Ozotic Explorations

Hello!

Following up on my new-found love of holographic polishes, I decided to look into a couple of Ozotic Mish Mash polishes. These polishes are really cool--supposedly, they are both duochromes and holographics. Since I'm a sucker for both, what could be better?

I decided to try out 531 and 534; as you'll see below, 531 is a reddish-brownish-purplish beauty, and 534 is a blue-purple stunner. Here is a picture of them both, in the light, over Revlon Black Star polish (please enlarge for the full effect):

Left: Ozotic 531 over Revlon Black Star
Right: Ozotic 534 over Revlon Black Star

This polish isn't like other holographics or duochromes, or anything else I've tried before, really. They are sort of like a topcoat in that you need to layer them over something to get the full effect (you can wear them alone, but you get a much lighter version), and that they don't seem to need any other topcoat to make them last (I got about 6 days of wear with no additional topcoat), although they do shine up even a bit more with Seche Vite. However, they are unlike topcoats in that the color you layer them over gets lost under the Ozotic; while there are subtle differences based on what you put below it, they are very, very subtle. In fact, it's really hard to tell what color you had under them at all (not that this is a problem--in fact, it's a good way to get rid of polish you don't like, lol). Here's what I mean...after I did the skittle swatches of my Hunger Games colors the other day for a previous post, I decided to just put 531 over all of them, and see what happened. Here is the result, taken in full outside light:

From right to left:
531 over China Glaze's Luxe and Lush (I didn't expect this to look like anything and almost didn't do it, but I really love how this turned out--see the shade picture below for full effect). This is a clear polish with flakies, so this give you an idea what it would look like without any polish underneath.
531 over CG Smoke and Ashes. This is a black polish.
531 over CG Agro. This is a dark olive green polish.
531 over CG Stone cold. This is a grey matte polish.
Thumb: 531 over CG Branding Iron. This is a dark red polish (you can see the true color at the very base of the cuticle where I didn't overlap well enough).

If you look closely, you can tell small differences, and if you want a uniform manicure, of course this will matter up-close. But not from even a few feet away. And, the cool thing about this is you can take almost any dark-ish manicure that you wear and get another mani out of it by putting some Ozotic on top of it, and get the Ozotic effect.

Here is what they look like in the shade:

I am so in love with this color over Luxe & Lush--it just goes to show you should try things you didn't ever think would work and you'll sometimes get rewarded. Who puts something on top of a flakie? I do, now. Especially since that's only one coat. All of these are only one coat of Ozotic on top of the base color.

I also wanted to try a subtle stamp over this, so I used a Konad plate on the accent finger of my other hand:

Left to right:
534 over Revlon Black Star
531 over Revlon Black Star
531 over China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, stamped with Color Club Worth the Risque
531 over CG Concrete Catwalk
Thumb: 531 over CG Concrete Catwalk

I think the stamping looked very subtle and complimented the color well. The holographic effect certainly wasn't ruined by it.

With respect to the holographic effect of this polish, this is not a strong linear holographic like Nfu Oh 61; it's a scattered holo that gives a more diffused, but still stunning IMO, effect. It has more linearity than a holographic glitter polish.

As for the duochrome aspect of the polish...I have to admit I didn't find it to be a strong duochrome, no matter how many coats I used. It's there if you look for it, but it doesn't jump out at you. But that's okay. I still think these are gorgeous.

Here is the part of the blog post where I tell you that these polishes are pricey unless you can find them through a miraculous eBay catch--otherwise they are about $22 a bottle. There is good news, however: I really couldn't tell the difference between one and two coats of this. So, in terms of ultimate value, it's like you're really paying $11 for a bottle that is about 0.4 fl oz (my guesstimate, the bottle does not say). Still expensive, to be sure. But certainly better than $22.

If anyone would like to see a full mani of 534, let me know and I'll do it. :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

M.