The Great Aussie Polish Challenge - Ulta3 Tuesday

Welcome to the Great Aussie Polish Challenge!  After all the fun of the piCture pOlish Blogfest yesterday a bunch of us Aussie bloggers thought we'd continue the fun with a week of Aussie polishes.  They may not all be as well known as piCture pOlish but we do have a surprising range when listed.  It's not going to be hard to come up with a weeks worth of brands :)  So today is Ulta3 Tuesday.  Ulta3 is one of our cheap brands, usually found in dump bins in the chemist or grocery store.  It's so easy just to grab a few each time I go shopping and at $2 each it's also something the kids can afford to get me for Mother's Day, Christmas etc.

This is Ulta3 Purple Passion.  Which one you ask?  Both!  Yep they are both Purple Passion, not a recycled name but supposed to be the same polish, same name and product code on each.  The difference is where they were manufactured.   Not so long ago the Ulta3 production moved to China and a few of the old favourites changed colour in the process.  You'll probably come across other Aussie bloggers referring the AU or PRC version when they talk Ulta3.  On my index and ring fingers I have the 'made in Australia' version and on my middle and pinky fingers I have the 'made in PRC' version.

The original Purple Passion is a gorgeous colour, with a really eye catching pearly finish, that's mother of pearl sort of shimmer not streaky pearl polish.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough light for photos so these are taken with flash which makes the colour look quite flat.  It's quite a sheer polish, each of these is 3 coats but the PRC version would be OK with 2 thick coats.  The PRC version is also more of a streaky pearl finish, less forgiving with brush strokes and not what I would call purple, it's an in your face fuchsia.   Which do I like best?  The original is an old favourite of mine, I like the pink version too but it doesn't have that special look that the AU version does in natural light.

So here's the differences...  The made in Australia version is a 13.5ml bottle and the made in PRC version is 13ml.  That's good to know when you're reading a blog review of an Ulta3 polish.  If they don't mention which it is you can easily tell from the bottle shot, front or back.  Assuming there's a bottle shot.  BTW is there any point me taking bottle shots for my blog or does everyone already know what the bottles look like and just want to see the nails?  Let me know in the comments please if my bottle shots are just boring filler.

From the back they are clearly labeled with made in .... So if you're hunting for a particular Ulta3 colour it's worth looking for both versions just in case there's a difference.  In general the PRC versions are more heavily pigmented, meaning less coats needed and better for stamping.  The PRC Black Satin is a great basic single coat black which I use most often under my multichromes and for testing most of my sheer polishes over black on a nail wheel, and the PRC Lily White is the closest I've found to a single coat white.  I have a few bottles of each in my basic nail supplies.  The PRC versions are prone to faulty brushes though so it's worth opening them up and having a look at the brush before buying.  If your brush looks like this you should probably pick another bottle.

Here's the rest of the Great Aussie Polish Challenge girls.  We wont all have the same brand each day but most of us did Ulta3 today.  There's more brands than we can cover in a week if we all stick to the same ones so you'll see more variety tomorrow and get to see a good range of Aussie polishes.

Shatter me Claire

Lab Muffin

Kelly's Kolors

All Things Charmed

The Epitome Of Superficiality

Osiris and Loki paint their nails

Lacquer Dreams

Jas' Blingtastic Nail Blog

Pretty Purple Polish

The Polish Haven