Sinful Colors Coco Diamond and Velvet Diamond (... and a rant)

I've had a really stressful week at work, so I haven't made this my top priority - sorry about that.  I had to let my staff know this week that they are losing the titles that they have worked so hard to get, yet they are still expected to do all the work that came with those shiny titles.  I met with every superior I could to explain why this is bad for morale and will not benefit the company as much as they think it will, but no one was willing to listen to what this lowly manager had to say.  They required that not only I tell my staff, but that I do it with a smile on my face and explain to them the benefits of it... which are none.  I did it, but my own way... honestly.  No fake smiles, no telling them that it all is for the good, nothing like that.  I tried not to be too negative, but I'm pretty close with my staff and they would know I was lying if I walked in and explained the new direction our company is headed in, all with a big grin and happy voice.  I have known about this for a few weeks, but was forbidden to talk to my staff until the appointed day, and of course one of the people affected by it was out sick, so it drug on all week.  Now that those people all know, I am giving them a week to let it process and decide how they want to move forward, and then I will talk to the entire department and explain to them what is going on.  UGH.  The worst part is that my company is notorious for not giving explanations when they make big changes like this, so I really can't tell anyone why it is happening.  I was told it was "phase one" of a process in which we are changing our focus from service to sales, but no one could tell me what the last phase was or when they are predicting we will get there... as usual.  If they don't really know where they are going, why is it so important to start phase one now?  Doesn't it make sense to wait until they have everything planned out, then start?  Am I the only one who sees this?!?!?

Anyway... no one is here to hear about my life, just to see some pics of nails.  Usually Sunday is my swatching day, but the sun isn't out very much, so I'm not getting a chance to do much.  After the stress of last week, I am happy to say I am on vacation for most of this week, so hopefully I can get out and swatch a little more... I have a TON of new things I want to show you!!  :D

Today I'm going to combine a few colors together, since you had to read my entire rant above.  They are similar enough that they should go together anyway... so here we go!

Sinful Colors has a small collection of "Diamond" colors - I have Coco, Velvet, Purple and Rose.  Today I'm going to show Coco and Velvet.  I had tried to find pics before I bought, but no such luck.  I wish I had... these aren't for me.

Coco Diamond is probably my favorite of all the Diamonds, it doesn't look too terrible against my skintone.  In the bottle, it seems a taupe-ish pink, but once on the nail, it became a nice neutral pink with TONS of sparkly shimmer.  In the sun it flashes almost every color - not holographic, but kinda iridescent.

And here is Velvet Diamond.  In the bottle, it's a swirl of medium pink and a darker purpley pink, along with the same sparkly shimmer as Coco Diamond.  It's a cheerful light pink that looks girlish, but fun.

The colors are nice and even though I'm not one for pinks, I like them.  Here's the kicker though - this is SEVEN... yes SEVEN coats of each.  Still lots of VNL.  Impossible to dry, as you can see by the horrid-ness of my pinky and ring finger in the Velvet Diamond shot.  This was after 2 coats of quick-dry top coat and 30 minutes and they still smudged at the slightest touch.

I'm not one to give up though, so I decided to layer these over a darker color - less coats and I still will get that beautiful sparkly shimmer!  Here they are (plus an extra!) over black.

As you can see, Coco Diamond is more opaque than Velvet Diamond, but color-wise, they look about the same.  I threw in NYC Love Letters because it is a pretty similar polish, and honestly, it looks the best layered.

I tried wearing these over an off white (NYC Little Italy), but it only made it look worse.  I couldn't stomach taking pictures, let alone posting them here for others to see.  I'm wondering if I had a ridge filler or something that was the color of my nails if it would help cut down on the number of coats needed to get any color... I'll have to find one and try that sometime.

My thought on these is that if you like really sheer colors and don't mind VNL, you might love these.  The shimmer in all the Diamonds is really beautiful, but I just can't handle non-nude sheers.  If you're into pinks, you could easily put a layer of these on top and get the best of both worlds...but I don't really do pinks either.  If I could figure out a good way to wear Coco Diamond, I would do it - it would be great for work.  Until I do, this is going into the bottom drawer of my melmer with all my "to swap" items.

Coco Diamond and Velvet Diamond retail for $2.00 each and are both widely available.

Number of coats: 7

Basecoat: Instant Artificials

Topcoat: Revlon Extra Life + Seche Vite