I have several polishes from the Hormonal Efficiency and the Elements of Style collections.
I've included the scientific descriptions/connections (in italics), which are from the Doctor Lacquer website.
(Ba)ck in Style is a sheer lime green jelly with different sizes of iridescent glitter. It's very pretty but too sheer for my taste so I layered this over Sally Hansen Green With Envy, which is a matching colour of green. The application was great - it was a tad thick but I had no issues smoothing it out. This was 2 coats over the base colour.
Element 56, BARIUM, burns apple green in a flame test!
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| (Ba)ck in Style |
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| (Ba)ck in Style |
Dopamine is a thermal polish that is purple when cool and blue when warm. It also has a great mixture of yellow and purple hex and circle glitter. In the bottle it's purple, but when applied it's mostly blue with a slight purple at the tips of my nails. I really love that you get a gradient effect without having to dip your hands in water or anything like that. For the third picture, I did put my hands in cold water so you could see the colour change better. This was 4 coats on it's own, and the application was effortless.
DOPAMINE is a hormone that controls the brain's reward and pleasure centers, which makes us want to go towards and get that prize! In psychology, it is said that dopamine-dominant people are risk-takers, creative, and curious.
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| Dopamine |
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| Dopamine |
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| Dopamine |
Haute (C)outure is a clear-based glitter topper with black and white glitter in circles, squares and hexes. I really love that this doesn't have bar glitter, which I loathe, because it's pretty uncommon to find a black and white glitter without the dreaded little things. The application was pretty good, although I think the glitter payoff could be a bit better. The base was a tad thick on this one, so you don't want to do too many coats, and I think if this was more glitter dense it would help. This is 2 coats over piCture pOlish Flirt.
Element 6, CARBON, does not give of a characteristic color in a flame test since it is a nonmetal, but is black in its graphite form, and transparent in its diamond form!
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| Haute (C)outure |
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| Haute (C)outure |
Testosterone is another purple-blue thermal polish. It is blue in its warm state and purple in its cool state. The blue base on this is slightly darker than Dopamine, and it has yellow and lilac glitter, with yellow flowers, and silver circles. Application was great and I had no issues, but I felt the colour change on this one was a bit more stubborn (hence no cool-state pictures). I had to use ice to see the purple effect, then it would only stay for 2-3 seconds. This was 3 coats on its own.
TESTOSTERONE is famously known as the "male" hormone, but there is more to it than that. It is related to language and cognitive abilities, together with sex drive and aggression! In psychology, testosterone-dominant people are said to be direct, decisive, focused, competitive, analytical, and logical.
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| Testosterone |
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| Testosterone |
Who Did Your Mani(cu)re? is a light blue jelly with silver and purple hexes, pink dots, and silver butterflies. Application was good but this one is also quite sheer so I layered it over a lighter polish. This was 3 coats over Polished by Alexandra Beach Glass.
Element 29, COPPER, burns blue in a flame test!
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| Who Did Your Mani(cu)re? |
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| Who Did Your Mani(cu)re? |
Work the (Ca)twalk is a bright neon orange crelly (and I mean bright!) with predominantly teal/ocean blue glitter. There's also a smattering of lavender and green glitter. The base was a bit thick but it was very easy to apply and I had no application issues. This was 3 coats on its own.
Element 20, CALCIUM, burns orange to red in a flame test!
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| Work the (Ca)twalk |
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| Work the (Ca)twalk |
I know I'm repeating myself but I love how fun these are and the references to hormones and elements. I've been so behind on swatching, and I kept looking at these, impatient to try them out. They were definitely worth the wait. There were a few minor issues as mentioned, but overall I am happy with the quality and formulas on these.
What do you think of these? Do they bring out your inner science geek!? ;)
*Products provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*
Who Did Your Mani(cu)re? is too adorable! Lovely swatches :)
ReplyDeleteI too think it's fun to read the references =) And it was so fun to read that you hate bar glitter! Without having ever tried a polish with bar glitter myself, I think I'm on the same page as you when it comes to "the dreaded little things" =)
ReplyDeleteThose are so cute! I think (Ba)ck in Style is my favorite.
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