Chameleon Round 2

As I was saying in the lat post... Check your bottles.  Here is another great one by Scherer Chameleon...

Scherer Chameleon - Waltz


When it's good... it's good.

Nuff said.

Matte Moments

When it comes to mattifying my manicure I can be pretty resistive. I REALLY like it when my nails are shiny, but sometimes a girl likes change. When the mood strikes me, it helps to have a decent matte top coat to make everything look meticulous. I think I found a good one!

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Before I even tell you what matte top coat I am using, can we please read the warning on the bottle?! Go read ... I'll wait...

I would be one pissed 7 year old.

When I first received this matte top coat by MASH, I only dipped one toe in the pool, so to speak, to test the waters. Actually quite literally my pinky is the only mattified finger here.

This was at least 3 coats of KleanColor - Fuschia Glitter

MASH matte top coat is only on the pinky; the rest of the fingers were probably Seche Vite.

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Orly - Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

What a fantastic green!!! Gollie g. 

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Right?!

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It is equally as awesome with matte top coat. Good job MASH!

Here is an equally fabulous green (see more here) made LESS FABULOUS...

Sinful - San Francisco

I don't know... it kind of takes the life out of it.

BUT in terms of matte top coat quality... it is superb.

I do like a nice matte cream on occasion. It makes me feel like I am wearing Illamasqua's rubber finish polishes. That dirty post can be found here.

This is Revlon - Rock with MASH matte top coat.

Look how smooth!!










How good is this matte top coat?

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Battle of the top coats...

Seche Vite vs. MASH

.... uuuhhh, it's like apples and oranges people. They are both great.

 Bonus picture here!

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Barielle vs. MASH

Barielle Matte-inee is the only other matte top coat I own.  This is Barielle Matte-inee over Lime Crime - Peaches <3 Cream

You may not be able to tell from the picture, but there were visible streaks in the finish. Sad face. This is probably why I don't use it much. I am not sure whether the problem is the brush (it's horrid!) or the formula, or a combination of both.

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MASH matte top coat is like butter. The brush and formula worked like a charm EVERY time.




Can I just say how much I enjoy a mattified pastel!

More Lime Crime Pastels can be found here.










More manicures with MASH...

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I decided to layer Orly - Royal Navy with a bunch of glitters and mattify them!

Bonus picture here!

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Left to Right:

Pinky: Finger Paints - Asylum
Ring: Revlon - Galaxy
Middle: Revlon - Radiant
Index: Orly - Royal Navy shiny!
Thumb: Orly - Royal Navy matte!









I am completely convinced. Not only does MASH deliver a high quality matte finish, but the dry time was great too. What is your favorite matte top coat?

MASH matte top coat is $7.99 for 15mL (0.50 fl.oz.)

*This product was sent for review*

Stroking the bottle

Sometimes a polish just doesn't quite pan out. It looks AMAZING in the bottle and then you put it on only to discover the sadness. The magic is still IN the bottle... stuck to the walls. The most recent victim of this tragic scenario was Pure Ice - Purple Reign.


Looks fine right? Sort of?!

But I want this magic! Why won't it translate to the nail?!



















If the light hits it just right, I definitely get some sparkle, but nowhere near the magnificent display I see stuck to the bottle wall.

Don't get me wrong. It's a great polish. Actually, so great I wore it two times in a row ... well maybe that was because it chipped so easily it needed reapplication. Also, I just hadn't come to terms with the inevitable.

At the end of the day, this is one of those polishes I will pick up, stroke, and marvel at the beauty in the bottle. I will be glad I have it, but secretly hope it would do more with its life.

EDIT: OMG! Olivia went there... check out her comment below and then watch the video.

That's exactly how it will go, hahahaha.

Dermelect Color Comparison

In my last post, I showed you three of the six new color nail treatments from Dermelect.  Today, I'll show you comparisons to similar colors I own.

Comparison to Dermelect - Above It

Pointer -
China Glaze - Bahamian Escape

Middle, Pinky -
Dermelect 'Above It'

Ring -
China Glaze - Secret Peri-winkle




Clearly China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle is the odd man out. (Ring finger)









As a side note, China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle has more in common with Essie - Lapis of Luxury.

Left -
China Glaze - Secret Periwinkle

Right -
Essie - Lapis of Luxury.







More clear from this picture, Above It is not a complete dupe of Bahamian Escape, but they are very close.

As a side note, China Glaze - Bahamian Escape is similar to Color Club - Factory Girl.  Factory Girl is brighter.


Left -
China Glaze - Bahamian Escape

Right -
Color Club - Factory Girl







Comparison to Dermelect - Luxurious

Thumb -
Revlon - Gum Drop (Smelly Polish!)

Pointer -
Essie - Lilacism

Middle -
OPI - Rumple's Wiggin'

Ring -
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (more here)

Pinky -
Dermelect- Luxurious

OPI - Do You Lilac It? looks like a dupe for Dermelect - Luxurious

Top -
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (more here)

Bottom -
Dermelect- Luxurious

Comparison to Dermelect - Persuasive

Pointer, Ring -
Color Club - Vintage Couture

Middle, Pinky -
Dermelect - Persuasive

I think here you can tell Dermelect is only slightly more peach and muted, but not by much.

