Application was a little disappointing. The consistency is very fluid almost to the point of runniness, with enough of a jelly's sheerness to it to cause a few interesting issues. My first coat was thin and streaky. This is a polish that likes to go on in medium to thick coats, and will pull patches at the cuticle otherwise. I still had a few patches after a second, thicker coat, so I went on and did a third. I was apprehensive that thicker coats might lead to pooling along the edges, but luckily it didn't and I was happy with the way this manicure turned out in the end. Shockwave is fairly forgiving and allows restrokes and repairs provided there is enough polish on the brush. Surprisingly, I had no problems with bubbling even with the thicker coats. Shockwave dries naturally in fairly good time to a bit darker that bottle color and a beautiful glossy finish.
Clean up brush note: sadly, my new ELF cleanup brush began losing bristles today. Apparently regular dips into acetone were too much for whatever bonding agent held the bristles inside the ferrule. Sigh. So I am back with my sturdy if less-than-perfect angled liner for clean up. At least I now know that a filbert shaped brush works the best for me, and I plan to visit an artist's supply and find one.
Photos show three coats of Shockwave over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl to ensure drying of all the layers and protect against smudging and dents.
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave, plus bonus Chi hair! |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Orly Shockwave |
Checking over my collection, it seems that Shockwave is my only true royal blue polish. *shock* I have other dark blues, but all nuance themselves into other color families. While I like the color of Shockwave, I didn't particularly care for how it applied so I'm going to set out to find another royal blue that applies better and has perhaps more of a true creme formula. I've heard that China Glaze First Mate is a good one. I'm dying to try out some Mentality polishes, Brute among others.
Do you have any suggestions for a royal blue candidate? I'm all ears!
love,
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment