Destroying Angel Claw Polish

[SueDonym]

Gloss
Fearsome fungi! A very deep, very dark mushroom brown.

As there has been much discussion and some disagreement about Destroying Angel, let us begin this review by what CAN be agreed upon, as absolutes.

1. Destroying Angel is currently the darkest shade available in the BPTP polish spectrum. It sits at the end of that rainbow, quietly and absolutely deeper than everything else. One's gaze is drawn, rests, and sinks into it utterly.

2. Like all the polishes available from BPTP, it glides on smoothly, and has excellent coverage with even a preliminary single coat and dries faster than it would take to think out a proper analogy. With two coats however...well, we'll return to that. Let us say then that it finishes very smoothly, has a wonderful glossy sheen and does it all without the use of formaldehyde, which leads one to question that if BPTP's polish can accomplish all this without that net, why isn't everyone doing triple jumps?

3. Wears. Handily. (Yes, I know.) In any event, at some point last weekend I put a streak on a nail, waited for it to dry then tried to scratch it off as a test. Which I did manage to scrape it, I entirely failed to chip. Also, residual pigment lingered on the nail some four days after, until I decided to reapply for this review. Now I *know* that nail polish remover will cleanly remove everything, because I confirmed as much upon my arrival home from Bat's Day with my nails painted every single shade of polish available there. Here too everything was dreamily easy. No sticky bits I had to douse with chemical to remove, just a little scrub and some cleaning around the cuticle and it's gone. Minimal staining of the flesh too. Impressive. However, without bending with the remover to remove, the fixed mark of remaining pigment seemed willing to stay on my hand indefinitely. MOST impressive for someone whose nails seems to reject polish after the first day and vigorously expel color like a cobra spitting venom.

Which brings us to...

4. The Color. In keeping with just the facts, let us clarify that it is based/inspired/looks towards a vintage 1920's shade. Wear it with beads and flapper fringe. Wear it as the tough new-age business woman/girl reporter when you're struggling to have your obvious talent recognized in a man's world. Wear it when you feel plucky. Wear it with a very very long, dazzling evening gown, but you're just dressing for dinner at the manse. Wear it when committing an unspeakable crime for the man you love. Wear it when stealing the leading role and leading man on a black and white movie set. Wear it when you're feeling a little very early Noir or a touch of German Expressionism coming on (and go watch Nostferatu or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari if you need to acquire the disease). Wear it to forget your first love who died in the trenches and to remember him when you attend the Wobblies meeting. Whatever your excuse, wear it.

Because...

5. It is one of the richest, most velvety colors I've had on my nails in quite some time. Deep. Plush. Velvet. I find it difficult to believe something that I know is glossy hard can look and feel so...sinkable...as if your eye were falling endlessly into soft thick layers of velvet. Putting that second coat on, while it fills in the nail, is as if someone flooded and then froze a patch of velvet before your eyes.

Which leads us finally to...

6. The Shade. But really, after all this do you need to know the exact hue?
.
.
.
.
.
Of course you do.


And yet this seems to be what the crux of the various interpretations are about.
Let me begin with what it is not. It is NOT black. I love black too, but this has far too much going on to be a simple flat black, or even a glossy one. Neither is it brown. As much as I love a good rich chocolate-brown, again, too simple a definition for something that is too deep and too rich. Nor, alas for all those wishing it, is it a true and simple dark purple.

When I was taking an oil painting class, back in the day, my teacher told me something I've never forgotten and which I now share with any aspiring artists, color aficionados, and, factually, anyone reading this post. To wit: if you want to make a shadow of any sort in your painting, an active rich shadow, then you simply cannot use black. What you must use is something that aspires to black but is more complex. If it's just black the eye will skip over it, pick it up less, it remains flat. BUT if you add a little mystery, a little addition to the color, or even create a blackish color out of other darks, what you have is something on which the eye will rest and never want to leave. Something which can be gazed into endlessly. In other words, mix a little dark green in with your black. Or, in this case, a little dark purple in your brown.

To me, this is a very deep brownish purple, but it may hold your gaze a bit differently, and the gaze of someone else when they look into your hands, and frankly that's part of the appeal.


I imagine the good folks down at the lab could tell us what exact shades were brewed to make this magnificent elixir, but *really* do you want anything as mundane as that?

Personally, I prefer a little mystery.

Oh come on now SueDonym is it *really* that good????!!!!
Well, almost. Close enough to just...stare at your hands and wish by. Works for me.

