I’ve been eyeing Dior’s Aztec Chocolate #886 Nail Polish on Sephora.com for a while and was hoping it would arrive instore. Unfortunately, it’s labeled as “online only” and I couldn’t find it anywhere else. When the VIB $20 off promo came up, I couldn’t resist.
I had seen Aztec Chocolate featured on Vampy Varnish and The Nail Phile and both blogs showed the complex nature of the product. I wondered if it was more plum or chocolate. The product that arrived proved to be both, but it’s definitely more plum on me. Depending on the angle and lighting you’ll see one color dominate over the other. Also, there’s pretty gold veining throughout that you can see in the sunlight. This doesn’t really show up on the nails but it makes for a pretty bottle.
It comes with the new chiseled-style brush (similar to the brushes on Timeless Gold & Czarina Gold reviewed back in October). The color is beautiful with three coats, but the formula is a bit sheer and hard to work with. The first coat is pretty sad, but if you have time and don’t mind waiting for each coat to dry, you can get full coverage with three.
The same polish, Dior Aztec Chocolate, with and without flash:
In direct sunlight, definitely plum:
So how plum or taupe or chocolatey is it? Well, it depends on how you look at it.
- By itself it looks like a plummy brown in the bottle
- Next to other shades, it looks brownish
- On the nails, it’s more plum with a slight brownish base
- It’s just very hard to describe since it looks so different in the bottle v on the nails
I pulled out what I thought might be similar which includes NARS Tokaïdo Express, OPI YDKJ Suede, OPI Holiday Glow, Dior Lemon Balm and Dior Bronze Libertine.
Conclusion: When compared to others (as seen below) it definitely looks brown in the bottle, however when it’s applied on the fingers it’s clearly plum.
A closer detail. While Aztec Chocolate is definitely more plum on me, it looks brownish in the bottle compared to some of the other shades. You can see Lemon Balm is similar, just slightly more purples in the swatch.
L to R: Aztec Chocolate, Lemon Balm, OPI Holiday Glow
Overall, like the color, but not the formula. Have any of you been able to see/test this in person? As far as I know, it appears to be a Sephora exclusive, but I could be wrong.
