Barielle Elle's Spell

Remember my love affair with OPI Merry Midnight?  Boy, was that a gorgeous polish!  I loved it so much that I immediately decided I needed more flakie polishes in my life.  I already had Sally Hansen's wildly popular Hidden Treasure, but that's really more of a layering flakie, so I was really after one with a colored base that could be worn by itself.  Enter Barielle Elle's Spell.

I passed on Elle's Spell when it was first released with Barielle's Holiday Hustle collection from this past winter, but the photos on MUA were just to die for so I arranged a swap to get one for myself.  You may still be able to find this on clearance for dirt cheap at your local Ulta.  Elle's Spell (This sounds like more of a Halloween name to me...am I missing something?) is a cherry red jelly polish with red flakies that also show gold, orange, and green tones.  It took three coats to get full coverage, but the application was a dream!  Seriously, this was probably the easiest-to-apply polish I've ever worn.  The polish stayed right where I put it and I could get a really nice clean line.

I apologize in advance, because it was REALLY hard to capture all that was going on with this polish.  I feel like you need a ton of pictures to see everything, and even then it's not enough.  For the life of me, I couldn't get my camera to pick up on the green flashes the flakies will do at an angle.  Those of you who own Elle's Spell know exactly what I'm talking about!  But anyway, on to the pictures!  And definitely click to enlarge these!  :-)

(Holy cow, red polish makes my hands look so pale in pictures!)  Isn't it pretty?  The flakies are subtle, but add such depth to the polish.  This is why three coats is worth it!  Oooh...ahhhh!  

A few days later I wanted to spice it up a little.  Everyone on MUA raves about mattifying flakie polishes, Elle's Spell in particular.  One coat of Essie Matte About You top coat later, and here's the result:

Um.  Ew.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love how the matte look really shows off the flakes and makes them look kind of "frozen," but it took that gorgeous cherry red and turned it to ruddy nastiness.  I was baffled - I've seen this EXACT look on other girls look amazing!  It just didn't flatter my skin at all.  I'll still give matte flakies another shot, but not with Elle's Spell!

On a side note, Elle's Spell has been mentioned as being a good substitute for Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, as long as you wear it over a dark color.  Since I now own both, I thought I'd compare the two over black just to see for myself.  This is one coat of each over one coat of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme:

(L) Elle's Spell, (R) Hidden Treasure

The flakes in Elle's Spell aren't quite as big or as dense as the flakes in Hidden Treasure.  They're also definitely a little more red-leaning and don't show that green flash as easily (you can totally see it on the right edge with Hidden Treasure, but only just barely on the left with Elle's Spell).  Definitely not exact dupes, but I'd say it might satisfy your lemming for Hidden Treasure, if you don't own it.

Bottom line?  I need more flakies!!!  :-D