Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Diamond Cosmetics Fall Collections

So... I've really been dragging my feet on posting these. Why? Because... quite frankly... I didn't like them =x Remember months ago when I said I had a lot of boring stuff to post? These are one of the things I was talking about.

But... I guess no use in taking pictures unless I'm going to post them, so here we go! Diamond's fall/winter and mattes.


Crushed Velvet. A dark 'blurple' (blue/purple) creme. Less blue in real life. Somewhat similar to OPI Sapphire In The Snow but less vibrant.

Mulberry Mayhem. Berry creme. Less red in real life, more berry colored. Mayhem, really? *yawn*


Smokey Rose. Grandma Mauve?? Really? Okay, this one's not that bad, it does have kind of a cool antique Victorian feel to it. But still... mauve.



Cherry Tobacco. Now this one I actually like. Not just like, love! It's one of my favorite types of colors- dark, almost black with a rich velvety shimmer that looks dark on the edges and light in the middle. This one is red-burgundy based with a little bit of a golden iridescence. Really cool.

And, I just happened to have some cherry tobacco to compare it to:



And themattes...

Matte Burgundy. Very dark.

Matte Mulberry. This one is kinda neat- a matte fuchsia-purple-berry creme! Except... it's not very matte.


Matte Smoke. Matte-ish grey.

Matte Black. Nice and leathery looking, but I still prefer a true matte if I'm wearing matte polish.



I'm trying to remember how the formula was on these.... I remember it being thick for all the shades, but not too much else! I remember the mattes needing 2-3 coats and taking longer to dry than the average matte. Diamond polishes do generally take longer to dry than average.


So... yep. There they are. Hope I'm not being too harsh, but these really did put me to sleep! I don't like matte cremes and I don't like the weird shiny-matte 'satin' look of these. They look rubbery. The cremes in the regular collection were also uninspired. Berry, mauve? Dull blue-purple? Very safe and not at all unique.

I know Diamond can do cool colors, because I have a lot of them... Not Your "Hum Drum" Plum, Chainmail Charm, Froggy, Safety Zone, all the foils like Sparkling Sherry... All cool colors! Don't know what happened with these collections. I'm sure someone out there loves them, but they're just not 'me'.

(These were sent to me for review.)

25 comments:

  1. yeah, these are pretty boring :( Thanks for posting the swatches anyway, I love your updates.

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  2. I really love that first blue one, none of the others are that special, I see why you were bored1

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  3. I actually like the "Grandma Mauve" (hehe!) for a sweet, more natural color, though it reminds me of Zoya Drew and I think I'd prefer that one anyway!

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  4. There all very pretty, I love the first one and the 3rd (smokey rose I think it was)

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  5. Cherry Tobacco is sexy. The rest are really quite meh.

    I feel like that sort of leathery black might make for some interesting themed nail art (chrome silver stamped guns and sheriff stars?), but aside from that it just looks odd. Not shiny enough to be a regular polish, not matte enough to be matte.

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  6. Thank you for taking the time to post pics, review the application of the polishes, and tell us how many coats are necessary for opacity (I'm a fellow VNL dislike-er). Even if the post was more brief and just gave a super short and dry blurb, that's so much better than nothing at all! Although the colors may not be to your liking, everyone has different tastes, and your pictures and reviews are soooo fantabulous that your input is a valuable resource. I actually want more regular/boring colors in my collection, but I want to be picky on which ones I choose that will be the easiest to work with b/c my application skills are still embarrassingly craptacular. Thanks for being awesome!

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  7. That Smokey Rose color is horrible. My cousin uses colors like that to paint her toenails. OMG AAAACCCCKKKKK! I swear every time I see her feet I throw up a little in my mouth.

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  8. I like about half of these, but it sucks that DC has raised their prices :(

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  9. I love Cherry Tobacco. For me the mattes are OK. I wouldn't buy them but I actually prefer satin to matte. Matte is an abomination in my eyes.
    But all pix are worth something even if they do you the favour of not needing to invest!
    Wonderful picture quality as always makes it a treat to check out your blog even when the colours aren't appealing.

