Lecenté Chrome – The Second Collection

It’s been months since Lecenté brought us their first Chrome Collection, Lecenté enthusiasts all over the world have been creating some of the most beautiful nails I have ever seen with these gorgeous products. I personally created several of the nail shots that were used showcase that first collection at launch, it was a proud moment, and pushed me to improve my photography and nail skills up to a higher level.

That first collection inspired me to come up with some of the most fabulous nail styles I think I’ve ever done in my puff! I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to get my hands on this new collection launching on the 25th of February.

In this blog I will take each product one by one, put it through it’s paces and report back with my thoughts on the product, pictures of what I’ve been working on, comparison shots, and hints & tips fro my own experience for getting the most out of this new collection.

Lecenté Bronze Chrome

This is the first of the 4 new Lecenté Chromes I really fell for. It lives up to all expectations from it’s name and the gorgeous rich, warm metallic bronze colour of the powder in the pot. As with all Lecenté Chromes and indeed all glitters and pigment, you have to try it over a range of background colours to truly understand the potential, or indeed the boundaries, of a new product.

It’s likely when you try different combos that you will create some that you don’t like, as well as many you and your client’s will absolutly love, but don’t let less than gorgeous combos put you off experimenting.

That being said, I’m going to disprove my own theory in this case. Every single combination I have tried so far with Lecenté Bronze Chrome, is a stone cold stunner, seriously!  I really love it over blues and purples, the result is much less bronze and more pewter. Over Blue Eyeshadow we’ve got the most amazing metallic goth pewter chrome I’ve ever seen on a nail. Very sophisticated, ideal for an opulent-dominatrix fashion sensibility.

My all time favourite technique remains the ‘stamp FIRST, chrome after’ method. So fast, foolproof and with a sleek, non-chubby end result. Here I began with two cured layers of Shellac Red Baroness, then a thin coat of Lecenté Layer It!, I stamped with Creative Play Black + Forth using the YOURS Queen of Hearts stamping plate, and at that point applied the Lecenté Bronze Chrome Powder before finishing with Shellac XPRESS5™ Top Coat. The trick with this technique is that because the Creative Play which has been stamped onto the Layer It is DRY, the Chrome Powder won’t stay stuck to it. So as you rub the powder in with a sponge to ‘chrome it up’ it comes away completely from the polish that was stamped on. Sooooo much easier, faster and slimmer than doing the chrome first, top coating, THEN stamping then having to stamp again. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

And here is Shellac Blue Eye Shadow with Lecenté Bronze Chrome and a little hand painted detail using the Lecenté S1 Brush and Creative Play Black + Forth.

Next up…

Lecenté Rose Gold Chrome

Holy moly, this guy is the business! Again I am going to contradict what I said earlier and tell you it’s amazing over everything. While I felt quite confident predicting the outcomes of the combinations I tried with Bronze Chrome, this Rose Gold Chrome is full of surprises.

The Rose Gold Chrome powder is, as one might expect, extremely warm, however, there is a cool pink flash within it that only comes to light over base colours that cancel out the warm/neutral tones. In the picture above, Blue Rapture is a great example of this. I also fully adore Rose Gold Chrome over greens such as the new Palm Deco from the CND™ Rhythm & Heat Collection.

I don’t even know how to describe this colour succinctly. It’s like a tarnished robotic lavender minky mauve? Haha!

“Yes Mrs Jones you’ll love it, it’s a kind of tarnished robotic lavender minky mauve colour.”

Mrs Jones is like, ‘ehhh?’

For those of us looking for chrome candy heaven, this combo of Shellac Pink Leggings and Rose Gold Chrome is just the job.

And speaking of chrome candy heaven…

Lecenté Pink Chameleon Chrome

Do not be fooled, this is not some pretty pink powder to sling over everything to make other colours look pink. That would be of little to no use for us, we already have more pinks in our Shellac colour range than any other colour, we can easily and abundantly create the most amazing pink chrome nails using those pink Shellac colours in combination with the Lecenté Rainbow Chrome and now the Rose Gold Chrome. So what is Pink Chameleon Chrome really all about if not to pinkify other colours?

