Electric Flame is part of a collection of polishes by Hare called The Illuminated Life. Nikole used bioluminescence as her inspiration for these polishes. Electric Flame was inspired by the electric flame scallop, a marine bivalve mollusk with vivid reddish orange mantle and tentacles, and a strip of bioluminescent tissue on the edge of its mantle that pulses with blue light.
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| electric flame scallop |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame, bottle shot |
Seeing as Electric Flame is a jelly, I thought I'd better seek out proper underwear for it. I had absolutely nothing in my stash that even remotely resembled the base color, so I improvised. I applied a coat of Sation Strumming My Fingers, an off white creme. Then over that I applied a coat of another Sation, Of Corset I'll Call You, a sheer pale peachy pink. Using that as my base, I then applied three coats of Electric Flame.
Well that was an epic FAIL. The whiteness of Strumming My Fingers intensified the base color of Electric Flame to a neon melon color. Plus, Electric Flame dries really really fast. Unless you get the polish over the nail surface very quickly and smoothly, it begins to pull itself into globs. Now with my skills, you can guess how things turned out. I ended up with uneven blobby surfaces and way too much polish on my nails. *sad face* Needlesstosay, I took no photos.
Not to be deterred, however, I set about searching online for a properly pale peachy orangey color to use under Electric Flame. And I found two, ELF Coral Dream and Misa Peach Passion. I ordered them (no-buy? what is this "no-buy" you speak of?) and awaited their arrival.
When they got here, they looked like just what the doctor ordered. I was thrilled. I grabbed up a swatch wheel and Electric Flame and swatched them both.
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| ELF Coral Dream and Misa Peach Passion |
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| ELF Coral Dream, Hare Polish Electric Flame, Misa Peach Passion |
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| left: Electric Flame over ELF Coral Dream, right: Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| both lookin' good, no? |
I decided to try ELF Coral Dream first. It was fairly easy to apply, but my nail ridges still showed through even after two coats. I went ahead and layered two coats of Electric Flame over hoping that this would camoflauge the ridges. DENIED! They still showed. Plus, Coral Dream turned out to be a little too dark and a little too vivid to allow Electric Flame to look like the bottle color. I took photos anyway, so you could see...
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over ELF Coral Dream |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over ELF Coral Dream |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over ELF Coral Dream |
So then it was time to give Misa Peach Passion a go. It applied easily and dried quickly. Two coats mostly covered the ridges, but they still showed a little bit. Here are pics of Peach Passion, two coats over basecoat with a topcoat of Orly Sec 'n Dry...
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| Misa Peach Passion |
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| Misa Peach Passion |
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| Misa Peach Passion |
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| Misa Peach Passion, at the window... |
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| Misa Peach Passion |
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| Misa Peach Passion |
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| Misa Peach Passion on my thumb, Hare Polish Electric Flame in the bottle |
This looks like it should work, I thought. I persevered, applying two coats of Electric Flame as quickly and carefully as I could and making SURE the first one was dry before I applied the second. I finished with a nice thick topcoat of Seche Vite.
How did it turn out? You tell me...
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion on my nails, Electric Flame in the bottle |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion on my thumb, Electric Flame in the bottle |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion, at the window... |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| extreme close up whoa! |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
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| Hare Polish Electric Flame over Misa Peach Passion |
My feelings here are twofold. First, peach is not my color. Second, the only way that Electric Flame will turn out the way I want it to look is to apply it by itself. Opacity is contraindicated. Translucence is essential to the look. If visible nail line and ridges are part of that look, so be it.
So my plan for the next time I wear this polish is to apply it alone. If I get the look I'm hoping for, I'll take pictures. If I don't... well, you may not even hear about it.
We're having a terrific thunderstorm here right now. The sky is all bruise-colored and the wind is whipping like an angry cat's tail. Cool!
Are you playing nice with Fuzzy? Inquiring minds want to know!
love,
Aunt Liz
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