Today I have the five polishes from the racily-named Behind Closed Doors Collection from Cult Nails to show you. I was initially only impressed by swatches of Flushed, but got pulled in after seeing the others a few more times.
First up is Cult Nails- Flushed, probably most people's favorite from the collection:
Artificial light, two coats:
Flushed is a very cool purple base with lots of warm-toned pink/purple microshimmer throughout. The shimmer really makes it glow, and it looks interesting in different lights.
Outside, shade:
Sun:
Up close:
Formula: The formula on this one was very nice: two coats for near-perfect opacity, and easy to work with. Would also work as a layering polish.
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Next is Cult Nails- Disciplined, a soft light gray infused with blue and pinkish flakie microshimmer particles.
Artificial light, four coats:
Forgive the horrendous application! This is a super sheer polish, and I tried to build it up to full opacity on its own to show you, but the formula just did not want to cooperate. It was gloopy and draggy. I would definitely recommend layering this one over a similar gray- and, in fact, I did this later, and it was beautiful.
Up close:
You can see the shimmer particles are actually tiny flakes.
Formula: While I love the idea of this polish, the formula was terrible, in my opinion. It's awfully sheer, and needs four coats, at least, to be opaque, but by then is very thick and almost unmanageable. Definitely recommend layering this one over another gray.
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Next is Cult Nails- Bitten, a cool raspberry red / deep pink with bright glassflecky magenta shimmer.
Artificial light, two coats.
I knew I was going to like this one, and I do! It's really gorgeous. It might do better with three coats, but I applied it in near darkness, so I didn't realize until later. Even so, you can only see visible nail line in very bright lighting. It's not obvious.
Outside, partial sun:
Window-filtered daylight:
Formula: It probably needs three coats for perfect opacity, but the consistency of the polish was very nice, and I had no trouble applying it.
I will mention that this one came to me with the brush separated from the cap, and I had to superglue it back in- annoying!
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Next up is Cult Nails- Coveted, an aptly named dark green polish with metallic green flakes as well as green microshimmer:
Artificial light, two coats:
This shade is very Christmas-y.
Outside, shade:
Sun:
Up close:
Formula: Thick, on the viscous side, but not quite gloopy- it's still workable. It does take at least two coats to get an adequate amount of the green flakes, and the second coat tends to get lumpy if you don't pay attention to how the flakes lay. Might benefit from thinner.
This polish also had a bum cap that was separated from the brush. Grrrr....
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Lastly, is my surprise favorite from the collection, Cult Nails- Afterglow:
Afterglow is a brown-toned red that has an almost-duochrome effect, looking coppery on one side of the nail and berry on the other side. The finish is hard to describe: sort of glassfleck and sort of micro-flakie.
Artificial light, three coats:
I think this one is so surprising. I wasn't really impressed by it in the bottle, and wasn't even looking forward to it in particular, but I think it looks awesome once you get in on your nails- definitely my favorite from the collection!
Outside, shade:
Up close!
Look at those duochromey particles! Yummy.
Formula: Afterglow is also on the sheer side, however it's so much more workable than Disciplined: the second coat adheres nicely to the first, so you can do a thicker second layer without problems. You still need at least three coats for opacity, although you could always layer it over something. Dries nicely.
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All in all, I think this is a really great collection with unique and very beautiful colors and finishes. I had some formula issues with Disciplined, but that can be avoided by layering it over another grey.
What do you think?
I got this set too and love the ones I've tried so far. Great photos!
ReplyThank you! :)
I love the green!
ReplyI love it too!