Sunday, December 7, 2014

Rainbow Honey Aurora

(source)
 
Aurora was released by indie polish maker Rainbow Honey Cosmetics as part of the November 2014 Mystery Bag and is not currently sold separately. I was recently introduced to the wonder of Rainbow Honey Mystery Bags by the lovely Marisa of Tiny Twinklings. Her infectious enthusiasm for Rainbow Honey products enabled me to make my very first purchase. The Mystery Bags are available individually and by subscription in two sizes. I chose this bag specifically for the polishes it includes, of which Aurora is one.

Dee, the owner and creative force behind Rainbow Honey, says of Aurora: "Inspired by the aurora borealis, this gleaming glitter polish with green and blue fluorescent hues is packed with silver, gold, diamond dust, shimmers and pigments." Deceptively sparkly, Aurora is actually a shimmerbomb. It's a luminous silvery blue-green polish composed of relatively large foily platelet shimmers in ice blue, pale green, silver and gold with accompanying particle shimmers in a lightly tinted transparent base. It has the look of glitter, including a scintillating sparkle, with none of the typical glitter hassles. My friend Marisa described it beautifully in her review, here: "Metallic and iridescent glass-fleck shimmers undulate with hues of precious metals and prismatic icicle hues, in a softly contemplative base of muted blue-green, the precise color of the North Sea."

Application was great. The consistency of Aurora is fluid and smooth with an even, silky flow over the nail. As the base is transparent, coverage is a function of the components and must be built over multiple coats. The first coat is very sheer, but the polish builds easily over three or four coats to wearably opaque coverage thanks to the the highly reflective nature of the shimmers, which camouflages any sheerness. Aurora likes to go on in thin coats, which I impatiently chose to ignore after the first coat but the next time I use this polish I will show more self-restraint and persevere with thinner coats. The end result is worth it. As is their nature, the shimmers lay very flat against the nail and Aurora dries to a silky smooth foily finish.

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


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora


Rainbow Honey Aurora

I lovely foily finishes and Aurora has what I would consider to be the epitome of a foily finish. The exquisite mosaic created by the tiny shimmers as they abut one another on the surface of the nail produces a radiant glow that emits tiny sparks of light when the light hits a shimmer just right. It's an eye-catcher, for sure. The polish enthusiasts at my doctor's office keyed in immediately to Aurora and offered profuse compliments, which pleased me to no end despite my hypertension that is responding only grudgingly to medication. I've been three times in the last three weeks and have to go back again in two. 

The icing on the cake with Aurora is that it removes as easily as any shimmer polish with no residual sparkles on the nail environs. Huzzah! I'm thinking that the next time I wear it I'll try it over a complementary-colored holo!

love,
Liz

4 comments:

  1. I've been looking forward to your review ever since you said you picked up the box!!!! OH MY GOSH LIZ, this is so gorgeous solo!! I'm going to have to try it this way next time... I can't stop scrolling up & down, staring at the beautifulness of this mani <3 <3 <3 You are such a sweetheart; your mention gives me the cuddly fuzzies :D Feel better, dear! If nothing else, I'm glad Aurora brought a little light to a tough day. (Somewhat relevant side note, finally watched Maleficent last night... such magnificence!! At first I didn't agree with the casting for Aurora but I was definitely won over. I love that she actually kinda looks like, or at least passes for, a normal 16 year old!)

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    1. I'm so glad you like the mani, Marisa -- it's here because of YOU! After re-reading your review I realized that nothing I could say would describe this polish as well as your beautiful prose -- you're very quotable, my dear. Thanks for the kind thought, spending so much time with a gp feels a little weird, but that's what I get for avoiding medical doctors for most of my adult life.

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  2. Yikes!! This is a beautiful finish. I've never seen anything like it! It's like a freshly frozen-over scummy pond. That doesn't sound one sixteenth as glamorous as the actual polish looks, but it's seriously the first thing I thought of. :P I'm sorry you're have a tough time...Mr. Sweets' BP shot up over Thanksgiving weekend. He had been taken off his meds, but...back in the saddle.

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    1. *lol* Frozen pond scum? Only you, Melissa! Oh I'm ok, it's just the blood pressure that isn't. I don't feel any different being on the meds than I did before and I guess that's the problem. Apparently it'll take some experimentation to find out what works.

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