Lacquer Slacker Liz: April 2014

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

China Glaze Elephant Walk

Elephant Walk was released by China Glaze as part of its On Safari collection for fall 2012. Officially described as a cool graphite grey, Elephant Walk is a medium grey with ultra fine silvery shimmers that are not all that forthcoming in the bottle but provide a lovely sheen across its surface on the nail. It has a tiny bit of a green undertone to it that is especially apparent in the bottle. If it's been sitting for a while, as mine has, the green gravitates towards the neck and the base and even after rigorous shaking you can still see it. But for me, this is a perfect medium grey.

Application was pretty nice. The consistency of Elephant Walk is fluid, creamy and dense, very pleasant to paint with. The formula was a tad thicker than what I typically encounter with China Glaze, and likes to go on in medium coats. Pigmentation is very good with nearly opaque coverage in one medium coat. I used two medium coats to ensure fullest coverage, best representation of the color and to give it the opportunity to camouflage my nail ridges, at which it was fairly successful. I've read other reviews where complaints were made about this polish's self-leveling properties, but I found it self-leveled fairly well when applied in medium coats. Elephant Walk cleans up easily and dries naturally in average time to a shade that's slightly darker than bottle color and a glossy finish.

Photos show two coats of Elephant Walk over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

China Glaze Elephant Walk

According to Wikipedia, grey is an intermediate color between black and white and as such is an a achromatic color, or color without color. Despite the fact that many nail polish enthusiasts love it's influence when blended into other colors, it seems like grey on its own is a somewhat polarizing neutral. People either love it or couldn't be bothered. I love it, it's my favorite medium-toned traditional neutral and I think it's sleek, buoyant and stylish as a nail polish color and one I consider to be eminently wearable in any season. I think Elephant Walk will make an especially classy darker polish come summer, which for us here in NC is right around the corner.

love,
Liz

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Zoya Ziv

Ziv was released by Zoya as part of its Ornate collection for holiday 2012. Zoya describes Ziv as "a full coverage, yellow-toned metallic gold foil with silver highlights and warm gold flake glitter accents," and I agree. Ziv has a neutral gold metallic base swimming with coppery-gold foily platelet glitters and shimmery silver flecks that give this gleaming golden polish richly grained dimensionality and scintillating sparkle in direct light. Like its silver sibling Trixie, it's more complex and special than your typical precious metal metallic or foil. Another double chocolate chip cookie!

Application was très bon! The consistency is fluid with a bit of extra texture from the glitters. It has the perfect amount of viscosity to keep it where you put it without any running. Pigmentation is also great with slightly sheer streak-free coverage in one coat and complete opacity in two. Although it does self-level to a degree, like most highly reflective metallic polishes this one will show nail bed irregularities so I doubled up on my Butter London Nail Foundation basecoat for this manicure. Like Trixie, cleanup is a bit of a bear (like maybe a baby bear), only because the shimmers and glitters disperse across the skin on contact with acetone or remover. Ziv dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish.

Photos show two coats of Ziv over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl. Please pardon the Lush Lemony Flutter lingering around my nail environs!

Zoya Ziv

Despite the fact that I'm a silver person and generally avoid golds, I have nothing but good things to say about Ziv. It has a beautiful speckled foily finish that produces a luminous glow in low light. Very elegant and graceful.

love,
Liz

Monday, April 28, 2014

Zoya Trixie

I honestly have no idea when or with which collection Trixie was released. It's certainly been with us for a while and has a whopping 27 reviews on Zoya's website, the most I've ever seen for any polish there. Zoya describes Trixie as a "stunning light silver with a sparkling metallic foil finish," and I agree. This is a very special silver with a highly reflective metallic base filled with scintillating foily silver shimmers. As one MUA reviewer put it, it's like double chocolate chip cookies, the best of both worlds.

Application was a little tricky for a couple of reasons, one being my less than stellar painting skills. Since metallics are notorious for showing irregularities of the nail bed, I began with two coats of Butter London Nail Foundation, my favorite ridge-filling basecoat. The consistency of Trixie is very fluid and it likes to travel so beware lest it flood your cuticles. Pigmentation is excellent with even coverage and near opacity in one coat (and I've read that many enjoy wearing it at one), complete opacity in two.

My application turned out to be pretty messy with several flooded edges, severe swipage especially on my finger tips while wrapping the free edge and one completely flooded cuticle. Argh! Painful, because this puppy is a beeyotch to clean up. Tiny silvery shimmers go EVERYWHERE and it seems like no amount of sweeping with a cleanup brush will remove them entirely. Perhaps a cotton swab would work better but I didn't try that. A thorough hand-washing after cleanup (and removal as well) helps to unseat most of the shimmers that are left behind.

I don't have any advisement on dry time because I immediately applied a fast dry topcoat to protect the metallic finish, which is quite vulnerable to smudges until it's dry. But I would expect Trixie to dry in fairly good time as most of Zoya's foils seem to do. The foily shimmers in this polish keep it from having a mirror chrome-like reflectivity (Trixie has more of a brushed or burnished looking finish), but the good news is that they also circumvent the brushstrokiness that's commonly seen with metallic polishes.

Photos show two coats of Trixie over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl. Chagrin du jour: a big fat bubble in my topcoat on the middle finger nail of my left hand. Note to self: overworking topcoat is not a legitimate form of exercise.

