Lacquer Slacker Liz: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

Reprise: Pretty Serious Haddonfield

Happy Halloween! I'm not one for standard holiday celebrations, I like to make my own holidays. But with Halloween being one of the most celebrated holidays in the nail polish world, I wanted to make sure I offered a suitable manicure on this special nail polish day. Thus you get to see (once again) Haddonfield, released by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious Cosmetics as part of the Killer Fangirls collection for Halloween 2013.

The namesake of this polish is, of course, the fictitious Illinois town where the Halloween movie saga takes place, and it came with a special signed artist's card by Leigh Young, who does all of the artwork for Pretty Serious. So cute! It depicts a buxom miss holding a carved pumpkin and a really big carving knife in front of 45 Lampkin Lane, which is the address of Michael Myers, the twisted psychotic killer from the Halloween movies. This photo of the card and polish packaging are from my 22 October 2013 blog post featuring this polish.

Pretty Serious Haddonfield in box with signed artist's card by Leigh Young

Haddonfield is a glitter jelly polish. It has an orange-tinted translucent suspension base bearing holographic bright orange hex glitters, tiny orange hex glitters and black shred glitters. On the nail, it totally looks like bats flying across a sparkly orange sky. Perfect for Halloween!

Application was done on a wing and a prayer. I have no techniques to offer about applying shred glitters other than to use a light touch and hope for the best. On the bright side, these sometimes problematic glitters are only a portion of the components in this polish and they are moderately sized. The consistency of Haddonfield is fluid and smooth but dense with components that like to to tumble as you apply, especially the shreds. Pigmentation is largely accomplished by the glitters and must be built to opacity with multiple layers. I used a generous first coat followed by two thinner coats for this manicure, ending up with only a few shreds protruding from the free edge and one obvious stick up. Pretty Serious polishes come with a round, super flexible brush that fans out beautifully over the nail and makes it easy to gently sweep glitters into place without stacking. Haddonfield's glitter payoff is very good, with a nice random assortment of glitters per brushful. Cleanup is a bear, though, and my goal was to have as little of it to do as possible. Even so I had some minor swipage that freed up some sticky tiny oranges hexes on my skin that I was unable to remove completely, so you may notice some sparkly areas on my nail surrounds. Haddonfield dries naturally in average time to a shiny, slightly textured finish that is easily smoothed by a layer of basecoat followed by a fast-dry topcoat to ensure drying of all the layers.

Photos show three coats of Haddonfield over treatment and basecoat with a smoothing layer of Essie First Base followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Pretty Serious Haddonfield

This is the only glitter polish I have with shreds in it, and I think I'll keep it that way. It's also the only dedicated Halloween polish I have that I wouldn't wear at any other time of the year. That, I'm willing to change 'cause I can't imagine doing a third Halloween manicure with the same polish. So I'll be on the look out for another polish combining orange and black (at least) to add to my stash.

Wishing you and yours a glorious and safe Halloween!

love,
Liz

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Pretty Jelly Embroidery

Embroidery was released by indie polish maker Pretty Jelly as part of the Rich Fabrics Trio in September this year. It's officially described as a "rich green scattered-linear holo with golden-green shimmer flecks," and has a medium-light leafy green base swimming with golden shimmers that read as a bright green sparks through the base and provide a certain foily metallic quality to the finish of the polish. Embroidery is filled with finely milled holographic pigment and displays a strong flair in direct sun. In bright indirect light, the prismatic colors of the holo display merge with the base color and show as washes of mint, aqua, cerulean, Persian and jungle green, with a silvery blue-green foily flash at certain angles speckled with bright golden green sparks. It has a rarefied exotic quality that is hard to describe -- it's mutable and dynamic but also tranquil and soothing to the eye, simultaneously organic and jewel-like, like a tropical fish or a rainforest frog.

Application was delightful. The consistency of Embroidery is fluid, smooth and dense with a lovely balance of fluidity and viscosity for painting and a silky, self-leveling flow over the nail. Pigmentation is very good with evenly opaque coverage building in two medium coats. I used three for this manicure to see if an extra coat would make a difference in the appearance of the polish but it really didn't. These Pretty Jelly polishes are some of the nicest self-levelers I've worked with, and completely camouflage my ridges with the first coat -- outstanding! I had very little cleanup to do and it was easily accomplished with no sticky shimmers or traces of staining left behind. Embroidery dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish. Topcoat does not diminish the holographic properties in any way.

Photos show three coats of Embroidery over Seche Rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Pretty Jelly Embroidery

I'm quite taken with this changeable green holo confection! I adore the gorgeous variations of green and blue green that it displays, and love the silvery gold sparkle that adorns the prismatically nuanced base. It's perfectly beautiful in any light and very photogenic.

