Sunday, July 24, 2016

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The Polish Chrome Wars Part 2 - Polish Vs Powder chrome edition

Today I continue the chrome crazy by doing a chrome off between chrome powder and the chromest polish I own, the Born Pretty Mirror polish.

Lets looks at the two in a side by side comparison.  


And now without direct light to see the reflectiveness.


Which is which you ask? The index and ring finger are the chrome powder and the middle and pinky fingers are the mirror polish.  Let's analyse them.  The chrome powders were done over black polish and seche vite top coat, not over gel.  They also show the slightest speckling.  The mirror polish is over an aqua base and is without top coat.

My verdict, the mirror polish is shinier, but the chrome powder produces a less fuzzy reflective finish. I'm sure both of these look better over a gel base (in fact I prove that with the polish below), but I wasn't up for another gel set to soak or peel off this week after the damage those NCLA wraps did to me.

If you actually want to wear these for any length of time, they need to last.  The new chrome powder does last, especially when you put a layer of gel top coat over it, it also doesn't lose it's chrome finish.

But the mirror polish, well that is another story. I did these tests and swatches of the Born Pretty store mirror polish a while back, and it seems like the perfect time to share the results.

First up, here is the chrome polish over an aqua base.


Here are some tests with different top coats, including the one that comes with it. But they all significantly effect the shine.


Here is the mirror polish over a gel base. Wowser!  I think this polish over gel easily bets the chrome powder for reflective finish and shine, but again this is still without top coat, so it just rubs off.


What about with gel top coat?  The answer is no.  You can tell the nail that didn't have gel top coat, and you can see how sharp that refective image is too, even when compared the reflection image near the top.


Then I added another layer of mirror polish, to create a mirror gel sandwich, hoping that would last better.


After just a few hours of wear the mirror polish had worn off and it was back to the gel top coat over the mirror polish, and it's not reflective at all.


So what won this war? The mirror polish is the chromest, but it loses out to the chrome powder because of it's staying powder. Unless you were happy with something on your nails that was only going to look amazing for about 2-3 hours, then you could stick with the mirror polish.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for this comparison, it's fantastic to learn exactly how the powder performs! I am quite surpised with how little it holds up to the hype, but i suppose it is BPS lol ;)

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  2. Thanks for continuing these chrome post...love them! I am going to be playing with mine this week to see what I can/can not do. Have you tried the chromes over the Essie/or other chromes?

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I live in Canberra, Australia with my husband, Mr Ten and Miss Eight. My blog is all about nail polish, and a few other bits in between. You can contact me at morenailpolish@iinet.net.au