What is the difference between dnd and dnd dc

Front Row is regular polish and back row is gel polish

Front Row is regular polish and back row is gel polish

DND Duo Regular polish bottles

DND Duo Regular polish bottles

DND Duo Gel polish bottles

DND Duo Gel polish bottles

Hello nail art enthusiasts!  Even though fall has begun, I have my last hurrah about summer in this review.  I chose these 10 colors from DND DC Duos Summer 2020 collection.  The whole collection had 36 colors from #254 to #289.  DND Duos are a matching set of regular nail polish and a gel polish.  I picked the colors based on personal preference and ones that looked most like neons or were really bright because I don’t have many bright neon-ish colors in my collection.  You have no idea how hard it was to pass on some of the lighter pastel pinks.  Ugh!!!  I have a lot of photos in this post, and there will be some redundancy, but keep reading to see what I thought of the colors in this collection.

254-Forest Green

DND Duo 254 Green Forest Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 254 Green Forest Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 254 Forest Green Gel Swatch

DND Duo 254 Forest Green Gel Swatch

#254-Forest Green is a bright medium green.  The regular nail polish formula was a tad thick and had a plastic-y finish to it, but it was opaque in 2 coats.  I did use Seche Vite top coat.  The gel polish formula was a dream to work with.  It was opaque in 2 thin coats and I used #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

255-Chasing Summer

DND Duo 255 Chasing Summer Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 255 Chasing Summer Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 255 Chasing Summer Gel Swatch

DND Duo 255 Chasing Summer Gel Swatch

#255-Chasing Summer is a bright turquoise that leans green.  For the regular nail polish formula, it was thinner than #254, so it was a little easier to work with.  It still had a plastic-y finish but it was opaque in 2 coats.  I did use Seche Vite top coat.  The gel polish formula was really easy to work with and almost a one coater. This is 2 thin coats with #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

256-Walk on Water

DND Duo 256 Walk on Water Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 256 Walk on Water Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 256 Walk on Water Gel Swatch

DND Duo 256 Walk on Water Gel Swatch

#256-Walk on Water is a bright light to medium blue.  The regular nail polish formula had the same consistency as #255 and plastic-y finish as the other colors, so it was ok to work with but I did need 3 coats to be opaque.  I used Seche Vite top coat.  I feel like I’m going to be redundant in the post about the gel polish, but it was easy to work with and was opaque in 2 coats.  This is 2 thin coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

257-Mermaid Blue

DND Duo 257 Mermaid Blue Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 257 Mermaid Blue Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 257 Mermaid Blue Gel Swatch

DND Duo 257 Mermaid Blue Gel Swatch

#257-Mermaid Blue is a turquoise that leans blue.  The regular polish formula was like #254 so it was a tad thick and had that plastic-y finish.  That being said, it took 3 coats.  This is 3 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel was great in 2 thin coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

258-Shine Bright

DND Duo 258 Shine Bright Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 258 Shine Bright Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 258 Shine Bright Gel Swatch

DND Duo 258 Shine Bright Gel Swatch

#258-Shine Bright is a bright highlighter yellow with a hint of green.  The regular polish formula is thicker like #254.  With yellows, it seems like it is a hard formula to master.  With that in mind, this took 4 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  I think that if you did a white base coat you could get away with only 2 coats of Shine bright so that it’s less coats overall.  The gel formula again was easy to work with but did take 3 coats to be opaque.  Also with the gel, you could probably do a white base, but still may need 2 coats of yellow.  This picture is 3 coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

260-Electric Purple

DND Duo 260 Electric Purple Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 260 Electric Purple Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 260 Electric Purple Gel Swatch

DND Duo 260 Electric Purple Gel Swatch

#260-Electric Purple is a bright medium purple.  I chose this purple from the collection because it was the brightest and closest to a neon purple.  The regular nail polish formula was thinner and the easiest to work with.  It was almost a one coater.  This is 2 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel formula was the smooth.  This is 2 coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

274-Zesty Vibes

DND Duo 274 Zesty Vibes Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 274 Zesty Vibes Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 274 Zesty Vibes Gel Swatch

DND Duo 274 Zesty Vibes Gel Swatch

#274-Zesty Vibes is a super bright orange.  It made my skin appear really tan.  It was hard to capture how bright and neon it looked.  The regular nail polish formula was like that of #255 and had that plastic-y finish.  This is 2 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel formula was smooth and this is 2 coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

