W7 - Metallic Neptune (Swatch + Comparison)

Since I'm really tired today, I'm just going to continue with some long overdue swatches. I don't remember when I started swatching the Metallic Planetes collection by W7... but it was quite a while ago... just looking at how long my nails were back then.

So here's W7 Metallic Neptune. In my swatches you see Neptune on all but my ringfinger nail. That one has Model's Own Emerald Black. I don't remember how many coats I did. At least two, at most three plus topcoat.

At first glance, there's barely any difference between these two polishes. But for polish enthusiasts there's a huge difference ;) Neptune is a really blackened teal, while Black Emerald is a blackened green, just as the name suggests. I prefer the Model's Own out of these two. The green looks more interesting than the teal and seems to glow from within, while Neptune is pretty, but it's lacking that special something. Both are supposed to be duochromes, but I don't see it in either. Maybe it's just too subtle for my understanding of duochrome.

Even though I prefer Emerald Black colorwise, I prefer the W7 formula. I just can't stand the smell of Model's Own polishes. The only brand that stinks even worse is Kleancolor... So in the end, for me, I'd give them the same rating. I'll keep both. :)

Thanks for reading!

Schleifchen und Pünktchen (again)

Lately, I have been going through a couple of my old blog posts, looking at the design I posted back then. I didn't change my polish/nail art as often back then and I still feel like I accomplished some great designs. But I realise that quite a bit has changed since then. My nails are way longer, I actually try to take care of my cuticles, but most of all, after one and a half year of nail art, I feel like I can do better with my paint brushes.

I had been eyeing one of my old designs for a while now: Schleifchen und Pünktchen. I really liked it and, actually surprisingly, it's currently in the top10 most viewed posts. I felt like wearing something cute again and had a couple of matching polishes on my desk: so here is a retry on this particular design. I didn't change much!

The only significant polish I changed is the white shimmery base. Instead of essence diamonds and pearls, I used W7 Polar Bear. I just had it on my desk and it's an untried, so this was decided. The other polishes are the same: p2 elegant for the tip, Manhattan 51K and Catrice Sweets of my Sweets for the ribbons. The black I used for the dots is essence black is back.

Since I wore W7 Polar Bear for the first time, I didn't know how it would behave. It's actually quite sheer. What you see here are three coats and it could have used a fourth on some nails. Luckily, it's not only sheer, but thin as well, so three coats didn't  make my nails look thick.

After painting my tips with p2 elegant, I dotted the edges with Manhattan 51K to start the lacey part. All of the lace was done with this dotting tool. One of the advantages of longer nails is certainly the increased space to paint on. I couldn't have done the lace part like this last year. It'd have covered up 1/3 of my nail.

Last time, I drew the light pink parts of the bow first and later outlined it with the darker pink. I did it the other way around this time, because it's easier to control the size of the bows that way. It worked fine - maybe due to increased brush control. The final step was adding my black dots to the tip. Well... I didn't get much better at this.

My final thoughts about this... I like the black dots in my first manicure way better. They're much more delicate. But I like the pink details better here. That's partly because of the space I had at hand this time. And even though I wasn't sure about it at first, I like Polar Bear better as the base color.

I still feel like I'm neglecting one of my favorite polishes. p2 elegant is a beautiful color and I really think I'm going to do a swatch post for this polish (even though it's discontinued). I haven't worn it since the first dots and bows mani! That's certainly the downside of being a nail polish collector...

Which one do you like better? First of second version?

W7 - Metallic Saturn (Swatch + Comparison)

Today I have a swatch of a brand for you that was new to me before I wore this polish. I found a set of three in my local TK Maxx and decided to give it a try... especially because it looked like the polishes belonged to the Metallic Planets, a collection of duochrome polishes. For the price, I thought I couldn't do anything wrong - even though I knew that there are good and bad reviews about these polishes. (Especially recently in the German nail polish blogosphere :D)

When I went back home, I had this feeling that the set was close to another set I had bought about a year ago. I wasn't wrong and I'll compare those polishes to each other, to show how similar/different they are.

So the polish I want to compare first is W7 Metallic Saturn. It's a shimmery olive metallic polish, very nicely suited for fall in my opinion. It's supposed to shift from green to gold... does that remind you of something? Well it did remind me of model's own Golden Green from the Beetlejuice collection. Hence, I'm going to compare those two.

I applied two coats of the W7 and three of model's own. They are both on the thin side, but both are managable. W7 might look better with a third coat, because, depending on the angle you're looking at it... it's not 100% opaque. I was fine with two coats though. My pictures show the W7 on three fingers, model's own on one - my ringfinger.

I find them quite different. model's own Golden Green looks what it is called when compared to the W7: a golden green, while Metallic Saturn is more of a golden olive. Right now, I like the W7 better colorwise... I don't know, I think I'm getting into those muddy shades lately and Golden Green is definitely too bright to fit in this category.

Well, both are supposed to be duochrome... and I (still) fail at seeing this duochrome effect in those two polishes. There is a golden glow around the edges, but it is not very strong. If I didn't know that both of these polishes are from duochrome collections, I wouldn't even think about putting them in that category. Both are nice metallic shades... but certainly no duochrome polishes. I don't know where other swatches got the blue and teal shift from...

 
Okay, back to the formula. Drying time for both polishes was about the same. Nothing special here. They are rather on the slow drying side than the fast drying, but it's not bad and you can always put a quick drying topcoat on. I didn't use a topcoat, because I was going to swatch the other two polishes afterwards. Also, Golden Green tends to be more streaky than Metallic Saturn.

One of the major points or critique voiced in the recent German reviews is the stench of the Metallic Planets polishes. Actually, I don't think it is all that bad. Compared to other nail polishes, it doesn't smell very pleasant, indeed, but I find my model's own or Kleancolor polishes way worse. I can't put those on without having the window open. A thing to mention is, that W7 polishes are not Big3 free... as are model's own. They contain Toluene and I wonder if that's why they stink...

So, final verdict? If you are looking for a nice green duochrome, you are not going to be very happy with either of them. If you are looking for a nice metallic green with an edge, you might be happy with either. I find Metallic Saturn a more wearable green. It is also less streaky than Golden Green, and it's more opaque. Pricewise, the W7 polish is cheaper. You can buy them for £1.95 here, while model's own retail for £5.

Do you need both? Depends. I find them different enough that I'm not feeling the need to sell one of them, but if you don't have either, I'd recommend to choose the green you like better and leave the other well alone.