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Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis Review, Photos, Swatches

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis ($22.00 for 0.38 fl. oz.) is described as a “powerful electric indigo blue with subtly metallic finish.” It’s a rich, blue-based purple with threads of lighter violet metallic shimmer. SpaRitual Blue Moon is deeper, bluer, and not metallic. Essie Smooth Sailing is lighter, more periwinkle. SpaRitual Illume has a jelly-like finish, no shimmer.

Guerlain by Emilio Pucci is supposed to launch two shades of nail lacquers (officially, “Terracotta Vernis”). I didn’t see them online yet, except at The Bay (Canadian retailer), even though much of the collection has launched at Sephora. I haven’t seen Guerlain do polish before, though a quick Google search will show that they definitely have. It comes in a cylindrical glass bottle with a “wood” cap (matches the rest of the aesthetic for the launch). It’s actually pretty simple in design.

It was opaque in two coats, but the formula itself was a wee bit thick, though manageable on the nail. It does show brush strokes, as metallic finishes often do, which may or may not appeal to you.  The drying time was also a little on the longer side, probably because of the thicker consistency.  Since I’ve never used Guerlain’s polish before, I wore this on one hand for a week to test out the wear, and I didn’t have any trouble with chipping–just minor tip wear. I will say that no formulas, generally speaking, chip on me.  For the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with wearing a few formulas without a base or top coat, and I don’t experience chipping then (always testing for seven days).  I’m by no means gentle on my nails; I’ll dig at things and use them as tools whenever the need arises!

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis
Guerlain Riviera Terracotta Vernis

16 Comments

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dana Avatar

The color is beautiful, but the texture/finish look awful. It looks very gloppy and thick on your nails, not nice at all in fact. For a $22 nailpolish I would expect better results. I am very surprised you gave this a B+.

Christine Avatar

Brush strokes are part of the metallic finish (ever think of brushed metal?), so I don’t take off points for those, but I took off 1.5 points because of the thickness of the consistency and 1 point from application because it didn’t apply flawlessly. The overall quality score is 8.5, which means it lost another 1.5 points from the way it was overall. It’s not gloppy, though–slightly thickened but not very thick, goopy, etc., and the pigmentation is excellent and it wore for seven days without chipping and had minor tip wear–those two areas helped to bolster the grade.

I agree at $22 it should perform better, though!

stacey Avatar

Pretty polish. Back in the stone age…years ago…the bottle was a size .50ml. Now everything is less than that and obviously cost more. Nail polish is nail polish so if there is a less costly brand, then go for it.

YellowLantern Avatar

Hmmm…the color looks way more complex in the bottle with the purple and indigo hints along with the blue. On the nails it looks like a rather common metallic, primary blue.

marisa Avatar

I wish I had your luck with no chipping. I’ve tried Zoya base and top coat and every brand of polish chips on me within a day or two. 🙁

divinem1 Avatar

Me, too! There’s something about the structure or chemical composition of my nails that simply will not cooperate with Zoya’s treatments: base, top, etc. I have found the following combo to work for me: Perfect Formula Gel Coat as a base (Sephora — $$$) and Seche Vite top coat. That stuff is like IRON for my nails. Granted, my manis don’t last nearly as long as Christine’s, but it’s way better, and I am an Zoya fiend, so I really wanted to find a way to make it work. Hope this helps you. 🙂

EmmyJean Avatar

My polish always chips the first couple of days! Always! I’ll have to try that base and top coat, I’ve been using OPI base and top coat, but it doesn’t seem to help all that much.

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