Here's the 'good' Emerald Sparkle. This bottle happens to be the 2009 release, but it's identical to the original 2008 release. Note how it's bright green glitter in a very deep, dark vampy green jelly base.
Here's the 'bad' Emerald Sparkle. This is also from 2008, but after the original release. When it first came out, it was a limited edition and everyone went bananas over it and it sold out in... how long did it take? Days? Hours? Either way it sold out very quickly. Word from China Glaze was that there wouldn't be any more produced since it was limited edition for holiday. Then, a few weeks later, there was some new stock of Emerald Sparkle at the various etailers and beauty supplies and it looked like this. The glitter is the same color, but it's in kind of a murky medium bluey-green base. Not a deep green jelly like the original. The glitter in this one didn't look as sparkly either. For what it's worth, I haven't seen this version since I bought it in late 2008. I have purchased several bottles since then (gotta have backups, man!) and they've all been the 'good' version.Eventually I'll dig out the bad bottle and the good bottles and do a side by side, but this set of two pictures speaks for itself. There are two versions of Emerald Sparkle in existence. There's only officially been one version, and the off batch was attributed to uneven batch mixing, or so I've heard.
Sometimes companies do release inconsistent batches, it's really not totally unheard of. The main one that comes to mind is the notorious OPI My Private Jet, of which I own two slightly different versions but have seen in person a third variation and have also seen pictures of at least one additional variation. I don't know why or how it happens- formula was slightly off during production? Pigments were discontinued? Who knows... But it's very odd, and sometimes a bit frustrating.
I swear I own two different versions of Ruby Pumps and Purple Panic as well. *cue Twilight Zone theme*
