Howdy guys! Today I've got two polishes from the drugstore for you! These are from the L'Oreal Dark Side of Grey collection, and yes, one is Masked Affair!
There are eight polishes total in this limited edition release, which is not "officially" tied to the 50 Shades of Grey book or movie. Don't get me started on the book (ugh), but I'm actually kinda pleased by all of the grey-inspired polish it has spawned. I love grey polish, so I can't complain!
Anyway, since I'm apparently bad at randomly popping into the drugstore, I didn't really hear about Masked Affair until it was too late- or so I thought! I was browsing Walgreens a couple weeks ago, and stumbled upon the very last one in the display! The thing in my brain that makes me hoard polish kicked in, and I snatched it up of course! I also picked up Bad Bad Grey, sight unseen, as it is really gorgeous in the bottle.
We'll start with L'Oreal- Masked Affair:
Masked Affair is an ever-so-slightly lavender-tinged, silver holographic polish. Now, the holo quality is linear, but it's quite a "loose" linear- which I kind of prefer!
Artificial light, two/three coats:
I decided to spice this swatch up with some NailVinyls, since I'm still experimenting with them at the moment! I used the Skinny Single Chevrons, and I was going for two chevrons closer together and the third farther apart. I don't think it really came through in the design- maybe if my nails were longer. :shrug:
Also, you can see that my lines were not totally crisp. Since this design, I've used them again, and gotten some really clean lines with creme polishes. So either the finish/ polish you use matters or I'm just getting better at them.
Window-filtered daylight:
Now, the strength of the holographic properties in the polish is really not bad for a drugstore shade. It's visible enough to glow inside, and of course is quite rainbow-y in direct sun. It's not the strongest holo I've ever seen, but pretty nice!
Outside, shade:
Oh, by the way, the base color on the chevron nails is Essie- Spun in Luxe from the new Cashmere Matte collection. The blue shimmer in it is super subtle, but shows better when topcoated.
Sun!
Yum!
I think, for me, this one lives up to the hype without exceeding my expectations. I've seen plenty of holos, but the slight lavender twist is so nice. I don't currently own anything quite like that!
Formula: It's less than stellar, but I didn't really struggle with it like I've read some people have. It can cuticle drag if you overwork it, but it's not impossible to get coats that are patch-free. You need to work more quickly, though. Opacity-wise, this is probably a three-coater for the most part. Where I did thicker coats, I only needed two, but some nails do have three coats. It just depends how you polish!
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Next up is L'Oreal- Bad Bad Grey:
Bad Bad Grey is an uber dark, barely-eggplant colored texture polish packed with silver shimmer. It can look black in low light.
I hadn't seen swatches of this one, and purchased it based on its looks in the bottle alone! It's really sparkly and vampy and lovely in the bottle! Little did I know that it was a texture- lol! Not that there's anything wrong with textures...let's take a look!
Artificial light, two coats:
Hmmm, so yeah. I have to say it looks a lot better in the bottle, unfortunately. Now, it doesn't photograph well, so there's that. It is prettier in person, but it's nowhere near as sparkly as, say, a Zoya PixieDust, for example.
Window-filtered daylight:
I do really like the overall color, though!
Outside, shade:
Unfortunately, I didn't have any sun whatsoever, so I couldn't really show the sparkle. It is way more sparkly than these photos show. To be honest, it's just an incredibly non-photogenic polish, in my opinion. I didn't actually hate the way it looked on my nails in person. (But didn't love it either.)
Now, the way it felt? This isn't the first texture I've tried from L'Oreal. I've previously swatched Hidden Gems. Bad Bad Grey, to me, feels a lot chunkier, and was a liiiiiittle uncomfortable to wear. It's just slightly too scratchy, and I took it off after about 12 hours.
Formula: You know, the formula is fine. It's not overly thick, although you need plenty of polish on the brush in order to spread everything from your cuticle to nail tip since it can clump up due to the sheer density of...particles. But, it's not hard to work with at all, and is opaque in two coats. It does dry down super quickly like most textures do!
What do you think?
Are you guys sick of seeing 50 Shades- spinoff polishes?
Were you able to get your hands on Masked Affair?
Ahhhh, so I am wearing Masked Affair right now! I hunted it for awhile, after finding only MA missing from display in Bed Bath & Beyond. There are a ton of Walgreens and CVS between work and home, so I would pop into check, but nobody ever had the display at all.
ReplyWouldn't you know, I went to the grocery store the other night, a Giant Eagle Marketplace with a fancy nail bar. Didn't spot it, did my shopping, checked myself out, and was leaving thru the cosmetics area, and the completely full display was hidden on the end of an aisle facing a wall, the one place I hadn't looked! I snapped up MA and breezed thru the mini checkout they have in that section by the second set of doors. It was such a nice find, as the weather/day/week and basically year so far (work wise) has sucked so bad.
I didn't take time to consider the other polishes, but will go over swatches again and maybe grab others next time. I gotta say I definitely did 3 coats of MA; I am not good at thin coats, but some polishes do that for you, like this one. Only a little balding or patching, I've definitely had worse issues with other polishes than I did with this one. I just put it on last night (was having amazing no chip run with Hits Dionisio, a full week!), so hopefully will see it in some sun today...not looking promising right now.
The texture one isn't so bad in the far away picture. Up close its like you have lava rock or something on your nails. I am a texture fan so I am still happy to see it, that it was not as limited a fad as crackle or magnetic.
I am like you, ugh to the horribly written books (that woman is laughing all the way to the bank tho!) but yeah on grey polish tie ins! :) And sorry I wrote my own book here...lol!
Masked affair is such a beauty! And I love the chevrons you added :)
ReplyHahaha, I am so glad you found it secreted away like that- how lucky! And, LOL, Bad Bad Grey DOES remind me of lava rock, good call! Thank you for the book! <3
ReplyThank you!!
ReplyAw, I had given up when I stumbled on it, so maybe you just have to mentally admit defeat first? LOL, I don't know! Good luck! I will keep my eye out for you!
ReplyThaaaank you, Jessika! Glad to know it worked okay for you too! It might just be a function of how fast people can polish, I'm not sure! Maybe we are awesome at painting our nails?? Wait! I know we are! LOL, just kidding (kinda!)!
ReplyI am so attracted to L'Oreal too. I love the bottles and a lot of the colors, but there are only .39oz in there, so it puts me off a little for the price. I guess that's not as bad as the Maybelline Color Shows though, haah!
Masked Affair is so pretty!
ReplyYour sun shots of Masked Affair... I can't. I just... Dang. Yours are the best swatches I've seen of Bad, Bad Grey, too, otherwise I agree that the set, minus Masked Affair, is not very photogenic. I think it's hilarious that the official word is that it is not affiliated with the movie because I tried to tell myself this very thing as I was purchasing my Masked Affair. Glad to know I was technically correct. Keep yer bad literature and pop culture references outta my holo, thankyouverymuch :)
ReplyI agree! <3
ReplyAw, Liesl thank you!! And, LOL, yes, keep that bad lit out of my holo, hahahaha!
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