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Duochrome Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Imagination In Colour

Tag Archives: Duochrome

Models Own Tropical Sun

Models Own have released their 2nd Beetlejuice collection, this one being their Spring/Summer 2012  collection. I have to say, I wasn’t a huge fan of the 1st Beetlejuice collection (other than Golden Green) and didn’t get them on the basis that Models Own polishes still contain toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and camphor, and I am reluctant to part with £5 for something which could potentially damage me when many companies these days produce Big-3-Free polishes – always check your nail polish ingredients! It seems the Big-3-Free label is a big selling point for the Models Own Pro range but to pay £8 for that when many cheaper polishes from other brands are Big-3-Free anyways is a little frustrating!

However, since I never tend to wear a polish for more than a day or two before changing it, I did buy some polishes from the 2nd Beetlejuice collection as they are too hot to miss! Today I have Tropical Sun for you guys, a very very very pretty peach 🙂

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish

Models Own Beetlejuice Tropical Sun Spring Summer 2012 peach golden gold pink orange shimmer duochrome silver microglitter sheer glow boots uk sunset nail polish close up

So it’s not exactly duochrome (which was one of the selling points of the Beetlejuice collection) but it does look different in different lights – hopefully you can get that from the many photos I took 😛 the final photo shows how it looks distinctly orange in natural light, while the rest are in sunlight or direct light. Essentially it’s a very pink base filled with golden-orange shimmer. Tropical Sun also has silver microglitter throughout, which gives a subtle sparkle to your nails, very pretty!

Application:

The pictures show 3 coats. At 3 coats Tropical Sun still shows some free-edge of the nail, especially if your nails are stained, so if you are a stickler for opacity you will need a 4th coat! The golden-orange shimmer does reflect a lot of light which does conceal the free-edge somewhat though :). I found that Tropical Sun actually took a little while to dry, which was a bit of a pain as I did need a 3rd coat so I ended up doing the 3rd coat the next day. The polish smelled quite strong, a different smell from most polishes (maybe it’s the Big-3 chemicals? Anyone know?) so definitely apply this in a well ventilated area. Finally the finish is shiny, but ever so slightly bumpy so if that’s annoying to you, you may need a topcoat! I think that’s due to the microglitter. Tropical Sun is also just sheer enough to make a nice layering polish, but only just!

Despite all the application pains, I do LOVE this polish. It’s sooo pretty and definitely lives up to the ‘Tropical Sun’ namesake. I’ve never been a peach-person polishwise, but this one is gorgeous. It kind of reminds me of Boots 17 Glisten, but they are very different in base and finish. Tropical Sun is much more pink and has a somewhat more jellyish base. Would you like to see a comparison? Lemme know!

What do you guys think of this one? Also I’m interested to hear what you think of the fact that Models Own still contains the nasty chemicals?! They definitely improve the consistency and finish of any polish, which is a bonus, but I would never wear it say if I was pregnant due to the unknown long-term effects of them. I also wonder how many other drugstore polishes still contain these, I haven’t really looked into it fully yet. Does a polish containing the Big-3 put you off buying it?

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 Aqua Blue

Here’s yet another Barry M I’ve never seen in shops. Is it just me? Do you see these in your local Superdrug/Boots? We seem to have a standard rainbow but all the really interesting ones come from the Barry M website.

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Barry M Aqua Blue pale blue shimmer green turquoise sheer purple duochrome UK nail polish

 

Aqua Blue is essentially a very sheer purple base, packed with blue and green shimmer, giving an overall turquoise effect with a hint of purple duochrome. It’s a gorgeous polish, but not one that I’d wear alone again, much better suited to layering.

Application:

The first thing I have to say about Aqua Blue is that it is sheer and a half! The pictures show 4 coats, and I could still see the free edge. Granted, the shimmer reflected the light so much that often I couldn’t see the nail line (see 1st photo), but it was definitely there. The polish did apply nicely and dried relatively quickly but it’s definitely destined for topcoat-land.

I love love love the colour, especially the hint of duochrome, but I think it’s really only suitable as a layering polish. The green-tone of the shimmer makes your nails look quite dirty underneath, even if they aren’t stained, so I don’t see many people liking this alone.  I might well post some pics of it layered in the near future.

Hope you are all doing well?! I’m enjoying the intermittent sun we keep getting here. It was my Andy’s birthday last week, which was lovely 🙂 I’m taking him shopping (for him!) as a birthday treat.

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.

