Lacquer Slacker Liz: 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Glam Polish Now You See Me

Hello there. It's been raining like all get out off and on today. Thundering too. Anyone else have a dog that won't take a pee in the rain? Chi just will not do it. I put her coat on her so that at least her body is covered, and she eagerly goes out onto the porch but the enthusiasm quickly turns in the other direction once she gets a good look at the precipitation. Even if I drag her out under a golf-sized umbrella, she just stands there with her head down looking pitiful. You'd think that there would be a point where the need to pee would overshadow the dislike of the rain, but no. She'll hold it, thank you very much. So I'm on the alert for lulls in the downpour, since a dog with a full bladder wandering around the house is an unfortunate event just waiting to happen.

Since it's New Year's Eve, or will be when I post this, I'm in the mood for wow, and I'm sure you'd agree that it's only natural I would turn to a recent purchase from Australian indie polish maker Glam Polish as my source. Now You See Me was released as part of the Masters of Illusion collection at the beginning of April this year. This is a gorgeous silver polish full of every sort of silver component you can think of: holographic pigment, silver ultraholo gitters, silver holographic microglitters, sterling silver flakes and small silvery flakies that are either also holographic or iridescent. It's slightly darker and more grey than you might expect, sort of like the color Silver Chalice from Xona.com colorlist. The abundance and variety of components make it a dynamic polish in any light. The finish is more sparkly than metallic, although the gleaming silver flakes do give it a lustrous dappled effect, especially in natural light. Obviously, we have no sun here today but I had a look at it under the halogen lights in the kitchen and the prismatic sparkle is simply glorious floating over a pervasive but somewhat dispersed linear flare.

Application was most agreeable. The consistency of Now You See Me is fluid, smooth and dense with an easy, self-leveling flow over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. Coverage is very good, considering that it is provided solely by the components. Wearable coverage can be had in two medium coats, with the bling providing excellent camouflage for any sheerness. I added a third coat for most complete opacity for the photos, and was pleased that it did not appear at all bulky on the nail. Cleanup is something you'll want to do as little of as possible, so it is best to strive for a clean manicure at the outset, entirely feasible given this polish's user-friendly formula. Now You See Me dries naturally in good time to a gentle pebbled finish that quickly eats through one layer of topcoat so double up if you're looking for a glassy finish. I was happy with the shine after one layer -- the slight texture didn't bother me.

Photos show three coats of Now You See Me over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. On top of the heavy cloud cover, the shine, sparkle and visual texture of this beauty rather flummoxed the camera. So the focus in these pics is tenuous at best, and I suggest that you NOT enlarge them. My apologies!

Glam Polish Now You See Me

While the pics are blurry, they do capture the look of the polish in low light. The darker flecks that you see are actually silver flakies, which gleam brightly outdoors but hide their reflectivity in these shots. I also took a set of photos under the halogens, but I think they are less indicative of how the polish looks in person as the strong holographic effects appear to deepen the overall appearance of the color. Since I have them, though, I'm going to share.

Glam Polish Now You See Me

Suffice to say that this polish fills the wow bill. Now if something could just be done about the rain!

ttyl,
Liz

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Girly Bits Visions of Sugar Plums

Also included in the box from Marisa, Visions of Sugar Plums was released by Canadian indie polish maker Girly Bits as part of the Season of Sparkle collection in November 2012. Described by creator Pam as "a deep plum jelly base with iridescent and shifting glitter," the translucent plummy purple base color is deep but vibrant and unmuddied, with hints of indigo to it. Suspended within is an almost bewildering assortment of gleaming variously-sized metallic hex and square glitters in copper, blue and silver at least, some of them with a light-trapping iridescence that flashes pale green, aqua, magenta and any number of other opalescent hues. The mix of colors, and the copper especially, is wonderfully complementary to the purple base. The glitters effect a marvelous multicolored sparkle as light plays over them that has a magical, dreamy quality -- you could swear that there were faeries in there!

Application was a treat. The glitters in this three-year-old bottle of polish are still perfectly suspended, and the jelly base still fluid, if a bit thick for my taste and skills. I added polish thinner and all was well. Glitter payoff was excellent with a plentiful assortment of glitters that distributed easily over the nail with no extra fiddling necessary. I had only one stickup and a few instances of protrusions over the free edge, which I eased back onto the nail as I wrapped the tip. Pigmentation was also excellent, especially for a jelly, with evenly opaque, wearable coverage in just two coats -- from past reviews, I'd expected it to require more than that and in retrospect, I think I should have used another coat for the photos. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Visions of Sugar Plums dried naturally in good time to a shiny finish with some texture from the glitter. I used a coat of Plump Up the Volume to begin smoothing out the surface and finished the job with a generous topcoat of Seche Vite.

Photos show two coats of Visions of Sugar Plums over treatment and basecoat with a surface-smoothing topcoat of Pretty Serious Plump Up the Volume followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Girly Bits Visions of Sugar Plums

If I ever had a sugar plum dream, I'd certainly hope it would look something like this!

love,
Liz

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

The best thing about Christmas are those unexpected gifts. Like we received from Fuzzy's housekeeper, Maria, who stopped by on Christmas Eve day bearing a foil-wrapped stack of crispy sugared flour tortillas and a large ziploc full of her wonderful handmade tamales. Or the gift box of selected holiday teas from Adagio Teas, sent by my brother and his wife that came accompanied by an extra pouch of our shared favorite Tardis blend, the tea with which I introduced them to Adagio a couple of years ago. Or the photos of my father, from whom I had been estranged for decades until recently, posing with my Christmas gift to him considerately posted on Facebook by my awesome sister.

