Diamond Cosmetics Fall 2010

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I received samples of Diamond Cosmetics' Fall 2010 collection, and I have swatches of them for you today.  The collection is four cremes and a jelly, and most were two coaters.  The application was typical of Diamond Cosmetics, so nothing new to tell you about there, and the brush is the usual as well.

Classic Pink is a very pale pink creme, and I used three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Classic Pink Nail Polish, Three Coats

Sunset in Sedona is a really good terra cotta creme, and it was good in two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Sunset in Sedona Nail Polish, Two Coats

Private School Girl is a red creme, also good in two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Private School Girl Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's Nothing to Wine About is a wine jelly.  I used two coats, but I think it would have been better with a third.

Diamond Cosmetics It's Nothing to Wine About Nail Polish, Two Coats

Under the Willow Tree is a blackened blue green creme, very pretty and not black in indoor light.  I used two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Under the Willow Tree Nail Polish, Two Coats

The release date for this collection is tomorrow, and it will be available on Diamond Cosmetics' site.

That's all for today, Dear Redaer.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a friend who's a big holo fan with a birthday this week, so I thought I'd do a holo countdown to celebrate (I love celebrating birthdays!).  I'm starting with Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, a charcoal base with multicolored holographic bits.  Unfortunately, I forgot to use Nfu Oh Aqua Base with this one, so its true potential has yet to be seen.

Chainmail Charm applied well and is a two-coater for me. I took the picture in natural light, but one of the hard parts about holos and glitters is that when the camera gets clear focus, the real reflective properties of the polish fade.  In this picture, my index finger and thumb are not in focus and are a true reflection of what Chainmail Charm looks like.  The polish is unusually smooth and glossy.

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm Nail Polish, Two Coats

Today is B minus three on the countdown.  I'll have more celebratory holos for you this week, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Diamond Cosmetics Metallic Blue & Bundle Monster BM10

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I woke up early this morning and felt like doing my nails while I had coffee, so I did - Black Ice didn't last long!  I used a Diamond Cosmetics polish, Metallic Blue, from a recent DC order.  I ordered quite a few, and I saw the package on the porch as I was on my way out a couple of weeks ago, so I got it and put it somewhere "safe" until I got home.  I finally found "safe" on about the third try since then this morning (it turns out the corner of my kitchen pantry is a safe place for nail polish!), and I went through the box to even remind myself what I'd ordered.

It turns out I did well - it's so hard to tell from Diamond Cosmetics' site, but I got some really gorgeous ones (at $2.25 a pop, I'm willing to roll the dice..).  I went with Metallic Blue first because I have not worn a blue in a while and I'm a little burnt out on Summer shades at the moment.  Metallic Blue is good in two coats, but had a little trick to application - it's a bit thick and tried to leave bubbles as I applied it (just one or two per nail).  The bubbles appeared immediately, so after covering a nail I just swiped any bubbles with the brush, and it dried with no issues.  That's just something to be on the lookout for if you try this one.  Here's Metallic Blue alone, a dry manicure.

Diamond Cosmetics Metallic Blue Nail Polish, Two Coats

That just cries out to me for some silver Konad, so that's exactly what I did.  I had another plan in mind when I sat down to stamp, but ran into plate BM10 and tried out a pattern I've been eying for a while.  It's a full nail pattern, clearly both shorter and narrower than my nails, so what I did was double stamp it sideways, and it worked out great.  For the stamping, I used Orly Shine.

Diamond Cosmetics Metallic Blue and Bundle Monster BM10 Stamped in Orly Shine

That's my Nails of the Day, and I like it.

I also had some news to share with you that I'm really excited about - I've been invited to design a nail stamping plate.  We don't expect to see them produced until early next year, and the other details of the project are private for now, but I was told that I could let you know that's something in the works.  As I get a green light to give you more information, I will, but I was too excited about it to keep the fact that's it's begun to myself for six months!