Boots 17 Glisten

So Boots 17 have come out with a new Spring 2012 collection, in which we find four brand new Spring-themed nail polishes! I have Glisten to show you today.

Boots 17 Glisten Nail polish Spring Collection 2012 gold pink sunset peachy shimmer UK Lasting Fix golden rosey pink

Boots 17 Glisten Nail polish Spring Collection 2012 gold pink sunset peachy shimmer UK Lasting Fix golden rosey pink

Boots 17 Glisten Nail polish Spring Collection 2012 gold pink sunset peachy shimmer UK Lasting Fix golden rosey pink

Boots 17 Glisten Nail polish Spring Collection 2012 gold pink sunset peachy shimmer UK Lasting Fix golden rosey pink

Pretty, right?! It puts me in mind of the gorgeous sunsets we get come summer time. I can’t quite work out the base colour, it’s kind of a pinky-rose colour and gives the polish a lovely dusky finish. The polish is packed with fine gold shimmer and the combination is stunning. I can’t think when I saw a ‘drugstore’ polish look this good! It’s very unique and I LOVE it!! It looks amazing in the sun.

Colour-wise, it’s close enough to my skin tone for it to be subtle-ish in that people have to look twice to double check you’re actually wearing nail polish and it’s not just that your nails are glowing gold! This would be another polish I’d wear for a posh do.

Application:

Glisten is sheer. The pictures show three coats – this was sufficient to cover the free edge but if you’re fussy about visible nail line you’ll want a fourth coat. The polish dried quickly, as is often the case with Boots 17 polishes, so a fourth coat shouldn’t be too much of a faff. Something about the finish makes me not want to wear topcoat, which can only be a good thing, right?

The finish is actually quite similar to that of GOSH Golden Dragon, in that the murky base gives quite a pull on the overall colour of the polish. The polish itself is reminiscent of those No.7 seasonal ltd edition polishes that came out last year, but I never bought them so I can’t compare them.

Boots 17 currently have all cosmetics on offer at 3 for the price of 2, and this one is well worth snatching up! At only £2.99 for the bottle it’s really amazing for what you get on the nail.

What do you think? Do you love this as much as I do?! 😀

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.

Rimmel Black Cab + Layering polishes!

It’s been a while… In fact I’ve even been absent from Twitter, and I don’t really have a reason. I’m sorry. Anyway, I hit 100 followers while I wasn’t on here – hello to my 100th follower: “evercouldbe” 🙂

I have for you today a very standard black creme, which, if you’ve been reading my blog posts carefully enough 😉 is probably my least favourite choice of nail polish, which is why I couldn’t leave it alone! In fact I only bought this polish to use as a base for nail art and layering. Enter Rimmel London Black Cab!

A very bog standard black: opaque in 2 coats, glossy, tacky. I just don’t like it! It really suits some people, but I’m just not one of those people! Oh, a word to the wise, this polish actually takes a fair while to properly dry, it was sheet-marks galore this morning!

So here are the layering polishes I used – these are all far too sheer to be used alone (i.e. they would NEVER reach opacity, believe me, I’ve tried!)

Left to right: 2true Glossywear Shade 2 (worn on my index finger), MaxFactor Nailfinity Extra Frost (middle finger), 2true Glossywear shade 10 (ring finger), Natural Collection Lunar Haze (pinkie finger).

Onto the beautiful pictures – there’s a few, I’m sorry! 😛

The final photo shows how the polishes look when in a dim light, i.e. in my bedroom which gets no sunlight whatsoever. I’m going to break these down into each layering polish for you.

