Milani Bare it All

Milani has been doing a great job getting me to part with my nail polish dollar this year, between the holos and the wonderfully squishy Rad Purple from the neons, then the Liquid Metals, both cool and hot, and Nail Flash (though I managed to get only one from that display—so far). Now they've got two more limited edition displays out. The one with the Chanel Jade dupe has been getting a lot of attention, and it will likely get some from me, too, just not today, because today I have the quieter collection, Bare it All, described on the display as "neutral, universal flattering shades". (Not universally flattering, universal. Okay then.)


Left to right: Teddy Bare, Bare Necessity, Bare to Wear, Bare with Me, Bare in Mind, Truth or Bare.

Mindful of how very many pinks I have, as discovered in the great stash re-org, I left Bare with Me at the store, but got all the others.


Left to right: Teddy Bare, Bare to Wear, Truth or Bare, Bare in Mind, Bare Necessity.

Nail board gals noticed that Teddy Bare looks a lot like Chanel Particulière (more on that in a bit); it's a lovely milk chocolate creme that covered in two coats.



Bare to Wear is a greige creme that took three coats (the display said these were "medium coverage" which I thought meant they'd maybe be a little sheer, but all were two or three coats to get bottle color, so not so sheer at all). This was my favorite of these five.



Bare in Mind, a three-coater, is rumored to be quite similar to Chanel Jade Rose, something I cannot confirm because I didn't think Jade Rose was worth the money so did not buy it either time around. I can tell you Bare in Mind is a warm pink with a hint of bright pink shimmer that shows up in the bottle but is shy when on the nail.



Truth or Bare, a brownish peach creme, also took three coats. This was my least favorite of the five, though I could see it looking great on someone with a darker and/or yellower complexion than I have.



Bare Necessity surprised me. It's a brownish clay creme, and I thought it would be too orange against my skintone, but I quite liked it once I put it on my nails (only took two coats).



And now it's time to address the Teddy Bare/Particulière issue. I didn't get Particulière when it first came out but ordered it months later, after deciding that yes, I did like taupes that much and no, there really weren't any dead on dupes. Is there one now? Is Teddy Bare the polish to fill that gap? Let's see:



Top to bottom: Teddy Bare, Particulière, Teddy Bare, Particulière.



Top to bottom: Particulière, Teddy Bare.

They're close, no doubt, but I can see a difference in many lighting conditions—Teddy Bare is ever so slightly cooler/greyer in tone. Would a muggle (or my husband) notice? No, I would bet not. If I didn't have Particulière I think I'd be perfectly happy with Teddy Bare, which retails for $4.49 at CVS compared to $23 for the Chanel.