A Ginger + Liz Deal Just for You
Happy Friday Fanatics! What do you say we kick off the weekend with a little discount just for fans of ALU!
The ladies behind Ginger + Liz want you to experience two of their fave nail colors, Hold The Drama and Reality Check and they’re offering $2 OFF those two polishes from now through 8 a.m. Tuesday March 30th. Use code ALUFans at checkout to receive your discount.
Hold The Drama
Hold The Drama is a blackened eggplant purple shade that is like no other! Kind of like a stormy sky at sundown, this deep dark purple hue is simply beautiful and a great alternative to the bluish black staple shades. Hold The Drama transcends the styles appealing to the Classic, Boho, Rocker, and Prepster.
Reality Check
Reality Check is coral with tangerine highlights. This is a great shade for the fashionista that loves colour but sways from extreme brights. Her look is always fresh but sometimes unexpected. Everyone needs a Reality Check from time to time.
While you’re shopping the G+L site, be sure to check out Gimme More their limited edition shocking neon pink. Liz tells me they’re running low on supply and this color won’t be restocked so if you want some Gimme More in your lifestyle, you better hop to it!
Gimme More
A must have electric neon pink very rich in pigment that adds an optimistic punch to any neutral or dark palette. There are few shades out there that peak the interest of both the Girly girl and Glam Rocker and this is one of them! Gimme More will make them well, want more!
One last thing, G+L have switched their shipping method to FedEX which will make tracking more reliable. Happy Shopping!
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Hmmm this company’s colors remind me of Diamond cosmetics, especially with the swatches you posted earlier about New Money(DC’s Don’t Teal My Heart) and Boytoy(DC’s Oh Tiff. New Money doesn’t really look like the photo on the website)
Um is this another Diamond Cosmetics private label thing? Instead of the $2 off, I’d rather get the whole polish for $2!
A reader emailed me when I first posted about G+L and asked if they were another Diamond PL user. I asked Ginger and Liz myself and they have never heard of Diamond. Their polishes come from a company in Northern California. Diamond is in Florida. I don’t see any reason they would lie about that.
Every new brand that comes out gets the Diamond PL finger pointed at it. From what I understand, there is like one manufacturer in the US that actually makes nail polish. That the chemical process is extremely volatile and there is one (maybe two) labs in the US that make it. So everyone is getting their base from the same place. They may add different ingredients to it or have a proprietary formula made there but it’s all coming from the same lab. Where that is, I don’t know but it’s not Diamond.
My theory, Diamond buys stock colors from the one manufacturer everyone gets their polish from and they repackage it. That doesn’t mean everyone buys from Diamond. I know from visiting the Zoya HQ that they buy polish base in giant drums and mix their pigment in on site. I would guess that big brands with plants like Essie, Sally Hansen & OPI do the same thing. But otherwise, the brands get their polish mixed and bottled at an outside facility. It would be too expensive not to.
Private Labeling exists outside the polish realm it’s just that the companies who do it don’t typically sell to consumers. Diamond is a rarity in that respect and honestly, the fact that they do it baffles me. Seems they could be jeopardizing their PL business but if they want to have their cake and eat it to, more power to them.
I personally don’t own any Diamond polishes so I can’t say without a doubt whether the G+L formula is the same but I have compared their ingredient lists and they are identical. That doesn’t mean the polish colors aren’t unique. I personally swatched New Money next to Priti Tulip Tree Teal (another suspected Diamond user) and the G+L color dries a bit darker so who knows.
I am not intending for this to come across as snarky, but I have some questions. The language used in this post reads, to me, like you are a touch irritated in your explanations; are you exasperated from seeing so many companies compared to DC? Do you personally dislike DC? Is it rebranders/PLers that you’re focusing on? I’m just pulling an undercurrent of annoyance and wanted to ask if you could clarify. Again, not meaning it in a snarky way, though I’m sure it’ll be taken as such, what with tone being lost on the internet and all.
Hi Hope! I’m not irritated by having to explain the situation, it’s just frustrating that I wanted to share a code with my readers and instead people are trying to call out this brand for something they can’t prove. If they think G+L is from DC, they don’t have to buy it. If my tone came off poorly that wasn’t my intention. Also, I’ve been up all night so my response was pretty blunt just due to lack of sleep.
I do feel bad that so many brands are being labeled as Diamond resellers without any real proof but it doesn’t affect me personally. Though I have received a couple snarky comments directed at me regarding this and I find that unnecessary. As though I am purposely promoting brands that sell DC polish for 6 times the price. No one has ever actually confirmed that any of those brands buy directly from DC and not some other manufacturer.
I also received an extremely nasty comment a couple weeks ago from the owner of Priti, that I refuse to publish, accusing me of trying to take down a female small business owner because I dared to say that the polish blobs on her site (which are now gone) match the ones on the DC site. She swears up and down that she has nothing to do with Diamond but at this point, I doubt any of the naysayers would believe her.
Though considering that there are dupes found in major brands, not just emerging/niche brands, I wonder why no one calls out the big guys for buying stock colors of private label polish. I’ll bet it happens. I know one salon brand does PL for a high end brand yet people still run out to pay the high prices for that without wondering if they make their own polish. I bet if people took the time to compare ingredient lists, they would find a lot of duplicate formulas on the market.
I have nothing for or against DC. I don’t know anything about their polish. I’ve never had a desire to try it. It just seems to me that DC figured they could send polish to bloggers, get high praise and make a quick buck off the online community without their PL clients finding out. I just wonder how long that will last.
I don’t have an issue with Private Labeling. It’s been a part of the beauty industry for a long time. When I went to Cosmoprof in Vegas last year there was a whole seminar about it. I imagine for a lot of brands it’s the only way to get off the ground without giant start-up costs. Which is why I can understand a brand being upset about a PL company selling their products directly to consumers, essentially undercutting them.
The point of all this is, I’m not out to make my readers pay more money for something they can get for less. But I’m also not going to condemn a brand without any real evidence. I asked Ginger and Liz if they buy from Diamond and they told me they do not. I take their word at face value.
I don’t actually think that Diamond Cosmetics has been sending their polishes to bloggers to screw with their private label brands, which to me is what you’re saying.
I remember finding out about DC from the MUA nail board and how it was good quality and then finding out afterwards about their private label division with Priti and such.
Wholesale companies have existed before this for people in the know and it wouldn’t be hard for a buyer from the private label company to check out the website and see that they sell it to the public.
Considering that, I doubt they would care about the private label company company undercutting them if said PLC sells to other companies whose products can also be bought/the competition.
I appreciate the code, but I wasn’t going to use it because personally any polish over $9 isn’t worth it to when can get a similar color by multple salon brands for half the price on the net. I do make some exceptions but I doubt if it will ever be for a pink or coral. Even if you don’t like Ginger + Liz you must give them props for their marketing. I love their polish names and their descriptions are even better. Peace, love and polish to all.
i love these colors…i think they just happen to be similar to DC – like a lot of other companies. it seems like you guys are on a unnecessary witch hunt. just love the colors and enjoy your manicure!
YES!! Skimmed the comments above and I honestly don’t get what the hoopla is about and totally agree with ALU!! There’s a such thing as name brands and generic brands…this happens with EVERYTHING we buy ladies, everything. Some of us buy Bobbi Brown and others buy Wet N Wild (cough cough). It’s like comparing Pay Half to The Gap. You pay for what you get. I bet the joke is on us and all nail polish is coming from the same place anyway!
Anyhoo, I’m going to get G+L Reality Check for my trip to St. Barths next month. I have Put A Ring On It and its fannntastic, I get endless compliments. I say rock on to G+L!