Hey, Swatch It! - Maybelline Color Show Vintage Leather

Happy Saturday, folks!  As of today, I am exactly 2 weeks away from landing in Texas with dear hubby in tow.  I can't wait to get back home and see everyone, especially Mom and the best set of girlfriends on the planet!  Also expecting I'll be trolling the old stomping grounds, aka doing some fierce karaoke.  Got word this morning that one of my girls has also recorded Glee for me, so we'll have a little Glee-fest one day (and I'm sure hubby will just LOVE that, since he likes Glee so much...).

Also looking forward to meeting up with a couple of fellow bloggers for a nail-painting party.  If you're a mommy or you just appreciate good humor and blogs with exceptional emphasis on good grammar, please do show some love to Evin and Shelley.  I'm so looking forward to meeting these two bishes!  I've been playing third-wheel in their FB and Pinterest love affair for a few months now, but they're real life besties and they do make me giggle so!

Okay, enough rambling... let's get to the swatching.  I stroll through Superdrug a lot.  By a lot, I mean every time I go into the city, I stop in and look to see what new polishes are in stock.  It was during one of these browsing trips that I came across these new Color Show polishes and I just had to have them.  They're the drugstore version of the Nails Inc Leather Effect polishes, which I've been kinda drooling over.  Maybelline added these Vintage Leather to their collection a couple of months ago.  I picked up the shades Tanned & Ready and Mudslide Tote.  There were two other colors, a grey-ish teal called Turquoise Temptation, and an orangey-red called Red Grained.  I left those behind because I just couldn't get into the shades.

After doing my research (because you know I do!), I noticed that these four shades are only available in the UK, and the USA has about 10 shades that aren't available here.  Now why would they do that?  Nonsense!  For this reason, I also can't speak to the application or consistency of the US versions in this line.  One would assume they're similar, but who knows?

So, the formula on these is filled with weird little glitters that are intended to give the bumpy effect of aged leather.  Application is a little on the gloopy side, but I was able to get a three-stroke coverage fairly easily, with only a couple of nails needing patch jobs on the sidelines where the brush skipped.  I would say that if you're really efficient with the painting, you could get coverage with one coat, but I used two coats on the swatches below.  The polish dries to a semi-matte finish which is kind of cool, but in no way resembles the Nails Inc. Leather Effects, which has a shiny, textured finish that looks more like leather, to me.  This is not to say I dislike the finish on these polishes, I just want to make it clear that they are not in any way the same.

To save time, I swatched the grey on one hand and the tan on the other.  I felt the tan was a bit more forgiving, so I was able to apply it with my non-dominant hand.  Because I wanted to show the natural finish of the polishes, I did not use a topcoat.  However, since I've used the tan in a manicure before, I know that a matte topcoat will more closely resemble the leather look they were going for.  A shiny topcoat just makes it look like a regular polish with odd, ineffective glitters in the formula.

Interior, natural light

Interior, natural light

Direct sunlight

The grey is a really dark grey, almost black.  I think I'll be able to use this in future designs for this reason alone.  I'm a little sad though because it does finish darker than it looks in the bottle.

Interior, natural light

Direct sunlight

I really kind of like the tan, though I'm not sure why.  I like the reddish-brown shade, and whereas the effect is not really what I was hoping for, it does kind of look like your trusty old leather jacket.  I wish they'd come out with a straight black in this line, but I suppose that's what the grey was supposed to accomplish.

I would love to hear some ideas on how I can use these polishes in future nail art endeavors.

Have any of you tried any of the leather effect polishes?

Hope you guys have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday with a new mani!

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