277-Fluorescent Pink

DND Duo 277 Fluorescent Pink Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 277 Fluorescent Pink Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 277 Fluorescent Pink Gel Swatch

DND Duo 277 Fluorescent Pink Gel Swatch

#277-Fluorescent Pink is a medium fluorescent magenta pink.  This color was also hard to capture how bright and neon it looks.  The regular nail polish formula was like #255 and plastic-y finish.  This is 2 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel formula was smooth and opaque in 2 coats.  This is 2 coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

279-Coral Bells

DND Duo 279 Coral Bells Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 279 Coral Bells Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 279 Coral Bells Gel Swatch

DND Duo 279 Coral Bells Gel Swatch

#279-Coral Bells is a medium fluorescent pink with a hint of coral.  This was another color that is so bright it’s hard to capture it.  The regular nail polish formula was the same as a majority of the others.  This is 2 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel formula was nice and smooth.  This is 2 thin coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

281-Pink Stain

DND Duo 281 Pink Stain Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 281 Pink Stain Regular Polish Swatch

DND Duo 281 Pink Stain Gel Swatch

DND Duo 281 Pink Stain Gel Swatch

#281-Pink Stain is a bright fluorescent coral pink.  Again, this color is so bright that it was hard to capture.  The regular nail polish formula was like most of the other colors and had a plastic-y finish.  This is 2 coats plus Seche Vite top coat.  The gel formula was smooth and easy to work with.  This is 2 coats plus #900 DC No Cleanse Top Coat.

Regular vs Gel

Gel polish swatch is on left followed by the regular nail polish swatch

Gel polish swatch is on left followed by the regular nail polish swatch

Gel Polish on top and Regular Polish on bottom

Gel Polish on top and Regular Polish on bottom

So since these come as a matching set, how do well do they actually match?  I know in my swatch pictures, some do look different.  One reason is because I swatched all of the regular nail polish colors on one day, and then the gel polish colors the next day.  I tried to take them in the same location to get the same lighting but I wasn’t always successful.  So I put all of the swatches next to each other to actually see the closeness of the match.  The picture on the left, from left to right are the colors in order by the number.  The first swatch is the gel color and the second swatch is the regular nail polish.  The picture on the right is the same thing but with the gel swatches on top, and the regular polish swatches on the bottom.  As you can see, the colors are so close on most, if not an exact match.  This also allows you to see how different the shades of colors are.  The pinks do look very similar in color in the picture, however, in person, you can tell the colors are different.

The Brushes

DND Regular polish brush front view

DND Regular polish brush front view

DND Regular polish brush side view

DND Regular polish brush side view

DND Gel polish brush front view

DND Gel polish brush front view

DND Gel polish brush side view

DND Gel polish brush side view

Now on to the brushes.  The top two photos are the front and side view of the regular nail polish brush.  The regular polish brush is longer and skinnier than the gel brush.  It is kind of similar to the China Glaze brush.  It wasn’t hard to work with but it’s not my favorite type of polish brush.  The bottom two photos are the front and side view of the gel brush.  The gel brush is shorter and wider than the regular nail polish brush.  It also flairs out slightly at the end.  I will tell you, I absolutely loved this brush for the gel.  I feel like it helped the gel polish just glide on so smoothly.

My Thoughts

I really liked the DND Duos.  I like that you get both the regular nail polish as well as the matching gel.  I like using gel on my fingers, but regular polish on my toes.  Most of the colors were an exact match, and the ones that weren’t, the difference was so minute it would be hard to tell.  All of the polishes are a creme formula.  The formula for the regular polish had a plastic-y finish and was a tad thick to work with but not horrible.  Every single gel color was smooth and easy to work with.  The brush for the gels was great and really helped the polish apply nicely.  Now these are the DND DC Duos and there are also DND Duos.  Per the DND website, the DND DC Duos represent their premium gel polish with superior pigmentation and coverage.  I don’t have any DND Duos at this time to test to see if the pigmentation or coverage is any different.  I did a nail design with some of the colors so I will do a post on that soon.  I would definitely recommend picking some of these up.  I’m hoping to pick up some more colors and finishes soon, because I want to grow my DND collection.  If you like any of these colors, you can purchase them up from our store here DND Duos.

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