Diamond Cosmetics Concrete Jungle and Starry Night

Diamond Cosmetics sent me two new polishes a few weeks back to review along with some treatments including a matte topcoat. I didn't have time to review the treatments but I did manage to get some swatching in the other day!

Diamond Cosmetics Concrete Jungle

This is the lighter version of the RBL polish of the same name: a greyed-out light blue creme. Two coats, a bit thicker than usual, but still easy breezy. It seems a little plain to me though.

Diamond Cosmetics Starry Night

I thought this was going to be a somewhat boring black but it's actually surprisingly pretty. It goes on smoothly in two coats and is very glossy. But what's surprising is that the sparse shimmer inside the black is actually iridescent. Some other blogger (I'm forgetting who it was) described the shimmer as "oil slick" and I think that's a pretty apt description. The video shows how the shimmer reflects light.

Video of Starry Night

I will have the results of the Orly Sweet polish giveaway on Monday! With the extra Tweeting and all, it's going to take me a little bit to organize how to randomly pick the winner. :) I REALLY appreciate everyone who participated... thank you so much. And thank you so much for doing my survey! It will help me a lot. I do have a second survey in the works that I hope to have up before the month is over... and with that, several more polishes to give away! :)

First Konad in about half a year...

I think I've forgotten how...

Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jade with Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade (using Konad M73)

Silver Brocade doesn't actually make a bad Konading polish but it definitely is a lot lighter than a straight-up metallic polish such as from the China Glaze Romantiques collex. Still, it did pretty well considering how fine this stamp was.

Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jade with Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade (using Konad M73), mattefied with Nubar V for Men

I think I like it better matte...

The main reason I've been taking up Konad again is because I want nearly all of those new plates that are coming out and I'm pretending like I do Konad enough to warrant buying more. :D

I'm on campus right now, desperately trying to procrastinate from reading. Why? I don't know. I actually like the discussion topic today (the development of theory of mind and language in children). And yet, I procrastinate. Go figure.

In other news, my index fingernail has broken partly and I'm hoping to salvage it for at least a week via the teabag method (use nail glue and bits of teabag to hold the nail together) before filing off more length in my nails. I don't wanna go back to nubbin. :(

Old swatch: Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade

Or "Why I Think Brushstrokes Can Be Awesome."

Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade

I don't do nearly enough swatches of cheap thrill nail polishes these days... so to atone for that, here's one that had been laying neglected in my untrieds box. This one is a real stunner! Everyone always gets all irritated by brushstrokes in metallic polishes but this is one where I think the brushstrokes make the polish: otherwise, it'd be like any other bright silvery polish. I love the textured finish! Two coats. As with most Diamond Cosmetics polishes I've tried, it went on very easily. This one was a two coater and it looked awesome going on, like molten metal.

How to save $10 (maybe more, maybe less) when buying nail polish...

I originally posted this on the Nail Board but not everybody who reads blogs also reads NB so... NB'ers, forgive me for being repetitive.

We all know that the price we pay for cosmetics items is marked up way over the cost of manufacturing. That's fine. That's the way it works. We also often suspect that prestige and luxury brands are also probably not that much better than the cheapie stuff... that is, proportional to the price differential.

So it's incredibly funny to me that my love of "cheap thrills" could have been my love of expensive polish in this one case: Priti. Priti markets itself as an "organic" cosmetics line (and I wonder if that's just supposed to mean "B3F") and their polishes are often sold at higher end spas and healthy alternative living stores for at least $12 each. (They're $12.50 on the Priti website.)

$12.50 is a lot to pay for a polish.

But $2.00 isn't. And what company makes awesome polishes for $2?

Diamond Cosmetics. My favorite cheap thrill. :D

When All Lacquered Up posted about Priti's teal-colored Tulip Tree polish, someone on NB commented that it looked a heck of a lot like Diamond Cosmetics' Don't Teal My Heart Away. Same color, same shaped bottle. Combined with someone's recent experience going into Henri Bendel's and being led to a display of overpriced "organic" polishes, only to find one called Never So Ever-Green, it didn't take long to develop the opinion that Diamond furnishes Priti's private label polishes. Even little polish dollops on the Priti website look identical to the little polish dollops on the Diamond website. Check out the Tulip Tree dollop and the Don't Teal My Heart Away dollop. The Bluestar dollop and the Oh Tiff! dollop. The Lambstail Cactus dollop and the Chainmail Charm dollop.

So for anyone who sees a Priti polish that they REALLY REALLY want, here is a handy dandy little conversion chart based on matching the dollops to help you save money. ;) (There are more but I got tired of looking at dollops and some of the Priti polishes are missing dollops.)

