Darling Diva Monocerus

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 In today's episode of "stuff that's been laying around untried for a really long time" we have the "unicorn pee" polish Monocerus from Darling Diva.

indoor, bright CF lighting

Monocerus was a mystery batch from 2016 that was sold in limited quantities (a single batch as far as I can tell) along with a collection of other polishes containing the infamous Clarins 230 shifty pigment that we all know and love.  

outdoor, bright direct sunlight

I have this polish filed as a "berry wine" shade, which this most certainly is... though I'll swear the few other swatches I've seen of it at the time of its release were a darker purple.  I'm convinced it's faded a bit, but my fingernails match my original swatch stick, so I may be way off on that.

outdoor, shady daylight

In any case, the color we have here is a bright magenta-berry that's very feminine and plenty sparkly, and is actually "traditional" enough to be office-appropriate for most folks.

indoor, bright CF lighting

The jelly formula was smooth and easy to apply, sheer enough to let this shimmer shine through, so I'm showing 3 coats here.  

outdoor, angled sunlight

In direct sunlight, the bronzed gold of the unicorn shimmer is clearly evident, and this polish is always sparkly in any lighting - a generous dusting of extremely tiny holo glitters helps catch any available light.  At angles, I could see a hint of the emerald flash (above), but it wasn't POW in your face.  Most of the polishes of this type really try to amp the effect of this pigment, but Monocerus uses it as a more restrained addition to the mix.

outdoor, shady daylight

This applied smoothly and wore well, with the nice brush that Darling Diva has used all along. 

indoor, CF lighting

Rating:  a sparkly and sweet 4 out of 5 stars.  I like my 230 polishes with more oomph, but there's a whole lot of love from the smooth formula to the good wear time... and this berry shade is very flattering on my skintone. 

Where to buy:  this was LE from quite a while ago, so blog sales & destashes are your best bet. 

~Michelle 

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