Overall, these two are difficult to distinguish in certain lighting situations.  Like I mentioned in the last post, Persuasive is a bit of a chameleon.


Top -
Dermelect - Persuasive

Bottom -
Color Club - Vintage Couture

It's nice to have choices! :D




*The Dermelect polishes were sent for review*

Lazy Solutions

There are base coat wearers and base coat ignorers.  What if these two groups of people came together and had a party?  What if in a tragic turn of events the base coat wearers had a momentary lapse in memory and forgot base coat?!  All is not lost.  A good time can be had by all, as long as Dermelect comes to the party.

Dermelect has come out with a new collection of color nail strengthening treatments for the summer.  I had a chance to try 3 of the colors.

Above It

Luxurious

 

 

Persuasive

 

 

 

 

 

 

These polishes are infused with peptides.  Peptides are made of small chains of amino acids (2-20 for example).  In contrast, proteins are large chains of amino acids, greater than 100.  My general view of protein based treatments (or polish) can be found in this post.  In short, I don't believe protein based treatments change the nail plate like formaldehyde, fluoride, DermaNail, and DMU can.  I do believe they can provide a nice layer of protection for as long as it is on top of your nail plate.  

What is interesting to me with these polishes is that because peptides are much smaller, I wonder if they somehow have the ability to interact with the nail plate?  I wonder about this, but have no other insight to give you.

The other tid bit I found interesting is the description of how to use the polish...

"The first coat instantly bonds to the nail, while the second fuses with the base coat to create a flexible web of color that resists chipping and improves brittleness (patent-pending technology)."

Wait, wait!  Are you telling me I can skip base coat??  That would be a fantastic option for my laziness and the ultimate solution for a successful party comprised of base coat wearers and ignorers.  I wrote Dermelect just to make sure that I was correct in my assumption and indeed you can do either or.  As soon as I heard this I ran with it.  *Feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge*

Out of the three, 'Above it' gave me the most trouble.  I did two coats for each polish except this one.  It was a bit thick and after two coats it was still a bit uneven.  I think some thinner will fix it right up.  This was the first coat, no base!

After 3 coats, 'Above It' ended up being a bright baby blue that is definitely eye catching.  I really enjoyed wearing this color.  

In direct sunlight.

This blue still manages to look bright in the shade.

The first coat of 'Luxurious' went on smooth and I only needed two coats to make it look flawless.  Again, I wore no base coat.

My camera makes Luxurious look a bit blue, but I guarantee it is lavender purple.  You'll be able to see it more clearly in the comparison pictures in the next post.

Lastly, here is Persuasive in full sun.  What an interesting color.  It is described as peach, but I noticed it tends to morph between pink and peach depending on the lighting.

 Indirect sunlight makes Persuasive look bright light pink.

More shade makes Persuasive look more peach ... and makes my skin look dirty. lol  

OPI's Mimosas for Mr. & Mrs. also has this distinction.

Aside from giving me "dirty skin syndrome", I liked the formula.

You know how I feel about stains?  Look here, here, and here for major stains and how I remedy them.  However, none of that was necessary.  None these colors left any sort of stains. Woot!

Conclusion:

I must admit, I thoroughly enjoyed skipping base coat for once.  It was very freeing.  I'm usually the type to wear two layers of base to prevent stains, so skipping this step allowed for frivolous dilly-dallying.  If you are looking for a Dermelect base coat, I reviewed their Anti-aging Ridge Filler in an earlier post, but as always feel free to use what works for you!

My absolute favorite out of the three polishes was Above it, even if the formula was a bit thick.  It was so bright, cheerful and compliment worthy.

This is the first color collection for Dermelect's color nail treatments, so I wouldn't expect the color range to be especially cutting edge, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have appreciated a surprise.  The colors are basic and as I will show in the next post, dupable.  I'm interested to see if their next collection keeps it safe.

These three polishes, along with 3 others, can be found on the Dermelect webiste.  
$14/0.4 fl. oz. 

 *Sent for review* 

A mixed bag

It's summer, so I should be wearing either light, bright or pastel colors, right?  Meh.  Sometimes.  I just get a hankering for dark glowing polishes too.  I've been switching back and forth lately.  Here are a few that I don't think I have shown on the blog before.

China Glaze - First Class Ticket

If you are a fan of shimmer you should definitely own this.

2 coats

Color Club - Electric Coral

A bright translucent jelly.

3 coats.

China Glaze - Short and Sassy

Woah mama, hello! 

New York Summer - Hot Magenta

2 coats

New York Summer - Poppies

I was pleasantly surprised.

2 coats

The eye searing
China Glaze - Pool Party.

2-3 coats

Max Factor - Fantasy Fire gave me super powers.  I caught this fish with my bear hands.  (pun intended)

Shout out to Esther from Fab Fingertips for making these super powers possible. :D

Ruby Kisses - Raspberry

2 coats.

This is an opaque jelly and it glides on so buttery.


Do you stick to typical summer polish colors or do you live on the edge?