ETA:
Well I just read the site description and if the lab says it's brown, the damn thing is brown.
(With a little purple in it. )

Edited September 10, 2007 by Shollin

[summer]

 

The above review is so evocative and spot-on that I actually want to go buy another bottle of Destroying Angel, even though I already have one. Damn.

 

I can't possibly describe this gorgeous polish better than already has been done in spades, but I will add my agreement that in terms of application and wear, this smooth glossy polish is the best I've ever used. And in terms of color, it is indeed rich and velvety -- like a fine, deep, smooth dark chocolate. The kind that is at least 70% cocoa. It is decidedly not black, but it's such a dark purplish-brown that casual observers complimented me on my "black nails." Still, it's just not-black enough to be sophisticated and vintage and autumn-y, rather than goth.

 

In short, I completely love it.

[Meg]

(click here to see bigger version)

 

Colour: One application will yield a nice milk chocolate brown. A second application will give you a beautiful 75% cocoa black chocolate brown. Another comparison would be with shiitake mushrooms, with a really pretty dark brown top. It's very slightly purple, with reddish or bluish tinges in turn, depending on the light.

 

Texture: Perfectly smooth, shiny.

 

Hold: I've worn 2 coats of Destroying Angel *without* a topcoat, and it's held for 3 days until it finally started to chip very slightly on some edges (I type and take notes a lot, they got decant-circle labels stuck to them several times, and I cooked, all very intense for the nails). Touch-ups are easy, it doesn't make the layers go all soft and smudgy underneath, and they are barely visible.

 

Drydown: BPAL nail polish dries in a matter of seconds. I think about one minute and you're OK for a second layer. Unlike many nail polishes, it doesn't go gooey or soft once you've added a second layer. With most polishes I have to be SuperCareful about not going to bed or doing anything too strenuous with my hands, lest I get bedclothes-imprints on my nails, or various other marks. Nothing like that going on here, thank goodness!!

 

Synesthaesia? Destroying Angels are white, not brown-topped, but from what I remember of the scent, it had this dark earthy mushroomy goodness that I definitely associate with a similar shade of brown.

 

Conclusion: This is the best nail polish I have had in YEARS. I'd been trying browns and ended up giving up because they were too coppery. This one is perfect! It goes well with most colours, especially purple. And of course, the texture is perfect.

[Keslynn]

Destroying Angel is a dark dark brown, almost black. But because it is not black, I get the pleasant effect of a dark polish color that doesn't make me look super-pale. I don't think I've ever had this happen before. 99% of dark colors wash my skin tone out. The dark chocolate shade is both classy and edgy at the same time. Another nail polish first for me.

 

The polish went on relatively smoothly. I say relatively because any snafus were mostly likely user error (I'm not so good at applying polish). Finish is nicely shiny.

 

Verdict: Love it! My nails keep catching my eye. So far, no chipping, though I've only had it on overnight so far.

[AliBabble]

i don't have much to add, except that this is a great, rich, vampy color. i've only had it on for one night, so i can't speak to its lasting power, but it seems sturdy, and is very shiny. i know it's not supposed to have formaldehyde, but to me it still had a normal nail polish fume-y smell. anyway, it looks great - very sultry and mysterious. love it.

[zenvodunista]

I bought this polish on the basis of the reviews. I usually don't like brown, I don't wear it, or anything.

 

This polish? I love it. I adore it. Seriously.

 

I think it looks like chocolate in the bottle - but at 2-3 layers, that eggplant note comes out and then it's Another Color for which there really isn't a name.

 

This is deep, dark, intense, and decadent. Of the three polishes I bought (Mme.Moriarty, Blood Countess, and this) this one has the most staying power of them all. I am not a girly girl and am quite hard on my hands and nails, and I wore this for about 5 days with only minimal wear at the very tips of my nails - and that was without a base or topcoat.

 

Even my "Everyone should only wear black" BF liked this polish better than straight black polish. It's darker, and deeper - warmer, too.

 

HIGHLY recommended. I'm really glad I bought this one.

 

N.

[Delirium1009]

This polish is a nice dark brown-almost-black that looks the same shade under indoor and natural light. Out of the 4 claw polishes I've tried, I've had the most trouble with this one. It gets rather streaky and I have a harder time getting a nice even coat of this one and it seems to not dry as quickly. It chips less than normal polish which I love, but it's such a dark color that chips are very obvious.

