Wednesday 9 April 2014

Comparison: KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination and Ozotic 504

I intercept my spring picks to post this comparison - there were no less than three reasons that triggered this post:
  • I bought this super matte (and super dry) lipstick by MAC from its LE Proenza Schouler Collection. The case of the lipstick is insanely multichrome and triggered vague memories of an untried KBShimmer Multichrome.


  • One of my favorite Blogs - Will Paint Nails For Food link here - started a great initiative last weekend, the nail talk. The first topic was Multi Chromes. I think this is a great initiative and I really enjoyed following all the comments and views (O-M-G - nailpolish talk on Forum level, I cannot believe this) and it brought me to ogle my bottles again.
  • I had planned to post a comparison between KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination and Ozotic 504 like at least for eons.
So if you look at the two of them in the bottles you literally could think it is the same soup filled into different bottles. But let's not jump at conclusions half way through this post, righty?


Those of you who read my Blog regularly might have come across the one or the other rambling of mine about NOT layering multi- or duochromes over black but trying different roads. For this comparison I decided to layer both of the contestents over Opi Eurso Euro, a true blurple cream released in last year's spring collection. I applied one medium thick coat of Opi Eurso Euro on all nails and applied two thin coats of KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination on my ring and index.


I thought you might want to see what the base looks when not only put under but also  put next to the Multi Chrome (which would be KBShimmer Pigment my Imaginaton in this picture). I find it sort of creates a nice "fond" of a component of Pigment my Imagination to provide a saturated though not overly prominent canvas for the multichromes to play on.



under water

And here you see them now nail next to nail - pinkie and middle: Ozotic 504, ring and index: KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination. I applied two coats of both Pigment My Imagination and Ozotic 504 over Opi Eurso Euro.
 
Formula and application wise I have to admit I prefer KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination. It is not as runny and thin, not as prone to brushstrokes (and the Ozotic 504 is already pretty good at this), is more pigmented and has those pigments finer milled. Dry time is remarkably quicker with the KBShimmer.

(Lenghty) Final thoughts: Let's get this out of the way pronto - to any untrained and many polish-educated eyes KBShimmer Pigment my Imangination and Ozotic 504 look identical. Frankly, I had to nearly heft my eyeball to my nails to observe minor differences (like the finer milled pigments). I even did the ultimate test and walked the planet with the above shown "mani" - not a single soul had the faintest idea, that I am wearing different nailpolishes (I described the miniscule differences I observed in the paragraph above). Bright side: Ozotic 504 will disappear from the surface of earth anytime soon or has already disappeared along with the whole brand (there is certainly more than one Ozotic polish that will be remembered wagging our heads knowingly) Rescue for multi chromes is near, for example KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination is not an exact but even better replica of the original. The finely milled pigments that give it such a unique consistency and the quick drying time are strong arguments to get over any feel of loss sooner than later. Down side: I spent some bucks on something I already owned instead of looking for something more unique.

Note: I know that there are at least two more comparable multi chromes out there - one by ILNP - Cygnus Loop from what I can judge seeing pictures - the other being Dance Legend (probably No 93 Celia) - I own none of them as there is a limit as to how many identical polishes I want to hoard.

Overall: I do miss versatility in multichromes - they always seem to range in the same purple/blue/green area with rare flares into brownish bases like for example Picture Polish Solar or Dance Legend Boo or the even pink leaning Dance Legend Boo. But save us from more Peridot dupes - PLEASE!!! What I could envision would be something with a garnet base, shifting to anything plum/purple or even dark purple for example?

I cannot remember where I got Ozotic 504 from (this soon will be a futile information anyhow). I ordered KBShimmer Pigment my Imagination with Harlow & Co.

What are your thoughts about multi chromes?

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for stopping by!!!
Christine <3



4 comments:

  1. What an excellent post -- I appreciate it on so many levels! Thanks for directing us to the Will Paint Nails for Food Nail Talk post, which I agree is a FANTASTIC idea. I don't have enough experience with multichromes to comment about owning dupes, but I do find the multiple multichrome offerings of so many indie polish makers bewildering. Then again, I feel the same about holo polishes. How to choose? That said, we are the consumers here and the choices are there for us to make. And I imagine that if I were making polishes, I'd want to try my hand at whatever innovative thing comes down the pike next. But it's posts like yours that help so much with regard to spending our money wisely, well done and thank you!

    I hear you re the Peridot dupes, and raise you the murky grey to purple to green OPI Peace and Love/Essie For the Twill of It dupes! Or are they the same thing? ;->

    Regarding your vision for a garnet based multichrome with shifts to plum/purple, may I suggest a CrowsToes offering? Hellhound has a translucent deep ruby burgundy base filled with color shifting glass fleck shimmer that changes from bright berry red to orange to gold depending upon the angle of light. Fantastic polish! It isn't specifically an answer to your prayer but I was reminded of it when I read what you wrote.

    Another similar multichrome to the KBShimmer and Ozotic you feature here is CrowsToes Indian Summer. It has a deep royal purple jelly base color with shifts through the sunset color spectrum -- violet, magenta, berry, scarlet, flame, blood orange etc.

    Not to overwhelm with this plethora of comments but I did also want to add that I totally agree with you about layering duo and multichromes over colors analagous to those in the shift palette. I love layering polishes for one of the same reasons you do, I think, that being the creativity this permits us the end users to use to contribute to the overall look and use of a polish. I had a lot of fun doing this with some of the older multichromes among us, the Scherer Chameleon series (RIP).

    Ok I'll stop now, sorry for the length of this comment (quote/unquote), I rarely go on like this when commmenting on posts but yours was unexpectedly inspirational. Thanks again!

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    1. Dear Liz, thank you so much for your comment, I enjoyed each and every bit of it and am so flattered you took the time to share your thoughts here!!! I agree on so many levels with you and am truly grateful to be reminded of those Crows - Indian Summer is one of my alltime favorites and Hellhound still sits in my untrieds (I AM ashamed of this!!) i feel the same about holos, to be honest, this post could do a plain copy/paste with quite some of them. It seems we end up with Indies like with the biggies: a preference of a certain brand or formula will guide our decisions. And OMG those pale Opi and Essie multichromes give me the worst corpse hands EVER, not to mention the level of boredom they ignite, I totally forgot about them :-S The Scherer's were released before I rejoined the polish galaxy and when I started collecting again there was only some beautiful pictures and longing posts left.... So I think I ended up with an equally long reply, you got me talking here my dear ;-)!!!!! Thanks again <3

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  2. I love multichromes but I think I want to skip the dupes :D But then who won't!

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    1. Hi Ina - indeed, dupe territory is a red zone, right? Oh well, at least this comparison was possible. Thank you hon xxx

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