Duri The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Collection Winter 2011 Swatches and Review

Duri's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo collection. It's described as "Edgy, dark and beautifully disturbing." Sounds like the makings of a good polish collection, right? This is the first time I've ever used a Duri product, and I've also never read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so this review is a journey into unknown territory for me; you'll have to tell me if the colors actually tie in with the characters or story, or if it's one of those pure marketing tie-ins like the NOX Twilight collection. Anyway, on to the polish.



Duri Angels and Demons. I know this is supposed to be book-themed, but wasn't this a totally different novel? And then a movie with Tom Hanks. Either way, this is a pretty awesome color. It's a black base with fine silver foil shimmer. And I know I have probably a dozens colors just like this in my collection, but every time I see one I'm just drawn to it. The formula on it is super nice, so it's definitely a winner. It's so smooth and practically applies itself, and it looks so glossy and speckled at the same time. I keep accidentally calling it Demons and Wizards. Only click that last link if you want to see one of the most hilariously terrible music videos ever (but I really do like Jon Schaffer).



Duri Black Diamond. This is a strange one, but good. In the bottle I can see a lot of silvery iridescent swirls of shimmer (enlarge that second picture for a good view). But once I have it on my nails, it looks like a black creme. Huh? I mean, I can see little sparkles every now and then, but it's one of those "hidden shimmer" style polishes on me. Either that or I didn't shake it well enough and all the shimmer is in the bottom of the bottle. Who knows. Looks really good on the nail, though. Super glossy.


Duri Dragontini. This shows up in my pictures slightly darker and more blue-toned than it looks in real life, but I always have that problem when I try to photograph berries. This one is very purple, more purple than most berry shades. It's a creme finish. This is the one polish in the collection that I don't really like. Makes my cuticles look red.


Duri Fallen Angel. Another deceptive yet good color. In the bottle this looks like the most amazing vampy grape shimmer, with red and blue and gold sparkles clouded by a dusty purple creme. Once it's on my nails, it's a vampy eggplant creme with almost no visible shimmer. Is that how it's supposed to be? It's gorgeous on the nail, but it doesn't look like it does in the bottle. Another unexpected secret shimmer/hidden shimmer polish. I like it either way. Especially because the name is a :wumpscut: song.


Duri Frozen Fire. I like this way more than I thought I would. It's a sheer, ever so slightly milky/cloudy pink base with tons of tiny iridescent glass fleck shimmer. The reason I like this more than most pink shimmers is because the base has a distinct blue tone which keeps it from turning my hands that dirty color that they appear when I wear most other pinks. The shimmer is nice because it looks like a mix of silver and gold with a more opalescent pearl type color mixed in.


Duri Icicle. Best one last. This is a sheer milky white base with silver, gold and iridescent glass fleck shimmer. It's soft and sparkly and beautiful. Looks like snow. It's similar to other shades like China Glaze Frosty, but the gold and slightly blue-tinted clear stand out really strongly in this one. The only downside is that it is sheer (this is three coats), but that adds to the depth of the color. Perfect color for winter.

The press release mentions that you can layer the two sheer shades (Frozen Fire and Icicle) over the other colors in the collection for more color options, so I tried it.


Duri Frozen Fire (one coat) over Duri Dragontini. Perfect! I turns Dragontini from a meh berry into a sparkly purple! Plus, the dark base really makes the shimmer particles in Frozen Fire stand out. It is cloudy and dramatically changes the colors you layer it over, but it adds a slight blue tone from the sheer milky base and some iridescent but mostly gold/silver shimmer.


Duri Icicle (one coat) over Duri Fallen Angel. I like this even more. The blue-toned sheer milky base adds a blue sheen over the dark purple, turning it into an iridescent muted dark blue with shiny, pearly shimmer. I think this would look even better over a light color, like a pastel purple.


The formula on these was great. It was very thin but it flowed evenly and didn't run or pool. The only one that was different was Dragontini, which had a slightly rubbery feel to it which caused it to drag a little. Otherwise they were all fantastic. I did three coats of each. Only the two sheers needed a third. Drying time was very fast and every shade dried to a very glossy finish even without topcoat. The brushes were nice as well; they're wide but not fluffy. They're thin and flexible and have a square edge. Like a less fluffy OPI Pro Wide. I had no problems with any of these.

Overall, I'm impressed. Like I said before, this is my very first time using Duri so I wasn't sure what to expect. Everything was really good. I like the colors, I like the names, I love the formula, bottles and brushes. I would definitely try more Duri colors now that I know they're this good.

As for the collection being true to the theme of the book, I have no idea. Anyone want to weigh in on that? I do recall seeing some of these shade names on the Duri website before, so I don't think all of them are made specifically for this collection.

I have never seen Duri in a store or a salon, but I do know that you can order them directly from Duri. They're really inexpensive for being so good at only $5 each. Plus, they have colors with amusing names like "Invincibly Frail," Hot Ice," and "Macarena So Buena."

(This was sent for review.)