Tuesday 31 July 2012

The Quest for the Perfect Gold–Essie Shift Power

I finally find the time to post my first entry and guess what? The lighting is so sucky in here (my bedroom) that I can’t even take a decent picture of my nails. I apologize for the quality of the pictures guys.
A while back I was watching Pretty Little Liars and noticed Hanna wearing gold polish. Not a shimmery dark yellow or pale bronze colour that some companies pass off as gold but a shade that made it look like she’d dipped her fingers in liquid gold with just the perfect balance of yellow to it. I didn’t even know it was possible to get that shade. So, off I went on my search for the perfect gold. The closest I’ve found to a true gold colour is a set of nail wraps called Metallic Gold by Nails Rocks. Sadly since they cost £6.65, I think it’s better to save them for a special occasion.
The next step was for me to find a nail polish that the right tones to it. My skin tone is a bronze colour with yellow/orange undertones. The skin on my knuckles is considerably darker than the skin on any other part of my body so finding the right gold can be a little tricky. Golds either look bronze on me or they are too yellow. I had a look at a few swatches online and finally decided to try Essie’s Shift Power.

I do love my metallics but truth be told some of them are a little streaky. Unfortunately this is true for Shift Power but honestly, it’s not that noticeable in the right light. I loved the coverage. It was opaque with only a tiny amount of VNL (visible nail line) with one coat. I added another coat out of habit and topped with it off with Seche Vite’s Dry Fast Top Coat.
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I do apologize for the state of my cuticles! I don’t know if you can tell how horrible they look in these pictures.
What the pictures don’t know are the streaks and the super-fine shimmer that helps give it a metallic appearance.
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A slightly clearer shot with flash.
I had some problem with my camera. Everytime I tried to zoom in to get a clearer shot that showed more details, the picture went blurry. I suspect that lighting didn’t help either. I will definitely take pictures in better light next time. It is nearly 2 am and I have work tomorrow so…take care and thank you for stopping by.