Max Factor Fantasy Fire layered over W7 Purple Paradise

I got my hands on this mini marvel courtesy of a good friend (thanks deborah!) as a birthday present, how nice was that!  I haven't been able to find any near me so she snagged me one and sent me it.  When it arrived I admit, I may have drooled a little bit, it is such a pretty little jewel.  I have been reading a lot about this polish being a fairly good dupe for Clarins legendary 230 polish.  Since I don't have the wonderful 230 to compare it with (unless someone wants to send me a bottle, no, really?!  Shocker!) I will just post my pics and thoughts about the Max Factor polish in its own right.

It is a lovely blue based violet purple base, with amazing micro shimmer which changes colour with the light.  It flashes predominantly from fiery red, to orange, to green.  Turquoise and blue flashes are visible in the bottle but didn't show up on the nail for me, but I don't care, it is one gorgeous little pot of polish!  I didn't want to waste any as it is quite sheer so I went for layering it.  I searched through my stash and plucked W7 Purple Paradise out, it seemed to be the best match for a base, and I think it worked pretty well.  It is a nice polish on its own, but I will visit it again another day for its own post.

The pics are two thin coats of Purple Paradise, then 2 coats of Fantasy Fire, with a shiny top coat.  I kept this mani on for a whole week, I loved it that much!  OK I did add a flakie top coat for the last couple of days, but still, a week!  Thats a long time for me.  So, given that info, yes it wore very well too, went on without issue, and dry time was good.  Nothing left to do but bring on the pics.

China Glaze Prismatics - Liquid Crystal (with topcoat)

Today I wanted to show you what one of those China Glaze Prismatic collection looks like with a shiny top coat, since I have read some comments online that some would like to see that.  It does make the glitter pop a lot more, but it is a hungry glitter and this was two rather generous coats of top coat, one being a standard one, and then a fast dry.  I have also tried to capture the duochrome colour shift a little more, if you look at the bottle shot in the second pic, it looks more purple than the first which pulls more towards blue.  I don't think I need to say anymore about the actual polish, as I also wrote lots in the collection swatches.

Speaking of the collection swatches, I would also like to take this opportunity to say that the swatches I did previously were a little messier than I would have liked, but please bear in mind I usually post and photograph a full mani which I am wearing, and tend not to do a whole collection in a limited time (not many good light days in winter here!)  Plus I am really busy at the moment with my work for dog rescue and have a foster dog in at the moment, so yeah, I don't always have a lot of time!

Also I have heard mention that some are put off because my middle finger nail is a different length to the others (because it got broke sadly!) not to mention a few other comments that were a little rude to be honest.  Well, I aren't going to do squat about it, I am not ready to file all the rest down just for one nail in order to please someone I have never met!  I will say however that it doesn't look as unbalanced in real life size but obviously the pics are close up so amplify everything tenfold!  Besides, at the risk of possibly sounding rude myself, its just not that important in the grand scheme of things is it?

Right then, now thats said and done, on with the pics I came here to post :)  I hope you like them of course and I take all constructive criticism on board, but please remember this is a hobby of mine, I am not a professional, so lets be kind and play nice OK?  Thanks :D