CND has really nice, opaque creme-finish polishes, and I’m also a fan of the effects polishes, which I often use to change the feel of a manicure I’ve already worn for a day or two.  So I always want to try out the special, limited edition colors they do each season.  For Spring 2011, CND has released a peachy-nude polish called Perfectly Bare, with a corresponding effect called Perfectly Bare Shimmer.

The packaging for these special edition sets is fun because it gives a sense of the look that the polish is meant to create, and uses a picture from one of the runway shows in which the polish was used.  For Spring 2011, the color story is nude, delicate, flesh tones.  I was excited to try Perfectly Bare, because the coming spring weather has touched off a quest to find my perfect skin-colored mannequin hands shade.

Perfectly Bare is really peachy.  It applies beautifully, creamy and with no streaks.  It’s opaque in two quick and easy coats.  On the nail, it’s very peach-colored.  I was disappointed because in the bottle it looks so close to my skin color, but when I paint it on it’s too aggressively peach.  It kind of reminded me of Barbie finger color, or Playdoh, or something–on me it ends up looking plastic-y or artificial.  So although I had high hopes, I don’t like this color very much on me.  It makes my fingers look a little red.  It was hard to photograph and I couldn’t even really capture the over-peach in my pictures.  I think I’ll probably still wear it a few times, but it isn’t my ideal color.

In real life, it looks more pinkish-peach than in my picture.  For some reason, my camera won’t even photograph the color.  In the shade, my pictures ended up very cool toned:

Perfectly Bare Shimmer is different from the other “Shimmer” effects that I’ve tried, because it does have some chunky silver glitter mixed in with the fine shimmer.  It’s a pearly, light pink shimmer, and doesn’t alter Perfectly Bare very much. Maybe with other colors it would be more noticeable.  It adds a little bit of nice texture.

So my quest for mannequin hands continues.  I think I need a color that is more brown and pink rather than being so peach.  But, for someone with a different skin tone, this could be a great option.  This set is available now on Transdesign.com.