Nope, apparently I am not over the Essence Duo Polishes just yet and have only managed to swatch 1 thus far. With that, here is another feature entry on these lovely duos that Iris (rougedeluxe) had gifted me!

Due to a random series of breaking and chipping nails, I am currently sporting (relatively, to me) short nails and I always take this opportunity to wear much darker shades.

I find black or near black colors look tend to look better on me when I have shorter nails, or perhaps because it's less... 'engulfing-ly' dark. I am not making sense.

The 'base-color' (Ticket to the Show) is a dark dark brown, near-black, with a sprinkle of very fine glimmer bits within. In pictures here though, it pretty much shows up black.

The 'topping' shade (Front Row or Backstage) appears to be dense mix of copper-gold shimmery bits suspended in, what I think is, a clear base.

Upon swatching the 'base-color' (Ticket to the show), I was quite taken with it and thought it was a beautiful shade on it's own, even without layering 'Part 2' over.

It looks black in pictures yet in person it has a brown-ish glint to it. Intriguing base color aside, I can't even start on how lovely the little shimmer bits are. They are considerably sparse, adding a subtle glimmer of color as opposed to a shimmer-load of it.

Sadly the flash-photos aren't capturing it as lovely and sun is a rare occurence for my photos these days but trust me, it's beautiful! I almost didn't want to layer the topping shade over and enjoy the brown-black as it is.

Now, topped with Front Row or Backstage, the color morphs to an antique-d copper-gold-black. It's got more going on because of the dense gold shimmer ladened over the already glimmering brown-black base.

(with a Daylight lamp but this lamp always leans too 'green' in pictures)

These swatches were done without a topcoat because Seche Vite disappeared on me. Again.

They look pretty enough to skip the topcoat but I would have preferred using one to amplify the bling with some glossiness.

❧

So, that's all for a quick check on what's on my nails right now! While I don't have many like this, I'm quite liking antiqued bronzey tones after this!

These days I feel like I am conducting nail polish longevity tests because I could wear one polish for waaaay long, like 2 weeks plus. I do get sick of it but, like masking, I just can't find the time to just sit down, paint and wait for it to dry.

Cardinal sin? Oh well, regardless I hope this busy cloud at work blows over soon but forecasts say that will only happen in August!

Hope everyone else is doing fab, thanks for reading and TGIF! Not so much for me because I will be working the weekend but... C'est La Vie!

What do you have on your nails now?