Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Iktsuarpok was released by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious as part of the Stop Collaborate and Listen series at the end of April this year. Stop Collaborate and Listen polishes are designed by select individual polish bloggers/enthusiasts and created in collaboration with the folks at Pretty Serious, and this particular polish was designed by Hannah of the blog Polly Polish. I love the name she chose for her polish, although I can only guess at its pronunciation. It's an Inuit word for the feeling of anticipation that occurs when waiting for someone to arrive that causes you to constantly go outside to check whether they've gotten there yet. As someone who does this kind of thing on a regular basis, I'm amazed at the capacity of language to capture with such specificity the small but poignant realities of life. Wonderful! If you would like to read Hannah's own post about Iktsuarpok, the word and the polish, you can find it here.

On to the polish! Iktsuarpok is a beautiful medium-dark creamy grey creme/jelly hybrid bearing abundant color-shifting silvery glass fleck shimmers. This is a perfect achromatic grey, about halfway between black and white, sleek and gorgeous with an exquisitely deft sense to it. It's dainty but purposeful, and very flattering on the nail. The silvery glass flecks, which offer glints of pale blue and green when the light hits them just right, add a glistening aspect of dewiness to the color that I find particularly fetching.

Application was delicious. The consistency of Iktsuarpok is fluid, light and creamy with an effortless glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is very good for a formula with some built-in translucence to it. Two medium coats provided completely even opacity. This is a very user friendly polish that simply floats onto the nail and is a pleasure to manipulate with Pretty Serious' round flexible brush. Cleanup, the little that I had to do, was easy and straightforward with no sticky flecks and no pigment travel. Iktsuarpok dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish.

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

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

Pretty Serious Iktsuarpok

I'm quite charmed by this pretty little grey glass fleck shimmer! I like that it has both organic and decorative aspects to it. Like many grey polishes, Iktsuarpok has that tonal chameleon thing going on where it looks darker and slatier in some lights and lighter and more dove-like in others. It plays especially well with pastels and denim, and would be a wonderful base for some achromatic geometric nail art with black and silver or a snowy winter manicure. But it's definitely a grey you can wear all year round. 

Well done, Hannah and Kaz!

love,
Liz