Day 4 of the 30 Days of Untrieds Nail Challenge is ‘green’. So I have a green-blue duochrome for you! I am cheating a little – I took these photos on holiday a few weeks back (as you can probably tell from the length of my nails) but I hope you don’t mind!
Tag Archives: Duochrome
2True Crystal Shade 6
Last Winter, 2True brought out four new Crystal polishes. The Crystal polish range are essentially a set of glassfleck shimmer polishes, all very pretty. 2True have now brought out two more Crystal polishes, in shades 5 and 6. These are more summery – and Shade 6 has an exceptional duochrome!
Now, I know what you’re thinking. A MAC Bad Fairy/Accessorize Pink Spice dupe… no. They have the same concept – pink with orange duochrome, but Bad Fairy and Pink Spice share a much deeper cranberry pink tone, while Shade 6 is a lovely peachy pink colour with a hot orange duochrome. There’s even a little purple duochrome in there too, which makes this polish unique. I LOVE IT.
Application:
The photos all show 3 coats. The polish appears very sheer on the first coat but don’t be put off – it builds very quickly. The polish did bubble a little, but I promise promise this wasn’t visible in person, I literally had to run my fingers over my nail surface to find any. I do find the Crystal brushes to be a little on the thick side, making a thin application a little challenging but for this polish it didn’t matter. The polish dried to a fairly high shine, but you may want a topcoat for extra shiny-ness and added longevity. Shade 6 dried relatively quickly, too.
It’s a really interesting colour, the salmony-peachy tone makes it really unique, and the duochrome effect saves it from being a ‘Grandma shade’. What do you think of this? Would you like me to do a side-by-side comparison with Accessorize Pink Spice?
2True cosmetics are sold in Superdrug – everything in their range is £1.99, or you can buy 3 items for £4.99.
x
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Barry M Silvery Lilac
I’m slowly getting my way through these new Barry M’s, so gorgeous that I don’t actually want to take them off my nails!! So far I have reviewed Denim, Copper and Teal. Today I have for you Silvery Lilac, which leaves just Black Multi-Glitter to do!
Silvery Lilac is a very gorgeous whimsical kind of polish, much like OPI Not Like The Movies (see comparison at the end of this post!). I’ll let the pictures do the talking:
As you can see, this is no ordinary silver duochrome… Silvery Lilac seems to alternate in different lights between a silvery-grey, a pinky-purple shimmer and a green shimmer, whilst also having the effect of a duochrome in that it looks different depending on the angle you look at it. Dare I call it, a mythical multichrome? It seems to me to be a silvery-grey base, packed with green and pinky-purple shimmer as well as some silver micro-glitter, which adds to the sparkle. Silvery Lilac is beautifully shiny, too, the only reason I put topcoat on was because I accidentally added fingerprints to my nails and didn’t think it was all that nice! Silvery Lilac makes me think of unicorns and beautiful pastel colours and My Little Pony. Lol.
Application:
The photos show 3 coats, although quite honestly it was pretty much opaque at 2. The polish is quite thick, but it doesn’t seem to affect it’s drying time, it actually dried fairly quickly. It does make applying thin coats a little tricky though. It dries to a high shine, so no topcoat necessary.
I did initially think that this one would be very similar to OPI Not Like The Movies. It is similar… but they definitely aren’t dupes. Not Like The Movies errs on the side of frost (it’s more brushstrokey), is a lot more sheer, a lot paler and has much more pink shimmer than Silvery Lilac, whose shimmer is distinctly more purple and base is a lot deeper. Not to mention Silvery Lilac is much more opaque (can you tell which one I prefer?)
Index and ring fingers: OPI Not Like The Movies, 3 coats. Middle and pinkie fingers: Barry M Silvery Lilac, 3 coats.
(Sorry this is the best photo I could get, the sun had gone down by this point, I will do a better one in the near future!)