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  10. Thanks for the review! None of the colors do get me very excited either, except for Cherry Tobacco. I wonder how it compares to OPI's Black Cherry Chutney, judging by the pics, they might be quite similar...

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  11. Cherry Tobacco is great, both the polish and the real one, and Matte Black reminds me of my friend's black leather coat... little gunmetal grey or silver Konad Mjölnirs would be perfect on it! (Do they have a Mjölnir/Thor's hammer design for Konad? They should totally make a celtic-themed plate! And a heavy metal one...with a \m/-hand, electric guitars, a little headbanging guy, a few band logos... ok, I'm getting carried away xD

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  12. I was gonna say, those are awfully shiny for mattes! They look like other matte polishes do on day 5.

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  13. I tagged you for a Beauty Blogger award :o) thanks for being a brilliant blogger! http://polishandpowder.blogspot.com/2010/01/beauty-blogger-award.html

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  14. Funny story (definitely related to your post, so bear with me...)....

    I have gone to a spa in Toronto for many years, and have occasionally gotten a manicure or pedicure there. Every single time, I have a problem with the polish drying, it smudges right away, and chips like mad the next day, even on my toes. Before the holidays this year, I had a pedicure there, and the same thing happened. What was different this time, was the nail polishes now had names like Chainmail Charm, etc., rather than the names of the aestheticians. I asked and it turns out they were buying Diamond Polishes and renaming them! They didn't rename the new ones though, so I caught on right away. They confirmed it when I asked though.

    Gotta say, this has given me a bad impression of their polishes, even with your lovely swatches. The spa uses the Diamond topcoat, decanted into small bottles, so I am not sure if it is the polish or the topcoat.

    Thanks for sharing the swatches anyway! I think you should go back to posting what makes you happy, or some of your rants on various brands...those are always awesome!

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  15. Thanks for the swatches! I really appreciate that you post swatches of polishes that you like AND dislike! It's important to show both ends of the spectrum, not just the fabulous polishes!

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  16. I think Crushed Velvet is my favorite. I wish I had your perfect nails! :)

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  17. I reviewed these as well. I think they were pretty good, especially considering the price.

    But I do agree with you about Cherry Tobacco. That is a GREAT polish and it stands out amongst the rest. :)

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  18. cherry tobacco almost reminds me of MAC raven kohl power. i like.

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  19. Couldn't agree more - cherry tobacco would be the only one I'd consider. Still not getting that matte thing at all though.

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  20. I agree with you, really boring ones. I heard they had mattes and I was like "yay, I love mattes!". But these are, like you say, rubbery. I don't really like any of these polishes.

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  21. Scrangie, may I ask an off topic question? I love flakies, and have been lusting for OPI Merry Midnight for a while now. Well, I just ordered Nfu Oh 51. I know they aren't dupes. But I'm wondering if this will be so fabulous in it's glowy flakiness that it will eclipse the OPI, and I can just let go of that lemming. Any thoughts?

    And I want you to know that I really appreciate your swatches and reviews. It makes nail polish shopping so much easier and more fun.

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  22. That you for posting a review of these. I was considering the Smokey rose but I haven't even seen a tracking number from the neutrals I ordered from them on the 19th.

    I guess this and other orders are out of the question for me.

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  23. Hmm. Yeah, I have to agree, outside of Cherry Tobacco they look so-so. I do love that picture of Cherry Tobacco with cherry tobacco, hehe. :)

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  24. LOOOOOVE the swatches! Where did you find those Nicole glitters? I am dying for that first one!

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  25. Diamond Cosmetics is a scam!! They use animal bi-products and test on animals. I used to purchase their brand and decided to do a test of my own to see if what they state is true and I can tell you it is FALSE!! I have been a chemist for over 15 years and can tell you that what they advertise; as not having any toluene, formaldehyde or dibutyl phthalate is completely FALSE!! Please do yourself a favor and throw away anything that has their logo on it and pass this message along. DIAMOND COSMETICS IS A SCAM!!

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