Ever hear of the term "dusty hunt"? Its when you go into a salon and scope out their polishes looking to buy some hard to finds (HTFs). Perhaps they have some in a glass case that are brand new for sale, or you can check the rack where the used ones are. If they are used, you can ask them if they will still let you buy them. Sometimes you can find really awesome HTFs for dirt cheap! That's how I found MANY of my lemmings! If you haven't tried dusty hunting yet, I suggest you start. Yes, sometimes its awkward when they expect you to get a manicure and not buy polish, or when you have to ask them to buy the used stuff. But in most cases it works out quite well. It also beats the terrible ebay prices!
Today on my way home from work I decided to try my luck at a local salon. It was a win-lose situation. But before I tell you all about it, I want to show you my awesome nail mail I received today!
These came from Chelsea, she is my hero. With her help, my HTF lemming list has gotten much smaller. She is amazing at dusty hunting. Check out her blog and see what she has for sale! You can also email her your wishlist and she will add you to her lookbook! Tell her I sent you! :-)
L-R: China Glaze OMG (the LAST ONE needed to complete my collection!), OPI DS Chiffon, OPI Black Tie Optional
So I went into this salon, and there was a man and a woman working. They had a glass case with several new OPI and China Glaze for sale. I immediately saw China Glaze Grape Crush and OPI Holiday Glow. I bought the Grape Crush for me and the Holiday Glow for my awesome friend Laurie.
I kept looking and found some other interesting colors and grabbed those too. Some I wasn't too familiar with, so I didn't realize what they actually were. Their prices were also kinda bad for dusties. The new OPI were $9, ChG $8, and the used ones were $7. Normally salons sell their used polishes for $5 or less. But the colors were unique and I was determined (a lesson I would learn later).
Here is what else I grabbed....
This was labeled OPI Live from NY...Its OPI. It LOOKED legit, but I ended up taking it back later.
AND these four! Pretty colors eh? Well this is what they were labeled as:
L-R: OPI Bet it all on OPI, Greece just blew me away, Serenade, and Black Tie Optional
On my way home I started googling these colors, which is what I SHOULD HAVE done while at the salon. Turns out two of these were DEFINITELY not right and the other two were questionable.
This is NOT the right color! If you google Bet it all on OPI, you will get ORANGE polish! LOL
And Greece just blew me away is more watery and shimmery than this. It looks like they added white to thicken it up or something.
Ok, and I have no idea WHAT polish this actually is, but if you look up OPI Serenade, you will get an off white color. NOT purple! It is pretty, don't get me wrong, but its not legit!
And lastly, this does appear similar to OPI Black Tie Original, but IMO they added black or purple to it, and ended up muting a lot of the duochrome.
Here it is compared to the legit BTO that I received from Chelsea... BIG difference huh?!
So I asked some of my polish lover friends what they thought I should do. I don't want fakes or polish that has been tampered with. I have heard stories that salon employees add other colors or clear coat to make polishes last longer. Who knows why they do it, but it seems to be pretty common. So keep this in mind when you dusty hunt. I would suggest having your phone ready to do some google searches before buying anything.
I decided to call the salon and tell them what I discovered. They said to come down with the bottles and talk to them. We had a bit of a language barrier, but I think they pretty much understood what I was trying to tell them. They didn't believe me that the colors were wrong, so I pulled out my phone and showed them the google results. Still in shock, they insisted that they dont tamper with their polishes, and that they came this way from a place in California that they order from. According to them "OPI changes their colors from time to time", LOL. I also tried explaining to them that there is a huge market out there for counterfeits. I really didn't get through to them, they insisted that I should just like "the color" and not care about the name on the label. Ok yes, that may be true for most people, but I am a polishaholic! This is my business! I am a collector and it matters to me that the name on the label match the color! Anyways, they wouldn't let me return them and get my money back. Mega GRRR because I spent almost $60 there! They did let me at least exchange them, which I did. BUT since I was returning used ones (all but 1) that were cheaper, and I wanted new ones in exchange, I ended up having to give them $4!! WTF
Ugh, this is what I got...
L-R: China Glaze Watermelon Rind, OPI Holiday Glow (yes I got 2 bottles of this, one is still for sale if anyone is interested), Down to my last Penny, Lighten up you're two pence, and Plymouth Lox.
Close ups, these I believe to be legit....
ChG Watermelon Rind
OPI Holiday Glow
OPI Down to my last penny
OPI Plymouth Lox
OPI Lighten up you're two Pence
So overall I guess I did okay, considering Grape Crush is worth a lot of $$ and Down to my last Penny is also worth some dough. But I still kick myself in the arse for not checking those polishes on my phone first!
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