As some of you already know, STRANGEBEAUTIFUL polishes are not named or labelled. And I'm not entirely sure that their Volumes are labelled or not either. I can't seem to find reference to which Volume is which on the actual boxes so I'm mostly working off of other peoples' pictures to ID which Volume I'm referring to. I'm reasonably sure these belong to Volume 3...
A couple of general notes on my experiences with these four polishes: I, like D, am not fond of the brushes. I had similar problems with American Apparel brushes: the bristles are long and floppy and make application harder than it has to be. Because the brush itself is very long, it retains a lot of polish when you first take it out of the bottle to use: as a result, getting the excess off of the brush takes longer than usual. Also, I am not a huge fan of the formula... and when I've paid that much money, I need the polish formula to be wonderful. (Also, I swatched these with a bunch of old Street Wears that cost me 25¢ each... and I had an easier time with the Street Wears. The comparison did not sit well with me.) I'll comment more on the formula for each individual polish.
Khaki. Love the color (I don't have a dupe for it at all), but application gave me grief. Thin and streaky: you're seeing three coats and it has not evened out. (The color has but the polish itself... not so much. Definitely need topcoat for this one.)
Raisin. You know the bright red that you see on ALU's swatches or in the LuckyScent stock photo? This is what it looks like in my set. Three coats. The application was pretty smooth for this one. I haven't worn any of these as an NOTD yet but I can tell you now that the drying time on these is probably not going to be super speedy.
Burnt orange. Another one whose application was somewhat tricky. The above shows two coats but it needed a third to make it look really good.
Pumpkin orange. Three coats, similar problems as the khaki-colored one: thin, streaky and just doesn't seem to want to even out. I actually like this orange a lot and the evenness is nothing a thick topcoat won't cure.
Because some people have asked already... the STRANGEBEAUTIFUL bottles and the American Apparel bottles are very similar, if not the same. (The brushes handles/caps are different but the quality of the brush is also similar.) But I have most of the AA polishes and I have all of the SB polishes (*headdesk* how could I let myself buy two entire lines?!) and there's not an exact dupe in there. There is a very close dupe of AA Hunter (very close) but they're not the same polishes at all. This is not to say that the manufacturer -- the company that mixes the polish base and pigment and bottles 'em -- isn't the same but the actual design of the colors seem to be owned, at least, by the respective companies.
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7 comments:
I don't like ANY of these colours, they're so...blah, like they're too muted, they should be matte or something.
I'm sorry you had problems with them. The only color I kinda like in the bunch is khaki
Yup, that's volume 3 allright.
The khaki and the oranges are the same as the 'old' set I got mine in Sep or Oct '09, and I have a light red instead of a raisin (which does look pretty though). FYI the caps are RBL's :) interesting connections?
I actually like the brush and can get away with 1 coat in most colors of this box, no streakiness either, wear 'normal'. How tastes/experiences can differ!
Those are such interesting and unique colors!
Oh such a shame they weren't what you wanted. I like the Pumpkin and the Khaki ones though.
I love these shades of polish. I love that they are unique as gildedangel says. That's why I bought the first two volumes. I haven't seen where to buy volume three. I bought my first two from Neiman Marcus. I haven't tried any of them yet. I just love looking at them all lined up in their little acrylic box.
Beauty-and-the-blogger: I kinda agree with you. I like muted colors but only when they're thrown in with a bunch of vibrant ones.
Ange-Marie: I love the khaki color, I just wish it worked better with my skin!
aniploish: I swear, there's just something weird about the light red/raisin color...
gildedangel: thanks!
Rebecca: it happens. As long as I hit on a few I do like, I just consider the sacrifice of my money as part of the journey. ;)
Lucy: I think half of the reason I got these was because I like the way they look on my shelf. :)
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