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Monday, April 23, 2012

Mani Monday - Cosmetic Arts April Showers

Hi Readers! Mondays are such tough days.  The snow and rain today have made this Monday exceptionally hard.  I mean, snow in April? I know I live in Canada but really, this is like a cruel practical joke.  Anyways, I thought I'd talk about a little Christmas gift I got.  As a stocking stuffer I received a pretty Cosmetic Arts nail polish.  Trouble is, when the price tag was removed, so was the name of the polish.  Well, my strong investigative skills have concluded that this polish is probably Cosmetic Arts' April Showers (appropriately named for today).  Anyways, if you recognize this polish as some other colour let me know in the comments section!

Cosmetic Arts' April Showers is a sheer polish.  With this said, I used it overtop of four colours.  Because this polish is a shimmery blue-green, I wanted to show how a both green and blue make a significant difference in the final look.  I also used light pink and a creme coloured bases to show a more accurate representation of Cosmetic Art's April Showers.


For the picture on the left, I used Essie's Turquoise and Caicos on my index and middle finger followed by two coats of Cosmetic Arts' April Showers.  This really brought out the sparkly green tones in this nail polish.  For my ring and pinky fingers, I used two coats of Essie's Fiji followed by three coats of April Showers.  Three coats was needed to ensure even coverage because Fiji was so sheer.  The pink base colour caused April Showers to have a shimmery blue appearance.  Honestly, I don't think that either of these colours bring out the true appearance of CA's April Showers.  With that said, I really like how April Showers looks overtop of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos.

For this picture, I used two coats of Zoya's Sadie as a base colour with two coats of April Showers overtop.  This was the truest representation of April Showers.  Depending on the light, both the blue and green tones really popped.  For my index and pinky fingers, I used two coats of Nicole by OPI Nothing Kim-pears to Blue with two coats of April Showers overtop.  I feel like the blue tones overwhelmed April Showers.  This was the combination that I was the most excited for but I was the least impressed with.  With this said, my favourite combination for this picture is Zoya Sadie with CA's April Showers.  I feel like the true colour of April Showers aren't drowned out by the base colour.  Overall, my favourite colour combination was CA's April Showers overtop of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos.

Finally, this is what three coats of Cosmetic Arts' April Showers looks like with no base colour.  Though the picture doesn't show it, without a base colour the coverage is really spotty and streaky.  Overall, application is decent.  The formula is a little thin and you have to be careful to ensure brush strokes aren't left behind.

I love using this polish as a top coat to add a little shimmer to otherwise less dynamic polishes.  This polish was bought at Winners in Canada for around 7 dollars.

Let me know what you think.  Is this a polish you would use? Do you have this colour? If so, how do you use it?

Keep those fingers pretty!

5 comments:

  1. That's a very pretty shimmer! I have seen that brand at Ross stores but never tried them out, I'm thinking that I'll have to!

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  2. Very pretty! It looks almost ethereal.

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