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Monday, July 30, 2012

New: China Glaze Bohemian Duochromes!

Hello again!


Indoors, artificial light, no flash. Ignore the red in the middle, that's actually the reflection of my red Olympus camera.


Today I have my picks from the newest China Glaze collection--the Bohemian Collection! I was lucky enough to snag this before they're supposed to go on sale thanks to the kind lady at Sally Beauty on Saturday. I just realized that my bottles have black caps and all the press I've seen for these has them wearing silver caps. I wonder what's up about that--has anyone seen these with the silver caps? Are they different?

I'll start with my favorite: Swanky Silk:


Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

 This is Swanky Silk at three coats with one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardening Base and one coat of Seche Vite. This was a bit sheer on the first coat, but by the third, it was opaque and had a fantastic depth to the color. The formula on these is slightly runny/watery but controllable. This one dried to an almost foil-like finish. It does show a little bit of the brush strokes, but nothing to worry about as long as you are careful. The duochrome effect is, sadly, very slight from a greenish-gold to a pinky-champagne. Even though the duochrome shift is underwhelming, I think this is a very elegant and beautiful color. I can see myself wanting to wear this in fall a lot.

Before I took this off, I wanted to experiment a little. I was curious to see what a gradient would look like with two duochromes, so I used the method made famous by Sammy over at the Nailasauras to make the gradient with Swanky Silk and Unpredictable. I was blown away by how gorgeous it ended up being. So much so that I didn't want to take it off... so I didn't! And you'll get a sloppy right-hand swatch of Unpredictable as the result. But here it is topped with Seche Vite:

Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

 Using the sponging method really brought these polishes to life. It took care of the brush stroke problem and made them super sparkly. Check out these sparkles!

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

I'm still wearing this now, and once I swatched Unpredictable on my right hand, I did this same thing. It's gorgeous! I keep staring at my nails!

As I mentioned, I used my non-dominant hand to do the next swatch. It is less than stellar--and definitely a lot more sloppy. I need practice! Here is three coats of Unpredictable, one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardening Base, and one coat of Seche Vite:

Outdoors, natural light, no flash.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Unpredictable shifts from a greenish-gold to a greenish-blue. It had the same formula as Swanky Silk. It dried to less of a foil-like finish and far more metallic. As a result of this, it shows brushstrokes pretty bad and also highlights any flaws in the nail or the application. I'd suggest sponging on a final light coat of this to alleviate that problem, even if you don't do a gradient effect.

Overall, I'm happier with these than I thought I'd be. I was initially underwhelmed by the swatches I'd seen and disappointed by the weak duochrome effect. So, I only picked these two up because they looked the most unique. Now, I might consider snagging more if I see them on sale. I'm curious to see what other color combinations would make great gradients. I bet Swanky Silk with the purple of No Plain Jane would be stunning!


Indoors, artificial light, no flash.


Indoors, artificial light, no flash.


More soon! ^_^



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