Blue Bells Ring Swatch And Review

     Today, I have Blue Bells Ring (BBR) from China Glaze Holiday Joy collection to show you guys. BBR is a dark blue metallic polish that has a slight chrome finish to it. Before I get to the pictures though I want to warn you. This polish is way darker than it looks in the bottle. The bottle looks like a soft frosty blue but what you get is a dark chrome blue. Oh yeah, and the polish kind of smells gross. It smells like a mechanics shop, or like my father after he has been working on his car, kind of oily, and dirty, and almost WD40-ish. Don't say you haven't been warned.

The deceptive bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor without flash.

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight.

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor without flash. Notice the color discrepancy between bottle and nail. 

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight(ish). The weather is semi-cooperating today.

Close up:

     All pictures are with two coats of BBR and a single layer of top coat. The formula is really thick and can get a little gloppy so some care is required in application. The best color representation is in the indoor without flash picture. Also free warning cleanup on this polish can be a beast. Even the slightest bump of the cotton bud or nail brush with nail polish remover on it will turn this polish from blue to silver. It's almost like someone put a drop or two of blue food coloring in Icicle and one tiny brush with polish remover and the blue is MIA. Which may be fun for an acid wash kinda look to it. Also make sure you buff your nails before you apply this polish. As with all chrome polishes they will amplify any surface flaws in your nails. I can't wait to try this polish with stamping I think it will be pretty awesome for that since it has such a similar formula to Icicle. All the shine and no worry about surface flaw amplification.
 
A warning about cleanup:

This is what my nails looked like after being soaked in 100% Acetone for 2 minutes each. You should have seen them after just polish removal. It was like having blue berries on my fingers.

     This polish sucks to take off. Not that it's hard to remove the polish itself. It's the blue pigment that's so pretty on the nail, that doesn't want to leave you, it turns your nail beds, nails, and fingertips blue. You will need to use lots of polish remover (100% Acetone), buff the nail after removal of the polish, then use a pea sized amount of whitening toothpaste (per hand) and a nail brush to clean your nails afterward to get your normal nail color back.

Luckily after a good buff and a toothpaste scrub they are back to normal.

      Over all I like the color even if it's a pain to clean up/remove, a little extra effort is needed to apply it properly and even if it smells like a mechanic's knuckles; I still think it's worth it. What do you guys think? Do you like it? Have you tried stamping with it yet? If you have let me know with comments. Well, that's all I have for you guys today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO