Pale Watery Blues

If there is something that challenges me it's those polishes that are too sheer to go it alone but too dense to really just be layering polishes without a serious translucency to really layer on anything. I mean it can be layered, but you need to negotiate-to-yes with the right base color to make it work.

I sat down with a couple of sheers that were oddly similar in the drawer and I thought I better 1) swatch them and 2) compare them!

First up is a bottle shot:

Both are sweet blue shimmers in a light beige base that is all but translucent. It does have a yellow tint to it. It's in the bottle, but not ending up on the nail. Still there is this antique feeling behind the blue in the bottle of both.

Although Aqua Shocks is deeper, both blue shimmers have a purple color shift in the bottle. Nice!
Not so good is that it really never shows up on the nail.

It's actually nothing like a dupe, but both are pale and watery on the nail.

Maybelline Aqua Shocks

Four coats and very streaky.
I think it took four coats to even just acquire some decent coverage. It's pretty much a layering polish, but I have it over a Borghese translucent ivory that barely covers, but takes a little bit of the yellow out of my nail.

I didn't layer the polish over a blue, which would be great, but just wanted to see what it would do alone.

Next up is Sparitual She's a River

Again with the four coats and the same base. Very sheer. In fact it really seems to not build ever.

More of a cool take on the blue shimmer over beige, it's pretty and icy and quite fresh for a hot day. I would definitely put it over the top of something like CC Take Me to Your Chateau.

So I compared them:

Pretty straightforward left to right:
Aqua Shocks, She's a River, Aqua Shocks, She's a River

These are now over SH CSM Cafe Au Lait which is a deeper rosy beige that (nude if you will) seems to enable the shimmer to bust through a little better. You also see the brushstrokes, too.

I will reblog, or part two this because these are pretty polishes and deserve a fair shake.

The Maybelline is probably on eBay or around abouts the web, it's an old gold cap.
Sparitual is one I purchased through the Sparitual website.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!

(I originally thought I pressed "save" and ran off to do some yard work, I ended up looking at it again in chagrin over the lack of editing! Eep!)