Katie was released by this wonderful Australian indie polish maker as part of the Summer Nights collection from the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun series. This is a mind-blowingly gorgeous full coverage microglitter. It's got what creator Theresa calls a cranberry jelly base, but to my eye it's more of a deep purple-leaning red violet, a sort of Byzantium purple. It is loaded with holographic microglitters in gold and purple, and it's like having a tiny laser show on your fingertips. I don't even know how to describe the awesomeness! The colors! The sparkle! The red violet base is deep and vampy, and the golden microglitters read as shades of gold, pink and red depending upon their depth. The purple microglitters add an interesting cool color element to the mix, producing a sparkling tapestry that is rich and complex. And because all of the microglitters are holographic, the sparkle, even in low and indirect light, is tremendous. It's like each nail is adorned with a plush bed of fiber optic lights.
Application was equally amazing. The ratio of microglitters to base is perfection. Katie has a fluid and smooth consistency with a lush, velvety glide over the nail and outstanding self-leveling properties. There is no trace of stickiness, the formula is out-of-the-gate user-friendly and easily manipulated with Grace-full's flattened flexible brush, and the microglitters apply smoothly and disperse easily with no tumbling and minimal stacking. In fact, I only had one occurence of glitter stacking across all ten nails. Pigmentation is outstanding. Believe it or not, this polish provides evenly opaque coverage with only one coat! Unheard of! I used two out of habit, but could easily have worn it at one. Cleanup is easy and straightforward provided you do it while the polish is still wet. I imagine those little glitters would stick like limpets if you allowed them to dry. Overall, I was able to produce one of the cleanest manicures I've had in a long time with this polish, which should tell you a lot as I'm typically a very messy painter. Katie dries naturally in average time to a mostly smooth finish with just a tiny bit of discernible texture from the microglitters that is easily smoothed with one or two layers of topcoat, depending on how glassy a finish you're after. I used one, but you'll see that the micoglitters began to show through a little bit by the time I began photographing.
Photos show two coats of Katie over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
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| Grace-full Nail Polish Katie |
Katie happens to be a namesake polish for my sister, who goes by Kate now but Katie was her childhood name. I don't know whether she'd personally identify with a sparklefest like this (although I know she'd like the color), but it's an entirely appropriate polish metaphor for her life as a mother, friend, healer, scholar, teacher, manager, community member and discerning denizen of the planet. She brings a sparkle to every interaction and activity that she is party to, and her generous heart is the biggest sparkler of all. I couldn't be more proud to have her as my sister. Kate, this one's for you! I love you!
xoxo,
Liz
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