Review: Duri Fall 2011 shades and Krakls

A few weeks ago I posted about the new Fall 2011 collection from Duri called Wine Tasting Party, and today I'd like to show you a few shades from this collection, and also a few of their Krakl polishes:

Pinot Noir, Grape Swirl, Krakl Black Widow and Krakl Queen of Hearts

(polish retail: $5 each; Krakl retail: $9 each, 0.5 oz)

I want to apologize for showing you these swatches on a nail wheel--I always swatch my polishes on my fingers, but when I was testing these products I had an unfortunate cuticle mishap so, to spare you, I decided to use the wheel.

Duri Pinot Noir (left), Grape Swirl (right)

Both colors above just scream "fall" to me. Pinot Noir is a bit darker in person, but the shade you see above is pretty accurate. The swatch of Grape Swirl is extremely accurate (on my monitor, at least) and both shades took two coats for what you see above. 

Now I'd like to show you what the two Krakl polishes I received look like when layered over Pinot Noir and Grape Swirl:

 Left: Black Widow over Pinot Noir

Right: Queen of Hearts over Grape Swirl

As with other crackle/shatter polishes I own, the base color you choose really plays a role in how well the crackle polish is going to show up. The red Krakl, Queen of Hearts, is a bright red when swatched over lighter shades, but on top of Grape Swirl it really becomes more of a blood-red shade.

To give you an idea of what Queen of Hearts looks like over a lighter shade, I swatched it over a bright orange polish:

As you can see, the red now looks just like it does in the bottle--a true, bright, primary-color red.

Now I'd like to show you a few fun things I did with these Krakls:

For the above look, I quickly painted a "nail" with one coat of Grape Swirl, and then after it dried, I ran a diagonal brush stroke of Pinot Noir across the nail. After that dried, I applied the Krakl in Black Widow.

And here's a couple of looks I did using the Krakl in Black Widow to do a free-hand French tip (left) and half-moon (right):

(please excuse the black polish on the lower right side of the red nail)

For the nail on the left, I used two coats of Pinot Noir and then applied Black Widow to the tip. For the look on the right, I used two coats of Grape Swirl and then applied Black Widow to the moon area.

If you're new to Duri, their brushes are flat, but not too wide (not nearly as wide as a Sally Hansen Insta Dri brush). I find the formula of Pinot Noir and Grape Swirl to be smooth and easy to apply (not too thin, but not too thick either). As for the Krakls, they're like several other crackles polishes I own--they tend to thicken up a bit after you've painted your first few nails. When they start to thicken up after exposure to the air, my trick is to replace the cap, give the bottle a good shake and they seem to be easier to work with after that. Other than that issue, I found the Krakls nice to work with in terms of how easily I could achieve a good crackle pattern. I got about four days of wear (using Milani base and top coats) from both colors before I started to see some minor chipping.

You can purchase Duri polishes here, and also on various nail supply websites on the web.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.