A Dusty Rose By Any Other Name

Would probably smell better than a bottle of nail polish.

But here are five mauve/rose polishes that I think are worth taking a second look at for various reasons.


O.K. Let's roll.

L'Oreal Future Rose

I know, not a mauve bone in it's body. They even call it rose. A seriously awesome formula. Two coats. I've worn this baby numerous times and have yet to blog it. I can't speak more highly of L'Oreal's formula here. This is with a top coat. It wears like I'm clawing barehanded to get out of a tank of sharks and need to be camera ready immediately afterwards. AKA, primo formulation.  Found at the Dollar Tree or eBay, and that's about it, except sometimes at Discount CosmeticOutlet.com
The color itself is earthy, warm, perhaps a taupe rose. It can look a little flat, and I love that crushed rose color.
Did I mention that I love the formula? ;)

This is the old flat/square bottle that has now been replaced by a columnar tube, which is great, but I kind of love the older 80's feeling font on the old L'Oreals. They feel kind of more now in some ways. New 80's retro. Maybe it's 90's retro these days.




Oasis Dawn Creme

Lighter and distinctly more pink, yet still somewhat dowsed, is Sally Hansen Hard As Nails/Nylon/Teflon/Something old school Sally. I think I picked this up a couple of years ago at the Dollar Tree in a two-pack and pretty much ignored it ("meh, blah, mauve/rose/whatevs) while I ogled a dark green or something.

Think Sally isn't doing her usual playing with you on names and finishes? She is!

Secret Shimmer! Hard to capture under my lights, but definitely there. For sure.
I love this polish just for that little feature!

Two coats, great coverage and a soft, wearable color that probably is adorable to even the most conservative polish wearer. I call this "office OK".
Formula is nice, dried pretty fast for Sally Hansen. This is with a top coat, too. Nice!




Diamond Cosmetics Meditate

I might have blogged this one before, but I pulled it out because it really is pretty nice. Two coats, with a top coat. Another fabulous formula.
Pushing into the berry realm, it's similar to Future Rose above, but not as crushed down into the gray tone.
Diamond Cosmetics is another one with a really nice formula. I love it. This color, unfortunately is now discontinued. Bummer.




Borghese Murano Mauve

Akin to Meditate above but a bit more exuberant. Mauve? Why? What? I am confused!!

Seriously though, this one has a bit of translucency, not so much to call it a jelly, perhaps a bit of a sorbet - who comes up with these?
This took about three or four coats to reach opacity. Though it is a bit of a beauty when done, I feel that in general Borghese is a bit stingy on pigmentation. A lot of their bottles seem to need many more coats than I expect. Although I really don't mind this when I love the color. See? It's all good when something makes me happy in a polish!
I found this at Ross or TJ Maxx for either $1.99 (Ross) or $2.99 (TJM) I can't recall.


China Glaze Fifth Avenue

Soft and dusty and easily on the list of office OK polishes here are two coats of wonderful. Similar to Oasis Dawn Creme, but lighter and warmer, it can pull a little brownish. But, really, it's gorgeous. I love this color a lot. Reminds me of the Color Club Haute Brown collection, but much less brown. Dusty warm pink rose.


Here is the full comparison:

You can see where DC  Meditate and L'Oreal Future Rose are similar, but in a lot of ways DC Meditate and Borghese are similar, too.

I think in large part the only reason I added ChG Fifth Avenue was for a reference since the polishes are all discontinued except for Fifth Avenue, unless you check out eBay.


Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!