fuchsia Flash
Magic Pink LIly Pink Ribbons
Mountain Laurel Playful
New Dawn Rose Golden Beige
Nigra I'm Raven About You
Old Man Cactus Silver Brocade
Oleaster Matte Smoke
Paperbark Maple Nice N Naked
Peekaboo Rose Baby Bloom
Purpurea Hue Are You
Queen of the Pink Hyacinth Velvet Rose
Queen Victoria Rubies & Diamonds
Ruby Giant Matte Mulberry
Ruffled Velvet Iris Monarch Masquerade
Schwarkopf Midnight Blue
Sexy Rexy Rose Tickled Pink
Silver King Glitter Silver
Snapdragon Raging Orange
Spring Song Tira-mi-su
St Catherine's Lace Roasty Toasty Taupe
Stemless Gentian Crushed Velvet
Sugar Daddy Amethyst & Diamonds
Sugar Daddy Petunia Sparkling Sherry
Sunrise Olivia Orchid
Super Purple Daylily Darkest Desire
Susan Azalea Twinkle Twinkle
Tulip Tree Don't Teal My Heart Away
Water Hyacinth Canyon Sunrise
Water Poppy Life's a Beach
Widow Iris Mudd
Zoja Violet Free N Easy



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19 comments:

Liz (iceomatic's nails) said...

I thought that it looks an awful lot like Don't Teal my Heart Away!! Great detective work. :) Thanks.

Nixxy said...

Oooh! Sneaky, sneaky! :)

polishedlyrics said...

Very sneaky of them. Thank you for the help and the very valuable info!

MariahGem said...

AWE-SOME!! Do you have links to the Diamond and Priti pages? I have to see this shizz!! :D

flinty said...

Click on each individual bottle to see the dollops: http://www.pritinyc.com/PRITI_c_1.html

The Diamond Cosmetics website is a bit weird but if you go to and click on Nail Polish in the sidebar, you should see those polish dollops: http://www.diamondcosmetics.com/

Anonymous said...

This is awesome. Thank you so much for doing this!

Feline Flodin said...

Ha! I love it! :D Now the marketing people on Priti will be so bummed. flinty saves the day! :D

<3

Mobilblogg said...

This is so sneaky of them! I love that no one can hide from the NB =) //Lackoholic (cannot figure out how to comment with my name & url!)

Cat said...

Thanks for this. I believe Karma Organics is also manufactured by Diamond Cosmetics. I think it's ridiculous that they call their polish organic!

=)

Lucy said...

How can nail polish be organic? This mystifies me. How can you fall for that. What could possibly be organic about polish?

Rachell said...

I've purchased quite a few Priti Polishes..but that list helped a lot. I also like Diamond Cosmetics. Do you know of any Diamond matches to Priti's Imperial Frosty Rose, Magic Man Iris, and Wishbone Flower?

Jennifer said...

Thanks for the heads up!

KarenD said...

Rachell, Imperial Frosty Rose and Wishbone Flower don't have dollops so I'm not sure about those, but Magic Man Iris's dollop appears to be a match for Diamond's #175 Venom. (I downloaded the dollop pics and enlarged and the reflections match.)

ReaderRita said...

On a related note, does anyone know if Massini polishes are made by Color Club? Lots of identical name/color combos have me wonderin'...

J. said...

Re: ReaderRita, Yes Massini polishes are made by CC. Scrangie did a post mentioning this here: http://www.scrangie.com/2009/12/another-drugstore-favorite-massini.html.

Arrianne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arrianne said...

*handface* You've already been answered...and that was the only comment I failed to read.

Unknown said...

Dear Polish or Perish Readers,

I would like to clarify these messages that Priti NYC is supposively manufactured by Diamond Cosmetics... Apparently a very unethical blogger has claimed over and over again that Priti NYC is manufactured by Diamond Cosmetics. Based on misleading and unaccurate information she acquired elsewhere. She has even gone as far as to claim, that this has been confirmed by the owner of Priti NYC, Kim D'Amato. Which is also another false statement!

Today, I write to you directly from Priti NYC with the TRUTH behind this matter. These statements are in fact UNTRUE & FALSE! Priti NYC Nail Care is in fact is manufactured by FIABILA and NOT Diamond Cosmetics. So when looking to find out the truth... Only believe the information comes directly from Priti NYC.

Thank You,
Catherine Acosta
Chief Business Development Officer
for Priti NYC LLC.
www.pritinyc.com

Anonymous said...

Diamond Cosmetics makes their polishes available for private label use. Anyone with sense can tell that Priti, Karma Organics and others are using Diamond Cosmetics colors that you can get for less than $3 a bottle.

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