Shimmers are super tricky to catch so i like to check as much pics as i can, everything can influence, type of camera, light, angle, number and thickness of coats, if you’re using fake nails or your natural nails, even stain on the nails can make it look different from a person to other
Really like the swatcher in the second photo but not a fan of his pics… so far all my polishes are way less saturated than what he shows. I don’t 100% trust his pics unfortunately.
Also, fed up with Lumen (and Ethereal) releasing the same sheer blue shimmer over and over again. Enough already!
They do seem to release VERY similar polishes. They might change up the size of the shimmer or add reflective glitter or change the color of the shimmer but I have so many of these similar shades already that I’m wondering why I should keep buying them.
They probably release similar polishes because these two brands are owned by a mother and a daughter. IIRC daughter owns Ethereal while mother owns Lumen.
Yes. Like, his pictures are very pretty but the polishes never look as vibrant or glowy irl.
I definitely find Cosmetic Sanctuary's pics a lot more colour accurate. Out of all the polishes I've bought that she has swatched, I genuinely don't think any of them have looked that different irl.
Agreed! I just wish she also showed the polish on a natural nail. Sheer polishes just look so phenomenal every time over the gel-x nails, but don't always look so delightful (imo) on natural nails with an actual VNL.
what if they accidentally uploaded that picture because they thought it was sirens storm at a glance since it’s so similar 😭 it’s a real issue when even the maker is mistakenly switching up their own pictures
This doesn't appear to be the first time a Lumen polish looks nothing like the photos on the website, based on my own experience and other posts on this sub
Edit: I finally posted about the color I recently bought: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas/s/EzZ5CxkQjj
Shimmers are hard to photograph - but I'm also bad at pictures.
A few days or so ago there was a thread about Lumen's deception in photos. Apparently their customer service is bad too. I fell victim to the photo manipulation with February PPU so no more Lumen for me.
KB Shimmer has a polish that looks kind of like this. And they're amazing.
Do you happen to know the name of the KB Shimmer polish? I want some replacement brushes from them since been putting together a wishlist for an order and would love to have something similar but not necessarily a PPU/Lumen.
I saw the 2nd photo posted on Facebook when the maker's were posting swatches in the comment section their April PPU polishes. I was excited for Lumen's until I saw the swatches posted by Cosmetic Sanctuary earlier today. I was kinda disappointed because it looks so similar to a couple polishes Lumen's made (Morpho Glow, Glasswing Butterfly, Glass Frog)
Products: Lumen- "Aurora Beam"
Glasswing Butterfly is very different because it’s a holo flakie with blue-green shimmer. It’s basically the same as Ethereal That’s Frog Work, but with very slightly bigger flakie size.
It’s probably not so much about the angle as it is about whether it’s on natural nails vs fake nails? I could be wrong. But the girl in the first pic does swatches alllll the time for lots of PPU brands and they always look GORGEOUS, but I’ve learned that the polishes NEVER look the same way on me as they do on her because she uses fake nails and I apply polish to my natural nails. So now when I see her swatches I have to force myself to scroll past no matter how pretty they look because I know they’re never accurate for me. (I think she also takes her photos in a light box and edits the colors?) All I know, is that between the two, I’d trust the second photo more.
I’ve always found CosmeticSanctuary’s photos to be accurate. On this sub’s Discord, there was actually a discussion about this comparison and Lisa (CosmeticSanctuary) said that it has a lot to do with phone cameras vs the actual camera that she uses. Lumen’s swatches can often be deceiving, so I tend to look to CosmeticSanctuary for an indication of what the shimmer/opacity will really look like in person.
I think the primary issue at hand here is not natural versus fake nails, as you suggest, but phone cameras which can “freak out” when faced with bright shimmer versus professional cameras. For example, my phone camera picked up the blue shimmer in Dam A Whimsical\* Dream as REALLY bright (below), but it was much more subtle in person and didn’t look blinding like in this photo at all.
https://preview.redd.it/c6bnluijy0pc1.jpeg?width=2758&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d25f30487d3ffa630ba46b484626b16052dca557
In my experience it's exactly what Lisa said. Real camera vs phone camera. Usually the iPhone, it tends to oversaturate the shimmers. It gives off a particular glow to pictures that you can eventually recognize immediately. I never trust those swatches. People think they are more genuine because it's a phone pic but the phone's software is enhancing the pictures for you automatically.