Priti	Diamond
A Times Rose	Warm Coral
Aureola	Honey Glace
Baby Toes Cactus	Lemon Yellow Zest
Bachelor's Buttons	Not Just Your Hum Drum Plum
Bella Donna Lily	Pink Starburst
Blue Moon Clematis	Iced Plum
Blue Parrot Tulip	Very Berry Smoothie
Blue Poppy	Blue Diamonds
Bluestar	Oh Tiff!
Bristol Beauty	Twilight Violet
Cambridge Scarlett	Smokey Rose
Chelsea Star	Midnight Passion
Cherry Ripe	Mulberry Mayhem
Chilean Bamboo	Cafe au Lait
Chocolate Cosmos	Cherry Tobacco
Constant Nymph	Mystical Nights
Cornflower	Metallic Blue
Crown Imperial	French Beige
Dandy Dahlia	Tropical Dreams
Darjeeling	Mauve
Dreamland Tulip	Sun-Kissed Coral
Fireglow	Orange You Sexy
Flamingo Flower	Romance
Floral Dance Matte	Matte Burgundy
Goldilocks	18K Gold
Great Maiden's Blush	Iced Pink Parfait
Hardy Water Lily	Party Hearty
Iberica Iris	Decadence
Iced Maiden Violet	Lavender
Japonica	Raspberry Ice
King Protea	Bubbly
Lady Derby Hyacinth	Rose Suede
Lady Killer Crocus	Joust for Kicks
Lambstail Cactus	Chainmail Charm
Lucida Waterlily	Fuchsia Flash
Magic Pink LIly	Pink Ribbons
Mountain Laurel	Playful
New Dawn Rose	Golden Beige
Nigra	I'm Raven About You
Old Man Cactus	Silver Brocade
Oleaster	Matte Smoke
Paperbark Maple	Nice N Naked
Peekaboo Rose	Baby Bloom
Purpurea	Hue Are You
Queen of the Pink Hyacinth	Velvet Rose
Queen Victoria	Rubies & Diamonds
Ruby Giant	Matte Mulberry
Ruffled Velvet Iris	Monarch Masquerade
Schwarkopf	Midnight Blue
Sexy Rexy Rose	Tickled Pink
Silver King	Glitter Silver
Snapdragon	Raging Orange
Spring Song	Tira-mi-su
St Catherine's Lace	Roasty Toasty Taupe
Stemless Gentian	Crushed Velvet
Sugar Daddy	Amethyst & Diamonds
Sugar Daddy Petunia	Sparkling Sherry
Sunrise	Olivia Orchid
Super Purple Daylily	Darkest Desire
Susan Azalea	Twinkle Twinkle
Tulip Tree	Don't Teal My Heart Away
Water Hyacinth	Canyon Sunrise
Water Poppy	Life's a Beach
Widow Iris	Mudd
Zoja Violet	Free N Easy

Diamond Cosmetics Holiday 2009 swatches!

Thanks to Marissa at Diamond Cosmetics, I received a free set of their new holiday collection to review. And it's got holo glitter. :D

Despite the fact that they're charging a princely sum of $2.50 more per polish for these (as opposed to the normal $2), this brand is still one of my favorite cheap thrills. ;) Even the shipping is reasonable ($6 for up to 10 polishes). I'm really glad they are releasing new collections as often as they are: it's always fun to see what they're going to come out with next.

Diamond Cosmetics Rubies & Diamonds

Bright primary red jelly with gold shimmer. Really easy application. It's very festive, don't you think? And glossy. One of those polishes that's so glossy that it reflects blue from the sky. It took forever for me to get any good photos that actually showed gold shimmer; they all looked blue!

Close-up of Rubies & Diamonds

Video of Rubies & Diamonds

Diamond Cosmetics Diamond's Diamonds over OCC Dangerous

Sheer white frost. I used the word "Diamond" too much up there. This is very sheer on its own, even up to four coats. The above has at least three coats over the OCC grey creme, Dangerous, that I posted earlier last week. It reminds me a lot of Dashing Diva's Silver Lining except chunkier and more frosty.

Close-up of Diamond's Diamonds

Video of Diamond's Diamonds over OCC Dangerous

Diamond Cosmetics Blue Diamond

Frosty blue shimmer, packed with holo glitter. This is an incredibly fun shade. Very attention-grabbing. Opaque in two coats. My favorite in this collection.

Close-up of Blue Diamond

Video of Blue Diamond

Diamond Cosmetics Amethyst & Diamonds

Very similar to Blue Diamonds but a red-leaning purple instead of blue. Similarly frosty but less packed with holo glitter it seems. Either that or the shimmer eats the glitter up.

Diamond Cosmetics Amethyst & Diamonds

Video of Amethyst & Diamonds

Diamond Cosmetics Winter 2009 swatches

Diamond Cosmetics would be my favorite cheap thrill even if the company didn't give me free advanced releases of some of their collections (such as this one). :P (Actually, it's a toss-up between CM and Diamond but Diamond wins out because they're much easier to get ahold of. Also, they are of a much more consistent quality. CM has amazing polishes but they're fewer and further between.)

Diamond Cosmetics Smokey Rose

Rose creme. It is what it is. Basic color for people who like basic colors. Two coats, smooth sailing.

