Maybelline Color Show Chalk Dust Glitter Gradient

Hello there! 

I cut my nails. 

Photo taken in indirect natural sunlight.

 

Okay, okay, don't freak out. I've gotten used to them now - this is my fourth (?) manicure with my short nails and they're kind of growing on me. I had two splits on my right hand which weren't going to last for much longer, even with patching them up, and I have exams coming up, so I decided to take the leap and cut them all off so they won't stab my hand while writing essays. 

This manicure is two coats of Francesca's Collections Turquoise and two dabbed coats of Maybelline's Chalk Dust. I wish I could have gotten a colour accurate photo for you guys, and I've tried colour-correcting it in Photoshop, but no can do. Every photo I took came out as this duck egg blue, which although pretty is nowhere near the colour of the polish. It's actually quite a vibrant aqua green. It has a minty feel to it, but it's nowhere near pale enough to be a mint. It's quite similar to MAC's Peppermint Patty, in Vampy Varnish's 2009 swatch here. That is the only way I can describe it to you, by showing it to you.  

Photo taken in indirect natural sunlight.

Anyway, Maybelline's Color Show Polka Dots collection is really cute, but this is the only one I have. It's a black and white glitter topper in a clear base, with various sizes of hexes and some tiny tiny dots too. I know this isn't a straight swatch, but the glitter payoff in just one coat is really good, and it's a much cheaper alternative to the L'Oreal Confetti topcoat. Plus, it has more sizes of glitter, so it has more depth to it. 

I wish I'd managed to create more of a gradient with the glitter, but I still like how it looks. If I'd taken my time I probably would have managed to actually get a gradient. 

The formula is great with this, it dries quickly and isn't too thick or thin, although I did notice it clumped a little on the neck of the bottle when I was wiping the brush off. 
 

Photo taken in indirect natural sunlight.

I used two coats of my Save the Nail 45 Second top coat because the glitter was a little uneven - not rough, but not a perfectly glassy smooth finish either. 

So, despite the blue pictures of a green polish, I hope this post at least showed you something - even if it only persuades you to hunt out a duck egg blue polish!