Category Archives: Finish: Duochrome

Maybelline Holographic Color Show Polishes Information Plus Quick Swatches, Review

Maybelline Holographic Effect Polishes – Spotted at CVS

Lavender Lustre // Alluring Rose

Yesterday, I spotted a display with five new Maybelline Color Show polishes – called the Holographic collection (now available online). Unfortunately, it turns out that they aren’t holo – or even meant to be holo! There is a description of the collection on Maybelline Canada’s website, and it says that they “shift from shade to shade depending on the angle” – that is, they’re meant to be duochrome (they are not very strong duochromes, though). If you’re not familiar with the difference between holo and duochrome polishes, Nihrida has a -->guide to nail polish finishes -->.

However, as disappointing as this collection is, I still have information about all the shades & swatches of two of them.

Continue reading →

Ninja Polish Divinity, New Drugstore Collections, and Coming Soon!

Purchased

Ninja Polish Divinity

Ninja Polish Divinity: purple & red with a green shift. In the photo above, I freehanded the black pattern with Stripe Rite paint from Sally Beauty. The photo is from , which (as I think I’ve mentioned before) is entirely photographs of my nails and my kittens.

There are lots of new collections landing at the drugstore, but I haven’t spotted any of them myself yet – Nouveau Cheap has all the details! I’m most excited about L’oreal’s new Miss Candy collection, which has “Gellie” – aka jelly – finish nail polishes and LE infallible eyeshadows. Maybelline’s LE Colors Tattoos have potential too – Seashore Frosts is the most intriguing to me.

And coming up soon (or soon-ish) on Project Swatch:

– I will, of course, be purchasing and reviewing a selection of items from the new drugstore collections;

– Swatches of all my purple & berry lipsticks;

– A comparison of nine (!) different eyeshadow primers (I was surprised to find out I had so many);

And more!

*I purchased Ninja Polish Divinity. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Duochrome Polishes Swatches, Comparisons, Review

Purchase

Pink Quartz // Amethyst // Tanzanite // Aquamarine

Today at CVS, I found an untouched display of Revlon’s new Chroma Chameleon polishes. I think they’re very overpriced at $8.29 (prices may vary by store) for only .29 oz, but luckily CVS has a great deal on Revlon polish this week – $4.99 with $2 back in Extra Bucks. I had four $1 off coupons for Revlon polishes, so my total (per polish) was $1.99 – a much better price!

Since these are duochromes, I swatched them both alone and over black. I only have nail wheel swatches at the moment, since I wanted to get this post up quickly, but if I have time to swatch these on my nails, I’ll do that and add those swatches to this post.

All four of the polishes were thin, fluid, and easy to apply. They have small brushes which were easy to work with. Dry time was average. Note that some of the colors require three coats to be opaque when worn.

Below, each polish is swatched is two coats alone (left swatch), and one coat over black (right swatch) with no top coat.

Bright light, straight on: Pink Quartz // Amethyst // Tanzanite // Aquamarine

Shade, angled: Pink Quartz // Amethyst // Tanzanite // Aquamarine

Underwater: Pink Quartz // Amethyst // Tanzanite // Aquamarine

As you can see, Pink Quartz is a peachy-pink that shifts to gold. It is identical to China Glaze Swanky Silk, and very similar to Maybelline Pink Cosmo, but the Maybelline is very sheer. (My comparison photographs didn’t come out; I’ll retake them and add them to this post by tomorrow).

Amethyst is a purple with a strong green shift. When both are swatched over black, it looks very similar to TKB’s pigment Travel to Venus as nail polish, which I swatched yesterday. The Revlon has more brushstrokes.

Tanzanite is purple with a slight gold shift; I have a lot of duochrome polish, but I don’t seem to have anything similar.

Aquamarine is light blue alone and vivid blue over black. Either way, it has a slight purple shift. I don’t have anything similar to it swatched alone, but when each polish is swatched over black, it’s quite similar to Model’s Own Aqua Violet Beetle Juice (which I never would have thought of – this is why having all my polish on swatch sticks is so useful!).

For completeness, here are the remaining four polishes that I didn’t purchase:

Rose Gold // Gold // Topaz // Cobalt

Overall, I really like these polishes, especially Amethyst. I would absolutely recommend buying them at CVS this week for $3, but I am hesitant to recommend spending $8 on them when for only $7, you can get the gorgeous -->HITS multichrome polishes -->.

Do you have your eye on any of these?

TKB Planetary Sampler Duochrome Pigments – Swatch of the Day

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto
Angled to better show duochrome

A long, long time ago I promised to post swatches of franken nail polishes made with TKB Trading’s Planetary Sampler – seven different color shifting pigments which can be used in nail polish. The pigments are also sold separately as Travel to Mercury, Travel to Venus, etc.

I’ve had the polishes sitting out for months – and here are swatches! They are really lovely, and I’d highly recommend getting the sample set if you’re into frankening polish at all.

I made these polishes by mixing a bit of pigment with suspension base, and the pictured swatches are each one coat of the polish over a black creme. I’ve also photographed the polishes underwater to better show the duochrome.

TKB Planetary Sampler Swatches - Underwater

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto

And some slightly blurry close-ups:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto

Venus and Pluto are my favorites – what about you?

NYC Tudor City Teal & Rock The Party Nail Polish Swatches

NYC has just released several new shades of both its Long Wearing nail polish (which sells for 99 cents) and its In A Minute nail polish (which sells for $1.99). I bought two of the new Long Wearing shades, Tudor City Teal and Rock the Party, and I have swatches!

Above, you see Tudor City Teal. It’s a fantastic color, but I did have a little bit of trouble with the application. It’s very sheer – it requires three coats to be opaque, and maybe even four if you do very thin coats. It looks streaky when you’re at the two-coat mark, but it does even out. I also had some bubbles, though perhaps slowing down and waiting between coats would fix that issue. Still, for 99 cents, I don’t mind imperfect application for a color like this – it’s definitely worth it to me!

In the bottle, Rock the Party looks like a green-purple duochrome – there are several similar shades around, including Wet n Wild Gray’s Anatomy. Because all of those shades are sheer, I suspected that it would be sheer as well, and it is – it really needs to be worn over another color.

Tudor City Teal // Rock The Party // Rock The Party over black creme //
Rock the Party over Tudor City Teal

The nail wheel above has three coats of Tudor City Teal on the first nail. The following three nails each have two coats of Rock The Party (over nothing, over black, and over Tudor City Teal).

Rock The Party has a nice formula – very thin and even. It does have a tendency to pool at the tips, so it’s best to wait for one layer to dry a bit before adding a second layer, but really I have no complaints (especially for a dollar). It’s a fantastic layering shade, and I’d highly recommend it!

NOTD: Hits Mari Moon Unconventional

I absolutely love duochrome nail polish – I have a lot of them! – and this is one of my new favorites. Hits is a brand from Brazil; I bought mine from -->Llarowe -->, and it’s also sold at Ninja Polish.

Here are far too many pictures of my NOTD.

Are you a duochrome fan?