August 30, 2013

Darling Diva Polish Prince Collection Recap

Disclaimer:  This product was offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.  

Over the past few weeks I swatched and reviewed the Prince inspired collection from Darling Diva Polish.  Here are all the polishes in one place so you can easily pick your favorites.  Just click the pictures to go to the full reviews for each of these gorgeous polishes.  Enjoy!

1999 Darling Nikki
Purple Rain Gett Off
When Doves Cry Little Red Corvette
Erotic City D.M.S.R.

August 29, 2013

Darling Diva Polish Prince Collection Part III - The Full Coverage Glitters

Disclaimer:  This product was offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion.   

Today I have the final three polishes from the Darling Diva Prince collection to show you.  These include Little Red Corvette, Erotic City and D.M.S.R.  I know, I know, technically D.M.S.R. has a crelly base...but since there's more glitter than base showing on the nail when all is said and done, I'm including it in the glitter category.  First up is Little Red Corvette.

Little Red Corvette


Little Red Corvette features a sheer red jelly base packed with iridescent red hex glitter in a variety of sizes.  I used two coats of this polish and as expected, it dried pretty rough.  It is a glitter packed polish after all.  I used a thick topcoat to smooth things out but there was the odd spot where I could still feel a few small bumps.




The top four photos show two coats of Little Red Corvette with one coat of Gelous in natural sunlight.  In the bottom two photos I added a coat of Julep's matte top coat.  I love the look of this polish (especially matte!) but it was a bit of a pain to get smooth.  I think next time I will use a single coat over a red creme base colour.  There's so much glitter in this polish that I don't think it would look very different but would dry a lot more smoothly.

Erotic City


Erotic City is  dark purple jelly full of blue and purple iridescent glitter and fine holographic glitter.  The formula was fantastic and it was opaque after only two coats, which was a pleasant surprise.  Usually jellies take at least three coats for me.  It dried very smoothly which was another pleasant surprise considering how much glitter is in there. 




Photos show two coats of Erotic City with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural sunlight.  I LOVE this polish.  It looks so squishy and the iridescent glitters seem to glow when they catch the light.  The easy application makes it even better.  This is my personal favorite from the Prince collection.

 D.M.S.R.
(Dance Music Sex Romance) 



D.M.S.R. is a very light purple crelly base filled with purple glitter in a multitude of shades, shapes and sizes.  I used three coats and it was about 90% opaque.  You can still see the whites of my nail tips in a couple spots but since this isn't a solid colour I don't mind.  The only glitters I had any issues with (and it's not really a glitter issues) were the three largest sizes... the largest hex, the flower and the butterfly.  This is just because my nails beds are quite curved to the edges of very large glitters won't lay flat against the nail even when there's nothing wrong with the glitter itself.  I just used a thicker top coat to smooth out those few large glitter edges.





Photos show three coats of D.M.S.R. with once coat of Gelous in natural sunilght.  I love the look of this polish.  So much glitter yet it still looks so delicate.  I'm normally not a fan of shaped glitter (flowers, stars, hearts, etc.) but the flowers and butterflies in this polish blend in so well that I don't mind them at all.  Looks like I put lots of effort into a jelly sandwhich mani when really I just put on one polish.

So there you have it, the entire Darling Diva Polish Prince collection.  My personal top three are Erotic City, D.M.S.R. and When Doves Cry.  With such a great mix of glitters, holos, crellies and jellies there's something in this collection for everyone... well, unless you hate purple, but who hates purple??  You can find all of these polishes in the Darling Diva Polish Etsy shop.  Don't forget to check out the Darling Diva facebook page so you don't miss out on sale codes and sneak peaks at new collections.  Which polish is your favorite from this collection?

August 26, 2013

Darling Diva Polish Prince Collection Part II - The Holos

Disclaimer:  This product was offered at a reduced price or at no charge to manicuremanifesto.com in exchange for published reviews.  All reviews are fair, honest and reflect my personal opinion. 

Wait? There was a Prince Collection Part I?  Well, officially no, but I did post reviews for 1999 and Darling Nikki a few weeks ago so I'm counting those as part one.  I received the rest of the collection in the mail yesterday so now I can show you the rest of these amazing polishes.  This post will feature the holo's - Purple Rain, When Doves Cry and Get Off.

Purple Rain


Purple rain is a rich dark grapey purple.  It feature tons of shimmer, holo sparkle and at certain angles a pearly blue appears out of no where.  The formula was flawless.  It took two coats to become opaque and dried very smoothly.




Photos show two coats of Purple Rain with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural sunlight.  In my opinion this polish has the perfect amount of holo.  There's enough that you can see the rainbow of colours when you're outside but purple is still the dominant colour.

Gett Off


Gett off is a lavender shimmer with a holo sparkle and a handful of iridescent purple glitter. The formula was great and it took two coats to become opaque.



Photos show two coats of Gett Off with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural sunlight. I think the holo in Gett Off is a bit more pronounced than that in Purple Rain but again I love how the lavender base still shines through even in direct sunlight.

When Doves Cry


When Doves Cry is a light grey shimmery polish packed with a silver glass fleck shimmer and a soft holo sparkle.  Like the other two holo's in this collection this formula on this polish was flawless.  It was a little more sheer though so it polish took me three coats to become opaque.




The top four photos show three coats of When Doves Cry with one coat of CND Super Shiney nail polish in natural light on a cloudy day.  Unfortunately, a rainy day meant that the holo wasn't going to show up outside so the bottom two photos were taken under halogen lighting so you can see the soft holo shimmer peaking through.

I think When Doves Cry is my favorite of these three.  I just love how delicate it looks and I love glass fleck shimmer.  All three of these polishes are currently available in the Darling Diva Polish Etsy shop.  I'll be back later this week with the three remaining polishes from this collection, the full coverage glitters.  Hopefully the rainy weather will clear up quickly so I can get some awesome swatch photos for you all.
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