Friday, December 7, 2012

Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Swatch and Review


I forgot to mention earlier this week that my best friend visited me this past weekend to meet my LO for the first time.  She lives in New York City and I hadn't seen her since she threw my baby shower in June, so I was really excited to have her visit.  She had a great time with the LO, she even rolled up her sleeves and changed a diaper or two.  We visited LACMA and I finally got to explore the third floor some more and we saw both the Stanley Kubrick and Caravaggio exhibit.  

My favorite piece at LACMA by Ken Price

Later that night we went to Baby's R Us to pick up a new bath tub for the baby, and of course she couldn't resist looking at the baby clothing.  Fortunately for her, she found quite a few outfits for my LO - notice I said fortunately for her and not me or the LO because this spurred a photo shoot the next day, all inspired by her birth state, New Jersey.  Yes, New Jersey.  My baby was Jerseyfied.  She was a Jersey Girl living in a Jersey World.  Gah! Bad Auntie!  There was gold, spandex, midriffs, cheetah print, tube tops, and jeggings involved.  Luckily there was no bronzer or hairspray, whew!



When I found out about the recent Cult Nails collection, I was beyond excited to see these colors in person.  I love that there is a great range of colors, and each color has a unique finish - flakie, glass fleck, and shimmer.  What more can any polish lover ask for?  I must have a polish angel looking over me as well, because I was contacted by a lovely member of a polish board that I post on frequently and she offered to send me some from the collection because she was accidentally sent a duplicate order!  How lucky am I?  So now I have some swatches from the collection to show you, and hopefully you can see how awesome they are.  So be prepared, this is a long post!

First is Flushed, a gorgeous deep purple with a pink shimmer that makes the polish appear to glow on your fingers.  I adore polishes like these!  Contrasting shimmers truly make the polish come alive on the nail.  I had no trouble with application, although I had a slightly wonky brush, and I used two coats in these pictures with no topcoat.
Cult Nails Flushed



Cult Nails Flushed



Cult Nails Flushed

Cult Nails Flushed

Cult Nails Flushed

Next is Disciplined, a lovely sheer light grey crelly with blue, pink, and purple shimmer, how awesome is that?  I thought that this would be my favorite of the collection, and it completely lives up to my expectations.  I did use four coats in these pictures to get the polish opaque enough so there wasn't any VNL in the pics, but next time I plan on using a colored undie, like Zoya Caitlin.  No trouble with the formula or application on this color either.
Cult Nails Disciplined

Cult Nails Disciplined

Cult Nails Disciplined

Cult Nails Disciplined

Cult Nails Disciplined

I was really looking forward to Coveted, a dark green jelly with flakie shreds.  I adore flakies, and Cult Nails has been putting out some really great ones lately.  Unfortunately I had a lot of trouble with the application of this color - aside from being a jelly, the flakies in the polish are too large and don't sit flat on the nail.  I had some big clumps of flakies and had to use the brush to push them off the nail to discard.  In these pictures I used three coats and you can see that the flakies are larger and not evenly dispersed on the nail.  No topcoat in these pictures.
Cult Nails Coveted
Cult Nails Coveted
Cult Nails Coveted

Cult Nails Coveted
Cult Nails Coveted

Cult Nails Coveted
Cult Nails Coveted

Finally, I have Bitten, a raspberry glassflecked polish that completely took me by surprise at how lovely it looked on my nails.  A good glassfleck is hard to come by and this one is definitely one you don't want to miss.  I really like the shade of raspberry and the glassflecks add dimension to the polish.  I used three coats in these pictures but I could have probably gotten away with two.  No topcoat in these pictures.
Cult Nails Bitten

Cult Nails Bitten
Cult Nails Bitten

Cult Nails Bitten
Cult Nails Bitten
Cult Nails Bitten
Cult Nails Bitten
I unfortunately didn't get Afterglow to show you, as I'm not really a big fan of brown polishes, but after seeing how gorgeous the other colors were I might need to pick this one up as well.  My favorite of this collection is Bitten followed by a tie between Disciplined and Flushed.  I really wanted to like Coveted but because of the application issues, I will probably be passing this one along.  Are there any must haves from this collection that you need?

5 comments:

  1. These are all so pretty in you! Flushed is especially stunning, but I have yet to buy it. I may have to though, after seeing this post :)

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    1. Flushed truly is gorgeous! It's amazing how Cult Nails continues to make more incredible polishes with each release! Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Gorgeous swatches, love coveted! Also, I've nominated you for the Liebster Award!! It's a great way for us bloggers to get to know one another. Check out the link below to read more about it!


    http://beautyismerciless.blogspot.com/2012/12/liebster-award.html

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'll get right on it, I'll look for some blogs to nominate now!

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