What do you think? Is Silvery Lilac unique enough for you? Which do you prefer – Not Like The Movies or Silvery Lilac? For me, Barry M wins hands down on price, colour payoff, colour itself and finish. Sooo pretty!
x
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Topshop Hidden Treasure
I’m sure we’re all well acquainted with Chanel Peridot on the blogosphere, if you don’t already own it, you’ll probably have seen photos no less than a million times. And of course, one season on and the dupes are coming out already! Can’t say I’m complaining, there’s no way I can justify spending so much on one single polish, even if it is amazing. And I’ve heard tell that Hidden Treasure is pretty much spot on identical to Peridot – if you don’t believe me, have a look at this Chanel Peridot comparison with Topshop Hidden Treasure from Fleur De Force.
It’s very pretty. I know that people were disappointed that Peridot wasn’t as duochromey as anticipated from the bottle – Hidden Treasure is much like that. In the bottle the polish looks a petrol mixture of green and blue, a very distinct duochrome, while on the nail the blue barely shows up unless you are looking at the edge of the nail (see photo 5 for reference!). Nevertheless, Hidden Treasure is very lovely. It leans very gold in most lights, with that hint of bronzey-green. The polish flowed beautifully, it looks like I’ve just layered foil directly onto my nail, not a brushstroke in sight! No complaints.
Application:
The photos show 2 coats. Yes, 2. Totally totally opaque, yay! Not only this but the polish is very smooth and has a wonderful chrome finish. Barry M Foil Effects eat your heart out! Not the kind of polish I’d put a topcoat over, but it wouldn’t do it any harm if you did. My only little qualm is that any nail imperfections, and I mean, ANY, will show right through. If you have ridges I suggest using a good ridge-filler before using Hidden Treasure.
The best news is that Hidden Treasure is just £6 in Topshop, and very easily found!
What do you think? Are you going to hop on the Peridot bandwagon (albeit in a shamelessly cheapie way?) I am very pleased with this polish – unique, not too expensive and very good quality.
x
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Models Own Indian Ocean
Hello all, I have a second Models Own Beetlejuice polish for you today! This is another one from the Spring/Summer 2012 release of 3 new Beetlejuice polishes from Models Own. I’m not going to rant about the Big-3 chemicals today, if you want to read it it’s all in my review of Models Own Tropical Sun. I do really really love these polishes, sooo pretty!
Soo pretty, right? My only issue with this (other than the Big-3 chemicals) is that it’s very sheer. The polish is essentially a blue-green seafoam colour base packed with pink shimmer. There’s also a bit of gold in there too, in some lights! Gorgeous, very reminiscent of a pink sky over the sea at dusk. The shimmer is almost flakie-esque, it has that lovely glass-fleck sheen to it.
Application:
Indian Ocean, like I said, is very sheer. The pictures all show 4 coats, and even then the free edge of my nails is very visible. Saying that the pink shimmer helps to reflect light off the nail, masking the free edge somewhat. The blue really comes out over the free edge, making it stand out quite a lot compared to over the pink of my nail. The polish dried relatively quickly, but not as quickly as I’d have liked for 4 coats. Indian Ocean dries to a high shine, so you won’t need a topcoat. My only other little niggle was the chemical smell, it really doesn’t feel healthy to be breathing it in, so make sure you apply it in a well ventilated area.
It’s definitely a candidate for layering – I’ve seen various layering combinations over the internet the last few days, so I thought I’d try a few of my own. I definitely prefer Indian Ocean layered as the green in the polish can make your nails look a little dirty when the free edge is showing. There’s a lot more green to it than I first realised – I noticed this when I layered it over white. I also think it would look fab over black, but that’s for another day!
Thumb to pinkie: Barry M Matt White, Barry M Mint Green, Barry M Blue Moon, Revlon Dreamer, Revlon Charming.
You’re going to have to take my word for it that these combos look amazing – the picture really doesn’t do it justice! I’ve had many a compliment on them too, the duochrome nature of Indian Ocean is absolutely stunning, it reminded me of beetle wings. Very very amazing, you really have to see it to know what I mean.
So, despite their containing Big-3 chemicals, the Models Own Beetlejuice SS12 gets a huge thumbs up from me. I didn’t buy Copper Pot because it looks a little like Boots 17’s Fury, and that didn’t sit very well with my skin tone.
Have you tried the Beetlejuice SS12? I’m starting to feel won-over by Models Own. Hope you are all doing well, let me know what you think of Indian Ocean!
x
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.