Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Permafrost was recently released by Philadelphia-based indie polish maker Alchemy Lacquers as part of the new Arctic Alchemy collection about two weeks ago. Rebecca, the owner and creative force behind Alchemy Lacquers, describes this as a "warm gray creme nail lacquer with rainbow and green iridescent flakies with a linear holographic finish." It has a medium-light dolphin grey creme/jelly hybrid base brimming with iridescent flake shimmers plus a dusting of finely-milled holographic pigment. It is sleek and silvery on the nail with attractive shimmering visual texture from the superabundant flakies, which flash blue, pink and green when the light hits them just right, and tiny random sparks of color from the holo pigment.

Application was very nice. The consistency of Permafrost is fluid, slightly fluffy and dense with shimmer flakes. The flakies are definitely detectable during application and can splay the brush a bit, but beyond a few temporary protrusions over the free edge they are not problematic. The formula is easy to manipulate with Alchemy Lacquers' round flexible brush and has a creamy spread over the nail. Pigmentation is very good with a slightly sheer first coat quickly building to opacity after the second. Cleanup is easy and straightforward without any trouble from overly sticky flakes. Permafrost dries naturally in good time to a mostly smooth, shiny finish that wants a good topcoat to look its best.

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

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost, bottle shot

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

Alchemy Lacquers Permafrost

The transparent iridescent flakes and silvered holo pigment in this polish work together to give a speckled luster to the finish that I really like. It has the appearance of compressed icy particles, and I think Rebecca did a great job of interpreting the notion of permanently frozen soils into a beautiful, wearable nail polish. Permafrost has great light play, with a deft, sleek feel on the nail that I find elegant and understated. 

Alchemy Lacquers is a new-to-me indie brand and I pretty much lucked into the launch of this collection by accident. Having drooled over swatches of a another, previously-released Alchemy polish for months (this being the fabulous Night Fire as featured by Jenne the Enabler of Polished Pathology, here), I had a decisive moment of purchase that just happened to coincide with the collection's release. Lo, Fortuna spins her wheel! My Alchemy mini spree included one other polish from this collection, Thundersnow, which I'll be featuring here shortly. For some gorgeous swatches of the entire Arctic Alchemy collection, eight polishes in all, I encourage you to visit Jessica's review of it on her blog, Blue Velvet Lacquers, here.

love,
Liz