That's the update for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Diamond Cosmetics Summer 2010 Summer Beach Blowout Collection

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Diamond Cosmetics sent me samples of their Summer 2010 Summer Beach Blowout Collection, and I have swatches for you.  They're all cremes, and all two-coaters.  The pictures were taken under artificial light.

Magens Bay Blue is accurately described as "a light blue-based teal."

Diamond Cosmetics Magens Bay Blue Nail Polish for Summer 2010, Two Coats

South Beach Pink is a bright pink creme.

Diamond Cosmetics South Beach Pink Nail Polish for Summer 2010, Two Coats

Pelican Peak Purple is a great lilac.

Diamond Cometics Pelican Peak Purple Nail Polish for Summer 2010, Two Coats

All three shades applied quite well - the formula is thick, but easy to control.  I like them.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

Diamond Cosmetics Spring 2010

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I swatched Diamond Cosmetics' Spring 2010 Collection, which the sent me to review. I had to use artificial light - it's been rainy here with no real end in sight.

I like this collection. A couple were two-coaters, most three, but they're good colors.

Serendipity is a pale grey-blue shimmer, and this is three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Serendipity Nail Polish, Three Coats

Tranquility is a turquoise creme, good in two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility Nail Polish, Two Coats

Razzmatazz is a pink with a strong flash which needed three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Razzmatazz Nail Polish, Three Coats

Orange Blush is probably my favorite,a soft orange jelly. This is three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Orange Blush Nail Polish, Three Coats

Gypsy Pink is a bright pink shimmer, a two-coater.

Diamond Cosmetics Gypsy Pink Nail Polish, Two Coats

Hot Lips is a bright purpley pink creme.

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Lips Nail Polish, Three Coats

I livened up Hot Lips with a Konad pattern from plate M32 I've wanted to use for a long time.

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Lips Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Konad M32

That's Diamond Cosmetics' Spring 2010. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I did manage to carve out a bit of time for the swatches I wanted to do for you, and I have them here. Before I show them to you, I have to take care of something really quickly... Indi? Michael? If you're still reading, please run, run like the wind! Below are pictures of matte nail polish! Okay, now the rest of us can carry on.

These swatches took a bit longer than usual because I left a good 10-15 minutes for them to dry before taking pictures of each, testing to make sure the polish was dry as well. The application was excellent - it was like that of normal nail polish. From the application, I would not have known it was a matte, I would definitely have known it was three free (but in a controllable way, not in the gross slippery way). Three of the four shades took two coats, the last required a third (but is well worth it).

The finish on these is both noteworthy and consistent amongst the four, which are all cremes. If you recall (or if you don't, I'm about to remind you), with the Orly mattes, there was inconsistency between the three shades with respect to the degree of matteness of the finishes, and I had a preference for the middle and least matte. The four Diamond shades are roughly in the middle ground between my preferred two in terms of having a nice, satiny matte finish, and that is consistent throughout the collection. I'll get right to the pictures now and start with the one where that is the most surprising to me (with no real order after that).

Matte Black is described by the manufacturer as "a classic matte color without the intimidating punk vibe." I think that's accurate. Now, I know a lot of people don't care for matte black on my nail length, but for a moment, let's look past that and look at the polish. Do you see how satiny the finish is? This is the first matte black I've seen that is not flat. I really like this one, and am thinking that I'll be using it with white Konad over it. That finish is just great. The reason is surprises me is that when Orly's were satin but for the black, I figured a satin black was just not doable, but here I have been proved wrong.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Black Nail Polish, Two Coats

The same satin finish is on Matte Mulberry, which is like a pinker, softer version of Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess Matte. I think it's feminine, and I like it. This is two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Mulberry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Matte Smoke was the one that really caught my eye when I opened them. I so love greys, and I think this is a great shade of it. I think the finish sets off the shade beautifully, and this is one that has a great simplicity that even I would leave alone.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Smoke Nail Polish, Two Coats