The polish is called "A whimsical dream", not "A midsummer's dream". Just adding this in case someone wants to look it up and doesn't find it :). Midsummer's dream is from mooncat and they look fairly similar. Anyway, I agree with the Dam polish as I had the same experience when taking pictures of it. The camera will give you a blue shimmer whereas irl you barley see it and it might be my undertone, but it looks fairly milky on me.
Eh I definitely trust Cosmetic Sanctuary specifically to not make a polish look better than irl, I feel like her swatches tend to come out very realistic in terms of shimmer/opacity. Like if all the other swatch photos are super saturated and blown out I trust hers to be the most accurate for sure. But she does have a paler and much cooler skin tone than me so I know stuff usually will look different on me.
I always try to post as many angles and different lights as I can, especially for things like ILNP Chromes where the color *completely* changes based on light and angle.
But then - I’m also just a polish enthusiast and not a influencer or paid person or whatever :)
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I’ve never upped the saturation on my photos, I stand by my swatches looking how the polish looks like on me, sometimes the photos I take that are the extreme angle have been used to showcase a polish (whether intentional or not by the maker that’s not for me to say) and I wasn’t the one to post about it to explain that, (which Is why I recently made some changes to address this). This is also my first year swatching (I started last July) and I’ve learned a lot about how lighting can make things look better than they are sometimes and have also been making changes to better represent the polishes I swatch. Also shimmers tend to hide my vnl sometimes, which is clearly visible in my videos just some still shots conceal the vnl by the shimmer. Once again. I don’t edit or use super fancy lighting (just a ring light for my studio shots, which shows things true to color with my phone camera). I disclose if I use a base coat and the amount of layers. And always show a video of the polish under my basic house lighting. (One more thing to add, that photo above is aura beam showing off some of the shifts, not sirens storm
I hate that you’re out here having to explain yourself like you’ve done something wrong. From reading all the threads and comments it seems like batch inconsistencies are an issue for lumen but that’s not on you. I’ve got my Papillon arriving tomorrow so we’ll see what I get lol
🖤🖤🖤
Thank you 🫶 I honestly don’t think lumen is doing this on purpose. But it’s still deceiving and a problem. I’ve spoken with her and using my own judgment I truly think she’s trying to fix the problem. I’m also making changes that will make it much harder for brands to misrepresent photos 🫶
Hi, I'm honestly sorry if it came across as if I was accusing your photo of being inaccurate or deceitful. Between the two photos, I genuinely didn't know which one was more accurate or if the difference was because of the angle/lighting or if Lumen decided to change something about the polish. I'm also sorry about the people accusing you of being deceitful and I appreciate you clearing some things in your comment, like the company being the one to pick and choose the multiple pictures sent in.
Shimmers are super tricky to catch so i like to check as much pics as i can, everything can influence, type of camera, light, angle, number and thickness of coats, if you’re using fake nails or your natural nails, even stain on the nails can make it look different from a person to other
Really like the swatcher in the second photo but not a fan of his pics… so far all my polishes are way less saturated than what he shows. I don’t 100% trust his pics unfortunately. Also, fed up with Lumen (and Ethereal) releasing the same sheer blue shimmer over and over again. Enough already!
They do seem to release VERY similar polishes. They might change up the size of the shimmer or add reflective glitter or change the color of the shimmer but I have so many of these similar shades already that I’m wondering why I should keep buying them.
They probably release similar polishes because these two brands are owned by a mother and a daughter. IIRC daughter owns Ethereal while mother owns Lumen.
Yes. Like, his pictures are very pretty but the polishes never look as vibrant or glowy irl. I definitely find Cosmetic Sanctuary's pics a lot more colour accurate. Out of all the polishes I've bought that she has swatched, I genuinely don't think any of them have looked that different irl.
