Dior Vernis #758 Victoire, #769 Front Row, #661 Bonheur, #268 Ruban Couture Colour Gel Shine and Long Wear Nail Polish, Swatch & Comparison Part 1

Together with Addict Fluid Sticks (reviewed here, swatches of all shades are here), Dior also renewed their new nail polish formula and their permanent range of nail polishes. New formula offers a shiny finish similar to gel polish. The brush of Dior (mostly loved but also hated by some) went through a revision and became slimmer. It is still flat but less fluffy, almost the same brush as the one of Dior Gel Top Coat. Although I liked their old brush too, I found this one also easy to work with. I purchased some most of the new shades while skipping the repromotes. Not to end up with a monster post with 200 photos, I am going to divide the swatches and comparisons into several posts. Today I would like to share the first four shades, #758 Victoire, #769 Front Row, #661 Bonheur and #268 Ruban with you.

Today it was a very sunny and warm day in Stuttgart so I managed to take photos with direct sun light as well as in shadow to give you a better idea of the color.

#661 Bonheur is a cool mid-toned pink with creme finish. This one applied wonderfully, it becomes opaque with two layers. The consistency is not thick nor thin, the finish is very glossy. Below you can see the photos with two coats and without a top coat. Most of these shades become even more glossy in a gel like way if Dior's Gel Top Coat is applied on it.

#268 Ruban is a pale pink with silver shimmer, which has a frosty finish on the nails, similar to Dior release from last Spring (Princess, Spring Ball etc.). The consistency was good but this nail polish was rather half transparent, so after three coats, I still had visible nail line. If you don't like this, you may not like Ruban. Other than that it is a lovely girly shade which is also office appropriate.

I swatched similar shades to #661 Bonheur, I found no dupes but many shades in my stash were reasonably close, those were Chanel #519 Rose Exuberant ( a little cooler), Dior #678 Creoles (a little redder) and Dior #579 Plaza (the closest, which is a tad warmer than Bonheur).

I had no nail polishes which were close to #268 Ruban but this must be because I do avoid very pale pinks and peaches generally, lol. I wanted to check it with Princess because two have similar finish but Ruban is paler and cooler. Dior #357 Peony was warmer but close. Chanel #517 Mistral had also a similar sinieh but was warmer with more peach tones.

#769 Front Row is a medium pink with metallic fuchsia shimmer. These type of metallic shades bring out the gel shine finish of Dior's new formula and end up looking stunning under different lights. I really liked this one and ended up wearing it after the swatches (and I am wearing it as I am typing these lines). I also added Dior Gel Top Coat which strengthens the gel shine effect. I am not a fan of strong reds and pinks but I really liked that one. 

Below you can see Front Row with two coats, without top coat. The consistency was lovely, no issues at all with the formula. 

The last polish I would like to share with you in Part 1 of my review is a bright red with golden metallic shimmer called #758 Victoire. The golden shimmer is more apparent in the bottle. On the nails it transforms the red to an orange red. Again another shade to show off the new gel shine effect, therefore I couldn't help but took one more photo of this one. Lovely formula, opaque with two coats, perfect consistency.

I knew I had a dupe of #769 Front Row, it is #541 Tentation. They are really very very similar and if you own Chanel one already, you may want to skip Front Row. In case you are considering to buy one of these, I would go with Front Row because of the lovely shiny finish. Actually I was no fan of Tentation but I ended up loving Front Row because of this.

#758 Victoire is also very close to a previous Dior release, #651 Merveille. Victoire is slightly darker but the golden shimmer is the same. A recent Dior release #657 Trafalgar is close to Victoire without the golden shimmer and it is a tad lighter and more orange.

These do definitely perform better with Dior Gel Effect Top Coat. My favorite of the bunch if #769 Front Row. I am wearing it at the moment and will report on how long lasting they are as soon as I finish testing them. Tomorrow swatch and comparison madness continues, so stay tuned.

Any of these catching your eye?