Pure Ice Crackle Duos: Strike A Pose and Lightning Strikes

Hi ladies!  I am starting small with my "review week."  Something short, that won't have ten million pictures.  I'll do that tomorrow!  lol  Tonight I have two Pure Ice crackle duo sets to show you.  I was sent one for review, and won the other on Facebook.  We will start with the one I won, Strike a Pose: 

Beware

Basic silver glitter.  I used one coat in this picture.  I would have tried to make it opaque, but it smells SO BAD.  Seriously, it had an insanely strong metallic/chemical smell.  I will not be using this again! 

Strike A Pose

This is the better half of the duo.  In promo pictures (and even at the bottom on the bottle in this pic) it looks like a duo chrome.  On the nail it is identical to OPI Teal Shatter.  I actually put OPI on one nail.  Can you guess which it is??  

Good thing I won this duo because it was a complete strike out for me.  This makes me sad given my deep love for this brand!  However, I can't even recommend the glitter.  

Moving on to the next duo:  Lightning Strikes.  This duo contains Not Now, a rich emerald green shimmer, and Lightning Strikes, which is the silver crackle.

Not Now

In the promo pics, this shade looks to be a blue duo chrome.  Imagine my (delightful) surprise when I got this duo and it was a gorgeous emerald!  The shimmer in this is amazing.  It took two coats to cover. (forgive the bump on my middle finger.  I'm not sure what was going on, but I don't THINK it's a bubble.  Just weird nails!)

Lightning Strikes

LS is a simple silver crackle.  It has a great formula and I was really impressed with how it cracked.  The colors looked amazing together too!  The shine coming off of the silver is even without a top coat.  This is a winner! 

This duo fared MUCH better with me than the first.  I am absolutely in love with Not Now!  Seeing them together, I really should have worn them for St. Patrick's Day as intended.  Oh well.  I'll make up for it! 

Overall, I like the idea of the duos.  The colors are paired nicely and I've always said I like crackle for fast nail art.  Since they are paired already, you won't have to worry about the colors working together!  On an individual basis though, I would nix Beware completely from the line.  Unless, of course, I just got a bad bottle.  (which is possible, but I've smelled other glitters like this, just not as strong.  I'm guessing it's the type of metal used.)  

Duos can be bought on their website for $5.98, or at select Walmarts.  

*Products in this post were sent for review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own*