  1. 2true Glossywear Shade No. 2 (index finger) – This is a glitter polish, but instead of a clear base it has purple/pink/blue duochrome shimmer in the base. It also has quite a uniquely-shaped silver glitter suspended in it, which spreads very evenly across the nail. The glitter is kind of linear and almost looks like tiny shreds of aluminium foil 🙂 it gives a very pretty, unique effect. It dries quickly and the effect is reached in one coat. This one looks amazing over pink, purple and blue polishes too 🙂 £1.99 from Superdrug.
  2. MaxFactor Nailfinity Extra Frost (middle finger) – This is a very pretty blue shimmer topcoat, which has tiny silver microshimmer particles throughout. The name is very apt – if you think of frost you think blue for icy and glistening icicles etc. I love this one. Dries fairly quickly and the effect is reached in one coat. This one looks amazing over purples, greys, blues etc. Absolutely beautiful. £5.99 from Boots or Superdrug or most large shops (e.g. Tesco).
  3. 2true Glossywear Shade No. 10 (ring finger) – This is a gorgeous green shimmer with a very purple base. I wish this one could be opaque in the bottle colour as it’s gorgeous! An amazing duochrome of purple and green. Over dark colours you tend to see the green shimmer with hints of a pinky-purple. It gives this lovely extra dimension to a polish. It’s so hard to describe haha! This looks gorgeous over pale colours too. Over white you see more of the bottle colour purple. This one dries quickly and creates the duochrome green in one coat. I love it! It kind of reminds me of that duochrome you get on some seaside shells and oyster shells and such 😛 £1.99 from Superdrug.
  4. Natural Collection Lunar Haze (pinkie finger) – This is a pearly purple-blue duochrome, it definitely leans more blue than the pictures let on. However it’s much more purple-y than MaxFactor’s Extra Frost. It has a very pearlescent finish, it’s probably the most work-appropriate of the four. This one, too, dries quickly and reaches the effect in one coat. £1.89 from Boots.
So overall, these are all very beautiful, affordable layering polishes, which really brighten up a tired or slightly chipped manicure. Definitely recommended! How about you guys – any good layering polishes to report?
I hope you are all doing well, I’m starting uni a week today so I’m getting tres nervous! I will be posting up a giveaway shortly to signify my lovely 100 followers, keep an eye out for it 😉
Emma xxx
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.

 

 

Ciaté – Kitten Heels

This came with my July GlossyBox, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a box containing 5 samples of ‘luxury’ products costing £10 (but £12.50 inc. P&P; from September) which comes around on a monthly basis. Once you have signed up, they will automatically take the money each month until you unsubscribe. Last month there was an uproar on Twitter because the box contained a small bottle of Batiste Dry Shampoo which isn’t ‘luxury’, although frankly compared with the price of the other products, I think it’s a bit greedy to expect all expensive items! I just think it’s a shame to see a brand new company get so much grief for one little mistake. Anyway, those who unsubscribed after that apparent outrage will probably be kicking themselves this month, as the July box was fab! Even better- it arrived on my birthday!
In my box I received a pack of Nouveau Lashes, Ciaté Nail Polish, Weleda Pomegranate Body Oil, Illamasqua Lipgloss in Explode, and the only sample sized product is the Xen-Tan lotion (in dark – I’m a bit scared to use it haha!)
So anyway, onto the nail polish. FYI, Ciaté is 3-Free (free from formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and toluene).

1 coat – hopefully you can see the very pink jellyish base! This s reminiscent of China Glaze Strawberry Fields, and I actually wore my nails all day in Oxford like this as I loved the bright pink!

Left: 1 coat. Right: 2 coats. Huge difference!!

The gorgeous yellow-orange shimmer in the bottle.



This is my first bottle of Ciaté, I’ve always admired their polishes online, but never got round to buying one as I never managed to decide which one first! I have to say, as a first taste of the brand, I am SUPER impressed. The polish has a pink jelly base, with tons of yellow-orange-red shimmer, which I assume accounts for the red effect as the layers build up! I ended up applying a third coat, but if you don’t have nasty stained nails like mine, you could easily get away with 2. coats.
This polish is easily mistaken for a classic red shimmer in dim light, but as soon as you get under a light or into natural daylight, or even better, sunlight, this polish lights up like a fire! The blend of orangey-reddy-yellow shimmer makes it look like glowing embers, and you occasionally catch a hint of the pink base. Can I emphasise how amazing this polish is any more?
Onto application. I’m in love. You know that myth that you’re supposed to do three strokes with nail polish, middle then 2 sides? I’ve never ever been able to do that until I used this polish. The brush is firm enough to control the polish, but soft enough to maneuver it neatly around the curves of the nails. I love it! The handle is long, allowing for good hand control, and the brush is the perfect width and density – not too thin and not too thick. According to the GlossyBox notecard, the brush has 250 bristles, though it doesn’t explain why haha.
Ciaté polishes retail for £9.00 from the Ciaté website, or from the Powder Rooms. I would seriously recommend this fiery red to any of you! Well worth the £9.00 for 13.5ml, if you compare with OPI’s average £10.50 for 15ml in the UK and China Glaze’s average £8.00 for 14ml, plus the application makes it all the more amazing.
Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who said Happy Birthday in the comments on my last post, it made my day to a) know that you care and b) know that people actually bother to read my ramblings! I promise I will work on cutting down the waffle but thank you so much
Emma xxx