Diamond Cosmetics Mulberry Mayhem

Darker IRL (though it looks darker in the bottle than on the nail). Another basic: a medium red creme. Two coats above, needed three. (Again, with the mulberries. Seriously, I should Google it.)

Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet

Okay, NOW we're talkin'. What a fabulous, fabulous blurple creme! A little more purple than blue. Two coats, very nicely pigmented if I recall correctly. I don't know what it is about the name but it just suits it, don't you think?

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco

The only shimmer in the winter collex, a dark burgundy with red shimmer. This one is such a gem. And probably could've been called "Crushed Velvet" too. (I don't know what Cherry Tobacco is supposed to look like. I suppose like this.) Another really pigmented polish, two coats. Reminds me of the polish I posted yesterday, Barielle Lava Rock, except the red shimmer is brighter... and it costs a fourth of the price. :P

Half of the collex is ordinary, half is extraordinary. I would've not bought the first two for myself -- I don't wear many reds or roses -- but I would've bought the second two definitely. If the company took back the four polishes, I'd buy the second two back. And why not? $4 for the two! Proof yet again that cost does not correlate to quality.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte swatches

An interesting discussion has been simmering on NB and on the blogs for a little while (but it hasn't yet totally exploded): do bloggers get free polishes, how often do they get them and are they paid to review them (or to push specific companies)?

There are seven of us here on Polish or Perish and I can't speak for the other six but this is a discussion that I have had with most of them: do we accept free polishes? (As far as I know, nobody here has been offered actual cash for our obsessive little hobby.)

I personally have no problem accepting freebies but I am very uncomfortable with not telling our readers about it: in my opinion, you guys have the right to know whether you should be reading my review with an extra skeptical eye and critical mind. I try my best to give an honest review but psychology -- and, you know, life --has taught us again and again that bias can exist unconsciously.

Like I said, I can't speak for the other P or P bloggers although I think most would agree with this action: if I've gotten something for free, I will say so. If there are more "details" that might influence my opinion, such as a commission or a continuing offer to receive more polishes or, like, a free cotton ball, I will say so. I will review as honestly as I can but I'm nowhere near an impossibly objective person and so I warn you guys when I may be unconsciously preferring a polish simply because of their company's preferential treatment towards me. Deal? :)

Which brings me to today's swatches! Diamond Cosmetics sent me these for free to review a couple of weeks back: Mattes!

I'm beginning to think that the matte trend is more of a textured-finished trend: matte, satin, glitter, suede as opposed to smooth and glossy.

The new Diamond Cosmetics line of polishes are not what I would consider "matte"; they are closer to "satin". I predict that people are going to choose not to like these as much as they would have otherwise because they were expecting a gritty, light-absorbing matte (like most polishes labelled "matte"). Disappointment is not a good feeling.

ALL that being said, I think these are decent polishes in their own right and they certainly are worth their inexpensive pricetag.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Black

These mattes are much closer in finish to the finish that Orly Matte Top gives to polishes (and what I imagine their current matte line looks like). I've been calling this finish "satin" -- because of an old Orly line -- but when I put this on, the first thought that occurred to me was that they look like pleather pants. It is rather pleather-like! Smooth, tight-fitting with a soft, diffuse sheen. If it weren't for the finish, it'd be a basic black creme and would probably look very harsh and chalky if it were a truer matte. So kudos for the pleather finish. ;) A one-coater.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Smoke

Grey. The color reminds me of a dolphin or shark's skin. I wore this as my NOTD for a day and it held up very well save for a couple of indentations when I absentmindedly nibbled on the tip of one of my nails within half an hour of applying it. Two coats. No chipping or tipwear, unlike most matte polishes. It won't pink in the can either.

(Extra credit will be granted to whomever can tell me the origin of the reference without going to Google. Super extra credit if you can tell me where I heard this reference first.)

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Mulberry

Fun color! What color are mulberries anyway? The way these dry resembles the way neons dry down but the finish is more reflective somehow.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Burgundy

This one was a pain to apply (the rest were pretty easy). It doesn't go on as evenly as the rest so even though all these fingers are two coats, my index and pinky look like they got one more coat than the fingers in between. Still, a nice wine red that didn't get all over my fingertips when I took it off. I really appreciate a polish that doesn't make me curse (in dismay) when I take it off. (I curse in joy as well so I had to specify.)

You will need a good ridgefilling basecoat (if you have rougher nails) because they do show flaws more than regular polishes, but they do not cling like matte polishes. You can work more slowly since they dry slower than mattes, giving you more time to correct manicurial (not a word) mistakes. They also last longer than a lot of mattes, the finish being famously chip-prone.

I think the texture is nifty and I've been saying so since comparing the effects of Orly Matte Top to Essie Matte About You and Nubar V for Men: it's not matte, it's different from matte, but that doesn't mean it's not good on its own merits. All that being said, if you want a mattiemattematte polish, these aren't the polishes for you. If you want pleather nails, they're pretty great for $2 each.