Baroness X has offered monthly mystery boxes for a couple of years now, with a new theme for each year. Mysteries aren't usually my thing (because what if I end up with all pink and orange??), but I've certainly picked up some when a hint gets dropped in the fan group that sparks my interest. The theme for this year is "OGUP/Sister," with a Clarins 230-type polish and a sister shimmer in each box, released every other month. Because I have an abiding love for all of Demi's 230 polishes, I took the plunge and bought the whole year.
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| indoor, CF lighting |
BAM! Right out of the gate, magic. Chromaphilia is a wine-colored base with shifty shimmer, pink to peach to green magnetic shimmer, holo shards, and some little blue iridescent flakes.
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| indoor, bright CF lighting |
Chromaphilia is fairly sheer as magnetics go, probably to let all those shifty sparkles and flakes shine through without being masked. It was suggested to wear in 3 coats solo or as a topper, so I picked the crème closest to the base color in my stash and am showing 1 coat Chromaphilia over 2 coats of Glitter Gal She'll Be Right (above, and the bottle color is true to what ends up on the nail). Chromaphilia warmed up the cool plum of She'll Be Right and covered it thoroughly, but that base color shows through very much at angles and in bright sunlight.
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| window-filtered direct sunlight for both |
I don't feel that the "unicorn pee" is the real star of this particular show, not only because the magnetic shimmer is a larger and more opaque particle, but also because the magnetic shimmer shifts from pink to green itself. I absolutely catch glimpses of that more emerald flash in the bottle and on the edges cleared of magnetic shimmer at angles, but it's more of a voice in the choir than a solo performer.
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| indoor, CF lighting |
And it's most definitely a choir of stuff singing out here. In addition to two different types of shimmer, there's both a light smattering of holo flake and also some blue iridescent flakes. Both of them are very much contributing to the overall look in bright light, and of course take center stage as tiny silver sparks and blue stars in low light.
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| outdoor, shady daylight |
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| window-filtered morning daylight |
As per usual for Baroness X polishes, I had zero issues with the formula or application, and the polish is plenty responsive to a magnet. I used my ring magnet here, resting my finger on the inside of the curve and holding for 60 seconds on both the polish and again on the topcoat, and got fantastically crisp lines. For whatever reason, the lines softened out some by the next day, then a whole lot by 3 days later, hence the difference you see in some of these pics. The lines were always instantly apparent IRL, causing that super cool cat's eye 3D effect that's impossible to truly catch in still photos.
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| window-filtered indirect daylight |
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| indoor, bright CF lighting |
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars, a seriously gorgeous magnetic.
Where to buy: there are no overpours planned for this year's mystery boxes, so if you like these you'll need to haunt destashes to get this first round, or sign up at
the Baroness X store to get the next ones.
~Michelle
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