Maybelline Fashion Week Color Show Nail Polish: swatches!

I took some time this morning to do actual (nail, not nail wheel) swatches of the six Maybelline Fashion Week Color Show nail polishes.

I don’t have much to add to my original review – I found that all six polishes were thin and applied easily and smoothly.  Several were more sheer than I realized.  In particular, Pink Cosmo is extremely sheer – even at three coats – and is probably best as a layering shade.  However, it is very even, so if you like sheer nail polish, it will work on its own.

On to the swatches! On the left, I photographed the polish in shade (natural light) with flash, and on the right, no flash.  In the caption for each photograph I noted how many coats each swatch is (either two or three)

Maybelline Color Show Avante Green, swatched – 3 coats

Maybelline Color Show Auburn Ablaze, swatched – 2 coats

Maybelline Color Show Metal Icon, swatch – 3 coats.

Maybelline Color Show Boho Gold swatched, 3 coats

Maybelline Color Show Cosmo Pink swatched, 3 coats (left picture is in sunlight)

Maybelline Color Show Downtown Brown swatched, 2 coats

After seeing these on my nails, my two favorites are Boho Gold and Auburn Ablaze. Boho Gold is more sheer than I realized – it definitely needs three coats – but the color is just gorgeous. I prefer it to the Peridot / Just Spotted the Lizard polishes, since it is more gold.  Auburn Ablaze is the most opaque of the set – two coats is completely opaque – and I love how it is almost black in low lighting but lights up with a fiery shimmer in the sunlight!

My least favorite is Metal Icon – it’s the most ordinary shade of the bunch, and it (surprisingly!) requires three coats for opaqueness.  While I might not have an exact dupe, I definitely have a couple shades that are extremely close, and I’m pretty sure I have some that are one-coaters.