Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Cranberry Sauced was released by Michigan-based indie polish maker Nine Zero Lacquer as part of the Thanksgiving Trio last month. Like yesterday's polish, this one is too awesome and wearable to confine to a single holiday. It has a semi-transparent cerise-leaning crimson jelly base that is absolutely packed with golden holographic microglitters. The holographic effects of the microglitters give the polish a powerful prismatic sparkle screened by the red jelly to red, pink, orange, yellow and purple hues primarily, but you do see the full rainbow of colors in direct sun. A flashy gleaming semi-metallic aspect to the finish is a gorgeous complement to all of the sparkle, and together they make for a totally festive look that is eminently suited to any holiday or event where you'd be inclined to rock a blingy red polish.

Application was great! I have a strong sense that Jess, the owner and creative force behind Nine Zero, takes great care to compose polishes that she herself would find easy to apply and want to wear, which I really appreciate. The consistency of Cranberry Sauced is a little on the thicker side in terms of fluidity, most likely necessary to ensure proper suspension of the microglitters. It is not that difficult to work with and will suit those who prefer a thicker polish very well, but my application skills do better with a slightly thinner formula so I added a bit of polish thinner to my bottle. This polish has excellent glitter payoff and self-levels beautifully. Coverage is provided for the most part by the components, as the base is fairly sheer. Depending upon your painting style, completely opaque coverage is achievable in two medium or three thinner coats. I used three to get as much of those delicious microglitters on my nails as possible. I had difficulty with cleanup, though, particularly because of those microglitters. It's not that they are overly sticky, although they do like to hang around a little bit, it's that there are just so many of them! It would take more patience than I had to remove them all. Clearly, my cleanup stamina is questionable. 

Cranberry Sauced dries naturally in good time to a shiny, gently textured finish. Contrary to what I've read elsewhere, this is not "glitter grit." It's a smooth pebbly sort of texture that I actually find rather pleasing. Topcoat makes it even smoother, though you may need to double up if you're wanting a truly glassy finish. I was happy with the look after a single layer of topcoat.

With apologies for the incompletely cleanup, photos show three coats of Cranberry Sauced over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

Nine Zero Lacquer Cranberry Sauced

This is so much fun! And it's gorgeous, too. Obviously very colorful in bright natural light thanks to the holographic properties of the microglitters, it's possibly even more celebratory in low light, where the semi-metallic aspect of the finish really comes into play and the microglitters tend to read as sparks of bright red from within the polish. This is a great sparkling red for evening. I imagine it would be divine in candlelight!

love,
Liz