Manic.Monday: Terra Crystal

One of my most recent additions to my nail polish collection is a cute little kit from Models Own that I'd never tried before. It's a duo product along the same lines as Revlon's Moon Candy, so you get a plain base shade in one end of it, and on the other is a fun effect top coat. The Artistix Duo (£8) is available in twelve different combinations where the top coats comes in a variety of different effects e.g. heavy glitters in varying shades and colors, crushed opal candy or pearlescent multi tonal shimmer. This duo is called Terra Crystal, and the base shade Terra Firma is a muted dark coffee brown with a slight red tint to it, and the top coat Pink Crystal is a glitter polish with beautiful pink hexagonal particles and tiny silver specks scattered throughout.

The formula of the base coat has just the right consistency - it's not gloopy but it's not watery either and it has a wonderful depth of color with a great high shine, without having to use a top coat. The brush is of standard width, but it seems to be of fairly good quality and doesn't streak or leave any pesky stray hairs in the polish. The polish dries fairly quickly and although the coverage is good enough with just one coat, I prefer to apply another coat for the shade to really develop and to get a solid opaque look. For me Terra Firma is a great classic and stylish brown shade, a softer option to black and you can definitely wear this on its own, however since I am a total magpie let's move quickly on to the lovely glittery top coat... ooooh, me like...

The top coat is a gorgeous glitter polish, very rich on lovely large pink shapes and tiny silver fragments which helps to get a fairly even spread of the glitter across the nail, although you may need to do some adjustments of the glitter placement. As you can see in the photos I've experimented a little bit with the amount of layers of the top coat, and the density of the glitter is so high that you can definitely use just one coat for a more sparse and sleek look. If you use two coats, you'll get a grittier textured look that reminds me a bit of what I call glam concrete - it's a coarse glittery texture with a very urban look and feel. Should you go for three coats, the nail will be almost completely covered in the hexagons, and it's a much heavier and opulent look than the other two.

From left to right (in natural light):

Terra Firma (2 coats)

Terra Firma + 1 coat of Pink Crystal

Terra Firma + 2 coats of Pink Crystal

Terra Firma + 3 coats of Pink Crystal

From left to right (in artificial light):

Terra Firma (2 coats)

Terra Firma + 1 coat of Pink Crystal

Terra Firma + 2 coats of Pink Crystal

Terra Firma + 3 coats of Pink Crystal

As with many effect polishes the consistency is a little thicker and it takes a few mins to dry so if you do decide to layer it, I would recommend that you let each coat dry properly before applying the next one, so you don't unintentionally end up moving the particles around before they've set properly. I haven't tried this on my nails yet, so I don't actually know how easy it is to remove the polish, but something tells me, it takes a fair bit of effort. If any of you have tried the Artistix Duo, please let me know in the comments what it was like to remove.  

All the looks are lovely in their own way, so which style you go for is really dependent on your personal preference. As you know I'm not shy with my nail polishes and I also really like contrasts so I would probably wear two coats for an urban look and feel - which one would you go for?