We do love our indie polish makers so!
And with good reason. There may well have been folks making handmade polish before the internet, but we will probably never know how many or what kinds of polishes they made. With the internet came the ability for independent polish makers to sell their creations to polish enthusiasts everywhere, all over the world. And polish enthusiasts have embraced that opportunity with all their hearts. They buy and collect indie polishes and chat about them in online forums. Nail polish bloggers review indie polishes and take beautiful photographs to display in their posts. The creative energy released into the polish world by indie polish makers has been making its way to mainstream manufacturers, who are stepping up their game with healthier more innovative polishes of their own. All of us benefit from the skill, innovation, creativity and inspiration of polish artisans. LOVE makes things GROW!
In the future, who knows? You can already have a polish custom made for you, there are indie polish makers on etsy who do this. But maybe someday you'll be able to go online, select colors and glitters and have it mixed up, bottled and delivered to your door the next day as a matter of course. It could happen, you never know.
Pahlish is owned and operated by Shannon Pahlas in Jonesboro, Arkansas. I love this woman's work! I visit her etsy shop often to examine, admire and covet her offerings there. So far I only have two of her polishes. But I can tell you right now that there'll be a few more added to my collection before all's said and done. Some lemmings of the moment (click the links, a window will open up showing the polish): Pianos Filled With Flames, Sullen Girl, Dark Paradise, Anticipating and Pacing, This New Sun and Still Alive.
Ace of Fours was an untried polish that I've had for a couple of months. I got it back when I was flush earlier this spring from my favorite online polish shop, Llarowe, along with a whole mess of other polishes. This was way before my new nail polish rack, of course, and Ace of Fours got put into a box with other untried polishes and there it sat. Blasphemy! I found it while settling my collection into its new home and now I'm wearing and sharing it with you.
Ace of Fours has a soft white crelly base swimming with bright sky blue and iridescent charcoal gray flakies. There's beautiful color-shifting white/silver iridescent microflakie shimmer in there too. You know I love the flakie thing and this polish has got it goin' ON, baby girl!
Application was a pleasure and a delight. The polish toted it's load of flakies with ease onto the nail. The manicure started with a coat of Seche Rebuild treatment basecoat, then three coats of Ace of Fours and finished off with a glossy Seche Vite topcoat.
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours bottle shot |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours macro shot in the bottle, check out those flakies! shardy goodness! |
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| shimmering microflakies, delish! |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours on my thumb and in the bottle |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| at the window... |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| modified claw, a little out of focus but I like this shot because you can see some sparky little blue and purply pink flashes from the iridescent microflake shimmer... |
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| at the window with my other hand... |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours |
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours on the nail showing great match to bottle color |
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| some shimmery flakie action here... |
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| ignore the African Rift Valley in the center of the nail (that's my Seche Vite topcoat drying) and note the shardy sparkles! |
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| sparkling microflakies abound, you just have to look for them (and ignore the not-so-micro cuticle flakiness... and the HAIR-- eww! -- but at least it's BLOND *lol* or maybe that's gray, hmm...) |
Do I have love for Ace of Fours? You know it! This polish, which to me looks somewhat demure and aloof in the bottle, takes on a lovely sleek air of chic cool confidence on the nail, still a little aloof (in a good way!) but definitely not demure. The blue and charcoal flakes layer into the creamy base and give the polish a beautiful mysterious cloud color when you catch it out of the corner of your eye. It's like weather on your nails.
I think this would make a SMASHING winter manicure. I love the idea of wearing it when it's cold and gray outside, wow!
As I was studying Ace of Fours on my nails I got to wondering if I had another polish that would make good undies for it. I selected five to try out on the swatch wheel...
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| Pahlish Ace of Fours undie try out, left to right: China Glaze Sea Spray, Sation Strumming My Nails, China Glaze Pelican Gray, Sinful Colors Rainstorm, China Glaze Electric Beat |
Swatch wheel shows one coat of undie color and one coat of Ace of Fours...
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| l to r: China Glaze Sea Spray, Sation Strumming My Nails, China Glaze Pelican Gray, Sinful Colors Rainstorm, China Glaze Electric Beat |
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| l to r: China Glaze Sea Spray, Sation Strumming My Nails, China Glaze Pelican Gray, Sinful Colors Rainstorm, China Glaze Electric Beat, all layered under one coat of Ace of Fours |
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| three coats of Ace of Fours on my thumb, swatch wheel shows one coat of Ace of Fours layered over China Glaze Pelican Gray, Sinful Colors Rainstorm and China Glaze Electric Beat |
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| which one would YOU pick? |
Winning best match for Ace of Fours on the nail: the China Glaze Sea Spray combo (far left). It's damn near perfect, no? Sea Spray is turning out to be one of the most amazingly versatile layering polishes ever, I swear. Other colors I like the look of in this combo with Ace of Fours: China Glaze Pelican Gray (middle) and China Glaze Electric Beat (far left).
These pics make me want to go buy more Pahlish and more China Glaze to layer them over! Argh! Curse you, no-buy! Well, I broke it before... maybe just maybe it'll get broken again. *evil smile* Oh good lord! *groan* Split a frog hair three ways and that's how close I am to chucking self-discipline and financial responsibility out the window and running off with an electronic shopping cart....
I am not a grown up. But you already knew that, eh? *grin*
love,
Aunt Liz
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