Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Maybelline Pink Cosmo with a Comparison

Pink Cosmo is one of the Fall 2012 limited edition Maybelline Color Show polishes. It's a greenish-gold/rosy-pink duochrome shimmer. It's on the sheer side; I used three coats and still can see some visible nail line.





The shift in this is subtle; below you can see its golden face on the left shading to its pink face on the right (proof that moving one's fingers around while taking dozens of shots does work out sometimes).







Sunlight does not do this polish many favors. It does bring out more sparkle, true, but at least on me, it also makes my nails look sort of dirty.





Because this is a) sheer and b) a duochrome, I had to try layering it. I left the three coats of Pink Cosmo alone on my index finger (top in photo below), then put one coat over (moving from top to bottom) Essie In Stitches, OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Windows, and Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme.



Not surprisingly, the pink/green shift was most obvious over the black, with the green/gold in Pink Cosmo popping more on the rosy base of In Stitches and the pink/rose showing more on the green of Uh Oh.



When I added a second coat of Pink Cosmo, over the colored bases, here's what it looked like:



And in the sun:



With all the duochromes that seem to be around now, it was probably inevitable that I found something close to Pink Cosmo in another recent collection. Swanky Silk is the one color I bought from China Glaze Bohemian because it seemed the most different from things already in my stash. Well, that's not so much true anymore.



In the bottles, they look pretty close. On the nails, you can see a difference. The China Glaze is thicker and more opaque; used two coats instead of the three for the Maybelline. I think it's the thickness of the formula that makes the brushstrokes more prominent in Swanky Silk compared to Pink Cosmo. Left to right below: Maybelline, China Glaze, Maybelline, China Glaze.



Same order, showing their golden side:



And in the sun, Maybelline on Top, China Glaze below:



If you have one of these already, you don't need the other. If you don't have either, I'd go with the Maybelline. Pink Cosmo looks more delicate and pretty to me, and its sheerness makes it more versatile for layering.

17 comments:

  1. Those Maybellines were in your area back in 2010? I only remember them really being available since this spring....amazing what us Canucks miss out on!

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    1. Ooops! No, that 2010 was a typo--which I just fixed. :) Not sure where my brain came up with that year.

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  2. I'm thinking that these aren't for me-Although I can appreciate the layering experiment!

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  3. I like the Maybelline layered over the other polishes. On its own not so much. I have Swanky Silk and can not stand it.

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  4. Great, discrete colors - they look great on you, would look terrible on me LOL

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  5. Those are both beautiful, layering the Maybelline is a great idea!

    I want the China Glaze! Swanky Silk is awesome because it is beautiful and it gives me the chance to say swanky!


    lovenailpolish

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  6. These are both stunning in the bottles but I think I would go with the Maybelline as I love layering.

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  7. Both are so pretty! On one hand I'm glad everyone is having a chance of finding a duochrome lacquer but on the on other there are soo many similar lacquers lately!

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  8. I just tried my first Maybelline Color Show and had the same problem!! It was a much darker color but three coats and I could still see my nail in some spots. I also am not in love with the brush...it``s very awkward to work with!! I think I``m gonna try one more from them because I really like the new brown color they just came out with. Hopefully it``s not another let down!!

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  9. I like the way it looks layered over black :)

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  10. Pink Cosmo looks wonderful layered- for some reason that thought hadn't occurred to me! I love how it looks over the green. Gorgeous.

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  11. I picked this one up and didn't even realize that it was a LE. I hope to pick the rest of them up. I layered it over Spoiled's I Got So Plastered. It was an interesting combo. Next time I'm going to try it over black.

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  12. Ooohh. They look very similar. I guess I'll just buy the cheaper one. Hihi. Thanks for the comparison.
    (^^,)

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  13. This one is interesting. There are few duochromes that make me drool and this one is really nice!

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  14. I love this colour i'm not usually a fan of greens but this looks really lush!

    Jazz

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  15. Love it layered (especially over black :) )

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.