And then came the mother of all surprises, a beautiful box full of nail polish and treats specially curated for the season with a lovely handwritten note from my nail polish bff, Marisa in Missoula, MT. Compassionate, enthusiastic and generous with a delightful buoyancy of spirit, a tender heart and a onomatopoeic love of sparkle, this woman can put together a gift like no one else I know -- to the very taping of the box, secure enough for shipping but strategically placed to open gracefully with a few easy cuts.

There were several venerable indie polishes from Christmas collections past in the box, and It Is What It Is by Darling Diva Polish is obviously one of them -- aptly-named, coincidentally enough, because I could find no reference to it anywhere online. This polish has a white creme/jelly hybrid base in which is suspended a generous flock of variously-sized square, hex and microbar glitters in green, red and gold, some of them holographic. The way things are going, we may not see snow at all this year in central NC (hopefully that declaration tempts fate!) so I consider this classic wintry white crelly with its festive glitter mix a perfect Christmas snow stand-in.

The formula had thickened a bit in the bottle but with a few squirts of polish thinner became compliantly fluid and creamy. I laid down a thin careful coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White to get it off to a running start and help avoid any show-through of the polish staining on my nails. It Is What It Is went on like butter with very good glitter payoff, dispersing easily and laying perfectly flat to the nail without tumbling, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. I applied two coats, which dried naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with only a hint of texture from the components that evened out to a glassy smoothness with a layer of topcoat. Sweet!

Photos show two coats of It Is What It Is over treatment, basecoat and a layer of Sinful Colors Snow Me White with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

I was delighted to show this polish to Fuzzy, well aware that her tenaciously held misgivings toward glitter polish are easily incited. Something about my expression must have given me away, because she eyed my hands with suspicion as I approached. "What is that? It looks like nougat." Which it kind of does, to be honest. Then, after a peremptory examination, I was rewarded with the customary declaration of doubt as to whether ANY nail polish should contain "big chunks" of glitter, because it is "unnatural" and just looks "wrong."

*lol* So gratifying!

Surprisingly, I own no other Christmas-oriented white glitter crellies, a void that definitely needed filling. I had actually given some thought to acquiring KBShimmer's Holly Back Girl this year but forgot to get around to it before Christmas was upon me. Enter Santa's sprightly little helper, Marisa! Thank you, my dear, for your sweet generosity and for your friendship. I treasure our shared polish adventures!

love,
Liz

Monday, December 28, 2015

Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit

A Sensible Rabbit was released by New Mexico-based indie polish maker Literary Lacquers as part of the 2015 Community Collection at the beginning of this month. For the third year in a row, creator Amy has collaborated with specific polish bloggers and enthusiasts to design a series of polishes inspired by their favorite books. A Sensible Rabbit was created according to a design by Cassandra Pio of Fierce Hearts Wildlife Rehabilitation, which was inspired by the character of Hyzenthlay in the 1972 classic adventure novel Watership Down by English author Richard Adams.

This is a light taupe linear holo sprinkled with the tiniest of microglitters in black, a nail polish impersonation of rabbit fur. It's also filled with finely-milled particulate shimmers in gold, giving the polish a gently gilded mien that has something of an antique quality to it, like the patina on old silver. The holographic pigment produces a milky greyish-blue nuance to the base color, almost opalescent in character, which adds a beautiful dimensionality to the polish. Direct sun, of which we had only brief moments today, generates a lovely sparkling prismatic flare in pasteled prismatic colors with pale blue predominating, edged by sparks of green, yellow and red before ultimately shading to a creamy medium taupe at the edges of the nail. The speckling of black microglitters, in perfect ratio to the other elements of the polish, is utterly delightful!

Application was a pleasure. The consistency of A Sensible Rabbit is on par with what I've learned to expect from Literary Lacquers: on the thicker side but still paintably fluid, smooth and dense with a bit of pull to it. It has a plush glide over the nail and very good self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is very good also, with evenly opaque coverage achieved in two coats. I added a third to diminish the appearance of my ridged nail beds, which were still a little too visible for my taste at two coats. Cleanup was fairly straightforward. The black microglitters required some extra attention, but gave up the ghost without too much trouble. A Sensible Rabbit dries naturally in very good time to a matte finish with a slightly sandy texture from the microglitters, easily smoothed by topcoat.

Photos show three coats of A Sensible Rabbit over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. As I mentioned, the sun was out for just a few brief moments this afternoon -- not long enough for me to capture any pics, unfortunately. But I think you'll be able to see a bit of prismatic color in some of these shots, which will hopefully give an idea of what this lacquer can get up to in direct sun. I encourage clicking on the photos to view the enlargements so you can see all the wonderful details of this beauty!

Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit

Pied beauty, indeed! Gerard Manly Hopkins would surely have loved this polish. I know I do! It's a masterful composition by Amy that does full justice to its inspiration, just as perfect as it can be and unique among taupe holos with its overt golden shimmers and delicious, stealthy black speckles. Its neutral color and somewhat demure presence on the nail is belied by a rich golden flash in most circumstances, and even though I am generally not a fan of how gold looks on me, I am in awe of this wonderful creation.

Amy Milder, I salute you!

love,
Liz