KOTD: Maybelline Majestic Mauve w/ ChG Passion

In my organizer, I keep my OPIs and Misas in the first drawer, my ChGs, Zoyas, and CCs in the second drawer, and everything else is on the bottom. As that drawer is on the floor, it's never properly organized, but more that that... I never use the polishes in that drawer, and that's where I keep my Essies, Maybellines, Orlys, Duris, Lippmanns, etc... . There's some good stuff in that drawer, but I always end up stopping at the OPI or ChG drawer in my search for a polish.

So, last night, I made a concerted effort to use a polish from my forgotten drawer. I decided to use Maybelline Wet Shine Diamonds in Majestic Mauve. I topped it w/ a konad in ChG Passion. Plate is m64 (again... yes, I know I use the heck out of that plate, but this is my first time using the abstract lines design). Here's a pic:



First of all, it needs to be mentioned that Majestic Mauve is definitely NOT mauve. The majestic part, I get, but someone at Maybelline was smoking crack to call this mauve. It's more in the wine/burgundy/merlot family. It's loaded with tons of gold and burgundy shimmer. I know it's been compared to the much-sought-after OPI La Boheme. Though, I'm pretty sure La Boheme is a duochrome and there's no duochromeyness at all in MM. But, the color itself is very similar. If you are interested, here's a post on the NB by ohgracie comparing La Boheme to MM.

I think this is a gorgeous fall color. However, it was a bit of a problem child. I had more dings with this polish than I have with almost any other polish, Zoyas excluded. This was 2 coats, though some nails needed another thin coat to be opaque, so more like 2-ish coats. I finally got an even finish with the help of Orly Smudge Fixer, but it was a battle all evening.

This color is kind of rare if you are interested. There is one on eBay right now for around $9 shipped, which I think is a little overpriced for this color. I got mine at the Dollar Tree earlier this year. If you are trying to find this in an effort to squash a La Boheme lemming, my advice is to just go ahead and pick up La Boheme. It looks far more interesting, and it's going for about $15-20 on eBay. Personally, I don't own La Boheme, and it's not a huge lemming of mine, so I'll stick with MM, as it was dirt cheap. Though, now that I've looked at pics of La Boheme on NailGal, maybe I do want it. LOL. :P

As for the konad, you all know how I feel about the Romantiques collection in general, and Passion is no exception. I rarely have mishaps with these polishes. They are just great for the konad. They are like peanut butter and chocolate. Perfect together. I did have some issues with the polish leaving "shadows" on the stamper (and you can see them on my nails), but that was user error, rather than a problem with the polish.

And as I was sitting here typing this, I decided to slap on a coat of Orly Matte Top.

In general, I love Matte Top. I know Essie MAY and ChG's matte TC (can't remember the name right now), get tons of press/reviews, but I love Matte Top. It's great for the money and it's a ginormous bottle. It was $4.50 for .60 oz on VNS. However, I'm not sure if I love it over this color. I had the same issues with it being soft and dentable after I put on the matte top coat, as I did when I initially applied it. And it's still dentable a few hours later. Boo. I prefer it shiny. LOL.