Matte Burgundy is the one that required three coats, and I do think it's worth the effort and extra dry time - it's the one I chose to wear after swatching, so I didn't just have to wait for it to dry enough to take a picture, I had to wait for it to completely cure. It's described as "a sophisticated, deep, rich, burgundy." It is. It also looks a bit like dried blood. Too Elvira, Mistress of the Dark for you? I'm sorry. That's just what I thought. Blood makes me pass out (literally, I fall over), this polish doesn't phase me, so it's just an interesting similarity, not too literal. I think it's cool as heck, which is why I'm wearing it even as I type.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Burgundy Nail Polish, Three Coats

I was a little reluctant to swatch yet more mattes, to be honest with you, Dear Reader. As I mentioned at the start, I wait 10-15 minutes after applying each color to make sure it's as matte as it's going to get, so I put about an hour into just waiting with these swatches. Mattes are time consuming! These though, were worth it, I think. I'm really impressed with the satin finish, the application, and the colors. The other thing is, they're $2, so I wanted to show them to you in case you were on the fence about getting some mattes this season - if you don't want to spring for a $9 or $18 matte black, you have a $2 alternative. In swatching, I thought these might appeal to those on the fence about the finish itself - they're sort of "matte light." Whether you like them or not, now you've seen them. If you do, they're at Diamond Cosmetics' site.

I am definitely done with nail polish for today, Dear Reader! Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Edit: I just got word that these are a limited edition collection.

Diamond Crushed Velvet & Konad M69

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I said I thought I'd be using Diamond Cosmetics' Crushed Velvet for a Konad base, and what do you know, here it is! Two days of sixty degree weather and I'm beginning to come to some acceptance of Fall, and this is a great cool weather purple.

Since I just showed you Crushed Velvet alone yesterday, I didn't bother with new pictures of it alone. I did two coats of it for the base, then decided to be a little understated with the Konad and went with one of my favorite patterns from plate M69 in Blue Konad Special Nail Polish. Since when I walk around there's not a bright light shining on my hands, it's quite subtle. Here's the finished manicure.

Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Konad Plate M69 in Konad Blue Special Nail Polish

That's my Nails of the Day today. I have more polishes to swatch for you, which I may or may not do today, so maybe I'll have more for you later. Until next time, whenever that is, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Diamond Cosmetics Winter 2009 Nail Polish Collection

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Diamond Cosmetics sent me samples of their upcoming Winter 2009 Collection to review, and I just finished swatching them and doing a full manicure with the fourth (the collection is four colors). I've got pictures of them for you today.

I'll show them to you in increasing order of preference. They all applied well, with the basic thick 3-free formula, which is not a problem for me. It was easy to control, and did not seem to have that thick-yet-runny thing happening. Each took two coats to be completely opaque.

First up is Smokey Rose, which quite simply is a smoky rose creme. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't excite me. If you don't have a basic rose, this one's $2, so it's not a bad choice, but I have a million.

Diamond Cosmetics Smokey Rose Nail Polish, Two Coats

The next one, Mulberry Mayhem, I kind of underestimated in the bottle. When I swatched it, I was more impressed. It's a bright red-berry creme. I like this one quite a bit.

Diamond Cosmetics Mulberry Mayhem Nail Polish, Two Coats

The next two struck me right when I took them out of the box - I'm fired up about these two. Which would be third and which would be fourth was a matter of inspecting the bottles as I swatched. Number three is a purple creme called Crushed Velvet. It's a rich, deep, slightly blue shade, and will definitely be the base for Konad manis.

Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last shade in this collection is my Nails of the Day, and the only shimmer in the collection. It's called Cherry Tobacco, and is a very rich blackened red brown shimmer. It's my top pick from this release.

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco Nail Polish, Two Coats

So overall, I'm really pleased with this collection. Two I love, one I really like, and one I simply have dupes for. Not bad at all.

