Good Morning! Happy Friday! Today I have for you guys the entire Color Club Alter Ego Collection, so this post is a bit picture heavy! I picked these up at Ross, they actually had both sets which is somewhat of a miracle. Usually my Ross sucks about getting stuff like this, or they get it and it's all mixed up and in the wrong containers. I once found a Glitter Vixen set full of Kleancolor polishes lol.
I was REALLY excited for this collection, the promo images were to die for. Now that I actually have them...meh. That's pretty much my overall feeling for it, there are a couple great colors but the formula is not great on most of these polishes.
I've decided to start out with the better half of this collection, the Keep It Under Cover set. This is the one with the exciting colors!
First up is the collection namesake, Alter Ego. Alter Ego is a glittery foil packed with gold, purple and little bits of blue micro glitter. Reminds me of Sally Hansen Purple Gala, I think it's a bit different but close enough that if you already had Purple Gala you could pass on this. This was one of the better formulated polishes, I used 2 coats for the pictures below.
Next up, the best one of the entire collection in my opinion, Alias. Alias isn't much to talk about in the sun, a dark shimmery purple polish. But in the shade Alias transforms into my personal favorite kind of polish...a duochrome! It's flashes a bunch of fab colors, gold, green, pink, purple etc... The shade pictures below look incredible if you click on them...the little versions don't do justice to how great it looks. My only gripe, formula sucked. I used 1 regular coat and 2 ridiculously thick ones to reach full opacity. Using normal or thin coats I'm guessing this would have been a 4 or 5 coater...no bueno. The color payoff IMO is worth it though. Next time I will layer it over black.
Masquerading is a weird one, a blue/grey almost frosty metallic. Weird finish, I do like the color but it was a little tricky to apply. It dried quick, like matte polish quick. I used 2 coats for full opacity.
Secret Agent is a really vibrant blue toned purple. The finish is similar to Masquerading but this one didn't dry as fast so it was a lot easier to work with! The formula was ok, not great but not bad. I used 2 coats for the picture below.
Total Mystery is another favorite, it's a bright blue with pink and purple micro glitter! Love it! It did dry matte so a top coat is a good thing unless you like the matte look. The formula again was just ok. I used 3 coats for the picture below.
Ulterior Motive is the sister of Total Mystery up above, basically the same thing except it's a bright fuschia pink with blue and purple micro glitter. Very much the same formula wise. I used 3 coats for the picture below.
Alright, now onto the bad half of this collection, this half is called Reveal Your Mystery. Would you believe I almost stopped half way through swatching these because the formula was SO bad that I was dreading posting them. I actually really don't like saying "this sucks" but well, most of these ones have crappy formulas. I love Color Club so it makes me sad to say negative things about them.
Get A Clue is a light baby pink polish, pretty color. I looked through my stash and couldn't find a dupe but I don't own much pink like this. The formula was awful, thick yet thin and somehow streaky. I didn't even know something like that could happen all in one polish. Below is 3 streaky coats and 1 thick coat to even out the streakfest of Get A Clue.
Give Me A Hint is a purpley taupe. I've seen it a million times. I've got probably 5 others that look exactly the same like China Glaze Below Deck or Essie Merino Cool. The formula was actually the only good-ish one in this set, it was thin but didn't require as much work as the others. I used 3 coats of Give Me A Hint for the photo below.
Incognito is a light beige nude color...almost mannequin hands on me. I actually really really love this color. However, the formula...it stinks. Awful. I used 4 coats of Incognito for the photo below. After the first coat I really did not think this would even build up to what it did...I literally saw NO color on my nail. It's really too bad about the formula because like I said, I love the color.
Next up is Revealed a pinky peach with pink shimmer. Now this is one that I thought I would love after the couple of swatches I'd seen. But it pulls very pink on me, and not a good kind of pink that I like. The shimmer also wasn't as BAM as I was expecting it to be, color me disappointed. The formula again, not great...2 streaky coats and 1 grossly thick one to achieve full un-streaky opacity.
Secret Rendezvous is a light lilac polish, not terribly unique. I do like the color, but I'm a big purple fangirl so that's not a surprise! The formula was ok, one of the better ones in the set. I used 3 coats for the picture below.
Last up is Sheer Disguise, a light grey/blue. Love the color, not loving the formula...again. Another streaky one. It wasn't as bad as some of the others though. I used 3 coats for the picture below.
Overall, the Alter Ego Collection is just ok. If you like duochromes Alias is a must have..the rest I could probably do without. I'm pretty disappointed with the formula on these, I've never had this many issues with Color Club polishes. You can pick these up on VictoriasNailSupply.com and they should be up on Transdesign soon...or check out your local Ross!
