Friday, January 17, 2014

L'Oreal Colour Riche Gold Dust Swatches and Comparisons

I'm wrapping up this iteration of Texture Week with the L'Oreal Gold Dust collection. This first showed up at my Bed Bath & Beyond beauty section last November but since has appeared so many places I've lost track. None of the displays I've seen say limited edition on them, so these shades may be around a while (I've seen them plenty of times in the last week for sure).

There are nine colors in this group. Top row: The Statement Piece, Pop the Bubbles, The Reign of Studs, I Like It Chunky. Bottom row: Diamond in the Rough, Too Dimensional, Sexy in Sequins, Rough Around the Edges, Hidden Gems.



Most of these are microglitter textures with a sprinkling of medium hex glitter, similar to the Orly MegaPixel FX, while one is a straight microglitter texture similar to Zoya PixieDust. You'll see as the swatches roll out here.

The Statement Piece is a champagne gold, my favorite sort of gold.





The Statement Piece is very similar to Zoya Tomoko; the biggest difference is the hex glitter in the L'Oreal, but that's color matched so well to the base microglitter that from a distance it doesn't really stand out. Tomoko is on the right below.



Pop the Bubbles is a silvery blue green with the same sort of hex and microglitter mix as The Statement Piece.



If you bought Julie G Rock Candy last spring, you don't need to buy Pop the Bubbles. If you regret that you didn't buy Rock Candy, you should go out and get Pop the Bubbles. Rock Candy is on the right below.



The Reign of Studs is another matching microglitter and hexes texture, this time in cool-toned lilac. I wore this one for a full mani before I swatched any of the collection and in a fit of temporary busy-ness, didn't get any photos until it had been on my nails for a couple/few days, thus the evidence of wear you may notice in the photo below.



I was pleased by how well Reign of Studs coordinated with one of my favorite sweaters.



I Like It Chunky is a butterscotch or caramel shade that has more contrast to it than the previous three shades. The microglitter base has some pink and orange and gold pops in it, and the hex glitter is golden rather than matching the dominant caramel shade in the base. I swatched it with Rough Around the Edges as an accent nail (on my index finger, rather than my usual ring finger, because I was feeling daring that day). Rough Around the Edges is the one color in this collection that doesn't have hex glitter; it's straight up charcoal black microglitter with glints of silver.





Here's a blurry shot of I Like It Chunky so you can see all the pretty colors that pop from it:



Rough Around the Edges is pretty much a dupe for both Zoya Dahlia (left below) and Nicole by OPO A-nise Treat (right below).



Diamond in the Rough is a return to the monochrome look of the first three. This is a dusty lilac, so dusty it's almost taupe.



I compared Diamond in the Rough to the only OPI Liquid Sand I bought from the Mariah Carey holiday collection, Baby Please Come Home (though if I see the others for cheap sometime I might pick up more). Left to right below: L'Oreal, OPI, L'Oreal, OPI. Both of these pull similarly neutral on me, and looking at the comparison, I think I didn't need to get the OPI.



I paired up Too Dimensional and Sexy in Sequins because they looked similar in the bottles. One was darker, sure, but it almost looked like that was just a matter of more of the gold microglitter being stuck to the sides of the other bottle.



On the nail, they proved to be quite distinct. Too Dimensional is blue violet (emphasis on blue) and gold, while Sexy is Sequins is almost black plum with much less gold. Top to bottom: Too Dimensional, Sexy in Sequins, Too Dimensional, Sexy in Sequins.





Similar to I Like It Chunky, the microglitter bases here spark several different colors. Below is a blurred pic showing that effect; Sexy in Sequins is particularly complex.



I thought it was about time I tried topcoat on some of these, so I slicked OPI Top Coat over these two. The shiny made the hex glitter show up more and also highlighted the variations in the colors of the microglitter base.







The final color in this collection is Hidden Gems. On the nail, this is an almost black teal with pops of blue microgliter and silver hexes.





I think this should have been called Hidden Duochrome, as there is a very intriguing purple shift in the bottle that is incredibly elusive on the nail.



I added topcoat to Hidden Gems to see if that would coax out the purple, but no matter how I angled or lit my hands, my camera saw no purple. Ah well, it's still an interesting polish.



I used two coats of each of these colors, and that was perfectly sufficient for full coverage and good texture. My top picks: Reign of Studs, Sexy in Sequins, and I Like It Chunky.

13 comments:

  1. I love the name I like it Chunky! That cracks me up. I was intrigued by Hidden Gems but it is good to know there is no duochrome on the nail. It might find it's way home with me at some point but I am in no rush now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @_@ Yer killin' me, Smalls.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG these are absolutely beautiful, I love them!!! I really hope that this collection will be available in Italy, I would buy every single shade. Can't decide which is my favourite one, it's really too hard.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love these polishes, and your swatches. Thanks for a great post!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loving all the textures! I can't wait to see what all these companies come up with for spring!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is a great comparison post, there sure are a lot of twins...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful polishes! I like sandy lacquers for their fast drying and easy application with no requirements to smoothness of nail surface.
    Uhh, why L'Oreal does not sell their best in Russia? Only boring 5ml Color Riche series - that's all!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really like all of those. Only have Too Dimensional so far, but will hopefully add more soon!

    ReplyDelete
  9. ok. I think when they have duochrome sand/texture polishes I will get some. I did get the OPI alcatraz rocks one but it's not quite duochrome. your posts are really making it hard for me not to get some more texture polishes...especially when you have a top coat over it <3

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful swatches! Hidden Gems is so pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful swatches! I like Hidden Gems the most :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey Karen how do you like statement piece vs. opi Honey Ryder??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanna, in that pairing, I'd pick Statement Piece because the slighty cooler gold tone in that goes better with my skintone.

      Delete

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.