Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Indie polish maker Smitten Polish from Cape Girardeau, MO released Isla de Muerto this year as part of its Shipwrecked collection. Noelie Schaeffer, the owner and creative force behind Smitten Polish, described Isla de Muerto as "a glass fleck with blue and copper flecks, plus copper shimmer." It is a beautiful medium-dark saturated marine blue glass fleck polish containing variously shaped shardy flecks of bright blue and coppery pink. I think there must be blue shimmers in there as well as copper because the polish twinkles with blue and copper sparks with the flecks adding a lovely dimensional patinated look to the slightly foily finish.

Isla de Muerto is a fast drying polish that likes a bit of polish thinner to keep it workable during application. Pigmentation is excellent and I achieved completely coverage with two thin easy coats. I love the brushes that come with Smitten's polishes. They remind me of Picture Polishes new brushes, short-stemmed and slightly flattened with soft flexible bristles that have just the right amount of tensile strength to easily fan and disperse polish across the nail. All of the elements in Isla de Muerto are fully incorporated into the polish and obtaining a uniform look across all of my nails was no problem. As I mentioned, this polish dries very quickly to a satiny finish.

Photos show two coats of Isla de Muerto over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite to pop the colors and add a glossy finish. Please excuse the flaky fingers. Even though it's still pretty temperate outside, we have been running the heat occasionally and apparently my skin has taken this cue to throw dry and flaky fits. I shudder to think what I'll be photographing come any truly cold weather. I bet you do too!

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto, macro shot in the bottle

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto

This polish makes me want to break out my Steve Irwin (god rest his beautiful soul) imitation and exclaim "Isn't she GORGEOUS!" to everyone I see. On the nail, it has a soft foily blue glow and I adore the pinkish new penny shine of the flaky copper flecks and the way they freckle the oceanic blue. Buried in the layers of blue they turn a mysterious dark brown, and look at those shimmering blue glass flecks! This isn't your typical bright blue polish, it has some delightful engaging visual texture that makes it really special.

I like it very much indeed.

I showed it to Fuzzy who took it in and then shouted, "Lively! Elegant!" It's great living with folks who appreciate nail polish.


love,
Aunt Liz