I know you all have been dying to know what this collection was going to look like. While the color blobs give you a clue, they don’t do much else.

Well let’s just say that Creative got it right. The Imperial Anarchy collection is filled with bold, rich, highly pigmented lacquers. I don’t care if Creative polishes take longer to dry than other brands, there are some shades here that are must haves.

Due to popular demand, I am going to attempt to give you full mani swatches as often as possible. It’s a killer on my nails and cuticles but sometimes you have to suffer for beauty and art. Also, in attempt to deter the picture thieves I’ve FINALLY learned how to watermark with Photoshop. So I apologize if it detracts from the pictures but it’s a necessary evil.

First up, Crowned. Described as a “vintage copper metallic”, Crowned applied very well for a metallic. I saw some slight brush stroke marks but they were nowhere near as bad as others I’ve used. The shade is a muted, softer version of OPI’s Burning Love which to me is the color of copper wire and hard to pull off.

With all the swatches below, I only needed 2 coats because these lacquers are so pigmented. Most of them didn’t even need a second coat, I was just hiding my own application errors. I planned to use a top coat to make sure each shade looked it’s best but it wasn’t needed.

Regal Revenge a “dark fuchsia creme”, went on so smoothly that I regretted not buffing my nails before swatching. An imperfection on my index finger caused a bump that should not reflect on the Regal Revenge’s quality. The slightly dusty quality of the shade keeps this from being a summer bright and will go well with the pop art inspired fashions that rocked the fall runways or as a nice punch of color with a smoky gray ensemble.

House of Rebels isn’t browned or orange enough for me to consider it a “brick red creme” but it’s definitely deeper than your traditional true red (i.e. OPI Got The Blues For Red) and extremely glossy. It’s not quite a one coat red but it’s very close. There’s no pink undertones like Burn from the Flash Point collection had. Look out for this color or ones similar on the young Hollywood set this fall.

Crimson Uprising is a “shimmery crimson” that leans towards berry due to a slight pinkish undertone. I would consider it more frosty than shimmery but definitely not metallic. The application was too good for it to be called a metallic. The sliver and red shimmer give the shade depth and warmth. I wouldn’t say it’s entirely unique but it’s definitely pretty.

Rock Royalty is the first of my two “must have” polishes from this collection. It was described in Creative’s press release as a “dark purple creme” but from the close-up shot you can clearly see it’s not. The shimmer is comprised of very fine flecks of purple and pink that really only show up in direct sunlight but they’re there. The color itself is simply stunning. It’s what I had hoped the way too sheer OPI You Ottaware Purple would be. It’s not so dark that you can’t tell it’s purple yet it’s dark enough to be vampy.

The piece de resistance is Hyde In The Dark. A “metallic anthracite” or as I like to call it, sparkly gray goodness, it’s not a metallic in the traditional sense, it’s a thousand times better. Loaded with shimmer and glitz, this is what gunmetal gray should look like. Now I don’t know what makes this formula different but it applied the best of all the polishes. I took pics of this one in both shade and sunlight to show off it’s glory.

So everyone, what do you think? Are any of these tickling your fancy?

*edited to add: Imperial Anarchy will release in September. I don’t have an exact date.*