Rimmel Violet Metal

This is actually a polish that my boyfriend put in my Easter basket last year! EVERY time he buys me polish, he goes for duochromes. And not because I've ever said anything, but because he is amazed by the "color changing" haha.

Rimmel Violet Metal (from the lasting finish pro line) is a strongggg duochrome! I LOVE the color, but the formula leaves something to be desired. It takes 3 coats to be an entirely opaque, rich purple color. This polish is NOTICEABLY buildable. 1 coat is very sheer purple, 2 coats becomes a semi-sheer fuchsia that is actually REALLY pretty, and had I not wanted to see its 'full purpleness' I would have happily worn it like that too. It almost feels like you get 2 colors out of this nail polish, because between coats 2 and 3 the color HUGELY shifts from bright pink fuschia to royal purple! The duochrome to it is blue, through and through. At full opacity this color is a true "blurple".

3 coats + topcoat, with flash:


















No flash, natural light:



















The formula on this was iffy, although not NEARLY as bad as the last post's Milani. AND I like this color A LOT, so the bit of effort is worth it to me. This polish REALLY wants to be applied a certain way: one sheer coat at a time, waiting for each coat to dry to the point of tacky before applying the next. If the last coat is still wet, the next coat its going to drag all over the place, and the heavy duochrome finish makes patchy application glaringly obvious. It also wants a basecoat to stick to. This is one of the ONLY times I've noticed a difference between using a basecoat or not using a basecoat. Paint this way, and it WILL be beautiful. But it will also take awhile to dry. This remained tacky (even with topcoat) for close to an hour.

I forgot to mention the brush. I LOVE the brush. A wide flat brush, when done well, is my FAVORITE. It makes painting SO easy and controllable. My nails are somewhat narrow so ONE stroke with this brush covered the width of all my nails except middle and thumb. That made the whole 3 coats things not so bad. Because it was just 3 brushstrokes (waiting a few minutes between each though). Love affair with this brush. It's similar to the Sally Hansen Insta Dry brushes but better. I like it A LOT better than the OPI pro wide brushes too.

This is either $2.99 or $3.99 at CVS, Walmart, Target, etc.

With the past couple posts, I think I'm starting to really notice the difference between drugstore brand polishes and the salon brands that I am used to (OPI, China Glaze). I RARELY have these application problems with higher end brands. I still love all polish, it's just interesting that I notice there IS an extra 'oomph' of quality (especially in application) in salon brands. For me, I think the drugstore brand with the most reliable quality for nail polish is Sally Hansen. What about you?