 

When I apply this, I need 3 coats for an even, dark coating.

 

Overall, I love this polish, but it isn't my favorite.

Edited April 11, 2008 by Delirium1009

[alexandra]

Incredible.

 

Destroying Angel is alluring, dark, and mysterious. Shiny too, and I haven't applied a top coat. Three days in and it catches the light and throws it right back atcha. It dries without a wrinkle which is very unusual for me and, with two coats, is the colour of Minstrels backlit by Hell. There is definitely a purple tendency but when I asked m'husband he said it was "brown. and red. and blue. and purple. and I think it's yellow too." Chip resistant, which comes in useful. The lady that wears this will do most things but only with the most interesting people.

[Medici]

I have no nails. Let's just get that out of the way right now: No. Nails. I'm a horrible biter.

 

For Destroying Angel? I will end my terrible biting ways and glory in the vampy-vampness that is this wonderful shade of ass-kicking.

 

(I think the reviews before me have utterly done this Claw Polish justice, so while this little review may be redundant, I just had to share my love.)

[zankoku_zen]

What can be said that hasn't been said? This is a wonderful brown color. With two applications, it's this velvety rich brown, with a purple undertone in certain lights. The color is to-die-for, especially in the fall. It reminds me to the color of this old velvet coat my mother had that she got from Saks - the velvet was plush, the color was brown brown brown without that annoying red sheen that can turn brown into something akin to a cockroach.

 

No, this is elegant, sophisticated and utterly delicious. I am very pleased.

 

ETA: The color in the bottle is approximately the same shade as the Hershey Chocolate Bar wrapper. You know the kind. Those giant six pack blocks you buy to make smores with. Yeah. Those.

Edited October 8, 2008 by zankoku_zen

[Stephanie]

This is a deep, blackened, film noir-type brown. Very sophisticated yet edge-y. I love it. And it looks good even with my brown skin tone (which is an NC35 in MAC).

 

It's a little streaky in the first coat, three coats makes it even darker the bottle color. I put on three coats and it's great.

 

I think I do see a bit of purple because there seems be a depth to it. This is not a drab, dead brown that's for sure!!

Edited September 29, 2008 by Stephanie

[heathercaley]

Beautiful! To describe the color, I'd say sepia tone. It has that vintage quality that you find in the old sepia photographs.. and IMO sepia has much more charm than b&w. I love black toe nails.. but it can be stark so I usually vamp it up with some red dots or something. With Destroying Angel.. don't need anything. It's beautiful on its own! Perfect gloss... glides on smooth... dries to a gorgeous finish and all I needed really was two thin coats to make my piggies purdy.

 

My new favorite color!

[teacrumb]

It's a very dark, plumb-chocolate color. GORGEOUS. I often wore black nail polish before, but this is FAR more intriguing! It looks almost dark enough to be black in some light, and more brown in others, and more purple in others. I love it and will absolutely buy more when I start running low!

[WidgetAlley]

I don't usually wear nail polish but I will make an exception for Destroying Angel! At one coat, it's the color of a Hershey milk chocolate bar. At two, it's opaque and so dark it almost looks black-- but it's a very deep, lovely, purple-y deep brown the color of the darkest loam soil.

 

I love it! The application is smooth and easy, unlike drugstore nail polishes, it dries in a fairly reasonable time (although I still smudge! I always smudge, I'm impatient), and it is pretty sturdy stuff... not to mention, it's possible to "patch" over chips in such a way that it barely shows, which is a great bonus for people who work a lot with their hands.

 

Definitely going to be getting more of the BPTP polish line, I'm mucho impressed!

[Sultaana]

My usual nail polish staple (when I feel like wearing it, anyway) is either a nice rich red or a basic black. Now I finally have a third color to add to my collection of colors! BROWN! Rich, chocolate brown. I love this color and the polish goes on easily and smoothly. As if my BPAL addiction wasn't bad enough, now I'm getting addicted to the BPTP too.

[anastasia]

smells like nail polish smelled when i was little. covers with two coats. almost runny. a shade darker than the dark brown m&m but lots glossier. because of the touch of red under my skin this is pretty much a glowing blood brown in some lights. i know that people will think this is black but it is kind of an amazing true neutral. i am blown away by it's greatness.

[Carmencita]

This is my favorite brown nail polish of all time. My bottle has just dried out. It lasted such a long time and was consummately lovely. It also was the perfect manicure color for an Inara Serra costume. When did these leave the website? Are they forever discontinued?