Embroidery attracted a lot of attention from my sister and her family, including my sweet niece Eleanor for whom this blog was created, who were visiting for the weekend. I came downstairs with it on my nails to a wave of compliments on the color and finish -- "Ooh! Ah! Green!" -- which delighted the heck out of me as you can imagine. There's nothing like the approving roar of the crowd to make you feel like a million bucks!

love,
Liz

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Darling Diva Nightbird

Nightbird was released by indie polish maker Darling Diva Polish as part of the White Witch collection in February this year. This collection of twelve holographic polishes was inspired by rock artist Stevie Nicks, and each polish was given the name of one of her songs. Carrie, the owner and creative force behind Darling Diva, describes Nightbird as a "deep indigo blue holo" with "just enough purple in there to make it not just another navy." It is indeed a beautiful dark but vivid indigo blue holographic polish that produces a beautiful well-defined linear prismatic display in direct sun. What impresses me about this polish is how finely tuned the balance is between the color and the holo. It doesn't contain overwhelming amounts of the holo pigment; the color doesn't segue into a reflective metallic in direct light and yet still produces a bold, nicely delineated flair; the base color is deep and rich in all lights; the holo pigment is sufficient and responsive enough to infuse the base color with prismatically nuanced shades of deep sapphire, midnight blue and violet in bright indirect light.

Application was very nice. This is a very user-friendly polish that has a fluid, smooth consistency with an even, self-leveling flow over the nail. Pigmentation is very good -- I used two coats for completely even opaque coverage. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with no trace of staining left behind. Nightbird dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not diminish the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of Nightbird over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl, and are a mix of indirect and direct light shots.

Darling Diva Nightbird

To me, the indigo color of this polish shows off the holo flair in a particularly exquisite way. The prismatic colors pop boldly from the deep blue, and the contrast between them is graphic and overt. It is pleasing to the eye the same way that the primary colors are when you see them used together in graphic art or a woven pattern or even a floral arrangement. I love that the burst of color comes from within the polish instead of floating above it, which often occurs with strong linear holos that develop a metallic sheen in direct sun. Nightbird is a consummate holo with equal parts of strength and grace in its prismatic properties.

The depth and dimension of this deep blue polish dovetails well with the song Nightbird, which is about coming to terms with grief and loss. I think Stevie would be pleased.

love,
Liz

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Smitten Polish Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful was released last month by indie polish maker Smitten Polish as part of the Fall 2014 collection. Noelie, the owner and creative force behind Smitten, describes it officially as a "coppery jelly filled with holographic microglitter." This amazing glitter bomb is so perfect for fall wear I can hardly stand it! It has a lightly tinted jelly base in which are suspended bazillions of infinitesimal baby-fine microglitters in a rusty burnt umber color, a big chunk of which are holographic. The color reminds me of the changing leaves on our big oak tree -- the overall look is of a profoundly sparkly coppery red-brown throwing red, dark pink and berry-colored sparks in indirect light. In direct light, ooh la la, it delights the eye as a brilliant tapestry of twinkling sparks in a rainbow of colors from the russet base. Penny Dreadful is a masterful, spectacular glitter creation, unlike any microglitter polish I've ever experienced.

Application was amazing. Noelie's jelly suspension base is not in the least bit thick or gel-like or sticky. It is fluid and silky smooth and applies as well or better than any creme. The microglitters are perfectly suspended in this base, and are so finely milled that you can't even tell that you're applying a glitter polish. It glides smoothly and evenly over the nail and is easily manipulated with Smitten's flattened flexible brush. No glitter tumbling or stacking or protrusions over the free edge with this puppy -- you can even wrap your tips as cleanly as you can with a creme. Like I said, amazing! Coverage is completely provided by the microglitters, which provide substantially wearable opacity in only two coats. I used three for this manicure, just to see if the additional coat made a difference in the coverage but it wasn't necessary and the only difference it made was a touch more opacity when backlit. Cleanup, too, is amazing. The microglitters are easily removed by a cleanup brush dipped in acetone or polish remover. Penny Dreadful dries naturally in very good time to a finely textured matte finish. One generous layer of topcoat is enough to smooth the surface and add a glossy shine.

Photos show three coats of Penny Dreadful over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Smitten Polish Penny Dreadful


Smitten Polish Penny Dreadful

Smitten Polish Penny Dreadful

Gorgeousness! It's much more fantastic in person than a still photo could ever show, too. And so willing and well-behaved, I would never have believed a microglitter bomb like this existed had I not tried it myself. I believe that she used this type of formulation previously, in polishes from her Spring and Summer 2014 collections, and I could kick myself for shying away from them. I purchased another microglitter polish from Smitten at the same time that I bought this one, one of a Halloween duo called Cauldron Bubble. I think I'll have to go back and get the other half of that duo as well as as many of the other microglitters as my wallet can handle. Yes, I'm that blown away.

And as if it wasn't already impressive enough, this polish removes with only slightly more effort that a non-glitter polish. No soaking of tips in tinfoil and what not. What sort of wizardry is this, all of the benefits of glitter with none of the drawbacks?! Scrolls of heaven, roll on down!

love,
Liz