First mani with Clarins 230 (over Orly Total Darkness)

Aaaack. Lightboxes just don't do justice to this polish. Yes, totally overpriced... and yet, totally, utterly, completely worth it.

Clarins 230 over Orly Total Darkness

Orly Total Darkness is an old Orly in one of those 0.75fl oz bottles (they were huge): it's this vampy, plummy, slightly taupe-leaning jelly. Totally hot color. It applied perfectly and looked super duper glossy. (The fumes almost knocked me over though when I opened it. It had probably been more than a decade since that thing was last opened. If ever.)

Anyway, as we've seen with the numerous 230 swatches elsewhere, the most prominent shimmer color that jumps out at you is related to the base you wear it on: in this case, wearing it on a reddish-purple vampy tends to bring out more of its tendencies towards red and orange. Kind of ordinary in these moments but still very twinkly. But then, you catch the green flash, and it's utterly magical.

Trying to coax out the green duochrome glitter. It's not usually this shy (actually, IRL, you see it a lot, especially in low light situations) but it doesn't like the camera!

Ah ha! There's that green!

And now, some obligatory bottle pics:

So pretty. :)