Hello Loves. I have the IBD Just Gel Neo Romantique Collection to show you today. This collection consists of 3 creams, 3 shimmers and two glitter toppers. Let's start with the creams and make our way through the glitters to end with my personal favorites - the shimmers.
Ooh La Lace is a nude toned pink cream. Like most of the light pinks in the IBD range, this one needs three coats to be opaque.
Bardot Indigo is a gorgeous deep blue cream with violet undertones. I'm not sure my photos captured the violet quite right. It looks accurate on my screen, but the subtle differences between monitors could throw off the tone. I felt this one needed three coats to completely hide my vnl, but two coats were close enough that no one would notice other than me.
R U Sur-Real? is a medium-dark grey cream with slight purple undertones. I would actually consider this a gunmetal grey. The formula on this one is a bit of a miss for me. It seems a bit thin even after shaking in my Robart Paint Shaker and after three coats it was still a bit streaky. You can't see it as well in the photos, but it is quite obvious to me in person. On the second photo, you can see where there are thin patches near the cuticle. I don't know if this is true of all bottles or just mine.
Moving on to the glitters, Hypnotic Hold is made up of holographic shimmer, black holographic strip glitter, small black strip glitter, and whitish circle glitters. I love that IBD is trying to create indie-esque glitter toppers, but they aren't quite "there" yet in my opinion. Like most of the IBD Just Gel glitter toppers, the base is quite thin and the glitter isn't dense enough. It requires a lot of shaking and leaving the bottle upside down to force the glitters to distribute evenly through the base. I swatched one coat over my bare nails below.
There's one other thing I need to mention about Hypnotic Hold. Those large circle glitters really hide in the bottle. I layered it over Bardot Indigo before swatching it on my bare nails above. Not one circle glitter showed up in this swatch. I was actually really surprised when one random circle popped up on the last nail while creating the bare nail swatch. When I saw it, I started fishing. It took several tries to find a second circle - to the point I was starting to think that first circle was a rouge piece of glitter that ended up in my bottle. After finding a second, I fished and fished and fished to find the other two. Bummer. If they were easier to get out of the bottle, this would be a really cool topper. But as it stands, it's not worth the effort in my opinion to do that much fishing.
Eu-phor-a Kiss is the second glitter topper in this collection. It consists of a clear base with thin red and white strip glitter and thicker pink strip glitter. This is very much a Valentine's Day themed glitter topper in my opinion. Unfortunately, application wasn't great with this one either. While the glitter is much denser in Eu-phor-a Kiss than in Hypnotic Hold, the base is extremely thick. As a result, it is difficult to get a thin enough layer on the nail without pulling all of the glitter off of the nail. Even after fighting to keep it thin, the gel was so thick that I experienced a major heat spike when I cured it. Heat spikes happen from time to time, but this was so strong that I actually had to remove my hand from the lamp. Below is one coat over my bare nail.
I layered Eu-phor-a Kiss over Ooh La Lace to show you how it looks over a base color. I really like the effect of this one and wish it was easier to apply. You can see how thick it appears on the nail in this picture. With that said, I will keep it in my collection, but next time I'll apply it with the sponge technique. (Apply the glitter gel polish to a makeup sponge and use the sponge to apply it to the nail. The glitter ends up on the nail and most of the base soaks into the sponge. This technique does require a bit of cleanup, though.)
Now, let's take a look at my favorites from the collection. Always save the best for last, right? Garter Your Heart is a gorgeous black base that is packed with red micro shimmer. This is a dupe to Gelaze Lubu Heels, but without the major shrinking that is common with Gelaze. I adore this polish! I used it as my base for my final Halloween mani this year. It does require three coats for a rich black finish but applies beautifully.
These next two completely blew my mind. Bella Boudoir is a stunning berry purple shimmer that positively glows from within. Application was a dream and it is easily opaque in two coats. I can see myself wearing this one many times this fall and winter. I mean, look at it! What's not to love?
Bustled Up is Bella Boudoir's brown leaning maroon sister. Or maybe it's more of a maroon toned brown? I'm not really sure how to describe it, but the internal glow is breath taking. Application was a dream with this one as well. She's opaque in two easy coats. I could go on and on and on, but I think I'll let the photo speak for themselves. ;)
So there you have it - the IBD Just Gel Neo Romantique Collection. Two nice creams, one meh cream, two glitters that leave a bit to be desired in terms of formula, and three incredibly stunning shimmers. I guess 5 out of 8 isn't too bad? What do you think? Are there any shades in this collection that are screaming your name?
~Michelle
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Love the last two-Bastled up & Bella Boudoir,exactly what I was looking for,will add them to my collection.Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThose shimmers are incredible and I love that blue cream. Thanks for swatching these! I love IBD.
ReplyDeleteI managed to restrain myself until you swatched these, but now I've got the shimmers and the blue on the way. I'm still debating the pink. Thanks for the lowdown on the glitters. It reminded me I had been wanting to get Thistle My Whistle, also thanks to you. :)
ReplyDeleteI love Garter Your Heart but since I have too many polishes for an at home DIY'er I layered Gelish Good Gossip over black and got a similar effect for anyone trying to save money. :)
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