As I mentioned above, these go for the princely sum of $2 on Diamond's site. What I don't know, and am about to email them to ask and will later add as an edit to the bottom of this post, is whether this seasonal collection is permanent or limited edition. In any case, I don't think there's any need to panic yet! I've been happy with all the polishes I've used from them though, so for $2, what the heck...

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you.

Edit: I just got word that these are a permanent addition to the line.

Cosme DeCorte Prism Illusion

Good morning, Dear Reader!

It seems that I'm just constitutionally incapable of leaving a creme nail polish alone. Yesterday after swatching, I added two coats of Cosme DeCorte Prism Illusion to my Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away manicure. It had to be done!

The Cosme nail polish is from Japan, so I can't read the ingredients to find out what's in it, nor am I familiar with the restrictions on chemicals in cosmetics in Japan. However, I can tell you that it stinks to high heaven. It looks fantastic, I think, but the smell for an hour after I applied it - whew!

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Diamond Cosmetics Summer 2009 Collection

EDIT

These are now available on Diamond's site!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I have a new brand (for me) to show to you today, and it really surprised and pleased me. I'll tell you the little story of why: last week, I got an email from someone at Diamond Cosmetics offering me samples of their Summer 2009 Collection to swatch. Since I like to try and to show you lesser-known brands, I figured what the heck, and said sure. Then I went to their site, www.diamondcosmetics.com, and saw that these polishes are $2 each retail. At that price, I was thinking there was no way they'd be that good, but they proved me wrong, wrong, wrong. I really like them.

They're free of toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP (yay!!!), and apply about like Barielle Shades - a thick, somewhat gluey, well-pigmented Big 3 Free polish. That's not a criticism at all, just the easiest and most accurate way to describe the application. Since I've been sticking to 3-Free, I've gotten used to applying them, and thought they went on really well and were very surprisingly well pigmented.

I swatched the six colors in this collection over one coat of Nubar Foundation Base Coat, which is like CND Stickey, but without the staining. The reason I always use a base when swatching is twofold: to protect my nice clean new growth from staining, and also to give the polish I'm swatching a fair representation. Since it will be worn over a base that grips it, it seems only reasonable to swatch over a base that grips it. Five of the six swatches are two coats, with one being three, all photographed under a good halogen light while wet, no top coat except for the one which is my NOTD.

I just checked www.diamondcosmetics.com and saw that they list the colors online by number rather than name, so I'll give you the number for each. I can't find this collection online yet, but I'm going to email the contact there and tell her so - maybe they'll put them up this week. In order to end strong, I'll show them to you in numerical order (the last three are great!).

First, #323 is Passion Pink, a deep, intense pink creme that stops shy of being hot pink.

Second in line is the three-coater, Fiery Coral, #324. It's a strong coral with a hot pink shimmer. The shimmer in the bottle is pretty strong, but much more subtle on the nail.

Next is is Cotton Candy, #325, which is a basic modern pink with a very, very slight shimmer. In the bottle, the shimmer shows up, but no so much on the nail.

Don't Teal My Heart Away, #326, is my NOTD with a coat of Diamont over it, and one coat of this teal creme was almost sufficient for opacity. This one is particularly noteworthy because $0.25 of the sale of each (12.5% of the total price) goes to ovarian cancer research.

#327, Hot Summer Pink, is a really fantastic glittery hot pink. It has a subtle pink flash and lots of silver microglitter in a HOT pink base. I ♥ this one!

We end on a strong note with Oh Tiff!, #328, which is presumably Tiffany & Company inspired. I find the shade slightly more grey than a true Tiffany blue, but that's not a bad thing at all. I really love this color! In the bottle, there's a subtle shimmer than doesn't really show on the nail.

That, Dear Reader, is Diamond Cosmetics' Summer 2009 Collection. I'm really impressed, especially for $2 a pop. You'll likely see more of these from me!

Until next time, love and nail polish to you!