This Chrome powder truly is a chameleon! I wanted to say after my first few pops, that ‘Pink Chameleon gives a cool metallic blue chrome effect to it’s base colour’, BUT, then I put it over colours like Wisteria Haze and Winter Glow and found that it warms them up, gives a soft lilac a more minky/nude neutrality.

With both the Chameleon Chromes you will fine they look best once Shellac Top Coat has been applied. I mention this because that’s a bit different to all the other other chromes. The rest look outstanding the second they are rubbed on to the cured Lecenté Layer It! coat, but these two chameleons need their Top Coat to make it to their full potential.

In the image above I haven’t used Lecenté Layer It. After stamping with Creative Play Black + Forth onto the cured Oxblood Shellac colour layer, I applied Pink Chameleon Chrome directly to the Shellac top film, just as we would do with a glitter or a CND™ Additive. I absolutly adore the results with both Chameleon Chromes ‘chromed up’ over Lecenté Layer It, but I also love applying them directly to the cured Shellac colour layer, both techniques give beautiful results.

This chrome surprised me again when I applied it over Shellac Denim Patch. We got a kind of smokey, dusky, soft green chrome. I love it teamed with some stamping using the :YOURS loves Fee stamping plate Angular Fade and Creative Play Lets Go Antiquing. 

Lecenté Green Chameleon Chrome

It’s no secret that I love green, but green nail colour is definitely not the first choice of most real life nail clients. So how useful is this powder going to actually be? Well, take a look..

The results looked so different and interesting in alternative lights, here are the same pops in a warmer light.

I’m amazed at how beautifully Green Chameleon Chrome warms up cool light colours such as Shellac Silver Chrome or Beckoning Begonia. It gives a crisp champagne colour to Silver Chrome and a gorgeous soft gold powder pink to Beckoning Begonia. I think neither picture is accurately capturing how amazing Green Chameleon looks over Aqua-aintance; it’s like a simmering iced lagoon surface, and it would be my new favourite, if it weren’t for THIS…

Here, both Pink Chameleon and Green Chameleon were used, ombré faded together over Shellac Black Pool. I didn’t use Lecenté Layer It here, instead I applied the powders directly to the top film of the cured Shellac colour layer with the world famous Lecenté G1 Brush, this gives a more sparkly, colour rich appearance, as opposed to the crisp, metallic, chrome-effect sheen. I like to use both application methods, and it is Lecenté Layer It that gives us that versatility. 

The nail above is a further example of Green Chameleon Chrome used directly on the top film of the cured Shellac colour layer. The fade gives a subtle warm to cool ombré which looks great teamed with this elegant stamping design. My client was keen to wear green on her nails today, so we went for the new Palm Deco, but this look would be amazing with other Shellac colours too. I’m excited to try it with Wisteria Haze, Cityscape, Rock Royalty and Tropix! Here was my method for this nail:

• File finish CND Liquid & Powder Nail Enhancement to a 240 grit finish and thoroughly ScrubFresh.
• Apply and cure 2 layers of Shellac Palm Deco, each using the 2S setting in the CND LED Lamp.
• Stamp with Creative Play Black + Forth using the Angular Fade stamping plate from the :YOURS Loves Fee Urban Collection, directly on to the top film of the cured Shellac colour layer.
• Using the Lecenté G1 Brush, apply Green Chameleon Chrome along the cuticle line and fade up toward the extension edge.
• Finish with Shellac XPRESS5 Top Coat.

Thank you for checking out the blog! I hope you have found something helpful in here. I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below or over on Facebook.   

All 4 of the powders in this collection are approved for use on the skin which is also pretty cool!

Where to buy Lecenté…? 

In the UK – Sweet Squared

Lecente have official distributors all over the world, including a new distributor in the USA! Find the Lecenté distributor in your country HERE.

Don’t see your country on the list? Buy directly from Lecente.com

This new collection launches at the end of February in the UK, check with your local distributor for the launch date in your country.