Acetone Files: China Glaze Bogie / Duping Maybelline Downtown Brown
Acetone Files
China Glaze Bogie
I wore this one over the weekend, while getting over the dregs of a virus, so I barely took pictures, and rather late at that - forgive me. I came across China Glaze Bogie stuffed in the back of my CG box while reorganizing my stash for franken supplies, and couldn't get it out of my head. I needed an easy standalone this weekend, and this shimmery purple was perfect.
I bought it mostly for the name - I'm a little bit obsessed with Humphrey Bogart. <3 This was part of an older LE collection themed around the Golden Age, I believe (Ingrid became part of the core line). This one is a medium "raisin-y" purple, right between warm and cool, with a fine uniform shimmer. It's a great basic, especially if you love purple.
*Reference to an episode of The Brady Bunch where Peter tries to make himself more interesting by acquiring Humphrey Bogart's accent.
Duping Maybelline Downtown Brown
My next mani is a duochrome that's been languishing in my collection for a few months, Maybelline Color Show's LE from last fall, Downtown Brown. It FINALLY turned up on Ebay, and I snapped it up a few months ago, only when it arrived realizing it looked super dupe-able. So I decided to try it out -
Downtown Brown is your basic rich brown with an aqua/greenish-blue shimmer duochrome. I finally acquired that basic rich brown cream, after unsuccessfully trying to find Milani Dark Coffee online, instead opted for quality and in-store availability with OPI Suzie Loves Cowboys. (Another I was considering was Revlon Hot Chocolate, but that turned out to be nearly the same price as the OPI, considering shipping costs.) I was certain that Pure Ice Mint Dream, a clear minty-aqua shimmer topcoat, was the perfect addition to your basic brown to make the same effect as Downtown Brown.
I was definitely surprised when it didn't work at all the way I expected! While the color of Pure Ice Mint Dream is perfect, the shimmer is WAY too thick to show the base color at all. I even tried siphoning off the brush to make a thinner coat, but it was too streaky. I also tried another recent topcoat aquisition, Pure Ice Heartbreaker, and while it does allow the base color to show and creates a rather cool effect in and of , neither the texture (thicker shimmer grains) nor the color (spring green) of the glitter are anywhere close to what's in Downtown Brown.
So no dupe, unfortunately. However, you could franken this by actually adding a couple drops of Mint Dream to a brown cream, but buying both of those things would cost a lot more than just purchasing Downtown Brown on Ebay in the first place. However, if you already have both, give it a shot! (And show me!)
Anyway, Downtown Brown itself is rather special - I've never seen an actual readymade dupe. I think I wanted it a bit more when I first saw it, but I don't dislike it now; the combination of the brown base and greenish shimmer can get a little Earth Day, but in certain lights it looks brighter and more aqua, which appeals to me more. The shimmer isn't the strongest - you can't see it at all in low light, for example - but it's a cool pop of color over a dark tone. I was a bit disappointed with how patchy it was - I needed 3 solid coats to get all the bald spots, but I find duochromes are often like this, probably to allow the glitter to show.
Review: You can't really find this combination of base color and duochrome anywhere else, and it's a lovely, special mix. However it's a bit patchy, and if you already have Pure Ice Mint Dream, you have the glitter, although you can't just topcoat a brown to get it. It's worth buying if you don't already have both the components and a bottle to franken it in. A-
P. S. I'm putting my ambitious nail art on hold for a while, because I broke BOTH my pointer fingernails this weekend (one while sick, the second grating cheese yesterday), and I can't bear to squeeze nice nail art onto a stubby, uneven nail. So I'm going to let them grow a bit before, for example, the Jake the Dog manicure. I'll still be doing some nail art, but tamer - possibly the type that gives the illusion of length?
China Glaze Bogie
I wore this one over the weekend, while getting over the dregs of a virus, so I barely took pictures, and rather late at that - forgive me. I came across China Glaze Bogie stuffed in the back of my CG box while reorganizing my stash for franken supplies, and couldn't get it out of my head. I needed an easy standalone this weekend, and this shimmery purple was perfect.
I bought it mostly for the name - I'm a little bit obsessed with Humphrey Bogart. <3 This was part of an older LE collection themed around the Golden Age, I believe (Ingrid became part of the core line). This one is a medium "raisin-y" purple, right between warm and cool, with a fine uniform shimmer. It's a great basic, especially if you love purple.
*Reference to an episode of The Brady Bunch where Peter tries to make himself more interesting by acquiring Humphrey Bogart's accent.
Duping Maybelline Downtown Brown
My next mani is a duochrome that's been languishing in my collection for a few months, Maybelline Color Show's LE from last fall, Downtown Brown. It FINALLY turned up on Ebay, and I snapped it up a few months ago, only when it arrived realizing it looked super dupe-able. So I decided to try it out -
Downtown Brown is your basic rich brown with an aqua/greenish-blue shimmer duochrome. I finally acquired that basic rich brown cream, after unsuccessfully trying to find Milani Dark Coffee online, instead opted for quality and in-store availability with OPI Suzie Loves Cowboys. (Another I was considering was Revlon Hot Chocolate, but that turned out to be nearly the same price as the OPI, considering shipping costs.) I was certain that Pure Ice Mint Dream, a clear minty-aqua shimmer topcoat, was the perfect addition to your basic brown to make the same effect as Downtown Brown.
I was definitely surprised when it didn't work at all the way I expected! While the color of Pure Ice Mint Dream is perfect, the shimmer is WAY too thick to show the base color at all. I even tried siphoning off the brush to make a thinner coat, but it was too streaky. I also tried another recent topcoat aquisition, Pure Ice Heartbreaker, and while it does allow the base color to show and creates a rather cool effect in and of , neither the texture (thicker shimmer grains) nor the color (spring green) of the glitter are anywhere close to what's in Downtown Brown.
So no dupe, unfortunately. However, you could franken this by actually adding a couple drops of Mint Dream to a brown cream, but buying both of those things would cost a lot more than just purchasing Downtown Brown on Ebay in the first place. However, if you already have both, give it a shot! (And show me!)
Anyway, Downtown Brown itself is rather special - I've never seen an actual readymade dupe. I think I wanted it a bit more when I first saw it, but I don't dislike it now; the combination of the brown base and greenish shimmer can get a little Earth Day, but in certain lights it looks brighter and more aqua, which appeals to me more. The shimmer isn't the strongest - you can't see it at all in low light, for example - but it's a cool pop of color over a dark tone. I was a bit disappointed with how patchy it was - I needed 3 solid coats to get all the bald spots, but I find duochromes are often like this, probably to allow the glitter to show.
Review: You can't really find this combination of base color and duochrome anywhere else, and it's a lovely, special mix. However it's a bit patchy, and if you already have Pure Ice Mint Dream, you have the glitter, although you can't just topcoat a brown to get it. It's worth buying if you don't already have both the components and a bottle to franken it in. A-
P. S. I'm putting my ambitious nail art on hold for a while, because I broke BOTH my pointer fingernails this weekend (one while sick, the second grating cheese yesterday), and I can't bear to squeeze nice nail art onto a stubby, uneven nail. So I'm going to let them grow a bit before, for example, the Jake the Dog manicure. I'll still be doing some nail art, but tamer - possibly the type that gives the illusion of length?