Zoya Trixie

I think this is a great silver metallic. I'm a huge fan of Zoya's foils and I think in this case it really makes the polish. Even though metallics aren't quite the rage now as they were four years ago when Minx Nails were everywhere, they still pop up every now and then as witnessed by OPI and Gwen Stefani's collaborative Push and Shove. And while you won't get the chromed nail look with Trixie as you do with Push and Shove, it's still a beautiful silver to have in your collection and you don't need a special basecoat to apply it.

love,
Liz

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Color Club Miss Bliss

Miss Bliss was released by Color Club as part of its Halo Hues collection for spring 2013. This collection marked round two for Halo Hues -- the first was released for fall 2012. Both shared the same smooth user-friendly formula and uber linear holographic display, with the second collection delivering more intense and saturated base colors.

Miss Bliss is a medium-light cool rosy pink linear holo with a slightly metallic appearance due to the intensity of the holographic display. The formula for this was primo, just perfect. Fluid but not runny with silky smooth self-leveling flow, this polish glides onto the nail without any of the patching or grabbing that was characteristic of many holographic polishes that came before the Halo Hues (cough, Layla, cough, Nfu oh). It does show irregularities in the nail bed, however, and I used two coats of my favorite ridge-filling basecoat, Butter London Nail Foundation, on the most ridged of my nails -- but honestly, the dramatic holographic display of this polish will make you forget every flaw you might have otherwise noticed.

Pigmentation is excellent with near one-coat coverage, but two thin coats are best for 100% opacity without thin spots and the richest most dynamic holo display. Cleanup and removal are straightforward and trouble-free except for some sparkling particles of holo pigment that want to cling to the skin when you go to remove any swipage. Miss Bliss dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish that takes well to topcoat without any noticeable disruption of the prismatic flair.

Photos were taken in indirect and direct natural light and show two coats of Miss Bliss over Seche Rebuild treatment and Butter London Nail Foundation basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Color Club Miss Bliss

This is just a magnificent example of a linear holographic polish. The flair is powerful and all of the rainbow colors are present and well defined. For linear holo lovers, all of the Halo Hues shades are worth seeking out. Personally, I prefer the more nuanced prismatic display of scattered holos, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the amazing beauty of a linear holo like Miss Bliss.

love,
Liz

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Deborah Lippmann Hannah

Hannah was released by Deborah Lippmann as part of her Girls collection inspired by the four main characters of HBO's series Girls in February 2013. I haven't seen the show at all and all I know about it comes from reading reviews of the Girls polish collection. So while I can't comment on the appropriateness of the color selection for the character Hannah, I can direct you to an outstanding blog post that does. Pam of Polish Police did an awesome post on this here, recommended reading if you want to find out more about the show and how the polishes of this collection relate to their respective characters.

Before I get into Hannah, the polish, I need to issue a nubbins alert. I've had nubbins on my right hand for a couple of weeks now, which has been weird since the nails on my left hand were long but I couldn't bear to do away with them as they're so much easier to swatch and photograph. But Fortuna took a hand (so to speak) in the situation. I was inexpertly wielding a serrated bread knife and sliced into the ring finger nail of my left hand. Lo! There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth but facts are facts and now I'm sporting nubbins across all ten fingers. It's not my best look, but I'm still game to polish. And for the record, all my respect and admiration for polish enthusiasts who regularly work with shorties. I think they are a lot harder to paint than long nails.

Hannah is officially described as a hunter green. I think it has a drop or two more blue in it, I typically think of hunter as more of a yellow or drab green. It's not quite as blue-leaning as pine green, but it has that feel. Hannah has a soft dusty look to it that brings to mind the flannel and chamois shirts from LL Bean. It's a subtle dark green creme with the softest of grey undertones that give it a slightly washed look, just like you want from your favorite flannels.

Application was lovely, even on my new nubbins. The consistency of Hannah is fluid, smooth and creamy with the perfect amount of viscosity. Pigmentation is very good. The first coat is somewhat sheer and streaky but everything evens up with the second. I felt it could have been more self-leveling given my experience with other Deborah Lippmann polishes, but this may have been just me adjusting to painting short nails. In any case, a coat of Seche Vite made for an even, glossy finish. Cleanup, which I did a lot of for this manicure, was easy and straightforward.

Photos show two coats of Hannah over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Deborah Lippmann Hannah

Obviously, I've got some work to do on my nail shape and cuticle condition. We'll just have to see how this goes.

Hannah is a sweet polish for times when you want something dark but not harsh. It applies beautifully and is easy to love. And now that I've got this polish and read about the show, I think I'm gonna have to suss out an episode or two of Girls and see what it's all about.

love,
Liz

Friday, April 25, 2014

A Bevy of Zoya Swatches (picture heavy)

Zoya Earth Day Polish Exchange

With Zoya's Earth Day Polish Exchange at hand, I thought I'd post some of my Zoya swatches for anyone who's preparing to take advantage of this awesome half-price promotion and is looking for suggestions on what polishes to add to their cart. Should you wish to read the accompanying post for the pictured polish, a click on the caption will take you there.

I wish I could say which ones are my favorites but it's really really difficult to pick. Zoya is my favorite mainstream brand and the one most represented in my stash. I guess, if forced to choose, the polishes I'd never want to be without include Mimi, Storm, FeiFei, Sooki and Rica. And Skylar. And Dita. And Charla. And Dannii. And Logan. And Kiki.

Sheesh!

love,
Liz