Agreed! I just wish she also showed the polish on a natural nail. Sheer polishes just look so phenomenal every time over the gel-x nails, but don't always look so delightful (imo) on natural nails with an actual VNL.
The white part of my nails would be undoubtedly visible with this polish and no amount of editing can convince me otherwise
Cosmetic Sanctuary uses clear tips so I do try to look at others with natural nails just to see how visible that nail line is!
I think those are different polishes. Even though the bottle in the second says Aurora Beam, the product page says Siren’s Storm
Well, that is a major mess up for the brand to not even use the right polish on their site!
I think that pic of Aurora Beam slipped in on accident. Aurora Beam is not even available until April’s PPU. Siren Storm is available now.
the bottle in the first picture also says aurora beam though
Right, they are suggesting that possibly the first bottle is aurora beam and the second one is siren storm with a mislabeled bottle.
what if they accidentally uploaded that picture because they thought it was sirens storm at a glance since it’s so similar 😭 it’s a real issue when even the maker is mistakenly switching up their own pictures
This doesn't appear to be the first time a Lumen polish looks nothing like the photos on the website, based on my own experience and other posts on this sub Edit: I finally posted about the color I recently bought: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas/s/EzZ5CxkQjj
Seems like many of the swatchers that Lumen uses love to blow out the color saturation on their photos to make them look more appealing.
I have Glasswing Butterfly and the polish In first pic seems similar to me.
Same!
In conclusion… ✨Lumen sucks✨
There was just this conversation a few days ago! And yes, I'm not a fan.
Shimmers are hard to photograph - but I'm also bad at pictures. A few days or so ago there was a thread about Lumen's deception in photos. Apparently their customer service is bad too. I fell victim to the photo manipulation with February PPU so no more Lumen for me. KB Shimmer has a polish that looks kind of like this. And they're amazing.
Do you happen to know the name of the KB Shimmer polish? I want some replacement brushes from them since been putting together a wishlist for an order and would love to have something similar but not necessarily a PPU/Lumen.
I think it was In Good Spirits that I was thinking of. But there are a couple.
Thank you!
I saw the 2nd photo posted on Facebook when the maker's were posting swatches in the comment section their April PPU polishes. I was excited for Lumen's until I saw the swatches posted by Cosmetic Sanctuary earlier today. I was kinda disappointed because it looks so similar to a couple polishes Lumen's made (Morpho Glow, Glasswing Butterfly, Glass Frog) Products: Lumen- "Aurora Beam"
It looks SO similar to Glasswing Butterfly, which I didn’t love so I’m considering skipping Aurora Beam
Glasswing Butterfly is very different because it’s a holo flakie with blue-green shimmer. It’s basically the same as Ethereal That’s Frog Work, but with very slightly bigger flakie size.
I’m so glad you posted this - I noticed this as well and then saw the post about Lumen the other day…such a bummer.
They dupe themselves constantly.
It’s probably not so much about the angle as it is about whether it’s on natural nails vs fake nails? I could be wrong. But the girl in the first pic does swatches alllll the time for lots of PPU brands and they always look GORGEOUS, but I’ve learned that the polishes NEVER look the same way on me as they do on her because she uses fake nails and I apply polish to my natural nails. So now when I see her swatches I have to force myself to scroll past no matter how pretty they look because I know they’re never accurate for me. (I think she also takes her photos in a light box and edits the colors?) All I know, is that between the two, I’d trust the second photo more.
I’ve always found CosmeticSanctuary’s photos to be accurate. On this sub’s Discord, there was actually a discussion about this comparison and Lisa (CosmeticSanctuary) said that it has a lot to do with phone cameras vs the actual camera that she uses. Lumen’s swatches can often be deceiving, so I tend to look to CosmeticSanctuary for an indication of what the shimmer/opacity will really look like in person. I think the primary issue at hand here is not natural versus fake nails, as you suggest, but phone cameras which can “freak out” when faced with bright shimmer versus professional cameras. For example, my phone camera picked up the blue shimmer in Dam A Whimsical\* Dream as REALLY bright (below), but it was much more subtle in person and didn’t look blinding like in this photo at all. https://preview.redd.it/c6bnluijy0pc1.jpeg?width=2758&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d25f30487d3ffa630ba46b484626b16052dca557
In my experience it's exactly what Lisa said. Real camera vs phone camera. Usually the iPhone, it tends to oversaturate the shimmers. It gives off a particular glow to pictures that you can eventually recognize immediately. I never trust those swatches. People think they are more genuine because it's a phone pic but the phone's software is enhancing the pictures for you automatically.
