NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer is an indie polish maker owned and run by glitter and sci fi aficionado Amanda Collier. The best way to describe this talented, creative, innovative and wildly popular indie polish brand is with her own words. This is from her Google+ page...

Ultra-sparkly custom blended nail polish inspired by sci-fi faves and other geekery. Tired of the same old nail polish shades? Me too. Tired of companies using the same old princess sexy fashion cutie-pie names and themes? ME TOO. 

Some of us only want to be a princess if we get a laser pistol along with the tiara.  

WELCOME TO NERDLACQUER. Fancy-pants finger candy with space-age sparkle, in colors inspired by science fiction classics and other geek favorites -- from alchemy and astronomy to Star Wars and Monty Python. Visit NerdLacquer.com next time you're having glitter withdrawal. We'll hook you riiiiight up.

I was fortunate enough to be gifted four NerdLacquers by the lovely and generous Thithi of ::pretty::tough::nails:: during a recent swap and now I'm setting out to swatch them for you. I'll begin with The Ring, from a polish series based on The Lord of The Rings trilogy.

The Ring is one of Amanda's self-professed favorite kinds of polish: "with glitter but not SOLID glitter, with enough base color and/or shimmer that it's pretty opaque in two coats but not too opaque to use for layering." It has a shimmering base of light antique gold with ochre undertones filled with opalescent gold and red microglitters and small and medium gold hex glitters. In the bottle, it looks like it may have a drop of olivine in there somewhere but on the nail it becomes a softly burnished shimmering old gold with a rich brassy patina, a fiery glow and dancing sparks of light from the opalescent microglitters. This is not a simple metallic polish. Lavish, opulent and complex, it gleams on the nail exactly as you would expect from a polish named after Gollum's precious.

For all its components, application was remarkably easy. The Ring is liquid with excellent flow and just the right amount of viscosity to stay exactly where you put it. The brush was small but flexible, providing superb control and dispersing the multitude of glitters evenly across the nail. This polish really makes you feel like you are painting -- creating a piece of art. Coverage was excellent for a glitter polish with opacity in two medium coats. The Ring dries naturally to a slightly textured satiny smoothness.

Photos show two coats of The Ring over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite to protect the manicure and add a little additional gloss.

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

Add caption

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

NerdLacquer The Ring

I'm not sure that still photos do proper justice to the tremendous dimensionality of this polish or the painterly qualities of its composition. It has a presence that almost transcends the normal aspects of nail polish like color and finish. Normally, I don't think my complexion looks good against gold. But I feel like The Ring looks awesome on my nails! But this is not a typical gold, it's got a wealth of nuance and character and you can almost feel the creative energy that must have gone into its creation.

NerdLacquer polishes are notoriously hard to come by, they sell out immediately from all venues where they appear. For this reason I had despaired of acquiring any. Thithi to the rescue! Ah, the crafty kitten, she must have known this would only whet my appetite....

love,

Aunt Liz