Thursday, July 30, 2015

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life

Bound to the City Life was originally released by indie polish maker Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer as part of the Spark in the Dark collection in January this year and was recently re-released for pre-order as part of the Fan Favorites collection at the end of June/beginning of July.  It has a dark cerulean blue jelly base bearing superabundant holographic microglitters in purple, navy, red, green and silver. I can see why BEGL fans wanted this one resurrected, it's fabulous. Cerulean is one of my favorite blues, and the deep cerulean base color is gloriously intense with a fathomless quality -- it's like the color you see in a clear, cloudless night sky just after the sun has gone down or the color of the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize. In the sun, the tiny microglitters throw a bazillion twinkling multicolored pinpoint sparks from within the brilliant inky cerulean depths.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Bound to the City Life is full-bodied, fluid and smooth with an even, self-leveling flow over the nail. It has a certain jelly-like viscosity to it but is not at all sticky or goopy, and is easy to manipulate with BEGL's round flexible brush. Pigmentation is excellent for a jelly, with evenly opaque coverage available in two coats. Cleanup is surprisingly easy for such a well-pigmented blue polish, with very little pigment travel and almost no residual staining. Bound to the City Life dries naturally in very good time to slightly flat, textured finish that wants a good topcoat to make the most of the jelly base's glossy formula. 

Photos show two coats of Bound to the City Life over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life


Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life

The amazing dynamic light play of those minute microglitters is impossible to show in a still image, although Plump and Polished does a fantastic job of capturing the colors in one of her photos from a review of the original Spark in the Dark collection, here. I love this sweet dark twinkler, it's beautifully composed and formulated and possesses a "far away stars in the midnight sky" sort of dimensional depth that feels graceful and timeless on the nail. 

I'm not sure exactly when Julie is planning to release the Fan Favorites collection for general sale in her big cartel shop, but it must be soon. You can follow BEGL on facebook to keep up with her doings, including the official release of this newest collection. Along with Bound to the City Life, I also got Wanna Fall in Love Tonight during the pre-sale but I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting Cherry Blossom as well. And Fare the Wind. Heck, the whole collection looks great!

love,
Liz

2 comments:

  1. Your reviews are just freaking astounding. Like whoa. Beautifully written, gorgeously clear photos, and perfectly detailed. I'm so glad you loved BTTCL! I had a purple version in the Doctor Who Collection last year, and now I kind of want to bring that one back again in the near future! :D Thank you so much for the lovely review!

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    1. Oh, you're so welcome and thank you for the lovely compliments -- music to my ears (eyes?)! I do love this polish, the color and the sparkle are DIVINE. Would love to see you bring back a purple version!

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