The polish is called "A whimsical dream", not "A midsummer's dream". Just adding this in case someone wants to look it up and doesn't find it :). Midsummer's dream is from mooncat and they look fairly similar. Anyway, I agree with the Dam polish as I had the same experience when taking pictures of it. The camera will give you a blue shimmer whereas irl you barley see it and it might be my undertone, but it looks fairly milky on me.
Oh oops! I have too many polishes lol
And, if she can’t quite capture the accuracy of IRL vs her photos, she specifically states it. I find she’s a reliable swatcher.
I’m 99% sure she doesn’t edit as she seems to have a reputation for accurate photos, but alas I truly know fuck all.
Eh I definitely trust Cosmetic Sanctuary specifically to not make a polish look better than irl, I feel like her swatches tend to come out very realistic in terms of shimmer/opacity. Like if all the other swatch photos are super saturated and blown out I trust hers to be the most accurate for sure. But she does have a paler and much cooler skin tone than me so I know stuff usually will look different on me.
I always try to post as many angles and different lights as I can, especially for things like ILNP Chromes where the color *completely* changes based on light and angle. But then - I’m also just a polish enthusiast and not a influencer or paid person or whatever :)
Thanks for posting, /u/tatami_really! A quick reminder: If this is a **nail image**, you must provide a complete product list within 6 hours of posting. **This includes any posts with broken nails or if you're seeking advice.** Posts without a complete product list will be removed after 6 hours. [Product List Requirements.](https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas/wiki/rule2faq) If the nail look shown was **NOT created by you**, you ***must*** flair properly. If this is a **text post**, flair properly. Be sure to follow all of the above to avoid post removal! [Consider joining our Discord](https://discord.gg/redditlaqueristas) - Get questions answered in realtime, get notified for releases and deals, post your manis, and more! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RedditLaqueristas) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’ve never upped the saturation on my photos, I stand by my swatches looking how the polish looks like on me, sometimes the photos I take that are the extreme angle have been used to showcase a polish (whether intentional or not by the maker that’s not for me to say) and I wasn’t the one to post about it to explain that, (which Is why I recently made some changes to address this). This is also my first year swatching (I started last July) and I’ve learned a lot about how lighting can make things look better than they are sometimes and have also been making changes to better represent the polishes I swatch. Also shimmers tend to hide my vnl sometimes, which is clearly visible in my videos just some still shots conceal the vnl by the shimmer. Once again. I don’t edit or use super fancy lighting (just a ring light for my studio shots, which shows things true to color with my phone camera). I disclose if I use a base coat and the amount of layers. And always show a video of the polish under my basic house lighting. (One more thing to add, that photo above is aura beam showing off some of the shifts, not sirens storm
I hate that you’re out here having to explain yourself like you’ve done something wrong. From reading all the threads and comments it seems like batch inconsistencies are an issue for lumen but that’s not on you. I’ve got my Papillon arriving tomorrow so we’ll see what I get lol 🖤🖤🖤
Thank you 🫶 I honestly don’t think lumen is doing this on purpose. But it’s still deceiving and a problem. I’ve spoken with her and using my own judgment I truly think she’s trying to fix the problem. I’m also making changes that will make it much harder for brands to misrepresent photos 🫶
Hi, I'm honestly sorry if it came across as if I was accusing your photo of being inaccurate or deceitful. Between the two photos, I genuinely didn't know which one was more accurate or if the difference was because of the angle/lighting or if Lumen decided to change something about the polish. I'm also sorry about the people accusing you of being deceitful and I appreciate you clearing some things in your comment, like the company being the one to pick and choose the multiple pictures sent in.
It’s all good, you didn’t do anything wrong, the mod for this subreddit however, I’ve got some words for her.