CND™ Chic Shock Collection – Shellac™ & Vinylux™

Spring is in the air!! Thank goodness, I say. I love winter and winter nail style, but we are are all in need of a big bright breath of fresh air. The Chic Shock Collection from CND™ is so quintessentially SPRING! Vibrant pastels, no shimmer, opaque creme loveliness. Complete candy cool. Sign me up!

This collection sees the first introduction of CND’s new logo and branding. It’s different, it’s undeniably sleek, but what do CND lovers think? The initial response online has been mixed, but’s always the way with new branding. I’ve lived through several branding changes in my time using CND products and I’ve observed this mixed reaction every time. It’s like when your beautiful teenager gets a drastic new haircut, or your favourite band takes their music in a new direction, often the first reaction is to feel shocked, maybe dismayed! But just as people and artists have the right to reinvent themselves, brands and companies have a need to do so. Successful global companies like CND™ have marketing teams made up of some of the smartest, most clued up folks in the industry. In this instance I am happy to put my faith in the decisions made by the people qualified and educated to make them. If I had a whole year to study it, I don’t think I could fully understand and consider all the essential factors that must go in to branding changes like this. Crack on global marketing, I believe in you!

In terms of changes to descriptive wording, don’t be mislead. The Shellac formula has not changed, the product inside the bottle is still the same. To quote the official statement from Sweet Squared, CND’s UK distributor, “this is a branding refresh – nothing more”.

Let’s get down to business, you came here to see real live pictures of these colours, right? I have once again been privileged and honoured to get the opportunity to play with the colours ahead of launch, create some fun fresh nail design ideas, and MOST IMPORTANTLY – photograph those colour comparisons. Knowing how close or different new colours are to existing examples is a big deal! Creating realistic comparisons is something I’m very passionate about. First up…..

Jellied

This colour is so bright and noisy! Do we need another yellow? Well, that depends.. Do we need another glass of wine? Do we need another pair of boots? If you already have a few yellows and don’t use them much, then maybe not. But I feel this yellow is different. It’s cooler, more chalky, and a better fit for my ginger lassie skin tone than any of our existing yellows. Jellied is going to be a great base for neons and foil sticks to it like a dream. The closest we have to Jellied is actually a discontinued colour, Sun Bleached. But they are different. Jellied is cooler and lighter. Honey Darlin’ is orangey compared to this. If you loved Sun Bleached and were sad to see it go, this is a fantastic replacement, nicer, in my opinion, more universally flattering.

I created a simple stamping design with Jellied as a base. It’s spring chicks, painted eggs and Easter bonnets. Onto the cured second layer of Shellac Jellied, I stamped with CND™ Creative Play ‘Oh! Flamingo’ and ‘Amuse-Mint’ using the YOURS: Loves Fee stamping plate Vintage Lace. This look was finished off with Shellac Matte Top Coat.

And seeing as we are all so mad for this technique, here’s a cuff nail, created with Lecente Coral Iridescent Glitter.

 

Gummi

Amazingly opaque even in one thin layer, Shellac Gummi is a cream dream. When I first saw it I thought, aw man, is it going to be just the same as Wisteria Haze? But no, when I got it out the bottle and on a nail it’s clear to see it is miles away – whiter, lighter, sweeter. It’s so very adorable and cute.

This is our first proper pastel purple with enough white in it to give that sweety-baby-lavender. It is as if we mixed classic baby pink and baby blue together. My very favourite thing about this colour is how very opaque it is.

Gummi will be extremely useful for nail design techniques where we need to cover things up but don’t want big thick multiple layers. A great example is the cuff nail that is so flippin’ hot right now.

This nail look was achieved by applying Lecenté Champagne Super Holographic Glitter to one cured layer of Shellac Gummi. I applied the glitter with the Lecenté G1 Brush quite precisely, just to the area of the nail where I wanted the glitter, brushed away excess then applied 1 further layer of Gummi, creating the sharp edge, overlapping the glitter slightly. It covered the glitter like a dream!

Candied

BABY PINK! Always popular this time of year. Candied is again, very opaque with lots of white in it, resulting in a soft pink that really jumps out. We do have colours in the range that are close, no two ways about it, but light pink is such a staple colour. I’ve had loads of clients who would wear nothing but light pinks week in week out the whole year round, and for those lovers of this kind of classic nail shade, it’s awesome to have something new for them to try that still fits with their fashion preference.

I created this ultra-girly square nail style using two layers of Shellac Candied, followed by stamping using the :YOURS Loves Anna Lee stamping plate Butterfly Lace. Such a great plate with valentines day fast approaching. The stamping was done with the :YOURS Halo Stamper and Creative Play Well Red polish. After stamping on the design I applied some Lecenté Goddess Multi-Glitz glitter using the Lecenté G1 Brush, and finished the nail with Original Shellac Top Coat.

 

Taffy

This final colour is the pop-sweet baby spearmint from this collection, Taffy. Hotly anticipated, many of us were most excited about this colour!

Is it green? Is it blue? Well, it depends on the light. Taffy is a pastel turquoise of sorts. Like all the colours in this collection, it’s totally opaque and has no shimmer at all.

I absolutly love it mattified! For this simple but dramatic stamping design I began with two layers of Shellac Taffy, then stamped with Creative Play Polish Navy brat and Steel the Show, using the :YOURS Loves Dee stamping plate Queen of Hearts. The look was completed with Shellac Matte Top Coat.

Check out our 90 minute Facebook LIVE broadcast using these new colours, putting them through their paces and focusing on the cuff nail technique. We did the broadcast the night before the UK launch, it was great fun! Cuff Nails & CND™ Chic Shock Collection – Video

Thanks for checking out the blog! I’ll be on Facebook live on the 23rd of February 2018 putting these colours through their paces, hope you can join us!

 

Where to Buy

To buy CND™ SHELLAC™ & VINYLUX™ in the UK & Ireland visit http://www.sweetsquared.com

For a list of Lecenté distributors world-wide, visit here: http://www.lecente.com/distributors/

Check out CND’s List of international distributors to find a distributor near you.

For :YOURS Stamping products around the world, check out the list of :YOURS international distributors. If you don’t see your country on the list you can buy direct from the :YOURS WEBSHOP, they ship worldwide!